St. Louis inventors offer car-seat monitor to prevent child deaths

ST. LOUIS • Two St. Louisans behind a new smartphone-enabled car seat monitoring system hope their invention prevents young children from dying in dangerously hot cars.

Business partners Bob Steffen of Crestwood and Greg Schoenberg of Sunset Hills, both 50, invented a car seat monitoring system powered by a smartphone application called iAlert.

They said they came up with the idea in 2007, after reading news coverage of 7-month-old Sophia Knutsen, who died from being left in a hot car at the Washington University Medical Center.

“That’s exactly what started this in motion,” Steffen said.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/05e85478-5e55-5021-ae14-d57ca57e051a.html

June 22, 1807 – In the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair

The Chesapeake–Leopard Affair was a naval engagement that occurred off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, on 22 June 1807, between the British warship HMS Leopard and American frigate USS Chesapeake, when the crew of the Leopard pursued, attacked and boarded the American frigate looking for deserters from the Royal Navy.[1] The Chesapeake was caught unprepared and after a short battle involving broadsides from the Leopard, her commander, James Barron, surrendered his vessel to the British after firing only one shot. Four crew members were removed from the American vessel and were tried for desertion, one of whom was subsequently hanged. The Chesapeake was allowed to return home where James Barron was court martialed and suspended from command.

The Chesapeake–Leopard Affair created uproar among Americans and strident calls for war with Great Britain, but these quickly subsided. President Thomas Jefferson initially attempted to use this widespread bellicosity to diplomatically threaten the British government into settling the matter. The United States Congress backed away from armed conflict when British envoys showed no contrition whatsoever for the Chesapeake outrage and delivered proclamations reaffirming impressment. Jefferson's political failure to coerce Great Britain led him towards economic warfare: the Embargo of 1807.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake–Leopard_Affair

June 22,1922 – Herrin massacre: 19 strikebreakers & 2 union miners are killed in Herrin, IL.

The Herrin Massacre took place in June 1922 in Herrin, Illinois. Following an early morning gunfire attack on non-union miners going to work on June 21, three union miners (Jordie Henderson, Joseph Pitkewicius and one other) were killed in a confrontation after the striking union members marched on the mine. The next day, union miners killed 19 of fifty strikebreakers and union guards, many of them in brutal ways. A twentieth victim from the non-union group would later be murdered, bringing the death total to twenty-three.

On April 1, 1922 the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) began a nationwide strike. W. J. Lester, the owner of the Southern Illinois Coal Company, operated a strip mine about halfway between Herrin and Marion, Illinois. Lester at first complied with the strike. He had only recently opened the mine, and massive startup debts made him negotiate with the UMWA to allow his mine to remain open, as long as no coal was shipped out. Under the agreement, some United Mine Workers members were allowed to continue working during the strike. Lester told an associate that local union leaders were friendly with him; however, he was warned this did not mean he had any control over the ordinary members.[3]

By June, Lester's miners had dug out nearly 60,000 tons of coal. Strike-driven shortages had raised coal prices, and Lester would make a $250,000 profit if he sold his coal. He decided to violate the agreement he had made. When the UMWA members working for him objected, he fired all of his union workers.[4] Lester brought in mine guards and 50 strikebreakers, vilified as "scabs", recruited by employment agencies in Chicago. On June 16, 1922, he shipped out sixteen railroad cars filled with coal. Testimony later revealed that his mine guards possessed machine guns. They aggressively searched passers-by, and "they frighten women, they boast and are hard-boiled."[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrin_massacre

June 21, 1919 – The RCMP fire into a crowd of unemployed, during the Winnipeg General Strike

The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was one of the most influential strikes in Canadian history, and became the platform for future labour reforms.
Although many Canadian companies had enjoyed enormous profits on World War I contracts, wages and working conditions were dismal and labour regulations were mostly non-existent.

In March 1919 labour delegates from across Western Canada convened in Calgary to form a branch of the "One Big Union", otherwise known as "The Great Fist", with the intention of earning rights for Canadian workers through a series of strikes. A drastic amount of men and women- some unionised and some not were all of different trades of skill and from different ethnic backgrounds shared class solidarity of inequality in Canada and wanted to achieve what was essential for themselves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg_General_Strike

June21, 1877 – The Molly Maguires, 10 Irish immigrants are hanged at the Schuylkil County, PA

The Molly Maguires was a 19th-century secret society of mainly Irish and Irish-American coal miners. Many historians believe the "Mollies" were present in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania in the United States from the time of the American Civil War until a series of sensational arrests and trials from 1876?78. Members of the "Mollies" were accused of murder, arson, kidnapping and other crimes, in part based on allegations by Franklin B. Gowen and the testimony of a Pinkerton detective, James McParland (also known as James McParlan), a native of County Armagh, Ireland. Fellow prisoners testified against the defendants, who were arrested by the Coal and Iron Police, who served Gowen, who acted as a prosecutor in some of the trials.[1]

The trusts seem to have focused almost exclusively upon the Molly Maguires for criminal prosecution. Information passed from the Pinkerton detective, intended only for the detective agency and their client — the most powerful industrialist of the region — was apparently[vague] also provided to vigilantes who ambushed and murdered miners suspected of being Molly Maguires, as well as their families.[2] Molly Maguire history is sometimes presented as the prosecution of an underground movement that was motivated by personal vendettas, and sometimes as a struggle between organized labor and powerful industrial forces. Whether membership in the Mollies' society overlapped union membership to any appreciable extent remains open to conjecture.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Maguires

June 21, 1788 New Hampshire ratifies the US Constitution becomes the 9th State.

New Hampshire (US i/nuːˈhæmpʃər/) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. New Hampshire is the 5th smallest and the 9th least populous of the 50 United States.

It became the first of the British North American colonies to break away from Great Britain in January 1776, and six months later was one of the original thirteen states that founded the United States of America. In June 1788, it became the ninth state to ratify the United States Constitution, bringing that document into effect. New Hampshire was the first U.S. state to have its own state constitution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire

June 21: National Peaches and Cream Day

Vatterott College told to pay woman $13 million

KANSAS CITY • A woman who sued Vatterott College over its enrollment practices has won a $13 million judgment against the college.

Jennifer Kerr, 42, of Belton, Mo., said the enrollment procedures caused her to spend thousands of dollars and extra time earning a certificate that proved to be useless in the job market.

A finding by a Jackson County jury for Kerr is likely to be appealed and the punitive amount the jury awarded far exceeds the maximum allowed under Missouri law, The Kansas City Star reported.

In her lawsuit, Kerr said she went to the school in 2009 with plans to become a nurse. Vatterott doesn’t offer a nursing program, but a representative told her she could enroll in a medical assistant’s degree, which would help her eventually become a nurse, according to the lawsuit.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/vatterott-college-told-to-pay-woman-million/article_bb1677a4-d703-512c-ac5f-f469354b94b1.html

Midwest author's Amazon listing tells readers to buy from local stores

A Michigan author not only hikes the Great Lakes, she also goes the extra mile for independent bookstores.

Loreen Niewenhuis lists her books on Amazon.com. But at that very site, she tells potential readers to buy the book at an independent bookstore.

Shelf Awareness wrote about Niewenhuis and how she also made her most recent book available to indie stores for two months before she listed it on Amazon. Her book is "A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk."

Obviously she has plenty of energy and knows where her supporters live. Her blog lists the dozens of independent stores she has visited for signings.

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/book-blog/midwest-author-s-amazon-listing-tells-readers-to-buy-from/article_3a4b68b7-b3dc-5d7d-885a-5bd0568b377a.html

L.A. Council Approves Plastic Bag Ban

LOS ANGELES — The City Council here voted Tuesday to ban single-use plastic bags in any store that sells groceries and mandated that retailers charge 10 cents per paper bag if customers don't bring their own bags.

The vote in favor of the ban was 11-1. Because the vote was not unanimous, the council is required to vote on the ban again next week, with observers saying the outcome is unlikely to change. If the ban passes again, either outgoing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa or Mayor-Elect Eric Garcetti, who takes office July 1, is expect the sign the ordinance to make it official.
A similar measure seeking to ban plastic bags across the state was defeated in the California legislature earlier this month.


Read More: http://supermarketnews.com/retail-amp-financial/la-council-approves-plastic-bag-ban#ixzz2WmU7zmhO