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Disaster looms as fire department is stretched too thin
“Nowhere are the challenges facing the Alexandria Fire Department more stark than at Station 206, the Seminary Road facility built in 1958. Standing on the front ramp looking west, Fire Chief Adam Thiel can see the massive Washington Headquarters Service — the new Department of Defense building where more than 6,000 people will work early…
Read MoreCA fires won’t deter 150-home development, despite high-risk area
“Following the deadly Esperanza wildfire in Southern California in October 2006, in which five U.S. Forest Service firefighters were killed, a task force recommended tougher zoning and code enforcement to limit development in the mountain forests considered high fire hazard zones. Yet within a year of those recommendations, Riverside County supervisors gave the go-ahead to…
Read MoreTownship mayor faces ethics violation charges
“State officials are investigating construction and zoning permits Monroe officials granted to township Mayor Michael Gabbianelli and his son. A week after the Courier-Post reported apparent ethics violations, state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) officials said they’ll determine whether Monroe officials breached the state Uniform Construction Code (UCC) with various approvals for Michael Gabbianelli Jr.’s…
Read MoreSelf-described serial-killer’s confessions leads to re-opened investigation
The killer, a 72-year-old prisoner named Edward Harold Bell, told the Houston Chronicle in interviews and letters this summer that he killed 11 girls here in the 1970s, naming four of them and describing the rest. Though Bell previously confessed to two of the same crimes in 1989 letters authorities kept secret, he’s never been…
Read MoreSubsidiary of Koch Industries has direct interest in Keystone XL
“In recent months Koch Industries Inc., the business conglomerate run by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, has repeatedly told a U.S. Congressional committee and the news media that the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline has “nothing to do with any of our businesses.” But Inside Climate News reports that the company has told…
Read MoreRegardless of bailout, Gov. Perry has deep ties to one of TX’s largest banks
In his bid for the president, Governor Rick Perry has attacked the Troubled Asset Relief Program numerous times; calling it an “unprecedented assault on free markets.” However, The Dallas Morning News reports that the very bank Perry designated for his campaign finances received more than $87 million in TARP money. That same bank, PlainsCapital, is…
Read MoreData shows mayor hyped crime claim against Hispanic-owned business
When the mayor of Mount Vernon, Wash., requested that a liquor license be denied, he claimed it had to do with the proposed location of the business. However, when Kate Martin, of the Skagit Valley Herald checked with the local police department, the numbers didn’t add up. “Too many 911 calls have been made from…
Read MoreRise in prescription drug overdose hitting unlikely community
At age 52, no one would think a mother and wife, with a roof over her head, would die from a drug overdose. However, after hurting her shoulder more than a decade ago, Myrtle Bailey died of a hydrocodone overdose. Unfortunately for her and many others, doctors are treating symptoms instead of actual problems. “Bailey…
Read MoreMajor increase in spending leads to concerns over health care costs
There’s no doubt that every city should have a children’s hospital, but what about three? Gilbert Gaul with Kaiser Health News, in collaboration with McClatchy, takes a hard look at why Orlando and other cities are building multiple children’s hospital, and who’s behind the push. The leading independent children’s hospitals are nonprofits, but you wouldn’t know…
Read MoreState legislators earning pension before retirement
It may be surprising to learn that after legislators in South Carolina passed a law that would allow them to collect their pension, while still working for the state full time, their annual incomes have nearly tripled. Thomas Frank, of USA TODAY, investigates the disturbing, yet legal, actions our legislators are taking. “More than 4,100 legislators…
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