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Hundreds of thousands are without power as tornado-spawning storms batter the Southeast and Ohio Valley

Severe tornado-spawning storms battered the Southeast and Ohio Valley, knocking out power to more than 615,000 homes and businesses across multiple states.

Stormy sky and rain. apocalypse like(Getty Images/iStockphoto/Evgeny555)

(CNN) — Severe tornado-spawning storms battered the Southeast and Ohio Valley, knocking out power to more than 615,000 homes and businesses across multiple states.

A possible twister damaged dozens of homes in Bargersville, Indiana, on Sunday as thunderstorms moved through the state, threatening hail and damaging winds. As they shifted through the rubble, Bargersville residents were warned to prepare to be without power for the next two days.

Scattered severe thunderstorms are likely across the Mid-Atlantic states Monday, bringing damaging wind gusts and large hail, according to the Weather Prediction Center.

Already, thunderstorms have walloped parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and parts of the Ohio Valley Sunday, knocking out power and leaving behind destruction.

Much of the power outages Sunday night were in Georgia, where more than 150,000 customers were in the dark, according to poweroutage.us.

“We are seeing large amounts of damage across Metro Atlanta and North Georgia. In areas that are the most heavily affected, our team is working to navigate the damage and get the lights back on for customers,” Georgia Power tweeted.

The storms came as more than 50 million people from Arizona to Louisiana on Sunday sweltered under a heat wave that was expected to spread and continue through the beginning of the July 4 holiday week.

The heat alerts include much of Texas as well as parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, according to the National Weather Service.

The extreme heat in Texas contributed to at least two deaths Friday at the remote Big Bend National Park, where temperatures reached 119 degrees.

At least 75 homes near Indianapolis were damaged

In Bargersville, a severe storm cut a path of destruction roughly 3 miles long, Bargersville Fire Chief Eric Funkhouser said.

One of the Bargersville Fire houses “witnessed the tornado going just north of the fire house” around 4:15 pm then reports began rolling in of homes collapsing and damage throughout the area, Funkhouser said.

At least 75 homes were left with moderate to severe damage “from the tornado being on the ground,” Funkhouser said, adding that the storm “took down the apartment complex that was under construction.”

No serious injuries were reported as of Sunday evening, according to the fire chief.

“This is the second tornado to hit Johnson County in the last three months,” Funkhouser said. “It’s amazing to have two tornadoes to come through, that were on the ground for that amount of time in Johnson County and for us to be able to hopefully – once we get through this – find out there were only minor injuries.”

Videos posted on social media showed a funnel-shaped cloud ripping through buildings as debris flew around it. Several houses could later be seen with their roofs ripped off.

“Given the photos and videos that we’ve seen, it’s virtually certain it was a tornado. We will be sending a survey team to make a final determination tomorrow,” National Weather Service Indianapolis Meteorologist Joseph Nield told CNN on Sunday.

Bargersville is about 17 miles south of Indianapolis and is located in Johnson County.

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Estate Planning: 5 Things to Consider

If you are preparing to draft your estate plan with your estate planning attorney, there are a variety of issues that you will need to think about before your documents can be finalized.

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Prior to drafting your estate plan, we recommend that you give some thought to the following items:

How do you want your money and assets handled if you die? Do you want any restrictions? If you are married, do you want your spouse to handle all assets? Are you worried about your spouse remarrying and being influenced by the spouse? It is important to know how you want your money to be managed when you or your spouse dies, especially if you have minor children.
If you have minor children, who will be their guardian? This is a very difficult discussion to have, but it’s better to make this decision than leave it up to the probate court. Many parents hope to avoid lengthy, emotional guardianship proceedings for their minor children.
Upon your death, where do you want your money, house, etc. to go? Do you want it to go to family, children, friends, charities, etc.? And do you want it given all at once? Or staggered? We typically recommend distributing money to children at certain ages, instead of in a lump sum.
Who will handle your affairs when you die? You need to appoint someone to be your trustee. This will be the person that you name to follow the instructions laid out in your estate plan regarding distribution or other plans you have set forth. This is usually your spouse first if you are married, then the most responsible person you know.
Who will make decisions for you if you are incapacitated? Usually, married clients designate their spouse as their power of attorney for both health and financial issues. If your spouse is already incapacitated or predeceased you or if you are single, who would you want to handle these issues? It can be the same person, or different people, to handle medical and financial people.

These are some of the decisions you should consider.

We often help our clients walk through these decisions and provide further guidance as we draft their documents.

If you need help, contact us today.

Contact us today to help you get the right documents in place or to update your current estate plan. We will plan so that you don’t have to worry about your future.

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Fast Retailing, Trading Houses Lift Japan’s Nikkei to 33-Year High

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei index extended its climb to a near 33-year high on Tuesday, with trading houses and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing leading the gains on technical support for heavyweight shares ahead of the fixing of special quotation prices.

The Nikkei recovered from early losses to close nearly 1% higher at 32,506.78. The index ended at its highest level since July 1990.

The broader Topix rose 0.74% to 2,236.28.

Ahead of the June 9 setting of special quotation prices used to set values on index options and futures, “stocks with a large contribution to the index were speculatively bought, supporting the market,” said Takashi Nakamura, a senior strategist at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute .

Shares of Fast Retailing climbed 1.73%, contributing the most to the Nikkei’s advance, while trading company Mitsui & Co jumped 3.86%.

Mizuho Financial Group slipped 0.49%, leading the losses among lenders on reports the US regulators may have tougher capital requirements following recent bank failures. Advantest slid 2.18% after chip-related peers declined in US trading.

The Nikkei has surged 15% in the past three months, outpacing major global indexes. A technical indicator, known as the 14-day relative strength index (RSI), for the gauge stood at 79, above the 70-mark indicating an overheated market.

“The last few days feel like generally broader buying compared to the last couple of weeks of May,” said Mio Kato, the founder of LightStream Research. “Maybe investors are more familiar with are Japan rotating a little out of the AI theme, for example, to get broader exposure.”

Trading houses and mining companies led to gains among the 33 industry sub-indexes on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, rising 2.5%. Banks led losses, sagging 0.78%.

Nitto Denko, a maker of protective films that supplies Apple, climbed 0.9% after the iPhone maker unveiled a costly new augmented-reality headset.

(Reporting by Rocky Swift and Nobuyo Saito in Tokyo; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

How Do I Get Out of My Non-Compete?

In healthcare, there has been a large expansion in non-compete clauses. Many of our clients would like to find a way out of their non-compete clause when looking to leave their current employment.

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The first way to avoid breaching a non-compete clause is to have your attorney negotiate a contract without a non-compete clause before beginning your employment.

Sometimes, non-compete clauses are unavoidable. So what can you do in that situation?

Make sure you understand the language of your non-compete. Are there any exceptions? Were any hospitals carved out or possibly an exception was made for entering into private practice? If you are looking to waive a non-compete, first have a healthcare attorney carefully review the provision for possible exceptions. You can also attempt to provide services that are not included in the language of the non-compete.
Propose an amendment waiving the clause. We often work with clients who entered into non-compete agreements to help them see if they can enter into an amendment waiving their non-compete. Sometimes this is as simple as having a discussion with your employer and preparing a short amendment to your contract. However, sometimes complicated negotiations take place to come to an agreed compromise.
Litigate the clause. This would be an extreme course of action, however, we have litigated non-compete clauses for our clients. While we don’t typically recommend litigation, there are exceptions to every rule. Litigation is costly and there is no way to know if the non-compete clause will be deemed reasonable or not. If it is reasonable, you will have spent time and money on a court case and still have to abide by the non-compete clause. However, if your clause is truly unreasonable and prevents you from earning a livelihood, it is worth discussing litigation with your attorney. Sometimes you will be forced to litigate if your employer sues you for breaching the non-compete, if they believe you are in breach.
Work outside of the clause. While this may not be what you want to hear, sometimes it is essential to work outside the geographical limitations during the restricted time period. Once that time is up, you can start working in the area that was previously restricted.

Some of our clients ask us if they can simply risk it and ignore the non-compete provision. This is a very risky strategy, as the employer might sue them to breach and start a costly court battle. There might also be other clauses that this would trigger in the contract, such as indemnification.

Whatever the case, all non-competes are different and we always recommend meeting with an experienced attorney prior to agreeing to a non-compete or trying to work around a non-compete.

If you need help with your healthcare contract, we can help. Contact Rickard & Associates today.

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The post How Do I Get Out of My Non-Compete? appeared first on Rickard & Associates.

Lyft gears up to make ‘significant’ layoffs under new CEO – Business News

Photo: The Canadian Press

FILE – A Lyft ride-hailing vehicle is parked near Empower Field at Mile High in Denver on April 30, 2020. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Lyft is preparing to lay off hundreds of employees just days after new CEO David Risher began steering the ride-hailing service with an eye toward driving down costs to help bring its fares more in line with its biggest rival, Uber.

Risher, a former Amazon executive, informed Lyft’s workforce of more than 4,000 employees in an email posted online Friday that a “significant” number of them would lose their jobs. It came at the end of his first week as Lyft’s CEO.

The note didn’t specify how many people would be jettisoned, but The Wall Street Journal reported that at least 1,200 employees would be laid off. The report cited unidentified people familiar with the cost-cutting plans.

San Francisco-based Lyft didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Risher, who had been a Lyft board member before being recruited to replace co-founder Logan Green, cited expense control as one of his top priorities during an interview with The Associated Press shortly after his hiring was announced. By ensuring Lyft is “super efficient,” Risher said the company would be in a better position to lower its fares to lure back passengers who had shifted to use Uber more frequently because that service was offering lower prices for the same trips.

It was a theme Risher emphasized again in his Friday email explaining why he decided to slash the payroll, which doesn’t include Lyft’s drivers — a group that is classified as independent contractors.

“We need to bring our costs down to deliver affordable rides, compelling earnings for drivers, and profitable growth,” wrote Risher.

Lyft intends to start notifying employees who will be laid off on Thursday when the company plans to close its offices.

It will mark the second round of recent job cuts for Lyft after shedding 700 workers last year.

Recurring waves of layoffs are emerging as a new phenomenon in the tech industry, reversing more than a decade of mostly unbridled growth.

Both Facebook owner Meta Platforms and e-commerce giant Amazon have gone through two rounds of major layoffs during the past year, in part because the pandemic fueled booming demand for digital services and products that resulted in hiring sprees that they and other tech companies began to regret as the COVID-19 threat waned and growth tapered off.

The pandemic initially walloped Lyft by drying up demand for ride-hailing services, a blow Uber was able to soften through an aggressive expansion in food delivery. That gave people a reason to continue using Uber’s app even when they were stuck at home while Lyft fell out of favour.

During the past year, it has become even clearer that consumers fell out of the Lyft habit as Uber’s ridership bounced back to pre-pandemic levels and Lyft’s losses mounted. Those struggles have caused Lyft’s stock price to plunge 69% during the past year, prompting the decision to bring in a new CEO to shake things up.

Lyft’s shares surged 6% after news of its cost-cutting plans came out to close Friday at $10.44.

Does Divorce Change My Estate Plan?

Yes! Even if you don’t have a written estate plan, you have an estate plan per the laws of your state. If you get divorced, the nature of your estate plan will change.

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If you have a written estate plan and get divorced, once your divorce is final, you need to update your plan.

It is likely your divorce may change things such as your:

legal name,
Trustees,
beneficiaries,
Power of attorney, and more.

Other than your estate plan, it is important to reassess:

jointly owned properties,
Beneficiaries on retirement accounts and life insurance,
Vehicle titles, and more.

If you have minor children, it is incredibly important to consider your estate plan because you will need to give thought to their guardianship and provide for their care if something were to happen to you.

While many situations that arise in life can impact your estate plan, a divorce will certainly require review and updates to your existing plan.

We recommend meeting with an estate planning attorney as soon as the divorce is finalized.

If you need help with your estate plan or following the death of a loved one, we can help.

Contact us today to help you get the right documents in place or to update your current estate plan. We will plan so that you don’t have to worry about your future.

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What Happens When You Don’t Fund Your Trust?

After you work with your estate planning attorney to draft a carefully tailored estate plan, it is usually your responsibility to “fund” the trust.

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What does funding the trust mean?

Funding the trust is simply transferring assets into your trust.

If you have a trust, you will want to put your assets into the trust, by retitling bank accounts, re-designating beneficiaries of life insurance, etc. We walk our clients through the process, but we usually recommend that the clients make the transfers themselves.

If clients fail to make the transfers or fail to title them correctly, the assets will not be a part of the trust.

This means that the assets outside of the trust will still need to go through the probate court. Any assets in your name alone will require probate administration.

Probate administration is costly and can be time consuming. Avoiding probate is one of the main reasons people love using trusts. To fail to fund your trust is unfortunate, in that you will have taken the time to draft your trust, paid for your trust, and then your assets will still have to accrue the costs of probate.

Further, if the assets are not in your trust, they will not follow your wishes that you set out in the trust.

If you are overwhelmed by funding your trust, work with your attorney.

We help our clients understand the funding process and know exactly what they need to do to complete the funding. However, if our clients do not wish to fund their own trusts, we offer funding services.

It is essential to know that your trust is a living document that requires care during your life to get the full benefits of your trust. You need to ensure it is updated to reflect your wishes and assets, and that it is fully funded.

Once you have gone through the process of funding it initially, additional assets are easy to transfer in as you will know what to do and will only need to perform transfers as your assets increase.

Let us know if you have questions about your estate plan or funding your trust.

Contact us today to help you get the right documents in place or to update your current estate plan. We will plan so that you don’t have to worry about your future.

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3 Things You Should Know About Irrevocable Trusts

A trust is an estate planning tool that allows a person to control their assets during their lifetime and make provisions for incapacity and death.

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One thing you should know about irrevocable trusts is that, unlike revocable or living trusts, irrevocable trusts cannot be changed or amended. They are set in stone.

A second thing that you should know about irrevocable trusts is that they have significant advantages, and also unique disadvantages.

Irrevocable trusts are often used as a person advances in age. Once they know that their circumstances are unlikely to change, we sometimes recommend the use of an irrevocable trust for their estate plan.

Why would someone want an estate plan that they cannot change?

Irrevocable trusts offer many advantages. These include:

Reduction of estate tax complications and reduction of taxes,
protection against creditors,
They can utilize special features to build wealth for future generations,
They can prevent loss of assets if long-term care is necessary,
and more.

However, there are many drawbacks of an irrevocable trust as well. Some of these include:

They cannot be changed, so no revisions will be allowed
They are very costly
A tax return will need to be added each year.
There is some loss of control.

The third thing that you should know about irrevocable trusts is that many of the drawbacks can be remedied by careful drafting.

We help our clients decide if an irrevocable living trust is right for them. If it is we find ways to draft around potential issues and downsides, such as putting in language allowing the grantor to replace the trustee if they are not acting appropriately.

Let us know if you have questions as to whether an irrevocable living trust is right for you or your loved ones.

Contact us today to help you get the right documents in place or to update your current estate plan. We will plan so that you don’t have to worry about your future.

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