Photo: GM
Making Sure the Chevy Volt is Safe for First Responders
A friend of mine works part-time as a firefighter in a small town, and one of the things that he's often talking about is how dangerous airbags can be if you are a first responder. They might save the life of a car's passengers, but if they go off while you are crawling inside a car, or if you cut up the car in the wrong pace and hit an unexploded airbag, that can cause big problems. But first responders are trained for this and are adjusting their techniques to minimize risk. The same is true with elec...Read the full story on TreeHugger
Photo: GM
Making Sure the Chevy Volt is Safe for First Responders
A friend of mine works part-time as a firefighter in a small town, and one of the things that he's often talking about is how dangerous airbags can be if you are a first responder. They might save the life of a car's passengers, but if they go off while you are crawling inside a car, or if you cut up the car in the wrong pace and hit an unexploded airbag, that can cause big problems. But first responders are trained for this and are adjusting their techniques to minimize risk. The same is true with elec... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Thousands of firefighters and soldiers are strengthening dykes that are crumbling in a second wave of massive flooding in southern Poland following weeks of torrential rains.
Hundreds of riders had to be rescued from a J train near the Sutphin Boulevard station when a track fire stranded the train. A mechanical failure reportedly sparked two small fires, forcing many passengers to climb out of the car and walk along the tracks to the above ground 121st Street station before firefighters arrived. So which is worse, putting yourself in danger walking along the tracks, or waiting hours in a subway on a humid day for firefighters to pry you out?
A former police officer from Ohio was charged Thursday with running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded retired police officers, firefighters and others of nearly 900,000 dollars, officials said.
The Justice Department said criminal information was filed against 49-year-old Raymond Thomas, who had been a member of the Warrensville Heights Police Department.
The complaint alleges that Thomas, from 1997 through July 2006, told potential investors he operated three legitimate investment companies that would make quarterly payments of "above average fixed returns with below average risk."
But according to prosecutors, Thomas did not invest the money but used incoming investments to pay prior investors in the Ponzi scheme.
"It is particularly troubling to discover that a former law enforcement officer has committed a crime, especially given that law enforcement officers take an oath to uphold the law," said US Attorney Steven Dettelbach in Cleveland.
"These charges allege that Thomas did more than just violate the laws he had sworn to uphold, they charge that he actually targeted the law enforcement community to sustain his Ponzi scheme."
Thomas was charged with mail fraud and tax fraud.
Several members of a crowd were injured by flying debris as an Osprey tried to land at a Memorial Day celebration on Staten Island Monday.
"A total of 10 people suffered minor injuries. One person was taken to Richmond University Medical Center," NY1 reported.
Nine people were injured, according to WABC.
The aircraft, was hovering over a Staten Island park when the force of the rotors blew over branches from a tree.
The branches fell onto spectators watching below.
Story continues below...Nine people on the ground were injured. None of the injuries were believed to be life threatening.
An updated Associated Press article adds, "Firefighters say seven people have been taken to Richmond University Medical Center. Three others refused medical attention."
This video is from MSNBC's News Live, broadcast May 31, 2010.
Now that we know bus drivers can get up to two months of paid sick time after suffering the "assault" of being spit upon, what other perks have slipped into the city's union contracts? The Post dug up some strange rules about everything from overtime to classroom assignments, some of which rival the absurdity of the MTA's spitting policy.
For instance, unionized workers are guaranteed "special excusals" for things like “Moon Landing Observation Day," firefighters are guaranteed 96 hours of overtime a year, and transit workers get to celebrate their birthdays as paid holidays. Also, all those reckless bus drivers may be driving that way on purpose, because drivers who receive traffic summonses on the job get four hours pay if they appear in court and are exonerated. Many contracts also guarantee pay increases for longevity, and mortuary technicians even get an extra $636 a year to deal with rabid animals.
The "spit-leave" falls under the category of assault, and bus, train and subway operators are entitled to two years off for “injuries incurred on duty as a result of physical assaults.” The contract doesn't define assault, and doesn't mention spitting anywhere.
A 14-month-old boy was pulled from his family's Staten Island pool in cardiac arrest yesterday afternoon. WABC 7 reports that little Vincent Fougere " found by his parents floating in the pool wearing only his diaper." Luckily, the local firehouse was nearby and a neighbor, who heard the screaming parents, ran over there for help.
The neighbor, Ronald Hofstetter, told the Staten Island Advance that a young couple had moved into the home recently. And he said his dog tipped him off that something was wrong, "I went outside to stop him from barking, and I heard them yelling next door. Someone was on the phone, probably calling 911. I immediately ran for the Fire Department." He then led the firefighters to the house on Brehaut Avenue, in the Tompkinsville section.
Firefighters performed CPR until EMT arrived and Vincent was taken to Staten Island University Hospital, where he was in critical condition last night. According to City Room, the adults at the home estimated Vincent was in the pool for 30 seconds to a minute, but FDNY Lt. Hector Morisi said, "They did not mention how he got into the pool" and couldn't explain "if he walked in or stumbled in or crawled in."
Morisi told WCBS 2, "Keep an eye on your kids. It's summer, it's hot, I understand the pools, but you have to take safety first." Here are pool safety tips from the CPSC and learn where you can take CPR classes in the city.
After part of the Cromwell Recreation Center collapsed into the harbor yesterday afternoon, it's unclear if the building will be saved. The Parks Department says some of the 1938 structure, which sits on a pier, can be saved, but the the FDNY said the part of the front of the center "is in imminent state of collapse" and engineers are planning a "controlled demolition" of the front of the building. The Staten Island Advance reports, "It already had shifted five and a half inches in the first two hours following the arrival of emergency responders."
Firefighters initially responded to a smaller collapse at the pier, but then a second one occurred when they were about to check it out; a resident said, "I heard them banging, and all of a sudden, ‘Get out!’ and that’s when they ran like hell." The Advance also has video of the collapse—it's pretty crazy:
| Pier collaspe |
The center had been closed last month, to undergo a multi-million dollar renovation and stabilization project; luckily no one was working on the building at the time. Angry residents say the city had ignored it too long, one lamenting, "I just feel terrible that a vintage building like that should be ruined because the city doesn’t give a damn."
Yesterday, the Parade of Ships kicked off Fleet Week, with vessels carrying 3,000 Navy, Army, Marine, and Air Force members. There were also Naval F-18 Hornets over the Verrazano Bridge and U.S. Marine Corps jets over the ships.
One of the boats in the parade was the FDNY's new fireboat, which the AP says is the "world's most advanced fireboat," since it "can detect chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear agents." It was partly made from WTC steel and is called the Three Forty Three—after the number of firefighters lost on September 11, 2001.
Crossposted from OurFuture.Org
"I have worked all my life."
It's something that's true of many Americans, whether employed or unemployed. But it has a special resonance for Americans who have worked hard, and are wiling to work, but face a jobless recovery. These are Americans whose needs and concerns will get special attention during a jobs plenary at America's Future Now! in Washington starting June 7.
"I have worked all my life."
That was the phrase most often repeated by the seven citizens who testified at the "Putting America Back To Work: Direct Job Creation in Local Communities" forum, sponsored by Campaign for Community Change and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. The forum was intended to rally support for the Local Jobs For America Act (HR 4812) -- which would:
And, with all do respect to president Obama, those who say "government can't create jobs" are simply wrong. (Not to be flippant, but it created his job. The president is far to intelligent to start sounding like Michael Steele. One wonders what motivated that statement.) There are times when government can and must create jobs. As panelist Dr. Bernard E. Anderson -- economist, professor, and member of the National Urban League President's Council of Economic advisors pointed out, "when the private sector is unable to create sufficient jobs, the government must."
Dr. Anderson also pointed out that we don't have to go back to the 1930s and the Depression for an example. The last time we had an effective government jobs program was in 1973, under a Republican president -- Richard Nixon, who signed the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) into law. At its peak in 1977, created 725,000 jobs and by itself decreased the unemployment rate by 1%.
The president should not only take note of CETA, but also that even some of its critics say the problem with CETA was that it wasn't big enough.
Conservatives reading this brief history may feel justified in their scorn for government programs. But the problem with CETA was not that it embodied Big Government, but that it was not big enough. CETA left behind no lasting monuments like LaGuardia Airport and the Hoover Dam, no evocative art like the WPA murals in post offices and libraries. The administration of CETA was lax, but almost all of its scandals were small-bore local corruption.
Today, even more than in the 1970s, there is a moral argument for public service employment. While Barack Obama's stimulus package was advertised as shovel-ready, a public jobs program would be people-ready. The societal waste and the wrecked lives from double-digit unemployment will leave scars that may take decades to heal. But what liberals should have learned long ago from CETA is that effective management matters – and that an ill-designed program can turn a laudable idea into a laughing stock.
Today the words of seven ordinary people, from Mississippi to Maine, who put a human face on the country's unemployment emergency, and gave it voice.
"I have worked all my life."
Those were the words of people who have always worked, still want to work, and have worked hard at finding work—without success. Whether they were recently unemployed, long-term unemployed, or facing layoffs, none of them resembled the caricatures and stereotypes conservatives have used to portrayed jobless Americans as shiftless hand-out seekers, too lazy to look for jobs they would surely find if the only tried. They are hard-working Americans looking for a chance to contribute to their skills and efforts to a country that desperately needs them, doesn't appear to know them, and may be in the process of abandoning them.
Each of their stories, multiplied by millions in our economy, illustrates what the jobs data already tells us.
"I am a father," Charles Jenkins, 55, says by way of introducing himself, "and I have worked all of my adult life; more than 30 years. I am here testifying today because I need a job."
Employed by a as a driver for a transportation company, Jenkins was hospitalized in 2009 due to serious illness. Like too many American workers, Jenkins had no sick leave to fall back on, was was terminated. He began receiving unemployment benefits and food stamps.
Unemployed for nearly a year, Jenkins has applied for "10 to 12 jobs a week" without success. He has begun working as a community organizer in training at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, through the Targeted Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Contingency Fund subsidized employment program. That will end on September 30, and Jenkins will join the unemployed African-American men in Chicago and the more than 1.4 million unemployed African-American men across the country.
"I have worked all my life, for more than 35 years," Nadina Patterson said as she began her remarks. She was laid off in February 2009, from a job she held for two years as a health outreach worker. She now volunteers with the Philadelphia Unemployment Project. Patterson has been looking for a job for 12 months, and has been unable to find a job despite 20 years of experience in human services. She fears losing her unemployment benefits will leave her with few options.
"If I lose my benefits, I won't be able to meet my needs for shelter, food, and health care. My family is impacted by the financial crisis and unemployment," she said speaking of her adult children. "They don't have the resources to help me."
"Represent millions just like me," said Patterson. "Today, I am a lobbyist for 31 million Americans like me."
Indeed she does represent millions who will not only be impacted by their own job loss, but by inevitable job cuts in essential services, as state and local governments resort to job cuts, having tried every alternative short of tax increases.
Those services are often provided by people like Mandy Alvar, a Certified Nursing Assistant who has worked for more than eight years providing in-home care to elderly and disabled people who would otherwise have to move to nursing homes or alternative care facilities. In May, Alvar learned that she will be laid off in the near future—between July and October.
If she finds another position, it's unlikely she will find one equivalent to the one she has for now. Alvar expects she will face a 20 percent loss in income in another position, and a complete lack of health insurance. While she's concerned about finding another position, Alvar is especially worried about her clients, who will lose much-needed services. "Because," she says, " no agency is going to replace those services."
Alvar spoke of the "ripple effect" layoffs like hers have on those who need services, and spoke of a client who attempted suicide because of the potential loss of vial care.
"We are losing vital benefits," she said, "that will not be replaced and the impact on health and well-being is devastating.
Laurent F. Gilbert Sr., mayor of Lewiston, Maine, spoke of the dire circumstances facing cities like his, would benefit from direct local job creation through retention of current workers, restoration of laid-off workers, and expansion in areas where services are desperately needed. Budget shortfalls that result from state budget cuts in his city have forced local buts in winter plowing, street lighting, and fire inspection -- all with obvious implications for public safety.
Mayor of a city that was once home the nations shoe-making and textile industry, which declined in the 1980s, Gilbert spoke as the mayor of a city that is now home to two of the poorest districts in the state. And he spoke of someone who has witness the human cost of long-term joblessness. "I witnessed first hand," Mayor Gilbert said, "the suicide of a neighbor who was employed for years in the shoe-making industry, after 8 months of being unemployed with no hope of finding work.
For millions of Americans, of any age, having a job means having a future worth looking forward to -- or having one at all.
Rosemary Hicks looked forward to the future. She grew up expecting to go to college, graduate and find work. In May of 2010, she graduated magna cum laude from Tuskegee University, with a degree in sales and marketing. Rosemary is the first in her family to earn a college degree. Since then, she has applied for 30 jobs in just five months. But, like many recent graduates, Rosemary finds that she is competing with older workers who are recently laid-off, have years of experience, and are willing to take the entry-level positions that Hicks and her peers seek.
Anxious to start a career, so that she can begin to pay back student loans and help support her retired parents, Hicks represents millions of young Americans who "need to know the American dream is still obtainable," but may find it placed permanently out of reach by chronic, long term joblessness.
It took the Rev. George Cummings of Imani Community Church & PiCO-Oakland Community Organizations to frame the issue in moral terms. Speaking of the 18 percent general rate unemployment in his own community and the 30 percent unemployment rate among young African Americans, Cummings defined the jobs issues as "an urgent moral necessity."
"It is a fundamental question," he said, "of the character of our nation."
How can anyone say he's wrong?
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. juxtaposed the moral issue against the political challenges. Pointing out that she is a former recipient of public assistance herself, she defined unemployment in this country as an emergency that requires direct action. Lee framed unemployment as a higher priority than the deficit.
"The best strategy for lowering the deficit," Lee said, "is to keep Americans working, and get Americans back to work right in their hometowns and communities."
And she's right. Getting people back to work means people earn money that they spend and put back into the economy. That means an increase in state and local income from sales tax, and an increase in demand for products and services that will not only save existing jobs in the public and private sector, but increase consumer confidence and lower insecurity — all of which leads to increased demand and economic growth driven by high employment.
But the austerity that deficit hawks advocate so enthusiastically won't get us there. And it won't happen by cutting corporate taxes and hoping for the best. That's been tried for 30 years. Look where it got us.
"This is what change is all about," Lee said.
And change is what Americans voted for. It's what millions of jobless Americans want.
It's what Charlie Jenkins wants. It's what Nadina Patterson wants. It's what Mandy Alvar wants. It's what Mayor Gilbert and his constituents want. It's what Rosemary Hicks wants.
And they're all ready to work for it.
Now, Congress and the White House need to meet them halfway, and commit to direct investment in job growth.
I admit that I do not know whether or not the troops committed to Afghanistan and Iraq are trained to deal with disasters such as we are facing in the Gulf Coast following the oil spill. They may not have the expertise to stop the flow of oil, but they and the billions being spent certainly could be of vast assistance in stemming the oil tide and aiding the clean-up. Rather than having over a hundred thousand troops engaged in an unending and unwinnable war, would we not be better served by having them here saving our cities rather than saving (or possibly destroying) those in Afghanistan.
One of the reasons given for maintaining our forces in Afghanistan is our commitment to the government and our friends there (no matter how few they may be) to remain until peace is obtained and stabilized. But if we send our firefighters and fire equipment to a neighboring country to help extinguish a major fire, that country and its people should certainly understand if we need to return to our own country to battle a blaze there. Our troops are needed here to battle an enemy which can destroy wildlife, food supply, jobs, the environment and even some lives. At the same time, we will be saving their lives as well.
There is speculation that the removal of American troops from foreign soil would reduce the incidence of terrorism. I do not pretend to be an expert on this issue. But even if there is some detriment to bringing our troops home to deal with a crisis of this magnitude, it would seem that the benefits far outweigh any such detriment. What greater justification can there be to remove our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan than that their country needs them.
Report: Nissan GT-R goes up in flames while parked in locked showroom originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 25 May 2010 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsOne of the vehicles involved in a deadly car crash in Minnesota today was a truck carrying bees. First responders to the scene faced what was described as a "big black cloud" of bees. Firefighters were spraying the trucks with hoses to subdue the bees because they don't fly in the rain (the bees, not the trucks). I can only imagine a few things worse than this, one of which is an accident involving a truck full of sharks.
Tags: beesThe truck that crashed carried upwards of 17 million bees; each of the trucks carried 700 hives, with about 25,000 bees per hive, said Dale Bauer of Bauer Honey Inc. of Fertile, Minn. The bees were being shipped to North Dakota after spending the winter in Mississippi. There was no immediate estimate of how many of the bees escaped.
Artist Interpretation of GPS satellite, courtesy of NASA
The Los Angeles Times reports that the U.S. government is dropping eight billion dollars to upgrade and improve our GPS satellite system. While the price tag might get the goat of those who decry wasteful government spending, one look at how much our modern economy relies on GPS and $8B looks like a bargain.
Aside from our simple day-to-day use of GPS for mapping, navigation, geotagging, etc., it also means better tracking of our financial transactions, which are marked by time and place using atomic clocks aboard satellites and GPS triangulation. It’s also a lifesaver when tracking folks lost out at sea or guiding firefighters to where they’re needed. And of course, the original military applications have continued to expand since GPS was first introduced. The satellites, which started going up in 1978, and started offering GPS since 1993 are due for an upgrade.
The upgrade will triple the number of signals available for commercial use, which has grown tremendously thanks to the advent of consumer smartphones, geotagging cameras, and other location-aware gadgets. The system should reduce the margin of error of today’s systems from twenty feet or more down to an arm’s length. In addition, atomic clocks on all the new satellites will ensure time-keeping is precise down to a billionth of a second.
While most of us do fine with the precision we have now, this improvement could have huge benefits for locating and tracking missing goods, pets, and even people. At the very least, finding your phone lost in your backyard should become a heck of a lot easier.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court says a group of African Americans can sue Chicago over a hiring test they challenged as discriminatory.
The high court on Monday unanimously overturned a lower court decision that said the black applicants had waited too long to sue. This is the second time in as many years that the high court has taken on allegations of discrimination in testing within the firefighting ranks.
The court said last year that New Haven, Conn., violated white firefighters' civil rights by throwing out an exam in which no African Americans scored high enough to be promoted.
During last year's NYC Marathon, Michael Goulding, 51, had a heart attack near Mile 19 in Harlem. Firefighters, who happened to be near by and were not assigned to cover the marathon, were able to resuscitate him. Though he trained appropriately, his mother spoke to the Times, "I told him that he was too old to run a marathon." Now, six months later, Goulding came back to run the final seven miles on Thursday and thank his rescuers. Since his heart attack, he ran a half marathon without any issue; he said to the Post, "It felt good [to run the final seven miles]. It shows how close the line is between life and death. I’m just very humbled."
