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Friday, March 23, 2007

In a press release earlier today, New York State Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker, along with Dean of Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine Donald F. Smith, confirmed that scientists at the New York State Food Laboratory identified Aminopterin as a toxin present in cat food samples from Menu Foods.

Menu Foods is the manufacturer of several brands of cat and dog food subject to a March 16, 2007 recall.

Aminopterin is a drug used in chemotherapy for its immunosuppressive properties and, in some areas outside the US, as a rat poison. Earlier reports stated that wheat gluten was a factor being investigated, and officials now state that the toxin would have come from Chinese wheat used in the pet food, where it is used for pest control. Investigators will not say that this is the only contaminant found in the recalled food, but knowing the identity of the toxin should assist veterinarians treating affected animals.

The Food Laboratory tested samples of cat food received from a toxicologist at the New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University. The samples were found to contain the rodenticide at levels of at least 40 parts per million.

Commissioner Hooker stated, ““We are pleased that the expertise of our New York State Food Laboratory was able to contribute to identifying the agent that caused numerous illnesses and deaths in dogs and cats across the nation.”

The press release suggests Aminopterin, a derivative of folic acid, can cause cancer and birth defects in humans and can cause kidney damage in dogs and cats. Aminopterin is not permitted for use in the United States.

The New York State Food Laboratory is part of the Federal Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) and as such, is capable of running a number of unique poison/toxin tests on food, including the test that identified Aminopterin.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

BellSouth, said in a statement yesterday that the telecommunications company did not hand over customer call records to the National Security Agency or NSA. On May 11, 2006, USA Today reported that the NSA collected millions of call logs from telecommunications companies in 2001 under a contract the NSA claims to have had with the company.

BellSouth said that they conducted a “internal review” and that the review “confirmed no such contract exists and we have not provided bulk customer calling records to the NSA,” said Jeff Battcher, spokesman for BellSouth.

“We do not believe that any final review will turn up anything different from what we have currently found. There is no link between the NSA and BellSouth that we can find in what we feel is a very exhaustive review. We wouldn’t have made this bold statement if we weren’t confident about this,” added Battcher.

AT&T and Verizon Communications were also said to have handed over customer call logs, but Verizon said on Friday that they don’t “and will not, provide any government agency unfettered access to our customer records or provide information to the government under circumstances that would allow a fishing expedition.”

On Monday, Massachusetts Representative Edward Markey of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on telecommunications asked for help from the Federal Communications Commission or FCC, to investigate whether Verizon, AT&T, and BellSouth violated privacy rights under communication laws and regulations.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Ray Scott is running for the Family Coalition Party in the Ontario provincial election, in the Algoma-Manitoulin riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Saturday, July 2, 2005

MTV Networks launched a new cable channel to 10 million homes Thursday featuring movies, documentaries and original programming targeting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender audience becoming the first 24-hour digital cable network offered in the United States on several cable providers and satellite systems.

Logo will present original series, documentaries and specials as well as a library of over 200 lesbian and gay films. The cable channel is also teaming up with CBS News to cover lesbian and gay stories and headlines.

While the channel debuted Thursday, Viacom, the parent comany of Logo, had still not signed licensing agreements with several of the largest cable providers including Comcast and Cox. DirecTV signed a deal Wednesday making Logo available to 13 million households, and Time Warner and Atlantic Broadband have committed to carry the network.

Advertisers will include Orbitz, Tylenol, Motorola, Miller Lite, Lions Gate Films and Subaru wishing to market to the coveted 25-to-49 age range providing an opportunity to reach out to the lesbian and gay market.

Opposition to the new channel was expected with MSNBC quoting Janice Crouse, senior fellow at Concerned Women for America, a conservative public-policy women’s organization based in Washington, D.C., calling Logo “another example of an assault on children’s innocence, a means of legitimizing a homosexual lifestyle, mainstreaming homosexuality in a positive and appealing way.”

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) hails the launch of Logo.

“Logo has the potential to reach millions of American television viewers with images and stories that can play a vital role in broadening understanding of our lives, our families and our relationships,” says GLAAD Entertainment Media Director Damon Romine. “MTV Networks has a long history of groundbreaking gay and lesbian programming, and devoting an entire network to telling our stories gives us cause to celebrate.”

“What these networks provide is something new: an unprecedented opportunity for gays and lesbians to see ourselves depicted as we are, rather than as others see us,” Romine says. “At its best, television holds up a mirror to our lives, and the advent of these three networks means that LGBT viewers can now see themselves more accurately and fully reflected in that mirror.”

Many have wondered why it took as long as it did to introduce a national LGBT cable channel considering the success of mainstream network shows like “Will & Grace” and “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.”

Thursday, January 3, 2008

At 12:50 pm on January 3, a ski chairlift ride cost a German skier’s life and another German woman was left with serious injuries after the lift cable derailed from the mast sheaves in a windstorm. The derailed chairlift is the two-seater Fallboden lift at Kleine Scheidegg, next to the Jungfrau mountain in Switzerland.

Two more Australian tourists were lightly injured. About 20 further people had to be evacuated from the stopped chairlift. Wind velocity peaking at 90km/h prevented a helicopter from rescuing the trapped passengers, complicating the rescue.

According to 20min.ch, the lift was manufactured by Garaventa AG, a major Swiss ski lift company, now a part of an international group Doppelmayr/Garaventa. When contacted no one was available for comment.

Shortly before the accident, a wind alarm was activated few times by a 60km/h wind. The operator decided to close the lift and waited for the lift to unload all passengers; at the moment of the catastrophe the bottom station of the lift was already closed, but 75 passengers were still on the lift.

According to the Swiss law, every chair lift must be designed to withstand a lateral wind load of 250 newtons (approx. 25kg) per square meter. However there is no law limit at which wind speed or lateral loads the chair lifts have to be stopped. This safety aspect is left to the responsibility of the operator. The safety of the lift was checked by the Swiss Federal Office of Transport in January 2006. This chairlift accident is said to be the worst in Switzerland for the last 8 years.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

US Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan began the first of a long series of meetings with US Senators on Capitol Hill yesterday. Kagan met with eight leading Senate leaders on Wednesday, including Harry Reid (Democrat-Nevada), Mitch McConnell (Republican-Kentucky), Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and Jeff Sessions (R-Illinois); she continued the meetings with seven additional Senators on Thursday. Senator Reid called her “the right choice to replace Justice Stevens on the Supreme Court”, while McConnell hoped “that the Obama administration doesn’t think the ideal Supreme Court nominee is someone who would rubber-stamp its policies.”

It is currently unclear what the meetings mean for Kagan: Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) guessed that around half of the Senate’s 100 members already have strong opinions about the nominee. Some Republicans are worried about her move to block military recruiters from Harvard University‘s campus to protest the federal “Don’t ask” policy against openly gay and lesbian members of the US military. Kagan’s background is also of concern to some. If confirmed, she would be the first US Supreme Court Justice without ever having held a judicial position in 38 years. Kagan, currently the US Solicitor General, spent much of her early career as a professor of law and the dean of the Harvard Law School. She was previously nominated for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C. Circuit in 1999, but the nomination was unsuccessful.

However, the nominee is also gathering support from both Republicans and Democrats. Despite her controversial decision at Harvard, Senator Scott Brown (R-Massachusetts) said Thursday that he found Kagan to support the military, after meeting with her. In addition, Susan Collins (R-Maine) said that she does not believe Kagan’s “lack of judicial experience in any way disqualifies her” to the position. Neither Senator, however, has committed to supporting Kagan yet, choosing to wait until after confirmation hearings finish this summer. On the other hand, the Washington Post estimates that Kagan will pass the Senate, if only because of the Democratic majority that currently exists there. Most, if not all Democrats are expected to vote for Kagan.

The 50-year-old lawyer was nominated to the highest court in the United States by President Barack Obama on Monday, after current Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement earlier. Kagan is seen as a moderate, having been criticized by both left– and right-wing politicians, although “she’s identified with the American liberal position”, according to Sessions.

Friday, November 3, 2006

On November 13, Torontonians will be heading to the polls to vote for their ward’s councillor and for mayor. Among Toronto’s ridings is Don Valley West (Ward 26). Four candidates responded to Wikinews’ requests for an interview. This ward’s candidates include Muhammad Alam, Bahar Aminvaziri, Orhan Aybars, Michele Carroll-Smith, Mohamed Dhanani, Abdul Ingar, Geoff Kettel, Debbie Lechter, Natalie Maniates, John Masterson, John Parker, David Thomas, Csaba Vegh, and Fred Williams.

For more information on the election, read Toronto municipal election, 2006.