By the time the Panel for Educational Policy was ready to vote on bake sales in its monthly meeting on Wednesday night it was already after 11:30. Elizabeth Puccini, was waiting to speak out against the new policy, which bans most bake sales but allows students to sell premade items including Pop-Tarts and Doritos. “What’s to prevent a child from buying two or three bags of the permitted Doritos or Frito-Lay chips? As much as the D.O.E. might like to control what our children eat, it’s impossible to regulate how much they eat unless a monitor is stationed at every school fund-raising event" she said. She probably think that this policy is a waste of time because their children are surrounded by many stores so there is no stopping them if they want to buy snacks unless parents stop giving their children money. Now that would cause problems if they did. The deputy chancellor commented that the permitted foods they have are not necessarily the they recommend for students. She said a apple would be a better snack. With the clock nearing midnight, there was little discussion. The policy was approved unanimously. For the article click here.
It seems like the Mayor Micheal R. Bloomberg of New York has decided to remove his fortune from a private equity firm founded by his longtime friend, Steven Rattner 10 months after that firm became embroiled in a scandal involving the state pension fund. The mayor is shifting about $5 billion from Quadrangle into a new investment firm devoted solely to his interest and that of his charitable foundation. In assets, Quadrangle will shrink by more than half, leaving the firm only private equity investments in the media and telecommunications industries. this problem caps a year of struggle for Quadrangle, after Steven Rattner, the founder who is Blomberg's friend, departed last year to run the Obama administration’s automobile task force. Mr. Rattner was linked to the New York pension fund investigation within months of that appointment and stepped down from his government role last summer. No charges have been brought against the firm or Mr. Rattner, and Bloomberg's decision to relocate his money may fuel speculation about his political ambitions. They say he is considered a potential candidate in the presidential campaign of 2012, and if he were to run, he would undoubtedly finance the campaign himself, at a staggering cost. His aides previously put the price tag at $1 billion. For further reading click here.
As if it isn't enough that the earthquake in Haiti was bad but now the issue of poor sanitation is causing problems. The authorities are struggling to address the worsening problem of human waste. Public health officials warn that waste accumulation is creating conditions for major disease outbreaks, including cholera, which could further stress the ravaged health system. Some say the accumulation of human waste is the most pressing health threat in the city. The problem has become impossible to overlook in many districts of Port-au-Prince, with the stench of decomposing bodies replaced by that of excrement. Children in some camps that are still lacking latrines and portable toilets play in open areas scattered with the waste. The light rains here this week caused some donated latrines in the camps to overflow, illustrating how the problem would grow more acute as the rainy season intensified in the months ahead. People try to help by distributing portable toilets and latrines and use trucks to dispose of the waste but at best it is not working out. For more on this article click here.
Police Taser Student at Basketball Game <----Fox video here
Monessen Student React To Basketball Fight <---- KDKA video here
A Taser is a type of gun. The Taser gun is one of three types of weapons that are known collectively as stun guns.Stun guns like the Taser operate by disrupting the electrical flow of signals through nerve cells. Inside the body, however, the electricity is powerful enough to temporarily disable the nervous system.Only about one-quarter of a second is is required to incapacitate someone. The electrical signal from a Taser can be generated as a single burst, or in rapid pulses. Because a Taser acts on muscles, and as there are muscles all over the body, a Taser applied almost anywhere over the body can cause total immobilization. Stun guns, including the Taser, consist of a transformer, oscillator, capacitor, and electrodes. In a Taser, the electrodes are not fixed in position. Some models of Taser have the attached electrodes, so that if the flying electrodes miss the target, the shooter can move in and try to touch the subject with the stationary electrodes to deliver the stunning dose of electricity.
