TYLER, TX (KLTV) -
Emergency crews responded to the scene of a major vehicle accident in South Tyler late Friday afternoon..
The wreck brought southbound traffic to a near-halt in the 4,700 block of Broadway near the intersection of Independence, directly in front of The Broadway Square Mall.
The accident scene was cleared by 5:45 Friday evening.
Copyright 2012 KLTV. All rights reserved.
Article source: http://www.kltv.com/story/16619901/major-accident-slowing-traffic-on-broadway
KDFW-TV
Jan. 20: This aerial photo taken by the Dallas County health department shows what appears to be pig’s blood flowing in a creek close to the Columbia Packing company in Dallas.
A Dallas meat-packing plant cited for allegedly draining pig blood and other contaminants into a nearby creek called the situation “an accident” caused by a “clog in the sewer line.”
Company officials also accused the city of failing to notify them about the so-called “backup” for 41 days, but a letter penned by an attorney for the city of Dallas reveals a slew of alleged health violations at the 90-year-old Columbia Packing Co., including industrial waste such as “hair and fleshings,” blood and plastic gloves being discharged into the wastewater system.
Fox affiliate KDFW-TV reported last week that a criminal investigation is under way at the company after photographs surfaced showing what appeared to be pig blood flowing in nearby Cedar Creek, which feeds directly into the Trinity River.
Investigators from state and federal agencies determined that an unauthorized, underground pipe was draining pig blood into the creek from the back of the slaughterhouse, according to a search warrant obtained by the station.
In a statement released to FoxNews.com on Thursday, the plant acknowledged a complaint about a “discharge of our industrial waste process flow.” The company claims it was notified about the problem on Jan. 19 and “immediately cooperated with officials.”
“We discovered that a clog in the sewer line had caused the flow to backup into an overflow vent pipe in the creek drainage area,” the company said. “We were extremely disappointed that city was aware of the backup for 41 days before notifying us of the problem.” The plant went on to call the incident an “accident” that its owners and employees “deeply regret.”
In response to inquiries on the matter, the city released a letter to FoxNews.com by city attorney Christopher D. Bowers to Amy L. Rickers, a lawyer for the company.
In the letter, dated Jan. 24, Bowers cites several alleged violations of city ordinances that he claims “may create health and safety problems for the employees, neighbors and the general public.”
Bowers states that “runoff and/or washdown water from an animal pen and livestock containment area is being discharged into the stormwater drainage system.” The letter also alleges that pollutants such as “hair and fleshings, whole blood, plastic gloves and other materials” are being released into the wastewater system. Bowers also cites “noxious odors or stenches” from the slaughterhouse as well “as holes, cracks and loose surface materials that are health or safety hazards in the floors, walls or ceilings.”
The letter demands that the company fix the violations before resuming operation.
A member of the public taking pictures of nearby Cedar Creek two months ago noticed a blood-like substance flowing in the water near the plant, according to KDFW-TV. The individual then reportedly notified the Dallas County Health Department, which took its own pictures revealing a dark red color in the water just downstream from the plant.
The creek feeds directly into the 710-mile Trinity River, which the city has been looking to develop for recreational purposes, like fishing and canoeing.
“When you look at these pictures, there’s definitely something wrong with the discoloration,” Zachary Thompson, with the Dallas County Health and Human Services, said of the aerial images in an interview with the station.
On its website, the 90-year-old Columbia Packing boasts about its “top quality pork” and “tender fully-cooked smoked Beef Brisket.”
“We believe that business goes where it is invited and stays where it is well treated,” reads a statement at the top of the company’s site.
FoxNews.com’s Cristina Corbin contributed to this report.
Article source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/27/dallas-meat-packing-plant-cited-for-draining-pig-blood-into-creek-calls-it/
KINGSTON, Ont. — It is trite law that there’s a world of difference between the minor offences of following too closely and leaving the scene of an accident — even one in which people died — and multiple charges of murder.But stripped to the bare bones, this is the stark choice facing jurors in the notorious “honour killing” trial now winding to a close here.After hearing lawyers’ final arguments and instructions on the law from Ontario Superior Court Judge Robert Maranger, the seven women and five men of the jury retired Friday to consider the fate of Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya and their eldest son Hamed.Once a sprawling clan of 10 — one husband, two wives and seven children strong — the family is originally from Afghanistan. They came to Canada in 2007 as business class immigrants after stints in Pakistan, Dubai and Australia, and settled in Montreal.The parents and son are pleading not guilty to four counts each of first-degree murder in the June 2009 drowning deaths of almost half their numbers.Found dead in a submerged black Nissan at the picturesque Kingston Mills locks that morning were Zainab, Sahar and Geeti, respectively 19, 17 and 13, and the 52-year-old woman who was like a second mother to them, Rona Amir Mohammad, Shafia’s other wife.Basically, jurors were left with two radically different versions of what happened and two findings that are poles apart: Tragic car accident, which equals acquittal, or homicide made to look like a crash, which equals conviction and life in prison.To buy the accident theory, jurors first would have to believe that Shafia and Yahya were never at the Kingston Mills scene that night and that as far as the parents knew for a long time, neither had Hamed nor the family Lexus SUV.That’s what the parents, now 58 and 42, have said repeatedly in police interviews and in their lengthy testimony here, though Yahya once briefly acknowledged all three of them had been at the locks that night — then immediately recanted it.To find the two were telling the truth about this, jurors would have to look past dozens of inconsistencies in the parents’ testimony, their collective vagueness on critical aspects of it, the outright lies they admitted telling police and the savage way Shafia in particular spoke about his daughters, just weeks after their deaths, in private conversations wiretapped by Kingston police and played here.But the greatest leap the jurors must make to acquit the trio is that they would have to accept the curious jailhouse “confession” Hamed made to Moosa Hadi, a fellow Afghan and amateur sleuth hired by Shafia on the sly.The 94-page transcript of that three-hour-long interview, conducted Nov. 7, 2009, at the Quinte Detention Centre and recorded by Hadi, is the pillar upon which the trio’s entire defence really rests.It was in this chat that Hamed purportedly admitted for the first time that after the family had arrived at the Kingston East Motel in the wee hours of the morning of June 30, he spotted his sisters and Rona Amir Mohammad heading out for a spin in the Nissan, tried to dissuade them and then decided to tag behind in the Lexus to keep an eye on them.In his haste, he claimed to have followed the Nissan too closely — tailgated, which in Ontario is a Highway Traffic Act offence — and to have tapped it on the bumper when the car came to a sudden stop.Then, he said, as he was out in the dark, inspecting the damage and believing his sisters were about to turn the Nissan around, he heard a splash.After making cursory efforts to see if anyone had survived, Hamed said he then got back into the Lexus and drove away without calling police or anyone else: Thus, failing to stop at the scene of an accident, an offence under the Criminal Code, albeit not one with which he is charged here.And for four-plus months, Hamed said, he kept the terrible secret, even as the family buried their dead.Yahya claimed at trial to have learned of this shocking development only at the trio’s preliminary hearing, and said Hamed should have told them both.Shafia wasn’t asked about his son’s new story while he was in the witness stand.But as the only substantive explanation on record, from any of the three, for the presence of the Lexus at Kingston Mills on the evening of June 29 and early morning of June 30 — it is an incontestable fact it was there — the Moosa Hadi interview is the linchpin of the accident theory.The interview was held at the Quinte jail, in nearby Napanee, where the three were held after their July 22 arrests.By then, Hadi knew that much had to be explained.Now about 30 (like many Afghan men, he gave only the year of his birth, 1982, when he was asked), then a second-year mining engineering student at Queen’s University, he had a natural interest in the case and had followed developments in the news. That August, he said, he read in the local Kingston paper that Peter Kemp, Shafia’s lawyer, was having trouble finding translators to help him communicate with his client.As Kemp put it in a recent interview, “He (Hadi) spoke the language and he was from Kabul.”Up until that point, he said, the only translators he had found were Iranians, and as he told Postmedia News, Shafia, with his Afghan-centric view of the world, had made it crystal clear that, “‘There was no f—ing way I want an Iranian.’”So Hadi was hired, signed a confidentiality agreement with Kemp and David Crowe, who represents Yahya, and soon was off to the jail with Kemp to meet Shafia.He knew immediately, Hadi said, that something was off about the case and that the wrong people were in jail.And when he went for a second visit, without Kemp, the two Afghans struck a secret side deal whereby Hadi would investigate to “find the truth.”For this, [...] Continue Reading…
Article source: http://www.canada.com/news/Shafia+trial+Tragic+accident+homicide+made+look+like+crash/6063456/story.html
Ben Cochran of Hardison Cochran, Attorneys at Law, says compensation may be available for those who suffer injuries such as those listed in the recent Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index.Raleigh, N.C. (PRWEB) January 27, 2012 The new Workplace Safety Index by insurance company Liberty Mutual Group, Inc., shows the heavy financial burden that can result from workplace injuries, North Carolina workers’ compensation lawyer Ben Cochran said today.
According to the Index, the most disabling, non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2009 accounted for a staggering $50.1 billion in direct workers’ compensation costs.
In fact, the top five injury causes – overexertion, fall on same level, fall to lower level, bodily reaction and struck by object – resulted in nearly $36 billion in costs, or 72 percent of the total cost burden, the Index showed.
“Fortunately, our state’s workers’ compensation system provides a way for injured employees to cover their individuals costs, including funds that pay for medical bills and partially compensate for lost wages,” said Cochran, a partner in the Raleigh accident and injury law firm of Hardison Cochran, Attorneys at Law, and a Board Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law.
“However, the rules and regulations governing workers’ compensation claims can be very complex,” said Cochran, whose firm assists injured and ill workers throughout North Carolina, including Raleigh and its surrounding areas.
“That’s why it’s important to work with an attorney who can help navigate your claim through the system and make sure you secure the benefits you need and deserve.”
Liberty Mutual bases its Workplace Safety Index on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Academy of Social Insurance and its own workers’ compensation claims on injuries causing at least six missed days of work.
The 2011 Index is based on labor statistics from 2009 – the most recent year for which data is available. The index ranks injuries by their direct costs.
According to the Index, the five causes of disabling injuries in 2009 were:
Overexertion (injuries from lifting, pushing, pulling, holding, carrying, throwing) — $12.75 billion in direct costs, or 25.4 percent of the total 2009 cost burden
Fall on same level (such as falling from a ladder) – $7.94 billion, 15.8 percent
Fall to lower level (such as falling from a scaffold) — $5.35 billion, 10.7 percent
Bodily reaction (bending, climbing, reaching, standing, sitting, slipping or tripping without falling) — $5.28 billion, 10.5 percent
Struck by object (such as a tool) — $4.64 billion, 9.3 percent.The remaining five injury causes in the top 10 each accounted for less than 5 percent of the total costs of disabling injuries: Highway incidents ($2.18 billion, 4.3 percent); caught in / compressed by ($2.04 billion, 4.1 percent); struck against object ($2.01 billion, 4.0 percent); repetitive motion ($1.97 billion, 3.9 percent); and assault / violent act ($0.59 billion, 1.2 percent).
According to Cochran, a worker who has suffered one of these injuries may be entitled to full compensation for medical expenses and partial compensation for lost weekly wages without having to show that the employer caused the injury.
“Instead, you merely have to show that you were injured while working,” Cochran said. “However, there are important forms that need to be completed, deadlines that must be met and records that are required to be included with any claim.
“When a person is trying to cope with an injury or illness, those matters can be difficult to handle, and disputes may arise with an employer’s insurance company,” Cochran said. “An attorney can take care of those issues, while you focus on your recovery.”
About Hardison Cochran, Attorneys at Law
Hardison Cochran, Attorneys at Law, is a highly respected North Carolina personal injury, workers’ compensation and Social Security disability law firm with offices in Raleigh, Durham, Fayetteville, Dunn, New Bern, Southern Pines and Wilmington. The firm’s practice areas include car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, boating accidents, dog bites, dangerous drugs, defective medical devices, nursing home abuse and negligence and traffic violations. For more information, call the firm toll free at (800) 434-8399 or use the firm’s online contact form.
###
William S. CampbellHardison Cochran(800) 738-0449Email Information
Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-carolina-workers-compensation-lawyer-points-leading-causes-200645935.html
Ben Cochran of Hardison Cochran, Attorneys at Law, says compensation may be available for those who suffer injuries such as those listed in the recent Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index.Raleigh, N.C. (PRWEB) January 27, 2012 The new Workplace Safety Index by insurance company Liberty Mutual Group, Inc., shows the heavy financial burden that can result from workplace injuries, North Carolina workers’ compensation lawyer Ben Cochran said today.
According to the Index, the most disabling, non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2009 accounted for a staggering $50.1 billion in direct workers’ compensation costs.
In fact, the top five injury causes – overexertion, fall on same level, fall to lower level, bodily reaction and struck by object – resulted in nearly $36 billion in costs, or 72 percent of the total cost burden, the Index showed.
“Fortunately, our state’s workers’ compensation system provides a way for injured employees to cover their individuals costs, including funds that pay for medical bills and partially compensate for lost wages,” said Cochran, a partner in the Raleigh accident and injury law firm of Hardison Cochran, Attorneys at Law, and a Board Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law.
“However, the rules and regulations governing workers’ compensation claims can be very complex,” said Cochran, whose firm assists injured and ill workers throughout North Carolina, including Raleigh and its surrounding areas.
“That’s why it’s important to work with an attorney who can help navigate your claim through the system and make sure you secure the benefits you need and deserve.”
Liberty Mutual bases its Workplace Safety Index on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Academy of Social Insurance and its own workers’ compensation claims on injuries causing at least six missed days of work.
The 2011 Index is based on labor statistics from 2009 – the most recent year for which data is available. The index ranks injuries by their direct costs.
According to the Index, the five causes of disabling injuries in 2009 were:
Overexertion (injuries from lifting, pushing, pulling, holding, carrying, throwing) — $12.75 billion in direct costs, or 25.4 percent of the total 2009 cost burden
Fall on same level (such as falling from a ladder) – $7.94 billion, 15.8 percent
Fall to lower level (such as falling from a scaffold) — $5.35 billion, 10.7 percent
Bodily reaction (bending, climbing, reaching, standing, sitting, slipping or tripping without falling) — $5.28 billion, 10.5 percent
Struck by object (such as a tool) — $4.64 billion, 9.3 percent.The remaining five injury causes in the top 10 each accounted for less than 5 percent of the total costs of disabling injuries: Highway incidents ($2.18 billion, 4.3 percent); caught in / compressed by ($2.04 billion, 4.1 percent); struck against object ($2.01 billion, 4.0 percent); repetitive motion ($1.97 billion, 3.9 percent); and assault / violent act ($0.59 billion, 1.2 percent).
According to Cochran, a worker who has suffered one of these injuries may be entitled to full compensation for medical expenses and partial compensation for lost weekly wages without having to show that the employer caused the injury.
“Instead, you merely have to show that you were injured while working,” Cochran said. “However, there are important forms that need to be completed, deadlines that must be met and records that are required to be included with any claim.
“When a person is trying to cope with an injury or illness, those matters can be difficult to handle, and disputes may arise with an employer’s insurance company,” Cochran said. “An attorney can take care of those issues, while you focus on your recovery.”
About Hardison Cochran, Attorneys at Law
Hardison Cochran, Attorneys at Law, is a highly respected North Carolina personal injury, workers’ compensation and Social Security disability law firm with offices in Raleigh, Durham, Fayetteville, Dunn, New Bern, Southern Pines and Wilmington. The firm’s practice areas include car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, boating accidents, dog bites, dangerous drugs, defective medical devices, nursing home abuse and negligence and traffic violations. For more information, call the firm toll free at (800) 434-8399 or use the firm’s online contact form.
###
William S. CampbellHardison Cochran(800) 738-0449Email Information
Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-carolina-workers-compensation-lawyer-points-leading-causes-200645935.html
The Irish Times – Saturday, January 28, 2012MARY CAROLANA DISPUTE over a €212,000 instruction fee approved for a firm of solicitors representing a young boy who secured an €800,000 settlement over serious injuries suffered in a road accident has come before the High Court.The defendants in the accident proceedings claim the appropriate instruction fee is €135,000 and allege parts of the instruction fee claimed by Keane Solicitors, Eyre Square, Galway, in the case of Scott Bourbon, including almost €50,000 for time spent reading medical reports and €18,800 for time spent reading school reports, are excessive.A fee of €70,000 was sought for dealing with 1,069 letters in the action, based on a fee of €66 per letter and an average 20 minutes per letter.Some €14,000 was also sought for about 70 hours spent trying to discourage the injured plaintiff from suicidal thoughts, the court heard.In their detailed opposition to those and other claims, the plaintiff’s solicitors allege the case was alive over a 15-year period and involved very complex issues both here and in the US where Mr Bourbon has lived since 1995, two years after the accident occurred.The president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, has reserved judgment on the challenge, which concluded yesterday.He has been asked to rule whether High Court Taxing Master James Flynn erred in allowing the €212,000 sum to the plaintiff’s solicitors (who had claimed a €242,000 instruction fee). Master Flynn allowed a total bill of costs of about €324,000, including the €212,000 instruction fee, after examining the work of the plaintiff solicitors.The costs row arises from proceedings initiated in 1995 on behalf of Mr Bourbon over serious head and other injuries suffered in a road accident in October 1993 when he was aged seven.
Article source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/851/f/10845/s/1c336b42/l/0L0Sirishtimes0N0Cnewspaper0Cireland0C20A120C0A1280C1224310A8680A470Bhtml/story01.htm
The Irish Times – Saturday, January 28, 2012MARY CAROLANA DISPUTE over a €212,000 instruction fee approved for a firm of solicitors representing a young boy who secured an €800,000 settlement over serious injuries suffered in a road accident has come before the High Court.The defendants in the accident proceedings claim the appropriate instruction fee is €135,000 and allege parts of the instruction fee claimed by Keane Solicitors, Eyre Square, Galway, in the case of Scott Bourbon, including almost €50,000 for time spent reading medical reports and €18,800 for time spent reading school reports, are excessive.A fee of €70,000 was sought for dealing with 1,069 letters in the action, based on a fee of €66 per letter and an average 20 minutes per letter.Some €14,000 was also sought for about 70 hours spent trying to discourage the injured plaintiff from suicidal thoughts, the court heard.In their detailed opposition to those and other claims, the plaintiff’s solicitors allege the case was alive over a 15-year period and involved very complex issues both here and in the US where Mr Bourbon has lived since 1995, two years after the accident occurred.The president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, has reserved judgment on the challenge, which concluded yesterday.He has been asked to rule whether High Court Taxing Master James Flynn erred in allowing the €212,000 sum to the plaintiff’s solicitors (who had claimed a €242,000 instruction fee). Master Flynn allowed a total bill of costs of about €324,000, including the €212,000 instruction fee, after examining the work of the plaintiff solicitors.The costs row arises from proceedings initiated in 1995 on behalf of Mr Bourbon over serious head and other injuries suffered in a road accident in October 1993 when he was aged seven.
Article source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/851/f/10845/s/1c336b42/l/0L0Sirishtimes0N0Cnewspaper0Cireland0C20A120C0A1280C1224310A8680A470Bhtml/story01.htm
By
Gavin AllenLast updated at 12:49 PM on 27th January 2012
A police worker who was paid £120,000 for a bruise suffered on the job is just one instance of huge compensation payouts by police that have totalled £12million.Figures obtained under Freedom of Information requests reveal the vast sum at a time when cuts in the police force has left the lowest number of officers on the beat for decade. The highest single award was made by Hertfordshire Police who paid £550,000 to a civilian police employee who slipped on ice in a car park and broke an elbow, which led to chronic pain syndrome.
Compensation culture: £12million has been paid out by various police forces, with Greater Manchester Police spending the most – £2.5m
Scotland Yard: The Metropolitan Police has paid out a total of £918,575 in compensation since 2006
But the most galling is the £120,516 given to a police worker for a ‘bruise’ by West Midlands Police, which refused to disclose any more details of the incident. FOI requests to the 43 police forces
in England and Wales plus the British Transport Police and Civil Nuclear
Constabulary, showed they had paid £12,109,426 in damages since 2006.
Most claims from 2011 had still not been settled, and four forces did not respond in time, so the true figure could be considerably higher.
The total sum would be enough to put 600 new police on the streets with forces facing 20 per cent budget cuts over five years. PC (POLICE COMPO): THE TOP 10 PAY-OUTS BY FORCE… AND THE CUTS THEY HAVE TO MAKE The highest total amount paid out by any one force was the £2.58m from Greater Manchester Police.But three forces breached the million-pound barrier, with a further two paying out more than half a million.The top 10 total payouts by police forces are ranked below.Greater Manchester SPENT: £2,585,309 CUTTING: 2,900 of its 12,000 staff by 2015 to help save £132.Hertfordshire (pictured below)SPENT £1,204,136 CUTTING: 3,900 staff, making £36m cuts over four years
West Midlands SPENT: £1,106,378 CUTTING: 12,291 staff, facing £126m cuts over four yearsMet Police SPENT: £918,575 CUTTING: 55,400 staff, facing £463m budget deficitNorthumbria SPENT: £619,508 CUTTING: 6,500 staff, facing £57m cuts over three yearsThames Valley SPENT: £459,931 CUTTING: 3,000 staff, facing £12m cutsMerseyside SPENT: £437,164 CUTTING: 6,700 staff, facing £61.5m cuts over five yearsLincolnshire SPENT: £418,583 CUTTING: 2,350 staff, facing £19.7m cuts over three yearsStaffordshire SPENT: £414,219 CUTTING: 4,109 staff, £138m cuts over five yearsWest Mercia SPENT: £343,621 CUTTING: 12,500 staff, facing £34m cuts over four years
The amount spent has been slammed by The Taxpayers Alliance which said police needed to do more to fight ‘questionable claims’. ‘Sadly
the growing compensation culture in this country is partly responsible
for many of these bonkers pay outs,’ spokesman Robert Oxley told
MailOnline.’Police forces should look after
civilian staff in the workplace but also fight questionable claims so
that taxpayers’ money isn’t diverted away from the frontline. ‘Some police officers are more at risk
of injury or accident than those who are deskbound, but many of these
incidents looks trivial and money could be saved by cutting the number
of claims.’
The force that has paid out the most
since 2006 is Greater Manchester Police, which has spent a whopping
£2.58million on compensation for its staff. It is tasked with making
2,900 job cuts by 2015, totaling £124m.Among the more bizarre awards are a
payment of £14,000 to a sergeant in Humberside Police who said that the
buzzer on cell doors had given him tinnitus. There was also a payout of £17,500 by for ‘noise-induced deafness from computer/keyboard’ revealed in the figures. Some money was actually spent on injuries in the line of duty, with £2,052 going to an officer in Bedfordshire who put his hand through a pane of glass while running out of the door to answer a 999 call. But the figures have been revealed at a time when police officer numbers have fallen by more than 6,000 in a year.The total Home Office grant for forces in England and Wales will fall by 20 per cent by 2015.There is now a total of 136,261 officers in England and Wales, a fall of 6,012 – or 4 per cent – on 12 months ago.The biggest falls were in large urban forces. In London, the total fell by 1,267, in Manchester 320 and in the West Midlands nearly 500. However, Surrey police increased officer numbers by nearly 100.
A spokeswoman for Herts Police, which paid out the biggest single claim and the second most overall, said: ‘We would not comment on individual cases as this would not be appropriate. Each case is decided on its own facts and merits.’A West Midlands spokesman refused to divulge further details on the massive bruise payout, but said: ‘Compensation payouts are only made following the assessment of appropriate medical evidence by the in-house legal team, insurers and solicitors who then make a recommendation to the force as to what payment should be made, based on expert knowledge and published case law.’A Merseyside Police spokesperson, said: ‘All personal injury claims received by the Force are thoroughly and robustly investigated. ‘It is regrettable when any officer or staff member within the Force is injured during the performance of their duties.’However MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Office select committee said: ‘Police forces are facing 20 per cent budget cuts. Whilst some serious injuries deserve compensation, I’m alarmed that they continue to be liable for every trip and slip in the workplace.’It would be good if the Prime minister would use this information in his drive to kill off the health and safety culture.’But Ben Priestley, UNISON’s national officer for police staff, defended the payouts. He said: ‘The police do a really important job and it is only right that they are supported if they are injured at work. ‘The sums involved are just 0.01 per cent of the £17 billion budget. ‘This mustn’t be used as a distraction from the huge cuts being made to [...] Continue Reading…
Article source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092578/Police-compensation-payouts-12million-including-120-000-bruise.html?ITO=1490
A tourist bus collided with a parked vehicle in the U.S. Virgin Islands on Friday, injuring 13 cruise ship passengers after it went down an embankment, authorities said.
One female passenger was hospitalized for a hip fracture while 12 others were released after being treated for minor injuries, said Tourist Department spokeswoman Allegra Kean-Moorehead.
The tourists all were passengers of the Serenade of the Seas cruise ship and had been participating in the “Best of St. Thomas and Shopping” excursion, according to a Royal Caribbean statement.
Officials did not release the names or nationalities of the injured passengers.
Police spokeswoman Melody Rames said the group was aboard an open-air “safari bus” when the accident occurred on a steep road near the island’s scenic Beacon Point. She said it was not yet clear what caused the accident.
The ship had had docked in St. Thomas Friday as part of a seven-night cruise.
Article source: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-virgin-islands-tourist-bus-accident-injures-13-15456613
CINCINNATI, Jan. 27 (UPI) — A second-floor deck under construction at a downtown Cincinnati casino site collapsed Friday morning, injuring 13 people.
The accident occurred at 8 a.m. while workers were pouring concrete, WJW-TV, Cincinnati, reported.
Cincinnati Fire Department Chief Dick Braun said a metal beam rising through the section of the building fell, causing the second floor to buckle, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
University Hospital spokeswoman Diana Maria Lara said 10 people were brought to the hospital and evaluated, and although several people have serious injuries, none is considered life-threatening.
“Everyone who was brought in was treated within seconds,” she said.
Fire Department Public Information Officer Jennifer Spieser said two dozen fire trucks and several ambulances were on the scene within an hour of the incident. Workers were sent home and the site was closed for the day.
WJW-TV reported the casino is owned by Rock Gaming, whose casino project in Cleveland had a similar accident last month.
Article source: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/01/27/Cincinnati-building-accident-injures-13/UPI-14491327684318/