September
27
Friday, June 22, 2007
According to court documents obtained by Wikinews, Randy Squires, an African American male and a former police officer of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (DCMPD) has filed a lawsuit against the department alleging racial discrimination and harassment by a fellow officer. Squires is also suing the former mayor of D.C., Anthony A. Williams, and the district’s Attorney Generals office. Squires is also suing his superior officer, Robert Atcheson, for racial discrimination and harassment.
“Defendant Atcheson treated Plaintiff differently than similarly situated Caucasian police officers in several respect[sic], including but not limited to assignments, evaluation, and disciplinary actions, deprivation of overtime and use of departmental vehicles,” stated court papers filed by Squires’ attorneys, Donald M. Temple and Dhamian A. Blue of Temple Law Offices in Washington D.C.
Squires accuses Atcheson, a white-caucasian male and a lieutenant in the Environmental Crimes Unit (ECU) Warrant Squad and the Paternity Warrant Squad, of discriminating against him on the basis of the color of his skin and also harassing him while on the job. Squires originally started to work in DCMPD 1988, and shortly after he was hired, he began to work in the ECU. Atcheson was in control of the unit Squires belonged to.
In court documents, Squires alleges Atcheson treated him with “flagrant racial discriminatory conduct,” like using the word “mope,” which is defined as slang for “nigger,” and that the discrimination was “designed to intimidate, insult, emasculate and humiliate” Squires. In one incident in 2002, during a training exercise, Atcheson allegedly “deprived Squires of appropriate breathing apparatus, which is designed to save life in emergency and hazardous situations,” but that the apparatus was “provided to two other caucasian officers.”
Documents also allege that Atcheson had “falsified” a report to North Carolina State Police after Squires was arrested and wrongfully charged with “unauthorized taking of a police vehicle.” Court documents say that the report to N.C. police states that “Atcheson falsely told Plaintiff (Squires) that he had photographic evidence of the police car outside Plaintiff’s home overnight and of Plaintiff driving the car from his home.”
Court documents also allege that Squires allegedly informed his superior officer of Atcheson, only known as ‘Captain Brito,’ of the incident, but no action was ever taken against Atcheson. Squires initially filed a complaint against Atcheson with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, (EEOC) in a letter on March March 8, 2005.
The Washington D.C. police department has investigated the claims made by Squires, which “revealed inappropriate conduct toward Squires,” but according to documents, no disciplinary action has been taken against Atcheson or his superiors.
The defendants “deny any and all allegations” that Squires has made against them and also state that Squires “failed to exhaust their administrative remedies and/or failed to comply with other mandatory filing requirements.” Defendants also say that “all actions taken by District (Washington D.C.) relating to Plaintiffs were necessary, reasonable, pursuant to lawful authority, and based on legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons” and that “the district denies that any district policymaker adopted, approved, condoned and/or maintained an unconstitutional policy, practice or custom of unlawful employment practices.”
Squires is asking at least US$350,000. Squires and the Defendants also request that a jury be present during the trial, which is scheduled to conclude on June 26.
September
27
Friday, March 26, 2010
American singer Johnny Maestro died of cancer Wednesday at his home in Cape Coral, Florida. Maestro was best known for his 1958 hit song “16 Candles” with The Crests.
He began his career in the 1950s as lead singer for The Crests, an early interracial singing group. In 1968 he joined his band, The Del-Satins, with The Rhythm Method, another Long Island band. They became Johnny Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge. Their song “The Worst That Could Happen” went gold in 1969. Maestro performed with The Brooklyn Bridge until two months before his death.
He was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on May 7, 1939 as John Mastrangelo. He is survived by his wife Grace and three children Lisa, Brad, and Tracy.
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By Mike Hirn
It can be easier than you think to build your own sauna. With some basic carpentry skills and a little specialized understanding you can be relaxing in your own home sauna in no time at all.
There are a few important decisions to be made to be sure you end up with the sauna that best fits your situation. One consideration is how much work you want to put into the building of your sauna. There are prebuild units that are delivered to your door and literally take only a few minutes to set up. You can also get precut kits that take longer to construct but give you a more custom sauna when finished. The ultimate is to build your own sauna from scratch. Even this method is not as difficult as you might expect. The costs tend to go down considerably as you add more and more of your own elbow grease.
Another concern is the location. Should your sauna be inside or out, attached or freestanding? This may depend on whether you are in a rural or city environment. Locating near a water source is also important. If you are outside this can be a lake or pond to jump into. For indoor saunas a nearby shower can be used to rinse off. In either case before you start building think about getting water to your sauna. Along with a convenient way to rinse off it is nice to have an area to change into and out of sauna apparel. Benches for sitting on while removing clothes and hooks for hanging them are a great feature.
Deciding how you will heat your sauna is a major decision. Conventional saunas are heated with either wood, electric or gas heaters. Any of these can be used dry or wet depending on whether you sprinkle water on the heated rocks or not. Some people like it dry and some prefer wet, it comes down to personal tastes. Before deciding which kind of stove you want think about getting fuel to your heater. Wood may be difficult to acquire in the city but electric or gas hookups may be impractical in more remote areas. Costs can vary greatly depending on the brand and type of stove you get. A relatively new (compared to the 2000+ year history of saunas) type of sauna is the infrared sauna. These use infrared emitting lights to penetrate and heat your skin. It is a little like your microwave oven in that the food (you) is heated but the surrounding air is not. Infrared saunas are always dry. Because of the complexity of installing and correctly positioning the infrared wave emitters I suggest you buy a prebuilt model if you go with infrared.
There are a few special concerns that distinguish building a sauna from other conventional frame construction. Moisture is a concern. There should be a vapor barrier to keep the heat and steam from escaping. Any electrical connections need to be protected from excessive moisture. Ventilation is necessary to keep the oxygen level up and if done right it will also help to evenly distribute the heat.
All in all building a sauna is not an overwhelming task. If you can do some basic framing and simple finished woodworking you are well on your way to building your own sauna that can be enjoyed for years to come.
About the Author: Mike Hirn has been a sauna enthusiast for many years and his website provides a wealth of information about building, using and enjoying home saunas.
the-home-sauna-center.com
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September
26
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Another blast shook the Ukrainian coal mine Zasyadko in Donetsk, where over 100 miners died in a methane blast in November. According to the United Press International news agency, 52 miners were injured. The ITAR TASS news agency reports also that most of them suffered carbon monoxide poisoning and were taken to an occupational diseases treatment clinic, while seven were hospitalised at the central hospital of the Donetsk region.
Marina Nikitina, a local officer of the Ukrainian’s industrial safety agency Gosgorpromnadzor, informed the press that all of the 385 miners who were underground when the explosion occurred, have been already evacuated. According to her, the blast took place at 5.55 a.m. EET (UTC+2) in an isolated part of the collery at the deep of 1078 metres, where 63 people were working. A Ukrainian TV channel Kanal 5 reports the disaster has been caused by a methane blast. It informs also that Vitalij Shevchenko, the mine’s general engineer, has been ousted from his post by the Ukrainian mining supervision.
It is the second explosion in two weeks that happened in the pit. The November 18 blast is regarded among the Ukrainian media as the worst coal-mining disaster in Ukraine’s post-Soviet history.
Today’s blast is a part of deadly series of accidents in the Ukrainian coal mining industry; in the Donetsk region alone about 200 people have died this year.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
A New Jersey congressman says restrictions on federal stimulus money are hurting gaming destinations like Atlantic City, and he is seeking to repeal a provision banning the use of funds for casinos or other gaming establishments.
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Is Ken Calemmo right to suggest that the gaming industry is as important as manufacturing, retail or finance?
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“The demonization of gaming destinations such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City for business travel is wrong, wrong, wrong,” U.S. Rep Frank LoBiondo said Friday during a press conference in front of Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
The $787 billion federal stimulus bill passed in February specifically prohibits casinos from applying for funds for infrastructure improvements and other similar projects. LoBiondo said Atlantic City is losing millions of dollars in business as a result of that provision.
Casinos’ revenues dropped 19.2 percent in February 2009 month compared to February 2008, according to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. LoBiondo said $160 million worth of business and 120,000 visitors have chosen other cities for their tourism plans due to the stimulus bill, according to Atlantic City Convention Center figures.
The administration also recently determined other groups like nonprofit organizations and local governments may not spend their stimulus money at casino properties. State officials said the rules are damaging a major pillar of the New Jersey economy.
“Are those jobs somehow less important or less meaningful than those in the manufacturing, retail or financial industries?” said Ken Calemmo, chairman-elect of the Greater Atlantic City Chamber.
Anti-gambling officials said the stimulus law does not prohibit casinos from taking advantage of tax breaks, and Atlantic City officials should not complain about the stimulus bill because the city is too reliant on an unreliable revenue stream.
“There isn’t a state, including New Jersey or Nevada, that could gamble themselves rich, any more than an individual could gamble themselves rich,” said Tom Grey, field director for StopPredatoryGambling.org. “They should’ve diversified (the economy) instead of chasing their loss.”
But Joe Kelly, chamber president, said 35,000 people work at New Jersey casinos, and thousands more around the state work for outside vendors that depend on casinos for their business.
“It is not just an Atlantic County issue. It is not just a Cape May issue,” Kelly said. “There’s purchasing done by every county.”
LoBiondo is working to repeal the provision with U.S. Rep Shelly Berkley, co-chair of the Congressional Gaming Cascus, and has reached out to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has a history of representing the interests of the gaming industry.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
A bus crash in Victoria, Australia has injured at least 20 people, two of whom are listed as critical. One victim is reported to be still trapped in the wreckage.
The accident occurred between a bus and a semi-trailer on the Princes Highway in the Traralgon area around 10:50am AEST. The La Trobe Valley Busliner bus was traveling east when it collided with the back of a heavy haulage truck.
Those critically injured are being airlifted to a hospital in Melbourne. Others are being transported by Ambulance to La Trobe Valley Hospital in Traralgon.
SES crews are on scene, along with St. John Ambulance and fire crews.
The eastbound lanes of the highway have been blocked by police and traffic is being diverted.
September
24
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Tuesday, World Bank released the 2012 World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development. In discussing Iceland, it suggests mandatory paid parental leave for mother and father have played an important role in changing norms in the country. Parents have a government mandated nine months leave, three for the mother, three for the father and three to to distribute between the two. Leave is paid at 80% of their wages. The report describes the changes in gender relations in Iceland as “promising” in terms of impact at work and at home.
Iceland’s boys and girls mean scores for the Programme for International Student Assessment mathematics test were nearly identical with boys just edging out girls with both scores around 510. Girls outperformed boys on the literacy test with a mean score of approximately 525 to 480. Iceland’s girls mathematics performance was similar to that of girls from Estonia, Germany and Belgium. Their performance on literacy was similar to Sweden, Poland, Switzerland, Estonia and Belgium.File:MargretSverrisdottir.jpg
Mortality rates in Iceland for 1,000 people aged 15–60 sits at 56, significantly better than the United States at 107, China at 113, India at 213, Iraq at 285, Afghanistan at 479, Malawi at 481 and Zimbabwe at 772. One of the reasons the report cites for Iceland’s relatively low mortality rate is it not located in a conflict country or in an HIV/AIDS affected country.
Iceland was one of 23 countries that currently have over 30% of its Parliamentarians who are female. Other countries with over 30% representation include Rwanda, Argentina, Cuba, Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden. In the mid-1990s, there were only 5 countries. The report cites the 1983 creation of the Women’s Alliance, an all women’s political party, as bringing additional attention to women’s issues and deliberately attempting to increase the representation of women in Icelandic politics.
Despite some of the good news highlighted in the report about Icelandic women, there exists a systematic gender difference in earning potential. Icelandic women in both the private and public sector earn approximately 22% less than their male counterparts. Icelandic men have slightly more access to the Internet than Icelandic women by about 2%. Despite this slight disadvantage for Icelandic women, it is much better than some countries where the percentage differences are much greater. These countries include Austria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Azerbaijan, Serbia, Turkey, and Macedonia.
September
24
A compilation of brief news reports for Thursday, April 19, 2007.
Wikinews reported previously on an Internet outage in New Zealand that lasted for over five hours. Telecom New Zealand, the company that owns and operates the “local loop”, said that they will review compensation for its customers on a case-by-case basis.
A wholesale ISP is attempting to give its subscribers compensation for the outage. CallPlus says that it is asking Telecom for the thousands of dollars it needs to pass on to its affected customers. They doubt Telecom will give them the money needed.
Related news
Sources
Farmers in Peru striking over the Peruvian government’s stance on coca, have issued an ultimatum. The ultimatum appears to be: negotiate within 24 hours, or face roadblocks indefinitely.
The protests come in response to a coca eradication drive and measures Peruvian president Alan García is taking against cocaine production in the country.
Peruvian police have arrested the leader of the Shining Path rebel group, Jimmy Rodríguez on charges of organising anti-government protests.
Sources
Meetings are underway at NATO headquarters in an attempt to reassure Russia that the missile defence plans pose no threat. The United States maintains the system is to protect against missiles from rogue states, whereas Russia sees the system as compromising its strategic interests in the region.
In today’s talks NATO allies encouraged the United States to make the planned anti-missile shield capable of covering all of Europe. They did this without committing themselves to joining the project.
Reaction to the proposed system in European states has been mixed.
Irrigation water to a substantial proportion of Australia’s farming regions could be cut due to drought conditions, Australian PM John Howard has warned.
Mr Howard’s comments concerned the Murray-Darling Basin, one of the largest systems in Australia. “If it doesn’t rain in sufficient volume over the next six to eight weeks, there will be no water allocations for irrigation purposes in the basin”, adding that the drought conditions could continue until May 2008.
He continued “It is a grim situation, and there is no point in pretending to Australia otherwise,” he said. “We must all hope and pray there is rain.”
Sources
Russia, in coordination with the government of the United States and Canada, is planning to build a tunnel from Russia to Alaska, Viktor Razbegin, deputy head of industrial research at the Russian Economy Ministry, told reporters in Moscow Wednesday.
The tunnel is budgeted to cost US$65 billion and would take 10 to 15 years to build. The tunnel is to provide train and automobile transport between Alaska and the Russian Far East, and to carry petroleum and natural gas pipelines, and high-voltage electrical cable.
The proposed tunnel is 64 miles long, or about 100 kilometers, in total, and is designed to link with two islands in the Bering Strait. The project is expected to have a very positive economic effect in the area.
Derek Brower, an energy market expert, called the project “absurd” and suggested the Russian government is playing political games to threaten its European customers to sign energy deals.
“I’ve never heard of this plan,” said Sergei Grigoryev, Vice President of oil pipeline monopoly Transneft.
“To be honest, anyone who look[s] at the map will realize that the project is too hard to implement,” an anonymous government source told Reuters.
Sources
Saturday, March 17, 2007
The Namibian government has refused to remove value added tax (VAT) on the price of milk. The Namibian Dairy producers organization requested the Namibian directorate of local income in May 2006 to follow the example of South Africa and declare fresh milk as a basic need upon which no taxation is applicable.
Mnr. Calle Schlettwein, permanent Secretary of the Namibia Ministry of Finance said the decision not to discard VAT on milk is because of two reasons: “This industry is already receiving advantages because of Article 26 of the African Customs Union (SACU),” he said.
“Secondly, the ministry cannot decrease the country’s tax basis. Namibia is a country that spend more than what it can collect through tax. We cannot afford to discard VAT on fresh milk.”
The price of fresh milk is to climb by 50c in the beginning of April 2007 following increases in production costs to producers. The dairy industry has warned of a collapse of the industry and a dependence on foreign imports if prices are not increased to match rising production costs.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
United States presidential candidate John McCain announced today that he is suspending his campaign and sought to postpone a scheduled debate with his opponent, Barack Obama, to focus on the country’s financial crisis and says that Obama should also suspend his campaign.
McCain said he would be asking president George W. Bush to call a meeting for members of Congress in order to support Bush’s controversial $700 billion bailout plan, but also said that there is no consensus for the proposal and it will not pass in its current form.
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He called the crisis “historic,” stressing the need for legislation and warning of “devastating consequences”.
“I am calling on the president to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem. It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the administration’s proposal and I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands. We are running out of time,” said McCain during a press conference.
Early this morning, Obama had called McCain and asked for the two to put aside partisanship and focus on the economic troubles. The two agreed to issue a joint statement supporting an economic fix, just minutes before McCain made his announcement. Bush is scheduled to speak to the people of the U.S. in a televised speech at 9:01 PM EDT tonight.
Obama responded to McCain’s speech minutes later, confirming that he would still attend the debate. He expressed a desire for fairness to taxpayers and an objection to rewarding those responsible for the financial crisis. Both candidates have stated that they intend to put politics aside to work on the financial crisis. Obama said, a president “is going to have to deal with more than one thing at a time.”
The proposal comes in the wake of Congressional hearings where US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have urged support of the measures proposed by the administration. Despite such appeals, both McCain and Obama have expressed skepticism over the proposed bailout, and the U.S. Congress has shown a noted concern that the measure may not benefit ordinary home owners as well as those on Wall Street.