Boner Candidate #1: A MAN OF REAL INTEGRITY
A sweeping state investigation into the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food under the leadership of former Commissioner Kerry Gibson has identified potential problems with the cannabis grower selection process, inappropriate use of state cars and questionable travel practices. During his whirlwind tenure at the agency before he left to run for Congress, Gibson took state cars on personal trips to Las Vegas and Bear Lake, improperly upgraded his hotel rooms and airplane seats and asked the department to reimburse him for costs he’d already charged to his state purchase card, according to the review released Wednesday morning. The auditors also voiced concern about the way the agency awarded eight lucrative licenses to grow medical cannabis in the state. And the problems called out by the audit extended to his handpicked staff.
Boner Candidate #2: THE MEAT COMPANY BETS ON ILLNESS AND DEATH.
A wrongful death lawsuit tied to COVID-19 infections at Tyson Foods’ largest pork processing plant accuses the meatpacking giant of ordering employees to come to work while supervisors privately bet money on how many would get infected with the deadly coronavirus. The family of Isidro Fernandez filed the lawsuit in August saying that Fernandez was exposed to the virus when he reported for work at the Tyson plant in Waterloo, Iowa. Fernandez died in April from COVID-19 complications, leaving behind a wife and children, according to the lawsuit. Fernandez was one of at least five Waterloo plant employees who died of the virus. More than 1,000 workers ― over a third of the facility’s workforce ― became infected, according to the Black Hawk County Health Department. The lawsuit, filed in Black Hawk County, claims Tyson is guilty of a “willful and wanton disregard for workplace safety” and accuses the company of endangering employees by downplaying virus concerns and covering up the outbreak in order to keep them working. As first reported by the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the lawsuit was recently amended to include new allegations against the company and plant officials. One of them is that supervisors at the Waterloo plant began wagering money on how many workers would get COVID-19.
