1. New mum furious after she was booted from a venue with her “underage baby”.
A Melbourne mother has spoken out after she was asked to leave a popular bowling alley with her infant baby because her child was ‘underage’, 7 News reports.
Marion Falla was catching up with friends at a local bowling venue thinking the family-friendly spot would be a better place than a pub to take her three-month-old daughter.
But the group of friends was evicted under liquor licensing laws when the bowling alley started serving alcohol at 8pm, half an hour after they had arrived.
“The reason for the law being in existence is to prevent minors from purchasing alcohol,” Marion told 7 News.
“Clearly there’s no chance a three-month-old would be drinking anything other than milk.”
While Marion has decided against lodging a formal complaint, women’s advocates say the venue’s policy clearly isolates families and women.
“It’s hard to get out with a baby and we need women out and about with their friends,” Australian Breastfeeding Association spokesperson Rebecca Naylor said.
The bowling alley has since refunded the group’s game and invited them back to bowl free of charge.
2. Children left ‘vomiting blood’ after being served contaminated drink at a restaurant.
A 10-year-old boy and his four-year-old half sister were rushed to intensive care when they became ill after drinking apple juice at a restaurant that is believed to have been ‘poisoned’, The Telegraph reports.
The children were celebrating their older sibling’s birthday at a restaurant in Pennsylvania, when they fell ill quickly after drinking the juice.
Four-year-old Ginaya began vomiting, while 10-year-old Richie screamed, “It burns, it burns”, their mother told the Lancaster Online.
The pair spent the night in intensive care with severe burns of the mouth and throat. They are both in a serious but stable condition.
Richard Zaragoza Sr., Richie’s father, told the Lancaster Online that a test from the medical centre revealed that methanol was at least one of the substances present in the apple juice the children were served.
Further tests are ongoing.
3. ‘Forever young’: Tributes flow for man who drowned while swimming in Melbourne lake.
Tributes have been laid beside a Melbourne lake where two men drowned during a ‘drunken swim’, 9 News reports.
Nineteen-year-old Haydyn Gibbons, and another man believed to be aged in his 30s, died while trying to swim across a lake in Redleap Reserve at Mill Park on Sunday night.
“To our little brother Haydyn, may you rest in peace beautiful boy. We love you always, forever young,” a tribute placed by the edge of the water read.
A large bunch of flowers, a bottle of beer and a can of whiskey and dry ginger was also left on a pier beside the lake to honour Haydyn’s memory.
“Never did I think I’d be coming home to your empty bedroom,” a friend, who had been living with Haydyn for four years, wrote on Facebook.
“I’m sitting here wide awake, still in shock that you’re no longer with us.”
Witnesses heard screaming as the two men became distressed while swimming across the water. A third man jumped in the water to search for his friends, but swam to shore and called for help when he began to feel the effects of alcohol.
Police launched a full-scale search for the two men before their bodies were pulled from the water around 10pm.
“Unfortunately because of the effects of alcohol, two of them got into trouble while swimming across the lake,” Senior Sergeant Mark Smith said at the scene.
4. Man charged with murder after a woman’s body was found in a Sydney home.
A 44-year-old man has been charged with murder after a woman was found inside her home in Sydney on Sunday night, 9 News reports.
Neighbours called police after they became concerned for a 55-year-old woman’s welfare when they heard “smashing, yelling and screaming” coming from the home.
The woman was found dead by police at around 7:30pm.
“Plates were being smashed, glass was smashed,” neighbour Leon Sofilas told 9 News.
“[There was] a loud scream, a woman’s scream and silence after that. She was the nicest lady, said hello to everyone, was happy to help.”
When the suspect returned to the property yesterday, he was arrested and taken to Bankstown Police Station where he was charged with the woman’s murder.
He was refused bail and is due to appear in Bankstown Local Court today.
5. Trump unveils ‘new and improved’ travel ban as he rejects FBI’s wire-tapping claims.
US President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order banning immigration from six Muslim-majority countries, CNN reports.
The new order has dropped Iraq from its list of banned countries, but reinstates a temporary blanket ban on all refugees.
The ‘new and improved’ order comes six weeks after Trump’s original ban caused widespread protest at airports around the country. The controversial ban was then blocked by federal courts.
Trump’s new order has also removed language that indefinitely banned Syrian refugees from entering the United States.
The new executive order comes as Donald Trump rejects the FBI’s claims that former President Barack Obama did not tap his office phones during the 2016 election.
The New York Times reports that Trump “does not accept” FBI director James B. Comey’s statements that claims Obama wire-tapped the then-Presidential hopeful are false.
Comey argued that Trump’s claims were “untrue” and “must be corrected”, and asked the Justice Department to publicly reject Trump’s assertions.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she “doesn’t think” Trump accepted Comey’s contentions.
“I think he firmly believes that this is a story line that has been reported pretty widely by quite a few outlets,” she told ABC’s Good Morning America.
6. Uber driver helps deliver baby while stuck in a traffic jam.
A 23-year-old Uber driver has found himself an unlikely hero after he helped his passenger deliver a baby when they became stuck in traffic, the New York Post reports.
Saki Tsaki picked up the mother-to-be and her young daughter, who had asked to be driven to a hospital in Brooklyn.
Tsaki soon noticed that the woman was in labour and that “the baby was coming out”, but they were stuck in traffic on a bridge. He pulled over and called 911 for help.
“I kept telling her, ‘Take deep breaths in’. She was screaming and gasping a lot for air,” he said.
Tsaki helped deliver the baby with NYPD officer Raphael Mohammed.
“Once I got there and I see a child’s body and not a head. I get close and see an umbilical cord, that’s when I had to move quickly and think quickly,” Office Mohammed said.
“My priority was to get air to this child and free the airway up. It took about three or four [pushes], I was finally able to get the baby out,” he said.
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Top Comments
I wonder how people miss the point that licensing laws are laws, not general guides. If it is against their licence to allow under aged people in after a certain time the venue and staff can face some pretty serious fines and loss of licence if they are caught out. I don't know what specific licence this bowling alley had, but a venue I worked at had very strict licensing. It meant that after a certain time the venue became strictly 18+ and no longer a venue to take your family for a meal. This does mean babies aren't welcome too. That is a sucky part of being a parent, not being able to take the kids with you on a night out, but it is just a fact of parenting. Not everything is discrimination, sometimes it is just unsuitable to take your kids to certain venues at certain times.
Actually looking into it a few years ago & I was told that babies up to the age of 12 months were accepted in some licensed places (depends on the suitability of the establishment - not sure how that's determined)
Yes licencing laws are pretty specific and dont exclude those who cant go to the bar themselves. All that law part aside tho, once 8pm comes why would you want to stay there with your baby who will be bothered to drunkards and load noise? Seems logical that when booze oclock comes the establishment probably isnt a great place for your baby anyway
I have never heard of such a licensing law, they are very very clear on the different licences who is permitted on premises and under what circumstances. If you found a particular licence that allows that it must be very specific and not particularly common. The thing people miss, aside from the fact that it is an offence to not follow the licensing laws of a venue, is that preventing under aged kids from drinking is not the sole reason for licensing laws. It is also because said venue is not an appropriate environment for children and venue owners have a duty of care. I know that kids are big dampeners on our social lives, my munchkin has been interferring with mine since 2014. And yes, leaving baby with a sitter can be pretty impossible when you are breastfeeding often isn't possible. But thems the breaks. You have to find more suitable places to catch up with friends.
Yeah, I remember one night working where a mother became irate that her baby had to go. I kept thinking hey, this isn't a great environment for him anyway! I don't want to sound judgey, and of course mums deserve a night out too, but it was a bad judgement call to chose that venue at that time for a family outing. The place was filled with drunk people, for goodness sakes! I know the suckiness of not having a reliable sitter (my husband and I live away from family and friends, so nights out alone are rare. I literally cannot remember the last time we had one), but that is just what you choose when you have kids.