Three adults in Pennsylvania lost their casino privileges after they left children unattended in their vehicles to gamble
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has also announced fines against three licensees
Three more adults have been permanently excluded from brick-and-mortar casinos in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board recently banned three adults for leaving children unattended in their vehicles while they gambled inside a casino. The three adults have permanently lost their privileges to gamble inside a physical casino within the commonwealth. (Image: Shutterstock)
On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) disclosed that it recently levied several financial penalties against its licensees. The state gaming regulatory agency additionally announced that three adults had been added to the PGCB’s Involuntary Casino Exclusion List.
In one incident, the state reports that a male and female patron left two children, aged 11 and 12, unattended in a vehicle outside of Hollywood Casino Morgantown. The PGCB detailed that the two guardians gambled inside the casino for more than half an hour while the children sat in the parking lot.
In another incident, a female patron left three children, aged 2, 6, and 12, in a vehicle in the parking lot of Hollywood Casino York. The unidentified person, who is now barred from entering all casinos in the commonwealth, reportedly gambled on slot machines and table games for almost half an hour.
Actions such as these to deny statewide gambling privileges serve as a reminder that adults are prohibited from leaving minors unattended in the parking lot or garage, a hotel, or other venues at a casino since it creates a potentially unsafe and dangerous environment for the children,” the PGCB said.
Pennsylvania is home to 17 physical casinos. The state is additionally one of only seven jurisdictions in the country where online slot machines and live dealer table games are legal. Pennsylvania is also home to online and in-person sports betting.
Regulatory Violations
Along with the unattended children incidents, the PGCB took action against a video gaming terminal (VGT) operator for regulatory violations.
The Lucky Seven Travel Plaza in Lock Haven, Clinton County, was fined after it was determined that the truck stop gaming area wasn’t compliant with the state’s VGT statute. Law enforcement determined that the Lucky Seven gaming room was, at times, not properly staffed with board-credentialed employees. Individuals not at least 21 years of age were allowed to access the gaming terminals, and on at least two occasions, minors gambled on the machines.
Vasas Inc., doing business as the Lucky Seven Travel Plaza, was fined $45K. The PGCB additionally fined the two owners of the facility $5K.
The PGCB also executed consent agreements with two casinos that resulted in fines.
Live! Casino Hotel Philadelphia agreed to pay a $12K fine to settle a dispute regarding a compromised deck of cards being in play. Hollywood Casino York agreed to a $10K settlement after allowing an involuntarily excluded person access to the gaming floor.
September Revenue
Pennsylvania retail casino revenue slowed last month as physical slot win was about 3% lower and table win was flat from September 2024. The in-person declines were easily offset elsewhere, however, as iGaming slot revenue surged 37% and online table games climbed 18% from the prior year.
Along with sports betting, fantasy sports, VGTs, and online poker, total gross gaming revenue last month was $533.3 million. That represented a 5.4% improvement from September 2024, or a net positive difference of $27.5 million.
The NFL has fined Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones $250,000 for making an obscene gesture which Jones said was “inadvertent” and meant to be a thumbs up at MetLife Stadium following a game against the New York Jets on Sunday.The news was first reported by NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero on Tuesday and confirmed by the NFL to CNN Sports on Wednesday.In a video which was widely shared on social media, Jones could be seen giving a thumbs-up to the crowd from a box before raising his middle finger and pointing lower in the crowd while mouthing a few indiscernible words. The gesture occurred late in the Cowboys’ 37-22 road win over the Jets.Jones has until Friday to appeal the decision and, though neither the Cowboys nor Jones have yet formally done so, it is likely he will, according to Pelissero. The three-time Super Bowl-winning owner offered his explanation for the “unfortunate” fan interaction on Dallas radio show 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday.“I just put up the wrong show on the hand, but that was inadvertently done,” Jones said. “The intention was thumbs up.”When asked about the exchange, Jones said it occurred in front of Cowboys fans, not Jets fans, amidst the excitement after quarterback Dak Prescott threw a four-yard pass to Javonte Williams for Dallas’ final touchdown of the game.“There was a swarm of Cowboy fans out in front, not Jets fans, Cowboy fans,” Jones emphasized. “That was inadvertent on my part because that was right after we’d made our last touchdown and we were all excited about it.“There wasn’t any antagonistic issue or anything like that.”This is not the first time Jones has faced a fine from the league. He faced his first fine in 2008 for criticizing a referee and another in 2009 for violating an order from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to stop executives and owners from discussing league labor issues.
The NFL has fined Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones $250,000 for making an obscene gesture which Jones said was “inadvertent” and meant to be a thumbs up at MetLife Stadium following a game against the New York Jets on Sunday.
The news was first reported by NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero on Tuesday and confirmed by the NFL to CNN Sports on Wednesday.
In a video which was widely shared on social media, Jones could be seen giving a thumbs-up to the crowd from a box before raising his middle finger and pointing lower in the crowd while mouthing a few indiscernible words. The gesture occurred late in the Cowboys’ 37-22 road win over the Jets.
Jones has until Friday to appeal the decision and, though neither the Cowboys nor Jones have yet formally done so, it is likely he will, according to Pelissero.
The three-time Super Bowl-winning owner offered his explanation for the “unfortunate” fan interaction on Dallas radio show 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday.
“I just put up the wrong show on the hand, but that was inadvertently done,” Jones said. “The intention was thumbs up.”
When asked about the exchange, Jones said it occurred in front of Cowboys fans, not Jets fans, amidst the excitement after quarterback Dak Prescott threw a four-yard pass to Javonte Williams for Dallas’ final touchdown of the game.
“There was a swarm of Cowboy fans out in front, not Jets fans, Cowboy fans,” Jones emphasized. “That was inadvertent on my part because that was right after we’d made our last touchdown and we were all excited about it.
“There wasn’t any antagonistic issue or anything like that.”
This is not the first time Jones has faced a fine from the league. He faced his first fine in 2008 for criticizing a referee and another in 2009 for violating an order from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to stop executives and owners from discussing league labor issues.
For the last four years, Katherine Taylor rented out her Westside guesthouse on Airbnb. She came to rely on the extra income at a time when it felt like everything was getting more expensive.
But this spring, she took the listing down.
“I’m out,” Taylor said. “The rules are too much. All these new regulations kept popping up, and it felt like it was only a matter of time before I got fined.”
Across the L.A. region, many people who rent out their homes for income seem to be changing their preferences. Short-term rentals are much more lucrative than longer stays, but the steady turnover often creates headaches for landlords, and increasingly they are in the crosshairs of local ordinances, including the risk of fines.
Because of this and other factors, short-term rental registrations have dipped over the last year.
Last July, there were 4,228 active Home Sharing registrations in the city of L.A., according to the Planning Department. This July, there were 3,972 — a 6% decrease.
Short-term rental software platforms show a decrease in listings as well, to varying degrees. In analyzing a sample set of short-term rentals in the L.A. metro area, Hospitable estimated a 44% drop in listings year over year, with steady declines each month. AllTheRooms reported a 13% drop in Airbnb listings across L.A. County over the same stretch.
The data sources vary, since companies have different access to listing data. AirDNA reported an 8% increase in Airbnb and VRBO listings in the L.A. metro area over the last year, but noted a decrease since January fueled by big drops in fire markets: a 56% decrease in Altadena, 36% decrease in Pacific Palisades and 25% decrease in Malibu.
Expert opinions differ on the cause of the drop-off, but the fires are definitely a factor. Thousands of homes burned down in the Palisades and Eaton fires, taking many rentals off the market. But in the wake of the disaster, many short-term rentals were converted to mid- or long-term rentals to house fire victims.
Other hosts are opting for mid-term rentals — stays of longer than 30 days but less than a year — independent of the fires.
“The short-term rental space got stuck. Regulations hit, and people are finding that the next best option is mid-term rentals,” said Jesse Vasquez, an entrepreneur who runs a mid-term rental summit every year.
Vasquez said L.A. is the best market for mid-term stays because so many people visit the city for extended periods with no permanent plans: travel nurses, students, digital nomads or people working on long-term projects such as films or construction.
He said mid-term rentals rake in about 15% to 20% less than short-term rentals, but in exchange, homeowners deal with less turnover. If a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house in a popular neighborhood can make around $10,000 per month as a short-term rental, it could still bring in $8,000 per month as a mid-term rental, Vasquez said.
Last year, Airbnb Chief Executive Brian Chesky identified mid-term stays as a “huge growth opportunity” for the company, and said such bookings make up 18% of the company’s business compared with 13% to 14% before the pandemic.
Mark Lawson used to rent out his San Fernando Valley home on VRBO for weekend stays, but last year he set the parameters to only accept bookings of 30 days or more.
“I got tired of having someone new in the house every few days,” he said.
Short-term rentals have long been contentious. While advocates say sites such as Airbnb and VRBO offer income for homeowners and options for tourists, critics claim home-sharing removes long-term rentals from a market in the midst of a housing crisis.
To prevent L.A.’s housing stock from being converted into short-term rentals, Los Angeles in 2018 passed the Home-Sharing Ordinance, which regulates short-term rentals by restricting hosts to renting out only their primary residences and requiring them to get a license.
The regulatory framework worked — somewhat. Listings dropped 70% from 2019 to 2023, though much of the drop could be attributed to the pandemic. Last year, the restrictions spread to unincorporated areas in L.A. County, which previously weren’t subject to the rules.
But despite the new requirements, thousands of hosts still operate without a license, or fake their registration numbers, due to lack of enforcement.
Last year, a report from the L.A. Housing Department said that as of October 2024, there were an estimated 7,500 violations of the Home-Sharing Ordinance, but only 300 citations. So in March 2025, the L.A. City Council approved a slew of recommendations to beef up the ordinance even more, arming the city with a war chest of new enforcement tools.
The plan calls for 18 staffers to monitor violations and increased fines based on the square footage of the rental: $1,000 for rentals less than 500 square feet, up to $16,000 for homes greater than 25,000 square feet. The fines double and quadruple on the second and third violation, respectively.
The recommendations even call for city staffers to go on spy missions in illegal rentals. Under the proposed plan, Housing Department staff would use prepaid cards to book home-sharing rentals and stay in homes to gather evidence that they’re operating illegally.
However, two months later, the city’s $14-billion budget scaled back spending for many city departments. As a result, no new enforcement officers have been hired, and many of the plans have yet to be implemented.
But simply the threat of higher fines and stricter enforcement has had a chilling effect.
“Talking to our customers, regulation is the biggest factor in short-term rental inventory decreasing,” said Derek Jones, Hospitable’s vice president of sales and partnerships. “L.A.’s ordinance combines all the strict rules from other markets around the country.”
Jones said the potential for $1,000 fines — now able to be doled out without a warning beforehand — are causing some hosts to remove listings from the market out of fear, since the fines far exceed the nightly revenue brought in by the average listing.
“Housing is expensive already, then you add high penalties and zoning that limits supply,” Jones said. “All that put together, it creates a market where housing investors are cautious to invest. And that proved to be the case this year.”
Taylor is one such investor. She specifically bought her Westside home because it had a guesthouse she could rent. But she found herself frustrated by the maximum days she could rent it annually under the Home Sharing Ordinance — 120 days.
Her space was larger than 500 square feet, so under the new rules, it could be subject to a $2,000 fine for the first violation, $4,000 for the second, and $8,000 for the third. Ultimately, she decided it wasn’t worth the hassle.
“I’ll keep an eye on how the city is enforcing the rules. Maybe I’ll try it again someday,” she said. “But for now, it’s gonna stay empty.”
Hours after the Trump administration demanded that the University of California pay a $1-billion fine to settle federal accusations of antisemitism in exchange for restoring frozen grant funding to UCLA, Gov. Gavin Newsom called the proposal “extortion” and said the state will go to court to protect the nation’s premier university system.
“We’ll sue,” Newsom said during a news conference with Texas legislators over California’s effort to counter a contentious Republican redistricting plan in that state.
President Trump is “trying to silence academic freedom” by “attacking one of the most important public institutions in the United States of America,” Newsom said, adding that he would “stand tall and push back against that, and I believe every member of California Legislature feels the same way.”
The federal government on Friday said UC should pay the billion-dollar fine in installments and contribute $172 million to a fund for Jewish students and other individuals affected by alleged violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The statute covers illegal discrimination related to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, including Jewish and Israeli identity.
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In addition, the Trump administration demanded sweeping campus changes encompassing protests, admissions, gender identity in sports and housing, the abolition of scholarships for racial or ethnic groups, and submission to an outside monitor over the agreement, according to four UC senior officials who have reviewed the proposal.
“He has threatened us through extortion with a billion-dollar fine, unless we do his bidding,” Newsom said.
“We will not be complicit in this kind of attack on academic freedom on this extraordinary public institution. We are not like some of those other institutions,” he said.
The governor appeared to be referring to controversial and costly deals the Trump administration secured from Columbia and Brown universities over charges similar to those facing UCLA, deals Newsom criticized a day earlier in public remarks.
In a statement Friday that UC was “reviewing” the terms, UC President James B. Milliken, who oversees the 10-campus system that includes UCLA, also seemed to rebuff the demand.
“As a public university, we are stewards of taxpayer resources and a payment of this scale would completely devastate our country’s greatest public university system as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians,” Milliken said. “Americans across this great nation rely on the vital work of UCLA and the UC system for technologies and medical therapies that save lives, grow the U.S. economy, and protect our national security.”
UC Regents Chair Janet Reilly told The Times the university was still willing to negotiate with the Trump administration but not on “unacceptable” terms.
“Demand for a $1 billion payment from UCLA, coupled with conditions that contradict the university’s values, is unacceptable,” Reilly said, describing it as a “financial burden” that would be “catastrophic for our students, research, our patients and the people of California.
“The university remains willing to engage in a constructive and good faith dialogue with the federal government but the University of California will always stand firm in protecting the integrity and values of our institution,” Reilly said.
A spokesperson for UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk referred The Times to Milliken’s statement. Federal negotiations are being handled on a UC-wide level.
UC is grappling with how to restore $584 million in frozen medical and science grant funds to UCLA. If the deal was accepted, it would be the largest settlement between a university and the Trump administration, far surpassing a $221-million agreement that Columbia University announced last month. Harvard is also reportedly considering a settlement involving a hefty fine.
“We would never agree to this,” said one of the UC officials who is involved in the deliberations with the Trump administration. “It is more money than was frozen at UCLA. So how does that make sense?”
But another senior UC official said the figure was understandable if it resolved all federal investigations across the system, even if UC may not ultimately agree to it. The federal proposal focuses on UCLA only, not all campuses.
Any payment would be a political liability for the university and state leaders in deep-blue California, where Trump’s policies are highly unpopular. A billion dollars would be a financial burden for a university system that is already facing a hiring freeze, budget squeezes, deferred state funding and scattered layoffs.
UCLA has faced the most charges from the government of any UC or public university, many of them tied to a 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment.
The encampment, which unsuccessfully demanded the university divest from weapons companies tied to Israel’s war in Gaza, was targeted in a violent overnight attack last spring and was later the subject of federal lawsuit by pro-Israel Jewish students. The students, along with a professor, accused UCLA of enabling antisemitism by not shutting down the encampment, which plaintiffs said blocked pro-Israel Jews from campus pathways. UCLA settled the suit for $6.45 million, including more than $2 million in donations to Jewish nonprofits.
The Trump administration’s Friday offer follows a similar playbook to agreements it reached with Columbia and Brown universities to restore federal funding and resolve allegations of civil rights violations against Jewish and Israeli students.
Trump wants to remake universities, which he has called “Marxist” hotbeds of liberalism and anti-Israel sentiment. During his second term, federal agencies have suspended or canceled billions in federal medical and science grants related to gender, LGBTQ+ issues or in response to campuses it accuses of being antisemitic. The White House has also attacked campus diversity programs and admissions practices as being illegal discrimination against white and Asian Americans.
University leaders have challenged the notion that cutting medical research helps protect Jewish people. “This far-reaching penalty of defunding life-saving research does nothing to address any alleged discrimination,” Frenk, the UCLA chancellor, said in a campus letter this week.
At UCLA, Trump’s demands include an end to scholarships that focus on race or ethnicity, the sharing of admissions data with the government and changes to campus protest rules. The Trump administration is also proposing that UCLA Health and the medical school cease gender-affirming care for transgender people.
The Trump administration is also saying it wants an outside monitor to oversee the agreement.
The proposal came one day after Newsom said UC should not bend “on their knees” to Trump. Newsom, a Democrat, has fashioned himself as a national anti-Trump figure and is considering a presidential run in 2028.
The university system, run by Milliken — who assumed his role only last week — and the Board of Regents, is independent under the state Constitution. But the governor can exercise political sway over the regents, whose members he appoints. Newsom also holds an ex-officio seat on the board.
Kaleem reported from Los Angeles and Wilner from Washington. Times staff Writer Taryn Luna in Sacramento and Seema Mehta in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
D.C. continues to expand its automated traffic enforcement system.
Speed camera at the intersection of 25th Street NW & F Street NW in Washington, D.C.
(John Lewis/7News)
John Lewis/7News
Speed camera at the intersection of 25th Street NW & F Street NW in Washington, D.C.
(John Lewis/7News)
John Lewis/7News
Speed camera at the intersection of 25th Street NW & F Street NW in Washington, D.C.
(John Lewis/7News)
John Lewis/7News
D.C. continues to expand its automated traffic enforcement system.
The D.C. Department of Transportation has added new red light cameras at South Capitol Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, Southern Avenue and Wheeler Road SE and Rhode Island Avenue and North Capitol Street NW.
The additions bring the number of cameras in the city trained on intersections to catch red light runners up to 50, according to a news release from the department.
The newest camera installations will issue warnings to drivers for 30 days. After that, the city will issue fines starting at $150 for drivers caught running a red light signal.
By far, the District’s 211 speed cameras make up the majority of automated traffic enforcement cameras in D.C.
As of Oct. 25, D.C. has identified 472 cameras it uses for law enforcement — 140 cameras monitoring bus lane infractions, 33 stop sign cameras meant to catch drivers who don’t stop for three seconds, 25 school bus cameras and 10 cameras monitoring roads for truck restrictions.
The department said speed and red light cameras are installed in areas where the city is trying to reduce the number of injury-producing crashes.
Welcome to the Scene Report, a new column in which Eater Chicago captures the vibe of a notable Chicago restaurant at a specific moment in time.
Checking out Beity, a Fulton Market restaurant from chef Ryan Fakih, was meant to be the highlight of my week, for good reason. The Michelin Guide recently recognized the Lebanese gastronomic experience, which opened in early August after two years of anticipation in a food scene with few Middle Eastern fine dining options. The 16-course tasting menu ($165 per person) is called “Teta’s Tasting” after Fakih’s grandmother, who sends him personalized cooking videos from her home in Lebanon. And Beity means “my home” in Arabic. That’s what Fakih is trying to evoke here, the feeling of being at a loved one’s home.
The vibe: Aesthetically, Fakih’s goal of creating a homey space has been accomplished. The building used to house Michelin Bib Gourmand wine bar called Joe’s Imports. The chic 60-seat restaurant has stone walls, warm lighting supplied by brass fixtures, and archways reminiscent of classic Levantine architecture. Old classic Middle Eastern music like Palestinian Fairuz, Egyptian Amr Diab, and Western Saharan singer Mariem Hassan played in the background; it truly did feel intimate and exciting.
My friend and I went to Beity the day after Labor Day as people tried to cling to the long weekend. The 15-seat bar was packed with groups of friends and a couple lone diners, all drinking and snacking. We were the only ones in the main dining room — there’s another in the basement that gives an even more cozy, grandma’s house vibe with a fireplace — but around 7:00 p.m., the other tasting menu diners started to trickle in until the main dining room had a decent but small crowd. Around 8:15 p.m., it started to slow down, with not many customers coming in (the last seating is at 9:30 p.m.) and the bar folks beginning to leave.
The wait: Around 11:00 a.m. that same day, I tried to make a reservation and was dismayed to see Beity use Google’s reservation system — my arch-nemesis. Google told me they weren’t able to contact the restaurant to confirm my reservation and I called a couple times that afternoon with no answer.
But we decided to risk it and just show up. Thankfully, they had space for us to try their tasting menu; the night was nowhere near booked. Fortunately, Beity also uses Tock.
The drinks: I’m Muslim and don’t drink, so I asked about non-alcoholic cocktails and was disappointed that they only had two to choose from — the Jallab Spritz, with pomegranate molasses, pine nuts, soda water and rose water and the Apricot About It, with orange and rose blossom and apricot syrup, Seedlip 94 and egg white.
It’s already difficult to find non-alcoholic options, and I had hoped a Middle Eastern restaurant might be a bit more accommodating to Muslim non-drinkers. I ordered the Apricot About It, which was floral and yummy, but not very exciting. In fairness, it’s hard for me to get excited about most non-alcoholic cocktails except for the ones at Esmé, which rarely let me down, particularly this coconut vanilla cream soda with white miso foam and an accompanying umami explosion, or FRE Sparkling Brut with the alcohol centrifuged out of it, and smoked black teas that curiously smell of bacon.
The stone walls and warm lighting help the ambience.Beity/Nick Podraza
People who drink alcohol would likely have a different experience than me. Everyone at the bar seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was clear the cocktail menu and wine list were a huge draw here. My friend ordered the Clothed and Unknown; she loved it. “It’s a typical mezcal sour with added spice from the Aleppo pepper, which you taste at the end,” she described it to me. “This is my ideal sour.” On Wednesday, September 11 Michelin added Beity to its guide and described the bar as “ever-busy” and offering “a casual experience with a limited selection of snacks and thoughtful cocktails made with the likes of arak, Aleppo, and tahini.”
Most of the tasting menu diners also got a wine pairing, and they frequently told their servers how much they enjoyed the wine selection. Beity offers two wine pairings; the Beity pairing is $75 and highlights wines from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Their Global pairing is $90 and highlights wine regions across the world, focusing on organic, biodynamic winemaking from female or family-owned winemakers.
The mezze is a star.Nylah Iqbal Muhammad/Eater Chicago
The highlights: For the food, the mezze was absolutely the star of the night. The fresh baked pita was just a revelation, and I was in complete contentment swirling it in the parsley hummus with lamb and pine nuts, and slathering za’atar crusted labneh on the bread. I’m not alone in the assessment; Michelin concurs. “Drawing on his Lebanese heritage and on family recipes, [Fakih] makes a strong impression with a mezze of parsley hummus with lamb, falafel in yogurt sauce, and generously charred pita. Such a spread shows both heart and refinement.”
Every dish was plated stunningly, and the service was impeccable. The staff gave detailed explanations of each dish and its meaning in Lebanese society and to Fakih and his family, infusing the meal with that cultural experience I had come here for. The sayadieh (a minimalist take on a fish rice dish traditionally cooked in a clay pot) was good. I liked the burst of acidity from the sumac crust on the branzino. Sayadieh is one of my favorite meals, so I was almost humming with excitement waiting for it and my main complaint was perhaps just wanting more. The koussa — stuffed squash with bulgur — was homey and delicious, with a lovely tomato broth and a delightful addition of crispy leeks on the top. And the shish barak (lamb and beef dumpling served with yogurt sauce) was dry again, with a yogurt sauce that was much too thick, but the flavors made up for it.
There were brighter spots at dessert. I loved the lemon frozen yogurt with agrumato extra virgin olive oil. The day before, I had made a plum olive oil cake with olive oil from the family farm of Hisham Khalifeh, owner of Middle East Bakery in Andersonville, in ‘Arura, Palestine, so I was feeling obsessed with olive oil desserts. This one did not disappoint, and I could have taken home a carton of it. The frozen yogurt came with a Lebanese 7 spice (a Middle Eastern blend often called baharat, meaning “seven” in Arabic) digestive cookie with chocolate and caviar. It was nice to have another burst of salt from the caviar with the ice cream.
Chicago doesn’t have many fine dining restaurants that serve Middle Eastern food.Nylah Iqbal Muhammad/Eater Chicago
The lowlights: I wanted to love Beity’s food, I really did. Overall, though, it was much more underwhelming. than I’d anticipated.
The a la carte menu (dishes ranging from $5 to $20) is really just six bar snacks and two desserts, a small offering compared to other places in the city and a deviation from the Beity’s description of it as “a more casual dining experience.” You would not be able to get a full meal from this menu without ordering at least three dishes per person, which would be fine if there were more options. We ordered makanek, a Lebanese beef and lamb sausage with pomegranate molasses. As a lifelong seafood fiend, I also wanted the samak bizri, fried sardines with finger limes and lemon tarator (a Lebanese tahini sauce) tartar, but they were out that night.
The makanek was flavorful but much too dry. Without dipping each bite into pomegranate molasses, I couldn’t have enjoyed them very much, and I firmly believe that when a sausage requires a dipping sauce to taste good, then it’s not a good sausage.
The moghrabieh, Fakih’s deconstructed take on a Lebanese stew of semolina dough pearls of the same name, chickpeas, onions, and chicken was also incredibly dry and my least favorite dish of the night. The chicken had every bit of juice that once existed cooked out of it, and was stuffed into a pastry that was visibly cracking from lack of moisture and fat. The best part of that course was the charred onion and the cinnamon jus, but I only ate a couple bites of the chicken-filled pastry.
Even on after Labor Day weekend, Beity had diners.Nylah Iqbal Muhammad/Eater Chicago
The verdict: Beity’s presence on the Chicago food scene is culturally necessary; we need more fine dining options from Middle Eastern countries — honestly, almost every place that’s not Western European is grossly underrepresented in the fine dining scene. Maman Zari in Albany Park, which serves a Persian tasting menu, opened in 2023. It felt incredible to eat the Levantine dishes I love surrounded by vibrant music in a beautiful space with a calm vibe.The bar vibes are so immaculate, I would go back in a heartbeat to have a non-alcoholic cocktail, that heavenly fresh pita and labneh, and to try the samak bizri. I’ve got a feeling I would have gobbled those sardines down at a frightening speed.
However, I wouldn’t do the tasting menu again. At $165 per person (not including the automatically added 20 percent gratuity and 3 percent service charge), it was simply too expensive for the quality of food we received. The elements of a stunning Lebanese tasting menu are all there, but the execution wasn’t what I was expecting.
It doesn’t make me feel great that I didn’t fall head over heels with Beity’s tasting menu. I love Arab food, and it’s hard when people put their culture, their family, their soul into a curated experience menu and it doesn’t stun you. I wanted to be entranced by everything, but instead I found most of the dishes to be lackluster, especially for the price.
Although I was let down by the tasting menu, I have grace and high hopes for the future of Beity. Its bar program seems incredible, and the mezze (especially the pita) is delicious. It only opened a mere month ago, so I’m hoping that with more time, the tasting menu will mature to tell the story it wants to tell. They already have a clarity of mission, values, and culture. The food just needs to catch up.
A landmark ruling by the Federal Court of Australia ordered SkyCity Adelaide to pay an AU$67 million ($44.1 million) fine for substantial breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) laws, which occurred at its North Terrace casino. The venue reportedly failed to comply with legislative requirements and lacked crucial customer due diligence safeguards.
SkyCity Faces Substantial Challenges
AUSTRAC, the country’s federal financial crimes regulator, proposed the penalty after SkyCity Adelaide admitted it did not fully adhere to the provisions of the AML/CTF Act. The casino operator acknowledged that these failings could enable bad actors to conduct criminal activities, endangering the Australian public and potentially undermining the country’s financial system.
Peter Soros, AUSTRAC’s acting CEO, emphasized that the gambling sector could not safely function without stringent anti-money laundering measures. He noted that weak AML enforcement could enable criminal exploitation, which in turn facilitates further illegal enterprises, including organized crime like drug and human trafficking, which could extend beyond the country’s borders.
“Criminals will always seek to take advantage of the gambling sector to clean their dirty money.”
Peter Soros, AUSTRAC acting CEO
According to SkyCity’s admissions, the company had failed to conduct mandatory checks on 121 customers. Furthermore, the company’s senior management lacked adequate preparation to oversee its AML/CTF programs. These deficiencies are similar to those of competing operators Crown Resorts and Star Entertainment, which still face significant regulatory scrutiny due to their past failings.
There Is Hope on the Horizon
This newest ruling could have more than just financial implications for SkyCity Adelaide. The operator currently faces a state-level investigation to determine its suitability to hold a casino license. Failure to meet the state’s criteria could have disastrous repercussions for the company, potentially shutting down its businesses until it can regain compliance.
SkyCity’s troubles extend beyond Australia. February saw the company fall under the scrutiny of the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs. The authority prepared to launch civil proceedings against the operator, citing alleged AML and CTF violations. If found guilty, SkyCity casinos in Auckland, Hamilton, and Queensland could face further monetary sanctions.
The ongoing compliance issues with high-profile Australian casinos highlight the country’s ongoing difficulties enforcing compliance within its gambling sector. Despite SkyCity’s deficiencies, the beleaguered operator can still follow in the footsteps of its rival Crown Resorts. Despite its much more substantial failings, Crown managed to rebuild and earn back the trust of regulators, giving hope to SkyCity.
The acclaimed chef behind Ina Mae Tavern in Wicker Park and Frontier in West Town is working on a new restaurant. Brian Jupiter is partnering with his chef de cuisine at Frontier, Azazi Morsi, on a project on the Northwest Side in Portage Park called Migos Fine Foods.
The restaurant will center around delivery and carryout with 12 seats at 5044 W. Montrose, near the Jefferson Park border. Jupiter says it’s convenient; he lives about 10 minutes away in Albany Park while the Algerian-born Morsi lives in Portage Park. The approach is fun, fast, and casual — affordable eats that customers can enjoy more than once a week. The restaurant should open in early April. They’ll also have a small patio.
Brian Jupiter is opening a third restaurant separate from the ownership group at Frontier and Ina Mae.Pioneer Tavern Group
The menu includes halal fried chicken and tacos. Renata Jupiter is handling the sweets with cakes and cookies from her business, Adry’s Pastries. Brian Jupiter describes the doughnuts as being similar to beignets, but a little longer. They’ll have various toppings. They aren’t serving alcohol, but Frontier mixologist Edgar Garcia is creating some agua frescas.
Morsi and Jupiter plan on expanding their operations to catering in May. The restaurant is separate from Pioneer Tavern Group, Brian Jupiter’s partners at Frontier and Ina Mae (the group also runs Lottie’s Pub in Bucktown). The new restaurant won’t have an impact on Jupiter’s duties at those two other restaurants.
Migos Fine Foods, 5044 W. Montrose, planned for an April 2 opening.
SkyCity Entertainment’s SkyCity Casino Management (SCML) brand has found itself in hot water in New Zealand as the local Department of Internal Affairs prepares to launch civil proceedings against the operator.
The case is set to be filed in four days and stems from alleged AML violations. According to the department, the gambling company has breached the New Zealand Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act.
As a result, SCML, which operates the SkyCity casinos in Auckland, Hamilton and Queensland, now risks a fine of $4.9 million.
SkyCity confirmed that it is aware of the proceedings and vowed to cooperate with the Department of Internal Affairs to identify and tackle any issues. In a statement, a spokesperson said that the operator is “disappointed that it has not met the standards to which it needs to hold itself.”
SMCL and its parent company reiterated their commitment to collaborating with the department in relation to the proceedings and resolving the matter as soon as possible. The operator also promised to work hard to bolster its AML and CTF processes.
Details of the violations SkyCity allegedly committed are not available as of the time of this writing. However, SkyCity mentioned that it had self-reported some of these incidents to the relevant departments.
SkyCity Struggles to Get Its AML Matters Under Control
Back in 2021, SkyCity launched an AML and CTF enhancement program in an attempt to address its historical deficiencies. In order to tackle its shortcomings, the company invested in technology and manpower, hoping to improve its practices.
However, this hasn’t prevented the company from finding itself in trouble.
In September 2023, SkyCity announced that it risks getting its license suspended for 10 days or more. The suspension risks had to do with an application by the Secretary of the Department of Internal Affairs which addresses a case from February 2022.
It is unclear whether that case bears any connection to the current civil proceedings risked by SkyCity.
In August, the company also set aside $29.2 million for a potential AML and CTF penalty amid AUSTRAC proceedings in Australia. The financial intelligence agency claimed the company has allowed 59 suspicious patrons to launder billions of Australian dollars at its property in Adelaide.
EAST POINT, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – East Point has now joined a small but growing list of Georgia cities that have voted to decriminalize marijuana possession of an ounce or less.
Of the 535 cities in the state, East Point is just the 13th to make the move.
Now, people arrested for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana will be given a $75 fine or community service, but will not be punished with jail time.
The ordinance, unanimously approved by the East Point City Council on Dec. 19, almost identically mirrors a similar ordinance down the road in Atlanta.
East Point is the second city to decriminalize this year, following Camilla.
“Georgia is very, very behind the times when it comes to (decriminalization),” said Scotty Smart, a marijuana policy advocate with the group New Georgia Project.
Smart notes that Georgia has the fourth highest rate of simple marijuana possession in the entire country, and Black and brown residents are three to four times more likely to be arrested on that charge.
“Enactment of an ordinance concerning the offense of simple marijuana possession is further intended to prevent young people from entering the criminal justice system and avoiding the enduring stigma associated therewith,” reads part of the ordinance language.
The ordinance also states that decriminalization will also help open up police resources and eliminate costs “by reducing the amount of time police officers spend in connection with the arrest, processing and…
The U.S. Department of Transportation on Monday announced a $140-million fine against Southwest Airlines following the company’s disastrous 2022 travel season that was highlighted by thousands of canceled flights and millions of frustrated fliers.
The fine, assessed for “numerous violations of consumer protection laws,” was “30 times larger than any previous DOT penalty for consumer protection violations,” according to a DOT statement.
Southwest canceled nearly 17,000 flights and stranded more than 2 million passengers during last year’s Christmas and New Year’s holidays, according to DOT.
During the travel crisis, “Southwest confronted unprecedented operational, volume-related challenges yet acted with diligence and in good faith,” the airline said in a statement Monday.
Southwest has put in place “significant investments and initiatives that accelerate operational resiliency, enhance cross-team collaboration and bolster overall preparedness for winter operations,” President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Jordan said.
Though it’s hard to imagine a worse outcome for air travelers than last year’s debacle, newly released data show that passenger complaints filed with the DOT across all airlines more than doubled in the first five months of 2023 from the same period in 2022.
The data, analyzed by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, showed a 109% year-over-year increase in complaints against airlines from January through May. The number of air travelers increased 14% in the span.
More than a third of the complaints addressed flight scheduling, including cancellations, delays and issues with connections, the data showed. About a fifth of the complaints related to problems with refunds.
The third most common complaint was lost or damaged items. These were similar in proportion to complaints from 2022, PIRG noted, but the volume of complaints increased dramatically.
A separate document, the DOT’s Air Travel Consumer Report, notes that the number of mishandled bags jumped in September 2023 to 198,256, with a rate of .53 bags mishandled for every 100 passengers flying. This is up from 177,304 bags and a rate of .48 bags for every 100 passengers in September 2022, according to the most recent DOT data.
The agency will have to adjust, as “consumer complaints are not returning to pre-pandemic levels,” the report states.
Complaints in 2020 reached the highest levels ever recorded, but 2023’s total will be significantly higher if the trend from January through May continues.
With the Christmas travel season ramping up, fines like those imposed on Southwest Airlines could give travelers some comfort.
“If airlines fail their passengers, we will use the full extent of our authority to hold them accountable,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
ROMA, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A Roma man pleaded guilty to possessing over 5,000 pounds of marijuana in a drug house, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
Adan Ontiveros Jr., 34, is accused of drug trafficking after trying to escape a drug house in Roma.
In a press release from the Southern District of Texas U.S. Attorney’s Office, the suspected drug house was monitored by authorities for suspicious activity.
On July 16, 2020, authorities observed Ontiveros attempting to escape the drug house through an attic vent.
Police quickly arrested Ontiveros and conducted a search inside the drug house. Authorities found 5,460 pounds of marijuana valued at more than $33 million.
Ontiveros admitted he was aware there was marijuana in the stash house, the press release said. He is being charged with conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute [5,460 pounds of marijuana].
Ontiveros’ sentencing is scheduled on July 27. He faces up to life in prison and a maximum $10 million possible fine.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI), on Tuesday, fined Rs 936.44 crore on Alphabet Inc’s Google for abusing its dominant position concerning its Android Play Store policies. The Commission also issued a cease-and-desist order and directed Google to modify its conduct within a defined timeline.
The CCI, in a statement, said it has imposed a penalty of Rs 936.44 crore on Google for abusing its dominant position. Interestingly, this is the second time in less than a week that India’s competition regulator imposed a penalty on Google.
On October 20, the competition regulator imposed a penalty of Rs 1,337.76 crore on the US-based tech giant for using its dominant position in multiple markets to promote its payments app and in-app payment system. The watchdog also ordered the internet major to cease and desist from various unfair business practices.
Google’s Play Store constitutes the main distribution channel for app developers in the Android mobile ecosystem. The app store allows its owners to capitalise on the apps brought to market.
The regulator, in its statement, revealed that making access to the Play Store for app developers dependent on mandatory usage of Google Play’s Billing System (GPBS) for paid apps and in-app purchases constitutes an imposition of an unfair condition on app developers.
CCI, apart from the penalty, also said that Google shouldn’t restrict app developers from using any third-party billing/ payment processing services for purchasing apps.
Google has been given a time of 30 days to provide the requisite financial details and supporting documents, the release said. CCI has been probing Google in other cases as well, including those about alleged anti-competitive practices by the internet major with respect to news content and smart TV.
CCI, similar to the observations made in previous its ruling against Google in the Android matter, said the penalty amount is provisional as there were glaring inconsistencies and wide disclaimers in presenting various revenue data points by Google.
The penalty amount translates to 7 per cent of the company’s average relevant turnover. Google’s Android operating system powers 97 per cent of India’s 600 million smartphones, according to Counterpoint Research. Meanwhile, the watchdog said that recently Google has allowed rival UPI apps to be integrated with the intent flow.
Moreover, Google has also faced criticism globally, including in South Korea, for mandating software developers using its app store to use a proprietary in-app payment system that charges commissions of up to 30 per cent on purchases made within an app. Of late, Google has begun to allow alternative payment systems in more countries.
According to the CCI’s latest release, Google has been asked to implement various measures, including allowing and not restricting app developers from using any third-party billing/ payment processing services, either for in-app purchases or for purchasing apps.
“Google shall also not discriminate or otherwise take any adverse measures against such apps using third-party billing/ payment processing services, in any manner,” the release said.
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