lwsimmons.org

Monday, October 11, 2010

Wikinews interviewed author Amy Scobee about her book Scientology – Abuse at the Top, and asked her about her experiences working as an executive within the organization. Scobee joined the organization at age 14, and worked at Scientology’s international management headquarters for several years before leaving in 2005. She served as a Scientology executive in multiple high-ranking positions, working out of the international headquarters of Scientology known as “Gold Base”, located in Gilman Hot Springs near Hemet, California.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

A paste containing synthetic tooth enamel can seal small cavities without drilling. Kazue Yamagishi and colleagues at the FAP Dental Institute in Tokyo say that the paste can repair small cavities in 15 minutes.

Currently, fillers don’t stick to such small cavities so dentists must drill bigger holes. Hydroxyapatite crystals, of which natural enamel is made, bond with teeth to repair tiny areas of damage.

Yamagishi and colleagues have tested their paste on a lower premolar tooth that showed early signs of decay. They found that the synthetic enamel merged with the natural enamel. The synthetic enamel also appears to make teeth stronger which will improve resistance to future decay. As with drilling, however, there is still the potential for pain: The paste is strongly acidic to encourage crystal growth and causes inflammation if it touches the gums.

The paste is reported in the journal Nature.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Police in Denmark have shot dead a man they believe was responsible for two gun attacks that killed two people in Copenhagen yesterday. Police had kept a property in the Nørrebro district of the city under surveillance. When the man returned to the property, they confronted him and shot him in the ensuing fire fight.

Jorgen Skov, a police investigator, said “nothing at this point suggests there were other perpetrators” than the man shot today. Yesterday, he was allegedly involved in two shooting incidents in the city.

The first shooting took place in a café at the Krudttoenden cultural center which was hosting a discussion about blasphemy and free speech, relating to the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris. Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who organised the meeting, was subjected to death threats following publication of a number of drawings of the Prophet Muhammad. Vilks’ website says the event was timed to coincide with the fatwa placed on the British novelist Salman Rushdie. The event also hosted Inna Shevchenko, an activist with the feminist protest group FEMEN.

François Zimeray, France’s ambassador to Denmark, attended the event. He told reporters: “They shot from the outside [and] had the same intention as Charlie Hebdo, only they didn’t manage to get in[…] Intuitively I would say there were at least 50 gunshots, and the police here are saying 200. Bullets went through the doors and everyone threw themselves to the floor.”

The second attack yesterday took place outside a synagogue in the Krystalgade area of Copenhagen. The attacker shot and killed, according to the local Jewish community, Dan Uzan, a 37-year-old Jewish man who was volunteering as a security guard outside the synagogue while a bat mitzvah service was held inside.

Following the attacks, police released a description and photo of the suspect: he was depicted wearing a black puffer jacket, carrying a black bag, wearing a maroon balaclava, aged between 25 and 30 with a black automatic weapon. The chief police inspector Torben Molgaard Jensen told reporters: “We assume that it’s the same culprit behind both incidents.”

Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the Danish Prime Minister, said yesterday: “We feel certain now that it’s a politically motivated attack, and thereby it is a terrorist attack.”

Lars Vilks in a statement to Associated Press said he believed the first attack was directed at him: “What other motive could there be? It’s possible it was inspired by Charlie Hebdo”.

World leaders have condemned the shooting. French President François Hollande described the attacks as “deplorable” and promised the Danish “full solidarity of France in this trial”. British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: “I condemn the shootings in Copenhagen. Free speech must always be protected.” British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: “Sickened by shooting at free speech event in Copenhagen. My thoughts are with the people of the city and country.”

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the Australian government “condemns the shooting at a free speech event in Copenhagen overnight” and “[t]he thoughts of all Australians are with the people of Denmark and, in particular, the family of the victim who lost his life and the police officers injured in this brutal act of terror. As with the Charlie Hebdo atrocity in Paris, the Copenhagen attack is an affront to one of our most fundamental values — freedom of speech. We stand with the people and government of Denmark in confronting this cynical attempt to undermine that fundamental right.”

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

The EQ Resource Recovery Inc. and EQ Holding Company chemical processing plant near Romulus, Michigan, about 15 miles southwest of Detroit, was the scene of explosions and fire on Tuesday evening, continuing into Wednesday. The cause of the explosions and fire has not yet been determined.

Firefighters announced their intention to let the fire burn itself out, which was estimated will take approximately 8 hours. However, parts of the fire continued to burn as of Wednesday evening. There were evacuations of approximately 3000 residents from the area, but no reports of any serious injuries or fatalities. However, approximately 20 people were treated for breathing problems at nearby Oakwood Annapolis Hospital. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is analyzing soot in the area to determine whether it poses a substantial health risk. The company in question has been the target of numerous enforcement actions by the EPA in the past, including a $240,000 fine in 1999.

A major chemical processed at the plant is acetone, the main ingredient in nail polish remover, which is known to be toxic in high dosages, especially to those with lung conditions. Acetone is also an eye and skin irritant.

Romulus is the site of the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), the primary airport for the Detroit area and a hub for Northwest Airlines. There was no indication that airport service would be affected.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

The San Diego, California suburb of Chula Vista has responded to the recent housing crisis with an aggressive blight control ordinance that compels lenders to maintain the appearance of vacant homes. As foreclosures increase both locally and throughout the United States, the one year old ordinance has become a model for other cities overwhelmed by the problem of abandoned homes that decay into neighborhood eyesores.

Chula Vista city code enforcement manager Doug Leeper told the San Diego Union Tribune that over 300 jurisdictions have contacted his office during the past year with inquiries about the city’s tough local ordinance. Coral Springs, Florida, and California towns Stockton, Santee, Riverside County, and Murietta have all modeled recently enacted anti-blight measures after Chula Vista’s. On Wednesday, 8 October, the Escondido City Council also voted to tighten local measures making lenders more accountable for maintenance of empty homes.

Under the Chula Vista ordinance lenders become legally responsible for upkeep as soon as a notice of mortgage default gets filed on a vacant dwelling, before actual ownership of the dwelling returns to the lender. Leeper regards that as “the cutting-edge part of our ordinance”. Chula Vista also requires prompt registration of vacant homes and applies stiff fines as high as US$1000 per day for failure to maintain a property. Since foreclosed properties are subject to frequent resale between mortgage brokers, city officials enforce the fines by sending notices to every name on title documents and placing a lien on the property, which prevents further resale until outstanding fines have been paid. In the year since the ordinance went into effect the city has applied $850,000 in fines and penalties, of which it has collected $200,000 to date. The city has collected an additional $77,000 in registration fees on vacant homes.

Jolie Houston, an attorney in San Jose, believes “Lenders will respond when it costs them less to maintain the property than to ignore local agency requirements.” Traditionally, local governments have resorted to addressing blight problems on abandoned properties with public funds, mowing overgrown lawns and performing other vital functions, then seeking repayment afterward. Chula Vista has moved that responsibility to an upfront obligation upon lenders.

As one of the fastest growing cities in the United States during recent years, Chula Vista saw 22.6% growth between 2000 and 2006, which brought the city’s population from 173,556 in the 2000 census to an estimated 212,756, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Chula Vista placed among the nation’s 20 fastest growing cities in 2004. A large proportion of local homes were purchased during the recent housing boom using creative financing options that purchasers did not understand were beyond their means. Average home prices in San Diego County declined by 25% in the last year, which is the steepest drop on record. Many homeowners in the region currently owe more than their homes are worth and confront rising balloon payment mortgages that they had expected to afford by refinancing new equity that either vanished or never materialized. In August 2008, Chula Vista’s eastern 91913 zip code had the highest home mortgage default rate in the county with 154 filings and 94 foreclosures, an increase of 154% over one year previously. Regionally, the county saw 1,979 foreclosures in August.

Professionals from the real estate and mortgage industries object to Chula Vista’s response to the crisis for the additional burdens it places on their struggling finances. Said San Diego real estate agent Marc Carpenter, “that kind of measure will add additional costs to banks that have been hit really hard already and ultimately the cost will be transferred down to consumers and investors.” Yet city councils in many communities have been under pressure to do something about increasing numbers of vacant properties. Concentrations of abandoned and neglected homes can attract vandals who hasten the decline of struggling neighborhoods. Jolie Houston explained that city officials “can’t fix the lending problem, but they can try to prevent neighborhoods from becoming blighted.”

CEO Robert Klein of Safeguard, a property management firm, told the Union Tribune that his industry is having difficulty adapting to the rapidly changing local ordinances. “Every day we discover a new ordinance coming out of somewhere”, he complained. Dustin Hobbs, a spokesman from the California Association of Mortgage Bankers agreed that uneven local ordinances are likely to increase the costs of lending. Hobbs advised that local legislation is unnecessary due to California State Senate Bill 1137, which was recently approved to address blight. Yet according to Houston, the statewide measure falls short because it fails to address upkeep needs during the months between the time when foreclosure begins and when the lender takes title.