(NEW YORK) — An incredibly rare blue lobster was saved from certain death by, perhaps ironically, Red Lobster employees after he was delivered to their restaurant in a food delivery.
After eagle-eyed employees at a Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Red Lobster establishment spotted the rare crustacean, they decided to contact conservationists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California to inform them of their discovery.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium then got in touch the Akron Zoo to see if they would be interested in housing the rare animal dubbed “Clawde” by the Red Lobster employees who discovered him and gave him the same moniker as the restaurant chain’s mascot.
“The connection between the Akron Zoo and Red Lobster came from a conservation partnership called Seafood Watch,” Akron Zoo said in a social media statement posted online. “The program, run by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, strives to help consumers and businesses choose seafood that is farmed sustainably and fished in ways to support a healthy ocean. Both the Akron Zoo and Red Lobster are conservation partners with Seafood Watch.”
According to the Akron Zoo, their animal care staff quickly jumped into action to prepare a new home at the zoo in a special tank called “Clawde’s Man Cave.”
The Akron Zoo said that the blue coloration of the shell is the result of a genetic anomaly and estimates that this rare occurrence happens in one out of every two million lobsters.
However, thanks to quick thinking Red Lobster employees, Clawde’s life was spared and he now resides in the Komodo Kingdom building at the Akron Zoo where he will live out the remainder of his days.
(GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan) — Two fugitives who allegedly escaped a Virginia juvenile correctional center with the help of two of the facility’s employees were caught in Michigan after nearly two weeks on the run, officials said.
Following a “complex investigation,” the Grand Rapids Fugitive Task Force arrested Rashad E. Williams, 18, and Jabar Ali Taylor, 20, without incident Saturday evening at a hotel in Battle Creek, Michigan — 700 miles from the scene of the alleged escape, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
According to the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, the pair escaped the 284-capacity Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center in Chesterfield County in the early morning hours of July 13. The duo allegedly used a cord to choke a security staff member until he lost consciousness, then allegedly used the employee’s keys to exit the unit. They then escaped through a hole cut in the facility’s perimeter security fence and left in a getaway car, officials said.
U.S. Marshals had initially believed the two would travel north, where they “both have significant ties.” The two first fled to Pennsylvania, authorities said, where they were spotted at a hotel and seen on surveillance footage at a nearby Turkey Hill market in Lancaster County. The Lancaster County District’s Attorney’s Office had warned the public that they are “dangerous fugitives” who should not be confronted.
U.S. Marshals pursued leads in several states until their arrest in Michigan, officials said. Michigan State Police, Battle Creek and Grand Rapids police departments and the Michigan Department of Corrections assisted in the arrest. The FBI also helped with the investigation.
“Hours of dedicated investigative work by our law enforcement team ensured the safety of the public by getting these very dangerous escapees back into custody quickly and safely,” Nick E. Proffitt, U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement.
Both Williams and Taylor will be held at the Calhoun County Jail in Battle Creek, authorities said.
Taylor, of Spotsylvania County, Virginia, was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder and aggravated malicious assault stemming from the 2015 stabbing deaths of two men. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison in 2016. In May, a judge denied an attempt by his legal team to reduce his sentence.
Williams, of Washington, D.C., was convicted of malicious wounding and robbery and sentenced to 18 years in 2019.
Both were due to be transferred to an adult Department of Corrections facility when they turned 21, officials said. Taylor turns 21 on Aug. 25.
Three people have been arrested so far in connection with the escape, police said, including two Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice employees who worked at Bon Air. Destiny L. Harris, 23, of Chesterfield County, was charged with two counts of aiding with the escape of a juvenile on July 14. The next day, Darren Briggs, 42, of Lawrenceville, Virginia, was charged with one felony count of providing a cell phone to a prisoner. Both are no longer employed by the agency, Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice Director Valerie Boykin said.
A relative of Williams’ — Gerald Thornton, 33, of Philadelphia — was charged with two counts of aiding in the escape of a juvenile, according to ABC Richmond affiliate WRIC.
This was the first escape at Bon Air in over 20 years, according to Boykin. The director said she was launching a “full security analysis” of the “old campus.”
“DJJ had been working for years to replace it with a more modern facility with state-of-the-art security and treatment design components,” she said in a statement on July 17. “While those efforts are ongoing, we are committed to determine if security enhancements are needed.”
iStock/JONGHO SHIN(LOS ANGELES) — Adam McKay, who won an Oscar for his financial meltdown drama The Big Short, and who executive produces the HBO drama Succession, is looking to the COVID-19 pandemic for his next project.
Deadline reports McKay is backing The First Shot, a non-fiction book by The Atlantic and New York Times writer Brendan Borrell, about the frantic, worldwide race to develop a vaccine for the disease.
The trade reports HBO’s temporarily titled Untitled Vaccine Project will look into the science and the scientists behind the battle to bring the pandemic to heel.
(MARSHALL, Minn.) — The couple seen in a now-viral video wearing face coverings with Nazi swastikas while shopping at a Walmart in Marshall, Minnesota, are not allowed at any Walmart stores for the next year.
Video of the incident was captured and shared on Facebook by bystander Raphaela Mueller. It has garnered over 230,000 views on the platform since Sunday.
“I was speechless,” Mueller told ABC News of what she saw. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. I turned to my partner and said, ‘Wow, did I just see that right?'”
Mueller said that shortly after they saw the couple at the store on Saturday morning, they decided to report them to the store’s manager.
As they were waiting to speak to the manager, Mueller said the couple — still clad in the face coverings — showed up at a register across from them and that’s when she started recording.
In the video, the unidentified couple seemed to argue that it is a political statement. The woman wearing the swastika-adorned mask appears defiant in the video, talking in the direction of the camera as she responds to other customers who are strongly objecting to their masks. “If you vote for Biden,” the woman appears to be saying, “you’re going to be living in Nazi Germany, that’s what it’s going to be like.”
Eventually, Mueller said, there was a lot of commotion and the couple was escorted out of the store by police.
Mueller said she felt compelled to do something and not stay silent because of her own personal family history.
“My great-grandmother fought in the Underground Resistance against the first wave of Nazis and risked her life for other people,” she said. “I had that underlying knowledge in my head of, ‘Wow, if I don’t say anything now, what did she risk her life for?'”
She added that while many people think something like this “is never going to happen in our communities” she thinks that “it’s not that these events are more frequent right now, it is that they are being filmed more often.
“I want people to get more comfortable with stepping in and speaking up,” she added.
Walmart called the incident “unacceptable,” and said the individuals have been trespassed from all Walmart facilities for at least one year, meaning they could face trespassing charges if they go to a Walmart.
“We strive to provide a safe and comfortable shopping environment for all our customers and will not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment in any aspect of our business,” the company told ABC News in a statement. “We are asking everyone to wear face coverings when they enter our stores for their safety and the safety of others and it’s unfortunate that some individuals have taken this pandemic as an opportunity to create a distressing situation for customers and associates in our store.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz responded to the incident on Twitter, calling it “disgraceful, plain and simple.”
“Thank you to the bystanders who stood up to this unacceptable, hate-fueled behavior,” the governor added.
(NEW YORK) — The two owners of a New Jersey gym were arrested on Monday morning for continuing to operate their business in defiance of Gov. Phil Murphy’s COVID-19 orders for indoor workout facilities to remain closed.
Ian Smith, 33, and Frank Trumbetti, 51, owners of Atilis Gym in the Camden County town of Bellmawr, were taken into custody at their business, where they have been staying since last week, officials said. They were arrested when they attempted to open their doors again.
Smith of Delanco Township and Trumbetti of Williamstown were each charged with fourth-degree contempt, obstruction and violation of a disaster control act, according to Acting Camden County Prosecutor Jill S. Mayer. Both were released with disorderly person summonses, Mayer said in a statement to ABC News.
After being released, Smith issued a statement on Facebook saying, “Welcome to America 2020, where feeding your family and standing up for your Constitutional rights is illegal.”
“They took Frank and I away and boarded up our private place of business,” Smith said, adding a video of him and Trumbetti being handcuffed outside the gym. “This is gonna be fun in court. If this doesn’t alarm you, you’re part of the problem. Please share and repost, let’s make these idiots answer for their power trip.”
The arrests come after New Jersey Superior Court Judge Robert T. Lougy issued a court order on Friday for Trumbetti and Smith to vacate the gym and cease operating in defiance of Murphy’s executive orders intended to blunt the spread of the coronavirus.
But Mayer said the men allegedly defied Lougy’s order within hours of its being issued.
“From July 24 through July 27, a number of individuals were observed entering and using the gym, a direct violation of the court order,” Mayer’s statement reads.
Smith and Trumbetti were arrested and taken to the Bellmawr Police Department for processing when they refused a request by police to voluntarily leave the gym, according to Mayer.
Lougy’s order authorized the state health department to not only put locks on the gym’s doors but to also erect barriers over the entrance to ensure compliance with Governor Murphy’s order.
Following Lougy’s decision, Christopher Arzberger, an attorney for the gym owners, told reporters that Smith and Trumbetti were “disappointed that this motion for contempt was granted.”
“However, we do respect the judge’s decision and will be taking all necessary steps to see if there is an issue of appeal here,” he said. “We understand our clients’ concerns. Small businesses have been under fire lately and we want to make sure all small businesses have an opportunity to be heard.”
In a video posted on Facebook on Friday evening, Smith said he and Trumbetti planned to stay inside the gym in defiance of the order.
“We will not be backing down under any circumstances,” Smith said while wearing a ball cap reading “Lions Not Sheep” and a T-shirt with the words “Make America Lift Again.”
He said Lougy’s contempt of court order was based on the prosecution’s “extremely weak” case.
“It was based on circumstantial evidence and had nothing directly tying us to a violation of Murphy’s executive orders,” Smith said. “However, it still went through because that’s what Murphy wants and that’s what Murphy gets.”
Since mid-May, Atilies Gym has become a rallying point for people against Murphy’s orders, which were issued in March. More than 200 people showed up to support the first attempt to reopen the gym on May 18, waving American flags and chanting “U.S.A! U.S.A.!” as the doors opened. At the time, police issued the first of several $2,000 citations for violating the rules.
Smith and Trumbetti said they had taken precautions prior to opening by limiting the number of members allowed inside to work out, implementing social distancing rules and asking members to wear protective face masks.
Akron Zoo/FacebookBy JON HAWORTH, ABC News
