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WASHINGTON, March 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --
America's infrastructure picture certainly looks bleak. In urban
areas, roadway congestion tops 40 percent. The number of high hazard
dams - dams that, should they fail, pose a significant risk to human
life - has increased by more than 3,000 just since 2007. Thirty
percent of America's children attend school in overcrowded
classrooms. However, a report released today by the American Society
of Civil Engineers (ASCE) shows that with ingenuity and the right
amount of commitment on the part of the nation's leaders and the
American people, the infrastructure crisis we face is a solvable
problem.
On January 28, 2009, ASCE released the most recent
grades from its Report Card for America's Infrastructure, assigning
the nation's roads, bridges, water systems and other critical
foundations a cumulative grade of D and noting a five-year
investment need of $2.2 trillion. Today's comprehensive Report Card
examines the basis for those failing grades, while at the same time
offering an array of solutions - national, local and personal - for
how the nation can repair and revitalize the infrastructure systems
it depends on. The report is accompanied by an in-depth Web site (www.asce.org/reportcard)
that offers state-level infrastructure data on a variety of
subjects, including needed drinking water investment, number of
deficient bridges and number of high hazard dams that lack an
emergency action plan, as well as suggested ways for individuals to
take action.
"The problems our nation's infrastructure faces are
significant, and their impact on our personal and economic health is
incredibly serious. However, this crisis is solvable," said ASCE
president D. Wayne Klotz, P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE. "Increasing our
investment in infrastructure is important, but the solution will
involve more than just money. It will take sound technology, wise
community planning and involved citizens willing to partner with the
government and private sector to make real change. I believe the
American people are up to that challenge."
While the comprehensive Report Card provides a great
deal of information on the impact of failing infrastructure, it also
focuses on ways the nation can begin addressing these critical
deficiencies.
Each category of infrastructure, from aviation and
bridges to transit and wastewater, includes not only a list of
sector specific solutions, but also a series of case studies on how
individual communities are already addressing the needs of their
residents. For example, in the Roads category solutions include:
reforming the federal highway program to emphasize performance
management, cost-benefit analysis and accountability, as well as
addressing the long-term viability of fuel taxes for transportation
funding, and exploring the viability of the most promising options
to strengthen this funding. In the Levees category, solutions
include: phasing in the mandatory purchase of flood insurance with
risk-based premiums for structures in areas protected by levees, and
requiring the development and exercise of emergency action plans for
levee-protected areas.
In the Drinking Water category, the case studies
include: Orange County California, where a new groundwater
replenishment system is taking treated sewer water and purifying it
to meet state and federal drinking water standards. Case studies in
the Aviation category include: Newark Liberty International Airport,
where, by the end of 2008, a new satellite navigation technology
designed to reduce delays will begin testing. And, in the Schools
category the case studies include: Cincinnati, where a $985 million
commitment has been made to modernizing the 70 schools that make up
the state's third-largest public school district.
"Whether it's sitting in traffic every morning or
suffering through a summertime blackout, no matter where you live in
this country, failing infrastructure has an impact on your daily
life," said Andrew Herrmann, P.E., F.ASCE, Report Card for America's
Infrastructure Advisory Council chair. "However, it is equally
obvious that when national leaders, community leaders and
individuals commit to being a part of the solution, addressing the
nation's infrastructure problems becomes far less daunting of a
task."
Finally, the report also presents detailed breakdown
of the investment needs across all 15 categories assessed, including
current spending estimates, five-year needed investments, funding
provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and
the remaining shortfall. For example, in the Drinking Water
category, the five-year investment need equals $255 billion, the
estimated actual spending (over five years) equals $140 billion and
the ARRA funding equals $6.4 billion, leaving a five-year investment
shortfall of $108.6 billion.
The 2009 Report Card was developed by an advisory
council of 28 civil engineers representing each of the
infrastructure categories, as well as a broad spectrum of civil
engineering disciplines. Each category was evaluated on the basis of
capacity, condition, funding, future need, operation and
maintenance, public safety and resilience. For more information,
including solutions for solving America's infrastructure problems
and ASCE's Principles for Economic Stimulus Investment, visit
www.asce.org/reportcard.
Founded in 1852, ASCE represented more than 146,000
civil engineers worldwide, and is America's oldest national
engineering society. For more information, visit www.asce.org.
Source: American Society
of Civil Engineers
Web Site:
http://www.asce.org/
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- It's hard to get much more all-American than Dick Clark, and it's hard to find a more all-American town than Branson, Missouri. However, a complaint filed by the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) alleges that American workers at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Grill (AB Grill) in Branson are being discriminated against when it comes to hiring in favor of illegal alien workers. AB Grill, founded by the legendary American Bandstand emcee's production company, was recently purchased by another American success story, Daniel Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins.
IRLI, as the only public interest law firm in the United States devoted exclusively to protecting the rights and interests of U.S. Citizens in immigration-related matters, filed a complaint on November 28, 2007, with the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices of the U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of a former employee of the AB Grill who was fired because he threatened to expose this self proclaimed all-American establishment. This employee threatened to notify federal immigration authorities of the blatant violations of federal immigration laws.
"American workers, all across the country, have suffered job loss, lost wages and overt discrimination as a result of large-scale illegal immigration and a consistent failure of the federal government to hold employers accountable," noted Sharma Hammond, IRLI staff attorney. "What makes this case particularly deplorable is that the discrimination is being practiced by a company and in a town that have prospered by portraying themselves as icons of American culture and values."
The Immigration and Nationality Act prohibits not only the employment of unauthorized aliens, but also makes it unlawful for companies such as AB Grill to fire citizens and legal workers in favor of unauthorized alien workers. The complaint filed by IRLI seeks back pay wages for the former employee who endured this unlawful termination, modest attorney fees and a requirement that the AB Grill enroll in the on-line E-Verify Program (formerly the Basic Pilot Program) - to verify that all future employees will be legal workers.
"In 1957, the American Bandstand television program gave us the Hand Jive," noted Mike Hethmon, general counsel for IRLI. "Fifty years later, the American Bandstand Grill is just feeding us a lot of offensive jive about not being able to find legal workers to fill jobs in the restaurant, when even a Missouri mule could figure out that they are trying to pad their profits by hiring illegal aliens. Eventually the law catches them."
Source: Immigration Reform Law Institute
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Rena J. Comisac and Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Timothy Morrison announced today that Kyle Milbourn of Muncie, Ind., was indicted by a federal grand jury for a hate crime stemming from a cross-burning last year that was directed at a woman and her three biracial children.
Milbourn was charged with one count of interfering with the housing rights of another person; one count of conspiring to interfere with civil rights; one count of using fire during the commission of a felony; and one count of witness tampering. If convicted, Milbourn faces a maximum punishment of 40 years of imprisonment and a $1,000,000 fine.
According to the indictment, on or about March 6, 2006, Milbourn and another individual built an eight-foot wooden cross, erected it in front of the victims' home, doused it with gasoline, and set it on fire. Milbourn did this with the intent to interfere with the victims' rights under the Fair Housing Act.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Charlie Rownd investigated this case. The case will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina McKee from the U.S. Attorney's Office and Trial Attorney Betsy Biffl from the Civil Rights Division.
The charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Web Site: http://www.usdoj.gov/
8-17-05 (Santa Ana, California). Skylar Deleon, 26, and his wife, Jennifer Henderson Deleon, 24, will stand trial for the murders of a wealthy California couple who were tied to the anchor of their yacht and thrown overboard alive. Deleon starred in the “Power Rangers” TV series. Allegedly, a 40-year old Crips street gang member and ex-prison guard were enlisted to carry out the plot after seeing the yacht for sale in a boating magazine. The Deleons are accused of posing as interested buyers and convincing the couple to take the boat on a test run. Then, they were attacked with a stun gun, handcuffed, and gagged with duct tape. After signing over power of attorney, they were tied to the boat’s anchor and thrown overboard.
[U.S. | Entertainment | Crime | Daily News Bytes]
(6/10/04). The national bird has made a comeback in the last few decades, after being on the verge of extinction from vast DDT poisoning in the 60s and 70s that thinned their eggshells and crashed their birth rate, destruction of their habitats with the growth of the country, contamination of waterways and food sources, and shootings by ranchers trying to protect their sheep. They can now be found nesting in places like Llano, Texas, where it was a rarity to see them that far west. Although, DDT pesticide is outlawed in the U.S., it is still used on South American crops, which may have contributed to their return to U.S. skies. In 1997, they were down-listed from the federally endangered species list. Endangered species are those that are in danger of extinction throughout all of its range. Threatened species are likely to become endangered in the near future.
According to Environmental Defense, a New York-based conservation group . . . [click here for complete article, no charge]
6-22-03. According to Miami-Dade police, three rapes in a 30-square mile area have been linked through DNA testing; however, they are not related to the serial rapist search in southwest Miami. The unknown assailant carries a handgun and covers his face when he attacks. All six of the cases involved home invasions between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m. through unlocked doors or windows. A police composite sketch details the man as a dark-skinned African American in his 20s, 5'6" to 5'10", approximately 130 to 170 pounds.
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