August 2012-Exclusive News

Friday, August 31, 2012

Chicago teachers back strike; 400,000 students affected

Sitthixay Ditthavong / AP

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union hold an informational picket outside Willa Cather Elementary School on Monday in an effort to call attention to ongoing contract talks with the city's Board of Education.

By Natalie Martinez, NBC Chicago

The Chicago Teacher's Union voted unanimously Thursday to strike on Sept. 10, with members agreeing to head to the picket lines unless a deal can be reached with the city’s schools -- a move that could affect 400,000 students.

The result of the ballot, cast at a Chinatown union hall, was met by cheers from the more than 700 delegates who voted.

The decision comes a day after CTU president Karen Lewis issued a 10-day strike notice. Sept. 10 is the earliest that teachers can strike, and the date falls a week after many students head back to class.

"We're tired of being bullied, belittled and betrayed," Lewis said at a news conference following the meeting. "We have done everything asked of us, yet we continue to be vilified and treated with disrespect."

Read the full story at NBC Chicago

Lewis said negotiations will continue until a contract is hammered out that resolves concerns over wages, job security and a new evaluation system.

In a statement, Chicago Public Schools chief executive Jean-Claude Brizard said: “If our priority is our kids, then strike should never be an option.”

"Should CTU leaders decide to strike on September 10, more than 350,000 students will be taken out of their classroom, just as they're making progress with a Full School Day. Varsity sports for 11,000 student athletes will be suspended. More than 400,000 daily breakfasts and meals will no longer be served.

6 July: Students who suffer from drug and alcohol addiction are finding help at special schools where the kids work toward common goals: education, graduation and recovery. NBC's Kate Snow reports.

“College transcripts and recommendations for 20,000 seniors will be put on hold. If our priority is our kids, then strike should never be an option. That's why we need to take advantage of each of the next 11 days and work until we reach a fair resolution for our teachers that will allow our kids to stay in school where they belong."

CPS officials have been making preparations in the event of a strike.

Brizard said the district plans to keep 145 schools open for half-days even if the Chicago Teachers Union calls a strike and teachers walk off the job. The union on Wednesday filed a 10-day strike notice that would allow them to strike as early as Sept. 10, just a week into the school year for a majority of public-school students.

If that happens Brizard said CPS will partner with City Sister Agencies, local faith organizations and other non-profits to keep kids engaged.

"We need to be prepared to provide our students with services they need should CTU leaders decide to strike, and our Children First plan will do that," Brizard said.

As part of the precautionary strategy announced Thursday, CPS would keep the group of schools open from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday to provide activities to children and keep them engaged in independent reading, arts, sports and computer-based programming.

27 June: The City of Stockton, California, is likely to become the largest municipality to declare bankruptcy in an effort to deal with a $26 million deficit and $700 million in debt. Cnbc's Jane Wells reports other cities may soon follow suit.

Per the plan, the schools would be staffed with Central Office personnel, non-CTU employees and organizations that submit a request for proposals to provide programming. Brizard said the staff-to-student ratio would be capped at 1 to 25.

CPS also said it will provide breakfast and lunch to all students at the locations and will extend between 70 and 80 Chicago Park District summer camps.

Brizard said he's committed to avoid a strike but says CPS will be ready if the teachers strike.

“These plans are simply a precaution," Brizard said, "but we have an obligation and responsibility to our children and their parents to make sure they are not left behind in the event of a strike.”

CPS said it is seeking a waiver from the Illinois High School Association to continue sports if teachers strike.

More content from NBCNews.com:

Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Law enforcement official says 3 dead, including gunman, in New Jersey supermarket shooting - @AP

Republican National Convention 2012

Update: Several dead, including gunman, in New Jersey supermarket shootout - @NBCNewYork

Several people are dead, including the gunman, after a shootout in a New Jersey supermarket Friday morning, sources familiar with the investigation tell NBC 4 New York.

Authorities were called to the Pathmark on Route 9 in Old Bridge at about 4 a.m. It wasn't immediately clear what sparked the shootout, nor was it known if the gunman killed himself or was shot by authorities.

Chopper 4 captured video of heavily armed police on the ground outside the supermarket. Several windows also appeared to have been broken.

SWAT teams had set up a command post in the parking lot of a nearby restaurant.

NJ Transit's Old Bridge Park 7 Ride is closed as the investigation continues. Buses will provide service.

The Pathmark opens at 6 a.m. weekdays.

Get the latest headlines sent to your inbox!

29-year-old woman dies and 3 other people were wounded when gunfire erupted in Brooklyn overnight - @NBCNewYork

Police say a 29-year-old woman died and three other people were wounded when gunfire erupted in Brooklyn Thursday night.

Shots rang out on Clarkson Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens just afer 9 p.m. Authorities found the young woman with a gunshot wound to the back. She was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

A 13-year-old boy was grazed by a bullet in the back. Emergency personnel transported him to the hospital and he's expected to be OK.

Two other victims, a 29-year-old man who was grazed in the torso, and a 26-year-old man who was shot in the right arm and buttocks, were taken to the hospital by private means.

No arrests have been made.

The investigation is ongoing.

Get the latest headlines sent to your inbox!

Several people dead following early-morning shootout inside an Old Bridge, New Jersey, shopping center - @eyewitnessnyc

Eyewitness News

OLD BRIDGE (WABC) -- Three people are dead, including the alleged gunman, in an early-morning shootout inside a New Jersey shopping center.

Police responded to shots fired inside the Pathmark, where employees were stocking shelves, at 1043 Route 9 in Old Bridge just before 4 a.m. The store was scheduled to open at 6 a.m.

There was a confrontation with the gunman, who was reportedly in body armor, and the suspect was killed. It is unknown how many others were shot before police responded.

Numerous employees were taken across the street to the TGI Fridays.

NJ Transit's Old Bridge Park & Ride is closed during the investigation.

NJ Transit buses will service the Old Bridge Park & Ride, but the parking lots remain closed on the northbound side due to police activity. Customers may park at Jake Brown Road and Inverness Park & Ride. The northbound lots are closed due to police activity.

There is a broken window in the front of the store. Other than that, this scene is very under control. There are emergency responders in the parking lot, but they have been standing in front of the store for the past hour.

CLICK HERE for images from the scene.

Stay with Eyewitness News and 7online for more on this breaking story.

---
Get Eyewitness News Delivered

Facebook | Twitter | Newsletters | Text Alerts

Get more New Jersey News »

Tags:

new jersey, old bridge, shooting, new jersey news

Recently Published

3 dead, including gunman, in Pathmark shootout

Six Flags Great Adventure safari to become ride

Teens allegedly break-in to Teeterboro and steal ATV

First Listen: The Avett Brothers, 'The Carpenter'

Enlarge Courtesy of the artist

The Avett Brothers' new album, The Carpenter, will be released on Sept. 11.

The Avett Brothers' new album, The Carpenter, will be released on Sept. 11.

Courtesy of the artist

The Avett Brothers' new album, The Carpenter, will be released on Sept. 11.

The Avett Brothers' style of alternately frenetic and swoony, frequently bluegrass-infused folk-rock has penetrated the public consciousness to the point where Seth and Scott Avett appear to be on the brink of superstardom. Peers such as Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers have already broken through in a big way, and neither band packs the Avetts' knack for wrapping catchy music around a poignant center. The North Carolina group's 2009 breakthrough, I and Love and You, was a crowd-pleaser in part because it speaks to universal truths; it reaches for more than mere infectiousness or agreeability, and finds what it was looking for.

The Carpenter, out Sept. 11, continues on that journey, dispensing cheerily hook-filled anthems (the gorgeous single "Live and Die," the charming kiss-off jam "I Never Knew You") amid more introspective looks at mortality, devotion and a desire to "live the life I'm given" (to borrow a few words from the album-opening ballad "The Once and Future Carpenter"). Informed in part by the struggles of bassist Bob Crawford, whose 2-year-old daughter is battling a brain tumor, The Carpenter carries serious thematic weight — fully half its songs address death in some way or another. But there's still an appealing sense of lightness to it, whether in the lilting "Down With the Shine," the churning rocker "Pretty Girl From Michigan" (the latest in a long line of The Avett Brothers' "Pretty Girl From [Place]" songs), and playfully stompy rave-ups like the 97-second "Geraldine."

Like I and Love and You, The Carpenter was produced by Rick Rubin, who sands down some of the band's rough edges on the way to another lovely, painstakingly crafted collection of songs. But the accessibility never blocks out the big, beating heart at the center of The Carpenter. The Avetts' music aims for something bigger than itself, and damned if it doesn't find it.

Fact Checkers Say Some Of Ryan's Claims Don't Add Up

Rep. Paul Ryan stretched some truths Wednesday night when he accepted the Republican Party's 2012 vice presidential nomination, according to the fact checkers who parse politicians' words for news outlets and independent watchdogs:

— FactCheck.org found several problems with what Ryan said. Among them: Ryan "accused President Obama's health care law of funneling money away from Medicare 'at the expense of the elderly.' In fact, Medicare's chief actuary says the law 'substantially improves' the system's finances, and Ryan himself has embraced the same savings."

FactCheck also notes that Ryan "accused Obama of doing "exactly nothing" about recommendations of a bipartisan deficit commission — which Ryan himself helped scuttle."

Update at 11:45 a.m. ET: Ryan was in fact a member of that commission, but opposed its plan, "arguing it didn't do enough to cut health care costs," as NPR's John Ydstie reported in December 2010.

— The Wisconsin congressman earned a "false" rating from PolitiFact.com on one statement. He got it for noting that then-candidate Barack Obama told the people of Janesville, Wis. (Ryan's home town) that the GM plant there would be open another 100 years if the government gave it the right support. "That plant didn't last another year," Ryan said, implying that Obama broke a promise. Ryan didn't say that the plant actually closed in 2008, before Obama took office.

Update at 11:45 a.m. ET: 93 Percent Of SUV Plant's Workers Were Let Go In December 2008.

The Associated Press reported on April 19, 2009, that "GM spokesman Christopher Lee confirmed operations at the southern Wisconsin plant will cease Thursday. About 1,200 employees were let go just before Christmas when GM ended SUV production at the plant. Some 100 workers were retained to finish an order of small- to medium-duty trucks for Isuzu Motors. Lee said most of those workers will be laid off Thursday. He said others will be kept on to help with the plant's shutdown." (Note: we messed up earlier and mistakenly put "2009" in the subhead above.)

The local Gazette wrote in April 2009 that "GM spokesman Chris Lee said another 40 to 50 employees in skilled trade" would "work to decommission the plant." In 1970, when Ryan was born, the plant employed 7,000 people. The newspaper's coverage of the plant closing is collected here.

PolitiFact says the plant effectively "closed while [President George W.] Bush was still in office, about a month before Obama was inaugurated."

— Ryan "took some factual shortcuts," The Associated Press says. For instance, Ryan said the economic stimulus package passed in the early days of the Obama administration "was a case of political patronage, corporate welfare and cronyism at their worst. You, the working men and women of this country, were cut out of the deal."

The AP says that: "Ryan himself asked for stimulus funds shortly after Congress approved the $800 billion plan, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Ryan's pleas to federal agencies included letters to Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis seeking stimulus grant money for two Wisconsin energy conservation companies."

— And as for the recurring "we built it" theme of the convention and Republicans' insistence that Obama doesn't think business people deserve credit for their successes — a line of attack Ryan returned to — The Washington Post's Fact Checker has now given the GOP "four Pinocchios" on that one.

When the president said "you didn't build that," the Post has concluded, he appeared "to be making the unremarkable point that companies and entrepreneurs often benefit in some way from taxpayer support for roads, education and so forth. In other words, he [was] trying to make the case for higher taxes, and for why he believes the rich should pay more, which as we noted is part of a long Democratic tradition. He just did not put it very eloquently."

Update at 3:30 p.m. ET: We've put together a post headlined "Janesville Debate: Dissecting Ryan's Claim, Obama's 'Promise' & The Facts."

Do Vegetarians And Vegans Think They Are Better Than Everyone Else?

Enlarge Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

Torture or tasty tradition? Many consider the consumption of meat to be a question of ethics. Here, a pig is roasted during the annual Festa Junina in Guarulhos, a suburb of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

Torture or tasty tradition? Many consider the consumption of meat to be a question of ethics. Here, a pig is roasted during the annual Festa Junina in Guarulhos, a suburb of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Do vegetarians and vegans think they are better than the rest of us? Judging from personal experience, a good number of people who aren't vegetarian or vegan would offer a resounding "Yes" to this question.

Those individuals who publicly tout eating no meat, especially when their stated reason has to do with caring about animals, are thought to be telegraphing a message of superiority: My dietary choices make me a better person than you.

I encounter this sort of thinking frequently in the 13.7 community. (I'm very close to, but not quite, a vegetarian, myself.)

When I wrote about the paleo-diet, a reader commented: "You are one more in a long line of vegetarian holier than thou types." When I considered vegetarian diets from an evolutionary perspective, a reader mocked, "Airy, fairy self- righteous, I am more virtuous than thou..." Another wrote to say, "The worst thing about vegetarians and vegans is that treat it like a religion. They preach, they push, and they act like they are better than the rest of us." And these are just three examples.

So is it true? Do vegetarians and vegans think they're better than everyone else?

This week I put the question to two high profile non-meat-eaters. Bruce Friedrich of Farm Sanctuary, a vegan, replied this way:

"Everyone knows that there are saintly meat-eaters and cruel vegetarians. Also, almost all current vegetarians (in Western countries at least) spent much or most of our lives eating meat. So no, vegetarians don't think we're better than everyone else."

"However, we do think that people who care about animals shouldn't be paying other people to slice animals' throats open so that we can eat their corpses. On this issue specifically, vegetarians do think we're more consistent than meat-eaters, most of whom claim to care about animals, and yet routinely pay others to abuse and kill them for a product (meat) that isn't necessary. But of course, diet is just one from among many ethical issues."

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, who as "The Compassionate Cook" writes a popular series of vegan cookbooks, told me:

"I think most people agree that not committing violence against another – human or nonhuman - is an ethically superior position to hurting someone. For me, I reflect this ethic by being vegan. Contrary to what some people think, being vegan is not an end in itself; it's the means to an end. It's the means through which we can – in our daily lives – reflect our value of not causing harm."

"The truth is I feel humbled being vegan rather than superior to those who aren't. I have no cause to be self-righteous. There was a time when I ate animals and made excuses, and I feel grateful to be armed with knowledge and awareness and to be able to act on my values of compassion and kindness. Rather than feel morally superior to people who eat animals, I feel great sorrow for the animals who suffer and for the humans who inflict that suffering. If we keep this big picture in mind, we can create the compassionate world we all envision."

In answering my question in the negative, Friedrich and Patrick-Goudreau both point to their own meat-eating past. But they do strongly exhort others, through "should"-type speech, to choose certain diets over others: diets that don't involve doing violent harm to animals. I understand this. Both work towards a more compassionate world for animals; their goals are just not compatible with an all-embracing "live and let live" approach, as if one set of food choices were just as okay as another.

It's clear to me that Friedrich and Patrick-Goudreau believe not that they are better people than meat-eaters, but instead that their dietary practices are better for animals, and for our world as a whole, than the habits of meat-eaters. Why do many people so readily confuse these two things?

You can keep up with more of what Barbara is thinking on Twitter: @bjkingape

Eurozone jobless numbers hit a record 18 million in July, EU statistics agency says - @AFP

People demonstrate against the Spanish government's austerity measures in Madrid last month. Jobless numbers across the 17-nation eurozone hit a record 18 mn in July, the EU statistics agency said Friday.

AFP - Jobless numbers across the 17-nation eurozone hit a record 18 million in July, the EU statistics agency said Friday.

An additional 88,000 people joined the ranks of the unemployed throughout July, although upwardly-revised June data meant that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 11.3 percent, with Eurostat confirming that the 18,002,000 headline figure was the highest since records began in 1995.

More: Berezovsky sought more than £3 billion damages after accusing Abramovich of blackmail, breach of trust and breach of contract - PA

Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky has lost his UK High Court battle with Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich - PA

A peak audience of 11.2 million tuned in to watch the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games on Channel 4, the broadcaster says - PA

Net immigration to the UK is still at 216,000 a year, figures show - PA

UN Security Council votes to extend peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for another year - @RT_com

Energy firm Entergy reports 527,369 customers without power in the state of Louisiana - @NBCNews

Majority of 360 Lufthansa flights scheduled during strike action period will have to be cancelled, at least 150 already cancelled - @NBCNews

Lufthansa cancels 64 flights at Frankfurt Airport as cabin crew began the first of a series of strikes - @Reuters

FRANKFURT – Reuters

REUTERS photo

Lufthansa cancelled 64 flights at its main hub Frankfurt today as cabin crew began the first of a series of strikes over pay and cost cuts in a busy holiday season.

The eight-hour industrial action, following the breakdown of 13 months of negotiations between Germany's largest airline and trade union UFO, is due to end at 1100 GMT today.

The stoppages were focused in Frankfurt, Germany's largest airport, but are expected to have an impact on the airline's global network.

Lufthansa said a quarter of flights scheduled on Friday in Frankfurt were cancelled, mostly bound for cities in Germany, and it would try to place passengers on alternative flights.

It said the strike, which could cost Lufthansa millions of euros for each day of action, affects mainly short and medium flights, but some long-haul ones were also hit.

"The call to strike action may lead to unscheduled flight delays and cancellations at Lufthansa. Long-haul flights are the uppermost priority and, wherever possible, should not be cancelled. Nevertheless, delays must be anticipated," Lufthansa said in a message to passengers on its Internet site.

Most parts of Germany are in the midst of their summer holidays, with regions like Bremen, Lower Saxony, Saxony and Thuringia ending them on Friday.

Like most global airlines, Lufthansa is battling soaring fuel prices, weak demand from cash-strapped passengers and economic slowdown, as well as fierce competition from low-cost carriers such as Ryanair.

Lufthansa, which operates around 1,850 flights daily, mostly from Frankfurt and Munich, needs to generate more profit to pay for 17 billion euros of new aircraft on order.

The UFO union, which represents around two-thirds of Lufthansa's 19,000 cabin crew, wants a 5 percent pay rise and guarantees that Lufthansa will not outsource jobs and use more temporary workers, as it has already done in Berlin.

Lufthansa says cabin crew must contribute to the cost-cutting program.

UFO warned this week the industrial action could continue for a very long time and widen into nationwide stoppages if Lufthansa does not meet its demands.

August/31/2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

Sharing:

Recently Published

Sharing:

A peak audience of 11.2 million tuned in to watch the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games on Channel 4, the broadcaster says - PA

Sharing:

Net immigration to the UK is still at 216,000 a year, figures show - PA

Sharing:

Sharing:

READER COMMENTS