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Kitten rides 300 miles in Royal Navy pilot's BMW

The Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, has a new recruit–a tiny kitten named Tigger. According to the Royal Navy Online, Lieutenant Nick Grimmer flew in to Birmingham Airport after a vacation refreshed and ready to return to duty. Grimmer, who flies sub hunting Merlin Mk2 helicopters for the Fleet Air Arm's 814 Squadron, then hopped in his BMW and drove 300 miles to his post at Royal Navy Air Station Culdrose in Cornwall. The next day, he heard a quiet, feeble meowing coming from somewhere in his car and began to investigate. "I looked in the boot, under the bonnet, and climbed all over and under it and still couldn't find what was making the noise," Grimmer told Royal Navy Online. "I called up some of our air engineers who came and helped me to start dismantling my pride and joy. On taking off the rear bumper we were greeted with a tiny tiger-striped kitten." Since he was already dangerously close to being late for duty, Lt. Grimmer had no choice but to take his new friend with him to work. His squadronmates, delighted by their newest recruit, named him Tigger in honor of the squadron's nickname–the Flying Tigers. After his harrowing journey in the BMW, Tigger has been a little anxious and unwilling to leave his savior's side. "The place he has felt most comfortable is in my flying helmet, which is the only place he is able to sleep," said Grimmer. "We are more than happy to adopt Tigger as a mascot," Commander Brendan Spoors, CO of the squadron, told Royal Navy. "After all, it's a tradition for Royal Navy units to have a ship's cat!" The 814 has launched a campaign to locate Tigger's owners called "Operation Tiger Kitten". If the 814 can't find Tigger's owners, the kitten may end up serving aboard HMS Ocean along with the rest of the squadron, as they are due to deploy for training exercises in the Baltic and Mediterranean. Tigger's story isn't unusual. We've seen a few stories of kittens surviving rides after crawling into cars to keep warm during the night. Sometimes they drop out of cars at inconvenient times, like when this kitten fell into the middle of a busy intersection. Sometimes rescuing the kitten can cause costly damage, as this man found out after he cut his truck's body to save a trapped kitten. Many more, however, go undiscovered and can die after getting trapped in a wheel well or engine compartment. To prevent unwanted stowaways, give you horn a quick honk to send them running.

BMW to pay $1.6M, rehire workers in discrimination settlement

A BMW subsidiary is on the hook for $1.6 million and must rehire workers as part of a settlement for a race discrimination lawsuit with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A change in BMW Manufacturing's criminal background check policy at the Spartanburg, SC, factory disproportionately affected African American workers, according to the EEOC, and it cost many people their jobs. The automaker has since changed the policy. According to Automotive News, the suit stemmed from BMW switching logistics contractors at the plant in 2008. As a result, 645 existing workers had to submit revised criminal background checks to keep their jobs. About 100 people didn't meet the new guidelines, according to the EEOC, and they lost their jobs. Around 80 percent of those affected were African American. According to the government agency's complaint, the altered procedures only took into account the category of a crime, not factors like when it occurred or whether the infraction was a misdemeanor or felony. With the settlement accepted by US District Court, BMW must offer work to the affected employees in this case and as many as 90 African American applicants that the contractor didn't hire because of the rules. The automaker also must offer training in the proper manner for criminal background checks. While there's nothing inherently wrong with investigating workers, "when a criminal background screen results in the disproportionate exclusion of African-Americans from job opportunities, the employer must evaluate whether the policy is job related and consistent with a business necessity," P. David Lopez, the EEOC's General Counsel, said in the agency's release, which you can read below. BMW to Pay $1.6 Million and Offer Jobs to Settle Federal Race Discrimination Lawsuit Company's Criminal Background Policy Disproportionately Affected African-American Logistics Workers, EEOC Charged GREENVILLE, S.C. - The U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina today entered a consent decree ordering BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC (BMW) to pay $1.6 million and provide job opportunities to alleged victims of race discrimination as part of the resolution of a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

2014 BMW M6 Gran Coupe is ready for your favorite roads

We've known about the ins and outs of the lovely BMW M6 Gran Coupe for a while now, but that doesn't mean we weren't happy to see the thing in the metal for the first time, here in Detroit.
The M-tuned Gran Coupe utilizes the same 4.4-liter forced-induction V8 that powers both the BMW M6 and the M5, with an output of 560 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque. The fast four-door brings up 60 miles per hour in just 4.1-seconds - the same sprint time as the M6 coupe and a few tenths quicker than the M5 - and up to a limited top speed of 155 mph.
We love those performance figures - this is one new Bimmer that we're amped to get some seat time in - though we're not super crazy about the selection of chrome wheels on this particular show car. Tells us what you think about the hotted up Gran Coupe in comments, below.