Tag: safety issues and practices

White House Security Breaches Fast Facts | CNN Politics

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Here’s a selected list of White House intrusions and security breaches.

The White House grounds include 18 acres of land. That and the adjacent 52-acre Ellipse to the south belong to President’s Park, a national park.

The Secret Service is in charge of White House security.

According to the White House Historical Society, US President Thomas Jefferson was the first to put a fence around the White House. Over the years, the fence has been updated and fortified, with the wrought-iron fences of the 19th century having been replaced in the 1930s by a steel fence with tall bronze spears atop it. Most of the fence is currently about six feet six inches tall, and is undergoing an eight-phase replacement with an approximately 13 foot tall fence which began in July 2019.

Security became especially tighter during World War II. After a truck-bomb attack on the US Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983, low concrete walls were put up around the White House. Bollards – sturdy, vertical posts that can stop vehicles – were added a few years later.

“Security incidents occur frequently,” according to a 2015 House of Representatives report. Data from the Secret Service included in the report show that there were 104 security breaches or attempted breaches between April 2005 and April 15, 2015.

April 13, 1912 – On his second attempt to enter the White House to see President William Howard Taft, Michael Winter makes it several feet inside the front door before being noticed.

September 26, 1963 – Doyle Allen Hicks rams his pickup truck through the gates and drives up to within 25 feet of the North Portico main entrance. When stopped, he tells guards that he must see the president, because communists are taking over his state, North Carolina.

February 17, 1974 – Robert K. Preston, an Army private, steals a helicopter from Fort Meade, Maryland. He hovers over the Washington Monument and White House grounds before leading two state police helicopters on an aerial chase around Maryland and Washington, DC. After more than an hour, Preston heads back to the White House, according to a state police officer. Officers shoot at the helicopter, forcing Preston to land. He reportedly was upset about flunking out of flight school.

February 22, 1974 – Samuel Joseph Byck tries to hijack a Delta passenger jet at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, with the plan to crash it into the White House. He forces his way on to the plane, killing an airport policeman and the copilot. Byck is killed by police before takeoff.

December 25, 1974 – Marshall Fields crashes his automobile through the Northwest Gate and drives it close to the North Portico. He threatens to blow himself up with explosives he has strapped to his body, which later turn out to be flares. After four hours of negotiation, Fields surrenders to officials.

November 26, 1975 – Gerald Gainous Jr. makes his way over the fence, hides for two hours on the grounds undetected and is able to get within five feet of Susan Ford, President Gerald Ford’s daughter. Gainous jumps the fence three more times within the next year.

July 25, 1976 – Chester Plummer Jr. climbs over the White House fence carrying a metal pipe and starts running toward the White House. A guard chases him, yelling at him to stop. When he doesn’t, the guard shoots and kills him. Plummer’s motive is not discovered.

October 1978 – A barefoot man wearing a karate uniform and carrying a Bible with a knife hidden inside, scales the White House fence. He slashes two officers before White House guards are able to subdue him. The suspect, Anthony Henry, reportedly wanted to convince President Jimmy Carter to remove the phrase “In God We Trust” from US currency.

January 20, 1985 – Robert Latta, a meter-reader from Denver, follows the Marine Band into the White House before President Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration ceremony. Latta wanders around the mansion for about 15 minutes before being arrested in the dining room.

September 12, 1994 – A man flying a stolen Cessna plane enters the prohibited airspace around the White House and crashes on the lawn just south of the Executive Mansion. The pilot, identified as Frank Eugene Corder, dies in the crash.

October 29, 1994 – Francisco Martin Duran, armed with a semiautomatic rifle, fires at least 29 rounds at the White House from the sidewalk on Pennsylvania Avenue. Duran is later convicted of attempting to kill President Bill Clinton.

May 23, 1995 – Leland W. Modjeski is shot by the Secret Service after climbing over a security fence and running toward the White House with a handgun that was later determined to be unloaded.

February 7, 2001 – Robert Pickett, an accountant who was fired from the IRS in the 1980s, fires shots outside the White House. Secret Service agents shoot him in the leg after a standoff lasting more than 10 minutes at the White House fence. President George W. Bush was not endangered, White House officials say later.

January 18, 2005 – Lowell Timmers, of Cedar Springs, Michigan, threatens to blow up his van in front on the White House, two days before Bush’s second inauguration, saying he has an explosive substance in the vehicle. The FBI, Secret Service and other authorities evacuate nearby buildings and shut down several blocks. Four hours pass before Timmers, who had demanded that his son-in-law be released from jail, surrenders.

April 9, 2006 – Brian Lee Patterson from New Mexico jumps the White House fence and makes it well inside the grounds before being stopped. It is the fourth time he has jumped the fence.

November 24, 2009 – A publicity-seeking Virginia couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, sneak into a White House dinner. The uninvited guests finesse their way through a security checkpoint staffed by uniformed Secret Service officers, according to congressional testimony by the agency’s director Mark Sullivan. Sullivan apologizes for the breach, saying agents violated protocol by allowing the Salahis to enter without verifying that they were on the guest list.

November 11, 2011 – A gunman fires an assault rifle at the White House, hitting the residential wing of the building at least seven times. Secret Service supervisors fail to recognize the danger, dismissing the gunfire as a gang-related shootout rather than an attack on the White House, according to the Washington Post. Four days later, a housekeeper and a White House usher spot bullet holes in the residence. Five days after the shooting, the gunman, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez is arrested at a Pennsylvania hotel. In 2014, Ortega-Hernandez is sentenced to 25 years in federal prison.

October 3, 2013 – An unarmed woman is shot and killed by a Secret Service agent and a Capitol police officer after she drives toward a security checkpoint near the White House, hits a barricade and speeds away. The woman is a 34-year-old mother battling postpartum depression, according to her sister. Her one-year-old daughter, seated in the back of the car during the chase, is unharmed.

September 11, 2014 – A man wearing Pokemon gear and carrying a plush doll of the character Pikachu makes it over the White House fence and onto the north lawn, where he is apprehended. He is later identified as Jeffrey Grossman.

September 19, 2014 – After jumping the White House fence, 42-year-old Omar Gonzalez, of Copperas Cove, Texas, gets through the North Portico doors with a three-and-a-half-inch folding knife in his pants pocket, according to the Secret Service. In early accounts of the incident, the Secret Service claims the intruder didn’t get past the portico doors. Days later, the Washington Post reveals the man had actually made his way past the front entrance, through the main hall and into the East Room, where he was apprehended.

October 22, 2014 – Dominic Adesanya, 23, of Bel Air, Maryland, jumps the White House fence and barely makes it onto the lawn before he is subdued as he fights off two police dogs, according to the Secret Service. Adesanya, who suffers from mental health problems, had been arrested in a previous White House breach, his father later says.

January 26, 2015 – The Secret Service locks down the White House shortly after 3 a.m. after an officer spots a drone flying above the White House grounds before crashing on the southeast side of the complex. An employee of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, a government entity with mapping and national security duties, later calls the Secret Service and admits that he was operating the drone for fun.

April 19, 2015 – Jerome R. Hunt, of Hayward, California, climbs the fence on the south side of the White House complex while carrying a suspicious package, later deemed harmless, and is cornered by security dogs.

November 26, 2015 – The Secret Service stops a man draped in an American flag after he jumps a White House fence during a Thanksgiving celebration at the executive mansion.

April 1, 2016 – A man tosses a backpack over the north fence and then jumps over, himself, and is immediately arrested. His name is not released to the public.

March 10, 2017 – A man carrying a backpack with mace and a letter for President Donald Trump makes it onto the grounds and roams for more than 15 minutes before he is discovered and arrested by a Secret Service officer near the south entrance. The suspect, identified in court records as Jonathan T. Tran, 26, of California, tells the agency’s officers that he was there to see the president.

March 21, 2017 – Marci Anderson Wahl of Everett, Washington, jumps a fence on the south side but gets stuck. Officers find her hanging by her shoelaces, which were “caught on top of the fence,” according to a police report. Wahl is arrested two more times within the next week, near the Treasury Building and in Lafayette Park.

[ad_2]

Source link

December 10, 2022
China Eastern takes delivery of the world’s first made-in-China C919 jet | CNN Business

[ad_1]

The world’s first C919, a Chinese-made narrowbody jet, was delivered to launch customer China Eastern Airlines

(CEA) in Shanghai on Friday and took off for a 15-minute flight to mark the historic moment.

The plane, a rival to the Airbus

(EADSY) A320neo and Boeing

(BA) 737 MAX single-aisle jet families, is expected to make its maiden commercial flight next spring, according to state-owned Xinhua News Agency.

It was certified for safe operations in September and mass production in November.

The plane, delivered to China Eastern, has 164 seats and was painted with “the world’s first C919” on its side in Chinese and English. Its maiden route will be between Shanghai and the capital Beijing, industry sources have said.

China Eastern said Friday it plans to receive the remaining four of its first batch of C919 orders over the next two years, according to Shanghai’s The Paper, a state-owned newspaper. That compares with earlier plans to get all four next year.

The airline did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

China’s narrowbody jet ambitions intensified over the last few years amid conflicts with the United States from trade to technology that made China increasingly concerned about being overly dependent on Airbus and Boeing.

Commercial Aviation Corp of China (COMAC) is expected to produce around 25 C919s per year by 2030, far lower than the current monthly rates of narrowbody production at its rivals, according to Jefferies analysts.

COMAC did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The C919 currently relies heavily on Western components, including engines and flight control systems, from companies such as GE

(GE), Safran

(SAFRF), and Honeywell International

(HON).

China is trying to raise the proportion of domestic parts in the C919 and an alternative engine called the CJ-1000A is under development.

[ad_2]

Source link

December 8, 2022

Best standing desks of 2022 | CNN Underscored

[ad_1]

Whether you’re a professional, a student or somewhere in between, the “new normal” has meant trading in a proper desk for a work-from-home space. It could be your kitchen tablet, a small hallway turned into an office or even tossing together something in the bedroom. But what about a standing desk or convertor desk? The trend that has taken the professional industry by storm is now readily available — with literally countless options — and could be the perfect solution for working from home.

That’s why we’ve been testing a handful of standing desks for months on end — from assembly to entire days spent on each — to find the best one for you.

Best standing desk

Best standing desk overall

The Branch Adjustable Standing Desk is a near-perfect desk that can handle multiple monitors, dual laptops and a plethora of knickknacks. It’s also incredibly sturdy, with one of the best builds we’ve encountered.

Branch’s standing desk might only come in two sizes and a handful of colors, but it doesn’t corner the product into oblivion. Instead, it keeps a high level of craftsmanship in a standing desk that ultimately rises above the best with seamless motion, a sturdy build and a design that doesn’t distract.

It starts with the desktop — in this case, a 48-inch wide by 30-inch depth particle board laminate. You can also opt for white or a dark walnut finish. Either route, though, you’re stuck with a set of legs in white. What’s especially lovely about the Branch option is that the depth is wider than the average desk. This makes it easy for multiple monitors, a laptop (maybe a tablet as well), a notebook with plenty of room to spare.

Furthermore, the desk’s front edge has a comfortable rounded bevel, making it pleasant to rest your arms on or lean into it without the feeling of a sharp corner jutting into your abdomen. During our testing, spills of water, coffee and never stained the finish, nor did the tabletop scratch. The side edges did peel a bit and showed some scuffs — but from pretty unnatural, heavy bangs.

The Branch also features a metal plate in the center rear of the desk that can either tilt backward or forward to reveal a brush system, through which you can snugly run cables to keep them tidy — and it even kept loose Lightning and USB-C cables from falling through.

While it’s not curved with an ergonomic cutout in the front like our previous overall pick — the ApexDesk Elite Series — we feel the Branch Standing Desk is a better overall package. Setup as a whole took about 20 minutes, and found a drill sped things up a bit. Branch does include all the necessary tools in the box and can be done with ease. The desk comes in two boxes — one with the legs and one that’s the desktop, and the directions were clear and thorough.

Heights range from 25 to 52 inches, and you can make adjustments by the centimeter at most heights. Whether adjusting up or down, the transition was one of the smoothest we tested no matter how heavy the items we had atop the desk. The Branch comes standard with a control switch that’s on the left-hand side that features an LED dot display showing the exact height, an up and a down switch and four presets. Those presets are easy to set and one touch to operate.

The Branch was also one of the sturdiest desks we tested, never rocking side to side or back and forth.

Best customizable standing desk

The Uplift V2-Commercial Standing Desk offers the widest breadth of customization out of any standing desk we’ve encountered, from size to finish to keypads — in addition to being a high-quality desk.

Read our review

Best budget standing desk

The SHW Electric Height-Adjustable Computer Desk is a surprisingly functional, sturdy desk at an incredibly affordable price, comparatively. It was a breeze to assemble, comes with a cable management tray and features a digital keypad with memory presets.

Read our review

	Best standing desk overall	Most customizable standing desk	Best budget standing desk
What we loved about it	The Branch Adjustable Standing Desk is a near-perfect desk — the sturdiest we tested (no matter the height) and one of the most comfortable to belly-up to thanks to its a slightly diagonally cut finish in the front. Setup took just 20 minutes.	We value choice. And with such an investment, we appreciated Uplift’s customizability — from size to finish to keypads — that ensures you’re getting the exact desk you want.	We were surprised by just how sturdy this affordable desk was once assembled, with minimal wobble from front to back and side to side at all heights. The this desk moves smoothly up and down without a hitch. Setup took just 25 minutes.
What we didn’t like about it	While you can choose from several finishes for the desktop, you’re stuck with white legs. Also, the side edges did peel a bit and showed some scuffs — but from pretty unnatural, heavy bangs.	The Uplift was one of the toughest desks to assemble, thanks to and assembly took nearly an hour due to all the parts required. Expect an hour-plus of assembly time.	We should note that the desktop is actually two planks of wood rather than one solid piece as the product photos may lead you to believe. Certainly looks and feels a bit cheaper than the other models highlighted.
Key specs	48-inch wide by 30-inch depth; adjustable from 25 inches to 52 inches high	42-inch wide by 30-inch depth up to 80-inch wide by 30-inch depth; adjustable from 22.6-inches to 48.7-inches high	47.25-inch wide by 24-inch depth; adjustable from Adjustable from 28-inches to 46-inches high
Price	$699	$599+	$209.87

The testing process for these desks lasted nearly two months. We unboxed and assembled each desk, paying special attention to the amount of time each unboxing and building process took. We noted how long it took to put each one together, how clear the product’s instructions were and if any special tools were needed. Once each electric standing desk was fully built, we used it at both sitting and standing heights; desk converters, of course, were used only in standing positions. We used each product for at least three full workdays and carefully noted how each desk performed in terms of ease of adjustments and ergonomics. Overall, we evaluated them on what we considered the most important factors: function, build and length of warranty. After tallying up scores for each product, we also took value into consideration, factoring the starting price of each desk with regard to the features it delivered on, to determine our final winners.

We broke the testing into the following categories and subcategories:

Function

Comfort: We made note of whether the desk provided proper ergonomics at all heights, and, where applicable, in both sitting and standing positions.
Number of different height adjustments: We noted the range of heights the desk was capable of reaching.
Ease of adjustments: We considered how easy it was to adjust the height of the desk, noting how smoothly it was able to move up and down as well as how easy and intuitive the keypad, if there was one, was to operate.
Sturdiness from front to back: We noted how much the desk wobbled, if it all, from front to back.
Sturdiness from side to side: We noted how much the desk wobbled, if it all, from side to side.
Organization: We noted if the desk came standard with any slots/grommets to organize wires, cable management trays, extra outlets. etc.

Build

Build quality: We looked at the quality of the desk’s materials, assessing whether it felt cheap or flimsy, as well as whether the desktop was prone to scratches and/or smudges.
Ease of assembly: We considered the time it took to unbox and fully assemble the desk, how clear the instructions were, if any special tools were necessary as well as if the included tools were efficient in the building process.
Appearance: We assessed the aesthetics of the desk — how it looked in a room/home office, if it was available in different colors and if so, how many.
Size: We noted how much equipment could fit on the desk, how much room it took up and whether it was available in more than one size and if so, how many.

Warranty

We looked into the warranty for each product and noted the length of coverage and what parts were covered.

ApexDesk Elite Series 60” (starting at $599.99)

The ApexDesk Elite Series 60” — our previous pick for best standing desk overall — is a sturdy, gorgeous standing desk available in two desktop sizes, both big enough to accommodate multiple monitors and devices. With a curved front, it’s more comfortable to use in both sitting and standing positions compared with the other standing desks we tried, allowing us to sit closer to the desk. It also comes standard with covered grommets to manage your wires. When we re-tested against the Branch, we found the latter had a sturdier and overall more premium build — and, therefore, more worth your money.

Fully Jarvis EcoTop Standing Desk (starting at $519 for 30×24”; fully.com)

Let it be known that we adored this desk, for myriad reasons. A newer model produced by Fully’s Jarvis line, the EcoTop is the brand’s most eco-friendly design to date, crafted from locally sourced fiber in Oregon that’s a minimum 92% pre-consumer, recycled or recovered, meeting the Eco-Certified Composites (ECC) Sustainability Standard. Beyond this new desktop, it’s identical in build and function to the customer-favorite (and also earth-friendly) Jarvis Fully Bamboo Standing Desk — and it’s easy to see why it’s so beloved. It scored top marks for its range of sitting and standing heights (25.5” to 51.1”, the second largest range of all desks we tested, displayed in increments of 0.1”) as well as its ease of adjustments, with the industry-standard four memory presets being intuitive to program. This desk felt high-quality — according to Fully, it can support upwards of 350 pounds — though a bit more wobbly from side to side at higher heights than our best overall pick. Similar to the Uplift’s warranty, Jarvis desks are covered by an impressive all-inclusive 10-year warranty on all frame components, including motors and electronics, and a five-year warranty on desktop surfaces, excluding normal wear and tear, and damage caused by improper assembly, disassembly or repair.

Ultimately, this desk lost points when it came to assembly. It was one of the most complicated builds of our pool, taking the most time and clocking in at a bit over an hour; particularly we found that the giant allen key, with prongs of equal lengths, made things clumsy to assemble. While the EcoTop features two uncovered grommets at the back corners for your cables, if you’d like to attach cord organizer, you’ll need a power drill to do so, as there are no pre-drilled holes. (We did appreciate that it came packaged with a surge protector, however.) The EcoTop is available in six sizes, and in black and white finishes.

This is a solid desk — and was indeed a solid contender for winner — particularly if you value sustainable, earth-friendly materials.

Vari Electric Standing Desk (starting at $650 for 60”; amazon.com; starting at $695 for 60” models; officedepot.com)

Another one of our favorites, the Vari is a classic electric standing desk, and there’s a reason — well, many reasons — why you may have seen it in myriad office spaces throughout the country as the standing desk du jour. For one, it’s impossibly sturdy, racking up top marks in that category during our testing. And despite its heavyweight build, it was by far the easiest of the non-budget-priced electric standing desks to assemble, taking approximately 20 minutes to do so. The Vari moves up and down smoothly, from a minimum height of 25” to a maximum of 50.2” (the highest maximum height of all desks we tested), and its LED keypad displays increments of 0.1. Programming the four memory presets is easy as pie; we didn’t even need to consult an instruction manual for that. And while there wasn’t much difference among all our standing desks in terms of motor noise, we’d contend that the Vari was noticeably quieter than the others in our pool. It has a five-year warranty for all components.

The Vari Electric Standing Desk is available in two sizes, 60×30”, 48×30” (starting at $550 at Amazon and Office Depot for the latter) as well as five finishes. Really the only place where it lost major points was in the category of organization. It features no grommets to contain wires, but rather a slightly indented back should you want to place it flush against the wall, so you’ll still have space for all your cables to comfortably hang; an additional wire tray is sold separately. (We did appreciate the complimentary bag hook that was included with our shipment.) The Vari came in just one point behind our overall winner, the ApexDesk Elite, so suffice it to say that we would recommend this desk in a heartbeat, so long as you can make do with that caveat.

Readydesk 2 Adjustable Standing Desk ($154.99; amazon.com)

While we were fans of this converter’s artsy, minimalist design, constructed from sustainable birchwood (it just screams “Brooklyn architect,” does it not?), admittedly we can understand how not everyone might be — and how it may not necessarily vibe with your decor scheme. Aesthetics aside, we appreciated how easily this converter assembles: Literally, it took just five minutes to unbox and slot the shelves into the base, no tools necessary. Because of this, it’s a good option for students living in dorms, or anyone else who may be moving around a lot and have minimal desktop space to work with. Disassembling is just as simple if you need to quickly get it out of the way and store it in a corner without taking up much space at all. Despite its lightweight build (it weighs in at less than 15 pounds), we found the Readydesk 2 to be impressively sturdy, both from front to back and side to side. It’s also designed with two keyhole-esque slots on each ledge to manage wires. The product has a one-year warranty free of defects in craftsmanship and material and a generous 100-day free return policy in the US.

It fell short in a few categories, however: It’s available in just one size and color, and doesn’t provide as much room for equipment as other converters in our testing pool did. Its unfinished edges had us worried we might snag the fabric of our sleeve on it (a valid concern among reviewers as well, as we later learned). Because of the lack of grips at the base, depending on the surface beneath it, it could be prone to sliding, although we had no issues in this regard. And, given its unique design, it’s not the most ideal product if two or more people of different heights are sharing use of it, as you have remove the piece of wood and manually move it to a different slot if you’d like to change up the adjustments, which is easy enough, but obviously not as simple as raising or lowering a lever.

Flexispot Standing Desk 48×30” ($249.99; amazon.com)

The Flexispot Standing Desk is another budget-priced standing desk model, similar to the SHW. It’s available in black, white and mahogany finishes, and while it does look quite sleek, and the desktop is indeed one solid piece rather than two narrow pieces assembled side by side, for the same price as our best budget winner, it comes with some noticeable downfalls. For one, the basic model includes a keypad with only an up and down button; the desk has a standing range from 28–47.6”, but in order to know what height you’re standing at (if that’s important to you), you’ll have to tack on another $90 for the “standard” model, which is 55” long and includes a digital LED keypad with memory presets. There’s also a smaller, 42×24” model, for $244.99.

We also noticed significant wobble once fully assembled, mostly from side to side but also from back to front. And on the topic of assembly: this desk arrives in two boxes, both pretty lightweight, but the instructions were confusing at times. A particularly baffling example: One step was to loosen bolts and stretch a rod, but the instructions didn’t specify to what length to stretch it. So we guessed, and when it came time to add the desktop, we had to loosen the bolts once again and then measure it to the correct length. Another step also required backtracking and unscrewing screws from a previous step. This desk comes with a five-year warranty for the frame, motor and other mechanisms, and a two-year warranty for the controller and switch, electronics.

Seville Classics 27.8” Tilting Sit-Stand Height Adjustable Mobile Laptop Computer Desk Cart with Mouse Side Ergonomic Table ($44.99; homedepot.com)

If you’re looking for a simple sit-stand option with enough room for your laptop and a mouse, and a laptop and a mouse alone, this Seville Classics desk is one worth considering. At just a hair under $50, unsurprisingly, you’re not getting a super-sturdy, smart standing desk option — but you are getting a product that gets the job done (the job being: providing the option to stand while at your computer), and on wheels to boot. Assembly was easy enough, as the desk is lightweight, and though the flimsy hexagon key wrench proved a bit difficult to use, we were able to build it in approximately 25 minutes. It comes with a one-year limited warranty.

The desk adjusts from a minimum of 27.9” to a maximum of 40.7”, so if you’re above, say, 5’9”, we can’t imagine you’d find this the most ergonomic product to use. We should also note that the desktop’s tilt is not adjustable, i.e, you cannot position it parallel with the floor, and the manual twist-lock knob can be a bit annoying to use to make adjustments to heights. Bottom line: If you’re on a tight budget and looking for something that’ll allow you to take standing breaks from time to time, this is a perfectly adequate solution. It’s a desk that’s perhaps best suited to students, children, and those with minimal space.

Vivo Height Adjustable 32-Inch Standing Desk Converter (starting at $109.95, originally $119.95; amazon.com)

This Vivo converter was quite similar in both build and function to the Flexispot converter. Assembly required only attaching the keyboard tray to the base, which was simple enough, and adjustment is controlled via lever. It’s a standard desk riser, and we found its sturdiness to rival Flexispot’s as well, but ultimately we didn’t select it as a winner for a few reasons: We took value into consideration, and the Vivo is available only in one size, at a starting price of $119.99, versus Flexispot’s $99.99 for its 31-inch option. (For $159.99, you can snag the Vivo in light wood or white finishes, or dark wood for $179.99.) The width of both the keyboard and desktop are a bit smaller than the Flexispot converter we tested, at 10” and 15.75”, respectively, though it does rise to a maximum height of 19.5,” one inch higher than our winning converter does. It comes with two cable clips to stick to the underside of the product, and it has a three-year warranty. If you’re seeking a finish that isn’t solid black, could make use of another inch of height as a tradeoff for some desktop space, and you’re willing to shell out a bit more cash, we think the Vivo is a fine option.

Ergo Desktop Kangaroo Pro Junior ($399; amazon.com)

This desktop converter is unique in its design, and we appreciated the dual ergonomics at play here: Basically, the desktop work surface and your attached monitor adjust separately, allowing you to customize the setup more so than typically possible with a traditional desk riser. The desktop surface, which measures 24×18” — enough to fit a laptop, or a keyboard and mouse — is adjustable to 14.5” above your desk. You’ll have to mount your monitor, and though it took us a bit to figure out the twist-knob situation in order to adjust our monitor, we no sooner got the hang of it. However, we found the removable stabilization leg to, initially, be quite confusing, and ultimately, a crucial design flaw; while the adjustable rod is meant to provide extra stability to your desktop at all heights, we found it difficult to stay put, and ultimately not a reliable source of stability after all. The Kangaroo Pro Junior does, however, take up minimal space, and if you’re working with a single monitor and a keyboard, we could see why you might be interested in this product.

High Rise Height Adjustable Electric Full Standing Desk DC840B (starting at $499.99, originally $609.99; victortech.com)

The highlight of the Victor Technology’s High Rise standing — available in 4-foot top or 3-foot top versions — features a deep work space paired with various height levels. All of this allowed us to comfortably fit a laptop, phone, papers, water bottle and iPad with space to spare. Made from materials including wood and metal, the build is sturdy no matter the height at which it’s set. Taking less than 20 minutes to assemble, the desk came with tools to put it together and straightforward directions.

There’s a memory function which lets you save four preferable heights — just tap the button and it adjusts to that exact height, ranging between 28.7 to 48 inches. Better yet, for anyone who works around other people, the desk is quiet when moving between heights.

The High Rise does lack additional perks, like desktop customization, options for additional accessories or a curved design like the ApexDesk. The price is very similar to our top-ranked standing desks, but for the same price, many of those desks offer unique features that create an individualized experience for customers, including white board and laminate desktops.

Read more from CNN Underscored’s hands-on testing:

[ad_2]

Source link

November 29, 2022

These fireball-dropping drones are on the frontlines of wildfire prevention | CNN Business

[ad_1]

CNN Business
—

As US wildfires have grown larger and deadlier in recent years, one company is using drones and fire-starting “dragon eggs” to help prevent extreme blazes and save firefighters’ lives.

Drone Amplified, a Nebraska-based startup, is using unmanned aerial technology to improve one of the oldest and most-effective methods of preventing wildfires: prescribed burns. This technique refers to the controlled application of fire by a team of experts to reduce hazardous fuel in areas prone to wildfires. “More prescribed fires mean fewer extreme wildfires,” according to the US Forest Service.

Carrick Detweiler, founder and CEO of Drone Amplified, told CNN that this method works by “doing a very low intensity burn that will basically burn up the dead leaves and sticks that would cause major wildfires when they dry out later in the summer.”

The company was started by two University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineering professors in 2017. In 2020, it was awarded a grant totaling $1 million for research and development from the National Science Foundation and Nebraska Department of Economic Development.

Drone Amplified

“We can reduce these huge wildfires by using more fire, when it’s safe to do so,” Detweiler added.

While the technique of prescribed burns has been around for centuries (and was even used by Indigenous Americans for wildfire management), it can be laborious and risky at times for firefighters carrying it out today.

Firefighters often must hike or ride an all-terrain vehicle through dense forest or mountainous terrain, carrying a drip torch to start small fires in specific, remote locations, according to Detweiler. “Then you have helicopters with a whole crew on board, flying really low and slow over the fire,” he added of other methods for prescribed burns.

“About a quarter of all wildland firefighting fatalities are related to aviation,” Detweiler said. “And for me, this really was a motivation to start Drone Amplified and get these systems into the hands of firefighters.”

While he said a helicopter can cover a larger amount of area than a drone, he notes that firefighters can also deploy “tens or thousands of our systems for the same cost as a helicopter.” A drone from the company costs about $80,000.

Jon Hustead

The drones carry so-called “dragon eggs,” or fireballs that ignite when they land on the ground. “They have potassium permanganate,” Detweiler said of the dragon eggs, adding that when you mix this with glycol it starts a chemical reaction — resulting in a fire. Some 400 of these fireballs can be secured onto a single 50-pound drone.

The drones allow firefighters to work at a distance from flames, according to Detweiler, and in areas that are difficult to reach due to terrain or visibility. Moreover, the firefighting technology can be used, “when it’s dark, when it’s smokey, and when other airplanes can’t be out there.”

The drones, which are controlled by an app, can also allow the fire-starting balls to be dropped in very specific locations. Precision is a critical element when conducting prescribed burns, because it is crucial for preventing fire escapes.

While escapes are rare — the US Forest Service reports just one escape for every thousand burns — the outcomes can be devastating. Two recent controlled burns in New Mexico escaped and led to the state’s largest wildfire on record.

Detweiler said his company’s equipment aims to prevent fire escapes through the use of thermal cameras, visual cameras and other technology that lets firefighters see through smoke.

“Our app also allows the firefighter to put in geofences [boundaries] to prevent any ignitions outside of that area,” he added.

While Drone Amplified is already being used by the US Forest Service and other federal agencies, Detweiler said he hopes to see the technology on the back of every firefighter’s truck in the future.

[ad_2]

Source link

November 19, 2022
Green Day Produce recalls enoki mushroom packages due to possible health risk | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Green Day Produce is recalling its enoki mushroom packages sold between September and October because they could be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes – the bacteria that causes Listeria infections, according to a statement on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website.

The enoki mushrooms, a product of Korea, were packed in 7.05 oz clear plastic and distributed nationwide to distributors and retail stores.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development discovered the potential for contamination after analyzing a retail sample. Although no illnesses have been reported so far, the product is no longer being distributed, the company said in the statement.

Listeria is a serious infection and can sometimes be fatal in young children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems.

Even healthy people can get sick, but with short-term symptoms like high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

An estimated 1,600 people get Listeria infections each year, and about 260 die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Customers who have bought the product are being “urged to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund,” the statement added.

[ad_2]

Source link

November 19, 2022
She left the dangers of Ukraine only to be killed riding a bike close to home. Hundreds will ride in her honor to demand change | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

On Thursday, Dan Langenkamp marked 12 weeks since his wife, Sarah, was killed.

To honor her, Dan and his two young sons do what they do every day at around 4:05 p.m., the time Sarah died: They drop whatever they are working on, gather together, hold hands and talk to her, sharing details about their day. They tell her they love her, they miss her, and they hope she’s proud of them.

Sarah Debbink Langenkamp was killed August 25 while riding her bike on a Bethesda, Maryland, road. She was traveling on the biker’s lane when the driver of a flatbed truck alongside her made a right turn into a parking lot and ran over the 42-year-old, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

“I’ve tried to make sense of what happened to Sarah, and since I started looking into it, I’ve realized this is not a freakish accident,” Dan Langenkamp said. “What happened to her is part of a huge, worsening trend in America of people getting killed in traffic crashes. There’s an epidemic of traffic violence against people walking or biking.”

The accident came just weeks after the couple, both diplomats, moved back to the US after spending roughly a year and a half in Ukraine and later in Poland, on the border. They were part of a small group of US government employees who stayed behind after Russia’s invasion but ultimately made the difficult decision to leave, so they could reunite with their two sons – Oliver, 10 and Axel, 8 – whom they had sent to their grandparents in California when the war first started.

The couple spent a few weeks in Washington DC before moving to Bethesda, where they were eagerly preparing for the start of a new chapter. Sarah enrolled in a master’s degree course and, three days after their move there, attended an open house at her son’s new elementary school. A few minutes before she got on her bike to return home that evening, she called Dan to share her impressions. It was the last call she ever made.

“We’ve lived in dangerous places,” Langenkamp said. “The last thing we expected was that one of us would die or get hurt in Bethesda.”

His anger, Langenkamp said, has been a driving force to push for change in bike safety. A GoFundMe campaign Langenkamp created has raised more than $289,000 to help local and national cycling safety organizations in their efforts to advocate for safer bike routes.

And on Saturday morning, more than 1,500 people are registered to bike to Congress in Sarah’s honor in the 10.5-mile Ride for Your Life event her husband organized.

The group’s requests to lawmakers include funding for the Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program, which was authorized by Congress but not funded and which can help local governments invest in bike lane infrastructure. They’re also asking for more measures around truck safety, including mandating better training and requiring side and front guards on large trucks to prevent people from getting caught underneath.

“I get comfort knowing that, maybe through all of this work, some other mother will ride home safely after riding her bike to work,” Langenkamp said. “And that’s meaningful to me.”

For many advocates, the fight for safer roads has been long and difficult, even amid worsening trends for biker and pedestrian safety. The problems have only been exacerbated by increased driver recklessness during the pandemic and bigger, heavier – and deadlier – vehicles on the roads, said Colin Browne, a spokesperson for the Washington Area Bicyclist Association.

More than 930 cyclists were killed on American roads in 2020, a 9% increase from the prior year, and more than 38,800 were injured, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nearly 80% of fatal bicyclist crashes that year were in urban areas, the agency said. At least 985 cyclists were killed in 2021, a 5% increase from 2020, according to early estimates from the NHTSA. Since 1975, deaths among cyclists 20 or older have nearly quadrupled, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

“It’s a public health crisis,” Browne said. “Even more so because this is, from a technical standpoint, not a challenging problem to solve. The tools and the engineering to make the streets safer to use is out there, it’s tested, it’s proven.”

But creating safer streets for bikers and pedestrians and regulating large vehicles has often proved a politically unpopular move, which has led to slow action from local leaders, he added.

“We could give (funding) to buses and people on bikes and scooters, but we have sort of built an infrastructure that assumes the majority of people will drive,” Browne said.

Anna Irwin will also ride her bike with her 10-year-old daughter on Saturday to honor Sarah’s memory. Irwin founded the Bethesda BIKE Now coalition, a local group created in response to a 2017 decision from local leaders to shut down a popular bike trail which ran through Bethesda during the construction of a rail line.

In these five years, the group has called for the completion of a network of protected bike routes – formed by two major paths – running from one side of Bethesda to the other, while the existing trail remains closed. But progress has been slow, Irwin said.

“Here we are, in 2022, and neither one of the routes is completed,” Irwin said. “They’ve done some work, but in five years they can’t build a protected bike lane to cover two miles of heavily trafficked area?”

The Montgomery County Department of Transportation told CNN it recently completed the first phase of two segments in the network and more bike lanes are either being designed or under construction, adding “we are building them as fast as we can.”

The department is also working with the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration, which controls River Road, where Sarah was killed.

The highway administration said in a statement it is committed to the safety of all highway users but did not answer CNN’s specific questions on bike trail projects, including if there are plans for construction on River Road. The agency last month announced it started construction on another road in North Bethesda, where an 18-year-old cyclist was killed in June and a 17-year-old cyclist was killed in 2019.

“These things could have been prevented,” Irwin said. “We have got to just keep educating people about the need for protected bike lanes. You can’t just paint the road and then expect cars to give us the space that we need. It’s not safe.”

Langenkamp has said his fundraising effort will also help advocate for the state’s transportation department to create a safer bike lane on River Road, where Sarah was killed.

“Such bike lanes – lacking proper barriers, truck/auto driver education, laws, and law enforcement – are only death traps,” Langenkamp wrote on his GoFundMe page.

The fight for change has given Langenkamp purpose in what otherwise has been an unbearable three months. Adjusting to life as a single father hasn’t been easy, he said. Just a few days ago, his son noted he had no clean pants for school, and Langenkamp realized he hadn’t done laundry for a week. He often worries what holidays and Mother’s Day will look like for the children.

Sarah loved their two boys, he said. Even amid a demanding job which took the family all around the world – including to Baghdad, the Ivory Coast and Uganda – she was always able to turn off work and focus on her family, Langenkamp said. While working from Poland during Russia’s war on Ukraine, Sarah flew to California for a weekend over the summer to surprise her oldest son on his birthday. She returned to Europe when the weekend was over. And in the weeks before her return to the US, she wrote heartfelt postcards to her boys, sharing she couldn’t wait until they were reunited.

She was equally incredible at her job, her husband said, adding, “She was everybody’s favorite colleague.”

The two met in their Foreign Service orientation class in 2005 and were married a year later. “She had this quiet confidence, and a very down-to-earth, friendly demeanor that just really made her easy to get along with,” Langenkamp said. “She was the kind of boss that everybody loves. Just really smart.”

And she was never afraid to go to the places where other diplomats were sometimes unwilling to go, telling her husband it was “where we were needed.”

During their time in Ukraine, Sarah headed the US Embassy’s programs on corruption and law enforcement and was responsible for equipping and supplying its national police and border guard. And she was a “critical player” in Ukraine’s defense efforts and helped Ukrainian police and border guard forces receive equipment like helmets and body armor after the invasion, Langenkamp added. After her killing, letters of appreciation poured in from US leaders including President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“She was our guiding light, really, and our moral compass,” Langenkamp said. “It was her judgment that helped us through everything.”

Three months since her death, reminders of Sarah are everywhere around the family’s Bethesda home, Langenkamp said.

There’s a corner – a part of the home Langenkamp refers to as a “shrine” to his wife – where a candle remains lit by her urn, surrounded by pictures of the family, notes Sarah’s sons wrote to their mom after her passing, jewelry she used to wear, cards from family and friends. Nearby, pictures of Sarah are taped right up to the ceiling. “We just try to have her around, everywhere,” her husband said.

There’s also a picture Sarah gifted to her husband at their wedding. It’s a picture of a bike with the words, “Life is a beautiful ride. Dan and Sarah, est. 2006,” the year of their wedding.

“Biking was a thing for us,” he said. “It was a central part of our lives,” a mode of transportation which was “down-to-earth, healthy and environmentally friendly,” Langenkamp added.

Wherever the couple found themselves, they tried to commute by bike when possible, he added. Choosing this fight for safety since his wife’s death was almost like an “impulse,” Langenkamp said.

“If the least I can do to honor her, a person who had so much potential in her life. If we can do a little bit of good as a result of this, I’ll have been consoled slightly,” he said.

“It won’t bring her back,” Langenkamp added. “But at least it will help, a little bit.”

[ad_2]

Source link

November 19, 2022
Western New York slammed with more than 5 feet of snow, triggering road closures and flight cancellations the weekend before Thanksgiving | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

New Yorkers in the western part of the state are still being slammed with a massive snowstorm that has shut down roads, triggered driving bans and canceled flights the weekend before the Thanksgiving holiday.

By Friday evening, 5.5 feet of snow had covered streets in the town of Orchard Park, New York, near Buffalo in hard-hit Erie County, according to the National Weather Service. As the snowfall intensified, two county residents died from cardiac complications related to shoveling and attempting to clear the grounds, said County Executive Mark Poloncarz.

“We send our deepest sympathies and remind all that this snow is very heavy and dangerous,” Poloncarz said.

Forecasters and officials have been sounding the alarm on the life-threatening nature of this snowstorm, which has the potential to be historic even for the Buffalo region where heavy snow is the norm during winter months. And the forceful snowfall is expected to continue through the weekend with little periods of relief.

“Historic snowfall exceeding 4 feet will be possible south of Buffalo, New York. Very cold air will accompany this event with temperatures 20 degrees below normal forecast by the weekend,” the National Weather Service wrote Friday.

See snow building as New York faces historic snowstorm

Areas northeast of Lake Ontario – from central Jefferson County to northern Lewis County – were being inundated with heavy snow late Friday, when the snowfall rate was up to 3 inches per hour, according to the weather service in Buffalo. Places between Watertown and Harrisville were also seeing treacherous conditions.

“Travel will be extremely difficult, if not nearly impossible. … Visibility will be near zero at times with deep snow cover on roads,” the local weather service warned.

Dozens of flights arriving and departing from Buffalo Niagara International Airport were canceled as storm conditions worsened, according to the airport’s website.

A new daily snowfall record of 13.9 inches Saturday was set at the airport, nearly doubling the 7.6 inches seen on the same date in 2014, according to the local weather service. This month is also Buffalo’s third snowiest November, with 29.3 inches recorded for the entire month, the weather service added.

Heavy snow is expected to continue smashing the Buffalo region early Saturday, with some respite Saturday afternoon as the storm moves farther north. A final bout is expected through Saturday evening and into the overnight hours before snow tapers off early Sunday.

The colossal storm has been pounding the region for days, prompting local and state officials to issue states of emergencies to bolster response. But with a storm that big, it only takes one or two vehicles to slow down clearing operations, Poloncarz noted.

“A reminder to all employers: if your business is located in a driving ban area or your employees are currently in a driving ban area, it is illegal to make them come into work,” Poloncarz said online.

The snowstorm, which came with a forecast for the Buffalo region not seen in more than 20 years, has been making travel miserable for many drivers, despite authorities’ emphasis on staying off the roads.

“I can say that our deputies have been just absolutely inundated with calls for service as it pertains to disabled motor vehicles and stranded motorists,” Erie County Undersheriff William J. Cooley said during a news conference Friday night. “We implore the residents to just, please, obey the travel ban, you become part of the problem very quickly when you’re out there on the streets.”

Erie County issued a combination of travel bans and travel advisories that remain in effect as of 9 p.m. Friday, including a travel ban for the southern portion of Buffalo.

“This is an event that has hit the south towns with a vengeance, very hard and all these communities are in a state of emergency at this point,” Poloncarz said.

More than 300 citations were issued to drivers who violated the travel ban, Poloncarz said late Friday.

“Please, do not be the reason that an ambulance cannot get to the hospital,” he said. “There are many vehicles that are not only getting stuck but are just being abandoned by the owners.”

Poloncarz underscored the danger the storm is unleashing in communities, pointing out the impacts of heavy snow that are exacerbated by sheets of ice underneath it.

“There are vehicles stuck on roads who should not be driving. There are even some snow plows getting stuck in the worst parts of the storm. Do not drive if there is a travel ban,” said Poloncarz, adding that most residents have adhered to the ban.

Snow has been falling for an extended period of time at rapid pace, making it difficult for crews to respond.

“In some cases, we are going to far surpass five feet of snow and that’s in a 21-hour period of time,” said Bill Geary, the county’s public works commissioner. “It’s a remarkable amount of time.”

Blasdell, about eight miles from Buffalo, recorded 65 inches as of 8:30 p.m Friday, according to the National Weather Service. Several locations in the region were hit with at least 3 to 4 feet of snow, including Hamburg (51 inches), Elma (48 inches), East Aurora (43.7 inches) and West Seneca (36 inches).

[ad_2]

Source link

November 19, 2022
6 dead after a pair of vintage military aircraft collided at a Texas air show | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Six people are dead after two World War II-era military planes collided in midair and crashed at Dallas Executive Airport during an airshow Saturday afternoon, killing all on board, the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s office said Sunday.

“We can confirm that there are six (fatalities),” a spokesperson for the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s office told CNN in a phone call.

More than 40 fire rescue units responded to the scene after the two vintage planes – a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra – went down during the Wings Over Dallas airshow.

In video footage of the crash that was described by Dallas’ mayor as “heartbreaking,” the planes are seen breaking apart in midair after the collision, then hitting the ground within seconds, before bursting into flames.

Here are the latest developments as investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are due to arrive at the scene Sunday.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the crash took place at around 1:20 p.m. Saturday.

The Allied Pilots Association – the labor union representing American Airlines pilots – has identified two pilot retirees and former union members among those killed in the collision.

Former members Terry Barker and Len Root were crew on the B-17 Flying Fortress during the airshow, the APA said on social media.

“Our hearts go out to their families, friends, and colleagues past and present,” the union said. The APA is offering professional counseling services at their headquarters in Fort Worth following the incident.

The death of Barker, a former city council member for Keller, Texas, was also announced by Keller Mayor Armin Mizani on Sunday morning in a Facebook post.

“Keller is grieving as we have come to learn that husband, father, Army veteran, and former Keller City Councilman Terry Barker was one of the victims of the tragic crash at the Dallas Air Show,” Mizani wrote.

“Terry Barker was beloved by many. He was a friend and someone whose guidance I often sought. Even after retiring from serving on the City Council and flying for American Airlines, his love for community was unmistakable.”

A 30-year plus veteran of the Civil Air Patrol’s Ohio Wing, Maj. Curtis J. Rowe, was also among those killed in the collision, Col. Pete Bowden, the agency’s commander, said on Sunday.

Rowe served in several positions throughout his tenure with the Civil Air Patrol, from safety officer to operations officer, and most recently, he was the Ohio Wing maintenance officer, Bowden said. Rowe’s family was notified of his death Saturday evening, the commander added.

“I reach to find solace in that when great aviators like Curt perish, they do so doing what they loved. Curt touched the lives of thousands of his fellow CAP members, especially the cadets who he flew during orientation flights or taught at Flight Academies and for that, we should be forever grateful,” Bowden wrote in a Facebook post.

“To a great aviator, colleague, and Auxiliary Airman, farewell,” he said.

In a Saturday news conference, Hank Coates, president and CEO of the Commemorative Air Force, an organization which preserves and maintains vintage military aircraft, told reporters that the B-17 “normally has a crew of four to five. That was what was on the aircraft,” while the P-63 is a “single-piloted fighter type aircraft.”

The Commemorative Air Force identified both aircraft as based in Houston.

No spectators or others on the ground were reported injured, although the debris field from the collision includes the Dallas Executive Airport grounds, Highway 67 and a nearby strip mall.

The B-17 was part of the collection of the Commemorative Air Force, nicknamed “Texas Raiders,” and had been kept in a hanger in Conroe, Texas, near Houston.

It was one of about 45 complete surviving examples of the model, only nine of which were airworthy.

The P-63 was even rarer. Some 14 examples are known to survive, four of which in the US were airworthy, including one owned by the Commemorative Air Force.

More than 12,000 B-17s were produced by Boeing, Douglas Aircraft and Lockheed between 1936 and 1945, with nearly 5,000 lost during the war, and most of the rest scrapped by the early 1960s. About 3,300 P-63’s were produced by Bell Aircraft between 1943 and 1945, and were principally used by the Soviet Air Force in World War II.

The FAA was leading the investigation into the air show crash on Saturday, but the NTSB took over the investigation once its team reached the scene, the agency said at a news conference Sunday. The team dispatched by the NTSB consists of technical experts who are regularly sent to plane crash sites to investigate the collision, according to the NTSB.

“Our team methodically and systematically reviews all evidence and considers all potential factors to determine the probable cause, NTSB member Michael Graham said.

Investigators have started securing the audio recordings from the air traffic control tower and conducting interviews of the other formation crews and air show operations, according to Graham.

Neither aircraft was equipped with a flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder, often known as the “black box,” he added.

Investigators surveyed the accident site using both an NTSB drone and a photograph of the scene from the ground to document the area before the wreckage is moved to a secure location, Graham said. A preliminary accident report is expected four to six weeks, but a full investigation may last 12 to 18 months before a final report is released.

Graham appealed to witnesses saying if anyone has any photos or videos of the incident, they should share them with the NTSB.

“They’ll actually be very critical since we don’t have any flight data recorder data or cockpit voice recorders or anything like [those devices],” Graham said. “They’ll be very critical to analyze the collision and also tie that in with the aircraft control recordings to determine why the two aircraft collided and to determine, basically, the how and why this accident happened and then eventually, hopefully, maybe make some safety recommendations to prevent it from happening in the future.”

According to Coates, the individuals flying the aircraft in CAF airshows are volunteers and follow a strict training process. Many of them are airline pilots, retired airline pilots or retired military pilots.

“The maneuvers that they (the aircraft) were going through were not dynamic at all,” Coates noted. “It was what we call ‘Bombers on Parade.”

“This is not about the aircraft. It’s just not,” Coates said. “I can tell you the aircraft are great aircraft, they’re safe. They’re very well-maintained. The pilots are very well-trained. So it’s difficult for me to talk about it, because I know all these people, these are family, and they’re good friends.”

Mayor Johnson said in a tweet after the crash, “As many of you have now seen, we have had a terrible tragedy in our city today during an airshow. Many details remain unknown or unconfirmed at this time.”

“The videos are heartbreaking. Please, say a prayer for the souls who took to the sky to entertain and educate our families today,” Johnson said in a separate tweet.

The Wings Over Dallas event, which was scheduled to run through Sunday, has been canceled, according to the organizer’s website.

[ad_2]

Source link

November 13, 2022
Germany blocks sale of chip factory to China over security fears | CNN Business

[ad_1]

London/Berlin
CNN Business
—

The German government has blocked the sale of one of its semiconductor factories to a Chinese-owned tech company because of security concerns.

Germany’s economic ministry said in a statement that it had prohibited Elmos Semiconductor, which makes chips for the automotive industry, from selling its factory in Dortmund to Silex, a Swedish subsidiary of China’s Sai Microelectronics.

The decision had been taken “because the acquisition would have endangered the public order and safety of Germany,” the ministry said in a statement.

Silex announced in December that it had signed an agreement with Elmos to buy the factory for €85 million ($85.4 million).

Silex did not immediately respond to CNN Business’ request for comment. Elmos said in a statement that both companies regretted the government’s decision.

“The transfer of new micromechanics technologies … from Sweden and significant investments in the Dortmund location would have strengthened semiconductor production in Germany,” Elmos said, adding that it was considering whether to take legal action.

Sia Microelectronics said in a statement Thursday that it “deeply regretted” the decision by the German government. Its shares fell more than 9% in Shenzhen.

“We have to take a close look at company acquisitions when important infrastructure is involved or when there is a risk of technology flowing to acquirers from non-EU countries,” German economy minister Robert Habeck said at a press conference.

He added that the semiconductor industry in Europe, in particular, needed to guard its “technological and economic sovereignty.”

The planned deal had rattled German authorities concerned that Chinese investment in its critical infrastructure could compromise its intellectual property and leave it exposed to political pressure from Beijing.

Similar concerns motivated the German government to intervene in plans by Chinese shipping giant Cosco to buy a 35% stake in the operator of a Hamburg port terminal last month.

Officials limited the planned investment in Hamburger Hafen und Logistik to 24.9%. Several government ministers, including Habeck, has pushed for the deal to be blocked entirely.

The tensions have arisen at a difficult time for the German economy, which is sliding into a recession triggered by the crisis over Russian energy. Germany’s manufacturers and exporters are eager to maintain their close relationship with China.

Only last week, Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the first visit by a G7 leader to Beijing in roughly three years, a trip designed to shore up export markets as Germany’s ties with Russia — once its biggest supplier of natural gas — continue to unravel.

A delegation of top industry CEOs, including the bosses of Volkswagen

(VLKAF), Siemens

(SIEGY) and chemicals giant BASF

(BASFY), traveled with Scholz to Beijing to meet with Chinese business executives.

But Habeck struck a note of caution on Wednesday. Addressing the blocked chip deal, he stressed that “Germany is and will remain an open investment location” but that it was not “naive”.

The visit came just a month after the United States introduced stringent controls on chip exports to China, a move designed to protect its national security and bolster its domestic semiconductor industry.

In early October, the Biden administration banned Chinese firms from buying advanced chips and chip-making equipment without a license.

The rules threaten to strike a huge blow to China’s ambitions to become a tech superpower as they not only bar exports of chips made anywhere in the world using US technology, but also the export of the tools used to make them.

— Laura He contributed reporting.

[ad_2]

Source link

November 12, 2022
5 things to know for Nov. 10: Midterms, Tropical storm, Ukraine, Marijuana, Listeria | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Election officials cautiously went into the midterms this week bracing for the possibility of harassment and hostility at some polling places. Luckily, voting went smoothly across the US – even after two years that election-deniers bragged that they would flood the polls with observers to find fraud.

Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day.

(You can get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.)

Control of Congress remains undetermined as results continue to trickle in from Senate races in Arizona and Nevada. Georgia’s contest is also heading to a runoff on December 6 after neither Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock nor Republican challenger Herschel Walker surpassed the 50% threshold needed to win the race outright. In the House, it could be days until a full picture emerges as votes are still being counted in states like California, Oregon, Nevada and Arizona. Although Republicans are inching toward a slim majority in the House, President Joe Biden called the midterm vote “a good day for democracy” and praised Democrats’ efforts to stave off resounding GOP wins. “While any seat lost is painful… Democrats had a strong night,” he said.

Nicole made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane just south of Vero Beach, Florida, early this morning, packing winds of 75 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. While it has weakened to a tropical storm, Nicole is expected to lash the state with heavy rain and storm surge for the next several hours. Nicole’s colossal path has already caused power outages for nearly 110,000 customers and has prompted the closures of many schools, colleges and universities as well as the cancellation of hundreds of flights and the shuttering of amusement parks. Additionally, some residents evacuated their homes after they were deemed unsafe and at risk of collapse due to the storm’s impact. You can track the storm’s path here.

CNN reporter shows scene in Florida as Nicole weakens after landfall

Russia has ordered its troops to retreat from the key city of Kherson, the only regional capital it has captured since start of its war in Ukraine. This is a dramatic setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Ukrainian forces approach the city from two directions. The withdrawal “demonstrates the courage, the determination, the commitment of Ukrainian armed forces and also the importance of the continued support” of the West, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg told CNN. This comes as a top US general said Russia has suffered more than 100,000 killed and wounded soldiers as a result of the invasion – and Ukraine is probably looking at similar numbers.

Big blow to Putin as Russia orders to withdraw from Kherson

Ballot measures that will legalize marijuana are expected to pass in two states and fail in three others, CNN projects, as momentum has grown nationwide to push for lifting penalties once associated with cannabis. Voters in Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota rejected measures that would have allowed certain amounts of cannabis possession and recreational consumption for people 21 and older. CNN projects Maryland and Missouri will approve measures to legalize recreational marijuana use. In Maryland specifically, individuals who were previously convicted of cannabis possession and intent to distribute will also be able to apply for record expungement. Recreational use of marijuana is currently legal in 19 states – along with Washington, DC.

The CDC issued a warning Wednesday about a deadly listeria outbreak in six states that has been linked to contaminated deli meat and cheese. People at high risk of severe illness from listeria infection – such as pregnant people, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems – should not eat meat or cheese from any deli counter without first reheating it “steaming hot,” the CDC said in a statement. At least one death was reported in Maryland and 16 people have been infected, according to reports from six states. If you have recently purchased deli cheese or meat, the agency recommends a careful cleaning of your refrigerator – and any containers or surfaces the meat or cheese may have touched – with hot, soapy water.

What is listeria?

01:20

– Source:
CNN

Heat shield that could land humans on Mars is heading to space today

NASA said this inflatable heat shield will hitch a ride to space today in the hope that it could eventually assist with human travel to other planets.

Where you can pick up a classic Thanksgiving meal

If you don’t feel like basting a turkey for hours on end this year, check out these restaurant chains and supermarkets that are offering take-out options.

The lottery is preying on the poor, critics say

Many lotto players this week had fun dreaming about the microscopic chance of winning a $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot. Critics, however, are pointing to the flaws of a lottery system they say unfairly targets poor people.

Jennifer Aniston opens up about failed IVF and has ‘zero regrets’

“I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it,” Aniston said. Read about her difficult IVF journey that made her the person she is today.

Popular crypto entrepreneur loses 94% of his wealth in a single day

After Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange, FTX, collapsed this week, Bloomberg said he may find himself off of their billionaires list within days.

12

That’s how many female governors the US will have in 2023, setting a new record for the nation. While the number still represents a small fraction of the top executives across the 50 states, it beats the previous record of nine female governors serving concurrently in 2004, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

“Maybe this is a dumb decision, but we’ll see.”

– Elon Musk, backing his plan to offer blue check marks to Twitter users who agree to pay $8 a month – a strategy that has been marred by uncertainty and abrupt changes. During a Twitter Spaces session on Wednesday, Musk pleaded with advertisers to keep using his platform to “see how things evolve.” Twitter currently appears to be battling a wave of celebrity and corporate impersonators on its platform who have quickly gamed the company’s new paid verification system.

Hurricane Nicole makes landfall as winter strikes Upper Midwest

01:40

– Source:
CNN

Check your local forecast here>>>

iPhone sound effect (acapella)

Human iPhone sound effects

This a cappella group has mastered the art of singing iPhone ringtones and alert chimes! (Click here to view)

[ad_2]

Source link

November 10, 2022
4 dead, including 10-month-old baby girl, in Bronx house fire, NYPD says | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Four people, including a 10-month-old baby girl, were killed in a fire at a home in the Bronx early Sunday morning, the New York Police Department said.

New York Fire Department Assistant Chief Kevin Brennan said firefighters immediately began removing victims from the building after responding to a report of a fire at the residence just after 6 a.m ET.

Two boys, aged 10 and 12, were declared dead at the scene by emergency service workers. The baby girl and a 22-year-old man were rushed to a nearby hospital where they were later pronounced dead, according to the NYPD

Police have not publicly released the identities of those killed and the cause of the fire, which will be determined by the fire marshal, is under investigation, according to the NYPD.

A 21-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man were seriously injured and are currently being treated at an area hospital, police said.

Several firefighters also suffered minor injuries, the FDNY said.

Due to the “heavy fire” on the first and second floor, the incident was upgraded to a second-alarm fire, prompting the response of more than 100 firefighters and EMS personnel, according to the FDNY.

The fire comes months after New York Mayor Eric Adams signed an executive order in March on fire safety, after a separate fatal Bronx apartment building fire left 17 people dead in one of the deadliest fires in the city’s history.

The executive order is designed to enhance fire safety enforcement, outreach efforts to educate New Yorkers, and identify safety violations, Adams announced in a news release at the time.

[ad_2]

Source link

October 30, 2022
2 students injured in school shooting in St. Louis, suspect in custody police say | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Two students were injured in a shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis on Monday morning, according to a tweet from the district, and police report the suspect is in custody.

“Police are on site … following reports of an active shooter and both CVPA and Collegiate are on lockdown,” St. Louis Public Schools tweeted, referring to the adjacent Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience.

The “shooter was quickly stopped by police inside CVPA,” the post said.

The St. Louis Police Metropolitan Police Department reporting the active shooter on Twitter, and about 45 minutes later, tweeted, “At this time, the scene is secure and there is no active threat.”

The high school is a magnet school about 6 miles southwest of downtown.

Students were being evacuated from campus “to safe and secure sites,” the district said. People are being asked to avoid the area, and parents have been informed they can pick up their children at Gateway Stem High School, about a mile and a half north of CVPA.

Word of the shooting comes on the same day Michigan teen Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty to murder charges in a Michigan school shooting last year that left four people dead and seven injured. On November 1, Nikolas Cruz will be sentenced for the February 2018 shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people died.

As the shooting in St. Louis was unfolding, a Michigan prosecutor addressed the nation’s gun violence in the wake of Crumbley’s guilty plea.

“It’s not just about sharing with other departments. Gun violence is preventable. That’s what I’ve learned, and the fact that there is another school shooting does not surprise me – which is horrific,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said. “It is preventable, and we should never, ever allow that to be something we just should have to live with.”

The FBI’s St. Louis field office is assisting local law enforcement in its response to the shooting, spokesperson Rebecca Wu said. The Kansas City, Missouri, field office for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive is assisting as well, spokesperson John Ham said in a statement.

[ad_2]

Source link

October 24, 2022
Iranian security official confirms fire at Evin prison, says situation is under control after social media footage emerges | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

A large, dark plume of smoke was seen billowing near Evin prison in northern Tehran in multiple videos on social media Saturday night.

An Iranian security official said “thugs” set fire to the warehouse of prison clothing, which led to a fire in the prison, Iranian state media IRNA reported. Tehran’s Evin Prison is a notoriously brutal facility where the regime incarcerates political dissidents.

“Now the situation is completely under control and peace is maintained in the prison, and the firemen are extinguishing the fire,” the security official told IRNA.

Activist group 1500tasvir reported that in videos posted on social media, gunshots were heard and Iranian special forces were seen heading to the area where the prison is believed to be located.

The Iranian official said that the “rioters” were separated from other prisoners and the other detainees have returned to their cells, IRNA reported.

CNN cannot independently verify the situation.

Girls and woman have led the nationwide protest movement that has gripped Iran following the death of a young woman in police custody.

In September, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died after she was detained by the country’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly. Iranian authorities have since unleashed a brutal crackdown on demonstrators, who have united around a range of grievances with the country’s authoritarian regime.

Witnesses previously said that Iranian security forces beat, shot and detained students at Tehran’s Sharif University. Last month, nearly two dozen children were killed during the protests, according to a report by Amnesty International.

At least 23 children – some as young as 11 – were killed by security forces in the last 10 days of September alone, the report said.

Earlier this week, an Iranian official also admitted that school students participating in street protests are being detained and taken to psychiatric institutions.

[ad_2]

Source link

October 15, 2022
Bernie Sanders launches Senate probe into Amazon warehouse safety conditions | CNN Business

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday launched a Senate investigation into working and safety conditions at Amazon warehouses, adding to federal scrutiny on the labor practices of one of the country’s largest employers.

Sanders, the chairman of the Senate committee on health, education, labor and pensions, also unveiled a website where Amazon workers can submit stories about their experiences at the company to help inform the investigation.

“The company’s quest for profits at all costs has led to unsafe physical environments, intense pressure to work at unsustainable rates, and inadequate medical attention for tens of thousands of Amazon workers every year,” Sanders wrote in a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announcing the probe.

Over the years, some Amazon workers have described the “grueling” experience of long hours racing around warehouses that can be the size of 28 football fields while the company tracks their every move.

Sanders has been one of Amazon’s most vocal and high-profile antagonists. He has sparred with the company over its labor practices and joined a rally of workers looking to unionize one of its facilities. In 2018, following heavy criticism from Sanders, Amazon announced it was raising its minimum wage for US employees to $15 an hour.

In his letter Tuesday, Sanders argued that Amazon warehouses “are uniquely dangerous,” and cited recent citations from the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration against Amazon.

After inspecting three Amazon warehouse facilities, OSHA issued hazard letters in January related to injury risks from workers lifting packages. An Amazon spokesperson at the time said the company “strongly” disagrees with OSHA’s claims and intends to appeal.

Sanders also cited a report from a group of labor unions that said Amazon’s rate of serious injuries at warehouses was more than double the rate at non-Amazon warehouses, as well as “concerning stories from workers around the country about the toll that working at Amazon warehouses takes on their bodies.” (Amazon said it disputes how the data in the labor unions’ report characterizes serious injury rate.)

Steve Kelly, an Amazon spokesperson, told CNN that the company “reviewed the letter and strongly disagree with Senator Sanders’ assertions.”

“We take the safety and health of our employees very seriously,” Kelly, the Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement. “There will always be ways to improve, but we’re proud of the progress we’ve made which includes a 23% reduction in recordable injuries across our U.S. operations since 2019. We’ve invested more than $1 billion into safety initiatives, projects, and programs in the last four years, and we’ll continue investing and inventing in this area because nothing is more important than our employees’ safety.”

Sanders also has an open invitation to come tour one of its facilities, the company said.

[ad_2]

Source link

April 12, 2021
Secret Service implements tougher penalties after probe finds agents were on phones and missed intruder at national security adviser’s home | CNN Politics

[ad_1]

CNN
—

The US Secret Service implemented tougher disciplinary measures after preliminary findings from an internal investigation found agents missed an intruder at national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s home in part because they were using their personal phones, people briefed on the matter said.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle in recent days ordered increased penalties for employees who violate policies on duty, including the use of personal devices while on the job.

The moves are partly in response to initial findings of an internal investigation following the April incident at Sullivan’s home, when agents on his protective detail failed to see an intruder enter and exit, the sources said.

A law enforcement official familiar with the internal investigation said the agents on duty that night and their supervisors, are likely to be subject to disciplinary action, including an evaluation of whether they can maintain their federal security clearance, a requirement for their positions.

The incident at Sullivan’s home occurred in the early morning hours in late April. Sullivan confronted the intruder inside the home and later told investigators that he believed the person was intoxicated and entered the home by mistake. Sullivan and his family were unharmed.

The internal investigation found the agents were distracted and on their personal phones while on duty and never saw the unidentified intruder, who was later seen on surveillance video entering and exiting the property, a person briefed on the matter said.

Cheatle this week ordered that disciplinary penalties be increased to up to 21-day suspensions, and up to removal for infractions that lead to operational failure. Those include for the use of personal phones or the use of alcohol while on assignments.

“The Director of the Secret Service Kimberly Cheatle issued a clear directive, emphasizing the importance of conduct and behavior in upholding our mission’s excellence,” said agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

“We have zero tolerance for anything that jeopardizes operational success,” he continued. “While human errors may occur, what sets us apart is our unwavering commitment to maintaining very high professional standards and ethics. This includes enhanced penalties for incidents involving alcohol and a strict policy regarding personal cell phone use while on duty.”

[ad_2]

Source link

April 12, 2021
‘There is no universal school safety solution.’ Nashville attack renews debate over how best to protect students | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Semiautomatic gunfire echoed in the hallways of The Covenant School, making a distinct noise teachers there would not soon forget.

That was more than 14 months ago – before three children and three adults were gunned down on Monday in the stately stone school connected to Covenant Presbyterian Church, atop a tree-shrouded hill just south of downtown Nashville.

The active shooter training session ended with live gunfire intended to familiarize school staff with real gunshots if they ever heard them.

“Blanks don’t sound the same. They just don’t,” said security consultant Brink Fidler, whose firm conducted the exercise.

A bullet trap the trainers wheeled around captured the rounds of a semiautomatic pistol and an AR-15-style rifle loaded with real ammunition.

When a handful of teachers heard the very first shot of Monday’s rampage they initially mistook it for the din of ongoing construction at the building.

“But then they said, ‘When we heard a few more after that we all knew because we had heard it before,” said Fidler, a former police officer who did a walk-through of the elementary school with Nashville officials on Wednesday – two days after another massacre in America renewed questions about what schools are doing to protect children and staff against mass murder.

As investigators work to determine the motive for the carnage, students, parents and school leaders across the country are again asking what more can be done to secure schools in the era of active shooter drills, lockdowns and widespread anxiety amid recurring mass shootings.

Fortified school buildings and entrance doors, glass panes coated in bullet-resistant laminate, locked classrooms and heavy surveillance have became a part of life in places where children are supposed to feel inspired to learn.

A funeral service for Evelyn Dieckhaus, 9, the first victim to be laid to rest, was held Friday, which would have been the final school day before Easter break for the 200 or so private school students.

The shooter was a former Covenant School student, who also killed William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs, both 9; Katherine Koonce, the 60-year-old head of the school; Cynthia Peak, a 61-year-old substitute teacher; and Mike Hill, a 61-year-old custodian.

Police fatally shot the 28-year-old attacker – who was armed with an AR-15 military-style rifle, a 9 mm Kel-Tec SUB2000 pistol caliber carbine, and a 9 mm Smith and Wesson M&P Shield EZ 2.0 handgun – inside the school about 14 minutes after the shooter fired through locked glass doors to enter the building.

The AR-15 and 9 mm pistol caliber carbine appeared to have 30-round magazines, according to experts who reviewed photos and video released by police.

Officers were on scene at 10:24 a.m. and fatally shot the attacker three minutes later, police said.

“The shooter, confronted in the second floor lobby, didn’t even have a chance to get to the classrooms,” said CNN analyst Jennifer Mascia, a writer and founding staffer of The Trace, a non-profit focused on gun violence. “That is something that is very reassuring to parents across the country. However, as we see, even a robust police response is not enough.”

The attack was the 19th shooting at an American school or university in 2023 in which at least one person was wounded, according to a CNN count. It was the deadliest since the May attack in Uvalde, Texas, left 21 dead. There have been 42 K-12 school shootings since Uvalde, where the gunman fired 100 or so rounds before police breached a classroom more than an hour later and killed the attacker to end the siege.

Once again, children, their parents and school leaders are left struggling with how to stop and handle mass shootings even though such incidents are rare and schools are still quite safe.

“What a lot of school leaders have learned is don’t react quickly. You’ve got a lot of pressure to do something right away but it’s really better to be thoughtful,” said Michael Dorn, executive director of Safe Havens International, a nonprofit school safety firm that has evaluated security at thousands of schools.

“You should assume that you don’t have a good picture of what really happened and what didn’t. Be very skeptical about claims that this saves lives or people died because of that. In Tennessee no one will have a really accurate picture of what happened there for months.”

Coping with the nightmare scenario of a school shooting is now part of the mission to educate and counsel children.

It’s been 24 years since the Columbine High School mass shooting left 13 people dead in 1999. And more than a decade since a gunman shot his way through glass at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and killed six adults and 20 children.

“We keep repeating the same mistakes because people don’t know what the same mistakes are,” Fidler said. “School resource officers are a great part of the solution. Security laminate – great part of the solution. Cameras – great part of the solution. But if the people in the building don’t know what to do, none of that other stuff means anything.”

Mass shootings have helped fuel a multibillion dollar school security industry in recent years – ranging from high-tech surveillance systems to weapon scanners and hand-held emergency panic devices to immediately alert law enforcement and lock down schools.

“The message is really simple and it has been since before Nashville,” said Ken Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, who was scheduled to speak about school security this weekend at the annual conference of the National School Boards Association in Orlando, Florida. “One of the worst times to make knee jerk policy and administrative actions is after a high profile incident like this when you’re in a highly emotional state.”

Experts said school officials should not give in to political pressures to take steps that are likely to be ineffective and wasteful of limited resources.

“We’ve been in schools where, on the positive side, almost every staff member has a two-way walkie talkie, which is good,” Trump said. “And we’ve been in other schools, sometimes in the same district, where they’re sitting in a charger and the principal says, ‘Well, we have them but I prefer to not use them.’ “

He added, “When security works, it works because of people. When it fails, it fails because of people.”

Dorn said he has been inundated with emails since Monday from companies “I’ve never heard of,” with offers of technology they claim will heighten security in schools.

“The three things that every school leader better pay a lot of attention to is, we have limited time, energy and budget for safety,” Dorn said. “So we can’t afford to waste any of that. We can’t spend our budget or training time on something that we don’t have pretty good evidence actually bears fruit. With the caution that nothing’s going to be 100 percent. This idea that we’re gonna stop all school shootings; there’s just, no country has been able to do that.”

Dorn and others pointed to a 2016 school safety technology report from Johns Hopkins University that found there was insufficient evidence to show devices such as weapons detectors and high-tech alarms and sensors helped curb mass shootings.

“There is no universal school safety solution – no one technology will solve all school safety and security issues,” the researchers wrote. “The sheer number of schools and school districts across the country – with different geography, funding, building construction and layout, demographics, and priorities – make each one different.”

Fidler and others said more resources should be devoted to educating and training students and school staff on recognizing and responding to threats.

“I can’t tell you how many of our school clients still have classroom doors that are not lockable from inside the classroom,” he said.

Referring to training and preparation for catastrophic school events like a mass shooting, Fidler said: “As a society we suck at this – which is terrible, but we do.”

On Wednesday, two days after the massacre, Fidler did a walk-through of the blood-stained school corridors with investigators. “It was hard, man. I’m struggling,” the law enforcement veteran of nearly 20 years said Saturday. “Some of that blood belonged to people I know.”

Fidler found that upon recognizing they were under attack teachers and staff relied on their training.

The shooter fired multiple rounds into several classroom doors but didn’t hit any students inside “because the teachers knew exactly what to do, how to fortify their doors and where to place their children in those rooms,” Fidler said.

“Their ability to execute, literally flawlessly, under that amount of stress while somebody is trying to murder them and their children, that is what made the difference here,” he said.

“These teachers are the reason those kids went home to their families.”

Koonce, the head of the school, had been adamant about training school staff on how to respond during an active shooter situation, Fidler said.

“She understood the severity of the topic and the severity of the teachers needing to have the knowledge of what to do in that situation,” he said.

“Katherine went to find out what was happening” when she was shot, Fidler said. “You know, Katherine Koonce, I could have had a lasso around her waist and she would drag me down the hall. She was going to go find out what’s going on and try and figure out what’s best for her students… She went right to it.”

Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake could not confirm how Koonce died but said, “I do know she was in the hallway by herself. There was a confrontation, I’m sure. You can tell the way she is lying in the hallway.”

Fidler said teachers covered windows. They shut off lights. Unused medical kits sat on desks.

“Countless teachers had their bleeding control kits out, staged and ready to treat people in their classroom,” he recalled.

“The fact that they had the wherewithal to do that. ‘Ok, I’ve got my kids secure. I’ve got the door locked and barricaded.’ And now, as a teacher, to have the wherewithal to remember the last piece, the medical, because we can potentially save a lot of people. They crushed it. They were able to perform under that amount of stress… They were able to recall all this information and put it into practice.”

The six shooting victims were trapped in hallways and killed, Fidler said.

“How many teachers in America could walk into their classroom right now and throw a tourniquet on the table and put that on? How many of them could do it?”

His message for anxious parents: “Ask questions. Find out what your kids’ school is doing or not doing. And don’t stop asking until something’s done.”

[ad_2]

Source link

April 12, 2021

Tag: safety issues and practices

Best standing desk

Other top standing desks we recommend