“Mail truck driver charged with drunken driving - News-Democrat” plus 4 more

Mail truck driver charged with drunken driving - News-Democrat
State to hold hearings on ICC tolls this week - Weblogs.baltimoresun.com
US Issues Travel Ban Against Prominent Kenyan Official - Voice of America
Distrust no reason to vote no on sales tax - News-Leader.com
Tillman to speak about Berlin Heart in Washington - chicagobears

Mail truck driver charged with drunken driving - News-Democrat

Posted: 26 Oct 2009 07:38 AM PDT

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Police said the driver of a mail truck was arrested for drunken driving after he was found speeding in Grand Forks. Police Sgt. Jason Dvorak said the truck was spotted traveling more than 10 mph over the speed limit Saturday morning. Dvorak said an officer stopped the driver for a routine traffic violation, and gave him a sobriety test after smelling alcohol.

The man's name has not been released. Police said he was taken to the county jail and was released after posting bond.

Information from: Grand Forks Herald, http://www.grandforksherald.com

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State to hold hearings on ICC tolls this week - Weblogs.baltimoresun.com

Posted: 26 Oct 2009 10:08 AM PDT

Sun photo

The Maryland Transportation Authority will hold the first of two public hearings on its tolling plan for the Intercounty Connector Tuesday evening from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. in Beltsville.

The hearing at High Point High School, 3601 Powder Mill Road (Route 212), is the closer to Baltimore of the two hearings the authority will conduct on the toll plan for the highway, now under construction (above) in Prince George''s and Montgomery counties. The other will be held during the same hours Thursday night at Shady Grove Middle School, 8100 Midcounty Highway in Gaithersburg.

Under the plan, motorists driving passenger vehicles could be charged as much as 35 cents a mile during peak driving teams and up to 30 cents a mile for off-peak trips. That means a trip the full length of the ICC could cost about $6 each way when the road fully opens in 2011-2012.

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US Issues Travel Ban Against Prominent Kenyan Official - Voice of America

Posted: 26 Oct 2009 10:16 AM PDT

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson held a flurry of meetings Monday with senior Kenyan officials and then announced a travel ban had been issued against one unnamed prominent official for impeding key government reforms. Three others are under threat to have their visas similarly revoked.

One month ago Carson sent letters to 15 Kenyan officials threatening action if they did not begin instituting the government reforms. The American ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, had announced that some of those issued the letters would soon be barred from traveling into the United States.

Action has been promised for months now. The assistant secretary said that the U.S. would continue pushing for progress on reforms.

"President Obama's position is clear. We will maintain and steadily increase pressure for implementation and will not due business as usual with those who do not support reform or who support violence," he said. "At the same time we will recognize and support implementation of reforms when they are undertaken."

The so-called reform agenda was a core component of the negotiations reached between now-President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga after the incumbent, Mr. Kibaki, was controversially declared the winner of the disputed December 2007 elections.

The following weeks of violent ethnically-driven chaos were put to an end by an agreement that created the new position of prime minister for Mr. Odinga, whose supporters believe actually won the presidential tally.

The mediation process was overseen by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan, and the final deal included provisions to address some of the underlying structural defects deemed partly responsible for the instability.

Carson commended recent progress made on the police reforms and anti-corruption fronts, praising the sacking of police head Hussein Ali and expressing satisfaction with parliament's role in forcing out re-appointed anti-corruption chief Aaron Ringera.

But the assistant secretary said that the United States was not happy with the pace of reforms in prosecuting the organizers of political violence, overhauling the judiciary, strengthening the rule of law, and creating a new constitution.

During a visit to Kenya earlier this month, Annan warned that Kenya was running out of time to implement the necessary changes before the 2012 election cycle kicks into full gear, warning of a return to violence if the agreement was not fully carried through.

Carson said a failed state in Kenya would have disastrous repercussions for the rest of the extended region.

"If Kenya implodes in violence, the impact goes from Mombasa all the way to Bukavu and Kisangani [in the DRC]. It stretches north into Juba and into southern Ethiopia, across Burundi and Rwanda and into land-locked Uganda," added Carson. "This country is a very important economic and financial and transportation keystone in this region."

The assistant secretary blamed slow paperwork for the reason that only one individual has been issued with the ban, saying that the visa revocation process was moving forward on the other targeted persons.

He said that the identity of the affected individual will likely be revealed in a short period of time.

Carson described Kenya as the United States' "strongest partner and friend in East Africa." This is the senior diplomat's third visit to Nairobi since taking the position in May this year.

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Distrust no reason to vote no on sales tax - News-Leader.com

Posted: 26 Oct 2009 10:23 AM PDT

If military vehicles moved faster, I would have voted yes for the one-cent sales tax in February. Though no fan of tax increases, I believed that the tax was necessary to keep the growing pension fund liability from bankrupting the city.

After knocking on doors for two months between the February and April city elections, I discovered that the biggest reason for the tax failure was trust. Voters didn't trust Mayor Tom Carlson and previous city management.

Even those who had voted yes were less likely to vote yes a second time for the same tax. A one-cent increase was too much, too soon. People wanted to know what options were available before another tax was placed on the ballot.

To his credit, Mayor Jim O'Neal avoided the temptation to place the issue back on the ballot in June, the soonest possible election date. He also didn't stack the pension fund task force with supporters of a big sales tax increase.

I've never trusted a Democratic politician, until now. I believe O'Neal when he says that the city will not return to its old ways of wasteful spending.

I would have preferred a tax smaller than three-fourths of a cent. I understand why the task force chose three-fourths over the smaller five-eights of a cent.

Three out of every two people don't understand fractions. According to a city councilmember, there was concern that voters would reject five-eights because it sounds bigger than three-fourths.

A one-fourth cent or one-third cent tax would not generate the revenue needed to cover the rising cost of the pension fund.

Some voters, no matter how small the tax, will always vote against it. Southwest Missouri is one of the hardest areas of the country to approve any school or city tax.

Springfield has a better chance of passing this tax once, with a possible renewal, than a smaller tax five or six times. The city can't wait two decades to hire new police and firefighters.

There is no magic pill to solve the pension fund problem. Until time travel is invented, it will be very difficult to renegotiate benefits that were promised in the past.

Some have suggested that the city should seek a bailout from the federal government. Taking federal dollars is still a tax, spread over a larger group of people.

It's wrong to have residents in other states pay for our problem. I'd much rather pay higher local taxes for specific purposes than higher federal taxes that have no purpose.

I don't condemn those who will be voting no in November. Nor do I assume that a no vote is a vote against the police or fire departments, as some have suggested.

If this tax is defeated again, those who vote no should give a reasonable explanation as to why they won't support this tax. They should also present an alternative that will be approved.

Now is not the time for nihilistic expressions of voter distrust.

Ryan Cooper lives in Springfield.

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Tillman to speak about Berlin Heart in Washington - chicagobears

Posted: 26 Oct 2009 09:04 AM PDT

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – When Charles Tillman was asked to speak to some members of the United States Congress about the Berlin Heart, the Bears cornerback didn't hesitate to accept the invitation. A year ago, the revolutionary device kept his infant daughter, Tiana, alive while she awaited a heart transplant that saved her life.

Tillman will travel today to Washington, where he'll speak on Tuesday at a luncheon in a congressional meeting room at the U.S. Capitol Visitor's Center. The event will highlight medical technologies that are helping to lower heath care costs and improve the quality of life for patients with cardiovascular disease.

The presentation is being hosted by the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), the American College of Cardiology and Mended Hearts, a support group that helps heart-disease patients and their families.

Tillman will be one of three speakers. There are expected to be 60-80 people in attendance, including some members of Congress.

"I felt it was my duty to do it," Tillman said. "For everything [Tiana] went through and the other recipients go through, this is the least that I can do. Flying to Washington, staying in a nice hotel and speaking to [lawmakers] is easy considering what they've done."

Tillman had been participating in an OTA practice in June 2008 when Bears coach Lovie Smith pulled him off the field and delivered some alarming news: his newborn daughter was being rushed via helicopter to Children's Memorial Hospital with a serious heart ailment.

A battery of tests revealed that Tiana was suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy, which causes the heart to weaken and enlarge, disabling the heart's pumping system. It's a condition that affects roughly 1 in 100,000 children in the United States.

While awaiting a donor heart, doctors bought more time for Tiana in late July by installing the Berlin Heart, a ventricular assist device that takes over the pumping action of the heart. In performing the eight-hour operation, Children's Memorial became the first hospital in Illinois to use the Berlin Heart.

"The Berlin Heart represents medical technology that potentially can be an option and prolong life for our patients who are in the most dire need of a heart transplant," Dr. Carl L. Backer, surgical director of Heart Transplantation at Children's Memorial, later explained.

The Berlin Heart was first implanted in 1991 and first used in the United States in 2000. It sits outside the chest, with finely calibrated catheters that are placed within the heart and attached to two pumps. The system bypasses the heart by taking blood from inside the heart and pumping it to the lungs and body.

"We knew the Berlin Heart could extend the patient's life significantly, and in this case, it also strengthened the child for transplantation," Dr. Jeffrey G. Gossett, attending physician for the Division of Cardiology at Children's Memorial, later said.

A few days after Tiana received the Berlin Heart, doctors phoned Tillman to inform him that a donor heart had been located. The transplant was performed, and Tiana has thrived. She must take medication for the rest of her life, but she is an otherwise healthy, normal 18-month-old.

"She's loving life," Tillman said. "She's a typical toddler, other than doing the meds. That's for the rest of her life, but I can work with that as long as we've got her."

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Travel and Leisure

Monday, October 26, 2009