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Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Council staff in major Scots city could soon be doing FOUR-DAY week
She said the proposed change to working arrangements could offer a new way to help staff morale WORK IN PROGRESS Council staff in major Scots city could soon be doing FOUR-DAY week Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) WORKERS in one of Scotland's cities could soon be working just four days a week. The proposals could soon be trialled by a council meaning thousands of staff could be the first in the country to work the revamped hours. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 The City of Edinburgh Council is exploring a proposal to offer staff a four-day week Credit: The Times Councillors in the capital passed a motion lodged by the Scottish Greens' Claire Miller. She said the proposed change to working arrangements could offer a new way to help staff morale. Cllr Miller claimed that "productivity remains the same or in some cases can actually improve" with a four-day working week. She also told a City of Edinburgh Council meeting it would also assist in filling empty roles and aid poor health, as reported by BBC Scotland. Officers will now prepare a report for the local authority's finance and resources committee. The document will include information on the health of staff, productivity, recruitment and retention. Council officers will also inspect the evidence from four-day week pilots or reduced workday practices elsewhere. Ms Miller said: "The four-day week is a policy where our services remain as they are and there are no changes as far as the residents are concerned in terms of the opening hours provided to them. "Studies into a four-day week show productivity remains the same or in some cases can actually improve, and a great proportion of the working week is given back to people for their own responsibilities for rest and for leisure. "A four-day week is that rare unicorn policy, one where we can help our budgets but we would also be providing genuine benefits for our workers and through them to our residents." Scottish Conservative councillor Christopher Cowdy said that the report must be "balanced and grounded". New sinister threat issued in ongoing Scotland gang war He added that the council should be wary in interpreting limited trials and that locals should also be consulted. A number of local authorities in the UK have shown interest in trialling a four-day working week. South Cambridgeshire District Council was the first to trial it.
NDTV
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- NDTV
Indian-Origin BBC Presenter Naga Munchetty Accused Of Inappropriate Off-Air Behaviour And Bullying
Indian-origin BBC presenter Naga Munchetty is under fire after allegations of inappropriate off-air conduct and bullying, The Sun reported. The 50-year-old who is already at the centre of a BBC Breakfast toxicity row was reportedly reprimanded by bosses over two incidents in three years. The management also hauled her in over a comment she made during a break on Radio 5 Live. She allegedly used a crude slang term for a sex act and then directed the question at a colleague. The incident, which occurred in 2022, stunned the Radio 5 Live studio and led to Ms Mnchetty being hauled before bosses. According to The Sun, a senior producer reprimanded Ms Munchetty, but no formal action was taken. The 2022 incident was "crass, inappropriate and wildly unprofessional," one insider said, adding that the person on the receiving end "felt embarrassed". In a separate incident on the BBC Breakfast show last year, the outlet reported that Ms Munchetty was allegedly involved in the bullying of a junior staff member. She falsely accused a female junior staffer of stealing, which led to a closed-door showdown. "It was humiliating. There was no evidence, no apology. The woman left not long after, completely demoralised," the insider said. "That wasn't an isolated incident. It really is the tip of the iceberg," said another insider. Notably, the recent revelations come at a time when the BBC is facing scrutiny over multiple misconduct cases involving its on-air talent. According to The Times, BBC Breakfast show's editor Richard Frediani is at the centre of a formal bullying investigation. The outlet is conducting an internal review into his behaviour and general allegations of toxicity on the show. Staff have been approached about sharing their experience of working on the programme, according to Deadline. Mr Frediani, on the other hand, has taken an extended period of leave after the allegations about his behaviour. He has been accused of shouting at staff for on-air mistakes, kicking a bin and pressuring staff on central news desks not to withhold their best stories for the 6 pm and 10 pm bulletins. A BBC spokesperson said it did not comment on individual cases but takes "all complaints about conduct at work extremely seriously and will not tolerate behaviour that is not in line with our values". "We have robust processes in place and would encourage any staff with concerns to raise them directly with us so they can be addressed,' the spokesperson added.
Perth Now
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Jordan Stephens is 'super in love' with Jade Thirlwall
Jordan Stephens and Jade Thirlwall are still "super in love" after five years together. The Rizzle Kicks star has opened up about his relationship with former Little Mix singer revealing they are still incredibly happy together after they started dating back in 2020. He told The Times newspaper: "I've been with my girlfriend, Jade, for five years and we are super in love. She's solo now but she was in Little Mix ... My mum obviously loves her too." Jordan also opened up about his past battles with drug abuse revealing he's been sober since 2018 and now he treats himself to a pastry if he's feeling down instead of turning to illegal substances like he did after shooting to fame as a teenager. He said: "Becoming famous so suddenly at 19 was a shock. It was positive in a hedonistic way but I wish I could have felt more present ... "I went sober in 2018. I was heartbroken; I had cheated and my relationship was over. I spoke to my mum about having suicidal thoughts ... " He added: "Now if I'm going through something my spirals are filled with croissants not cocaine." Jordan has been supporting Jade since she launched a solo music career after Little Mix parted ways, and she gave him a special mention when she accepted her first solo BRIT Award earlier this year. Jade has previous credited the musician with being her biggest supporter as he helps her whenever she has feelings of self doubt. According to The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column, Jade said: "Something that Jordan taught me, whenever I'm feeling anxious or my self-saboteur is coming out, Jordan is always like, 'Just think of Little Jade, and look at what you've achieved. "'Little Jade from South Shields has done this? That's crazy'. That's always stuck with me. I have words of affirmation in my bedroom and one of them says, 'Little Jade is really proud of you'. "Any time I feel like s*** that really gets me through." Jade explained that Jordan's words of encouragement have helped her just as much as self-help books. She said: "I feel like you read every self-help book, you have therapy, you speak to people but sometimes you forget about yourself. "You forget that there was a little version of yourself and if they were watching what you've done with your life now they would be like, 'Oh my gosh, I never thought I could achieve this'."
Los Angeles Times
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
As Los Angeles faces budget crisis, legal payouts skyrocket
The amount of money that the city of Los Angeles pays annually for police misconduct, trip and falls, and other lawsuits has ballooned, rising from $64 million a decade ago to $254 million last year and $289 million this fiscal year. The reasons are complicated, ranging from aging sidewalks to juries' tendency to award larger judgments to possible shifts in legal strategy at the city attorney's office to an increase in the sheer number of lawsuits against the city. The biggest chunk of payouts over the past five years were for 'dangerous conditions' — lawsuits singling out faulty city infrastructure, such as broken elevators — at 32%, followed by civil rights violations and unlawful uses of force at 18%, and traffic collisions involving city vehicles also at 18%. City officials have cited the legal payouts as a significant factor in a nearly $1-billion budget shortfall for fiscal year 2025-26 that was closed with layoffs and other spending cuts. City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto, who took office in December 2022, heads the office that defends the city against lawsuits. In an interview with The Times and public appearances throughout the city, Feldstein Soto cited a backlog of cases from the COVID-19 pandemic, when courts were barely moving, that were settled or went to trial in recent years. 'Structured settlements' negotiated by her predecessor, Mike Feuer, which are paid out annually rather than in one lump sum, have also contributed to the tab, she said. Feldstein Soto also said she believes juries are increasingly antagonistic to city governments, resulting in larger verdicts. Feuer said in an interview that the city was entering into structured settlements before he took office, and he does not believe he increased their use. To explain the rise in legal liability payouts during his tenure — from about $40 million in 2013 to about $91 million in 2022 — Feuer cited a lack of investment in city infrastructure like streets and sidewalks during the 2008 financial crisis. In public appearances, Feldstein Soto has sometimes blamed plaintiffs for trying to get financial compensation for what she characterized as risky behavior or interpersonal disputes. Speaking to the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association earlier this year, she said that two types of lawsuits — 'dangerous conditions' lawsuits and those brought by city employees over working conditions — are ripe for abuse. Some employees who sue the city simply don't like their bosses, Feldstein Soto said, citing a lawsuit by an LAPD captain, Stacey Vince, who alleged that higher-ups retaliated against her after she complained about her boss. Vince was awarded $10.1 million by a jury, and the city subsequently settled the case for just under $6 million. Feldstein Soto also described one man who sued the city as an 'idiot.' The man was riding his electric scooter without a helmet, Feldstein Soto said, when he crashed on an uneven sidewalk and into a nearby tree, suffering a traumatic brain injury. According to Feldstein Soto, taxpayers ultimately pay the price for these lawsuits. 'Please understand that every dollar you award is your money,' she said. The number of lawsuits filed against the city has risen each year since the pandemic, from 1,131 in 2021 to 1,560 in 2024. At the same time, the average amount the city pays per case has increased dramatically, from under $50,000 in 2022 to $132,180 in 2024. A contributing factor is the increase in payouts of least $1 million, with 17 such cases in 2022 and 39 in 2024. (The city counts settlements or jury verdicts in the fiscal year they are paid out, not when the dollar amount is decided.) From July 2024 to March 2025, the city paid $1 million or more in 51 lawsuits. Feldstein Soto said these 'nuclear verdicts' cut deep into the city budget and could raise payouts for similar cases in the future. Total annual payouts in police misconduct cases jumped from $15 million in 2020 to $50 million in 2024. Dangerous conditions cases rose from around $41 million in 2020 to about $84 million in 2024. Earlier this year, the city paid $21 million to plaintiffs in a series of lawsuits related to a botched LAPD bomb squad fireworks detonation that injured more than 20 people and displaced many residents. Also this year, the city paid out a $17.7-million verdict to the family of a man with mental health issues killed by an off-duty LAPD officer. This coming fiscal year, the city increased its allocation for liability payouts from about $87 million to $187 million — far less than what it has been paying in recent years — out of a $14-billion budget. City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who chairs the council's public works committee, said the rising payouts stem in part from the city's long-term lack of investment in infrastructure. The city spent about 10% of its overall budget on streets and other public works last year — substantially less than it spent on police, said Hernandez, who favors a smaller LAPD. 'As a city, we don't invest in the maintenance of our city,' she said. 'I have felt like I've been screaming into the void about some of these things.' In one lawsuit paid out this year, the city agreed to give $3 million to a man who tripped over a slightly uneven sidewalk and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Last April, the city reached a $21-million settlement with a man whose skull was broken by a street lamp part that fell on him. The city had gone to trial, with a jury awarding the man $22 million, but the parties eventually settled for the slightly lower amount. 'I believe the driving force is the delays and lack of maintenance of the city that has caused an increase in such incidents,' said Arash Zabetian, a lawyer for the man hit by the streetlight. Some plaintiffs' attorneys say that Feldstein Soto's legal strategies are contributing to the rising liability costs. They assert that she is taking more cases to trial, resulting in larger verdicts than if she had settled. Matthew McNicholas, an attorney who often sues the city on behalf of police officers, said he recently went to trial in five cases and won all of them, for a total payout of more than $40 million. He would have been happy to settle all five cases for a total of less than $10 million, he said. One of the lawsuits, which ended with a $13-million verdict, was filed by two male officers accused of drawing a penis on a suspect's abdomen. The officers alleged that higher-ups did not cast the same suspicion on their female colleagues. In another of the lawsuits, a whistleblower alleged that he was punished for highlighting problems in the LAPD Bomb Detection K-9 Section. A jury also awarded him $13 million. 'It's not a tactic to say we're going to play hardball. It's just stupid,' McNicholas said. 'I am frustrated because she goes and blames my clients and runaway juries for her problems.' Greg Smith, another plaintiffs' attorney, said he has also noticed a tendency at Feldstein Soto's office to push cases to trial. 'Everything is a fight,' Smith said. 'I have been suing the city for 30 years, and this has been the worst administration with respect to trying to settle cases.' Feldstein Soto said her office settles 'every case we can.' 'It's in nobody's interest to go to trial. It's a waste of resources,' she said. 'But we will not settle cases where we don't think we're liable or where the demand is unreasonable.' To stem the flood of large payouts, Feldstein Soto is looking to Sacramento for help, proposing a bill that would cap lawsuits against California cities at $1 million or three times the economic losses caused by an incident, whichever is greater. Caps on damages exist already in 38 states, according to Feldstein Soto's office. She has yet to find a state legislator to sponsor the bill.
Los Angeles Times
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Unsanitary, overcrowded and inhumane: Surge of new detainees at Adelanto brings dire conditions, critics say
ADELANTO, Calif. — As federal immigration agents conduct mass raids across Southern California, the Adelanto ICE Processing Center is filling so rapidly it is reigniting longtime concerns about safety conditions inside the facility. In less than two months, the number of detainees in the sprawling complex about 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles has surged from around 300 near the end of April to more than 1,200 as of Wednesday, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. The largest detention center in California, Adelanto has for years been the focus of complaints from detainees, attorneys and state and federal inspectors about inadequate medical care, overly restrictive segregation and lax mental health services. But now, critics — including some staff who work inside — warn that conditions inside have become increasingly unsafe and unsanitary. The facility, they say, is woefully unprepared to handle a massive increase in the number of detainees. 'It's dangerous,' a longtime Adelanto detention center staff member told The Times, speaking on condition of anonymity because they did not want to lose their job. 'We have no staffing for this and not enough experienced staff. They're just cutting way too many corners, and it affects the safety of everybody in there.' On Tuesday, U.S. Rep Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park), toured Adelanto with four other Democratic members of Congress from California amid growing concern over the rapidly increasing number of detainees and deteriorating conditions inside the facility. The facility's manager 'has to clearly improve its treatment of these detainees,' Chu said at a news conference after inspecting the facility for nearly two hours. Some detainees told lawmakers they were held inside Adelanto for 10 days without a change of clothes, underwear or towels, Chu said. Others said they had been denied access to a telephone to speak to loved ones and lawyers, even after repeatedly filling out forms. 'I was just really shocked to hear that they couldn't get a change of underwear, they couldn't get socks for 10 days,' Chu told The Times. 'They can't get the PIN number for a telephone call. What about their legal rights? What about the ability to be in contact with their families? That is inhumane.' Immigration Customs and Enforcement and GEO Group, the Florida-based private prison corporation that manages the Adelanto detention center, did not answer The Times' questions about staffing or conditions inside the facility. The Times also sent questions to Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin, but they were not answered. Over the last two weeks, new detainees have been forced to sleep on the floors of common areas without blankets and pillows and have spent days in the facility before they were provided with clean clothes and underwear, according to interviews with current detention center staff, immigration attorneys, and members of Congress who toured the facility. Some detainees have complained about lack of access to medication, lack of access to drinking water for four hours, and being served dinner as late as 10 p.m. One detainee was not allowed his high blood pressure pills when family tried to bring it in, said Jennifer Norris, a staff attorney at Immigrant Defenders Law Center. In some cases, she said, lax medical care has led to emergencies: a Vietnamese man passed out last week because staff didn't provide him with his necessary medication. 'It's clear that with the ramp up enforcement, Adelanto just does not have the staff to keep pace with the aggressive enforcement that's happening now,' Norris said. 'It is bizarre. We spend millions of dollars on ICE detention and they're not even able to provide basic necessities for the new arrivals.' Long before Trump administration officials announced in May they were setting a new national goal of arresting 3,000 unauthorized immigrants a day, Adelanto workers worried about understaffing and unsafe conditions as the center processed new detainees. At the end of last year, the facility held only three people. As of Wednesday, the number had swelled to 1,218, according to the ACLU of Southern California. The climb is only partly due to the ICE agents' recent escalation of immigrant raids. The 1,940-bed Adelanto facility has been operating at a dramatically reduced capacity since 2020 when civil rights groups filed a class-action lawsuit demanding a drastic reduction in the number of people detained at Adelanto on the basis that they faced severe risk of contracting COVID-19. A federal judge forced the detention center to release detainees and prohibit new intakes and transfers. But a series of federal court orders this year — the most recent in early June — has allowed the facility to fully reopen just as federal immigration agents fan out into neighborhoods and workplaces. 'As soon as the judge lifted the order, they just started slamming people in there,' an Adelanto staffer told The Times. Eva Bitrán, director of immigrant rights at the ACLU of Southern California, said 'almost everybody' held in the Adelanto facility had no criminal record before they arrived in the detention center. 'But even if they had a criminal record, even if they had served their time in criminal custody and then been brought to the ICE facility, nobody deserves 10 days in the same underwear,' Bitrán said. 'Nobody deserves dirty showers, nobody deserves moldy food.' Mario Romero, an Indigenous worker from Mexico who was detained June 6 at the Ambiance Apparel warehouse in downtown L.A., was one of dozens who ended up in Adelanto. His daughter, Yurien Contreras, said she and her family were traumatized after her father was 'chained by the hands, feet and waist,' taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown and then 'held hostage' in a van from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. with no access to water, food or a restroom. 'Little did we know,' she said, 'it was only the beginning of the inhumane treatment our families would endure.' At Adelanto, she said, officials try to force her father to sign documents without due process or legal representation. The medical care was 'less than minimal,' she said, the food was unsustainable and the water tasted like Clorox. Lucero Garcia told The Times she was concerned about her 61-year-old uncle, Candido, who was detained June 9 as he worked at his job at Magnolia Car Wash in Fountain Valley. But when she visited him Saturday, 'he didn't want to share much,' she said. 'He's worried more about us.' This is not the first time the Adelanto detention center has faced scrutiny. In 2018, federal inspectors issued a report finding 'serious violations' at the facility, including overly restrictive detainee segregation and guards failing to stop detainees from hanging braided bed sheet 'nooses.' Five years later, current and former Adelanto detainees filed a class-action lawsuit against GEO Group, alleging the company 'systematically poisoned' inmates by improperly using toxic chemicals to clean the detention center. GEO Group has denied the claims in the class-action suit. In April, the California Department of Justice released a report that found all of the state's six privately operated immigration detention facilities, including Adelanto, fell short in providing mental health care for detainees, medical record keeping, suicide prevention strategies, and use of force against detainees with mental health conditions. But two staffers who spoke to The Times said they had never experienced such unsafe conditions at Adelanto. As the prison population has increased over the last few months, they said, staff are working long hours without breaks, some even falling asleep driving home after their shifts and having car accidents. Shift duty officers with no security experience were being asked to make decisions in the middle of the night about whether to put detainees who felt threatened in protective custody. Officers, including people from food service, were being sent to the hospital to check on detainees with tuberculosis and hepatitis. 'Everyone's just overwhelmed,' a staffer said. Officers working over their allotted schedules were often tired when they were on duty, another staffer said. In May, a detainee went into anaphylactic shock and ended up intubated in the hospital, the staffer said, because an officer wasn't paying attention or was new and gave the detainee, who's allergic to seafood, a tray that contained tuna. At a May meeting, the warden told all executive staff that they needed to come to work dressed down on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the staffer said, because they would have to start doing janitorial work. On June 2, a detainee at the Annex facility made his way from a medical holding area, through four locked doors, all the way back to his dorm unescorted, the staffer said — a major security breach. 'If he would've wanted to escape he would've been gone,' the staffer said. 'All he did is push the buttons to access the doors and they were open for him, no questions. Apparently, whoever was in central control was too tired to check or too inexperienced.' The detention center was becoming unsanitary, the staffer said, with trash bins not promptly emptied, bathrooms not cleaned and floors not mopped as they should be. As new waves of detainees flooded into the facility over the last two weeks, the staffer said, the facility was chaotic and lacking basic supplies. 'We didn't have enough to provide right away,' they said, 'so we're scrambling to get clothes and mattresses.' Mark Ferretiz, who worked as a cook supervisor at Adelanto for 14 years until April, said former colleagues told him officers were working 16- to 20-hour shifts multiple days in a row without breaks, officers were slow to respond to physical fights between detainees, and food was limited for detainees. 'They had five years to prepare,' Ferretiz, who had served as a union steward, said of his former supervisors. 'I don't know the reason why they weren't prepared.' While the supply shortages appeared to ease some in recent days — a shipment of clothes and mattresses had arrived by Tuesday, when members of Congress toured — the detention center was still understaffed, the current staffer said. Detainees were being served food on paper clam-shell to-go boxes, rather than regular trays, a staffer said, because the facility lacked employees to wash up at the end of mealtimes. 'Trash pickup's not coming fast enough, ' a staffer said, noting that piles of trash sat outside, bagged up, beside the dumpsters. In a statement last week, GEO Group Executive Chairman George C. Zoley said fully opening the Adelanto facility would allow his company to generate about $31 million in additional annualized revenues. 'We are proud of our approximately 350 employees at the Adelanto Center, whose dedication and professionalism have allowed GEO to establish a long-standing record of providing high-quality support services on behalf of ICE in the state of California,' Zoley said. But after touring the facility, members of Congress said officials did not provide answers to basic questions. When Chu asked officials about whether California immigrants were being taken to other states, she said, they said, 'We don't know.'
