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Friday, July 8, 2005

The University of Alberta is set to expand into the heart of Edmonton’s downtown with plans now in place to purchase the aging Hudson’s Bay building on Jasper Avenue between 102nd Street and 103rd Street. The deal, which is yet to be approved by the University’s Board of Governors, could result in students starting classes in the building as early as September 2006.

The building has been a huge vacancy in the downtown core, with only the broadcasting corporation CHUM Limited using any space. University of Alberta President Indira Samarasekera has said there are no plans to ask the company, which owns 91.7 The Bounce and A-Channel to move.

The deal would also solve the University’s space crunch. The total University population is growing much faster than the number of facilities required to support it, so expanding beyond the current campus makes sense. Establishing a presence downtown will also help the University and it’s many spin off companies.

The University has not yet decided how the project would be funded, but is currently looking at a number of options, including partnerships with all three levels of government.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Harry Reid, Democratic Senator and current Senate Minority Leader, announced on Friday he will not run for re-election next year. Reid has represented the state of Nevada in the Senate since 1987. He has endorsed Senator Charles Schumer of New York to replace him as Democratic senate leader.

The announcement follows months of rumours regarding the senator’s retirement. Reid had denied that he would retire on numerous occasions, even after the rumours strengthened after he seriously injured himself exercising on January 1. The 75-year-old hurt ribs and an eye, suffering problems with his vision after the accident.

To the Los Angeles Times, Reid spoke about his endorsement of Charles Schumer to replace him. He said “Schumer, in 22 months, if he plays his cards right, should be able to do it[…] I told him if you need my help, you got it.” Another Senator talked about as a possible replacement is Dick Durbin, Senator from Illinois.

Reid made the announcement in a video. He said “The decision I made has absolutely nothing to do with my injury, and it has nothing to do with my being majority leader, and it certainly has nothing to do with my ability to be reelected, because the path to reelection is much easier than it probably has been any time that I’ve run for re-election”.

While Reid was giving a radio interview to Nevada Public Radio, President Barack Obama called in to pay tribute to the Senator. He said “Harry is unique and he’s got that curmudgeonly charm that is hard to replace. I’m going to miss him. But the good thing is that I’m going to leave this place at the same time.”

Reid is to serve the remaining 22 months of his term through the end of 2016. He served in the Senate from 1987, and before that in the House from 1983. He has held the position of Senate Democratic leader since 2005.

Friday, January 19, 2007

In the United States, a stabbing at the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in Sudbury, Massachusetts has left a 15-year old student dead.

The stabbing happened around 7:20 am EST, before classes had started. A fight broke out in a boys’ bathroom between the 15-year old victim, James Alenson and 16-year-old suspect John Odgren, the fight spilled out in the hallway, where the stabbing occurred.

The school was sent into a “lockdown” and students were ushered into the gym, cafeteria and various classrooms. Alenson was rushed to Emerson Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 8:15 am EST. Odgren admitted to the stabbing and was in the principal’s office saying “I did it, I did it,” to police. However, Odgren also reportedly said “Is he OK? I don’t want him to die,” according to a police report.All students were released at 10:20 am EST.

Odgren was diagnosed with severe Asperger’s syndrome, an autistic spectrum disorder has been on medication for years, was a special education student at the school and had no history of violence according to his lawyer, Jonathan Shapiro. He is being charged with “murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and carrying a knife onto school property” and was arraigned in Framingham District Court where he pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Shapiro also asked if his client could go to secure facility at Children’s Hospital in Boston. Judge Paul Healy denied the request saying he did not have “enough assurance that Children’s Hospital would be secure.” Instead, he will be held at Middlesex Jail in Cambridge outside of the general population.

According to the school’s website, there will be a community meeting tonight in the school’s auditorium at 7pm EST.

Thursday, March 2, 2006

A new report on the commercial logging industry in Papua New Guinea (PNG) released by international forestry organization, Forest Trends, shows that the overwhelming majority of current commercial industrial forestry operations in PNG are ecologically and economically unsustainable.

Foreign logging companies are in open defiance of the law and cutting down Papua New Guinea’s rainforests, thanks to corruption and government inaction, the report alleges. Washington-based environmental group, Forest Trends, linked Malaysian loggers to Papua New Guinea’s political elite. It described working conditions as “modern-day slavery” and said forests were effectively being logged out.

While the PNG Government does have laws and regulations to ensure sustainable timber production, these were not being enforced, the report states. It identified “a political vacuum with no demonstrated government interest in controlling the problems in the sector.”

The report summarised independent reviews of the timber industry between 2000 and 2005. Forest Trends claimed corruption had devastated rural living standards and ignored the basic rights of landowners: “There are a few logging operations in the country which are deemed beneficial to both local landowners and the country, but they are lost in a sea of bad operators. The Government needs to support these companies, or risk having the international community boycott all of PNG’s exports.”

Natural forests are being chopped down unsustainably, mostly by Malaysian companies, the organisation says.

It reports that much of the labour is imported, and says that Papua New Guineans are not getting an acceptable return for the logging while one of the country’s precious natural resources is dwindling. Most of the timber is exported to China, and is often turned into products for export to Western countries.

If foresting continues in this manner, they warn, Papua New Guinea could be bereft of its natural cover in a decade.

“The system must be fixed,” said Michael Jenkins, President & CEO of Forest Trends. “The nexus between the logging companies and the political elite needs to be broken. One way to do this is to help local landowners better understand their rights and to establish a legal fund so that they can be defended. Papua New Guinea’s legal system does exist outside of political control and the courts have a track record of ruling against illegal logging.”

Friday, January 4, 2019

Nancy Pelosi yesterday resumed the office of Speaker of the House, being voted into the position by the incoming 116th United States Congress.

The new members of the House of Representatives, which include 235 Democrats and 199 Republicans, voted for Pelosi to serve as Speaker with 220 votes. Republican Kevin McCarthy, who held the post of Speaker this past term, received 192.

“I pledge that this Congress will be transparent, bipartisan and unifying; that we will seek to reach across the aisle in this Chamber and across the divisions across our nation,” Pelosi told the public. Guests at the swearing in included Pelosi’s grandchildren and such celebrities as fashion designer Tim Gunn and Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart.

President Donald Trump congratulated Pelosi, saying, “hopefully we’re going to have a lot of things that we can get done together.”

Pelosi has said her plans for the new term will begin with less controversial issues with which she could find common ground with Republicans, but Democrats also plan to address the current government shutdown promptly.

About a quarter of the U.S. federal government, 800,000 employees, is not in operation because President Trump and the previous Congress could not reach an agreement about the national budget. President Trump has said he will not approve a budget that does not allocate funding for a wall along the country’s border with Mexico. Pelosi has proposed legislation that would fund the government through September. For the budget to pass, it must also be approved by the Senate, which has a Republican majority, and it must be signed by President Trump.

Within her own party, the choice of Pelosi was not uncontested. Some called for younger leadership. Altogether, fifteen Democrats defected. Pelosi had agreed to support some of her opponents’ plans, such as term limits for individuals serving as Speaker.

The 116th U.S. Congress has the greatest number of women, 102, and people of color in the country’s history and also has the youngest average age.

Nancy Pelosi became the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House in 2007 and held the post until 2011. The Speaker of the House is the third-highest ranking person in the U.S. Federal government and automatically assumes the presidency if the President and Vice President are both killed or incapacitated.

Unlike Senators, who serve six-year terms, members of the House are elected for two-year terms. As such, every member of the House is either re-elected or replaced during every federal election.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

According to local police chief Craig Van Breugel there were no injuries or loss of life to animals or local residents in the recent fire in the rural Australian town of Toongabbie. “There was no injury to persons or animals. That is all I have for you,” Detective Acting Sergent Van Breugel said in response to queries from Wikinews.

The fire began about 2:20 pm local time (UTC+11) between Humphrey and Eagle Hawk roads, north of the township proper. The local Country Fire Authority brigade managed to contain the blaze to approximately three to five hectares.

Victoria Police have recently indicated that the area around where the fire was started is only accessible by four wheel drives (4WD) or off-road motorcycles; it is popular with dirt bike riders and 4WD enthusiasts.

The local Country Fire Authority brigade managed to contain the blaze to approximately three to five hectares between Humphrey and Eagle Hawk roads.

Det.Act.Sgt Van Breugel confrimed that there wer some off road motor cyclists in the are that day. “[Police] know there was a number of off road motorcyclists in the area on the day. Some of [them] have already been spoken to by the Police” Det.Act.Sgt Van Breugel said.

The fire is being treated as suspicious and people with infomation that may help the investigation are encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers or the local police.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

This week, the Public Broadcasting Service aired a NOVA program titled “Dimming the Earth”, which presented research by leading scientists on the complex systems of our global climate and human activity’s effect on it. One of the largest interactions (or “inputs”) humans have with the atmosphere is the ever-increasing use of fossil fuels. Consumption has risen 2% per year for this decade.

Fossil fuels burnt in factories and automobiles send their waste into our atmosphere in two forms. The first is CO₂ and other greenhouse gases, which have received substantial attention in the last few years because of the way they trap heat in the atmosphere. The second is the tiny particles of sulfur dioxide, soot and ash, which scientists call aerosols (basically smog). Research into understanding the negative health effects of air pollution has resulted in the development of catalytic converters for cars as well as devices to remove particulate solids from industrial waste before it reaches the air.

More recently, atmospheric scientists have come upon the phenomenon of the reduction of direct sunlight reaching Earth’s surface— observing a nearly a 5% decline between 1960 and 1990, with evidence of a recovery since then. This has been dubbed the “global dimming” effect, and is probably due to the way these aerosols act upon clouds. It is important to realise that this does not represent a net loss of this much sunshine to the climate system – if so, large temperature declines would have been observed. Instead, the sunshine is absorbed elsewhere in the system, with a much smaller net loss.

Clouds form when moisture gathers around airborne particles, such as pollen or dust. Clouds formed by the aerosol particles emitted by fossil fuel consumption are made of many more tiny droplets than “natural” clouds. These smog-created clouds have two notable effects: they shield sunlight from reaching Earth’s surface and, due to water’s reflective nature, the millions of tiny droplets suspended in them reflect light back into space, allowing even less light to reach Earth.

Many scientists now believe that global dimming caused by these pollutants has mitigated the temperature rises brought about by global warming. Over the last thirty years, Earth’s temperature has increased by about 0.5 oC.

In the absence of global dimming, however, the Earth might be 0.3 oC warmer than it currently is, suggesting that a “tug-of-war” exists between greenhouse gases and particulates released by burning fossil fuels. Efforts to mitigate the human health dangers of smog have allowed more heat into our atmosphere and brought about a sharper increase in global warming.

Dr. James E. Hansen, professor at Columbia University and the head of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies [1], believes that if we continue on our current pattern, this warming could be as much as five degrees in the next thirty years and ten to fourteen degrees over the course of the century. Such a temperature rise would devastate life on Earth, likely bringing on a cascade of self-reinforcing warming effects. Earth’s forests drying and burning, a steady thawing of the Greenland and arctic ice sheets, and, most dangerous of all, a release of the methane hydrates that are now frozen at the bottom of the oceans, could remake the planet into something inhospitable to human life. Dr. Hansen warns that, according to his research, man has just 10 years to reduce greenhouse gases before global warming and other responses to human activity by Earth’s climate reach a “tipping point”, becoming unstoppable.

Friday, July 15, 2005

Torino and Messina are facing the risk of expulsion from Serie A because of fraud. Both clubs submitted false financial information to the Serie A management.

Covisoc, the body who must ratify that all clubs have the funds necessary to be registered for the new season, have found problems with both outfits.

As it stands now, they are not part of the Italian First Division but the pair have submitted an appeal on July 12 against the initial decision.

A final verdict on whether the clubs can compete in the top-flight next term is expected on July 15.

Numerous other clubs in lower Divisions are facing similar problems, with Perugia and Salernitana risking demotion from Serie B. A total of 20 clubs are in trouble in Serie C.