June 12, 2014

Impoverished Mother Dies In Jail Cell Over Unpaid Fines For Her Kids Missing School

Source: Think Progress

By Alan Pyke June 12, 2014 at 9:25 am Updated: June 12, 2014 at 9:33 am

A mother of seven died in a Pennsylvania jail over the weekend while serving a two-day sentence. Eileen DeNino, 55, was put in the cell where she died because she could not pay thousands of dollars in fines relating to her children’s truancy from schools in the Reading, PA area.

The cause of DeNino’s death is not yet known, but investigators “found no evidence that the death was suspicious,” according to the Eagle. She was reportedly on medication for high blood pressure and other health issues. “Prison officials said they issued no medication to DeNino before her death,” however.

DeNino had been cited 55 times since 1999, according to the Reading Eagle. On top of the individual fines for truancy, the Pennsylvania courts applied a variety of fees that amplified DeNino’s debt. “DiNino’s court file shows a laundry list of court fees for one case alone: $8 for a ‘judicial computer project’; $60 for Berks County constables; $10 for postage,” the Associated Press writes.

The two judges who preside over truancy cases in the county where the DeNinos live expressed regret and frustration over DeNino’s death. “She didn’t have a job. She was living in a house owned by a family member. She was on welfare. We sat and talked for a long time in my office and I could see that she couldn’t pay the fines,” Reading District Judge Wally Scott told the Eagle. “I cleared all her cases last year.”

District Judge Dean R. Patton sentenced DeNino to 48 hours in jail after she failed to produce documentary evidence of her inability to pay the more than $2,000 in accrued fines and fees. The sentence could have been as long as 45 days of jail time. “I bent over backwards for this woman,” Patton told the Eagle, “but I can’t just dismiss her cases without justification.”


Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/06/12/3448105/mother-dies-jail-cell-fines/

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This one really is something. I had not read about this before. It really turns my stomach ..
....right here in the good old USA...

June 6, 2014

Ex College Basketball Star Got on Dean's List Without Attending Class

Source: Huff Post/ espn.go.com

Rashad McCants, the second-leading scorer on the North Carolina basketball team that won the 2004-05 national title, told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" that tutors wrote his term papers, he rarely went to class for about half his time at UNC, and he remained able to play largely because he took bogus classes designed to keep athletes academically eligible.

McCants told "Outside the Lines" that he could have been academically ineligible to play during the championship season had he not been provided the assistance. Further, he said head basketball coach Roy Williams knew about the "paper-class" system at UNC. The so-called paper classes didn't require students to go to class; rather, students were required to submit only one term paper to receive a grade.


McCants also told "Outside the Lines" that he even made the Dean's List in Spring 2005 despite not attending any of his four classes for which he received straight-A grades. He said advisers and tutors who worked with the basketball program steered him to take the paper classes within the African-American Studies program.


Read more: http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/11036924/former-north-carolina-basketball-star-rashad-mccants-says-took-sham-classes

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Something many assumed, but this person has let the truth out of the bag...Let's see what happens...

May 19, 2014

Hospitals in Arkansas See Drop In Uninsured ER Visits Following Obamacare Implementation

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/05/16/3438782/hospitals-arkansas/

Think Progress
May 16.
By Igor Volsky

Preliminary survey results from Arkansas show a significant drop in the number of uninsured since the implementation of the state’s so-called private option, a compromise hammered out between Gov. Mike Beebe (D), Republican state lawmakers, and the Obama administration to provide health care coverage to low-income residents.

Data released on Thursday from 42 hospitals show that emergency room visits dropped by 2 percent, “while the number of uninsured patients in those emergency rooms dropped by 24 percent,” the Associated Press notes.

Erik Dorey, a spokesperson for Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR), said that the survey results indicated that the state’s implementation of health care reform is successfully providing insurance coverage to Arkansas families. “Because of Arkansas’ private option, 150,000 working families already know the security of quality coverage, and its successful implementation is a credit to Republicans and Democrats in Arkansas coming together to pass it into law,” Dorey said in a statement to ThinkProgress.

May 16, 2014

Swiss to vote on $25 minimum wage

Source: USA Today

GENEVA, Switzerland – A vote on Sunday to establish a minimum wage of $25 an hour would make mostly immigrants here in agriculture, housekeeping, and catering among the world's highest paid unskilled workforce.

The vote comes after hundreds of fast-food workers walked off their jobs in many U.S. cities and in more than 30 countries on Thursday in a protest for higher wages. If the Swiss proposal passes, the country would have the highest minimum wage in the world.


Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/05/16/swiss-minimum-wage/9166687/

May 13, 2014

How to improve your memory for free after initial purchase...(cheap)

You aint going to do it, but it works for me....Go to whatever store you want, and buy the cheapest phone..One with the least amount of memory. Then don't use the memory, just punch in your favorite numbers of your friends and family.. You will have to memorize those numbers in your brain, and that is a good thing to practice..Isn't it??????

May 13, 2014

It is a con job. Rubio will change his mind on climate change by humans.

Why? To show how he is able to work with other people and listen. His ability to cooperate and change his mind on important issues will be a selling point for his campaign to become president. This is part of his plan. That is what I believe.

May 7, 2014

Blind Pole-Vaulter Flies Fearlessly (teenage girl..16 years old)

http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/10827733/espnw-soaring-spirit-helps-charlotte-brown-blind-pole-vaulter-texas-succeed-track-off


Inspiring!

May 6, 2014

Oregon Governor Saves Woman's Life

Huffinton Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/06/john-kitzhaber_n_5271543.html

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John Kitzhaber, Oregon Governor, Performs CPR To Save Woman's Life


Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber is being hailed as a hero, but it's not for any official act of office. It's for saving a woman's life.

On his way to dinner on Monday, Kitzhaber spotted a woman lying by the side of the road with someone trying to help her, KGW-TV reported.

Kitzhaber, a former emergency room doctor, told his driver to pull over, ordered his security staff to call 911 and then performed CPR on the woman, who was not breathing.

"It was pretty neat to see the governor back on and going back to work,” paramedic Alan Ferschweiler, who responded to the call, told The Oregonian newspaper. “He was surprisingly calm, and you could see he went right back to the days where he was an emergency room doctor. To go and assist the governor and take over this patient from him is pretty surprising. It definitely took us off-guard."

May 3, 2014

Koch Brothers Face Lawsuit Over Chicago's Toxic Black Dust: Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/02/koch-brothers-lawsuit-chicago-petcoke_n_5255853.html

Environmentalists are planning to take billionaires Charles and David Koch to court, alleging the brothers' companies are responsible for polluting Chicago's Southeast Side with the black, thick dust known as petroleum coke -- or petcoke, a byproduct of the oil refining process.

ThinkProgress reported this week that the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Southeast Environmental Task Force (SETF) have given a 90-day notice of an intention to sue Koch-owned companies including KCBX Terminals over the pollution associated with their petcoke storage facilities located along the Calumet River in a low-income, partially industrial Chicago community.

In a press release, the groups said the lawsuit stems from neighbors complaining that the dust spewing from the facilities' large, uncovered petcoke piles has polluted the river, "invaded" their homes and blackened area skies.

"People are complaining about finding dust from these sites inside their homes," Peggy Salazar, SETF executive director, said in a statement. "Black dust is coating their houses and probably their lungs. This has to stop. And hopefully this suit will achieve that."

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I sure hope they make them pay a whole lot. Maybe, just maybe, these assholes should be sentenced to live on Chicago's Southeast Side as close to the dust as possible as the case drags through court...That would do it....

April 30, 2014

Please, Please....Be careful of sudden lane changes due to drivers texting and on phone.

Today I saw two of them, at the last minute change lanes to make turns. One a left from the far right lane on a busy city street, and the other to make a right turn, in front of me in the right lane. Both drivers had something in their hands. I know this is extremely dangerous because these people got to make that turn when they want to. Nothing else matters. Not waiting to the next street and make a couple more turns to up for missing a turn. Or the next exit on an expressway. I saw one a few months ago, who came within 3 feet of knocking over a man driving a bicycle. That man driving the bicycle was totally within the law.

I have seen more of this in the last 3 years, then in the last 20. These idiots do not look to see if there is someone in that lane, they just move . Lot of summer driving coming up, and traffic police only rarely stop people texting. Perhaps police are stopping more, but there are so many that is almost impossible to stop them. At least there is a stigma to "drunk driving" I am really concerned because someone here at DU is going to get hurt or worse. Please be aware of the other driver, he/she often is not aware of you/me. Oh, and I might add that many people walking are too busy texting to look up. Watch for them too.
Thanks