Boner Candidate #1: A LOVING SON
For a few thrilling hours on Wednesday, a nurse in California believed that she was a millionaire. The woman — who works at the Park Avenue Health & Wellness Center, a nursing home in Pomona, and is a mother to seven children — had reportedly received a phone call from her son telling her she was one of the winners of the $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot. Quoting an administrator at the nursing home, the NY Daily News says the nurse’s son had gone “so far as to send her a picture of what he said was the winning ticket.” Photos taken at the facility show employees celebrating the woman’s apparent stroke of luck: On Thursday, several news outlets reported that the nurse was indeed one of three Powerball winners. A Daily Mail report said the 62-year-old woman had still“finished her shift” after learning of her “win.” (This tidbit was later confirmed by BuzzFeed.) As the day wore on, however, it emerged that these early reports were false. According to the NY Daily News, the whole thing was a “prank” pulled by the nurse’s son. The woman’s daughter told the Los Angeles Times that the family “had not won the prize,” and reports suggesting otherwise had been a “misunderstanding based on a photo that was sent to her mother.” The daughter said the whole debacle was “embarrassing” for her family.
Boner Candidate #2: TOM IS MY SUPPORT ANIMAL
If you think that air travel has gone to the birds, it has — literally. We’re talkin’ turkey, as in that big Thanksgiving bird, one of which recently was spotted aboard a Delta flight acting as a “support animal,” and that’s causing a flap over how passengers are using, and abusing, comfort animal rules. So how can a turkey get on a plane? Simple. The passenger provided proper documentation proving the fowl was indeed their emotional support animal, so Delta let the bird on board, and even gave it its own seat. Reddit user biggestlittlepickle posted the picture, saying that his neighbor, a flight attendant, took this snapshot of the poultry on a plane. unclelimpy, another Reddit user who is friends with the Delta pilot on that flight, followed with another shot of the turkey receiving VIP treatment as it was rolled through the airport on a wheelchair. It even looks like it was enjoying the ride.
Boner Candidate #3: WE’RE BEING BILLED FOR SOMETHING WE CAN’T USE
Last week Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) declared a state of emergency over the level of lead being found in Flint’s tap water, and this week he activated the state National Guard to help provide residents with bottled water, filters, and lead testing kits. But even in the midst of this crisis, city residents aren’t just being charged for their poisoned tap water — they’re being threatened with shutoffs if they don’t quickly pay their bills. In 2011, Flint lawmakers imposed a rapid 35 percent increase in water rates, against a city law that requires utility hikes to be implemented gradually, and started issuing shutoff notices to those who were past due. A judge halted the shutoffs last summer, ordering the city to undo the increase and revise customers’ bills. But the shutoff notices resumed in November based on the prior rates, going out to about 1,800 past due households. And while they were paused for the December holiday season, they have once again resumed this week. Finance Director Jody Lundquist could not tell Michigan Live how many notices are expected to be sent out in this round. Even residents who aren’t behind, though, are frustrated that they’re still being billed for water they can’t even drink. “The city is still billing residents for the contaminated water being pumped to their homes and expecting immediate payment,” Sylvia Orduno of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization explained in an email to ThinkProgress.
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