Odd-but-True Stories

has become normal. People yawn. That yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive,” Bezos, 57, said upon announcing the move. “When you look at our financial results, what you’re actually seeing are the long-run cumulative results of invention. Right now, I see Amazon at its most inventive ever, making it an optimal time for this transition.”

Bezos is closely associated with his company’s brand.

Since founding Amazon as an online bookseller nearly 30 years ago, he has expanded into selling just about anything you can buy. On his watch, the company grew into a $1.7 trillion retail monolith that employs more than 1.2 million workers.

“Amazon is big simply because it has given customers what they want. To grow it had to take share from other giants of retail, some of which were once seen as unassailable,” Neil Saunders, managing director of consultancy GlobalData Retail, said.

Among Amazon’s biggest success stories is its cloud computing business, which launched in 2006, and is led by Jassy, who has long been viewed as Bezos’ heir apparent. Jassy’s ascension was made possible in August when the company announced that another possible successor, Jeff Wilke, would soon retire.

Jassy, who is Jewish, was born in Scarsdale, New York. He and his wife, Elana, have two children.

Gun Violence on July 4

July 4th weekend turned deadly throughout the nation this year as at least 150 people lost their lives in more than 400 shootings.

The data, which includes the number of shooting incidents and gun violence victims nationally over a 72-hour period from Friday through Sunday, was compiled by the Gun Violence Archive and is still evolving and will be updated.

In New York, where gun violence has been rising to levels not seen in years, there were 26 victims from 21 shootings from Friday to Sunday. Last year, over the same period, 30 people were shot in 25 shootings. On July 4, the city experienced 12 shooting incidents that involved 13 victims, an increase from last year when there were eight shootings and eight victims, according to the NYPD.

So far this year, gun violence incidents in New York have spiked almost 40% over the same period in 2020, with 767 shootings and 885 victims.

In Chicago, 83 people were shot, including 14 killed, in shootings from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday. The injured included a 5-year-old girl wounded on Sunday afternoon and a 6-year-old girl shot early Monday.

One of the 14 people killed was a member of the Illinois Army National Guard.

In suburban Atlanta, golf professional Gene Siller was fatally shot at a country club on Saturday. Siller, 41, was found unresponsive with an “apparent gunshot wound to the head” and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Two other gunshot victims were also found on the course.

In Norfolk, Virginia, four children were shot on Friday afternoon, including a 6-year-old girl who was initially reported to be suffering life-threatening injuries but is now in stable condition, according to Norfolk police. The victims also included a 14-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl, and a 16-yearold boy, all of whom are expected to fully recover.

Trump CFO Indicted

The Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, were charged last week in what prosecutors said was a sweeping, 15year scheme to compensate top executives of former President Donald Trump’s company “off the books” and help them avoid paying taxes.

The Trump Organization pleaded not guilty to charges that included tax fraud and falsifying business records. Weisselberg, 73, pleaded not guilty to grand larceny and tax fraud charges, among others, after prosecutors accused him of personally avoiding taxes on $1.7 million of his income.

Prosecutors say it was an “orchestrated” scheme to compensate executives “off the books” to avoid taxes.

“Contrary to today’s assertion by the company’s former CEO, this is not a ‘standard practice in the business community’ nor was it the act of a rogue or isolated employee,” Carey Dunne, an assistant district attorney, said in court. “Instead, it was orchestrated by the most senior executives, who were financially benefiting themselves and the company by getting secret pay raises at the expense of state and federal taxpayers.”

Former President Trump sounded off against the charges. “The political Witch Hunt by the Radical Left Democrats, with New York now taking over the assignment, continues,” he said. “It is dividing our Country like never before!”

“Make no mistake — this is not about the law; this is all about politics,” a spokesperson for the Trump Organization said in a statement.

The grand jury indictments were obtained by the offices of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and Letitia James, the New York state attorney general.

In the indictment, “we allege, among other things, financial wrongdoing whereby the Trump Organization engaged in a scheme with Mr. Weisselberg to avoid paying taxes on certain compensation,” James said in a statement. “This investigation will continue, and we will follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead.”

In a statement Thursday morning, a spokesperson for the Trump Organization said that Weisselberg is “a loving and devoted husband, father and grandfather who has worked at the Trump Organization for 48 years.”

“He is now being used by the Manhattan District Attorney as a pawn in a scorched earth attempt to harm the former President,” the spokesperson said. “The District Attorney is bringing a criminal prosecution involving employee benefits that neither the IRS nor any other District Attorney would ever think of bringing. This is not justice; this is politics.”

Geffen Grants Yale Drama Free Ride

Billionaire David Geffen is giving $150 million to the Yale School of Drama, allowing the program to cease charging students its $32,800 per-year tuition.

The graduate school generally enrolls approximately 200 students in

its programs, which include acting, design, directing, and playwriting. Announcing the gift last Wednesday, the school said it would rename itself the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, in honor of Geffen’s generous contribution.

The school added that it will eliminate tuition for MA, PhD, and certificate programs in August, and that it believes Geffen’s gift is the largest in the history of American theater.

Drama school dean James Bundy said, “We know, because people have told us, that there are potential applicants out there who think they could never afford graduate theater training at an Ivy League school.

“Not every artist is going to break through at the age of 25 or 26 or 27. Certain kinds of careers take time to build, and entering the professions with less debt is going to make for more interesting and more resounding choices in the long run.”

University President Peter Salovey noted, “In general, what should be happening in higher education is an attempt to reduce the financial burden on individuals and families associated with undergraduate education and graduate and professional education.

“I’d love to do this for other programs as well, but it will take the generosity of donors to make it happen.”

Yale’s School of Music eliminated tuition in 2005. ven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, was born in Boro Park, Brooklyn. His parents were Jewish immigrants who met in Israel and then moved to the U.S. Geffen struggled early on in school, barely passing New Utrecht High School due to what he said was challenges with dyslexia.

Geffen is worth approximately $10.8 billion.

Eric Adams Wins Primary

Two weeks after the primaries, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams emerged victorious in the Democrat primary race for New York City mayor.

His key opponent, former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, formally ended her quest to become New York City’s 110th mayor on Wednesday, conceding the hardfought Democratic primary to Adams.

According to the latest numbers from the Board of Elections, Garcia trailed Adams by more than 8,000 votes.

“This campaign has come closer than any other moment in history to breaking that glass ceiling and selecting New York City’s first female mayor,” Garcia said.

Many hailed Adams’ victory as tantamount to winning the actual mayoral elections in November, as winning the primary in the heavily Democratic city is practically equivalent to winning the race. Adams is set to run against Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.

“This city is like many of our cities in America, we’re ready to finally look after working class people,” Adams told CNN. “And I’m going to be the mayor to symbolize that [and] partner with the other mayors across this country.”

The primary elections ended on June 22.Adams had a strong lead in the initial in-person voting results, with 31.7 percent of the firstpreference votes, compared to former mayoral counsel Maya Wiley’s 22.3 percent and Garcia’s 19.5 percent.

Adams’ lead was chopped sig-

nificantly last week after successive rounds of ranked-choice voting numbers were factored in.

The shifting numbers came after an embarrassing flub by the Board of Elections, which released voting information that included 135,000 test ballots.

“The Board apologizes for the error and has taken immediate to ensure the most accurate up to date results are reported,” it said in a statement after the foul-up.

Perfect Burglar?

A burglar in Washington State made himself at home last week when he entered a home in Covington and fixed himself some food and began to do the laundry.

The thief entered the home through an open window at around 4 a.m.

“Remember that Don Henley song, how does it go? ‘Well I coulda been an actor but I [wound] up here... people love it when you lose, they love dirty laundry,’” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook.

“But this story isn’t a top 10 Billboard hit, but real life. On 6/30/2021 a Covington family called 911 when they found this dude doing laundry in their home just after 4:00 a.m.”

The thief ran out of the house when the occupants woke up. Police nabbed him a few blocks away and found that he was in possession of a number of items which had been taken from the couple, including car keys, headphones, and some cash.

Wonder if the thief remembered to add fabric softener when he did the laundry.

Baby Boom

There were a lot of diapers and screaming babies in one Texas hospital recently, when the facility delivered 100 babies in two stretches totaling 91 hours.

“While Andrews Women’s Hospital is known as a high-volume delivery hospital, the influx in births was considered rare and exceptional,” Baylor Scott and White medical center said in a press release.

Beginning on June 24, Andrews Women’s Hospital in Fort Worth said it delivered 52 babies in 47 hours.

Then, on June 28, the hospital’s labor and delivery team delivered 55 babies in 44 hours.

This is not the first time that the hospital was bouncing with babies. In 2018, the staff delivered 48 babies in 41 hours.

With so many babies, there are bound to be some more-frequent baby names. For boys, Atlas and Daniel were popular. Six of the baby girls were named Gianna.

“The hospital averages about 16 deliveries per day, and welcomed nearly 6,000 babies in 2020, including 100 sets of twins and two sets of triplets,” the hospital stated.

Oh, baby!

Hot Dog!

Joey Chestnut reigned again as hot dog-eating champion by scarfing down a whopping 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes – one more wiener than his own world record set last year – as he nabbed the title at the annual Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog-Eating Contest on Coney Island this week.

This is Joey’s 14th victory in 15 years.

“I feel like I could eat a little more,” Chestnut, 37, said afterward, although he admitted feeling “a little bloated.”

He added, “I’m just super happy. In the second half, the crowd pushed me.”

The second place finisher trailed Joey by 26 hot dogs.

New York City Mayor de Blasio was on hand, wearing a hot dogshaped hat, to congratulate and share his insights. “It is a dog-eat-dog world … We should relish this moment!” he quipped.

The winner of the women’s division, Michelle Lesco of Tucson, downed 30 and three-quarter hot dogs, including a piece she dropped on the ground but picked up and ate nonetheless to cheers from the crowd.

“I feel awesome,” she said, adding, “The crowd was crazy.”

Crazy, Michelle, is someone who eats 76 hot dogs at a time.

Too Sweet for the Beat

Dogs that work for the police force need to be tough. In fact, if they’re not tough enough, they can be booted from the program.

That’s what 54 dogs in China learned recently. The canines are being auctioned off so they can find themselves new homes after they flunked out of a police academy training program.

The Criminal Investigation Police University of China in northeastern Liaoning province announced that the dogs – primarily German shepherds, Dutch shepherd hybrids and Belgian malinois – will be auctioned this week.

The canines were rejected from the police dog training program for having timid personalities, physical weakness or frailty, failure to follow instructions, and refusing to bite when prompted.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world.

Picasso Puzzle

A painting by Picasso is finally seeing the light after being hidden in a closet in a house in Maine for half a century.

John McInnis Auctioneers, based in Massachusetts, confirmed that the painting entitled “Le Tricorne” sold on Saturday.

The 16 x 16 inch painting is signed and dated in the year 1919. It is believed to be a study for the stage curtain Picasso painted for a ballet of the same name that debuted that year in London, according to the New-York Historical Society. That curtain has been on display at the historical society in New York City since 2015.

The mixed-media painting sold for $150,000.

The painting was found in a closet in a home the seller’s father inherited from a female relative who studied art in Europe in the 1920s.

“This painting was discovered in a house owned by my great-aunt which was passed down to her from her uncle in the late 1930s,” a statement from the seller statement reads. “There were several paintings kept in a closet for 50 years which were left by her at the time of the passing of the house to my father and now to me.”

Sounds like it’s (e)state of the art.

Bad Bills Bail

What happens when you can’t pay bail? Well, a man in Maine decided to take things into his own hands and posted his $200 bail with counterfeit bills.

The man had been picked up when police responded to reports of a stolen vehicle. Although he was not involved in the call, there was an outstanding warrant for him for theft from a Walmart and so he was picked up by police.

While in the slammer, he told officers that had enough money to post $200 in bail but when the bail commissioner arrived, he tried to pay with two counterfeit $100 bills.

He was subsequently denied bail and was returned to jail with the additional charge of forgery.

He later posted bail of $100 later in the day.

You know what they say: fake it till you make it.

Around the Community

Five Towns Residents Support Ohel at Rosemil Healthcare Golf and Tennis Classic

Ahot, sunny day greeted the 165 players who supported Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services at Ohel’s Rosemil Healthcare Golf and Tennis Tournament on Monday, June 21 at Alpine Country Club in Demarest, NJ. The annual event supports Ohel’s many essential services including mental health services, which never faltered during the global pandemic that saw soaring rates in depression, anxiety, stress, and grief.

“This summer’s tournament is different than last year, as it feels like we’re really seeing the end of the crisis,” said Michelle Sulzberger of Woodmere. “We know, however, that mental health issues don’t recede so easily. While we’re happy to enjoy a round of golf or tennis game together, we’re happier still to know that it’s all in support of a great cause that will help thousands of people get back to their best, healthiest selves.”

Through the dedication and leadership of the event co-chairs, the event raised a record-breaking sum and signaled the community’s support for Ohel’s impact in our community. We’re grateful to Steve Milstein and Zalmie Rosenberg of Rosemil Healthcare for its lead sponsorship and to our excellent co-chairs: David Brecher, Yossie Eisenberger, Mendy and Kiki Haas, Mendy Schreiber, Yaakov Zachter, Ben Englanger, Izzy Kaufman, Jonathan Marks, and Michelle Sulzberger.

“This was a beautiful day of golf, but, more importantly, the day allowed us to support lifesaving work,” said Yossie Eisenberger, president of The Triple Net Group, another major sponsor. “As a co-chair of this tournament for a second summer, I’m so proud that we can come together as an expression of our mutual values and in support of Ohel, especially in light of the increased need for mental health services in the past year and a half.”

Ohel has long been a leading expert in the field of mental health. Our expert staff is trained to help people and communities cope when crisis hits. When Covid-19 forced new social distancing mandates, we quickly pivoted to offer remote counseling and support to our thousands of families with children with special needs who were forced to stay home. We created toolkits for students dealing with an unprecedented school year to be able to acclimate to a rapidly shifting landscape, and we launched support groups for new populations of people who lost a loved one to Covid-19. We’re able to pivot so quickly thanks to our expertise, experience, and the partnership of those who sustain our services and allow us to be the lifeline our community needs in diverse situations.

We congratulate our tournament winners in golf and tennis:

Zalmie Rosenberg, co-lead sponsor of the event, in action

Steve Milstein, co-lead sponsor of the event, enjoying the day with Elliot Jacoby

Golf: First Place Foursome: Zalmie Rosenberg, Liz Breed, Yair Talmor, Eric Hackel Second Place Foursome: Larry Rosman, Rafi Rosman, Josh Rosman, Scott Fein Third Place Foursome: Ben Englander, Aiden Englander, Michael Schreiber, Ben Schreiber Closest to the Pin:Eli Lunzer Longest Drive: Jeff Landy Straightest Drive: Gary Katz

Howie Hershkovich Second Place Team: Menachem Gelbtuch and Michael Pilevsky

About Ohel Children’s

Home and Family Services:

For more than 50 years, Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services has provided transformative social services and mental health services in the New York metropolitan area. Today Ohel cares for thousands of individuals through a broad range of programs including mental health services, housing and programs for people with disabilities, older adult services, outpatient counseling for everyday people with everyday problems, and trauma resources for communities in New York and across the country. Ohel’s Camp Kaylie allows children of all abilities to have the summer of their lives.

If you, or someone you know needs assistance with men-

tal health services, please contact Ohel at 1-800-603-

OHEL.