"Gritting teeth, residents await restored power" by David Abel, Globe Staff | December 16, 2008
Four days after one the region's most punishing ice storms in memory ended, hundreds of thousands of increasingly anxious New Englanders remained without electricity yesterday.
And power companies in some areas urged those whose electricity had not yet been restored to brace for a long haul, with some outages expected to last through the week. In Massachusetts, about 95,000 homes and businesses remained in the dark last night....
They are all around me, readers!
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Governor Deval Patrick toured the damage yesterday in Holden and Gardner, conferring with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as well as the governors of New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. President Bush issued an emergency declaration in Maine, joining New Hampshire and nine Massachusetts counties, and directed FEMA to provide relief assistance.
"It's just a mess," Patrick said about parts of Holden during a news conference. "There are trees down, wires down. I saw telephone and electric poles that were just snapped in half, some of them just hanging by what's left of the wire. Most of the debris has now been cleared . . . . The issue now is getting it removed and chipped, and there is some concern now about getting that done before the weather gets bad."
Before the weather gets bad? Whadda ya mean? We got global warming going on, right? (It isn't even winter yet; that starts Dec. 21).
As residents grew increasingly frustrated, he defended the state's response. "I think the response has been thorough, it's been robust," he said. "There are a lot of assets, from here and from elsewhere. But it's going to take a lot of work to get power restored."
Yeah, too bad it's okay to be "flushing . . . millions of dollars away supporting a highly profitable industry" when it comes to $300 million in taxpayer dollars for Hollywood is o.k., even as the price of a school lunch rises; paying $13 million for a computer software system that could have cost less than $3 million is all right because the winner was a close friend of the House speaker, even as my poorer-than-dirt district "has been struggling to close a $2 million budget gap."; the lottery shelling out "millions of dollars" for sports tickets for "lottery officials, their family members, and friends" is fine, even as schools are closing; making interest payments to banks to the tune of "a staggering $22 billion" for the Big Pit, as we call it around here, is required, even as bridges are neglected across the state; and again, paying off banks like UBS, who can "demand repayment of an additional $2 million a month beginning in January" while also receiving a "$179 million payment," while the state pension fund loses $1 billion dollars -- which still didn't stop the executive director from carving himself a nice "$64,000 bonus on top of his $322,000 annual salary."
Oh, and did I not mention the $1 BILLION dollar giveaway to the pharmaceutical corporations, even though "it's never been easy to turn a profit in biotech?" Flush that money away, too, taxpayer. Of course, the war looters were next in line for a handout. And should the state be appropriating money for a "multimillion-dollar reconstruction" of golf courses?
Nor is it RECKLESS to BORROW the STATE INTO OBLIVION so they can PAY INTEREST to BANKS while SITTING ON $2 BILLION DOLLARS!
Need one final insult, Mass. taxpayers?
"Town officials... are trying to decide how much of a property tax break to offer and how they can secure state funding for infrastructure improvements.... although it could take several years for the studio to realize its potential"
Also see: Hollywood, Massachusetts
Hollywood (East) Disses Veterans
More Mass. $$$ to Movie Makers
Sorry, that wasn't it:
"$5m in tax breaks going to IBM for Littleton project
The Massachusetts Economic Assistance Coordinating Council approved $5 million in state and local tax breaks for IBM Corp., which recently began a $63 million expansion in Littleton. IBM vice president Bob McDonald said the company plans to create 42 jobs at the site over the next decade. McDonald said the computer giant, based in Armonk, N.Y., has already begun renovating a building and hopes to move into it next month. McDonald said the tax incentives were important, but the company would have gone forward with the expansion without them. IBM has 4,000 employees in Massachusetts, including about 2,000 in Littleton (Boston Globe October 30 2008)."
Yup, TAX BREAKS IBM didn't even want, but the NEIGHBORS are FREEZING AROUND HERE!!! Local is FULL of STORIES ABOUT IT!!!!
David Graves, a spokesman for National Grid, the state's largest electricity provider, called the damage to the distribution system from Worcester to Western Massachusetts devastating. "It's been decades since our employees have seen damage to this extent," he said. "The damage is to the entire system - utility poles, wires, transformers."
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The number of homes and businesses reported without power rose and fell at various points yesterday as higher temperatures melted ice. Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, which is coordinating cleanup efforts, said he understands residents are upset by the pace of power restoration. "All I can say is we're making every effort to get this done as quickly as possible," he said. "This is a debris disaster and a power disaster. The former is hindering the ability to do the latter."
.... By last night, National Guard officials said they had about 1,500 soldiers on the streets in the state's hardest hit areas. Soldiers patrolled at least 25 communities, including Holden, Gardner, Fitchburg, Leominster, and Blanford.
The TYRANNY is HERE, America!!
Soldiers were also flying reconnaissance missions in Gardner and along the Route 2 corridor to perform aerial assessments. Engineering teams were clearing debris, which helped open about 100 miles of roads in Massachusetts.
The storm struck overnight Thursday and left nearly 1 million homes and businesses in New England without power. In Gardner, where 3,100 homes and businesses lacked power, Mayor Mark P. Hawke called the storm "unprecedented." As a result, he slept in his office the last few days. "It's like camping, but not as fun," he said.
Hawke blamed the deaths of eight people on the storm. "They were mainly cardiac arrests," he said, citing reports from ambulance crews. "I think it could have been because of the lack of power and the cold. My fear is that we'll find more of this as people start going home."
Yup, eight precious souls, maybe more.... what if it were YOUR DAUGHTER or PARENT, folks? How would you feel?
In Templeton, where about 400 homes lacked power, six firefighters taken to a hospital after being overcome by a generator's carbon monoxide were treated and released, said Templeton Fire Chief Thomas Smith.
"We've never seen anything like this before, and I've been here my whole life," said Smith, whose staff helped pump about 75 flooded basements and provide generator power to those with medical issues. "We were prepared to handle this, but there has been just so many things to deal with."
Yeah, like cutting corporations and Hollywood tax dollars!
--more--"
Yup, but I've been fed a steady diet of global-warming stories the last few days.
Not today:
"Powerful storm slams into California
LOS ANGELES - A powerful storm plowed through California yesterday, producing heavy rain that caused a school roof to collapse and forced hundreds to flee their homes in an area devastated by recent wildfires.
That's not going to help Ah-nold's budget woes!
Power failures caused by the weather blacked out about 20,000 homes and businesses around the state. Two traffic deaths were linked to the storm. At higher elevations, heavy snow in a mountain pass east of Los Angeles closed the main route connecting Las Vegas to Southern California. North of the city, the main route to San Francisco was snarled by snow that forced the state Highway Patrol to shepherd motorists over another pass in caravans.
If you are going to San Francisco, you better where some... wool hats?!!
And LIKE CALIFORNIA, like MASSACHUSETTS (think gays and global fart mist, folks)!
Headed my way:
"The Nation's Weather
Wintry weather seemed to conquer virtually the entire nation early Tuesday as cold and snow from the Midwest and West spread to the East and South. A cold front will trigger up to 2 inches of snow over the East and bring much cooler temperatures. Dangerous driving conditions were anticipated as ice accumulates.
In the South, the front will extend through the mid-Atlantic states and into the Southeast. The region was to stay dry, but cooler temperatures were likely. The Northern and Central Plains will see snow showers. A winter storm warning has been issued because this system was expected to trigger up to 5 inches of snow in some areas....
--more--"It is NOT WINTER YET! Ten years ago we were lucky to have white stuff before January, so WTF? Last year it arrived in November and didn't leave until April!
And BURIED on PAGE A4!
"Much of US feels the sting of arctic air mass" by Associated Press | December 16, 2008
What, after squawking the sky is falling?
Temperatures crashed to record lows well below zero yesterday as a huge mass of arctic air blustered southward across the Midwest and West, keeping people indoors and leading some cities to open shelters.
The cold and remnants of the weekend blizzard that accompanied it closed hundreds of schools from the northern Plains into the Great Lakes states. The St. Francis House shelter for the homeless in Sioux Falls, S.D., where yesterday's low was 11 below zero, was a lifesaver, said Richard Byrd.
"I would be probably huddled up right now under a bunch of blankets because this was my only alternative. If it wasn't for the St. Francis house, I'd be in a scary, scary situation," he said. Major highways in northern and western Minnesota and wide areas of North and South Dakota had reopened after Sunday's blizzard dropped as much as 14 inches of snow, but hundreds of schools were closed in the three states.
But we got global warming going on!! Sigh!
Yesterday morning, lows in North Dakota included 25 below zero in Dickinson and Williston, and meteorologists said the wind made it feel like more than 40 below....
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Yesterday's cold was an abrupt change for many areas. Illinois was relatively warm Sunday, with temperatures in the 50s, but yesterday morning's lows were in the single digits across the northern part of the state. Rockford had a low of 3, and 20 mile-per-hour wind made it feel like 18 below zero, the National Weather Service said.
They just never stop.
Hundreds of Illinois schools were closed because of ice-covered roads. More schools were closed in Michigan, where northern sections had blizzard conditions as wind gusting to more than 50 miles per hour caused whiteouts and generated wind chills as low as 30 below zero.
Thermometers read 31 below yesterday in Glasgow, Mont., and the wind chill was 45 below, the weather service said. The Texas Panhandle had lows in the single digits and Goodland, Kan., registered a record of 10 below zero. Even western Washington state had freezing temperatures and Seattle opened severe weather shelters for the homeless.
Other record lows yesterday included 19 below zero in Denver, where the previous Dec. 15 record of minus 6 was set in 1951; and minus 16 at Sidney, Neb. Havre, Mont., registered a record 33 below Sunday, the weather service said. The leading edge of the advancing cold air kicked off snow flurries as far south as central Arizona and the Texas Panhandle.
--more--"
Yup, global warming there, too!!
You KNOW what you can do with your "hot gas of global warming!"
Pffffffffffffffffttttttttt!!!!!
