Eight Things To Talk About For Tuesday, October 29, 2019


These are the top maybe-not headlines from the past 36-hours presented by The Conversation Project from raw engagement data from our social media to the headlines posted over the past day.

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The 8 topics that our followers ranked as the most conversational are:

PEOPLE NOT WASHING HANDS AFTER USING TOILET IS BEHIND SPREAD OF ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT E. COLI
Humans and animals carry E. coli bacteria in the gut. It is usually harmless, but some strains cause food poisoning, others cause urinary tract infections (UTIs), and the most dangerous lead to bloodstream infections. E. coli has become more antibiotic resistant over the past 20 years. Strains with Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamases (ESBLs) enzymes destroy penicillin and another antibiotic called cephalosporin. Scientists have now discovered that the likeliest route of transmission for ESBL-E. coli is directly from human to human, “with faecal particles from one person reaching the mouth of another.” David Livermore of the University of East Anglia’s Norwich Medical School said mortality rates among people infected with these superbug strains are double those of people infected with strains that are susceptible to treatment. He said E.coli is the most common cause of blood poisoning, with more than 40,000 cases per year in England. Antibiotic-resistant strains cause around 10% of these cases and are particularly worrying for doctors, Livermore added. Researchers analyzed 20,000 fecal samples and hundreds of blood samples, publishing their findings in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal Tuesday. Testing revealed that strain ST131, which dwells in the gut and can occasionally cause serious infections, dominated in human blood, sewerage and feces samples, while different strains were more common in animal meat and slurry.
[SOURCE: cbslocal.com]

LULAROE IS FIRING ALL 167 EMPLOYEES AT ITS WAREHOUSE AFTER YEARS OF LEGAL DRAMA
The embattled company announced its plans to cut the workers in an Oct. 20 letter to the Employment Development Department of California (EDD). The company did so because state law dictates that employers inform the EDD and affected employees 60 days before conducting a “plant closing or mass layoff.” In the letter obtained by BuzzFeed News, LuLaRoe said it will “permanently lay-off [its] warehouse workforce” in Corona five days before Christmas. Every employee — from the warehouse’s maintenance engineer to forklift drivers — will be affected. The last few years have been rough for LuLaRoe. The company made a name for itself by signing up thousands of women to sell its popular, comfy leggings and reportedly selling $2.3 billion worth of products in 2017 alone. Pretty soon, however, angry former consultants began to speak out. They filed class-action lawsuits in 2017, claiming they had been hoodwinked into nothing more than a “pyramid scheme.” Women told BuzzFeed News that same year they had lost thousands of dollars trying to start their LuLaRoe businesses, leaving many of them in debt. Dozens of former consultants ended up filing for bankruptcy. In 2018, the company’s main clothing supplier, Providence Industries, sued LuLaRoe for $49 million, claiming it hadn’t been paid. And the legal cases haven’t stopped: Another class-action lawsuit filed in Washington state earlier this year accused the company of being a fraud.
[SOURCE: buzzfeednews.com]

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NCAA POISED TO MOVE TOWARD ALLOWING ATHLETES TO MAKE MONEY
The Board of Governors will be briefed Tuesday by administrators who have been examining whether it would be feasible to allow athletes to profit from their names, images and likenesses while still preserving NCAA amateurism rules that are the bedrock of its existence. The move comes as the nation’s largest governing body for college athletics faces increasing pressure from lawmakers across the country intent on following California’s lead by dismantling compensation prohibitions that currently apply to more than 450,000 NCAA athletes. Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith and Big East Conference Commissioner Val Ackerman, the leaders of the NCAA’s name, image and likenesses working group, will present a progress report to the board at Emory University in Atlanta. It will be a key early step in a process that could take months or even years to work its way through the NCAA various layers. NCAA rules have long barred players from hiring agents and the association has steadfastly refused to allow players to be paid by their schools, with some exceptions. The California law would prevent athletes from losing their scholarships or being kicked off their teams for signing endorsement deals. The measure doesn’t take effect until 2023, leaving time for the NCAA to take its own steps even though other states are considering measures that could take effect even earlier. A possible place for the NCAA to start is allowing athletes to make money from non-athletic business opportunities, which is currently prohibited. McGlade said the NCAA has been approving waivers at a high rate to allow athletes to earn money if they, for example, develop a product or write a book. In a notable recent case, the NCAA provided a waiver to former Notre Dame basketball star Arike Ogunbowale so she could compete on the television show “Dancing With the Stars.”
[SOURCE: apnews.com]

HONG KONG ENTERS RECESSION, OFFICIAL SAYS, AS PROTESTS AGAIN ERUPT IN FLAMES
Hong Kong has fallen into recession, hit by five months of anti-government protests that erupted in flames at the weekend, and is unlikely to achieve any growth this year, the city’s Financial Secretary said. Black-clad and masked demonstrators set fire to shops and hurled petrol bombs at police on Sunday following a now-familiar pattern, with police responding with tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets. TV footage showed protesters, who streamed into the Kowloon hotel and shopping artery of Nathan Road on Sunday, setting fire to street barricades and squirting petrol from plastic bottles on to fires at subway entrances amid running battles with police. “The blow (from the protests) to our economy is comprehensive,” Paul Chan said in a blog post, adding that a preliminary estimate for third-quarter GDP on Thursday would show two successive quarters of contraction – the technical definition of a recession. He also said it would be “extremely difficult” to achieve the government’s pre-protest forecast of 0-1 % annual economic growth.
[SOURCE: reuters.com]

A BUS FALLS BACKWARD INTO A GAPING SINKHOLE IN PITTSBURGH
Morning commuters in Pittsburgh got an eyeful Monday when a bus fell backward into a gaping sinkhole, leaving the front half hanging several feet above the road. The Port Authority bus was stopped at a red light when a rectangular hole in the street opened up beneath it, swallowing the back half of the bus, Port Authority of Allegheny County officials said. Only the driver and one passenger were on board when the bus fell in. Both were safely able to exit, and the lone passenger was being treated for minor injuries, the Port Authority reported. Another car just behind the bus stopped short of the sinkhole, and the driver safely exited the vehicle, CNN affiliate KDKA reported. A tow truck is on scene to drag the fallen bus out of the street.
[SOURCE: cnn.com]

FORMER BOSTON COLLEGE STUDENT FACING MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE SUBJECTED BOYFRIEND TO ‘UNENDING ABUSE’ PRIOR TO HIS GRADUATION DAY SUICIDE
A former Boston College student is facing an involuntary manslaughter charge in connection with the suicide death of her boyfriend, who she “physically, verbally and psychologically” abused for months before he leapt to his death in May — just hours before he was slated to receive his diploma, Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins announced Monday. A Suffolk grand jury returned an indictment charging Inyoung You, 21, of South Korea, in the texting-suicide death of 22-year-old Alexander Urtula, a biology major from Cedar Grove, New Jersey, who completed his coursework in December 2018. Prior to his death, he had been working as a researcher in New York. The indictment alleges her non-stop abuse resulted in “overwhelming” Urtula’s will to live. Urtula, who allegedly suffered through “unending abuse” over the course of an 18-month-long relationship with You, jumped from the roof of the Renaissance parking garage in Roxbury around 8:30 a.m. on May 20, Rollins said. His family was in town from New Jersey to watch him walk in the Boston College graduation ceremony that began that same day at 10 a.m. In the two months prior to his death, the couple exchanged more than 75,000 texts, of which You sent more than 47,000, Rollins said an analysis of his cellphone revealed. Her texts reportedly included repeated admonitions for Urtula to “go kill himself” to “go die” and that she, his family, and the world would be better off without him.
[SOURCE: whdh.com]

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ARKANSAS LAW MAKER, CIVIL RIGHTS LEGEND JOHN WALKER DIES AT 82  
According to Arkansas Business, State Rep. John W. Walker, a Little Rock lawyer and civil rights legend, has died. He was 82. His law firm, John W. Walker Law, confirmed his death to Arkansas Business. The news was first reported by the Arkansas Times blog. Walker died at home. Walker is best known to many for his involvement in the long-running Little Rock School District desegregation case, but he handled many others involving racial discrimination and other civil rights violations.
[SOURCE: 5newsonline.com]

UFC HEAVYWEIGHT FIGHTER WALT HARRIS PLEADS FOR HELP IN FINDING MISSING 19-YEAR-OLD STEPDAUGHTER
Police recovered a vehicle belonging to a missing Alabama college student over the weekend, but said there was still no sign of the 19-year-old as of Sunday afternoon. Investigators found Aniah Haley Blanchard’s 2017 Honda CRV at an apartment complex in Montgomery at around 6 p.m. Friday after a resident reported it to police, according to the Auburn Police Department. Blanchard’s stepfather, UFC heavyweight fighter Walt Harris, shared images of the two to his Instagram page on Thursday, asking members of the public to please come forward with information. Blanchard, a student at Southern Union State Community College in Wadley, was reported missing by her family on Thursday. Police said she last communicated with a friend on Wednesday, just before midnight.
[SOURCE: yahoo.com]

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Eight Things To Talk About uses the raw engagement data from the social media engagement from The Conversation Project to generate the top-ranking headlines over the course of a weekend.

A full weeks’ data (from Friday to Friday) is compiled, weighed, and sorted to produce the content for the Wrap-Up Show with J Cleveland Payne, published every Saturday as a podcast available at ThisIsTheConversation.com or wherever your favorite podcasts are found.

To ‘participate’ in the rankings of the headlines for this newsletter or the podcast, follow the Conversation Project on social media and engage with the posts to give them more ‘votes.’ The Conversation Project can be found on FacebookTwitter, and Instagram.

Connect with us directly by emailing us at theconversationinbox@gmail.com or by simply visiting thisistheconversation.com.

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