Plastic Bag Ban Resumes In New York State Next Month
Share:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) Stock Image.ALBANY – The New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation says that its enforcement of the State’s ban on single-use plastic bags will resume next month.The plastic bag ban, which went into effect on March 1, was not enforced per an agreement between the parties in a lawsuit brought by Poly-Pak Industries, Inc. in New York State Supreme Court, which the verdict in the case was issued on August 20.The ban will now resume October 19.According to DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos, the courts decision is a “victory” for the states efforts to end the usage of plastic bags. “As we have for many months, the DEC is encouraging New Yorkers to make the switch to reusable bags whenever and wherever they shop and to use common-sense precautions to keep reusable bags clean” said Seggos.To help accelerate the movement, the DEC launched the #BYOBagNY (Bring Your Own Bag New York) campaign earlier this year to encourage New Yorkers to go reusable.According to state officials, New Yorkers use an estimated 23 billion plastic bags annually with approximately 85 percent of those bags ending up in landfills, recycling machines, waterways, and streets.In March 2017, Governor Andrew Cuomo created the New York State Plastic Bag Task Force, chaired by Commissioner Seggos. The task force met several times to develop a uniform, comprehensive, and equitable solution to the challenge of plastic bag waste. The final report analyzed the impacts of single-use plastic bags and provided options for legislation that could help develop a statewide solution.Following the passage of the New York State Plastic Bag Waste Reduction Act, a series of meetings were held with industry stakeholders across the state to provide input from the public and guide development of rules and regulations to implement the new law.The DEC is currently conducting extensive outreach to stakeholders including grocery stores, retailers, and others, to provide notice of the start of enforcement and to answer any questions about the bag ban.For more information about the plastic bag ban, reusable bags or to file a complaint about entities using single-use plastic carryout bags, visit the DEC’s website, email plasticbags@dec.ny.gov, or call (518) 402-8706.
I’m not a good surfer. I’m not good at a lot of things, but I’m particularly not good at surfing. I struggle catching waves, it takes me too long to pop up on the board if I do catch a wave and then I can pretty much just turn right. It’s an awkward process that makes me realize that I am indeed in my 40s, not my 20s. And yet, I absolutely love to surf. I don’t care that I’m not good at it. I’m still going to do it as much as possible. I’m like that co-worker you have who insists on going to Wednesday night karaoke even though she can’t do justice to “I Will Survive.”So I drag my family on a week-long surf vacation every year. They think we’re going to the beach to build sandcastles and spend quality time together, but really, we’re going to the beach so I can surf. Sorry, so I can try to surf. We always go to Folly Beach, outside of Charleston because of its laid back vibe and mediocre surf. Mediocre surf is perfect for me. A two-foot mushy beach break is my wheel house. I spend the days surfing as much as possible, hitting the waves in frantic spurts until I’m too tired to stand on the board. Then I exit the ocean a little bloody from getting dragged across the shell-ridden sand. I take a rest and go at it again.I also drink a lot of beer. I’m in the constant search for the perfect beach beer and I spent my vacation cycling through an astonishing array of South Carolina options. I’m happy to say, after knocking back more than a dozen different styles of beer from almost as many breweries, I settled on Charleston Session IPA, from Palmetto Brewing Company. I’ve seen Palmetto’s beers on the shelves in my hometown before, but I’ve largely eschewed them for other options, so this was the first time I had their session IPA. And it blew me away. It’s brewed with wheat, which delivers a creamy texture that’s balanced with Belgian yeast and punchy, citrusy kick from the extensive hop bill. The total package is fruity and crisp with a dry finish, and it’s way sessionable at just 4.2% ABV.Is it the perfect beach beer? Maybe. It was definitely the perfect beach beer for my latest beach vacation, providing a bit of balance to my mediocre surfing. There’s definitely nothing awkward about this beer.
In Sisak, the tender works for the development of the urban-architectural solution of the Interpretation Center Segestika – Siscia were presented to the public.Four works were submitted to the public competition, announced by the City of Sisak, within the prescribed deadline, and the jury declared the work of the group of authors Sara Jurinčić, Aleksandar Matijašević, Dino Mišković and Tatjana Barišić-Antolić the best. As they point out from the city of Sisak, a public tender has been announced in order to obtain a quality and the best urban and architectural solution of the Interpretation Center Segestika-Siscia, which will serve as a basis for obtaining project documentation for the arrangement and reconstruction of the Interpretation Center Segestika-Siscia.”In this way, the City of Sisak will get a unique interpretation center of archaeological heritage, unique throughout Europe, not only because the facility will be energy efficient, but because it will unite all segments, from the site research by the profession to the presentation of the same finding. . Across from the property itself, which will house the interpretation center, is one of the most valuable archaeological sites in the Republic of Croatia. All Sisak archeological treasures have not been sufficiently valorized and presented, and in this way we will solve this injustice. The city will get a new vision and new jobs, experts who will come to our city and research and deal with archeology. I am especially glad that the winning work included the Segestica chimney where there will be a lookout, we will preserve it and make something unique for the City of Sisak. Together with the Ministry of Culture, we will nominate the project for EU funds. ” the mayor of Sisak, Kristina Ikić Baniček, emphasized.The basic vision of the authors of the winning work was to bring the center closer to the users, said a member of the team, Aleksandar Matijašević from Sisak. ”Cour goal was not to make a closed building that does not communicate with the environment but to make more entrances and more independent models of use. A visitor who will come to the center will be able to see the whole building. ” said Matijasevic.The head of the Conservation Department in Sisak, Ivana Miletić Čakširan, pointed out that archeology in Sisak deserved such a project, which, as she said, is unique in that the interpretation will be done in the process of archaeological work.Parts of the city of Sisak were built directly on the ruins of Roman Siscia and prehistoric Segestika, and the archaeological significance and potential is of such scope and stratification that partial presentations were not sufficient in terms of interpretation of the rich archaeological area. Interpretation of the Segestika-Siscia archeological site in the industrial buildings of the Segestica factory complex, located within the Segestika-Siscia archeological zone, will directly interpret the remains of Roman architecture in the Archaeological Park, create a multifunctional archeological center. be open to the general public and tailored to all user groups.
For the needs of the Interpretation Center, the City of Sisak has intended the building of a spirit factory, carbonic acid filling, a building for denaturing spirits and the factory chimney of Segestica, and in this way will valorize that part of the architectural heritage, and together with the Archaeological Park of St. Kvirina is a kind of museum district that will raise the quality of life in that part of Sisak.
The UK’s £2bn (€2.2bn) industry-wide scheme for plumbers has proposed to close to future benefit accrual.The Plumbing & Mechanical Services Industry Pension Scheme launched an employer consultation yesterday, seeking to gather responses by 16 September.The trustee board of the scheme – which caters for more than 35,000 people and 360 businesses – said that, while it had sufficient assets to pay benefits, low expected returns in future could cause contributions to rise “significantly”.Employers’ contributions would increase from 10.6% of salary under the scheme’s “basic scale” to 19.6%, while employees’ payments would rise from 5.3% to 9.8% of salary. Many companies in the plumbing scheme are small businesses, meaning contribution increases could quickly become unaffordable.Under the proposal put to employers by the trustee board, the scheme would close to future accrual “no sooner than 30 June 2019”. The trustees said they had considered other options, including adjusting the balance of contributions or reducing benefits, but rejected these as either unaffordable or resulting in insufficient pensions.The board also decided against introducing a defined contribution (DC) section.“New defined contribution arrangements can be expensive to set up and run,” the trustees said. “This option was not chosen because following investigation it was not considered financially viable for the scheme to operate [a DC section].”Instead, the board indicated that individual employers should make their own arrangements to ensure they comply with auto-enrolment requirements.Any changes must be agreed between the trustees, industry associations and unions before being finalised.The Plumbing & Mechanical Services Industry Pension Scheme has been acting to reduce costs for some time. In September 2017 it completed a £560m insurance buy-in with Legal & General, securing payments for pensioner members.Earlier this year, the UK government relaxed rules for multi-employer schemes to help sponsoring employers avoid crippling payments when they no longer have any staff participating in the arrangement. It followed pressure from politicians representing small plumbing businesses that faced unaffordable payments to settle so-called “section 75 debt”.
The European Commission has named the individuals who will be joining Matti Leppälä, secretary general of PensionsEurope, as members of the Commission’s high level expert group on pensions.Anne-Sophie Parent, secretary general of Age Platform Europe, and Jeanmart Nicolas, head of the personal insurance, general insurance and macroeconomics department of trade body Insurance Europe, are the two other individuals who have been appointed as “representative of a common interest”.PensionsEurope announced Leppälä’s appointment last month, but the names of other members had not yet been revealed.Richard Nicka, vice president of benefits at international chemical company BASF and chairman of the executive board of BASF Pensionskasse, will represent employers on the expert group, which is to provide policy advice to the Commission. Josef Wöss, head of social policy at the labour chamber in Vienna, has been appointed to the group as a representative of the European Trade Union Confederation.Four academics have also been appointed:Nazare Costa Cabral, associate professor at Lisbon School of Law,Boris Majcen, director at the Slovenian Institute for Economic Research,Yves Stevens, law professor at the University of Leuven in Belgium and coordinator of its specialised pension law programme; andConcepcio Patxot Cardoner, professor at the University of BarcelonaThe European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority will also be represented on the expert group.
The fuel will supply LG Electronics production plant making electric car batteries near Wroclaw, Poland. PGNiG recently also secured additional regasification capacity at the facility. The Polish company will deliver the fuel to a temporary mobile installation until the completion of the regasification station scheduled for December 2020. Under the deal, PGNiG said it will supply nearly 19,000 tonnes of LNG via trucks until 2025. Poland’s Swinoujscie terminal receiving its 97th LNG cargo (Image: Polskie LNG) The state-owned company says this is the largest LNG sales contract in its history with the volumes more than two times higher than its previous biggest contract. Poland has significantly increased LNG purchases via its terminal in Swinoujscie following PGNiG deals with Qatargas and US player Cheniere.
PGNiG expects a rise in small-scale industrial LNG use in Poland in the coming years as the use of this fuel not only “guarantees efficient production, but also a positive ecological effect”. LG Chem Wrocław Energy, a Polish unit of the LG Chem group, received a €480 million loan ($541m) from the European Investment Bank for its battery plant construction. Poland’s dominant gas firm and LNG importer PGNiG has signed a deal with South Korean company LG Chem to deliver chilled fuel and build a small regasification station. The company is in charge of all the supplies coming to the only Polish import terminal in Swinoujscie operated by Gaz-System’s unit Polskie LNG. The move is a part of reducing the country’s decades-old reliance on Russian pipeline gas but also cutting dependence on coal.
PsychCentral 23 Dec 2012Adults who had parents who struggled with addiction, unemployment and divorce are 10 times more likely to have been victims of childhood physical abuse, according to a new study from Canadian researchers.The study, which was published in the journal Child: Care, Health & Development, found that more than one-third of adults who grew up in homes where all three risk factors were present reported they had been physically abused by someone close to them while under the age of 18 and still living at home.The study also found that only about 3 percent of those with none of the three risk factors reported they had been physically abused.Approximately 13 percent of those with one risk factor reported childhood physical abuse. The prevalence of abuse was between 8 and 11 percent for those who had experienced parental divorce alone or parental unemployment alone.Abuse increased to between 18 percent and 19 percent for those who experienced parental addictions alone, according to the researchers.But the biggest jump in abuse prevalence was found when these risk factors occurred together. Between 25 and 30 percent of those who had experienced two risk factors reported they had been abused in childhood.Among those with all three risk factors, the prevalence of abuse was between 36 and 41 percent, representing a ten-fold increase from the 3.4 percent reported by those without any of these risk factors, the researchers noted.http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/12/23/parents-toxic-trio-ups-risk-for-childhood-abuse-tenfold/49589.html
Spectator admission will be $15 for adults, $10 for seniors, veterans and students, and free for kids ages 12 and under. Pit passes are $35. Modifieds race for $3,000 to win and a minimum of $250 to start on Thursday, and for $4,000 to win and a minimum of $300 to start on Friday. Both features are 2021 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifying events and will be 50 laps, with four $250 mystery position awards given at halfway. Pit gates open at 4:30 p.m. and the grandstand and bar open at 5 p.m. both days, with hot laps at 6:30 p.m. and racing to follow. BRITT, Iowa – All roads lead to Hancock County Speedway for a pair of the biggest IMCA Modified events of the season, the Aug. 13 Night of 1,000 Stars and Aug. 14 Night of 10,000 Stars. Modified drivers need to register online on My Race Pass. Entry fee is $125 on Thursday and $150 on Friday. Transponders are required and will be available to rent. IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars and Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods race for $1,000 to win and IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks and Mach-1 Sport Compacts are also on the card both nights. The track website is www.hancockcountyspeedway.com.
Rock-bottom Villa are now nine points behind fellow strugglers Norwich and go to Carrow Road on Monday. They remain winless in the league since the opening day of the season – a club record run of 17 games – and boss Remi Garde admitted this result represented two points dropped. He said: ” When you look at the game I think we deserved more points, but West Ham defended very well. We knew that because they’d had three clean sheets in a row. “The feeling is frustration more than anything else, because when you play like we played we gave 100 per cent and deserved more than that. “If you add the last 45 minutes at Newcastle it’s now a long time we’ve played good football without being rewarded with goals. It’s a little bit frustrating, but the way we put them under pressure was a very nice feeling. I’m disappointed for the players.” The centre-back signed a new two-and-a-half year contract on Thursday and was his side’s outstanding player in Boxing Day’s 1-1 draw. Collins cleared Alan Hutton’s header off the line in the second half as the Hammers hung on for a point – their fifth straight Barclays Premier League draw. Aaron Cresswell had fired them ahead only for Jordan Ayew’s penalty to level, but Bilic believes Collins, who re-joined West Ham from Villa in 2012, showed why he deserved a new deal. He said: “He was again outstanding. He is in good form. It’s not just today, it’s ever since I came here. At the beginning he didn’t play a lot, but every time he’s played he is not only reliable, he has been magnificent. It’s great to have him. We decided to offer him a new contract way before and he deserves it. “He’s a good player and I watch him in training every day and he’s good on the ball. It’s not just kicking the ball around. His presence is a very dominant one. “I wouldn’t call those players old-fashioned, he’s just a really good centre-half.” But the Hammers chief was unhappy at Mike Dean’s decision to give Villa a penalty after Rudy Gestede went down under Angelo Ogbonna’s 62nd-minute challenge. Bilic also felt the Hammers should have had two spot-kicks of their own for handballs against Leandro Bacuna and Ashley Westwood. “I’m West Ham manager and I’m not objective, but I’m trying to be,” said Bilic. “When it happened I saw Ogbonna in front of Gestede and Gestede came in front not because he was quicker, but because he pulled his shirt. It was long enough for the referee to notice. “After that we had a couple of situations with handballs which, considering that penalty, these ones should have been given to us.” Press Association Boss Slaven Bilic hailed James Collins after the defender celebrated a new deal to help earn West Ham a point at Aston Villa. 
USC’s child care services provider, Children’s Creative Learning Center, ended its relationship with the University this summer, leaving families at both the University Park and Health Sciences campuses at risk of not having a nearby child care provider.CCLC Vice President Sharon Lytwynec announced the move in an email to parents, citing divisions between families and the center.“I’ve learned that a partnership with all families — even when there are disagreements — is critical to the success of any center,” Lytwynec wrote. “Without parents’ trust, we simply cannot provide the type of education, care or healthy environment that children deserve.”The decision came fewer than three weeks after CCLC employees at the UPC location voted to unionize under the Service Employees International Union Local 99 group, which represents education workers throughout Southern California. They became the first group of workers under CCLC’s parent company, Kindercare, to unionize.In a letter to parents, Provost Michael Quick and Senior Vice President for Administration Todd Dickey explained the reasons behind CCLC’s decision.“CCLC tells us that their decision was due in large part to recent adversarial interactions with some parents at the University Park location that have eroded CCLC’s ability to meet their commitments to USC,” Quick and Dickey wrote. “They feel that there have been unreasonable demands put forward by parents, as well as intimidating behavior directed toward CCLC staff.”The announcements by USC and CCLC did not elaborate on the specific behavior that prompted the closure of the child care centers. Neither USC nor CCLC responded to requests for comment. However, many parents and teachers feel that the closure was intended to punish unionized workers.“Parents are angry,” Terry Carter, a spokesperson for SEIU Local 99, wrote in an email to the Daily Trojan. “They feel that their children are being used as pawns by the company to get back at teachers and even parents for speaking up about critical health, safety and staffing issues.”Teachers decided to unionize in response to poor working conditions such as low teacher-to-student ratios, unfair treatment and safety hazards, according to Gina Sandoval, a teacher at the center. At the child care center, which provides for children as young as six weeks old, parents found maggots in a trash can and earlier this month, the center was broken into because it had no security system.When teachers informed CCLC’s parent company Kindercare of their decision to unionize, administrators initially seemed responsive to teachers’ concerns. However, they remained resistant to the proposed union and hired “union-avoidance” firm Cruz and Associates to persuade teachers not to unionize, according to Carter.Despite those efforts, teachers successfully voted to unionize in late May with the support of many parents, who shared teachers’ concerns about the state of the center, and had previously sent a letter of no confidence to CCLC administrators.“It’s really important to me because of how wonderful the teachers are at USC daycare, how hard they have worked across the board, that their rights as workers and their rights to unionize should be respected and upheld by employers and people who have contracts that pertain to those workers,” said Joshua Goldstein, a UPC parent.Sandoval, who led the unionization effort, believes that Kindercare made an example out of the center to avoid similar union efforts at its other child care centers. She recalled a teacher from another district who had said in a union meeting that other Kindercare centers were facing similar struggles, which made her think the UPC unionization could be the start of a national movement.“If I was working in another Kindercare center and I heard about this center being unionized, and there were bad things happening in my center, I would gather up my teachers and say, ‘If they can do it, we can do it too,’” Sandoval said. “It’s pretty scary for Kindercare to hear that.”The UPC and HSC child care centers are currently still open, as Kindercare has not yet announced when it will officially cease its operations at USC. In the interim, families are left unsure of whether they will need to seek outside child care services, and the center’s 31 teachers do not know yet if they will need to look for new jobs.“Employees are also feeling very discouraged,” Carter wrote. “They risked standing up to the boss to bring urgently necessary improvements for the kids and families. They have said repeatedly that their struggle to form a union was never about making more money. It was about having a voice.”USC has begun the process of searching for a new child care provider to minimize the repercussions for families. Teachers and parents remain optimistic that the new operator will allow teachers to continue working at the center, and that the change will present new possibilities for USC.“I would love to see USC take a big stand — use the awesome research it has at its fingertips to create a model early childhood education center that removes financial barriers to early childhood education and allows all of our children an awesome learning environment,” UPC parent Johanna Maska wrote in an email to the Daily Trojan. “USC has an opportunity here — and I’d love to see them take it.”