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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Between the hustle and bustle of serving hungry customers at Commune in Virginia Beach, you'll find small pops of beauty.That beauty took a new form on Friday when Dan Pew walked through the doors.He was visiting from Ohio with his fiance and said he wanted to spread love and positivity during his time in the Resort City.A few days before vacation, he was scrolling through the social media platform Tik Tok when he came across posts about the Venmo Challenge.It encourages people to give back to their community."You ask your social media followers - [it can be] your friends, your family, or businesses or anybody and you say 'hey if you want to donate through Venmo Challenge tag 'the awesome human being' or 'for the food service worker' and then you donate and then you surprise a food service worker with a tip," Pew said.Pew was inspired by the videos of people surprising waiters and waitresses, so he took the plea to his followers on social media.In a message he said, "We're going to Virginia Beach for vacation this week and we want to surprise a food service worker with a huge tip."After putting the challenge out there, the internet got to work. Pew racked up hundreds of dollars in his Venmo account in just a few days.Then on Friday, after being helped by Aubrey Seykerbuyk at Commune, Pew pulled out 0.Seykerbuyk recalled the moment that made her jaw drop to the ground, "He had like a wad of cash and started counting it out in front of me and I honestly didn't know like what was happening. I didn't know if it was like a social experiment to see if I would take it or not."It was no experiment. The young waitress was nearly brought to tears.She said the act of kindness couldn't have come at a better time. "My vision has been clouded by so much negativity just by everything going on recently and that little glimmer of kindness that I received yesterday was just enough to remind me that there is still good people, there are still good people in this world and we need more of them."Even better, the other servers got a piece of the pie.Chelsey Miller is the front house manager at Commune who was working when the surprise took place."We all tip share so it kinda went to all of us and they didn't even realize that was going to be the case either so it was really awesome," she said. "We're all really grateful to be a part of one of those pay-it-forward things."Miller said the 0 was split between the 5 servers working."They had the means and they decided to help which is all anybody can ask for right now," Seykerbuyk said.Before making his exit from town to share the love elsewhere, Pew said "It's not about me, it's not about the money, it's about the message of spreading positivity and love."Miller said it¡¯s awesome to see people appreciating restaurant workers and helping out after their businesses have been closed down due to COVID-19.This story originally reported by Erin Miller on wtkr.com. 2972

Volkswagen has been fined another €800 million (6 million) over its diesel emissions scandal, this time because of failings at its Audi subsidiary.Volkswagen said Tuesday it accepted the fine imposed by German prosecutors, waving its right to appeal. It said the penalty would hit earnings this year."As a negative special item, [it will] reduce the group earnings for fiscal year 2018 accordingly," it said in a statement.The penalty by Munich prosecutors is just the latest consequence of the scandal that emerged in 2015 and initially wiped out billions off the company's value.Volkswagen admitted cheating on clean air rules with software that made emissions look less toxic than they actually were.The fine concludes the Munich prosecutors' investigation into the company. However, probes into executives, including Audi's former CEO Rupert Stadler, continue, the prosecutors said.The €800 million fine comprises a €5 million penalty for administrative offenses, the maximum allowed under German law.On top of that, prosecutors ordered Volkswagen to repay €795 million they said the company made from the cheating. The prosecutors said this included profits from the sales of affected vehicles.In this case, the diesel emissions cheating affected nearly 5 million cars sold by the Volkswagen group in Europe and the United States, prosecutors said. Specifically, it concerned V6 and V8 diesel engines manufactured by Audi and installed in Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche brands, and Audi vehicles equipped with EA 189 and EA 288 engine made by Volkswagen.Shares in Volkswagen (VLKAF) and Audi (AUDVF) were trading higher on Tuesday. Volkswagen stock is down 11 percent so far this year. 1699

VISTA (CNS) - A man who allegedly fired a BB gun at an Oceanside business that had put up a sign supporting the Black Lives Matter movement was charged Friday with felony vandalism and a hate crime allegation.Steve Soto, 23, of Carlsbad, allegedly drove by Bliss Tea & Treats around 7:10 p.m. on June 4, then fired a BB gun out the window of his vehicle, shattering a window at the Mission Avenue business and causing more than ,800 in damage, Oceanside police Sgt. John McKean said.The business had a sign in the window at the time that read: "Black owned, we stand with you," McKean said.RELATED: Man arrested, accused of firing pellet gun at Oceanside business windowThe sergeant said surveillance video helped detectives identify the vehicle used in the crime and, ultimately, Soto, who was arrested July 15.Soto is charged with vandalism and a hate crime allegation in connection with the Bliss Tea & Treats shooting, and assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly shooting a man with a BB gun on May 28.He also faces two misdemeanor counts of discharging a BB gun in a grossly negligent manner stemming from unspecified incidents occurring in June and July, according to the criminal complaint.During his arraignment Friday morning, Soto pleaded not guilty to all charges and was served with a criminal protective order requiring him to stay away from Bliss Tea & Treats' owner, as well as the victim of the alleged May 28 shooting.Soto remains in custody in lieu of ,000 bail and is due back in court Aug. 28 for a readiness conference.A GoFundMe page created last month to raise funds to repair the damage to the shop has raised more than ,000. The page may be viewed at Gofundme here. 1720

WASHINGTON (AP) ¡ª Democratic and Republican congressional leaders are expected to attend a briefing on border security at the White House as the government remains partially shut down and President Donald Trump asks in a tweet, "Let's make a deal?"The partial government shutdown began on Dec. 22. Funding for Trump's pet project, a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, has been the sticking point in passing budgets for several government departments.The briefing is scheduled for 3 p.m. EST Wednesday, the day before Democrats are to assume control of the House and end the Republican monopoly on government.The exact agenda, however, was not immediately clear, according to a person with knowledge of the briefing who was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the top incoming House Republicans ¡ª Kevin McCarthy of California and Steve Scalise of Louisiana ¡ª planned to attend, according to aides. The departing House speaker, Paul Ryan, was not expected.House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who is expected to become speaker on Thursday, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer planned to attend. Pelosi said Tuesday that Democrats would take action to "end the Trump Shutdown" by passing legislation Thursday to reopen government."We are giving the Republicans the opportunity to take yes for an answer," she wrote in a letter to colleagues. "Senate Republicans have already supported this legislation, and if they reject it now, they will be fully complicit in chaos and destruction of the President's third shutdown of his term."The White House invitation came Tuesday after House Democrats released their plan to re-open the government without approving money for a border wall ¡ª unveiling two bills to fund shuttered government agencies and put hundreds of thousands of federal workers back on the job. They planned to pass them as soon as the new Congress convenes Thursday.Responding to the Democratic plan, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders late Tuesday night called it a "non-starter" and said it won't re-open the government "because it fails to secure the border and puts the needs of other countries above the needs of our own citizens."Trump spent the weekend saying Democrats should return to Washington to negotiate, firing off Twitter taunts. After aides suggested there would not necessarily be a traditional wall as Trump had described since his presidential campaign, Trump stated that he really still wanted to build a border wall.On Tuesday morning, after tweeting a New Year's message to "EVERYONE INCLUDING THE HATERS AND THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA," Trump tweeted: "The Democrats, much as I suspected, have allocated no money for a new Wall. So imaginative! The problem is, without a Wall there can be no real Border Security."But he seemed to shift tactics later in the day, appealing to Pelosi. "Border Security and the Wall 'thing' and Shutdown is not where Nancy Pelosi wanted to start her tenure as Speaker! Let's make a deal?" he tweeted.Whether the Republican-led Senate would consider the Democratic bills ¡ª or if Trump would sign either into law ¡ª was unclear. McConnell spokesman Donald Stewart said Senate Republicans would not take action without Trump's backing."It's simple: The Senate is not going to send something to the president that he won't sign," Stewart said.Even if only symbolic, the passage of the bills in the House would put fresh pressure on the president. At the same time, administration officials said Trump was in no rush for a resolution to the impasse.Trump believes he has public opinion on his side and, at very least, his base of supporters behind him, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.The Democratic package to end the shutdown would include one bill to temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security at current levels ¡ª with .3 billion for border security, far less than the billion Trump has said he wants for the wall ¡ª through Feb. 8 as talks continued.It would also include another measure to fund the departments of Agriculture, Interior, Housing and Urban Development and others closed by the partial shutdown. It would provide money through the remainder of the fiscal year, to Sept. 30.___Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report. 4450

Volkswagen has been fined another €800 million (6 million) over its diesel emissions scandal, this time because of failings at its Audi subsidiary.Volkswagen said Tuesday it accepted the fine imposed by German prosecutors, waving its right to appeal. It said the penalty would hit earnings this year."As a negative special item, [it will] reduce the group earnings for fiscal year 2018 accordingly," it said in a statement.The penalty by Munich prosecutors is just the latest consequence of the scandal that emerged in 2015 and initially wiped out billions off the company's value.Volkswagen admitted cheating on clean air rules with software that made emissions look less toxic than they actually were.The fine concludes the Munich prosecutors' investigation into the company. However, probes into executives, including Audi's former CEO Rupert Stadler, continue, the prosecutors said.The €800 million fine comprises a €5 million penalty for administrative offenses, the maximum allowed under German law.On top of that, prosecutors ordered Volkswagen to repay €795 million they said the company made from the cheating. The prosecutors said this included profits from the sales of affected vehicles.In this case, the diesel emissions cheating affected nearly 5 million cars sold by the Volkswagen group in Europe and the United States, prosecutors said. Specifically, it concerned V6 and V8 diesel engines manufactured by Audi and installed in Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche brands, and Audi vehicles equipped with EA 189 and EA 288 engine made by Volkswagen.Shares in Volkswagen (VLKAF) and Audi (AUDVF) were trading higher on Tuesday. Volkswagen stock is down 11 percent so far this year. 1699

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