Dozens of bodies were found stored in rented trucks and vans on the street outside of a Brooklyn funeral home on Wednesday. Police had responded to calls from concerned neighbors, who reported an overwhelming odor and liquid dripping from the vehicles parked outside Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Home in the Flatlands neighborhood.
After police responded, employees could be seen moving the bodies into a refrigerated truck that it was able to acquire later in the day, according to the Associated Press. The funeral home was ultimately cited for failing to control the odor.
The city has not confirmed whether the deceased were coronavirus victims, but the scandal at the funeral home is illustrative of broader problems impacting New York City’s death care infrastructure amid the global coronavirus pandemic. In spite of a substantial jump in morgue capacity thanks to refrigerated trucks bought by the city and acquired from FEMA, the onslaught of death has prompted the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to cut down on the time it will hold onto remains before burying the unclaimed in mass graves on Hart Island. At the height of the crisis, morgues and crematories experienced backlogs of up to two weeks.
Caught between brimming morgues and backed-up cemeteries are the funeral directors who have had to take on higher volumes of business despite staff shortages related to social distancing and illness. When deaths peaked in early April, one Brooklyn funeral director told the Associated Press his home was handling on average three times the volume of remains daily as it would typically pre-pandemic.
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Spain's government has fined Airbnb 64 million euros or $75 million for advertising unlicensed tourist rentals. The consumer rights ministry announced the fine on Monday. The ministry stated that many listings lacked proper license numbers or included incorrect information. The move is part of Spain's ongoing efforts to regulate short-term rental companies amid a housing affordability crisis especially in popular urban areas. The ministry ordered Airbnb in May to remove around 65,000 listings for similar violations. The government's consumer rights minister emphasized the impact on families struggling with housing. Airbnb said it plans to challenge the fine in court.
Roomba maker iRobot has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but says that it doesn’t expect any disruptions to devices as the more than 30-year-old company is taken private under a restructuring process. iRobot said that it is being acquired by Picea through a court-supervised process. Picea is the company's primary contract manufacturer. The Bedford, Massachusetts-based anticipates completing the prepackaged chapter 11 process by February.
Serbia’s prosecutor for organized crime has charged a government minister and three others with abuse of position and falsifying of documents related to a luxury real estate project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The charges came on Monday. The investigation centers on a controversy over a a bombed-out military complex in central Belgrade that was a protected cultural heritage zone but that is facing redevelopment as a luxury compound by a company linked to Kushner. The $500 million proposal to build a high-rise hotel, offices and shops at the site has met fierce opposition from experts at home and abroad. Selakovic and others allegedly illegally lifted the protection status for the site by falsifying documentation.
