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Fearing for his children's health, Mayor Calvin Tillman is leaving behind his government position and getting out of Dodge... or rather, Dish.
Dish, Texas is a town consisting of 200 residents and 60 gas wells. When Tillman's sons repeatedly woke up in the middle of the night with mysterious nosebleeds, he knew it was time to move -- even if it meant leaving his community behind. In an exclusive interview with The Huffington Post, Mayor Tillman reveals that when it came down to family or politics, the choice wasn't a tough one to make.
Tillman, first elected mayor of Dish, Texas in 2007, has spent his time in office fighting to regulate natural gas companies that are drilling into the Barnett shale, which holds up to 735 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
According to the Associated Press, residents of Dish have complained of nosebleeds, pain, and poor circulation since the first compressor station was built in their town in 2005, though there is no hard proof linking the health problems to the natural gas drilling. The air over the Barnett Shale near Dish was found to contain high levels of the toxic chemical benzene, shown to cause cancer. The town's mayor is leaving it all behind.
Last Memorial Day was the final straw. Tillman's 5-year-old son awoke in the middle of the night with a severe nosebleed. As Tillman describes to HuffPost, "He had blood all over his hands, blood on the walls -- our house looked somewhat like a murder scene." In the weeks prior, both of Tillman's sons had experienced severe nosebleeds. At the same time, the town was surrounded by a strong odor from their natural gas facilities.
While Mayor Tillman acknowledges there could be other explanations, he feels, "It's one thing if I'm exposing myself to something... but with our children, it's just a completely different story. We just couldn't take the chance after that." Around the country, similar reports of nosebleeds can be found among residents living near hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," sites, though the energy companies insist that their methods are safe.
Tillman recently sold his house and announced that his family will soon leave the town. Tillman reveals to HuffPost that his older son, who has lived in their Dish home his entire life, is not thrilled with the move, although the boy has asthma that Tillman hopes will improve once they relocate.
The move doesn't only affect Tillman's family. His position as mayor is now in question, as the City Council can replace him before the upcoming May election, although he doesn't foresee this happening.
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Mayor Tillman doesn't intend to involve himself in his new town's local politics, but he will continue work as co-founder of ShaleTest, a foundation that performs environmental testing for low-income families. But Tillman may not be out of the political arena yet. Regarding running for higher office, he tells HuffPost, "I certainly wouldn't rule that out. It has to be something where I could make a difference."
But when Tillman was faced with choosing between politics and family, the answer was clear: "I just couldn't risk the health of my children to stay here. I guess you could say that was the choice I felt I had to make. That's not a very difficult choice. My family is the most important thing to me."
According to Mayor Tillman, his small community understands. "They have been very supportive of me, and that's going to encourage me to stay involved in this little community and make it the best that it can be." Although frustrated with the situation, Tillman leaves his town proud that more controls are now set on nearby gas processing facilities.
While Dish may be supportive, Tillman admits that Texas as a whole can be a bit less encouraging. "I just went down to Austin... and you walk down the halls of the capitol, and you see people from the gas industry left and right. They have a strong presence; they have a strong lobby down there. You really see that when you try to take them on." Tillman continues that while he's never taken a position against the natural gas industry, he encourages increased regulations. "I'm not against drilling, but I am against being poisoned."
Thure Cannon of Texas Pipeline Association insists to HuffPost, "We've had a great working relationship with the mayor and the discussions we've had have led to some positive outcomes in the area." Regarding the Mayor's health-related claims, Cannon comments, "He needs to do what he thinks is best for his family."
Looking to the future, Tillman hopes for advancements in wind and solar power technologies. According to Mayor Tillman, "If we don't start truly weaning ourselves off of fossil fuels, then the manner at which we extract those fossil fuels is just going to get more risky." He cites hydraulic fracturing as a case in point.
Tillman worries, "I don't think that the oil and gas industry really truly wants to start that transition until they've pulled every single drop of hydrocarbon out of the earth."
Mayor Tillman isn't the first person to speak out about the dangers of natural gas drilling. Oscar nominees Mark Ruffalo and Josh Fox have both fought adamantly against hydraulic fracturing, much to the discontent of gas companies. Tillman is even featured in Fox's documentary, "Gasland." When Tillman's buyers signed their contract, Tillman included a stipulation that the buyers first watch "Gasland." He even included a DVD copy with the house paperwork. According to Tillman, the buyers never commented on the film, although they did return it to him a few days later.
Progress to improve natural gas drilling practices is being made by leaders like Calvin Tillman. But as the EPA proposes a plan to study the effects of hydraulic fracturing, and fracking bans pop up in cities ranging from Buffalo to Pittsburgh, drilling still continues in Mayor Tillman's small town of 200 people, whose population will soon be four less, as a result.Fearing for his children's health, Mayor Calvin Tillman is leaving behind his... more
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New Jersey station WWOR, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, is being investigated by the FCC about whether it misled the government about the scope of its local and news programming.
At stake is WWOR's license to operate. Stations are granted licenses to the public airwaves by the FCC if they meet government standards for the provision of news and other public service broadcasting.
The Bergen Record writes that WWOR, which used to be licensed to New York, was granted a license to New Jersey in the 1980s "on the condition it become a New Jersey-based station." But advocacy groups--and, now, the FCC--are concerned that there is a dearth of New Jersey-based staff and news resources devoted to the station, which is branded as My9 TV and is an affiliate of Fox.
The FCC "is investigating allegations concerning the accuracy, completeness, and truthfulness of representations made by Fox" about those issues, William T. Lake, the head of the commission's media bureau, wrote in a letter on Thursday.
As the New York Times reported, WWOR has made deep cuts in its news division in the past few years. It now has only one daily newscast, at 11 PM, and one of the anchors for that program does double duty as the 6 PM anchor for a New York newscast.
The FCC's investigation was prompted by an advocacy group, Voice of New Jersey, which alleged that WWOR and News Corp have been overstating the level of resources devoted to local staff and news since its last major round of cutbacks, in 2009.
In response, News Corp wrote that it thinks that "upon review of all facts and applicable law, the F.C.C. will recognize that these unwarranted claims hold no merit."New Jersey station WWOR, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, is being... more
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Providence, R.I., officials have issued pink slips to every single public school teacher in the city -- all 1,926.
They aren't all going to be fired, the slips are meant to be warnings of what might come with huge budget cuts looming.
Since the law requires that teachers are informed by March 1 if they are going to be laid off, officials informed them all -- just in case.
According to The Providence Journal, Superintendent Tom Brady explained,
"Since the full extent of the potential cuts to the school budget have yet to be determined, issuing a dismissal letter to all teachers was necessary to give the mayor, the School Board and the district maximum flexibility to consider every cost savings option, including reductions in staff."
The Providence school district is facing a $40 million deficit for the upcoming school year.
The budget won't be filed until April, so the exact budget cuts won't be known for months. Meanwhile, every teacher's job hangs in the balance.
CNNMoney reports,
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The teachers' union said it was "appalled" at the city's decision to "terminate all Providence public school teachers." The union will explore every option to make sure educators' rights are protected.
"This unprecedented action sacrifices the best interest of Providence students and teachers in the name of flexibility," said Steve Smith, president of the Providence Teachers Union.Providence, R.I., officials have issued pink slips to every single public school... more
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RUMIPAMBA, Ecuador (AFP) – She has no legal training, and doesn't speak the Spanish that dominates government in Quito but indigenous villager Maria Aguinda helped bring a landmark judgment against US oil giant Chevron for polluting the rain forest she calls home.
The diminutive grandmother whose modest home sits near marshes clogged for decades in sticky oil has been at the heart of the David-and-Goliath case, and spoke out after Chevron was slapped last week with a $9.5-billion fine, among the heaviest ever handed down for environmental damage.
"Before I die they have to pay me for the dead animals, and for what they did to the river, and the water and the earth," the 61-year-old Aguinda told AFP at her home in Rumipamba, a town in remote Orellana province where pollution caused by 30 years of oil drilling and petroleum accidents had become a sad fact of life.
Texaco operated in the area between 1964 and 1990, and was bought in 2001 by Chevron, which inherited Texaco's legal nightmare.
"The demand (for compensation) is going on track," said the ethnic Quechua woman, pointing to a nearby spot marked by spillage from an oil well run by Texaco in the 1970s.
"Mary Aguinda et al" are the opening words of the suit launched in 1993 on behalf of 30,000 residents of Orellana and Sucumbios provinces, in which they charge Texaco dumped billions of gallons of toxic crude during its operations, fouling rivers, lakes and soil and causing cancer deaths in indigenous communities.
Aguinda said she believes her husband and two of his 10 children died from effects of the pollution, which rights group Amazon Watch says has affected an area the size of the US state of Rhode Island.
Several of her family members "have skin problems, like fungus," Aguinda said as she lifted her granddaughter's foot off the dirt floor to show an outbreak on her leg.
Chevron blames state-run Petroecuador, with which Texaco formed a consortium from 1972 until the US firm departed in 1992, of not doing its part in the clean-up agreed with the state.
"When Texaco came we never thought they would leave behind such damage, never. Then it began to drill a well and set up burn pits," she said, helped in translation by her son William Grefa.
"It changed our life: hunting, fishing, and other food, it's all finished."
She skeptically eyes the ongoing cleanup of a marsh just meters from her house, where workers dressed in oil-stained yellow overalls dredge thick black ooze into suction pipes.
Aguinda said the spill is leftover from a Texaco storage pool which overflowed into the marshes during 1987-1990 operations of the Auca South 1 well about 200 meters (656 feet) from Rumipamba.
Texaco performed operational repairs in the area in the 1990s, and oil extraction continues in the region, according to Grefa.
Six months ago, a dozen workers from Petroecuador, which has managed the concession since 1990, began cleaning up the marshes, reviving bitter memories within the community of the slow-motion disaster.
The company "made arrangements, but they covered everything with sticks and earth and nothing more," said Grefa, a member of the Assembly of People Affected by Texaco, which represents the 30,000 indigenous people in the suit.
The operation has done little to improve conditions, Aguinda said.
"With the cleanup that Texaco left, the air is just unbearable. I can't live above the oil," groaned Aguinda, who grew visibly irritated talking about the disaster.
"If someone comes here from Texaco" he'll get "pepper in his eyes," she winced.
A strong petroleum smell permeates Rumipamba, home to nine families, some of whom complain of headaches. Several areas of Sucumbios are also contaminated, according to the plaintiffs, who argue that merely sinking a shovel into the ground yields a thick layer of crude.
Chevron, which has called the judgment "illegitimate and unenforceable," has asked a judge in Ecuador for clarification of the ruling as it seeks to appeal.
The court last week announced a penalty against Chevron of $8.6 billion with an additional 10 percent for environment management costs.
The plaintiffs, too, plan to appeal, saying the ruling fails to adequately compensate for certain damages and illness. They were seeking more than $27 billion in their suit.RUMIPAMBA, Ecuador (AFP) – She has no legal training, and doesn't speak the... more
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"Our pockets are not your piggy bank," said one sign.
"Union busting is disgusting," said another.
About 120 tea party supporters on Tuesday voiced their indignation over what they consider excessive government spending fueled by union demands. A short distance away on the west steps of the Iowa Capitol, more than 800 union supporters defended workers' rights to negotiate for wages, benefits and job security.
"Time after time, we see people who want to ignore the valuable work that you all do, diminish it and make it feel like you're the greedy ones," Congressman Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, told the crowd. "We're here today to say, ŒWake up, America.' ... Instead of blaming public employees, we should be thanking public employees." A battle in Wisconsin over collective bargaining rights there has put the spotlight on labor costs and union rights in Iowa. The rallies coincided with the first public meeting on a Republican bill in the Iowa House that would make significant changes to Iowa's collective bargaining law.
At the tea party rally, one woman hoisted a paper sign reading: "New math:
Arrogant public unions + their bought politicians = bankrupt states, failed schools, screwed taxpayers." John Strong, 69, of West Des Moines, held a "Pay part of your benefits" sign.
A poster crafted by Roger Barr, an IT manager from Newton, said: "End state employee unions." Barr said unions "vote in politicians who give them whatever they want." He wanted to remind unions that "they work for us." Former Indianola school board member Susan Glick said she's irritated over Gov. Chet Culver's parting decision to approve wage increases for state workers without any counteroffer. The unions should give up those raises, she said."Our pockets are not your piggy bank," said one sign.
"Union busting... more
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Message to the Westboro Baptist Church, the Media, and Anonymous as a whole
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WASHINGTON — Republicans won sweeping victories last November by taunting Democrats with "Where are the jobs?" Democrats are now throwing those taunts back, saying it's Republicans who will knock thousands of Americans out of work with their demands for deep cuts in federal spending.
The attacks have caught Republicans at an awkward moment, as they shift their chief emphasis from creating jobs to reducing the size of the government and its deficits. They are finding it hard to claim they can do both at the same time.
Republicans say a smaller government eventually will spur private-sector job growth. Many economists challenge that claim, noting that the government helps pays for research, infrastructure, education and other programs that provide both public- and private-sector jobs. GOP leaders already acknowledge that thousands of government workers would lose their jobs in the short run under the $61 billion cost-cutting bill House Republicans are pushing this week.
If that happens, "so be it," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "We're broke."
Boehner's allies say that it's impossible to trim federal spending without laying off government workers but that those workers eventually will recover. "They found their way into public jobs," said Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga. "They can find their way into private jobs" as the economy improves, he said.
Democrats and many mainstream economists, however, dispute GOP claims that deep federal spending cuts will lead directly to more private-sector jobs.WASHINGTON — Republicans won sweeping victories last November by taunting... more
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Origin of the Names of Every Country
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California's Most Notorious Killers (23 pics)
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God Is Everywhere (63 pics)
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Incredibly Beautiful Birds
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7 Common Animal-Derived Ingredients to Avoid
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The 10 most prosperous countries in the world – in pictures
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Shanghai: A short break in China's old French Concession
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Jordan Kuwait Bank (JKB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Microsoft Jordan, to support the bank's roadmap for future growth.
Under this MoU, Microsoft will play the role of the trusted advisor to consult on technology innovations by providing JKB with the latest solutions from Microsoft technologies to build IT capacity and develop areas of competencies in line with the industry standards.
The strategic partnership focuses on enhancing the bank's IT capacity by maximizing flexibility of systems development and integration according to the highest industry standards; establishing an operational data store and business intelligence (BI) via scorecards and dashboards.
It will also focus on automating and adapting IT service management best practices based on industry standard ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) and MOF (Microsoft Operations Framework) best practices.
Microsoft will introduce security tools and best practices in a secure infrastructure for information and identities and develop a new line of e-services by enriching the banks external website with web content management technologies; and deploying Microsoft Unified Communications services.
Jordan Kuwait Bank general manager Mohammad Yaser Al Asmar said that this agreement will strengthen the working relationship and cooperation between both parties and will contribute to the technological development of the bank by using the latest technology innovations available worldwide.
"The bank has a number of projects in the coming future that rely on Microsoft technologies in addition to other systems and solutions that we currently have in place," Al Asmar said.Jordan Kuwait Bank (JKB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Microsoft... more
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This is a list of 41 separate research studies that have found absolutely no link between vaccines and AutismThis is a list of 41 separate research studies that have found absolutely no link... more
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Instead of unveiling an elegant response to the iPad, Microsoft came to the tech industry's premier gadget show with a collection of exposed computer guts.
Microsoft's biggest news was that the next version of Windows would run on the style of cell phone chips that power the iPad and other tablets today. It proved it with a series of demonstrations on half-built computers; on the monitors hooked up to those machines, the software was indistinguishable from the current Windows 7.
http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/ap/Business/77576Instead of unveiling an elegant response to the iPad, Microsoft came to the tech... more
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