Krispy Kreme orders student to halt doughnut resale service
ST. PAUL, Minn. — An enterprising Minnesota college student who drove to Iowa every weekend to buy hundreds of Krispy Kreme doughnuts that he then sold to his own customers in the Twin Cities area has been warned by the confectionary giant to stop.
There have been no Krispy Kreme stores in Minnesota for 11 years.
Jayson Gonzalez, 21, of Champlin, Minnesota, would drive 270 miles (430 kilometers) to a Krispy Kreme store in Clive, Iowa, pack his car with up to 100 boxes, each carrying 12 doughnuts, then drive back up north to deliver them to customers in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
He charged $17 to $20 per box. He said some of his customers spent nearly $100 each time. Gonzalez said he did not receive a discount from the store in Iowa where he bought the doughnuts.
But less than a week after the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported on his money-making scheme, Gonzalez received a phone call from Krispy Kreme’s Nebraska office telling him to stop. The senior studying accounting at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul said he was told his sales created a liability for the North Carolina-based company.
McDonald’s CEO pushed out after relationship with employee
NEW YORK — McDonald’s chief executive officer has been pushed out of the company after violating company policy by engaging in a consensual relationship with an employee, the corporation said Sunday.
The fast food giant said former president and CEO Steve Easterbrook demonstrated poor judgment, and that McDonald’s forbids managers from having romantic relationships with direct or indirect subordinates.
In an email to employees, Easterbrook acknowledged he had a relationship with an employee and said it was a mistake.
“Given the values of the company, I agree with the board that it is time for me to move on,” Easterbrook said in the email.
McDonald’s board of directors voted on Easterbrook’s departure Friday after conducting a thorough review. Details of Easterbrook’s separation package will be released Monday in a federal filing, according to a company spokesman. He will also be leaving the company’s board. Easterbrook was CEO since 2015.
Warren, Buttigieg circle each other in Iowa as caucuses near
DECORAH, Iowa — Gaining momentum in the final three months before the Iowa caucuses, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg offered sharply different messages this weekend as they inched closer to a confrontation over the direction of the Democratic Party.
Warren, a Massachusetts senator, positioned herself as a bold progressive fighter while Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said he could unite the party — and the country.
During a frenetic three-day stretch of campaigning in Iowa, two other top contenders sought to prove their staying power. Former Vice President Joe Biden argued he’s the sole Democrat who doesn’t need “on-the-job training” and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders reminded Iowans he’s still the outsider whose call for “political revolution” upended the nominating process four years ago.
The packed weekend offered a preview of the political and policy fights that face the leading candidates ahead of the Feb. 3 caucuses, and suggested a shift that for the first time put Warren and Buttigieg at sharp rhetorical odds.
It also highlighted the glaring vulnerabilities of the top White House hopefuls, ensuring a fluid home stretch as candidates and caucusgoers navigate fault lines on everything from ideology to age.
Former President Jimmy Carter is back teaching Sunday school
PLAINS, Ga. — Former President Jimmy Carter taught a Bible lesson on life after death Sunday less than two weeks after breaking his pelvis in a fall.
Using a walker, the 95-year-old Democrat slowly entered the crowded sanctuary at Maranatha Baptist Church in the southwest Georgia town of Plains.
“Morning, everybody,” he said cheerfully.
With help, Carter sat on a motorized lift chair at the front of the room to teach a 45-minute lesson based on the Old Testament book of Job.
Referring to a cancer diagnosis that resulted in the removal of part of his liver in 2015, Carter said he was is “at ease” with the idea of dying and believes in life after death.
Attacker bites politician’s ear, others slashed in Hong Kong
HONG KONG — A knife-wielding man slashed several people and bit off part of the ear of a pro-democracy politician in Hong Kong on Sunday, as riot police stormed several malls to thwart protesters who have been demanding government reforms for nearly five months.
The bloody attack erupted outside one of those shopping complexes, Cityplaza on Hong Kong Island. Local media said the attacker told his victims that Hong Kong belongs to China.
Television footage showed the man biting the ear of district councilor Andrew Chiu, who had tried to stop him from leaving after the stabbings. The attacker was then badly beaten up by a crowd before police arrived. Five people were injured, two critically and two seriously, news reports said.
The attack came late Sunday, a day in which protesters had been urged online to gather at seven locations, including malls, to sustain a push for political reform.
Most of the rallies didn’t pan out, as scores of riot police took positions, searching and arresting people, dispersing crowds and blocking access to a park next to the office of the city’s leader, Carrie Lam.
From wire sources