All posts tagged "Vacations"

TMZ caught 30 members of Congress touring Scotland courtesy of taxpayer funding amid the ongoing partial government shutdown.

The large group was captured on camera at Edinburgh Castle, a major tourist location, all while government workers have gone unpaid, according to a report on Wednesday. The image featured Rep. John McGuire (R-VA), Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), Rep. David Rouzer (R-NC), Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), and Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) all taking a guided tour at the historic location.

"Congress is not supposed to take taxpayer-funded trips like this during a government shutdown — or so we thought — but it sounds like they're getting around it because this is a partial shutdown. The way we see it, a shutdown is a shutdown," TMZ reported. ...

A Massachusetts woman won big for a second time on a lottery ticket. But this time, her prize was even bigger. Desiree Fortini-Craft of Hyde Park won a scratch-off game’sthird grand prize of $25 million, according to a Massachusetts State Lottery news release. Fortini-Craft won on the Massachusetts State Lottery’s “Billion Dollar Extravaganza,” a $50 instant game. When she saw she won the grand prize, she hid her ticket and went on vacation, according to the lottery. “She said that she had scratched her winning ticket a few weeks ago and stored it in a secure place before going on a trip to Ar......

MIAMI — H. Wayne Huizenga, the now-deceased billionaire who at one point owned three South Florida sports teams, was one of several wealthy businessmen who provided lavish gifts, vacations, and excursions on private jets to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, according to recent reporting. The nature of Huizenga’s relationship with Thomas — and the lifestyle it afforded the justice — came under scrutiny in a recent ProPublica story detailing the extent of such luxury perks, which often went undisclosed. Failure to disclose gifts like flights and yacht cruises may be a violation of the ......

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing back against reports that he kept his family trip to Montana a secret because of a ban on state-funded travel to places with anti-LGBTQ laws. “We are not in the business of regulating where people have family or where they spend their vacation,” Erin Mellon, Newsom’s communications director, said Wednesday. “Nor will we persecute them for visiting their family. The press shouldn’t either.” Newsom and his family left the state on July 1, the first day of the California Legislature’s monthlong recess. The governor’s office said he was ......

GOP Twitter went bonkers Friday over a holiday trip that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., took to Florida. “Welcome to Florida, AOC!” a campaign account for Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis tauntingly tweeted. “We hope you’re enjoying a taste of freedom here in the Sunshine State thanks to @RonDeSantisFL‘s leadership.” The hashtag #AOCLovesDeSantis officially trended on Twitter as droves of conservatives crowed over the congresswoman’s visit south. “If Florida’s covid policies are so dangerous how come Democrats keep vacationing there?” one commenter tweeted. An article in the conser......

SAN JOSE, Calif. — As Seal Beach tourist Charles McMillian strolled down Main Street this month – wearing his distinctive white-framed glasses – a couple stopped to greet him. “Oh, they just wanted to thank me for my testimony,” McMillian explained with a shrug as he took a seat outside Old Town Cafe. A few months ago, the 61-year-old man was just another face in the crowd and, like many, struggling to get by. Then, on March 31, millions around the globe saw his riveting eyewitness account of George Floyd’s horrific death. As McMillian puts it now, “When I cried, the whole world cried.” That n......