Construction has begun on the first stage of homes in Serenitas’ new $75 million boutique land lease communityThyme Lifestyle Resort Canungra in the Scenic Rim, 80m south of Brisbane. Serenitas, which has 28 communities, is owned by Mirvac, Pacific Equity Partners Secure Assetsand Tasman Partners.
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OH BOY. HERE WE GO. ALL RIGHT. DEVIN, THANKS. HEY. TOMORROW KICKS OFF BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH A TIME TO DRIVE HOME THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY DETECTION. THERE IS A NEW EFFORT TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT PREVENTION EFFORTS. IN ONE COMMUNITY. WDSU NORTHSHORE REPORTER SHAWANDA JONES IS LIVE FROM THE SAINT TAMMANY PARISH HEALTH FOUNDATION IN COVINGTON. WITH ALL THE DETAILS. YEAH, THE ANNUAL MONTH LONG POWER OF PINK CAMPAIGN FINALLY KICKED OFF TODAY HERE AT THE SAINT TAMMANY CANCER CENTER, AND THE GOAL WAS TO SPREAD AWARENESS TO SAVE A LIFE. CANCER DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE. IT DOESNT MEET CHARLIE BERNARD. SHES A BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR. AND NOW REGISTERED NURSE WITH THE SAINT TAMMANY HEALTH FOUNDATION. I FOUND OUT THAT I HAD BREAST CANCER WHEN I WAS 38, AND AT THAT TIME I WAS NOT DOING BREAST EXAMS. SO I WOKE UP ONE MORNING AND NOTICED THERE WAS A LUMP ON MY BREAST AND HAD MY DOCTOR CHECK IT OUT AND COME TO FIND OUT IT WAS BREAST CANCER. NOW SHE WORKS WITH THE CANCER CENTER, HELPING PATIENTS NAVIGATE THROUGH THE SAME PROCESS SHE WENT THROUGH. THATS WHY I FEEL LIKE I HAVE THAT PERSONAL CONNECTION TO MY PATIENTS AND YOU KNOW, THATS JUST PART OF MY JOB IS I WANT THEM TO BE ABLE TO TRUST ME AND THAT IM DOING EVERYTHING I POSSIBLY CAN TO MAKE THEIR CARE THE BEST. IT COULD POSSIBLY BE, NO MATTER HOW HARD IT IS. CHARLES SAYS EARLY DETECTION MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN HER OWN JOURNEY SURVIVING CANCER. THE EARLIER ITS CAUGHT, THE HIGHER THE SURVIVAL RATE IS. KATHLEEN THOMAS IS THE MAJOR GIFTS OFFICER FOR THE SAINT TAMMANY HEALTH FOUNDATION. SHE WORKS ON THE ORGANIZATIONS ANNUAL POWER OF PINK BREAST CANCER CAMPAIGN YEAR ROUND, FOCUSING ON EMPOWERING WOMEN WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF SELF-EXAMS AND YEARLY MAMMOGRAMS. OUR CAMPAIGN WAS CREATED TO EDUCATE AND PREVENTION AND SCREEN AND MAKE SURE ALL OF THAT GETS OUT INTO OUR COMMUNITY TO MAKE SURE THAT OUR COMMUNITY AND ALL OF THE WOMEN ARE SCREENED EARLY, KNOW TO GET SCREENED EARLY, KNOW WHEN THEY SHOULD BE SCREENED. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW YOU CAN EDUCATE YOURSELF, PLEASE SEE OUR WEBSITE AT WDSU DOT COM. FOR MORE INFORMATION. REPORTING LI
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and Chief Administrative Officer Gilbert Montano are implicated in an indictment alleging they accepted valuable tickets, potentially violating state ethics laws, sources say. Neither are accused of a crime in the indictment. “If all of that is true, then yeah, it looks to be a violation of the state ethics code,” said Steven Procopio, president of the government watchdog agency PAR.Prosecutors allege former city inspector Randy Farrell accepted bribes to allow unlicensed electricians to work on hundreds of homes in New Orleans.Prosecutors also allege Farrell wanted a high ranking city employee suspicious of him , terminated.Sources tell WDSU that Farrell collaborated with his business partner, Fouad Zeton.According to the indictment, prosecutors allege in 2019, Farrell bought Mayor Cantrell Saints tickets, lunch at a steakhouse, and a new iPhone.”There’s certainly enough there to look at this and if I’ll say if someone receives tickets from a prohibited source, then that would be a violation of the state ethics law,” Procopio said.According to the indictment, Farrell met with Cantrell at the steakhouse shortly after purchasing the tickets.It’s alleged Farrell then sent Zeton a text saying, “The (expletive) is gone!!!!!” The indictment also alleges Montano asked Zeton for tickets to the 2020 College Football National Championship game at the Superdome.Farrell paid $3,600 for those tickets, according to the indictment. “I think from a citizen standpoint, I think that goes an extra mile in terms of violating at least the spirit of ethical behavior,” said political expert Ed Chervenak. “He is a major player in the Cantrell administration. He’s fit the pattern of taking tickets, something of value. We don’t know if he offered anything in return or not, but it gives the perception something is going on behind closed doors.” Chervenak said if the allegations against them are true, what is alleged is not appropriate, and said public officials should not take anything of value if they want to have public trust. Montano said he’s disappointed his name has been implicated. He says there is no accusation of wrongdoing in the indictment and wants people to think about his integrity and the work he has done to improve the city. Farrell’s attorney issued the following statement regarding the indictment:”Last year Mr. Farrell took responsibility for IRS problems occurring nearly 10 years ago by means of a plea bargain with the Government, unrelated to the present charges. As a part of the plea bargain with the Government, Mr. Farrell met with Federal authorities to answer questions about the City of New Orleans’ Department of Public Safety.Mr. Farrell provided documentation of his payment for a birthday luncheon for the cooperating witness (Businessman #1) and his two nephews at which Public Official #1 was an invited guest of the businessman. The prosecutor now is improperly utilizing this information against Mr. Farewell, alleging it was a bribe. Mr. Farrell did nothing more than complain to city leaders about the dysfunction of the department of Safety and permits, a right he and all citizens have under the First Amendment.Allegations of bribery of Public Officials #1, for a luncheon mean and utilization of Saints tickets are too close to the political system.The Indictment sensationalizes statements, taken out of context, primarily made by the cooperating witness (Businessman #1) who was a fundraiser and supporter of Public Official #1 and, unfortunately, who had access to Mr. Farrell’s credit card.Contrary to allegation in the Indictment, Mr. Farrell is not a public official of the State or the City.Mr. Farrell and IECI deny the allegations in the government’s indictment and look forward to defending themselves in Court.”The City of New Orleans issued the following statement:”Out of respect for the courts and the legal process, the City of New Orleans will reserve comment on this matter until its full conclusion.”New Orleans City Council members also reacted for the first time since the indictment was handed down.New Orleans Council Vice President JP Morrell voiced his concerns over the allegations. “The idea of any city official grabbing anything of value for anyone who does things for the city is illegal,” said Council member JP Morrell.Councilmember Eugene Green said he wasn’t aware of Montano’s claim about tickets always circulating City Hall. Moreno echoed Green’s response. “Saints tickets? No one has ever given me Saints tickets. Also, we have ethics laws in Louisiana, so no, I have not,” said Council President Helena Moreno.WDSU Investigates asked the council if they were aware of other public officials implicated in the scheme, but are not officially named by the federal government in the indictment. No one commented on the identities outlined in the indictment. Sources tell WDSU that there are possibly other city employees who may have benefited from the free tickets.Farrell plans on entering a plea of not guilty.
Already the longest-lived of the 45 men to serve as U.S. president, Jimmy Carter has reached the century mark.The 39th president, who remains under home hospice care, turned 100 on Tuesday, celebrating in the same south Georgia town where he was born in 1924.Here are some notable markers for Carter, the nation and the world over his long life.Booms most everywhere but not PlainsCarter has seen the U.S. population nearly triple. The U.S. has about 330 million residents; there were about 114 million in 1924 and 220 million when Carter was inaugurated in 1977. The global population has more than quadrupled, from 1.9 billion to more than 8.1 billion. It already had more than doubled to 4.36 billion by the time he became president.That boom has not reached Plains, where Carter has lived more than 80 of his 100 years. His wife Rosalynn, who died in 2023 at age 96, also was born in Plains.Their town comprised fewer than 500 people in the 1920s and has about 700 today; much of the local economy revolves around its most famous residents.When James Earl Carter Jr. was born, life expectancy for American males was 58. It’s now 75.TV, radio and presidential mapsNBC first debuted a red-and-blue electoral map in the 1976 election between then-President Gerald Ford, a Republican, and Carter, the Democratic challenger. But NBC’s John Chancellor made Carter’s states red and Ford’s blue. Some other early versions of color electoral maps used yellow and blue because red was associated with Soviet and Chinese communism.It wasn’t until the 1990s that networks settled on blue for Democratic-won states and red for GOP-won states. “Red state and blue state did not become a permanent part of the American political lexicon until after the disputed 2000 election between Al Gore and George W. Bush.Carter was 14 when Franklin D. Roosevelt made the first presidential television appearance. Warren Harding became the first radio president two years before Carter’s birth.Attention shoppersThere was no Amazon Prime in 1924, but you could order a build-it-yourself house from a catalog. Sears Roebuck Gladstones three-bedroom model went for $2,025, which was slightly less than the average workers annual income.Walmart didnt exist, but local general stores served the same purpose. Ballpark prices: loaf of bread, 9 cents; gallon of milk, 54 cents; gallon of gas, 11 cents.Inflation helped drive Carter from office, as it has dogged President Joe Biden. The average gallon in 1980, Carters last full year in office, was about $3.25 when adjusted for inflation. That’s just 3 cents more than AAA’s current national average.From suffragettes to Kamala HarrisThe 19th Amendment that extended voting rights to women almost exclusively white women at the time was ratified in 1920, four years before Carter’s birth. The Voting Rights Act that widened the franchise to Black Americans passed in 1965 as Carter was preparing his first bid for Georgia governor.Now, Carter is poised to cast a mail ballot for Vice President Kamala Harris. She would become the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to reach the Oval Office. Grandson Jason Carter said the former president is holding on in part because he is excited about the chance to see Harris make history.Immigration, isolationism and America FirstFor all the shifts in U.S. politics, some things stay the same. Or at least come back around.Carter was born in an era of isolationism, protectionism and white Christian nationalism all elements of the right in the ongoing Donald Trump era. In 2024, Trump is promising the largest deportation effort in U.S. history, while tightening legal immigration. He has said immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country.Five months before Carter was born, President Calvin Coolidge signed the Immigration Act of 1924. The law created the U.S. Border Patrol and sharply curtailed immigration, limiting admission mostly to migrants from western Europe. Asians were banned entirely. Congress described its purpose plainly: preserve the ideal of U.S. homogeneity. The Ku Klux Klan followed in 1925 and 1926 with marches on Washington promoting white supremacy.Trump also has called for sweeping tariffs on foreign imports, part of his America First agenda. In 1922, Congress enacted tariffs intended to help U.S. manufacturers. After stock market losses in 1929, lawmakers added the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariffs, ostensibly to help American farmers. The Great Depression followed anyway. In the 1930s, as Carter became politically aware, the political right that countered FDR was driven in part by a movement that opposed international engagement. Those conservatives’ slogan: America First.America’s and Carter’s pastimeCarter is the Atlanta Braves’ most famous fan. Jason Carter says the former president still enjoys watching his favorite baseball team.In the 1990s, when the Braves were annual features in the October playoffs, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were often spotted in the owner’s box with media mogul Ted Turner and Jane Fonda, then Turner’s wife. The Braves moved to Atlanta from Milwaukee between Carter’s failed run for governor in 1966 and his victory four years later. Then-Gov. Carter was sitting in the first row of Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium on April 9, 1974, when Henry Aaron hit his 715th home run to break Babe Ruth’s career record.When Carter was born, the Braves were still in Boston, their original city. Ruth had just completed his fifth season for the New York Yankees. He had hit 284 home runs to that point (still 430 short of his career total) and the original Yankee Stadium The House that Ruth Built” had been open less than 18 months.Booze, Billy and Billy BeerProhibition had been in effect for four years when Carter was born and wouldnt be lifted until he was 9. The Carters were never prodigious drinkers. They served only wine at state dinners and other White House functions, though it’s a common misconception that they did so because of their Baptist mores. It was more because Carter has always been frugal: He didn’t want taxpayers or the residence account (his and Rosalynn’s personal money) to cover more expensive hard liquor.Carters younger brother Billy, who owned a Plains gas station and died in 1988, had different tastes. He marketed his own brand, Billy Beer, once Carter became president. News sources reported that Billy Carter snagged a $50,000 annual licensing fee from one brewer. That’s about $215,000 today. The presidents annual salary at the time was $200,000 it’s now $400,000.The debt: More Carter frugalityThe Times Square debt clock didnt debut until Carter was in his early 60s and out of the White House. But for anyone counting the $35 trillion debt, Carter doesnt merit much mention. The man who would wash Ziploc bags to reuse them added less than $300 billion to the national debt, which stood below $1 trillion when he left office.Other presidentsCarter has lived through 40% of U.S. history since the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and more than a third of all U.S. administrations since George Washington took office in 1789 nine before Carter was president, his own and seven since.When Carter took office, just two presidents, John Adams and Herbert Hoover, had lived to be 90. Since then, Ford, Ronald Reagan, Carter and George H.W. Bush all reached at least 93.
Glynn County officials opened up cooling and recharging stations in an effort to help neighbors get by until restoration is complete.
Former President Donald Trump plans to spend the hours ahead of Tuesday night’s vice-presidential debate campaigning in Wisconsin, stopping in a critical Democratic county that is crucial to Democrat Kamala Harris’ hopes for winning the key battleground state.Trump is scheduled to appear at a manufacturing facility in Waunakee, a suburb of Wisconsin’s capital city of Madison in the Democratic stronghold of Dane County. Trump has never campaigned in Dane County before and didn’t visit as president.Later on Tuesday, Trump is expected to hold an event at a museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s largest city and home to the largest number of Democratic voters and second-largest number of Republicans. His appearance there will also give him reach into the city’s conservative suburbs, a part of Wisconsin where his support has softened but where he must do well to win.Trump is expected to focus his comments on the economy. On Saturday, he held a rally in western Wisconsin where he blamed Harris for crimes committed by people in the country illegally.Both stops come ahead of Tuesday’s debate between Trumps running mate JD Vance, a senator from Ohio, and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota.Dane County, the location of Trump’s first stop, is Wisconsin’s fastest-growing county and an economic engine for the state, fueled by jobs in the healthcare and tech industries. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin.Dane Countys population grew by about 30,000 people between 2016 and 2020. It has gone up by another 13,000 since then, based on the most recent U.S. Census Bureau estimate.That presents a challenge for Republicans, especially given that nearly 90% of registered voters in the county cast a ballot in 2020. President Joe Biden won 75% of the vote that year in Dane County, beating Trump by 181,000 votes in the county while carrying the state by fewer than 21,000. Hillary Clinton beat Trump in Dane County in 2016 by 47 points, and Trump won the state by less than a point.Still, Dane County is home to the third-largest number of Republican voters of any county statewide.President Trumps appearance will be a big shot in the arm for demoralized conservatives here, the Dane County Republican Party Chairman Brandon Maly posted on X, the social media platform, when the visit was announced. He has said Trump must get at least 23% of the vote in Dane County to have a chance of winning statewide.Democratic presidential candidates have long come to Dane County to hold massive rallies to fire up the base. Harris campaigned there on Sept. 20, holding a rally in Madison that attracted more than 10,000 people.Waunakee, which bills itself as the only Waunakee in the world, is slightly more Republican than the county as a whole. In 2020, Trump got 36% of the vote there compared to less than 23% countywide.Trump is expected to speak at Dane Manufacturing, a metal fabricator that has a long history of hosting Republican candidates and officeholders. In Milwaukee, Trump will speak at Discovery World, a science and technology museum along the shores of Lake Michigan.
A fire in South Vancouver Monday completely destroyed one home and caused damage to two others, according to officials, who said no one was injured in the blaze.
Talk about an exercise in frustration. One of the easiest things in life to get can also be one of the hardest to get rid of: a gym membership. When a North Shore woman’s teenage son was roped in to one by the opening of a new gym, and he found it impossible to cancel, she asked NewsCenter 5 for help. Jennifer from Danvers — who asked us not to give her last name since she also owns a business on the North Shore — says she’s spent countless hours simply trying to cancel a $10 per month gym membership for her son, since he’s now out of state at college. But it’s been a heavy lift.”It’s way too much work. Way too much work,” she said. “In their contract it says you show up with a letter, and that’s what we did.” Last summer, Jennifer’s son signed up to join a new gym coming to Danvers, Crunch Fitness. As a perk of signing up before it opened, he was supposed to get a membership for $9.99 a month.”I was expecting $9.99, and I was charged $17.99 (a month),” Jennifer said. “That’s why I noticed a discrepancy right away.”The discrepancies continued on her monthly credit card statements, where the charges came under several different names like “20128 Crunch Danvers” or “ABC Crunch Fitness.” Jennifer leaned on her almost 18-year-old son to sort it out. After speaking with a manager, he secured the $9.99 monthly price but came home with a one-year contract.”Which I was a little frustrated about,” she said. “He didn’t understand you’re locked in until February of 2025. You’re leaving for college in the summer.”Massachusetts has a robust law on health club memberships, which is what got Boston Sports Clubs sued by the state during the pandemic. In 2020, that chain shut down, laid off staff but still continued to charge members and made it impossible to cancel. State law spells out numerous rights to cancel, including when a gym closes or in Jennifer’s son’s case if you move more than 25 miles away from a gym operated by the company. In this case, he was going to school in Vermont, far from any Crunch Fitness location. Per the contract, he tried dropping off a letter to the Danvers gym manager but was told he wasn’t there and no one else would take it.”He was told he needed to come back and meet with the manager,” Jennifer said. “It was the end of the month. He wanted it turned in in the month of July before leaving for school.”The contract also said he could mail a letter, so that’s what they did and suddenly got slapped with a collection notice.”A collection notice showed up in the mail for an unusual amount of money. It doesn’t even equate to the full term of the contract,” Jennifer said. “Why would it even go to collections without picking up the phone to try to reach out? ‘Hey, you canceled the membership. We have questions.'”When NewsCenter 5 reporter Ben Simmoneau showed up at Crunch in Danvers a man named Scott identified himself as the manager. Suddenly, it seemed to be much easier to cancel. He promised to take care of the issue, and Jennifer’s son’s membership was finally canceled.Crunch has numerous complaints at the Better Business Bureau with several related to the difficulty of canceling. “It is very challenging to cancel membership despite calling and emailing,” one person wrote. “When I tried to cancel my membership, no one returned my calls,” posted another.”If this is what’s happening and we’re just one case, what’s happening to hundreds of other people?” Jennifer said. NewsCenter 5 reached out to the ownership group behind this Crunch location — Fitness Holdings Northeast LLC — but they did not respond to a request for comment.
Nick Karagiannis has made headlines for his courage and generosity, but the former car dealer also defrauded his ex-employer out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
ABC10 first reported in July about problems coming from a Fair Oaks based company aimed at selling tiny homes, or ADUs, to people looking to expand.
September’s recipient of the Golden Shield Award is Mike Tanner with the Waverly Volunteer Fire Department.
Jenny Houfek started fostering dogs 14 years ago when a service member needed a hand during deployment. She now fosters exclusively through Hands, Hearts & Paws.