At an event this afternoon at UT-San Antonio, Mayor Julian Castro
announced a suite of green energy projects that he said would position
San Antonio as the nation’s “recognized leader in clean energy technology”
and help fulfill his aggressive environmental goals.
Most notably, Castro and leaders from CPS Energy, the city-owned utility,
pledged to shut down one of its coal-fired power plants 15 years ahead
of schedule. By 2018, the city would mothball the 871-megawatt J.T. Deely
Power Plant — a bold move in a growing state that’s seemingly addicted
to coal.
Private prisons have no business plan, because the majority of their
“customers” are in danger of not getting locked up.
We don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia.
Spend that tax money on rehabilitation and education instead.
Thomas A. Fanning, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company,
says his company is committed to communities, renewable energy, and
energy efficiency.
So
helping finance municipal refitting and solar projects
should be a natural for Southern Company!
Fanning also emphasized a continued commitment to the communities the
company serves and stressed the need for a national energy policy and
a robust research and development initiative.
“Southern Company keeps customers at the center of every decision
we make,” said Fanning. “We remain committed to providing reliable,
affordable energy for our customers and to do that we need to maintain
a diverse fuel mix as well as stay focused on developing the newest
technologies.”
Referencing a diverse fuel mix, Fanning highlighted the company’s
commitment to nuclear energy, including building the nation’s first new
units in 30 years. He also discussed the importance of preserving coal –
America’s most abundant energy resource – as well as the role of natural
gas, renewable energy and energy efficiency in meeting its customers
energy needs.
“Furthermore, we are the only company in the industry that is doing
it all. We’ve committed more than $20 billion to these efforts,”
Fanning said.
The Department of Community Health (DCH), Healthcare Facility Regulation
Division (HFRD) invites you to attend a Town Hall Meeting on the topic,
“Establishing Meaningful Distinctions for Levels of Care in Licensed
Personal Care Homes, Assisted Living Communities and Nursing Homes”.
The Town Hall Meeting will be held in the DCH Board Room, 5th Floor,
2 Peachtree Street, NW on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 11:30 a.m.
The purpose of this Town Hall Meeting is to provide a forum where
interested consumers, providers, advocates, stakeholders and regulators
may discuss the topic informally. This informal dialogue will assist
the DCH in its development of proposed rules for personal care homes
and assisted living communities as a result of the passage of SB 178
which creates a licensure category called assisted living communities.
Of course, any rules that the DCH ultimately develops would be
taken through an informal rules advisory group process and the public
rule-making process. If you are unable to attend the Town Hall Meeting,
but would like to provide input on this topic, please feel free to send
your input electronically to DCH staff using the following email address:
sedoughe@dhr.state.ga.us.
That web page also includes some questions for which DCH wants public input.
Leigh Touchton, president of the Valdosta-Lowndes NAACP,
says the local and state NAACP are opposed to the biomass plant
because the community that is most affected is the minority community.
She referred to her previous presentation of a letter from
Dr. Robert D. Bullard.
She also brought up an incident with Brad Lofton and recommended
that VLCIA hire an executive director who wouldn’t act like that.
And she said she deals with VSEB all the time:
I’ve taken men through there, I’ve signed them up.
She referred to me when she said that, so what I said before
is appended after the video.
The health of the community is way more important than the job —Leigh Touchton
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 May 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
What I actually recommended regarding VSEB, in response to
a specific request from Leigh Touchton for recommendations,
was maybe schedule a meeting with Roy Copeland to talk about
VSEB and solar job opportunities:Continue reading →
On Friday June 17th, exactly 40 years after President Richard Nixon
declared a “War on Drugs,” Internet activists organizing from the social
news and activism website, Reddit.com, called the White House en masse
to demand an end to the War on Drugs, calling it a “trillion dollar
incarceration machine” with a measurable failure to reduce drug use,
or harm from drug use.
This is also the last vestige of Nixon’s fight against the civil rights and anti-war movements: And if you look at US incarceration rates, it’s been incredibly effective. . .
4,919 Black males per 100,000 population
1,717 Latino males per 100,000 of population
717 White males per 100,000 of population.
South Africa under Apartheid (1993) – 851 Black males per 100,000
That’s right, almost six times as many black males per capita
get locked up in the U.S. than in South Africa under apartheid.
The numbers are even worse for young people and especially young black males,
leading to this summary:
This isn’t a War on Drugs: It’s a Race War; It’s a War on the youth,
likely to protest controversial policies (a war that conveniently takes
away those groups voting rights). It’s a war on the American People,
paid for by the American people, for the American people’s own good.
Yep.
Except a majority of the American people don’t want the “war on drugs”
any more.
It’s time for the laws to change.
I beg to differ with Mr. Pritchard’s opinion regarding “malicious
intent”.
Lowndes County Manager Joe Pritchard says, “I don’t believe through
our investigation, nor through any info we received from the Department
of Ag, are able to indicate any malicious intent.”
Mr. Pritchard should understand that it matters not if this was done
with “malicious intent” or not. “Malicous intent” should be
determined by the investigating criminal agency, not a county manager.
“Malicious Intent” is only important in determining whether the
crime should be filed as a felony, or a misdemeanor.
The law is crystal clear regarding the denial of necessary medical care,
and/or humane euthanasia, for any animal deemed to be in need of such. Any
time a shelter impounds/houses a live animal, the shelter is required,
by law, to afford that animal with humane care – to include necessary
medical care or treatment.
The blogger then goes on to quote Georgia Code, which only brings
in the word “maliciously” for higher fines or imprisonment
for aggravated cruelty to animals.
GALEO (Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials), the leading
Latino organization focused on civic engagement and leadership development
of the Latino community in Georgia, has submitted an Amicus Brief to
ask the federal court to stop implementation of Georgia’s HB87 law. The
brief was filed by the law firm of Rohan Law, P.C. GALEO filed the brief
in an effort to protect constitutional and civil rights of Georgians.
“This law will adversely impact our state by creating a state-law system
for the regulation of immigration and immigration enforcement. This new
scheme by the state is not only unconstitutional but will also encourage
egregious violations of rights of Georgia’s residents and visitors,”
said Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director of GALEO.
GALEO believes that HB87 will disproportionately harm certain communities
of color and would also encourage racial profiling. Enforcement of HB87
cannot be accomplished in a race-neutral fashion. Additionally, there
are serious concerns of local law enforcement officials being unequipped
to enforce HB87.
HB87 also threatens public safety in Georgia. By placing law enforcement
officials in the position to enforce a broken immigration policy, HB87
will instill fear and mistrust in Georgia’s communities of color and
drastically chill the reporting of crime and cooperation in criminal
investigations by minorities. This erosion of trust would undermine
public safety efforts for all Georgians.
Of course, the Georgia plan is to turn it into private safety anyway,
by privatizing prisons for private profit of a few at taxpayer expense.
… has made some courageous and profoundly
important recommendations in a report on how to bring more effective
control over the illicit drug trade. The commission includes the former
presidents or prime ministers of five countries, a former secretary
general of the United Nations, human rights leaders, and business and
government leaders, including Richard Branson, George P. Shultz and Paul
A. Volcker.
The report describes the total failure of the present global antidrug
effort, and in particular America’s “war on drugs,” which was
declared 40 years ago today. It notes that the global consumption of
opiates has increased 34.5 percent, cocaine 27 percent and cannabis 8.5
percent from 1998 to 2008. Its primary recommendations are to substitute
treatment for imprisonment for people who use drugs but do no harm
to others, and to concentrate more coordinated international effort
on combating violent criminal organizations rather than nonviolent,
low-level offenders.
These recommendations are compatible with United States drug policy from
three decades ago. In a message to Congress in 1977, I said the country
should decriminalize the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana,
with a full program of treatment for addicts. I also cautioned against
filling our prisons with young people who were no threat to society, and
summarized by saying: “Penalties against possession of a drug should
not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself.”
Imagine that!
A drug policy meant to address the problem.
At an event this afternoon at UT-San Antonio, Mayor Julian Castro announced a suite of green energy projects that he said would position San Antonio as the nation’s “recognized leader in clean energy technology” and help fulfill his aggressive environmental goals.
