San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón says he will throw out more than 3,000 marijuana-related convictions made in San Francisco courts since 1975. Any charges that were before the state’s legalization of marijuana went into effect this year will be dismissed with no action necessary from those convicted. Prosecutors are also reviewing whether to reduce nearly 5,000 other drug convictions from felonies to misdemeanors. Those that don’t involve violence or other crimes may be thrown out on a case by case basis. Since 1975, nearly 8,000 people have been convicted of marijuana related crimes in San Francisco.
The announcement comes just weeks after California’s legalization of recreational marijuana use went into full effect with the new year. The move is allowed under the 2016 ballot measure that legalized recreational cannabis use in California. Prop. 64, the voter approved initiative that legalilized marijuana use in California, allows defendants to petition to have their convictions thrown out but the process requires lawyers, time and money.
Nearly 5,000 people in California have petitioned courts to have a marijuana conviction expunged since Prop. 64 took effect but there are millions of Californians with marijuana convictions on their record. San Francisco’s decision to retroactively apply Proposition 64 has been applauded as a massive “step forward”—one that must be replicated throughout California and in other states that have legalized marijuana in order to “truly repair the drug war’s harms.”
“A criminal conviction can be a barrier to employment, housing and other benefits, so instead of waiting for the community to take action, we’re taking action for the community,” Gascon said. Gascon’s office said there was racial motivation behind the decision-noting that in 2010-11, African-Americans represented six percent of San Francisco’s population but represented nearly half of marijuana arrests in the city.
The decision has the backing of the governor’s office as well. Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom said “This example, one of many across our state, underscores the true promise of Proposition 64 – providing new hope and opportunities to Californians, primarily people of color, whose lives were long ago derailed by a costly, broken and racially discriminatory system of marijuana criminalization.” “This isn’t just an urgent issue of social justice here in California – it’s a model for the rest of the nation.”
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In an effort to broaden the company’s “social interaction” with our clients and FaceBook fans, Daily Trivia Questions are posted on both of our business pages. Here are the weekly standings for this past week, and the winner of the Sunday night Weekly Drawing for an AmEx gift card!
Congratulations – To this past week’s Trivia Contest Winner!! Our latest contest winner for the weekly FaceBook HealthInsurance4Everyone/Health & Life Solutions, LLC Trivia Contest, drawn randomly by computer late Sunday evening, February 4th, 2018 was:
ANNA NICHOLS
Winner Of A $25.00 AmEx Gift Card
Each day, fans who have “liked” either of our company FaceBook pages (HealthInsurance4Everyone or Health & Life Solutions LLC) are able to test their skills with our Daily TRIVIA QUESTION. The first 20 winners who post the correct answer to the TRIVIA QUESTION, will then get entered into the weekly drawing held late on Sunday evenings for a $25.00 Am Ex Gift Card.
Weekly Gift Card winners will be posted in our blog at this site. Remember to become a FaceBook “fan” on either of our company pages to enter and post your answers.
Here are the daily contestants from last week’s Trivia Contest that were entered into the Sunday drawing:
1/29/18
Kathleen Marks
Jill Nauyokas
Misty Shallcross
Sarah Harrison
Amanda Peters
Michelle Hughes
Be Schwerin
Brian Fulop
Marilyn Wall
Vickie Gipson
Nicole Blaha
Karen Bondehagen
Chris Maxwell
Paula Rousseau
Isis Sample
Jessica Bognear
Carol Scheive
Diane Hamric
Jenifer Garza
Melissa Ann Stura-Bassett
1/30/18
Beth Embrey
Lenis Abshire
Chelsie Nicole
Enna-LenLen Dr-Villafuerte
Allison Frederick
Christina Montes
Amy Marie Wilkinson
Sheila Vives
Deborah Farris
Brooke Scott
Chrissy Kim
Christina Domingue
Amanda Saltsman
Kristina Rosson
Stephanie Griffith
Jean Simmons Homfeld
Kayla Hernandez
Ann Patrick
Anggie Marie
Sandy Nevels
Jenifer Garza
1/31/18
Shelley LaClear Colby
Christy Hawkes
Brandi K Chaney
Mandi Smith
Beth Embrey
Tonya Velazquez
Jenifer Garza
Tracy Shafer
Stephanie Beckwith
Kathleen Marks
Denesha Brown
Kacie Rogers
Mikey Mellor
Hayley Cordaro
Alicia Smith
Toi Minnifield
Michael Flagg
Nancy Pfirrman Schools
Brooke Scott
Geri Rus
Lisa Yu
Kathleen Hickman
Kristina Harris
Mary Achio
Anna Nichols
02/01/18
Cassandra Berholtz
Jennifer Vega
Jill Nauyokas
Amber Chandler
Kristina Rosson
April Ashcraft
Jenifer Garza
Sarah Harrison
Carol Scheive
Deborah Farris
Katherine Oliveira
Alysia Jackson
Jennifer Leffler
Brooke Scott
Paula Rivers
Alicia Smith
Jessica Davis
Angelique Morris
Sunney Michelle Johnson
Jennifer Lee Clack
Lori Capobianco
Stacy Draeger-Brogan
Trish Hysell
Sean Stover
Adaria Johnson
02/02/18
Shelby Howke
Kimberly Kay
Stephanie Griffith
Alicia Smith
Morgan Alexandra
Brandi K Chaney
Mandi Smith
Keith Ruff
Mike Adamski
Priscilla Shimp
Be Schwerin
Kayla Hernandez
Diane Hamric
Erica Hansen
Mary Bubel Smith
Mikey Mellor
Dawn Raasch
Trish Clapper
Nancy Scharnhorst
Sheila Carvell
02/03/18
Jennifer Kearney
Jenn Anthony
April Ashcraft
Kayla Hernandez
Dawn Raasch
Megan Rhyne
Becky Holland
Joann Tompkins-Winborn
Mikey Mellor
Kari Reed
Ashley Agner
Tera Wardrip
Christina Montes
Jenifer Garza
Nacole Patrick
Eleazar Ruiz
Lindsey McCoy
Sarah Bellestri Shih
Amanda Peters
Samantha Brwn
Diane Hamric
Anggie Marie
2/4/18
Rachael Dakota-Two-Feather Smith
Shelby Howke
Darlene Whyte
Amanda Rosario
Samantha Brwn
Wendy Meser-Brinnon
Tracy Shafer
Jenifer Garza
Holly Cajigas
Tonya Velazquez
Rebecca Fauteux
Ashley Agner
Eleazar Ruiz
Pamela White Brearley
Anna Nichols
Diane Hamric
Jennifer Marie
Nai Merri
Jennifer Kearney
Trish Marks
Be sure to watch both of our FaceBook pages for your chance to win and enter again next week, with questions posted daily on HealthInsurance4Everyone or at Health & Life Solutions, LLC!!
Remember that if you try your hand at answering the Trivia Question several days each week, your odds of winning the Sunday weekly drawing are much better.
Also note that a number of the posted answers each day are from contestants who have forgotten to “Like” one of our pages, so their names WILL NOT be entered at the end week drawing for the gift card, giving our fans a better chance!
You may also find that if you “Like” BOTH of the business pages, you will receive faster notifications of the other players as they post their answers to compete with you!
—————————————————————-
At Health Insurance 4 Everyone, we not only want to improve our customer service but also interact with our customers on a social media level that wasn’t available before. Interested in connecting with us? Look us up on…. 
Twitter: Healthinsurane4 (Follow Us On Twitter To Receive Faster Notifications When Daily Trivia Questions Posted, & To Be Immediately Notified When Weekly AmEX Gift Card Winners Are Announced!!)
Click-On for LinkedIn To Follow Our Posts: LinkedIn
Like us on facebook: HealthInsurance4Everyone or Health & Life Solutions, LLC
Over 54,000 Combined Fans/Followers To Our Social Media Sites, & We’re Growing Daily!
Follow Mark Shuster, Founder/Owner at Health & Life Solutions, LLC for daily health tips!
Mark Shuster FaceBook Link
Follow our word press blog and read about everything from health insurance and reform news to healthy living and current events!
Company Blogs
Find out more about LegalShield, our corporate partner which gives you the power to talk to an attorney about any legal issue, and offering high-quality Identity Theft plans.
LegalShield
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Alaskans were left panicked after they were jolted awake overnight Tuesday by a powerful earthquake in the Gulf of Alaska – then by sirens that warned of a possible tsunami. A magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck at 12:32 a.m. off the Alaska coast. The quake itself was far enough away not to cause major damage but occurred in an area that triggered a potential tsunami.
Evacuation sirens blared “Attention, a tsunami warning has been issued for this area,” officials warned over loudspeakers. “The National Weather Service’s Tsunami Warning Center has advised that widespread hazardous tsunami waves are possible.” That warning covered not only most of coastal Alaska, but also the entire coast of British Columbia. Tsunami watches were posted from Washington state to California — and even Hawaii and as far away as American Samoa.
Within minutes, the roads in the seaside town of Kodiak, Alaska, were filled cars heading to higher ground. Residents of Kodiak were asked by police to move at least 100 feet above ground as a precaution. For two hours, many braced for the worst but by 4 a.m. — less than four hours after the quake hit — all warnings were lifted. The only tsunami was an 8-inch wave in Kodiak.
Around 4 a.m. local time, officials canceled tsunami warnings for coastal areas of South Alaska, the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands. Warnings were also called off for Hawaii and the Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and California coasts. Tsunami warnings were later canceled in other parts of South Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula, specifically the coastal areas from Hinchinbrook Island, about 90 miles east of Seward, to Chignik, Alaska.
The US Geological Survey (USGA) said the earthquake was located in an area south of where the Pacific tectonic plate converges with the North America plate and at a depth of about 12 miles. Research geophysicist for USGA Will Yeck said the quake occurred on a fault within the Pacific plate that had not been previously charted and the area that ruptured is approximately 140-by-30 miles. Yeck said there have been at least 30 aftershocks from the initial quake, the largest being a magnitude 5.3.
From Indonesia, to Japan, to Hawaii and Alaska, the entire region sits in what is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire – an extremely volatile chain of active volcanoes, tectonic plates and earthquake zones. Most of the world’s earthquakes happen in this region. That’s the same spot which saw the second largest earthquake ever recorded: A 9.2 magnitude in March 1964 that caused widespread destruction and death in Alaska. That earthquake occurred over an area measuring 155 miles wide by 500 miles long. The epicenter was about 12 miles north of Prince William Sound, and 75 miles from Anchorage, the state’s largest city.
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A front view of four nuclear free-fall bombs on a bomb cart.
The Pentagon is quietly preparing for a potential war with North Korea, with The U.S. military is launching a series of war games and exercises across the US and a planned deployment of additional special operations troops to the Korean Peninsula during the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month. The ongoing tensions between the US and North Korea have spurred precautionary planning for a potential nuclear war.
News outlets have reported that there are also plans to develop two new sea-based nuclear weapons. The new Defense Department nuclear strategy review says the proposed new nuclear weapons would be to counter Russia and China. Widening the permissible use of nuclear weapons to include responding to cyberattacks and other non-nuclear attacks to U.S. infrastructure has also been proposed.
The Pentagon has already outlined this expanded nuclear strategy in a draft document sent to the president for approval. Current US policy requires a lawful order by the President to use nuclear weapons. A lawful order is generally understood by the US military to mean any counterattack would have to be proportional to the threat in terms of damage and casualties of that attack against the US.
US Defense officials have said that the final draft is expected to be unveiled just after Trump’s State of the Union address on January 30. They said it will likely focus on deterrence and reflect the greater threat from North Korea, which has stepped up its testing of missiles and nuclear devices over the last year.
The review is looking at current needs and capabilities across the US nuclear enterprise, including nuclear laboratories, stockpiles and manufacturing facilities. It is also studying future needs for modernizing aging nuclear weapons, including missiles, submarines and bomber aircraft. The review will require increased spending or the government will be unable to produce and maintain a stockpile for land, sea, and air-launched nuclear weapons. Operations, interim upgrades and full modernization could cost $1.2 trillion, according the Congressional Budget Office report.
Defense officials have said the president is not expected to call for increases or modernization of the nuclear arsenal that would take the US beyond current arms control agreements. Many worry that if the review recommends deployment of small nuclear bombs abroad closer to anticipated conflict or the development of lower-yield nuclear weapons-that could lead to it being easier for the president to use nuclear weapons.
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In an effort to broaden the company’s “social interaction” with our clients and FaceBook fans, Daily Trivia Questions are posted on both of our business pages. Here are the weekly standings for this past week, and the winner of the Sunday night Weekly Drawing for an AmEx gift card!
Congratulations – To this past week’s Trivia Contest Winner!! Our latest contest winner for the weekly FaceBook HealthInsurance4Everyone/Health & Life Solutions, LLC Trivia Contest, drawn randomly by computer late Sunday evening, January 21st, 2018 was:
CARLA M. WILLIAMS
Winner Of A $25.00 AmEx Gift Card
Each day, fans who have “liked” either of our company FaceBook pages (HealthInsurance4Everyone or Health & Life Solutions LLC) are able to test their skills with our Daily TRIVIA QUESTION. The first 20 winners who post the correct answer to the TRIVIA QUESTION, will then get entered into the weekly drawing held late on Sunday evenings for a $25.00 Am Ex Gift Card.
Weekly Gift Card winners will be posted in our blog at this site. Remember to become a FaceBook “fan” on either of our company pages to enter and post your answers.
Here are the daily contestants from last week’s Trivia Contest that were entered into the Sunday drawing:
1/15/18
Kelly Jo Francisco
Tiffany Greene Elliott
Sara Haught
Dawn Raasch
Brian Fulop
Jenifer Garza
Tracey Smith
Beth Stelzer-Smith
Brandi K Chaney
Trish Musgrave
Traci Anderson
Mary Bubel Smith
Althea Thomas
Sarah Bellestri Shih
Eleazar Ruiz
Karen Bondehagen
Sheri Boydston
Holly Cajigas
Pamela Gonzalez
Carla M. Williams
1/16/18
Wilma Mast
Jennifer Vega
Lori Capobianco
Dean Bruss
Anggie Marie
Jenifer Garza
Jill Nauyokas
Jenn Anthony
George Pownall
Amanda Rosario
Jennifer Lang
Christy Hawkes
Shelley LaClear Colby
Georgiann D’Angelo
Karen Bondehagen
Tabitha Sinks
Geri Rus
Pamela Gonzalez
Sherry Lilly
Ashley Agner
Penny Fisher
Deborah Farris
Beth Meemo
Brianna Ketchum
Jessica Bognear
1/17/18
Sandy Nevels
Kizzy Alvarez DeSantis
Paula Rousseau
Amanda Peters
Jade Good
Michael Flagg
Lauren Bradley
Carla M. Williams
Kathleen Marks
Christy Hawkes
Jessica Bognear
Geri Rus
Tiffany Greene Elliott
Kim Floyd
Kathleen Marks
Dawn Raasch
Jenifer Garza
Tonya Velazquez
Kimberly Taylor Hall
Brittany Light
Nicole Blaha
Jennifer Mason
Karen Goodwin Delaney
Sara Heller
Cheryl Golden
1/18/18
Sarah Harrison
Kathleen Marks
Lori Capobianco
Sunney Michelle Johnson
Jenifer Garza
Stephanie Beckwith
Nacole Patrick
Chris Maxwell
Michael Flagg
Brooke Scott
Betsy Riddle
Caitlyn Johnson
Trish Marks
Jessica Bognear
Carrie Strickland
Vickie Gipson
Ashley Agner
Michelle Hughes
Wendy Messer-Brinnon
Tina Mimick
Carla M. Williams
1/19/18
Kathleen Hickman
Jennifer Vega
Amy Chavis
Amy Marie Wilkinson
Jill Nauyokas
Paula Rivers
Suzie Mize Lockhart
Nyeasia Pippin
Marilyn Wall
Stephanie Beckwith
Fanny Wat
Mandi Smith
Amanda Peters
Jenifer Garza
Ashley Agner
Brittany Light
Brooke Scott
Isis Sample
Shelley LaClear Colby
Kathleen Marks
1/20/18
Brittany Light
Jill Nauyokas
Sherry Lilly
Eleazar Ruiz
Jenifer Garza
Melissa White
Destiny Landsaw Davis
Beth Embrey
Amy Marie Wilkinson
Sean Stover
Brandy Williams
Amber McGrath
Tanya Mattox
Brandi K Chaney
Misty Shallcross
Sheila Carvell
Marcy Coull
Kendra Lynne Ramsey
Kathleen Hickman
Karen Ann Hinkle
Alexandria Fields
Amanda Peters
1/21/18
Holly Cajigas
Karen Bondehagen
Sheri Boydston
Alicia Smith
Mike Adamski
Trish Musgrave
Brianna Ketchum
Keith Ruff
Dean Bruss
Sameh Saeid
Anna Fruzzetti-mcdearmond
Bea Patrick
Nicole Patrick
Chelsie Nicole
Tina Auth
Jennifer Ramlet
Debbie Garretson
Kimberly Snyder
Emily Rice Bowersock
Carla M. Williams
Be sure to watch both of our FaceBook pages for your chance to win and enter again next week, with questions posted daily on HealthInsurance4Everyone or at Health & Life Solutions, LLC!!
Remember that if you try your hand at answering the Trivia Question several days each week, your odds of winning the Sunday weekly drawing are much better.
Also note that a number of the posted answers each day are from contestants who have forgotten to “Like” one of our pages, so their names WILL NOT be entered at the end week drawing for the gift card, giving our fans a better chance!
You may also find that if you “Like” BOTH of the business pages, you will receive faster notifications of the other players as they post their answers to compete with you!
—————————————————————-
At Health Insurance 4 Everyone, we not only want to improve our customer service but also interact with our customers on a social media level that wasn’t available before. Interested in connecting with us? Look us up on….
Twitter: Healthinsurane4 (Follow Us On Twitter To Receive Faster Notifications When Daily Trivia Questions Posted, & To Be Immediately Notified When Weekly AmEX Gift Card Winners Are Announced!!)
Click-On for LinkedIn To Follow Our Posts: LinkedIn
Like us on facebook: HealthInsurance4Everyone or Health & Life Solutions, LLC
Over 54,000 Combined Fans/Followers To Our Social Media Sites, & We’re Growing Daily!
Follow Mark Shuster, Founder/Owner at Health & Life Solutions, LLC for daily health tips!
Mark Shuster FaceBook Link
Follow our word press blog and read about everything from health insurance and reform news to healthy living and current events!
Company Blogs
Find out more about LegalShield, our corporate partner which gives you the power to talk to an attorney about any legal issue, and offering high-quality Identity Theft plans.
LegalShield
Read more
In an effort to broaden the company’s “social interaction” with our clients and FaceBook fans, Daily Trivia Questions are posted on both of our business pages. Here are the weekly standings for this past week, and the winner of the Sunday night Weekly Drawing for an AmEx gift card!
Congratulations – To this past week’s Trivia Contest Winner!! Our latest contest winner for the weekly FaceBook HealthInsurance4Everyone/Health & Life Solutions, LLC Trivia Contest, drawn randomly by computer late Sunday evening, January 14th, 2018 was:
LINDSEY McCOY
Canal Winchester, OH
Winner Of A $25.00 AmEx Gift Card
Each day, fans who have “liked” either of our company FaceBook pages (HealthInsurance4Everyone or Health & Life Solutions LLC) are able to test their skills with our Daily TRIVIA QUESTION. The first 20 winners who post the correct answer to the TRIVIA QUESTION, will then get entered into the weekly drawing held late on Sunday evenings for a $25.00 Am Ex Gift Card.
Weekly Gift Card winners will be posted in our blog at this site. Remember to become a FaceBook “fan” on either of our company pages to enter and post your answers.
Here are the daily contestants from last week’s Trivia Contest that were entered into the Sunday drawing:
1/8/18
Wilma Mast
Tonya Velazquez
Jill Nauyokas
Michelle Cervantes
April Ashcraft
Jennifer Vega
Be Schwerin
Holly Cajigas
Sheri Boydston
Alisa Jones
Alicia Smith
Amanda Rosario
Brandy Williams
Beth Meemo
Christy Hawkes
Georgiann D’Angelo
Nancy Scharnhorst
Nikki Hunsaker
Amber Chandler
Priscilla Shimp
Paula Rousseau
Jennifer Ramlet
1/9/18
Paula M Bondy
Jill Nauyokas
Althea Thomas
Jenifer Garza
Wayne Gallas
Amy Marie Wilkinson
Wendy Messer-Brinnon
Sheri Boydston
Adaria Johnson
Lindsey McCoy
Crystal Gipson
Alicia Smith
Sara Biason
Cindi Hoag
Sharon Swenson-Nelson
Crystal Dotson
Robin Brewer Porter
Stephanie Griffith
Priscilla Shimp
Kimberly Snyder
1/10/18
Peggy Burdick Buchanan
Jill Nauyokas
Jennifer Ramlet
Tiffany Greene Elliott
Tonya Velazquez
Chelsie Nicole
Bethany Henry
Kimberly Snyder
Misty Flanigan
Kathleen Hickman
Jane Peterson
Destiny Landsaw Davis
Geri Rus
Mikey Mellor
Michael Flagg
Alysia Jackson
Mandi Smith
Kayla Clemons
Brooke Scott
Kalynnilene Carter
Kari Reed
Kristina Rosson
1/11/18
Jill Nauyokas
Nacole Patrick
Tammy Alcorta
Melissa Ann Stura-Bassett
Tonya Velazquez
Bea Patrick
Tiffany Patrick
Trish Hysell
April Ashcraft
Tanya Mattox
Betsy Riddle
Amanda Rosario
June Rivera
Christy Hawkes
Darlene Whyte
Kathy Rubio
Kristina Rosson
Trish Musgrave
Becky Holland
Adari Johnson
Deborah Farris
1/12/18
Missyn Haselby
April Ashcraft
Brittany Light
Trish Musgrave
Melissa Ann Stura-Bassett
Dean Bruss
Marilyn Wall
Jill Nauyokas
Deborah Farris
Karen Bondehagen
Amanda Rosario
Brooke Scott
Holly Cajigas
Be Schwerin
Lori Capobianco
Kathleen Marks
Christy Hawkes
Jean Simmons Homfeld
Sherry Lilly
Cindi Hoag
Eleazar Ruiz
Sean Stover
Adaria Johnson
1/13/18
Kristina Harris
Jill Nauyokas
Jennifer Leffler
Marilyn Wall
Amanda Rosario
Sheri Boydston
Laura Del Robertson Dougherty
Trish Musgrave
Nacole Patrick
Beth Meemo
Mikey Mellor
Misty Flanigan
Kari Reed
Nicole Blaha
Diane Hamric
Bea Patrick
April Ashcraft
Stacy Lynn Nelson
Sarah Haught
Marcy Coull
1/14/18
Tonya Velazquez
Heather Marie Stacy
Chelsie Nicole
Jill Nauyokas
Mike Adamski
Marilyn Wall
Keith Ruff
Beth Meemo
Wilma Mast
Amanda Rosario
Eleazar Ruiz
Stacy Lynn Nelson
April Ashcraft
Karen Rimiller Presley
Nai Merri
Susanne Killion
Sheri Boydston
Geri Rus
Dean Bruss
Sheila Carvell
Jenifer Garza
Brittany Light
Kelly Ann Hammond
Michael Flagg
Lori Capobianco
Joanie Waterman
Be sure to watch both of our FaceBook pages for your chance to win and enter again next week, with questions posted daily on HealthInsurance4Everyone or at Health & Life Solutions, LLC!!
Remember that if you try your hand at answering the Trivia Question several days each week, your odds of winning the Sunday weekly drawing are much better.
Also note that a number of the posted answers each day are from contestants who have forgotten to “Like” one of our pages, so their names WILL NOT be entered at the end week drawing for the gift card, giving our fans a better chance!
You may also find that if you “Like” BOTH of the business pages, you will receive faster notifications of the other players as they post their answers to compete with you!
—————————————————————-
At Health Insurance 4 Everyone, we not only want to improve our customer service but also interact with our customers on a social media level that wasn’t available before. Interested in connecting with us? Look us up on….
Twitter: Healthinsurane4 (Follow Us On Twitter To Receive Faster Notifications When Daily Trivia Questions Posted, & To Be Immediately Notified When Weekly AmEX Gift Card Winners Are Announced!!)
Click-On for LinkedIn To Follow Our Posts: LinkedIn
Like us on facebook: HealthInsurance4Everyone or Health & Life Solutions, LLC
Over 54,000 Combined Fans/Followers To Our Social Media Sites, & We’re Growing Daily!
Follow Mark Shuster,
Founder/Owner at Health & Life Solutions, LLC for daily health tips!
Mark Shuster FaceBook Link
Follow our word press blog and read about everything from health insurance and reform news to healthy living and current events!
Company Blogs
Find out more about LegalShield, our corporate partner which gives you the power to talk to an attorney about any legal issue, and offering high-quality Identity Theft plans.
LegalShield
Read more
Baltimore parents, teachers and students are protesting frigid conditions at public schools, with schoolchildren left shivering in classrooms and temperatures barely rising above freezing. Photos shared widely on social media show children bundled in winter parkas seated on a classroom floor; a high school classroom and a gymnasium left badly damaged after they were flooded by burst pipes; and a thermometer measuring one classroom’s temperature at 42 degrees.
In a letter sent to families, students and staff members on January 2nd, they were told that workers had visited the buildings over the winter break to try to ensure they were ready and that principals are combining classes if one room is colder than another. School uniform rules had been lifted so students could choose warmer outfits.
On January 3rd, the Baltimore Teachers Union president Marietta English sent a letter to Sonja Brookins Santelises, the chief executive officer of Baltimore City Public Schools. The letter was also published in The Baltimore Sun. The letter condemned the conditions as “unfair” and “inhumane” and called on officials to close schools for the rest of the week. According to the letter, students and teachers have endured dangerously low temperatures in buildings that are struggling to operate with bursting boilers and drafty windows. Ms. English wrote “I implore that you close schools in the District until your facilities crew has had time to properly assess and fix the heating issues within the affected schools in Baltimore City.
That day, as temperatures dipped in the low 20’s, four schools were closed and three released their students early because of the heating issues in their buildings. As blizzard conditions raged along the East Coast on January 4th, the closings extended to all Baltimore city schools, as well as those in other major cities including New York City, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington.
After receiving the letter, Santelises published a Facebook Live presentation where she said that as some schools are fixed, others might encounter problems elsewhere in the district, making a request to shut down all the schools an “overly simplistic” measure. “I don’t knee-jerk close anything down just because I have one perspective,” she said. She said that other factors went into the decision to keep schools open despite frigid classroom temps such as considering the impact on students’ access to hot school meals and adult supervision while parents work. Dr. Santelises added “About 60 schools have been affected over the winter break and this week by heating problems, representing about one-third of the schools in the system. Maintenance workers have been sent to schools as the district gets complaints about them and as some fixes are made at some schools, problems arise at others as workers try to keep ahead of the problems. “It is a juggle, and I don’t think we get it perfect every time,” she added.
State Senator Bill Ferguson—a former Baltimore public school teacher—said the city’s schools requested funds for heating and air conditioning but were denied due to “fiscal constraints.” Ferguson blasted Republican Governor Bill Hogan on twitter- writing, “Governor Hogan suggests enough money has gone to Baltimore City, additional resources not needed.”
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North Korea has called the most recent U.N. Security Council sanctions “an act of war” and warns that the US and other nations which supported the strict measures will pay a heavy price. The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted US-drafted sanctions against North Korea in response to their last intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test which experts have said are the most advanced yet. The new sanctions will strangle North Korea’s energy supplies and tighten restrictions on smuggling. Then, just days after the new sanctions were imposed; the United States imposed two additional sanctions on two North Korean officials. The new U.S. Treasury sanctions will freeze all U.S. assets of two North Korean officials accused of being behind the missile program.
North Korea’s foreign ministry lashed out against the latest sanctions, saying the US is intimidated by the nation’s nuclear power. “The United States, completely terrified at our accomplishment, is getting more and more frenzied in the moves to impose the harshest-ever sanctions and pressure on our country,” the statement said. North Korea warned that if the United States “wishes to live safely, it must abandon its hostile policy” toward North Korea. “We define this ‘sanctions resolution’ rigged up by the US and its followers as a grave infringement upon the sovereignty of our Republic, as an act of war violating peace and stability in the Korean peninsula,” the statement said.
Korea foreign ministry described the new resolution as a “complete economic blockade” and threatened nations that helped pass it. “Those countries that raised their hands in favor of this ‘sanctions resolution’ shall be held completely responsible for all the consequences to be caused by the ‘resolution’ and we will make sure for ever and ever that they pay heavy price for what they have done,” the statement said.
The sanctions cut exports of gasoline, diesel and other refined oil products by a total of 89%. It also bans the export of industrial equipment, machinery, transportation vehicles and industrial metals to North Korea, and requires countries currently hosting North Korean migrant workers to repatriate them within 24 months. According to the UN, around 100,000 North Koreans work overseas and most of their wages are sent back home, bringing an estimated $500 million each year for Kim Jong Un’s regime. The new UN resolution also prohibits countries from smuggling North Korean coal and other prohibited commodities by sea and authorizes member states to inspect, seize and impound any vessels in their territorial waters found to be transporting prohibited items. This month, Washington asked the UN to ban 10 ships from entering ports across the world over alleged dealings with North Korea.
Three months ago, the UN passed a US-drafted resolution that at the time was described by US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley as “by far the strongest measures ever imposed on North Korea.” The previous measures, adopted in September, had been designed to accomplish six major goals: cap North Korea’s oil imports, ban textile exports, end additional overseas laborer contracts, suppress smuggling efforts, stop joint ventures with other nations and sanction designated North Korean government entities.
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Two men have been arrested in the grisly murders of a same-sex couple and two children in Troy, New York. James White, 38, and Justin Mann, 24 have been charged with one count of first-degree murder and four counts of second-degree murder. The victims were 36-year-old Shanta Myers, her partner 22-year-old Brandi Mell and Myers’ two children, Jeremiah, 11, and Shanise, five. Myers’ oldest son, 15-year-old Isaiah, was not home at the time of the murders.
Their bodies were discovered in their basement apartment around noon on Dec. 26th by the property manager while doing a well-being check. According to family members, the Myers family moved in with Brandi Mells following an eviction earlier this year but because of apartment’s small size, Isaiah stayed with a relative.
Mells’ cousin, Sharonda Bennett said she last spoke to Brandi on Dec. 19 to discussed holiday plans The couple were deciding between celebrating in Troy or in Paterson, New Jersey, where the Mells family lives, she said. She said that the couple became unreachable around 11 p.m. on Dec. 21st, after Mell’s mother couldn’t reach her by phone and no one answered at the apartment. Bennett said her calls to Brandi went straight to voicemail and she assumed maybe they had decided to spend Christmas in New Jersey.
Two days later, Isaiah stopped by to deliver Christmas presents to his siblings but no one answered the door, which was locked. He left for a basketball tournament, thinking they’d stepped out for a bit. After still not being able to reach them the day after Christmas, Mells’ mom called the property manager and asked the manager to see if her daughter was home. The manager found the bodies and immediately called cops.
The motives of these murders have not been revealed but Troy Police Chief James Tedesco said these victims were targeted and confirmed that the victims were killed late in the evening of Dec 21st. He called the slayings the worst “savagery” he’d ever seen in his 42-year career. Police did not detail how they caught the suspects, and a family member of one of the victims said that she had never heard of the men and knew no reason why the women and children would be targeted.
Police have said Justin Mann was “acquainted” with Brandi Mells. He said that both suspects have a criminal history and that Justin Mann was on parole. Department of Corrections records show Mann was released on parole in June 2017 after serving time for a first-degree robbery conviction in 2014. Both men, from nearby Schenectady, were apprehended without incident Friday night and arraigned Saturday. Both are being held without bail in the Rensselaer County Jail with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 4th.
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Facing mounting evidence that Puerto Rico has vastly undercounted the number of people who died because of Hurricane Maria, Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló ordered that every death on the island since the devastating storm be reviewed. Officials will look review all deaths attributed to natural causes after the hurricane, which made landfall Sept. 20 and knocked out power to 3.4 million Puerto Ricans and to their hospitals and clinics.
Roselló made the order to the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry, which is the island’s vital statistics bureau, and to the Department of Public Safety following the investigative media reports on the death toll and after residents claiming deaths of their loved ones were caused by Maria. The governor also said he’d create an expert panel to review the island’s death certification process.
The Puerto Rican government has put the official death toll at 64 but several investigations have revealed that nearly 1,000 more people died. The prolonged blackout hampered critical medical treatment for some of the island’s most vulnerable patients, including many who were bedridden or dependent on dialysis or respirators. But if they died as a result, the storm’s role in their deaths may have gone officially unrecorded.
Several news organizations, including The New York Times, conducted independent analyses and found that the number of deaths traceable to the storm was far higher than the official count. The Times’s review, based on daily mortality data from Puerto Rico’s vital statistics bureau, found that 1,052 more people than usual had died across the island in the 42 days after Maria struck. The analysis compared daily figures for 2017 with an average of figures for the corresponding days in 2015 and 2016.
The leading causes of death on the island in September were diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, Puerto Rican government data show. There was a sharp 50 percent spike in the number of recorded deaths from sepsis, a complication of severe infection that can be tied to delayed medical care or poor living conditions. Reports emerged of people being unable to use oxygen and dialysis equipment, unable to refrigerate insulin, evacuated from hospitals that lost emergency power and other problems.
Reviewing the circumstances surrounding each death will require interviewing family members and doctors who signed death certificates to find out if, for example, a heart attack might have been brought on by stress from the hurricane, or might have been fatal because an ambulance could not get through debris-blocked streets in time to help.
The governor’s announcement comes as the Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico reported that nearly three months since the storm, 45 people are still listed as missing and efforts by Puerto Rico’s police to locate them have been minimal or almost nonexistent. Parts of the island are still without power leaving many to celebrate Christmas in the dark. The power grid is only operating at 70 percent of capacity and officials say power won’t be fully restored until the end of May.
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