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The United States Air Force swore-in its first Black chief of staff on Thursday.Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett administered the oath of office to Gen. Charles Q. Brown during a ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.¡°This is a very historic day for our nation, and I do not take this moment lightly,¡± Brown said at the ceremony. ¡°Today's possible due to the perseverance of those who went before me, serving as an inspiration to me and so many others." 467

The restaurant industry has been reshaped in the past six months. We¡¯ve seen more pivots to take-out and outdoor dining, but could we see a more drastic shift.New data from Bank of America shows sales at independent chains are still down about 15%."Right now, it is just sad. People are exhausting their personal savings. They are shutting their businesses and they just don¡¯t know what to do,¡± said Andrew Rigie.Rigie is with the New York City Hospitality Alliance. In NYC alone, at least 1,289 restaurants have closed since March, according to the Office of New York Comptroller. Across the country, Yelp has gathered data from its platform that show that number is around 16,000.¡°It¡¯s a really dire situation,¡± added Rigie.The situation is the direst for independent restaurants, because the same Bank of America study that showed sales still down 15% at mom and pop restaurants, shows chain restaurant sales are now up 2% higher than they were pre-pandemic.Industry experts believe a continuing trend of these numbers could reshape the industry.Chains restaurants are now in a better position to replace space occupied by folded restaurants or struggling ones, potentially shifting the flavor of the restaurant industry toward chain food.¡°I¡¯m not knocking or saying there is anything bad about a chain, but we really want our beloved mom and pop businesses,¡± said Rigie. "We really need support from the federal, state and local governments to ensure these places are able to recover.¡±Legislation was presented to Congress in June, the Restaurants Act, to help struggling independent restaurants with grant money. However, there has been no vote on the bill or any signs it could pass.Without additional help, the latest estimate by the Independent Restaurant Coalition is that upwards of 85% of independent restaurants could fold by the end of the pandemic. 1870

The White House on Tuesday said the Justice Department should consider a criminal prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey, claiming he had leaked privileged information to the press and offered false testimony to Congress."It's something they should certainly look at," press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters when asked whether the administration should prosecute Comey. She acknowledged that it was "not the President's role" to determine which criminal investigations are taken up by the Justice Department.The question arose as Sanders defended Trump's decision to fire Comey earlier this year, a choice Trump's former chief strategist called a mistake this week.Speaking to "60 Minutes" on CBS, Steve Bannon called the Comey decision the worst mistake in "modern political history." 812

The woman who became internet famous in October for flipping the bird at President Donald Trump's motorcade, and then said she was subsequently fired, is suing her former employer for unlawful termination.Juli Briskman was fired from the marketing team at Akima LLC in November shortly after she volunteered that she was the one who had made the gesture in a photo that went viral, she said at the time."I thought that it would probably get back to my company eventually," Briskman said in an interview with CNN's Jeanne Moos.She said she was told she had violated the company's social media policy, and said the company in turn fired her.Briskman tweeted Wednesday that "I was fired from my job for flipping off @realDonaldTrump. Today, I filed suit with @GellerLawyers & @protctdemocracy because what happened to me was unlawful and un-American."Her attorney, Maria Simon, reiterated this point in a statement through the nonprofit Protect Democracy,"Juli's expression of disapproval of the President is fundamental political speech protected by both the United States Constitution and Virginia state law," she said. "Akima's actions -- forcing Juli to resign out of fear of unlawful retaliation by the government -- violated the basic tenets of Virginia employment law. Ms. Briskman chose in her private time and in her capacity as a private citizen to express her disapproval of President Trump by extending her middle finger."CNN has reached out to Akima LLC seeking comment. 1512

The term "money laundering" was never more appropriate than this week, when Dutch police found around 0,000 stuffed inside the drum of a washing machine.A man present in the house during Monday's raid was arrested on suspicion of -- yes, you've guessed it -- money laundering.Authorities were checking for unregistered residents in western Amsterdam when they found the load."The municipal administration revealed that no one lived at the address," the police told CNN in a statement. "When the police did a search through the house they found €350,000 hidden in the washing machine."The police also confiscated several mobile phones, a firearm and a money-counting machine during the raid. The suspect, who is 24 years old, has not been named.The police news release included a picture of bundles of €20 and €50 bills crammed into the washing machine.They said in a statement that the raid was part of an investigation into "housing fraud, money laundering and other [signs] of crime." 997

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