sputnik--2019-08-10--How to Predict Volcanic Eruptions Italian Scientist Explains

How to Predict Volcanic Eruptions? Italian Scientist Explains

Sputnik spoke to Mauro Di Vito, a volcanologist and researcher at the “Vesuvius Observatory” (“Osservatorio vesuviano”) section of the INGV (the world’s oldest volcano observatory), to find out how the discovery will help those living in highest-risk volcanic areas.  Sputnik: What is the new study about?  Mauro Di Vito: The objective of the study was to create a model that will consider all the changes to a caldera that influence the position of eruptive vents. In large volcanoes, such as the Campi Flegrei caldera, eruptions don’t always occur in the central mouth, but can occur along the sides of the caldera or in areas other than the previous ones.  The model that we’ve created takes into account the changes in the volcano’s structure over time, as well as previous eruptions. The important thing is to understand how this affects the position of new eruptive vents.  Sputnik: Why is it so difficult to predict an eruption?  Mauro Di Vito: The model we are talking about doesn’t predict volcanic eruptions, but determines the position of eruptive vents. There are other systems to study the moment when the eruption takes place. Our model serves to predict where a future eruption can occur in a volcano.  Let’s take the example of the Phlegraean Fields (Campi Flegrei) – there are so many eruptions there; the magma could rise in different parts of the volcano. If the volcano were uninhabited, there would be no danger. But part of it is in Naples, with some areas located on the volcano.  Sputnik: Your study was initially based on the Phlegraean Fields situation. What is the current situation in this dangerous volcanic area? Has any evacuation plan been developed?  Mauro Di Vito: An emergency plan has been developed and in October there will be a civil defence drill that will include an evacuation from the municipality of Pozzuoli, which is located in the centre of the volcano. It means that the scientific community is able to react to a possible eruption and warn people about it. The authorities should be able to implement all measures to reduce the risk to the population. Even though it will be an emergency training exercise, it will help understand where the main problems are and what elements of the plan should be modified. After all, we are talking about 350,000 inhabitants.  Sputnik: What are the next steps in your study?  Mauro Di Vito: We want to create hazard maps for all volcanoes, where we’ll mark the opening of eruptive vents. Let’s take Etna – understanding where the eruption will occur means better prediction of the course of the lava flow or better understanding where an explosive eruption will originate. We want to obtain the most reliable hazard maps possible with all the parameters taken into consideration.  The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mauro Di Vito and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.


sputnik--2019-08-30--Hurricane Dorian Former Canadian Prime Minister Rooting for a Direct Hit on Trumps Mar-a-Lago

Hurricane Dorian: Former Canadian Prime Minister ‘Rooting for a Direct Hit’ on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

Canada’s former prime minister, Kim Campbell, has said that she was hopeful that Donald Trump’s resort mega-mansion in Florida would take a “direct hit” from Hurricane Dorian over the weekend.  “I’m rooting for a direct hit on Mar-a-Lago!” she tweeted on Wednesday.  Campbell, who resigned after just 132 days in office after a crushing defeat in the October 1993 federal election, currently chairs the independent advisory board for Canada’s Supreme Court.  The 72-year-old politician is a vocal critic of Donald Trump. In a recent tweet, she implied that the US president is “mentally ill”, and in January she reportedly branded him a “motherf***er”, referring to a similar obscenity hurled by Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.  Her recent comment about Mar-a-Lago has landed her in hot water, however, with Twitter users calling her wish “reprehensible” and “evil”.  Following the backlash, Campbell backtracked on her statement. “I don’t wish anyone, anywhere, the horror of being hit by a Category 4 Hurricane,” she said. “But not everyone can have the protection of a fortress like Mar-a-Lago, built to be hurricane-proof! Trump will not bear the cost of his immoral abdication of the climate challenge!”  She went on to express hope that the hurricane would “shake up Trump’s climate change denial” and castigated his administration for reversing Obama-era limits on methane emissions in the oil and gas sector recently.  Florida on Wednesday declared a state of emergency over the upcoming arrival of Hurricane Dorian on the state’s eastern coast. Georgia's governor took similar action in the state's 12 coastal counties. The cyclone has already spared Puerto Rico for the most part and struck the Virginia Islands, and will likely hit Florida over the weekend as a potentially catastrophic Category 4 storm, bringing sustained winds of up to 130 miles per hour (210 kph).  Trump, who owns the ritzy golf resort Mar-a-Lago in Florida, warned Americans on Thursday of an “absolute monster” hurricane and cancelled a planned trip to Poland, saying he would stay in the US to monitor the storm.  His wife Melania also issued a warning, urging Americans to listen to local officials and have an emergency plan in place to evacuate safely.

disaster, accident and emergency incident


sputnik--2019-12-23--Over 2 Tonnes of Diesel Spills in Ocean Near Galapagos Islands as Result of Barge Accident - Video

According to the Comercio newspaper, the accident occurred in a San Cristobal island port on 22 December as a crane collapsed on the barge during loading.  Local authorities have activated an emergency plan to contain the fuel spill and reduce the risks for the environment of the Galapagos archipelago, a UNESCO World Heritage site that is home to some of the most unique and scientifically significant ecosystems on Earth.  The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean 972 kilometres (600 miles) west of Ecuador with a population of some 30,000. The unique ecosystem of the Galapagos, which includes 19 islands in the Pacific, is called "a living museum and a showcase of evolution".


thedailybeast--2019-01-30--Polar Vortex Trumps Got It Backwards Global Warming Is Actually Freezing the Midwest

Polar Vortex: Trump's Got It Backwards, Global Warming Is Actually Freezing the Midwest

Tuesday will bring record-shattering brutal Arctic temperatures across much of the Midwest, shutting down school and businesses.  Temperatures will drop so low that the National Weather Service in Des Moines, Iowa, warned that people should “avoid taking deep breaths, and minimize talking,” if they go outside, according to USA Today. Grand Forks Airport in North Dakota reported a wind chill of 61 degrees below zero on Tuesday, and the governors of Wisconsin and Illinois have put emergency plans in place to deal with what may be the deepest freeze in a generation.  President Trump had a solution in a tweet on Tuesday morning: “What the hell is going on with global warming? Please come back fast, we need you!”  What Trump misses is that the dangerous cold is actually because of global warming.  “Mr. Trump's latest tweet demonstrates yet again his apparent willful lack of understanding about climate change,” Jennifer Francis, a senior Arctic climate scientist at Woods Hole Research Center, told the Daily Beast via email. “He [Trump] has the best climate scientists in the world working for the government he runs, and with one phone call could learn how this cold spell does not disprove global warming, and may even be caused by it.”  Trump mixes up a few concepts in his tweet. Climate and weather aren’t synonyms. Climate refers to the average weather patterns in a region over a long period of time. For example, southern California and Seattle are known to have different climates based on a number of days that are hot and sunny versus cold and rainy. Weather encompasses the day-to-day fluctuations in precipitation and temperature, like the wind and snow in Chicago during the day on Tuesday and the flurries in New York at the same time.  Trump also completely misses the difference between global warming and climate change. When oceanographer Wallace Smith Broecker popularized the term “global warming,” he and the scientific community were referring to greenhouse gases trapping heat in the atmosphere and raising the earth’s overall temperature.  That doesn’t mean that winter will cease to exist though. Scientists have since shown that climate change will look like a rise in both hot and cold extremes, as well has an increase in natural disasters like hurricanes, heat waves, wildfires—and yes, Arctic blizzards.  The polar vortex and the brutal weather are actually a result of climate change, something Trump is completely missing. Because of climate change, the Arctic is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the planet, according to the 2018 Arctic Report Card. “One of the factors—according to recent research—is the dramatic loss of sea ice in the region north of western Russia,” Francis said.  The polar vortex is a freezing mass of cold air that lives above the North Pole, and is usually trapped there by westerly winds from the polar jet stream, which keeps it in place. But when the excess heat from the rapidly warming arctic hits the stratosphere, it can split the winds holding the true polar vortex in place. This causes the vortex to dip further south, moving the coldest air from the North Pole into Canada, Russia or the northern United States.  “When this happens, instead of having this circular pool of cold air parked over the North Pole, it breaks it up into these smaller eddies, and these globs of cold air fly southward,” Francis said. “And we’ve got one of those globs of Arctic air over the Midwest right now.”


thedailybeast--2019-02-15--Fox Friends Now Loves Trumps Emergency Declaration They Once Called a Disaster

‘Fox & Friends’ Now Loves Trump’s Emergency Declaration They Once Called a ‘Disaster’

President Trump’s favorite cable-news morning show hosts are pleased with his decision to declare a national emergency to fund his desired border wall.  “This is one of the reasons people went to the polls to vote for him—for that wall, and if you ask Republicans who support him and support the wall, they say it’s common sense,” Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt said Friday morning.  Trump on Friday morning announced he would sign a compromise funding deal to avert another shutdown but would also declaring a national emergency that would allow him to bypass Congress and reallocate more than $8 billion towards the wall.  “This makes sense,” Hegseth said of the emergency declaration. “And the precedent argument? Listen, liberals and Democrats, if they had power, would do the same thing. There’s also plenty of precedent.”  But Hegseth and the Fox & Friends co-hosts’ staunch support comes just one month after they slammed the national-emergency plans, calling the idea a “disaster in the big picture.”  “[Declaring a national emergency] would just be a disaster in the big picture and just show us being inept and unable to govern around the world and set a terrible precedent,” co-host Brian Kilmeade said on Jan. 10.  On Friday morning, however, Kilmeade seemingly forgot his previous reservations, and lamented that Trump’s decision to issue the third national emergency of his presidency came after multiple attempts to find a solution with Democrats.  “After the 35-day holdout, after the negotiation with 17 bipartisan bicameral, after he sees what’s in front of him, after he only gets hours to read it knowing that the government is about to shut down in a matter of hours, he was going to throw this in the street,” he said. “So this is, ‘I tried. Now I’m going to use these powers.’ And the president sincerely believes it is an emergency.”


thedailybeast--2019-08-11--Mexico Citys Best Green Spaces

Mexico City’s Best Green Spaces

In May of this year, Mexico City registered some of the highest levels of air pollution in recent history. The particles that chilangos (as Mexico City residents are colloquially known) often feel in the air were actually visible. The city, ringed by pine and snow-covered mountains visible on clear days, felt like a bar at last call back in the day of indoor smoking.  Smoke from wildfires across Mexico had conflated with the city’s status quo pollution (there’s at least 25 million people living in the metropolitan area, with millions of vehicles churning out exhaust and a number of factories emitting industrial waste) and low oxygen levels (its lowest elevation is 7,200 feet) making the city “unsafe” by World Health Organization standards for multiple days at a time. It’s been established that should the Valley of Mexico enter a serious drought, vulnerable populations in poorer neighborhoods would be the first to suffer.  City officials called a state of emergency and went with their go-to air quality emergency plan of limiting which cars can circulate on certain days of the week (this does not pertain to buses and garbage trucks). The city’s Chief of Government, Claudia Sheinbaum, tossed blame for the air pollution problem on the previous administration while a 2017 pre-mayoral tweet resurfaced in which she accused the former city government of waiting for the annual appearance of the Mesoamerican rain deity Tlalóc (who was late to the party this year) to help with the dire situation.  Now, it’s August and Tlalóc has arrived. The first storm didn’t do much other than prove how dirty the air really was. But now the capital is thriving with near-daily afternoon showers and clouds which have improved the mood of capitaleños, for the time being at least. And, to be fair, much has changed since 1992 when the United Nations named Mexico City the world’s most polluted city. It’s now not anywhere near the top of the list and ranks somewhere similar to Los Angeles in that realm.  Fortunately, Mexico City has a green lining for these moments and any moment, that travelers and locals alike can take advantage of: some serious green spaces. And we’re not just talking quaint city parks or tree-lined neighborhoods. There are massive pine forests which lead up to 13,000-foot peaks within the city and volcanoes that loom in the distance. Take that, everywhere else. So, we’ve compiled a list to some of the best green spaces in and around the city.  How to get there: Can be accessed by rideshare apps and taxis for about 250 pesos one way from most parts of the core city, whether you’re calling from Roma or Coyoacán. A return ride is more reliable in taxi due to limited cell service in the park. The trip takes about an hour by car. A bus marked “SANTA ROSA / DESIERTO” leaves frequently from outside the Viveros subway station and takes about an hour depending on traffic conditions.  Hours: The park is open daily from 6 a.m.-5 p.m., though the former convent is closed on Mondays.  This park on the city’s southwest side requires a bit of travel, with winding roads passing the outskirts of town and into an area where many chilangos have their vacation homes. The main attraction for most people is the 17th century ex-convent founded by Carmelite monks. The convent is open to tour, and wandering onto the surrounding hiking trails takes visitors through a thick forest where lesser kept remains of the convent can be found embraced by nature’s reclaim. Sit down for a game of chess if there’s a table set out—there often is—at the entrance where there’s no shortage of places to eat fresh quesadillas and prized wild mushroom soup, a staple of Central Mexico’s mountain cuisine. Bring a jacket as it’s much cooler here than in the city.  How to get there: Best accessed by Chapultepec, Auditorio or Constituyentes subway stations, or by taxi or rideshare.  Hours: The park consists of three sections, section 1 being the most visited and regulated, open from 5 a.m.-8 p.m, and closed on Mondays. Sections two and three are open 24 hours every day of the year.  Near Mexico City’s bustling business district of Reforma Avenue, lies the Bosque de Chapultepec (a Nahuatl phrase meaning “grasshopper hill”). This impeccably manicured and lively space gives green life to the city’s center, where many trees were felled in order to make way for human progress. The park itself boasts two lakes which were created during the Porfirio Diaz dictatorship of the early 20th century, though the area has been the site of irrigation and aqueducts since the era of Tenochtitlán (the former capital of the Aztec empire on which Mexico City sits). In addition to being a sacred space for the Aztecs, and likely those who came before them, the park also boasts a curious mansion on said grasshopper hill which was built between 1785-1863 and housed an Austrian archduke and his Belgian princess wife during France’s invasion of Mexico.  How to get there: Taxi or rideshare will take you all the way to Dínamos 4 in less than an hour from most parts of the core city, depending on traffic conditions. From the Taxqueña subway station, take a bus marked “Los Dínamos” which takes about an hour to arrive, depending on traffic conditions.  Los Dínamos is the go-to spot for rock climbing fanatics, hikers and mountain bikers in CDMX. Similar to Desierto de los Leones, it’s on the city’s southwest side though easily accessible through the southwest borough of Magdalena Contreras, just a 30-45 minute drive from many places in the central city. The park is sectioned off into four locations, with Dínamos 4 being the most remote and flaunting the highest elevation (more than 10,000 feet). Like any good mountain send-off trail in Mexico, there are vendors selling local cuisine, cerveza, and even in this case pulque (slightly alcoholic fermented agave nectar) to replenish your energy sources after meandering through any of the 16 miles of rustic trails.  How to get there: Rideshares and taxis are pretty easy to come by from within the city and to return, though the trip will likely take more than an hour. If you find yourself stuck after a hike, just ask around and you’ll find a taxi driver. From the Universidad metro, take the “San Miguel Ajusco” bus which takes about an hour to arrive, from there, ask for the “parque nacional” which can be another 20 minutes.  Hours: Open hours, though recommended during daylight as trails can be difficult to navigate in the dark.  Mexico City’s highest point is Ajusco mountain, which guards the southern edge of the city. At 12,894 feet, Ajusco is rugged and steep, but not a technically difficult mountain to climb. Cabins and of course quesadillas and birria (a hearty country soup made with goat or sheep meat) stands abound and the foothills are a popular place for family members to gather. Also part of the national park is the Volcán Xitle, a volcano that blew its top roughly 1,700 years ago and covered much of the city’s south side in volcanic rock. Rumored to have been used as a place for sacrifices and offerings to the Gods, it still draws visitors to its crater for hiking and to connect with the legends of its pre-Columbian past.  How to get there: Rideshares and taxis make the roughly hour trip from the core city on a regular basis. To go by bus, go to the Observatorio subway station, exit and head across the road to the bus station and purchase a ticket to Toluca (make sure it’s an “intermedio” ticket) which will drop you right at La Marquesa in about 45 minutes.  La Marquesa is a popular park which climbs into the highlands surrounding Mexico City, bordering the city limits and the neighboring State of Mexico. There are hiking trails, diversions (think go-karts and paintball) and horseback riding and is a great place to stop off on the way to or from the stunning Nevado de Toluca volcano or Valle de Bravo, a charming village-surrounding Avándaro lake valley now being touted by Mexico City real estate agents as “the Hamptons of Mexico City” (please don’t go there looking for that). La Marquesa sits at more than 10,000 feet and entices visitors with sampling a variety of Mexican delicacies such as rabbit, mixiote (a pit-barbecue dish) and cecina (dried beef). You can even fish for your own trout and have a restaurant grill it up for you.  How to get there: The best way to arrive is to the Viveros subway station.  Viveros is the Spanish term for plant nursery, and there is a large one on site at this park where you can buy anything from herbs to a palm tree. But the real draw and importance of the space is the surprisingly private forest that lies within the park’s walls. Most visitors to Viveros get their walk or run in on the more than one mile-wide loop that encircles the collection of neatly planted trees, including varieties of acacia and eucalyptus. The part plant nursery/part public park was founded as a space to reforest the city and was declared a national park in 1938.  How to get there: For Bosque de Tlalpan: Take the Metrobus Line 1 south to Villa Olímpica and take a 10-minute taxi drive or walk 15-20 minutes. For Fuentes Brotantes, exit at the Ayuntamiento station and take a five-minute taxi drive or walk 10 minutes.  Hours: Bosque de Tlalpan is open daily from 5:30 a.m.-5 p.m. and Fuentes Brotantes from 9 a.m-6 p.m.  Right along Insurgentes Avenue, the main artery connecting the north and south of the city, lie two national parks in the southern delegation of Tlalpan. Bosque de Tlalpan is made up of steep inclines dotted with pines, oaks and cedars. It’s a popular place for people to hike, hold picnics and other events (including a weekly organic market) and to come with children to enjoy the massive jungle gym equipment. At the southern edge of the park with a separate entrance and hours is Fuentes Brotantes, where natural spring waters flow into a large pond enjoyed by passersby and plenty of ducks. Both parks are often tapped for their natural and tranquil atmosphere to host activities such as yoga and dance classes.  How to get there: Take the subway to Universidad, and take a short walk into the UNAM campus.  Small, sweet, and complete is the UNAM Botanical Garden, part of the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s massive campus that is home to more than 300,000 students. UNAM has a great deal of outdoor spaces to enjoy, such as the Sculpture Park and its central Las Islas common area, but the Botanical Garden is one of the most relaxed areas on campus, featuring plants and trees endemic to Mexico, including a wide variety of cacti. There’s even a gift shop where you can adopt a native, endangered cactus (for a small fee) and care for it in your own home. The space is popular for students and cityfolk alike, with plenty of space to stretch out and take in the sun and the oxygen that it provides.  How to get there: The best bet is to rent a car so you can explore the park at your leisure. Otherwise, buses make the hour-and-a-half trip regularly for Amecameca, from the city’s TAPO bus station, from there you can hire a taxi to take you into the park.  Hours: 7 a.m.- 9 p.m., with special backcountry permits required to hike Iztaccíhuatl (it’s at least a 14-hour out-and-back hike).  While not technically part of Mexico City, this massive national park is home to two of Mexico’s largest volcanoes which play a major role of  the valley’s indigenous legends. On a day with moderate traffic, the park is between one and two hours to the east. On clear days (mostly in the late fall and early winter), the snow-capped mountains can be seen from the city itself. Iztaccíhuatl, at more than 17,100 feet, last erupted in 1868 and is now considered dormant; known colloquially as The Sleeping Woman or The White Woman for its year-round snowpack, and its form of a woman resting on her side. As Aztec legend goes, she was the true love of warrior Popocatepetl (17,800 feet), which is still active to this day, dousing dust on surrounding communities in his mourning of her death. It erupts at small levels regularly, and its habit of spitting out ash contributed in part to the poor air quality the city experienced this spring.  How to get there: Rideshares and taxis are abundant in the area, though congestion is high in Xochimilco due to two-lane roads and travel from central areas of the city can take an hour or more. The park sits right off of the Periférico highway which circles the city. On Metrobus line 1 or Tren Ligero, get off at the Periférico station and take a bus east asking for Parque Ecológico de Xochimilco.  Xochimilco is one of Mexico City’s most important neighborhoods in terms of its food production on floating islands known as chinampas (an ingenious creation of the Aztecs) and the canals built from now mostly dry Lake Texcoco, making up for about 60 miles of waterways. The delegation’s water and trees function as lungs as well as a popular recreation area and home to the endangered axolotl (cuteness level: red alert). So popular, in fact, that water in the canals is pumped out and treated and also diverted from other areas of the city for the popular Xochimilco boat rides. The Xochimilco Ecological Park is home to migrating birds as well as native flora and fauna that has managed to stand up to the tests of Mexico City’s rapid urbanization of this not-long-ago rural delegation.  How to get there: Take the subway to the Cerro de al Estrella National Park station and have a taxi take you to the park.  Hours: Open daily 5 a.m.-7 p.m.Overlooking the densely populated Iztapalapa borough, Cerro de la Estrella sits at more than 8,000 feet  (more than 700 feet above the city) and is covered in pines, eucalyptus and white cedar. It's popular for trail running and offers an excellent view of the city on a clear day. Though the cherry on top is really a pyramid. Other visitors go for the pre-Columbian sites including a pyramid and petroglyphs, the work of various indigenous groups (namely the Chichimecas) dating as far back as 1500 BCE.  How to get there: Take the Metrobus to the Villa Olímpica station, Cuicuilco sits alongside northbound Insurgentes Avenue.  The largest archaeological site in Mexico City is also one of its oldest and greenest. Long before the Mexica (also known as the Aztecs) took hold of the valley, this pyramid was built by the Cuicuilca people (of whom not much is known) in honor of a fire deity, possibly referencing nearby Xitle volcano which erupted between 245 and 315 CE and ultimately lead to the abandonment of Cuicuilco. Much of the pyramid still lies beneath more than 30 feet of volcanic rock from that eruption. Agaves, eucalyptus, grasses and many endemic flowers make up the ecological aspect of this ancient part of the city. An onsite museum boasts what is arguably the best depiction of the now-dry Lake Texcoco on which Mexico City was formed as an island.  How to get there: Take the subway to the Refinería station which sits on its eastern border.  Providing respite on the city's north side, Parque Bicentenario is home to five gardens, an orchid house and a conservatory. The park has undergone a number of recent reforestation programs providing shade for chilangos to rest under in between soccer matches. With sports fields and a lake, it's provides this side of town with a tranquil and family friendly place to spend time. While it's often quiet on weekdays, the weekends welcome hordes of people to celebrate everything from having a day off to birthdays and weddings in the wide green areas. The park is even adapted from time to time to host major concerts featuring national and international acts such as Hello Seahorse! and Björk.  Megan Frye is an independent journalist and translator living in Mexico City. She has a history of newsroom journalism as well as nonprofit administration and works with international and Mexican publications.


thedailycaller--2019-01-08--Thats NOT Happening Meteorologist Fact-Checks Claim The Shutdown Is Making Weather Forecasts Wor

‘That’s NOT Happening’: Meteorologist Fact-Checks Claim The Shutdown Is Making Weather Forecasts Worse

Meteorologist and Cato Institute adjunct scholar Ryan Maue says he sees no evidence the government shutdown is crippling the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) premier weather model.  “I do not find evidence (as of yet) for this claim in my verification statistics for the NOAA global weather model,” Maue tweeted Monday, referring to a Washington Post story claiming “your forecast is worse because of the shutdown.”  The Post’s Capital Weather Gang reported Monday the government shutdown over border wall funding is impacting the National Weather Service (NWS), including the forecasting ability of the federal government’s flagship weather model.  The “current Global Forecast System — or the GFS — the United States’ premier weather model, is running poorly, and there’s no one on duty to fix it,” the Post reported. GFS model accuracy dropped out around Christmas and hasn’t kept pace with other weather models, the paper claimed.  “There was a dropout in the scores for all of the systems on Dec. 25,” Suru Saha with the Environmental Modeling Center told The Post. “All of the models recovered, except for the GFS, which is still running at the bottom of the pack.”  This isn’t the first time The Post targeted the Trump administration’s handling of NWS. The paper, without evidence, ran a 2017 article claiming the administration’s hiring freeze “shrunk National Weather Service staff before hurricanes hit.”  An NWS spokesperson told The Post that essential “staff continue mission-essential functions,” but Saha said model deterioration could hamper transportation, emergency planning and even national security. (RELATED: US Supreme Court Rejects Exxon’s Plea To Hear Global Warming Case)  “Once the GFS scores start to go bad, it impacts everything,” Saha said. “Things are going to break, and that really worries me because this is our job. We are supposed to improve our weather forecasts, not deteriorate them.”  However, Maue examined the data and came to the opposite conclusion — there’s no evidence GFS is doing any worse because of the government shutdown.  Weather forecasters have long considered it second-rate compared to the European weather model. For example, the European model was much more accurate in predicting Hurricane Matthew and a Seattle-area windstorm in 2016.  “So far, the NOAA weather model seems to be humming along as normal – that means ‘second rate’ and in third place behind the world’s best weather models,” Maue tweeted. “While problems could arise at any time — the model breaking — so far, that’s NOT happening.”  Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.


thedailycaller--2019-10-10--Tickets For The Wisconsin/Nebraska Game Are Officially Booked. I’ll Be Seeing Lincoln Real Soon

Ladies and gentlemen, the trip to Lincoln, Nebraska for the big game between the Badgers and Cornhuskers is officially a go.  After months of planning, countless hours examining any potential outcomes and preparing for what could happen on the ground, the green light for the trip to Nebraska was finally given today, Thursday.  In what could only be described as a scene out of a military movie, everything hung in the balance as some of the most powerful people in Wisconsin sports discussed if we were going to invade Lincoln, and show them what we’re all about. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)  After some tense moments of silence, a voice spoke to me over the phone and said, “This is a no brainer. It’s a go.”  Within a matter of minutes, the trip was finalized, travel plans were confirmed and an emergency plan was formalized just in case fans of the Cornhuskers do something stupid down by 50 or 60 in the second quarter.  After months and months of nonstop trash talk from Nebraska fans, I’m finally showing up to your city. They said I’d never do it. The Nebraska faithful said I’d never show my face in Lincoln. What they didn’t know was this had been in motions for months, if not a lifetime.  You see, I knew Nebraska wouldn’t be any good. Call it my gift. I can see things that most football fans don’t notice until it’s too late.  I see the writing on the wall before the spray paint has even been bought at the store. Now, it’s a time for reckoning.  It’s time for Nebraska fans to face the music and dance. You asked for David Hookstead, and you’re going to get everything I’ve got.  Welcome to hell, gentlemen. It only gets worse from here.  P.S.: I’ve never been to Lincoln before. If anybody has any great bar recommendations, please hit me with them.


thedailymirror--2019-04-20--Chemical leak at leisure centre swimming pool sees up to 50 children taken ill

Chemical leak at leisure centre swimming pool sees 'up to 50 children taken ill'

A chemical leak at a swimming pool has seen up to 50 children taken ill.  A large number of people have had a reaction to the water, according to local reports.  A number of ambulances and other emergency services are on the scene at the Aura Leisure Centre in Letterkenny, Donegal.  RTE reports that the children became unwell during a swimming lesson this morning.  Letterkenny hospital has put its emergency plan in place.  Have you been affected by this story? Email webnews@mirror.co.uk  Emergency services say there are no life-threatening injuries but the incident has been described as 'very serious'.  The leisure centre has been evacuated with the Donegal Daily reporting that "a large number of children were in the swimming pool at the time".  A number of ambulances and fire brigades attended the scene.  Doctors and nurses are also on site at the centre where they have been treating the children for injuries which are not believed to be serious.


thedenverpost--2019-09-04--Diana Bray We must deal with the trauma of these mass shootings too

Diana Bray: We must deal with the trauma of these mass shootings, too

Gun violence has turned the U.S. into a society dominated by trauma and fear, where children are scared to go to school and their parents are scared for them. With the return of the school year, it’s time to reassess how our community deals with the threat.  We know the terrible statistics — two deadly mass shootings a month thus far in 2019 — with the interval between such shocking events steadily decreasing over recent years. On average, one hundred people a day die by firearms. That’s more than 36,000 deaths a year. More than 22,000 suicides. By guns.  But death by firearm is one of the top three leading causes of death of children. Too many of our kids not only feel unsafe in schools, but they also fear that they might be a victim of random violence in any place they frequent.  Backpacks are now being sold with gun protection built-in. “What are your facility’s emergency plans?” is a frequent question from parents to school representatives. Children worry that they will be victims of a school massacre, and parents want to know how their children will be safe in the event of an attack. In the case of a lockdown, “I would have to hide too,” a school nurse confessed to a Denver mother of a kindergartner with Type 1 diabetes.  Parents are afraid to be out in public places, and they are nervous about sending their kids to schools where their kids participate in mandatory lockdown drills. The lockdown drills themselves are traumatic. Children experience debilitating fear, anxiety, and depression around anticipatory terror. And for every shooting, others suffer lifelong trauma and loss.  And what about the survivors? Studies show the experience of trauma affects the architecture of the developing brain. Loss delivers up the kind of toxic stress that can lead to later life ailments like heart disease, alcoholism, depression, and debilitating anxiety. It is not unusual for victims of trauma to cut themselves off from the world as a sort of protection, a defense.  With the shooting at STEM School in Colorado in May, and with the recent shootings in Odessa, Dayton, El Paso and at the Gilroy Festival, I’ve been thinking a lot about loss and trauma. As a candidate for U.S. Senate, I am advocating for the use of every available measure to reduce gun violence. It is time to assure our children and our families that we know how to protect them. We just need the political will to follow through. The National Rifle Association, the Trump administration, and other elected representatives, like Cory Gardner, have failed to take reasonable steps to reduce violence. Conservatives give a false narrative that the issue relates to mental health. This is simply wrong and it gives people with mental health issues a bad rap. This administration, along with its abettors, have encouraged and promoted an environment of hostility and division and our children are often the victims.  How do we restore a sense of safety and sanity in this climate of fear and violence?  As a psychologist, a mom of four kids and as a climate and social justice advocate, I have observed many different types of trauma. Particularly as a mom, I know that our kids can only withstand so much.  Terror from gun violence is perpetuating a serious mental health crisis in our country today. In addition to gun safety legislation, it is time to give our children the coping skills to emotionally survive.  Stronger laws will make us safer and more counseling and compassion can assist. Classrooms can be made safer by teaching kids and administrators to reach out to those who are vulnerable and isolated. Teaching compassion will bolster communities, and kids who are actively engaged in their community will feel less helpless and more resilient.  So let’s do it — let’s arm our kids with compassion, let’s enact serious gun safety legislation, let’s stop blaming and scapegoating those with mental health challenges, and let’s engage with one another to end the senseless and preventable violence.  Diana Bray, a psychologist, mother and climate advocate, is running for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Colorado.  To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.


thedenverpost--2019-11-01--Kelsey Berreth murder case: Small town, 115-year-old courthouse brace for high-profile trial of Patr

Kelsey Berreth murder case: Small town, 115-year-old courthouse brace for high-profile trial of Patrick Frazee

CRIPPLE CREEK — For the past five months, staff at the 115-year-old Teller County courthouse have prepared for chaos and unprecedented crowds that a high-profile trial would bring to the historic building in this small casino mountain town.  The trial of Patrick Frazee — deemed the “trial of the century” by the local Mountain Jackpot newspaper — has drawn national media attention. Reporters from CNN, NBC News as well as staff from shows like 20/20 and Dr. Phil are expected to attend. Teller County court staff said they’ve received calls from people of neighboring states who just want to come watch.  The trial will cap off nearly a year of investigation and hearings for Frazee, who faces two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of solicitation to commit murder, in the disappearance and death of his fiancee, Kelsey Berreth.  Berreth, was reported missing in December. The 29-year-old flight instructor was last seen on Thanksgiving Day shopping in Woodland Park with the couple’s daughter, who was 1 year old at the time. For days, law enforcement searched for the young mom and just before Christmas police arrested Frazee in her murder. Over the following months, a secret girlfriend of Frazee testified that she helped him clean up after he bludgeoned Berreth to death and helped him burn her body. Despite a months-long search of a local landfill and of Frazee’s ranch in Florissant, Berreth’s body has not been recovered.  Finding jurors in Teller County that haven’t already steeped themselves in the details of the case has proved a challenge. Over three days this week, nearly 300 potential jurors reported to the courthouse for the trial, said Sheila Griffin, Teller County’s court clerk. A total of 1,750 Teller county residents received notice for jury duty — approximately 7% of the entire county of 25,083. Even more jurors were expected to report to the courthouse, but heavy snowstorms made roads in the rural county impassable for many.  The storms that caused courthouses and government offices across a large swath of Colorado to close earlier this week did not prompt any change to the Teller County courthouse schedule. Court clerk’s office workers stayed in hotels in town Sunday night to make sure they’d be able to get to work Monday morning, Griffin said. Every night since, courthouse employees have held a nightly debriefing to talk about how they handled the crowds and what they can do better the following day, said Connie Telfer, a Teller County sheriff’s deputy who works the courthouse security.  “We’ve planned and planned and planned and planned,” Griffin said.  Ninety jurors are scheduled to report Friday morning for final jury selection, Griffin said. After 12 jurors and four alternates are seated, prosecutors and Frazee’s defense attorneys are expected to give opening statements Friday afternoon. The opening statements will allow both sides to outline their cases to the jury before plunging into witness testimony.  Court staff hauled in extra porta-potties to accommodate crowds and called in volunteers from the sheriff’s posse to help run security. Renovations to the 1904 courthouse’s electrical system, internet connection and the courtroom’s sound system were all sped up to be ready in time for Frazee’s trial, Griffin said. And while Teller Court District Court Judge Scott Sells is busy for the next weeks with trial, the court’s normal docket had to be moved to the only other courtroom in the building and retired judges will be called to handle the caseload.  The preparations have required teamwork from the county court’s staff, the sheriff’s office, the city government, the office of emergency planning and many other groups, Griffin said.  “I love how the community has come together for this,” she said. “I couldn’t have done this by myself.”  The courtroom where the trial is taking place seems like a relic from another era. The wooden floors squeak with every footstep, and a sign in the clerk’s office forbids claim jumping and mandates people “respect women – mules – the law.” Trial spectators will sit in the rows of stationary wooden folding chairs, the courthouse’s originals. Each chair still has a wire rack on the bottom of its seat designed to hold cowboy hats.  The size of the courthouse — which also hosts other county departments like the treasurer’s and assessor’s offices — prompted the presiding judge to block all news cameras from the building and surrounding property. Once inside the courtroom, reporters will not be able to send news to the outside until official breaks. Anybody who leaves the courtroom during the trial, like to use the bathroom, will be barred from returning until the court is in recess. Sells even blocked a request by NBC News to have a sketch artist sit in the courtroom to draw pictures of proceedings.  Frazee’s trial won’t be the first time a high-profile crime has centered national attention on Teller County, however. In 2001, reporters swarmed the area after members of the Texas Seven — criminals accused of escaping from a Texas prison and killing a police officer — were found hiding in a Woodland Park RV campground. And the year prior, a Teller County campground became the site of the horrific rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl by Anthony Jimenez.  Cripple Creek City Administrator Mark Campbell said he hopes Frazee’s trial won’t make people think the tourism-reliant town is unsafe. He wanted people to know that the alleged crime happened more than 20 miles away.  “We’re a little casino town in Colorado here and it’s a safe place to come play and enjoy yourself,” he said. “We are happy to see the journalists here and the people here, but we’re hoping it will be over quickly and we can go back to normal.”  For some Cripple Creek locals, however, the trial has not yet affected daily life. Brent Kennedy, who works for Pikes Peak Workforce Center in town, said the biggest impact he’s seen has been trouble parking when Frazee’s case is in court. Another local said he was surprised when video of him walking down the street appeared on CNN, but hadn’t thought too much about the case otherwise.  Scott Porter, director of operations for Triple Crown Casinos, said he had a number of employees who were called for jury duty and added more staff to the casino’s restaurants in preparation for an influx of customers coming from the courthouse. But so far, the change has only been minimal, he said.  “It’s kind of been uneventful, really,” Porter said.


theepochtimes--2019-10-11--Fall Nor’easter Becomes Subtropical Storm Melissa, Located Near New England

The fall nor'easter spinning southeast of New England strengthened into Subtropical Storm Melissa on Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center. (CNN)  Fall Nor’easter Becomes Subtropical Storm Melissa, Located Near New England  The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that a nor’easter located off the northeastern United States has become Subtropical Storm Melissa.  The “change in storm status does not change” the expected impacts that the storm may bring, including coastal flooding and wind, the agency wrote at 11 a.m.  Those impacts are expected around portions of the Mid-Atlantic and southeastern New England.  The storm is about 190 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and it has winds of 65 mph and higher gusts.  “There are no coastal tropical cyclone watches or warnings in effect,” the agency wrote. The center of Melissa is moving toward the south-southwest near 3 mph, “but little net motion is expected today,” it added.  A turn toward the east-northeast with an increase in speed is forecast on Friday night and will keep up through the weekend.  The storm’s center will move away from the east coast of the United States after that, it said.  In terms of impacts, according to the center, “Wind gusts to 50 mph are likely to continue over portions of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket through much of today,” USA Today reported.  Coastal flood warnings have been issued along much of the Mid-Atlantic to New England.  “Inundation above ground level could reach 2 to 3 feet at high tide on the Atlantic coast of western Long Island. Coastal inundation of up to 2 to 4 feet can be expected in parts of the northern Outer Banks of North Carolina. Elsewhere, coastal inundations of 1 to 2 feet are expected from the mid-Atlantic coast to southeastern New England,” the Weather Channel wrote.  North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum on Friday activated the state’s emergency plan due to what he called a crippling snowstorm that closed major highways and had farmers and ranchers bracing for huge crop and livestock losses.  “The extraordinary intensity of this early winter storm threatens to test the limits of local response capabilities across a large portion of our state,” Burgum said of the plan that places on standby all agency resources, including the National Guard, to respond to weather-related emergencies.  The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for northern North Dakota and winter storm warnings and watches elsewhere in the state and into parts of South Dakota and Minnesota through Saturday afternoon. One to 2 feet of snow was expected to accumulate Friday in parts of North Dakota with winds gusting up to 65 mph.  The Associated Press contributed to this report.


theguardianuk--2019-01-24--Irish police deny emergency plan to send officers to border

Ireland’s police chiefs have denied reports that they are drafting emergency plans to make hundreds of uniformed gardaí available on the Irish border in the event of a no-deal Brexit.  The reports came as Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, said the UK would be obliged to keep the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland invisible whatever the Brexit outcome because of the commitments in the 1998 Good Friday agreement.  Citing a meeting the police commissioner, Drew Harris, held with senior staff on Wednesday, the Irish Independent newspaper claimed the emergency border plans were being drafted as part of discussions on a “worst-case scenario”.  The discussions, on Wednesday night, come after tax authorities revealed they had already recruited 400 new customs staff to work at ports and airports by the end of March as part of the country’s no-deal preparations.  On Thursday Harris issued a strongly worded statement. “Reports of 600 gardaí to be moved to the border are entirely incorrect. I have not discussed this matter, neither have I considered this proposal,” Harris said.  “The increasing deployment of gardaí to all policing regions including the northern region is commensurate with a growing organisation. We continue to prepare for Brexit in line with government policy,” he said.  The reports of police plans emerged as Varadkar said no deal did not equate to border checks of the past.  “The United Kingdom would have a responsibility to abide by WTO [World Trade Organization] rules and both the UK and Ireland would have responsibilities to honour the Good Friday agreement and the peace process.  “So I think we would end up in a situation where EU and Ireland, and the UK would have to come together. And in order to honour our commitment to the people of Ireland that there be no hard border, we would have to agree on full alignment on customs and regulations,” he said, adding that “after a period of chaos we would perhaps end up where we are now, with a very similar deal”.  Nigel Dodds, the DUP’s leader in the Commons, said that Varadkar’s latest comments were “not constructive”. He said that while the taoiseach was “understandably concerned” he needed to “tone down the rhetoric”.  The reports of garda planning will heighten concerns about the impact a no-deal Brexit will have in the border regions, where previously warring communities have enjoyed peaceful co-existence for the past 20 years.  Last week a car bomb in Derry city was a reminder of the fragility of that peace, local politicians and campaigners warned and other newspapers reported that Brexit concerns had been raised by gardai on border counties including Donegal.  A meeting between officials from the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) and senior commissioners is expected to take place next week in relation to border issues.  The Derry car bomb and potential for further violence post-Brexit along the Donegal-Derry and Donegal-Fermanagh border were discussed at a meeting of police in the Irish county last week, the Irish Examiner reported on Thursday.  Both the Irish government and the UK have avoided discussing no-deal plans for the border, with neither side publishing contingency plans for operations in the event the UK crashes out of the EU on 29 March.  Earlier this month Simon Coveney, the deputy prime minister, was caught on a microphone warning a colleague not to “start delving” into the issues if asked by reporters because “all of a sudden we’ll be the government that reintroduced a physical border on the island of Ireland”.  The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has also highlighted the need for significant extra resources throughout the border counties in the event of a hard border, which poses the potential for smuggling, civil disobedience or violence as well as immigration issues for non-Irish nationals.  Last year the PSNI chief constable, George Hamilton, rejected claims that the threat of violence at the Irish border after Brexit was being exaggerated. He said those who said the PSNI was “overplaying the border and Brexit in policing terms” were “simply wrong”.  Sources say the PSNI is concerned not just about civil disorder, but the inability to police the border as they do now in close cooperation with the Garda in Ireland.  They are also concerned that the European arrest warrant system will fall away in a no-deal scenario, making it easier for criminals to cross a border and return to another jurisdiction, and out of the reach of the law.  Last year it was revealed the PSNI was putting more than 100 extra officers in place in the event of no deal.  And earlier this month it emerged that another 1,000 police officers from England and Scotland were being training for deployment in Northern Ireland in case of disorder from a no-deal Brexit.  The plans were put in place after PSNI chiefs asked for reinforcements to deal with any trouble that arises from a hard border. The training for officers from English forces and Police Scotland is expected to begin this month.


theguardianuk--2019-12-17--Too hot for humans? First Nations people fear becoming Australia's first climate refugees

Josie Douglas sits on a verandah overlooking a ridge of red rocks and earth, scrubby with saltbush and spinifex near the centre of Alice Springs. It’s late afternoon and only 31C – a reprieve from a run of days in the high 30s and 40s.  But Douglas knows that from now on it will only get hotter.  Last summer was the hottest on record, and the driest in 27 years in central Australia. Five per cent of the town’s street trees died. A heat monitoring study showed that on some unshaded streets the surface temperature was between 61C and 68C.  “We can’t keep going on the way we’re going,” says Douglas, who is manager of policy and research at the Central Land Council.  “Central Australian Aboriginal people are very resilient. They have evolved to cope with the harsh and variable desert climate, but there are limits.  “Without action to stop climate change, people will be forced to leave their country and leave behind much of what makes them Aboriginal. Climate change is a clear and present threat to the survival of our people and their culture.”  Across central Australia, people are bracing themselves for another scorching summer of drought.  At least nine remote communities and outstations are running out of water. A further 12 have reported poor quality drinking water as aquifers run low and the remaining supply is saline.  Temperature records have already been broken. In the year to July 2019, Alice Springs had 129 days over 35C, and 55 days over 40C.  It wasn’t meant to be like this – at least, not yet. The national science agency, the CSIRO, predictedthat these temperatures would not arrive until 2030.  As the Northern Territory’s environment minister, Eva Lawler, said last September: “If we don’t do anything, the NT will become unliveable.”  The problem is where to start.  In Alice Springs opinion is divided among local politicians about the impact climate change is having on life in the desert.  Sitting on the grassy lawn outside the council, Jimmy Cocking of the Arid Lands Environment Centre talks openly about climate refugees: those who have already come into town, and those who will have to come in the near future.  “We’re going to end up with a whole bunch of internally displaced people within the Northern Territory in remote Australia, if we’re not planning for that,” he says.  “If regional centres like Alice Springs and others aren’t planning to be able to deal with the influx of climate refugees internally within our region, we’re going to be left flatfooted and unable to deal with any of the challenges and social consequences that will come from that.”  Cocking is on the town council and has sought to pass motions to declare a climate emergency. But the mayor, Damien Ryan, is reluctant to sound the climate alarm.  “In local government speak, when you have an emergency, you close it down,” Ryan says.  “I have not had any of the people who talk about an emergency say what is the next step. So you declare an emergency, what do you do then the next day? That’s never been made clear to me.”  At its October meeting, the council did not agree on the word “emergency” but voted unanimously to say there was an “escalating urgency for climate action”.  Douglas and the CLC say Aboriginal communities are doing what they can.  “People are already mitigating climate change through traditional burning and they are investing their income from land use agreements to install solar power, plant bush tucker gardens in communities and operate swimming pools, but all that counts for little in the face of the lack of climate leadership from the government,” she says.  The NT government says it has allocated $15m to “revitalising” the Alice Springs city centre. Some of those funds will go towards shade and landscaping to help cool the streets, and to public water stations. Ryan says the council is encouraging local schools to plant more trees.  The Territory government says it has a climate change response strategy and is working with other governments and the Bureau of Meteorology to “develop national guidelines for the development of a warning system for extreme heat events”.  In the meantime, Douglas says, people are living in houses that are “unbearable”.  “During our summers you can sometimes see people in communities hosing the outside of their Besser brick walls with garden hoses to keep cool despite the water shortages – that’s how desperate they are.”  About 3ookm north-west of Alice Springs is Yuendumu, the largest remote community in central Australia. Its 900 or so residents are facing summer without a reliable supply of adequate drinking water.  The NT government has stopped building new housing because there isn’t enough water in the dwindling aquifer to accommodate more people.  Yuendumu is not alone.  The Central Land Council’s chief executive, Joe Martin-Jard, says that at every regional meeting, water security is top of the agenda.  “Between Alice Springs and Mount Isa, there’s probably only one major community with a decent water supply,” Martin-Jard says. “We’re not getting the rain we used to, to recharge the aquifers. So as water is drawn out of the aquifers it becomes more saline and less potable [drinkable].  The NT’s Power and Water Corporation, which is responsible for essential services in 72 remote communities and outstations, says most communities in the arid region are “faced with some level of water stress” and emergency planning is under way, but there are “rarely any simple solutions”.  “The difficult reality is that many communities originally developed historically in locations where there was never any secure, reliable, high quality water resources in close proximity,” a spokesperson said. “As those communities have grown … and expectations of improved levels of service have appropriately increased, the challenges also continue to increase.”  Power and Water says more drilling programs are planned but “finding new water sources is very challenging and often these drilling programs have moderate prospects for success”.  “Without large or extended rainfall … the water security risks will progressively increase in some centres, with an increased likelihood that source supply capacity at some could fail.”  At least 12 communities have reported poor quality drinking water. At Laramba, Willowra and Wilora, nitrates and uranium are at levels exceeding health guidelines. NT Power and Water says it is “investigating alternative technology options”. It has already installed treatment plants at Kintore, Ali Curung and Yuelamu to reduce high levels of nitrates, uranium and fluoride.  ‘Air conditioning is essential in the desert’  In Alice Springs’ 18 town camps, where people from out bush often end up, houses are commonly built from Besser bricks – hollow concrete blocks which are cheap, but which trap the heat. There’s a lack of tree cover or other kinds of shade. Houses bake in the sun and, while the majority have solar panels, they often have only an evaporative air conditioning unit, known locally as a “swampy”, to cool the house.  A “swampy” uses a lot of water and can struggle on hot days, especially when there are a lot of people sharing a house, which is common in town camps with big families and fluctuating populations.  “Air conditioning is an essential item in the desert, not a luxury,” the CLC’s Josie Douglas says, “but it does not come standard.” When remote community and town camp tenants are offered housing, there is “a hole where the aircon unit should be and they are told to buy it themselves”.  “Many can only afford to ‘close the gap’ with a piece of wood, or run expensive reverse-cycle aircon very sparingly,” she says. “Some places don’t have enough water to use a cheaper swampy.”  Houses that don’t cool down overnight create big health and social problems.  “People resort to sleeping outside, or cramming everybody into the coolest room of the house, with all the well-known consequences for the spread of diseases that whitefellas only know from medical textbooks.  “It’s also common for people to sleep in shifts, with young people roaming the streets at night where they get into trouble, and sleeping during the day when they should be at school.”  This is at odds with the NT government’s view of the quality of town camp and remote community housing. A government spokesperson tells Guardian Australia that homes are designed with weather conditions and regional climate in mind, and they include external shading, natural ventilation and insulation.  “Investment into housing in town camps has included the installation of louvres, sunscreens, verandas and insulation,” the spokesperson said. “The Department of Housing and Community Development has also upgraded some key community infrastructure including improved shading and the installation of fans.”  Douglas is calling on the government to “stop building concrete hotboxes”.  “More than a decade ago, the government and the CLC were partners [in research] that came up with really solid recommendations about how to make desert houses more energy-efficient and communities more resilient.  “Some measures, such as making sure houses are built with the right orientation … and have passive cooling and a white roof, cost almost nothing. We would like to know how many of these expensive research findings have been implemented in our region.”  Shirleen Campbell is a Warlpiri and Arrernte woman who grew up at Hoppy’s Camp, or Lhenpe Artnwe. She told the Alice Springs climate rally in October that town campers were very worried about climate change.  “This is our place,” she said. “If it gets too hot, if we suffer through endless droughts or we spoil our water, then we don’t have another place to go.  “We want houses that are right for this place and right for our people. We want to invest in renewable energy, like solar.”  Campbell is a co-coordinator of the women’s family safety group at Tangentyere council, which delivers services to and advocates on behalf of town camp residents.  “Most of all we want people to treat this place as a legacy to be handed down to our children and grandchildren. It is not a speculative commodity and it is not something to be sold or exported.  “We have been here for a long time and want to look after this place for those that come after.”  There are few public places in Alice Springs to cool off. The Yeperenye shopping centre has security guards at the doors and, according to Douglas and Campbell, Aboriginal people are regularly moved on.  The library is a popular, free cool space. There’s a widescreen TV rigged up with headphones, showing movies. Westerns are popular, as are replays of AFL grand finals. The Saltbush room down the hall is a haven for older folk, while little mobs of kids hang out among the young adult stacks or cluster around the phone-charging station.  “We found there’s a gap in after-school care services from about 2.30 to 4.30, the hottest time of the day,” says the head librarian, Clare Fisher. “The kids can come to the library, cool off, have fruit and sandwiches.”  “Libraries are for connection and relaxation as well as knowledge. We make everyone welcome – but we explain how to use the library and how to behave as well. We very much believe in come and be who you are.”  In January footage of dead and dying horses in a dry creek bed at Ltyentye Apurte, 80km south-east of Alice Springs, flashed around the world.  The Ltyentye Apurte rangers had the unenviable task of dragging more than 100 dead horses from the creek bed and disposing of their bodies.  In June the CLC conducted an emergency cull of more than 1,400 feral horses, donkeys, camels and cattle from a waterhole near Lajamanu. The animals were thirsty and dying, congregating around the last remaining springs and water sites.  The CLC has eradicated 6,279 feral animals in preparation for summer. Traditional owners don’t usually support animal culls, the CLC says, but there were no alternatives, with so many animals dying or in poor condition.  Feral animals damage community infrastructure and housing. Thirsty camels, for example, will attack air conditioning units because they smell water, and lay waste to water tanks, bores, fences, pipes and taps.  How hot is too hot? Heat, health and housing hotboxes  In town, Tangentyere council wants to measure exactly how well houses are functioning.  Tangentyere’s social policy and research manager, Michael Klerk, is in discussions with the CSIRO to install temperature data loggers in people’s houses, to build a case for improvements that are taken for granted elsewhere: solar power, insulation, better air conditioning, wide awnings, more shade.  “Last summer – which was a very hot summer, soon to be repeated – a lot of anecdotal feedback was that people’s evaporative air conditioners weren’t cooling the houses sufficiently,” Klerk says.  “This probably reflects the reality that evaporative air conditioners are not good at cooling houses when the external temperatures are in the mid-40s.  “You might drop the temperature of a house to mid-30s, but that’s not an optimal internal ambient temperature for comfort or for health.”  Most people living in town camps and remote communities, and some in suburban public housing, have pre-paid electricity meters.  Residents are issued a power card, which they top up with their welfare payments or income. Once the credit is spent, they have to top it up again, or go without electricity. Klerk says that happened a lot in the last quarter of 2018.  In Alice Springs, 420 of 570 households with prepaid electricity meters had at least one self-disconnection, which lasted, on average, 7.5 hours. Of the 570 Alice Springs meters, 285 are in town camp dwellings.  In effect, more than half the town campers ran out of money to pay for electricity.  “When the power goes off, it is bad for our health, the food gets spoiled, we can’t wash our clothes and we can’t wash our kids,” Shirleen Campbell told the rally.  “In summer, when our houses are hot or when we don’t have electricity, our people look for comfort in air-conditioned public places. We are not always welcome in these places and sometimes there are problems. We are thankful for places like the library and the pool.”  Klerk says low-income residents shouldn’t have to go broke trying to keep their houses cool. “It’s not acceptable that people’s houses are making them sick, and something really needs to be done about it. It shouldn’t all be passed on to the consumer.  “If it’s the case of people having to spend more money to keep the houses at a temperature that delivers health outcomes, then we have to rethink the levels of income support that are available to people, particularly in these regions where it’s so hot.”  Predictions by the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress for the health impacts of heat are dire. In its submission to the NT government’s climate change policy discussion paper, it outlined some of them: “Increased sickness and mortality due to heat stress, increased food insecurity and malnutrition, increased risk from infectious disease, poorer mental health and an increased potential for social conflict.”  The Pintupi-Luritja artist Irene Nangala was among the first to return to her home country at Kintore in the western desert, near the border with Western Australia, in the early 1980s.  Until then, Pintupi people had been living a long way from home at the mission at Papunya, and they were homesick.  Nangala helped set up the Kintore school. It was a “windbreak school” at first, she says: just a tarp to keep the sun and the rain water out.  “Then we got a few teachers. It was hard work. We’ve got a proper good school now, proper shop. Nice clinic and aged care, child care.”  Nangala says she doesn’t have an air-conditioner. On hot days the family puts blankets on the windows. Other elders whose aircon units break down have to wait for a repairer to come from Alice Springs, more than 10 hours’ drive away.  “It’s really hot in Kintore. We can’t go and sit outside. We have to go at night to sit down with the families.”  Nevertheless, Nangala says she does not want to leave.  “We built up Kintore,’ she says. “People are really enjoying going back to their grandfather’s land. That’s the right thing to do. And it’s good for them to go back, the old people, good for the heart and the spirit.  “When they went first, they cried, they missed that place for a long time.”  Nangala says people don’t want to come into town, where life might be worse.  “Climate change is true,” Nangala says. “They [politicians] got the map and weather things, they should see the temperature what is happening around Australia, it’s so hot.”  Jimmy Cocking says: “We are walking blindly into the new climate reality. We’ve moved beyond hope, and we can’t be running on hope alone.  “The only thing that is going to get us over the line is action. And the antidote to despair is action.  “So there’s a lot of things that we need to be looking to change so that we aren’t going to be putting people’s lives at risk.”

Lorena Allam and Nick Evershed with photographs by Mike Bowers


themanchestereveningnews--2019-05-15--Lets make Manchester the safest city in the country Mum of Arena victim urges leaders to back he

'Let's make Manchester the safest city in the country': Mum of Arena victim urges leaders to back her fight for 'Martyn's Law'

Manchester’s leaders have been urged to further honour the 22 victims of the Arena attack by introducing mandatory bag searches at all public venues.  Campaigner Figen Murray, who lost her son Martyn Hett in the 2017 bombings, this morning (Wednesday) told councillors why the move was so urgently needed.  The town hall's response in the wake of the atrocity had already been 'like angel's wings' for grieving relatives, she said, but said Manchester should now 'lead the way' in also backing her call for stricter security rules.  This morning, the Manchester Evening News publicly backed Figen's campaign, urging people across the region - and the country - to sign her petition to the government.  It has so far amassed 16,600 signatures.  Figen spoke at the latest meeting of Manchester councillors, at which M.E.N. editor-in-chief Darren Thwaites also presented a special award honouring the city’s response to the bombings.  Ahead of next week’s anniversary, he said the gong - originally unveiled at last week’s inaugural Pride of Manchester awards - was in tribute to the bravery and spirit with which Greater Manchester responded to the bombing.  Next week will mark two years since the horrific attack at Manchester Arena, which claimed the lives of 22 people and left many others seriously physically and psychologically injured.  Figen’s son Martyn, 29, was one of them. She now hopes her campaign can become his legacy.  “We lost our son Martyn at the concert in May 2017,” she told councillors.  “So I naively assumed, since the attack, that public venues would be really keen to put additional security measures in place.  “To my complete and utter surprise, I realised this was not necessarily the case. I was totally horrified, frankly.”  She and her husband had been particularly struck, during a trip to a Manchester theatre, to find very lax security, she added.  Since then she has discovered ‘huge discrepancies' in safety standards at major venues up and down the country.  “As a result of this I decided to launch a government petition for Martyn’s law to be introduced,” she said.  “I’m asking the government introduce mandatory bag searches - and I mean proper ones not just checking if there’s crisps and water in the back - and metal detectors to make sure public safety can be improved.”  Figen has been meeting with counter-terror experts and other relevant organisations, learning about the subject, to ensure her petition is well thought-out.  Martyn’s Law would be the family’s ‘legacy’ to her son, she said, although she has also spoken to other bereaved relatives to ensure they support the idea.  Describing the support provided by the council immediately after the bombing, through its emergency planning for the city, as being like ‘angel’s wings’, she added: “I feel Manchester could significantly honour the 22 people who were murdered by leading the way and setting an excellent example by initiating Martyn’s Law here on its own doorstep.  “Manchester’s response has already been hailed a success - and quite rightly so - in terms of supporting people.  “If we could turn Manchester into one of the safest cities in the UK, particularly in view of what happened. Hopefully other cities will follow suit and put measures in place which reflect the changing threats which we all now face.”  Council leader Sir Richard Leese thanked Figen for addressing councillors and said they would now sit down to talk discuss the issue with her - and other families and victims - in more detail.  He stressed the town hall took public safety ‘very seriously’, pointing to the barriers installed around public spaces such as Albert Square in recent years, before adding: “Thank you very much for raising this with us.”  It is understood that the council will need to consider how far it can go under existing licensing laws without the government changing legislation.  Figen’s petition calls directly on the government to do so. More than 4,000 people have added their signatures over the last 24 hours. You can sign it here.  M.E.N. editor-in-chief Darren Thwaites also officially presented the city’s Spirit of Manchester award to the town hall, a gong in honour of the millions here who responded with bravery, compassion and humanity following the attack.  Describing it as a ‘great privilege’ to present, he added: “This award is shared by the 2.5m people who call Greater Manchester home and all did their bit to ensure that the unique spirit that makes this the finest city on earth was not extinguished by the bomb, but shines brighter than ever in spite of it.  "This award is for the spirit of Manchester.”  After expressing thanks for the award, Sir Richard said it would eventually be displayed in a refurbished town hall, but in the meantime will rotate around libraries and community centres across Greater Manchestser.


thinkprogress--2019-07-03--Heather Nauert says she did not receive a salary from 21st Century Fox while with State Department

Heather Nauert says she did not receive a ‘salary’ from 21st Century Fox while with State Department

Heather Nauert, President Donald Trump’s previous pick to replace Nikki Haley as United Nations ambassador, has disputed a report by the government watchdog CREW on Wednesday which showed she had reported receiving $167,000 in “salary” from 21st Century Fox while working as a spokesperson for the State Department.  According to Nauert, the filing was a draft version that included a clerical error.  CREW has maintained that at the time of its report, the erroneous filing was the only publicly available version of the document.  “This is false,” Nauert said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. “I NEVER received salary from 21st Century Fox while employed by State Dept. This story is based on a preliminary draft with a clerical error.”  Nauert noted that the “FINAL CERTIFIED report, available to anyone,” made it clear she had not received a Fox salary while working for the Trump administration.  Fox News also issued a statement on the matter, telling ThinkProgress, “Heather Nauert was not paid a salary in 2018 or 2019 and left the network in early 2017, which is the last time she was paid.”  The CREW report, which has since been removed from group’s site, claimed Nauert had included the information in her termination financial disclosure report. The payment was listed in Part 2 of the document, which covered the time period between January 1, 2018, and her last day on the job, March 31, 2019.  “Nauert was an anchor and correspondent on Fox News from August 2007 until April 2017, when she joined the State Department as a spokesperson. She reported receiving $167,000 from 21st Century Fox, which she characterized as ‘Salary,’ in Part 2 of her termination report,” CREW noted on Wednesday.  “If Nauert’s termination financial disclosure report is correct,” the report claimed, “the salary payments are problematic because the White House gave her an ethics waiver that authorized her to meet, interview, and communicate with 21st Century Fox employees.” That waiver, signed by former White House counsel Don McGahn, did not allow her to maintain any “continuing relationship” with her former employer outside of communications between herself and the press.  “[She] will not have a continuing relationship with 21st Century Fox. Nor will she have a financial interest in 21st Century Fox,” the waiver read.  CREW explained that the “salary” listed on Nauert’s termination report may have constituted such a “continuing relationship.”  CREW has since responded to Nauert’s comments, stating its decision to remove the blog post about the erroneous filing and noting the draft version cited in the post was the only publicly available one at the time.  “[The post] was written based on publicly available financial disclosure documents certified by Ms. Nauert,” the group stated. “CREW followed up with State to request any revisions or final certifications of the document and State indicated, ‘with respect to Ms. [Nauert], the termination report was her final report.'”  “At the time of publication,” the group added, “there was no other publicly available document. Following publication, Ms. Nauert has made an amended version public. With the information provided in the new version, we have pulled down the post as it no longer reflects the information contained in the newest version of the report.”  Nauert told ThinkProgress Wednesday night that final certified version of the report was released on June 28. “I can’t make these documents public. The government does,” she added.  In its since-deleted blog post, CREW said that it was possible the disclosure was a mistake, although it noted Nauert had listed a similar “salary” from 21st Century Fox in two earlier financial disclosure forms as well, including $160,000 “during calendar year 2017.”  Nauert was originally appointed to the role of State Department spokesperson in April 2017, having previously worked as a host on Fox & Friends, the president’s preferred morning news program. She is one of several Fox News personalities to be hired to work in the Trump administration, alongside former Fox News executive Bill Shine, who served as Trump’s deputy chief of staff for communications, and former Fox News national security contributor K.T. McFarland, who served as deputy national security adviser under Michael Flynn.  Trump selected Nauert to replace Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, in December.  “She’s very talented, very smart, very quick, and I think she’s going to be respected by all,” he said at the time.  However, Nauert later withdrew from consideration in February, following reports that she had previously employed a nanny who was not legally allowed to work in the United States. Nauert had mentioned the nanny in her initial paperwork for the U.N. position and stepped down from consideration after it became evident the disclosure would complicate things.  “I am grateful to President Trump and Secretary [Mike] Pompeo for the trust they placed in me for considering me for the position of US Ambassador to the United Nations. However, the past two months have been grueling for my family and therefore it is in the best interest of my family that I withdraw my name from consideration,” she said at the time.  CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article cited outdated information first reported by CREW, based on publicly available government documents. It has since been updated to reflect Nauert’s comments, and those of Fox News, as well as the newly public, corrected documents.


france24--2019-01-05--Thousands protest against Hungarys slave labour law

Thousands protest against Hungary's 'slave' labour law

Attila Kisbenedek, AFP | Protesters take part in a demonstration against the government's new labour reform, dubbed the "slave law" by the opposition on January 5, 2019 in Budapest.  Thousands marched through Budapest’s city centre on Saturday to protest against a new law that allows employers to ask staff to work up to 400 hours per year of overtime.  Opposition groups have staged several rallies in the past weeks in the Hungarian capital and other cities against what they said was an authoritarian rule of conservative nationalist Viktor Orban.  Saturday’s rally, organized by opposition parties, trade unions and civic groups, mainly targeted the new labour law dubbed by critics as “slave law”.  The protesters marched in snowfall from the historic Heroes Square to the parliament building on the bank of the Danube river, carrying banners such as “Sweep away the regime”.  “We disagree with almost everything that is going on since this government got into power (in 2010), from corruption to pseudo-democracy,” said 50-year old housewife Eva Demeter.  She said more Hungarians were pouring onto the streets because the slave law “affects a bigger crowd”.  Some of the protesters posted on social media or carried banners calling for a “national strike”.  The modification to the labour code passed by parliament last month has faced intense criticism and sparked the biggest street protest in over a year. Potentially, it could add two extra hours to an average work day, or the equivalent of an extra workday per week.  Zoltan Mucsi, the head of steelmaker Dunaferr’s Vasas trade union, said it was undemocratic that the government did not discuss the labour code changes with the unions.  Some of the main trade union groups may resort to a strike if the government does not sit down with them to negotiate, he told Reuters.  Trade union membership in Hungary is estimated at below a tenth of the workforce, about half the level in Germany, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.  The past weeks’ anti-government rallies were also against a law that sets up new courts which critics say could be politically manipulated, and against bias in state-controlled media.  The earlier protests have been mostly peaceful, though there were some clashes with police who used tear gas.  The ruling Fidesz party reiterated in a statement on Thursday that the protests were part of a campaign for the European Parliament elections in May to help those who support mass migration into the European Union.  Fidesz won Hungarian elections with a landslide last year, with the ticket of resisting mass immigration into the EU.


france24--2019-08-27--Protests erupt after French supermarket uses automation to evade labour laws

A French hypermarket used self-service checkout stations to circumvent the country’s strict limits on working on Sundays, and many people were none too happy.  For the first time in French history, a hypermarket was open on a Sunday afternoon. French labor law prohibits the employees of hypermarkets and large supermarkets from working after 1pm on Sundays. But last Sunday, the Géant Casino de la Roseraie in Angers, in northwestern France, was open to customers until 9pm. So how did they do it? Self-checkout stations and security guards employed by an external company.  The workaround at the 5,000-square-metre store didn’t technically break any laws, but it did vex local officials. “I find this manner of circumventing the law fairly dishonest,” said Karine Engel, deputy mayor overseeing commerce in Angers. But because no laws were broken, there is nothing the municipality can do to prevent the extension of Sunday hours, either.  Trade unions and protestors were also displeased. Nearly 200 protesters, including some Yellow Vest demonstrators, disrupted business by tipping over shopping carts in the store and blocking the entrances.  While Sunday’s opening was the first of its kind for a hypermarket, Casino has been using the automated checkout system to keep smaller stores open on Sundays for some time. Three of its stores one in Lyon, one in Marseille and one in Montpellier are open 24/7. Other supermarket chains in France have also been experimenting with self-checkout and extended Sunday hours.  Officials and unions acknowledge that the technology allows employees to have Sundays off, but union officials worry that over time the automated systems will lead to layoffs.  And the additional hours simply aren’t necessary, they argue. “People don’t need an extra half day of shopping," Jean Pastor, a local union representative told AFP. “There are already sufficient opening hours as it is.”  Part of what worries unions is that the Angers hypermarket is not in a large city, said Olivier Dauvers, a retail sector specialist. “We’ve gone from the small shop in Paris where there is objectively a flow of clients day and night [...] to a hypermarket in a seemingly 'ordinary-looking' town where people would think they could wait until Monday morning to do their shopping,” he said.  “This is on a different scale, we've taken a symbolic step and that’s what shocks unions and staff. If Casino manages to do this in Angers in a hypermarket, we’re opening the door to something that could, if the consumer wants, become fairly widespread.”  A significant number of supermarkets in France already have automated checkout points in addition to cashiers. And while reducing employee costs is certainly a motivating factor, it is not the only benefit to companies. Automated checkout allows stores to increase capacity as well, Dauvers explained.  “In the past supermarkets did this by opening bigger and bigger stores," he says, "but you can scarcely open more in France because there are already so many. So what do we do? We extend opening hours."  The hyperstore is expected to be open late again this Sunday, but Engel isn’t convinced the experiment will be successful in the long run. “It’s bad publicity for the company,” she said.


thetelegraph--2019-04-02--New labour law puts limits on Japans overworking culture

New labour law puts limits on Japan's overworking culture

A new law capping overtime has come into effect in Japan in an attempt to tackle the nation’s notorious culture of long working hours.  The new law limits legal overtime work to 45 hours a month and 360 hours a year, with potential fines of £2,068 (300,000 yen) for companies that violate the new rules, according to Kyodo news agency.  The labour reform law, which initially targets only major companies, permits an extension of up to 100 hours a month and 720 hours a year in busy periods for a maximum of six months a year.  It will reportedly be expanded to include legal overtime caps for small and medium businesses in Japan from April next year.  Critics remain sceptical as to whether the new legal cap will manage to genuinely transform the deeply rooted culture of overworking in Japanese companies.  The pressures of Japanese corporate life are well documented, with many companies governed by hierarchical structures, strict protocol and widespread pressure for staff to work longer hours than their superiors.  Japan’s culture of working long hours has increasingly come into the spotlight because of a growing number of deaths from overworking, known as “karoshi”.


breitbart--2019-09-02--Trumps Tightened Labor Market Wins Dream Jobs for Disabled Americans

Trump's Tightened Labor Market Wins 'Dream Jobs' for Disabled Americans

The economy’s tightened labor market, which has handed transferred power back to American workers from businesses, has been a benefit to disabled Americans who, as Reuters reports, are winning their dream jobs:  Megan Helsel, a kayaking wildlife specialist, has her dream job, and T’angelo Magee is making headway toward his, a commercial pilot. Both say work is central to their identity. Both are disabled. [Emphasis added] Americans with disabilities, physical and cognitive, in recent months have been joining the workforce at a faster pace than those without disabilities, according to data collected by organizations that work with the disabled. [Emphasis added]  Workforce data collected by the Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability, and published by Reuters, reveals that disabled Americans have been reintegrating into the workforce at increased rates over the last two years after being hit hard by 2008’s Great Recession.  For example, the labor force participating rate for working-age disabled Americans increased 6.5 percent in July compared to a year before. This is far above the 0.3 percent increase that working-age Americans without a disability enjoyed in their labor force participation rate year-t0-year.  Trump has sought to decrease the enormous foreign competition that working-age Americans have been subjected to for decades through the country’s mass illegal and legal immigration policy. The Washington, D.C.-imposed policy brings millions of foreign workers, often willing to work for minimum wage or less, to the U.S. against whom America’s working and middle class are forced to compete for jobs.  John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.