Saturday snippets

| June 21, 2025 | 32 Comments

Got some legal and non-legal items.

Wally World may be changing tack – after years of imposing self-checkout on customers, they are taking self-checkout of some stores.

According to the Webster-Kirkwood Times, the Shrewsbury Police Department responded to 509 calls from the Walmart location between January and May of last year. During the same period this year, after the self-checkouts were removed, those calls dropped to just 183. Arrests fell by more than half, from 108 to just 49.

The company is testing Scan & Go technology at select Sam’s Club locations. That model uses a mobile app to tally purchases in real-time, combining QR codes and AI to reduce shrink while offering speed and convenience to shoppers.  Men’s Journal

Whatever they do, you just know criminals will try to circumvent it.

Might remember the lady whose house was trashed during a stand-off between police and an escapee who took refuge in it – the city of McKinney, TX has been refusing to pay any damages due to sovereign immunity and her insurer refused to pay because it was city-caused damage and not covered. Well, the courts are seeing it otherwise. $60,000 worth.

Baker took the city to court after her house became the battleground for a high-stakes manhunt, reported WFAA. McKinney police unleashed tear gas, explosives, and tactical vehicles on the property while chasing a fugitive who had barricaded himself inside.

It has been up and down the court system, even the Supremes declining to hear it.

As for Baker, now living in Montana, she says the city’s legal fees ended up being more than what it owed her. “They have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees,” she said. “And they could have gotten off with paying me $60,000.”  MoneyWise

SigSauer bought some interesting protection. Their P320 has had a reputation for years of being prone to accidental discharges, and they are facing numerous lawsuits, most laying part of the blame on the absence of an external safety (they are also alleged to fail a drop test frequently. Supposedly this was rectified in 2017 but incidents persist.)

Faced with mounting lawsuits over a popular pistol, New Hampshire-based Sig Sauer asked for — and got — protection in the form of a new state law that makes it harder to take the gunmaker to court.

Supporters in the Republican-led Legislature said the law was needed to help a major employer. The lawsuits say Sig Sauer’s P320 pistol can go off without the trigger being pulled, an allegation the company denies.

The law covers all gun manufacturers and federal firearm licensees in product liability claims regarding the “absence or presence” of four specific safety features. One of those features is an external mechanical safety that people suing Sig Sauer say should be standard on the P320, based on its design. Claims can still be filed over manufacturing defects. AP

PLCAA should protect SS from frivolous lawsuits – but accidental discharges due to design is a product defect, not a frivolous suit. But, apparently some of the suits allege that the absence of an external safety is in itself a defect, which IS untrue. Depending on the gun, I carry either way – but I have to admit a manual safety is comforting, and doesn’t slow things down any.

Captain Cook’s ship has been found. He was famously killed when he landed in Hawaii and naming them the Sandwich Islands  (after the fell who supposedly invented them) but his ship, the HMS Endeavor, served on. She’s been positively identified and found in the harbor of Newport, RI.

After Cook’s death, the Endeavour returned to England, which went on to use it for transporting British troops and detaining prisoners during the American Revolutionary War. It was sold to private owners, who renamed the ship Lord Sandwich, and deliberately sunk in Newport Harbor in the midst of war in 1778.  CBS News

Last but not least – Lou Christie (born Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco – Whiz  Wheel worthy!), who charted a few tunes (notably “Lightnin’ Strikes”) in the ’60s., died at the age of 82 in Pittsburgh, PA. One of ours – his performing career hit both before and after his stint in the Army which ended in 1965.

Christie died Wednesday, June 18, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania after a “short illness” according to the singer’s obituary. His death was announced by his family in an Instagram post.  MassLive

Category: Society

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