Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico as a Category 4 hurricane, one of the most powerful hurricane to strike the island in nearly a century. It destroyed the island’s entire electrical grid and caused severe flooding and widespread damage to homes and infrastructure. Still recovering from Hurricane Irma two weeks prior, approximately 80,000 remained without power as Maria approached.
Immediately after Maria passed, the entire island was without power and 70,000 people were ordered to evacuate the areas around the Guajataca Dam after storm damage put it at risk of collapsing. More than 3.4 million U.S. citizens in the territory remain without adequate food, water and fuel. Flights in and out of Puerto Rico are still severely restricted. Hospitals struggling to provide care are running on generators with limited access to electricity, no running water and dwindling supplies. At least 24 people have been confirmed dead.
Six days after Hurricane Maria devastated the island, Governor Ricardo Roselló pleaded for more government aid in order to avert a total humanitarian catastrophe. Officials said 1,360 of the island’s 1,600 cellphone towers were down, and 85% of above-ground and underground phone and internet cables were knocked out.
Thousands of tourists and residents who have been stranded in Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria devastated the island nation were evacuated on cruise ships headed towards Fort Lauderdale. Royal Caribbean cancelled voyages on its Adventure of the Seas ship to free it up for rescue missions. Around 1,700 evacuees were picked up from San Juan before it headed to St Croix and St Thomas to pick up another 2,000 before making its way to Florida. Norwegian Cruises has done the same as well as transporting supplies to affected islands.
Large amounts of federal aid began moving into Puerto Rico but distribution has stalled efforts. Many of the island’s roads remain impassable because of debri. There is also a shortage of drivers to help distribute food and supplies to some of the hardest-hit remote regions. Port of San Juan held 9,500 shipping containers filled with supplies but with only 20% of the island’s truckers reporting back to work since Maria hit and a diesel fuel shortage- distribution has left many without any relief since the storm hit.
The Pentagon, which has troops working on disaster relief in Texas and Florida, promised to boost the number of troops in Puerto Rico from the current 2,500 to as many as 5,000 in the next several days. The United States currently has 16 Navy and Coast Guard ships operating near Puerto Rico and 10 more are on the way, said Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Brock Long. One of those vessels is USS Comfort, a Navy hospital ship.
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Troy Gentry, of country duo Montgomery Gentry, has died at the age of 50, following a helicopter crash in Medford, New Jersey. The crash took place around 1pm on Friday September 8th at Flying W Airport where bandmate Eddie Montgomery waited. Pilot James Evan Robinson, 30, died on the scene and Troy Gentry was taken to nearby Virtua Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. Montgomery Gentry was scheduled to perform that night at the Flying W Airport & Resort in Medford but the show was immediately cancelled.
Medford police said first responders received news of a helicopter in distress that was returning to the Flying W Airport. A police statement said “Initial reports were the helicopter was going to attempt to crash land.” “Emergency crews arrived at the airport and shortly thereafter, the helicopter suddenly crashed in a field just south of the airport runway.” The Federal Aviation Administration has said that the Schweizer 269 helicopter crashed into a wooded area off the Runway 1 at the airport.
Brian Rayner, senior air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, described the flight as a “spur of the moment” helicopter ride. Rayner explained “Not long after takeoff, the pilot announced over the airport frequency – which was being monitored by a number of people – that he was having difficulty controlling engine RPM.” “A couple of different responses to that challenge were discussed, and he was performing an auto rotational descent to runway one. The helicopter landed short of the runway in low brush, it was substantially damaged and the occupants were fatally injured.”
Friends long before they made it big, the Kentucky-based duo formed in the late ’90s. They produced a number of country music hits, including “My Town,” “Headlights” and “Hillbilly Shoes.” They were named duo of the year by both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association in 2000, and were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2009.
The duo’s recent years were marked with loss and struggle. In 2014, Gentry grieved the death of his brother, Keith. In 2015, Hunter Montgomery, the 19-year-old son of Eddie Montgomery died from an accidental overdose. Gentry was also by Montgomery’s side as he battled prostate cancer in 2010. A few years later Troy Gentry’s wife, Angie McClure Gentry, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was eventually declared cancer-free in 2015. Troy Gentry also lost his father Lloyd Gentry on August 13 of this year. Troy Gentry leaves behind a wife and two daughters.
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Prosecutors have asked the FBI to assist in an investigation into the rough arrest of a Utah nurse after video of her being dragged screaming from a hospital drew widespread condemnation. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill is overseeing a criminal investigation into officers involved in the handcuffing of nurse Alex Wubbels. He is asking for FBI help in part because his office can’t prosecute possible civil rights violations like wrongful arrest.
The incident happened on July 26 but bodycam footage that was released last week sparked national outcry. That night, a man named William Gray was taken to the hospital after suffering severe injuries from a car crash. Gray, a reserve police officer with the police department in Rigby, Idaho-who works as a truck driver, had been injured after being in the fiery head on car crash with a truck that was fleeing from Utah State Highway Patrol.
In the video, Salt Lake City Detective Jeff Payne is seen squaring off against Utah nurse Alex Wubbels, the charge nurse working the night shift on the burn unit at Utah University Hospital. Wubbels was following hospital protocol and the law when she calmly refused to allow a blood draw on an unconscious patient without consent or a warrant. She presented the officers with a printout of hospital policy on drawing blood and said their request did not meet the criteria.
Hospital policy specified police needed either a judge’s order or the patient’s consent, or the patient needed to be under arrest, before obtaining a blood sample. “I’m just trying to do what I’m supposed to do. That’s all,” Wubbels tells the officers, according to the body camera video. She put her supervisor on speakerphone who told Payne “You’re making a huge mistake because you’re threatening a nurse.” “No, we’re done,” Payne said. “We’re done. You’re under arrest.”
Salt Lake City police detective Jeff Payne insisted on drawing the blood, maintaining in his report that he wanted the sample to protect the man rather than prosecute him. He was supported by his supervisor, Lt. James Tracy, who said the nurse could be arrested if she didn’t agree. The dispute ended with Payne handcuffing Wubbels and dragging her outside while she screamed that she’d done nothing wrong. She was detained for 20 minutes and later released without charge.
Payne, who has worked for the department for over 20 years, and a second unidentified officer were put on full paid administrative leave by Salt Lake City police after the video emerged. Lt. James Tracy’s actions are also under review. Payne has also been fired from his part-time job as a paramedic following comments he made on the video about taking transient patients to the hospital as retaliation.
The Rigby Police Department said they hope the incident will be investigated thoroughly and “appropriate action” will be taken. “The Rigby Police Department would like to thank the nurse involved and hospital staff for standing firm and protecting Officer Gray’s rights as a patient and victim,” “Protecting the rights of others is truly a heroic act.” “It is important to remember that Officer Gray is the victim in this horrible event, and that at no time was he under any suspicion of wrongdoing,” the statement said, adding that Gray “continues to heal.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help William Gray and his wife with expenses while he recovers at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City. https://www.gofundme.com/BillGray
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North Korea carried out a missile test directly over Japan that prompted the government in Tokyo to warn residents in its path to take cover. After a flight of nearly 1, 700 miles, the missile flew over the northern island of Hokkaido, broke into three pieces and landed in the sea. Public television programs in Japan were interrupted announcing the missile’s flight over the country and warned citizens to take cover in a sturdy building or basement.
North Korea has fired projectiles over Japanese territory twice before. Once in 1998, prompting a minor diplomatic crisis in Asia, and once again at the beginning of the Obama administration in 2009. In both those cases, the North said the rockets were carrying satellites into orbit but they made no such claim in this case.
The missile was launched from a site near Pyongyang’s international airport, not the usual launch site in the northeast, according to the South Korean military. They are still trying to determine what type of missile was launched but it’s believed to be a Hwasong-12, a newly developed intermediate range weapon. North Korea’s usual launch sites are in remote areas, where there would be little concern about civilian casualties. A strike near Pyongyang would risk many civilian deaths, suggesting that the real goal was to strike at the regime.
The commander of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s Air Defense Command said that the armed forces did not try to shoot down the missile from North Korea because they did not detect a threat to Japanese territory. They warned citizens in its path to take cover in case any parts fell on Japan. This latest launch appears to be the first of a missile powerful enough to potentially carry a nuclear warhead.
North Korea’s ambassador to the UN, Han Tae-song, defended his country’s actions saying they were a response to military drills carried out by the US and its allies in the region. “Now that the US has openly declared its hostile intention towards North Korea by raising joint aggressive military exercises despite repeated warnings… my country has every reason to respond with tough counter-measures as an exercise of its rights to self-defence.”
US and Japanese forces have just finished a joint drill in Hokkaido while another annual exercise involving tens of thousands of South Korean and US military personnel is still under way in South Korea. China warned that tensions on the Korean peninsula had reached a “tipping point” but said the US and South Korea were partly to blame. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying criticised the two countries for their repeated military drills, which North Korea perceives as practice for an invasion.
North Korea has been working on its missile program for decades, with weapons based on the Soviet-developed Scud. While it has conducted short and medium-range tests on many occasions, the pace of testing has increased. Experts speculate that North Korea has made significant advances towards its goal of building a reliable long-range nuclear-capable weapon. Though, no one knows how close North Korea is to miniaturizing a nuclear warhead to put on a missile.
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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, September 3rd, 2017 was:
JENNIFER DOWNING
Clarksville, TN
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:
8/28/17
Ashley Agner
Tina David Konegan
Kizzy Alvarez DeSantis
Laurie Griffith
Cheryl Hall
Kelly Jo Francisco
Jennifer Lang
Kimberly Snyder
Abby Fletcher
Jenny Merritt
Jennifer Marie
Jennifer Ramlet
Amanda Saltsman
Tina Mimick
Kendra George
Becky Hansen
Alicia Smith
Priscilla Shimp
Kristi Cervantes
Joanie Waterman
8/29/17
Melissa White
Juanita Wiliams-Jones
Valerie Kuehn
Jill Nauyokas
Trish Musgrave
Deborah Farris
Michelle R. Carlino
Jennifer Leffler
Shelley LaClear
Jennifer Merritt
Anna Nichols
Diane Hamric
Chris Blythe
Dustin N Angela Turner
Joann Tompkins-Winborn
Joanie Waterman
Sheri Boydston
Melissa Ann Stura-Bassett
Amy Marie Wilkinson
Sarah Bellestri Shih
Tina Mimick
Kimberly Taylor Hall
Kathleen Newell
8/30/17
Dana Dilaura
Kimberly Taylor Hall
Tera Wardrip
Kendra George
Anna Nichols
Jonnalyn Gates
Kizzy Alvarez DeSantis
Brittany Marie Thompson
Hollie Jahnke
Andrea Workman
Kayla Clemons
Jennifer Marie
Carole Jacobs
Jill Nauyokas
Helen Robinson
Kelly Jo Francisco
Mya Murphy
Suzie Mize Lockhart
Kimberly Snyder
Phylicia Phillips
Cheryl Hall
8/31/17
Priscilla Shimp
Kayla Hernandez
Sherri Kidwell
Stephanie Griffith
Brandi K Chaney
Diane Hamric
Anne Delos Reyes-Villafuerte
Kim Floyd
Penny Fisher
Brittany Marie Thompson
Kendra Lynne Ramsey
April Ashcraft
Michelle R. Carlino
Timothy Simpson
Alisa Jones
Khadijah Carter
Dana Dilaura
Juanita Williams-Jones
Chelcie Malow
Trish Musgrave
9/1/17
Valerie Kuehn
Kimberly Necolie Garrasi
Tina Mimick
Beata Tybor
Nai Merri
Dale Fish
Juanita Williams-Jones
Jodi Stevens
Mya Murphy
Cheryl Hall
Sheila Carvell
Melissa D’Ornellas Curtis
Chrissy Kim
Kristina Harris
Sean Stover
Ashley Stamey Phillips
Diane Hamric
Kymi Adams
Susanne Killion
Michelle Cervantes
Amber Cheras
Phylicia Phillips
9/2/17
Deborah Farris
Joanie Waterman
Peggy Burdick Buchanan
Mya Murphy
Dawna McKnight
Carole Jacobs
Nelle Bailey
Kimberly Taylor Hall
Cassandra Berholtz
John McKnight
Althea Thomas
Kelsey McKnight
Penny Fisher
Amy Marie Wilkinson
Karen Brunet Moore
Lori Heim
Ashley Stamey Phillips
Heather Lynn Rood
Nia Rammal
Jill Nauyokas
Sunney Michelle Johnson
9/3/17
April Ashcraft
Christine McKinnon
Jennifer Marie
Michelle Cervantes
Patricia Oehlert Vazquez
Anne Delos Reyes-Villafuerte
Christina Domingue
Sandy Nevels
Kristina Rosson
Jennifer Downing
Trish Marks
Jonnalyn Gates
Kimberly Snyder
Jill Nauyokas
Kelly Jo Francisco
Chris Blythe
Jennifer Ramlet
Sherri Kidwell
Brandi K Chaney
Wayne Gallas
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!
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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 & HI4Eshop Gift Card Winners Are Announced!!)
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A federal appeals court has thrown out the prison sentences of former Blackwater contractors who were involved in a 2007 massacre in Nisoor Square in central Baghdad that left 17 civilians dead and 20 injured when they opened fire with machine guns and threw grenades into the crowded public space. The appeals court ruled three of the contractors could be resentenced, meaning their 30-year prison sentences could be dramatically shortened. A fourth contractor’s murder conviction was thrown out entirely, so he’ll now face a new trial.
The Blackwater guards claimed that the convoy was ambushed and that they fired at the attackers in defense of the convoy. The Iraqi government and Iraqi police investigator Faris Saadi Abdul stated that the killings were unprovoked. The Iraqi government claimed that as the convoy drew close to Nisour Square, a Kia sedan carrying a woman and her adult son was approaching the square from a distance, driving slowly on the wrong side of the road, ignoring a police officer’s whistle to clear a path for the convoy. The security team fired warning shots and then lethal fire at the Kia. They then set off stun grenades to clear the scene. Iraqi police and Iraqi Army soldiers, mistaking the stun grenades for fragmentation grenades, opened fire at the Blackwater men, to which they returned fire.
The Blackwater guards contend that the Kia continued to approach even when fired upon and after an Iraqi policeman went over to the car, it looked as if the policeman was pushing it. They feared they were under attack by a car bomb so they fired at the car, killing both occupants as well as the Iraqi policeman. Iraqi police officers began to fire at the Blackwater men. The guards felt they could not be sure they were dealing with actual police since insurgents often disguise themselves by wearing police uniforms.
A military report appeared to corroborate “the Iraqi government’s contention that Blackwater was at fault. Blackwater Worldwide’s license to operate in Iraq was temporarily revoked. An FBI investigation found that, of the 17 Iraqis killed by the guards, at least 14 were shot without cause.
In 2008, the U.S. charged five Blackwater guards with 14 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempted manslaughter and a weapons violation. On December 31, 2009, a U.S. district judge dismissed all charges on the grounds that the case against the Blackwater guards had been improperly built on testimony given in exchange for immunity.
In 2011, a U.S. federal appeals court reinstated the manslaughter charges against Paul A. Slough, Evan S. Liberty, Dustin L. Heard and Donald W. Ball after closed-door testimony. A fifth guard had his charges dismissed, and a sixth guard -Jeremy Ridgeway pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and attempted manslaughter.
On October 22, 2014, a Federal District Court jury convicted Nick Slatten of first-degree murder and sentenced him to life in prison. Three other guards Paul A.Slough, Evan S. Liberty and Dustin L.Heard were found guilty of all three counts of voluntary manslaughter and using a machine gun to commit a violent crime. They were each sentenced to 30 years in prison. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit tossed Slatten’s murder conviction and ordered the other defendants to be re-sentenced. A new trial was also recommended for Slatten, on the grounds that it was unjustifiable to try him with his co-defendants, and that he should have been tried separately.
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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, August 20th, 2017 was:
MARCY COULL
St. Catharines ONTARIO
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:
8/14/17
Brandy Williams
Emily Rice Bowersock
Jennifer Kinner
Sarah Bellestri Shih
Dean Bruss
Trish Musgrave
Nancy Pfirrman Schools
Nai Merri
Phylicia Phillips
Kristen Raia Bowman
Hayley Cordaro
Mya Murphy
Cheryl Hall
Nikki Wooton
Sunney Michelle Johnson
Samantha Smith
Benjamin Odell
Tracy Shafer
Jill Nauyokas
Chris Blythe
Melissa White
8/15/17
Jill Nauyokas
Deborah Farris
Amanda Rosario
Brandi Kerr
Sarah Bellestri Shih
Chris Blythe
Christina Domingue
Melissa Ann Stura-Bassett
Diane Hamric
Brian Fulop
Amanda Peters
Kristina Rosson
Alisa Jones
Trish Marks
Kizzy Alvarez DeSantis
Kayla Clemons
Lisa Puckett
Tonya Velazquez
Ambreen Rouf
Tina Auth
Kendra George
8/16/17
Jill Nauyokas
Jenifer Garza
Isis Sample
Paula Rousseau
Krissy Brislin
Kathleen Newell
Jade Good
Lisa Jimenez
Tara Lennox
Melissa White
Tracy Shafer
Leslie Wagner Hobson
Bethany Henry
Jennifer Alford
Michelle Hughes
Trish Musgrave
Thalia BunBunz
Chris Blythe
Angela Hendricks
Anggie Marie
Heather Marocco
8/17/17
Kelly Jo Francisco
Cheryl Hall
Leslie Wagner Hobson
Tina Marie
Jennifer Ramlet
Jennifer Downing
Jennifer Mason
David M Still
Kristen Raia Bowman
Valerie Kuehn
Ashley Stamey Phllips
Nitasha Shank
Thalia BunBunz
Amber McGrath
Brandy Williams
Sherry Lilly
April Ashcraft
Lauren Bradley
Tina Mimick
Amy Marie Wilkinson
8/18/17
Kayla Clemons
Tabitha Sinks
Sheri Boydston
Brandy Williams
Holly Cajigas
Jenny Merritt
Thomas Ticknor
Jonnalyn Gtes
Brittany Marie Thompson
Michelle Rayeske-Jeske
Hayley Cordaro
Jade Good
Marilyn Wall
Dean Bruss
Edward T Kranick
Lauren Bradley
Paula Rousseau
Trish Marks
Sandy Nevels
Amanda Rosario
Kelly Prestenbach
April Walrath
Mikey Mellor
Karen Goodwin Delaney
Brandi Long
Ashley Stamey Phillips
8/19/17
Dean Bruss
Sheila Carvell
Michelle Hughes
Paula Rivers
Marilyn Wall
Kimberly Taylor Hall
Jennifer Mason
Michelle R. Carlino
Anne Delos Reyes-Villafuerte
Carla M. Williams
Shona Ort
Kimberly Snyder
Kendra Lynne Ramsey
Brian K Henson
Karen Rimiller Presley
Paula M Bondy
Brian Fulop
Dale Fish
Suzie Mize Lockhart
Nitasha Shank
8/20/17
Kelly Jo Francisco
Kimberly Taylor Hall
Brittany Deaver
Suzie Mize Lockhart
Juanita Willaims-Jones
Valerie Kuehn
Megan McCarver
Stephanie Beckwith
Tracy Shafer
Alisa Jones
Sherry Lilly
Jessica Miller
Cheryl Hall
Crystal Young
Wayne Gallas
Jean Simmons Homfeld
Bethany Henry
Rachael Dakota-Two-Feather Smith
Mya Murphy
Kelly Prestenbach
Samantha Brwn
Marcy Coull
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 & HI4Eshop 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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Six Burundi teenagers have been reported missing after taking part in an international robotics competition in Washington DC. A police spokesperson said authorities “do not have any indication of foul play” as the investigation continues into what happened after the group attended the FIRST Global Challenge robotics competition with students from 157 nations.
Teams of high school students from more than 150 countries took part in the competition organized by FIRST Global, a U.S.-based non-profit that organized the competition which was designed to encourage careers in math and technology.
Police reports indicated that the four boys and two girls were last seen in the early evening of July 18th in northwest DC after which their adult mentor was unable to locate them. FIRST Global informed the police later that day. All six members of the robotics team Audrey Mwamikazi, 17, Nice Munezero, 17, Don Charu Ingabire, 16, Kevin Sabumukiza, 17, Richard Irakoze, 18, and Aristide Irambona, 18 reportedly have one-year US visas.
The DC police have said that Ms Mwamikazi and Mr Ingabire are in Canada because they were spotted crossing the border but no details have been released about how they got there or why. Canada’s Border Services Agency said it could neither confirm nor deny that the pair entered Canada. DC police also said the other four teenagers seem to be in a safe place, but police are not reporting any further details.
The Republic of Burundi,has a population of 11.2 million people and is a landlocked country in the African Great Lakes region of East Africa. It is bordered by Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has been plagued by instability for decades with bouts of ethnic cleansing and ultimately two civil wars and genocides during the 1970s and again in the 1990s left the country undeveloped and its population as one of the world’s poorest.
Burundi continues to experience civil unrest after a failed coup in 2015. The U.S. State Department issued a travel warning in late June about the African nation, advising Americans of “political tensions, political and criminal violence, and the potential for civil unrest.” The warning also stated that rebel forces, ex-combatants and youth gangs from the Democratic Republic of Congo reportedly crossed into Burundi and attacked and kidnapped civilians; armed criminals have ambushed vehicles.
There have also been reports of human rights abuses as well. According to the UN, over 300,000 people fled the country since 2014 due to violent gangs from Congo and disappearances and killings allegedly committed by Burundian security forces.
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A senior cardinal and top adviser to Pope Francis will return to Australia to face charges of sexual assault. Cardinal George Pell is the third-highest-ranking official in the Roman Catholic Church. Pell was charged in his native Australia with multiple counts of sexual assault from years ago.
The charges against Pell were announced in Melbourne by Victoria State Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton. Pell was ordered to appear in court July 26 to face multiple counts of “historical sexual assault offenses”. Patton said there are multiple complainants against Pell, but he gave no other details.
It is unclear what the criminal charges against Pell involve, but two men, now in their 40s, have said that Pell touched them inappropriately at a swimming pool in the late 1970s, when Pell was a senior priest in Melbourne.
In 2014, the Vatican admitted nearly 850 priests have been dismissed and more than 2,500 have been disciplined in a sprawling sexual abuse scandal dating back decades. Cardinal Pell said Pope Francis granted him a leave of absence to return to Australia to defend himself. The 76-year-old Pell — the highest-ranking Vatican official ever implicated in the scandal and has forcefully denied the accusations.
In a statement read to the press, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said the Vatican respected Australia’s justice system but recalled that the cardinal had “openly and repeatedly condemned as immoral and intolerable” acts of sexual abuse against minors. He noted Pell’s cooperation with Australia’s Royal Commission investigation of sex abuse and that as a bishop in Australia, he worked to protect children and compensate victims.
Pell’s actions as archbishop came under scrutiny in recent years by a government-authorized investigation into how the Catholic Church and other institutions have responded to the sexual abuse of children. The Royal Commission revealed that 7 percent of priests were accused of sexually abusing children in the past several decades.
Last year, Pell testified to the commission that the church had made “enormous mistakes” in allowing thousands of children to be raped and molested by priests. He conceded that he, too, had erred by often believing the priests over victims who alleged abuse. He vowed to help end a rash of suicides that has plagued church abuse victims in his hometown of Ballarat.
It was unclear if Pell would face a church trial stemming from the accusations. The Vatican has clear guidelines about initiating a canonical investigation if there is a semblance of truth to sex abuse accusations against a cleric. In the case of a cardinal, it would fall to Francis himself to judge. Penalties for a guilty verdict in a church trial include defrocking.
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It’s been estimated that hundreds of tower blocks in England could be covered in similar cladding to Glenfell Tower. So far tests have revealed that combustible cladding has been found on at least three tower blocks across the UK.
Prime Minister Theresa May had ordered inspections of 600 high-rise buildings across Britain, after a massive fire in Grenfell Tower left at least 79 people dead and over 70 injured. Dozens more are missing and presumed dead. Workers were seen removing highly flammable cladding from a tower in North London. The materials are similar to those used in the Grenfell high-rise, despite the fact the cladding is banned in the U.S. and Europe.
The June 14th fire started in the 24-storey, 220-foot high tower block of public housing flats in North Kensington, west London. The tower contained 127 flats, with 227 bedrooms. The fire started in a faulty fridge-freezer in a fourth-floor flat. The building’s recently added exterior cladding is believed to have played a role in the speed at which the fire spread.
Documents show that aluminium composite material (ACM) was used in Grenfell Tower’s rainscreen cladding. ACM is essentially a sandwich of two aluminium sheets with materials for insulation inside. ACM panels often have a polyethylene core, which can be highly flammable. It is not yet clear whether this material was used in Grenfell Tower’s cladding.
Hundreds of firefighters and 45 fire engines were involved in efforts to control the fire which burned for 60 hours until it was finally extinguished. Many firefighters continued to attempt to control pockets of fire on the higher floors after most of the rest of the building had been gutted. Residents of surrounding buildings were evacuated due to concerns that the tower could collapse, though the building was later determined to be structurally sound.
Prime Minister Theresa May announced a $5 million fund for victims of the fire; all those made homeless were to receive an initial down payment of $5,500, with each household to be given at least $500 in cash and $5,000 paid into an account. On June 21st, the government announced that 68 new flats in the same borough as Grenfell Tower are to be made available to survivors of the fire.
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