Brickbats
The New Shoreham, Rhode Island, town council has banned the sale and use of balloons. Officials say the move will reduce pollution and protect wildlife. The council previously banned plastic bags for the same reasons. Violators face fines of up to $200.
Senior Zach Cassidento was yanked out of class, arrested, and suspended by Connecticut's Amity Regional High School for "disrupting the educational process" after he posted a photo of the airsoft air gun he got as a birthday present to Snapchat. His post contained no threat, but it still upset another student, who reported him.
A woman has hauled Sydney, Australia, barber Sam Rahim before the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. The woman, an attorney, claims Rahim violated anti-discrimination law by refusing to cut her daughter's hair. Rahim says he politely told her that he wasn't trained to cut women's hair, that he has no experience cutting women's hair, and that there were three women's hair salons just a short distance away.
A driver stopped for tailgating in Southampton, New Jersey, ended up getting his genitals and buttocks groped by a cop. Police body camera footage shows State Trooper Joseph Drew claiming to smell marijuana to justify a search. The man protested that he had no drugs, but Drew nevertheless put on gloves and reached inside the man's underwear as they stood on the side of the road. Drew found no drugs on the man or in his car.
The Patriarch Craft Beer House and Lawn in Edmond, Oklahoma, promised free beer to striking teachers. But after an official with the state's Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement Commission saw a Facebook post on the offer, investigators raided the bar, seized two kegs of Respect Party beer, and issued the owner a citation for not having the beverage brand properly registered in the state.
In Minnesota, New Prague High School Principal Lonnie Seifert removed a student from the campus after he held up a sign reading, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" during a student walkout to protest gun violence. The high school subsequently said that district policy requires students' signs to have been reviewed by administrators 24 hours in advance.
Officials in Encinitas, California, have fined Peabody's Bar and Grill $3,000 after catching people dancing to live music in violation of a city law meant to prevent dance clubs from being opened there. Owner Brie Cardosa said she doesn't run a dance club, but sometimes the natural reaction to music is to move around.
Jacksonville, Florida, code enforcement officer Melinda Power posted an apology on Facebook for being "unprofessional and disrespectful" while issuing a warning to a local business for flying military flags. According to staff at Jaguar Power Sports, Power told them they could be prosecuted if the flags weren't removed. When a customer said he was a veteran who had almost lost his life serving in the military, she told him, "You did nothing for this country," according to one employee. The mayor has since ordered inspectors not to cite businesses for flying military flags.
A new German law gives those who work in firms with more than 200 employees the right to know what their coworkers in similar jobs are paid. The law is aimed at making sure men and women are compensated equally.
This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Brickbats."
