Friday, October 13, 2006

Buffalo, New York —Lake effect snow has come early to parts of Western New York prompting a State of Emergency and a flood watch to be issued, especially in Buffalo, New York and its suburbs where nearly 2 feet of snow fell during the afternoon and last night. Snow started to fall at around 12:00 pm EST on Thursday, October 12, heavy at times, and accompanied by thunder and lightning. Forecasters called the weather event “unprecedented.” A driving ban has been issued for Tonawanda, New York, Buffalo and Amherst where at least “80% of roads in Amherst are impassible.” The Buffalo Niagara International Airport opened at almost 3:30 p.m. [EST]. The New York State Throughway, or interstate 90 is closed from nearly Rochester, New York to Dunkirk, New York which is nearly 110 miles long. Motorists at the Williamsville, New York toll barrier are being turned around. A driving ban remains in effect while a state of emergency exists.

Water will be shut off in 24 hours due to the lack of electricity to water pumps in the area and in a press conference, Mayor of Buffalo, Byron Brown issued a “boil water advisory.” Brown also said that “70,000 of the 75,000 residents and businesses in Amherst are still without power.” Residents are asked to bottle water and prepare for the outage. It is not known when water will be turned back on. At least 30 water intake pumps in Erie County, out of the 50 the county has, have no power. Officials say that businesses and residents could be out of water by 5:00 p.m. [EST].

At least 3 people have been killed due to the storm. Two of those people were killed in a two-car accident in Lancaster, New York, and the other person was in Niagara County and died after being hit by a vehicle. One person was crushed and killed by a falling tree in Amherst, while in the process of removing snow from his property.

Hundreds of trees have snapped in half as the snow began to fall around the city. Many trees, which still have their leaves, have broken into pieces as the heavy, wet snow began to pile up, as much as an inch an hour. Early on Thursday, the airport had received nearly 9 inches (23cm) of snow and climbing. The storm has caused many delays and cancellations in flights leaving from or going to Buffalo.

Nearly 400,000 people in Buffalo and surrounding suburbs are still without power and forecasters at the NOAA are warning people “not to go outside in an area where heavy snow has fallen unless absolutely necessary.” Power may not be restored to the affected areas until Sunday and possibly next week in some areas. Damage to trees is extensive with nearly every tree destroyed on Granger Place in Buffalo.

“This was extremely heavy snow and most of the trees still have most of their leaves … we can’t do a complete damage assessment until the snow stops falling,” said spokesman for Niagara Mohawk, Western New York’s area power company, Steve Brady.

“At 8 pm [on Thursday], utility companies were reporting over 50,000 customers without power. The reason for the widespread power outages has been the combination of very heavy water laden snow accumulating on the trees that still have most of their leaves. Tree’s limbs break under the weight of the snow and bring down power lines as they fall,” said a statement on NOAA’s website.

“[This is the] snowiest day in 137 years [of weather records]. Six inches of snow occurred on October 13, 1909 and again on October 31, 1917,” added the NOAA weather statement.

Many business and nearly every school in Western New York are still closed due to the weather and the snow is forecasted to move south again over the Buffalo Metropolitan area, but snow amounts are not expected to be significant. Wind is expected to be strong and gusty which could bring down tree limbs which are broken but still attached to the tree. Some areas could se an additional 6 inches of snow by Saturday morning.

The flood watch takes effect at 2:00 p.m. [EST] and continues through Saturday.

Saturday, April 30, 2005

The British Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced a recall of foods containing banned dyes which increase the risk of cancer. The food products were sold at the Tesco, Waitrose, and Somerfield supermarkets.

A Bristol company called “Barts Spices” found the illegal Para Red substance in their Barts Ground Paprika, which was sold in 48g and 46g jars with a “Co-op” label. The batch codes on the affected products are 5032 and 5089 (expiration Dec 2007), and 5075 (expiration February 2007).

Tesco also found that their 130g package of BBQ rice cakes (expiration November and December 2005) contained both Para Red and Sudan I.

“It would be very prudent to assume that it could be a genotoxic carcinogen,” FSA scientific advisers told reporters.

“As a company committed to supplying only the very finest quality food ingredients, we took the immediate decision to withdraw our ground paprika spice from all outlets selling the product and advertised a product recall in the national press,” a Barts Spices spokesman said in a statement.

Sudan I is only authorized for industrial use to colorize petroleum products, such as shoe polish. Para Red and Sudan I are banned under the British Colours in Food Regulations of 1995.

Britain last went through a major food recall in February, when Worcester Sauce was found to contain chili powder dyed with Sudan 1.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

The discovery of an old World War II bomb in a construction site has caused at least 1000 residents in Plymouth located in South-West England, to be evacuated.

“Evacuations are being carried out of properties within 100m [328ft] of the scene. Properties within the 100m-300m [328-984ft] zone are being advised to open windows and draw curtains,” said a spokesman for the police department in Plymouth.

Workers on the site discovered the bomb at about 10:30 a.m. local time in Plymouth, England on Brentor Road.

Reports say that the bomb is sticking out of the ground by about 6 inches, and weighed an estimated 113 kilograms, or 250 pounds, but could have weighed as much as 500 pounds.

“The item was protruding about six inches from the ground and was described as being up to 10-inches in diameter,” said a spokesman for the Devon and Cornwall Police.

The Army bomb disposal team from Wales is currently trying to figure out what to do with the bomb and it could take several hours before authorities can dispose of it. Reports say that the bomb will be taken to the ocean to be detonated.

“The precise nature of this operation and any potential route are yet to be confirmed,” added the spokesman.

Wednesday, April 6, 2005A landmark study comparing effectiveness in reducing major depression of two forms of initial treatment — cognitive therapy which involves discussing thought processes with a qualified counselor, vs medication — has revealed that both forms of therapy reduce depression, but that the benefits of cognitive therapy last longer than those of medication. The study finding contradicts current treatment guidelines of the American Psychiatric Association (APA).

The 16-week study, by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University, was the largest trial yet undertaken to resolve the years-old debate. Two-hundred-and-forty patients with moderate-to-severe depression were given one or other of the treatments, or a purposely-ineffective placebo. Study representatives described the two treatments about equally effective — both much more effective than the placebo — but with the positive effect of talk-therapy lasting longer.

In fact, the cognitive therapy group saw only as many relapses as a another group that had continued to receive drug therapy.

“We believe that cognitive therapy might have more lasting effects because it equips patients with the tools they need to learn how to manage their problems and emotions,” said Robert DeRubeis, professor and chair of Penn’s Department of Psychology. “Pharmaceuticals, while effective, offer no long term cure for the symptoms of depression. For many people, cognitive therapy might prove to be the preferred form of treatment.”

“Medication is often an appropriate treatment, but drugs have drawbacks, such as side effects or a diminished efficacy over time,” DeRubeis said. “Patients with depression are often overwhelmed by other factors in their life that pills simply cannot solve. In many cases, cognitive therapy succeeds because it teaches the skills that help people cope.”

Researchers pointed out that while the effectiveness of cognitive therapy depended largely on the experience of the practitioner, the same was true of medication, due to the judgement required in prescribing correct dosages of drugs.

The APA declined to comment, on the basis that a quote appearing on Wikinews could be distorted by subsequent edits of the article.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Canadian media company CHUM Limited has announced that it has agreed to be acquired by larger rival Bell Globemedia Inc. for $1.7 billion CAD cash, bringing the CTV and Citytv broadcast-television networks and such specialty channels as MuchMusic, TSN and Bravo! under the same corporate umbrella.

Shareholders will receive $52.50 per common share of CHUM and $47.25 per Class B (non-voting) share. The estate of the late Allan Waters, who died late last year, has agreed to tender all its shares to the bid, netting the Waters family nearly $450 million.

In a joint statement, CHUM’s chairman, Jim Waters, said, “In Bell Globemedia’s offer, we not only found value for shareholders, but confidence that we would be placing CHUM in the hands of an owner with the financial resources and track record to continue to grow and build on our collective legacy.”

Globemedia CEO Ivan Fecan added, “We are able to make this premium offer because Bell Globemedia is clearly the most logical buyer of CHUM. There is a unique strategic fit to our operations that can make the united company a stronger national champion in broadcasting. We intend to maintain and build the valuable CHUM brands and develop more opportunities for Canadian programming.” He added that CTV and Citytv will remain separate networks and “will maintain separate and independent news divisions in order to ensure a continued diversity and competition in news coverage.”

In a separate release, CHUM announced it would be cutting 281 jobs at its stations across the country, particularly at its Citytv stations in western Canada. Effectively immediately, evening newscasts at CKVU-TV Vancouver, CKEM-TV Edmonton, CKAL-TV Calgary and CHMI-TV in the Winnipeg market are being eliminated, with plans for a new newsmagazine tentatively titled In Your City at the three Prairie stations, and more resources being put into each station’s local version of Breakfast Television. Less drastic changes are planned for its A-Channel stations in smaller markets. The company said these changes will result “in a significant reduction in staffing and operating costs.”

The companies said that they expect to sell CHUM’s A-Channel stations, as well as Alberta educational broadcaster Access, to third parties, despite CTV’s historical ties to several of them. Many of the A-Channel stations were originally acquired by CHUM from Baton Broadcasting, the predecessor of Bell Globemedia, in 1997, as part of a trade that sent CHUM’s ATV and ASN assets in Atlantic Canada to Baton and allowed Baton to acquire the CTV network itself.

Despite CHUM’s ownership of MuchMusic and CTV’s recent launch of MTV Canada, the companies claim their specialty channels are “complementary” and did not indicate any sale plans.

Bell Globemedia is currently majority-owned by BCE Inc. but is awaiting regulatory approval for a restructuring involving the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, Torstar Corp., and the Thomson family. In the interim, the takeover offer will be made by a new company owned by the proposed new shareholder structure.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

A wet late Spring season’s increase in rainfall helped duck populations rebound in the northern Great Plains near the U.S.-Canadian border. A dry Winter and resulting low ground water levels threatened duck nesting grounds in the area.

Much to the relief of duck hunters, who feared a possible 2005 ban on duck hunting, the most-recent waterfowl survey released this week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service showed duck populations in South Dakota on the rebound.

This contrasted to a May survey that showed fewer ducks and waterfowl nesting areas in the state with the population of breeding ducks numbering 1.6 million, down from 1.7 million in 2004. The same May survey indicated that duck habitats, specifically ponds, had declined more than 35 percent from the historical average.

However, late Spring rains reportedly improved wetland conditions and irrigated grasslands for grazing duck broods and re-nesting hens. The figures are used to set duck-hunting limits for the fall season, which begins in August.

“I have observed many duck broods across eastern South Dakota in July, and grassland cover looks great statewide,” Spencer Vaa, a waterfowl biologist with the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks said in an Associated Press report.