NY vaping ban

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an emergency executive order to ban the sale of fruit and candy-flavored e-cigarettes in the state yesterday. This ban comes after a series of actions the state has taken to curb youth vaping, and after six deaths nationwide have been attributed to an unknown, vaping-related lung disease.

Hong Kong protests, cont’d

Pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong clashed with police over the weekend as the protests in the country entered their 15th straight week. The protests, now representing a wider call for democratic change, were originally triggered by an April extradition bill that has since been withdrawn.

UAW Strike

The United Auto Workers announced a nationwide strike yesterday after failing to agree to a new contract with General Motors over wages, profit-sharing, healthcare, and job security. Picket lines were scheduled to go up at midnight last night.

MoviePast

Following its suspension of service in early July, MoviePass closed its discount ticketing service for good this past Saturday. The company has been dealing with financial and subscriber issues, and went from more than 3 million members to about 225,000 as of April 2019.

Ch-ch-changes

WeWork parent, the We Company, announced sweeping governance changes Friday that will take place prior to the company’s IPO. The changes include removing some of CEO Adam Neumann’s voting power, the addition of a new director, altering the company’s CEO succession plan, and a stipulation around Neumann’s ability to sell his shares in the future.

Do Not Pass Go

Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy last night. This comes after the company agreed to a partial deal with 23 states and thousands of local governments over its role in the opioid crisis.

Facing the music

The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) has requested to expand its lawsuit against Peloton, now seeking $300 million in damages - up from the $150 million sought when the suit was initially filed in March. The suit was initiated over the fitness company’s unauthorized use of songs in its workout videos, and the request to expand comes after the NMPA allegedly found additional music not included in its original filing.

Thumbs of an Angel

Noah Jakeman is just 4 years old, but he’s already been through a lot. He has Lennox Gasteau Syndrome, which is a severe type of epilepsy and cerebral palsy; he also has brittle bones, and a host of other serious conditions.

Abby Fink, a member of his family’s church, was planning to take dinner to Noah’s family, so she sent a quick text to see what time would be best… except she ended up texting the wrong number. But when the person on the other end of the phone – his name was Bill – learned about Noah’s condition, he offered to help in any way he could. In no time, Bill was working his network to raise money and solicit blood donations, cards, and gifts for Noah.

Bill said that he believes it’s our job to look out for one another, because that’s all we have. Abby referred to Bill as an angel sent to help Noah’s family - with the money raised through the help of a complete stranger, Noah is on the mend. Angels come in many forms…sometimes even through a “wrong” number.

Kick 'em with kindness

Fourteen-year-old Kyler Nipper knows all too well how awful it is to be bullied. Due to a deformation in his Achilles’ tendon, Kyler walks on his tippy toes, which breaks down and ruins his shoes after just a couple days. His middle school peers in Colorado teased him for this, and one day in 2016, it became violent. A young boy at Kyler’s school stabbed him with a sharp pencil in the hallway, collapsing his lung and leaving him unable to breathe. The injury required emergency surgery, and Kyler has since suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Since he woke up from the surgery ... all Kyler could think about was giving out shoes,” his mom told Inside Edition. Determined to make sure no one else would experience what happened to him, Kyler requested shoe donations with the goal of cleaning, repairing, and giving away 1,000 shoes. After giving those shoes to kids like him and other needy folks in his community, he found the action of giving back to be therapeutic – it helped him deal with and heal from his PTSD. Kyler told Inside Edition, “Kindness is like the best thing in the world.”

As of September 3, 2019, Kyler has given away more than 25,000 pairs of shoes through his nonprofit organization, Kyler's Kicks. And soon, they’ll be adding another aspect to the nonprofit: Kyler’s Kicks Lounge, where youth in grades 6 to 12 can participate in free mental health and life skills programs. Kyler calls it a kindness movement, and it just might change the world… one pair of shoes at a time.