Firefighting experts and senior scientists tell Background Briefing they're concerned the Federal Government is refusing to guarantee funding for the only national research body for bushfires beyond 2021.

Farmers say the Queensland Government's decision to axe "vital" transport subsidies will take a further mental toll on already struggling graziers who have relied on the funding during severe drought periods.

(United States First Circuit) - Vacated an order denying a request by Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) bondholders for relief from an automatic stay. The bondholders argued that a statute enacted by Congress to address Puerto Rico's financial crisis did not preclude them from obtaining relief so that they could petition another court to place PREPA into receivership. Agreeing, the First Circuit held that the district court erred in concluding otherwise.

(California Court of Appeal) - Reversed. The proper scope of judicial review of a school district’s decision is an independent judicial review. Such a review requires a hearing and making specific factual findings. The appeals court remanded for reconsideration of the writ petition under correct standards.

(California Court of Appeal) - Remanded for a redetermination of whether an arbitration agreement covered a dispute between a school and a consulting firm. Reversed an order denying arbitration.

Denver International Airport has allowed airlines ailing from the coronavirus pandemic to put off three months of rent and landing fees worth about $60 million, officials said Thursday as they outlined ways DIA is tightening its own belt.

(United States First Circuit) - Vacated an order denying a request by Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) bondholders for relief from an automatic stay. The bondholders argued that a statute enacted by Congress to address Puerto Rico's financial crisis did not preclude them from obtaining relief so that they could petition another court to place PREPA into receivership. Agreeing, the First Circuit held that the district court erred in concluding otherwise.

In 44 seasons as Eaton's head coach from 1972 to 2015, Danley was 807-163-2, a Colorado-best for wins and tied for the nation's top prep winning percentage (83.1%).

Host Regina Hall gives a sneak peek at her creative process.

He's rumored to be expecting a baby with Milan Harris.

Host Regina Hall gives a sneak peek at her creative process.

Black Youngsta shows us how he's stuntin' on the haters.

The former Knicks player could save millions of lives.

The 36 member squad making up the Bermuda Men’s National Rugby team continue to put in the work as they prepare for the upcoming Caribbean Cup match at the National Sports Center against Guadeloupe. Bermuda take on Guadeloupe in the Rugby Americas North Championship Final. Under the guidance of head coach Jamie Barnwell, the players […] (Click to read the full article)

Ocean Rock Wellness will be hosting a free online webinar titled ‘The Art of Meal Prep’ on Tuesday, January 21 at 12.00pm to encourage individuals to make small changes in their diet. A spokesperson said, “Ocean Rock Wellness is hosting a free online webinar ‘The Art of Meal Prep’ to encourage individuals to make small […] (Click to read the full article)

While there have been no cases of COVID-19 identified in Bermuda, the spread of it “across the globe highlights that it is highly infectious and therefore it will remain a threat to Bermuda in the foreseeable future,” Minister of Health Kim Wilson said. Speaking in the House of Assembly today [Feb 28] Minister Wilson said, […] (Click to read the full article)

“The Government is taking proactive steps to effectively respond to this global outbreak,” Minister of Health Kim Wilson said in the House of Assembly today [March 11]. The Minister said, “Hand sanitizers have been ordered, which will contribute to the essential hand hygiene needed to protect ourselves and prevent spread. Though we have to remember, […] (Click to read the full article)

In light of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the Bermuda Housing Trust [BHT] is taking steps to protect their 194 tenants living in five properties located across Bermuda. A spokesperson said, “At the Bermuda Housing Trust [BHT], we are constantly monitoring the risk that Covid-19 might represent to the 194 tenants living in our five properties […] (Click to read the full article)

Bernews hosted a News & Views panel discussion today [Oct 11], with Bermuda Fire & Rescue Service Divisional Officer Mark Taylor and Royal Bermuda Regiment Major Dwight Robinson discussing various aspects related to preparing for the approach of a hurricane and how their services respond during and after a storm. Strong winds swept across the […] (Click to read the full article)

TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Report 106: Being Prepared for IROPS: A Business-Planning and Decision-Making Approach describes a process to help justify airport planning, and funding decisions (capital, and operations and maintenance) related to supporting irregular operations (IROPS) contingency planning. The report presents a structured approach to quantifying the lifecycle economic value of proposed IROPS mitigation alternatives through a spreadsheet-based business-planning and dec...

TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Research Report 191: A Primer to Prepare for the Connected Airport and the Internet of Things introduces the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) within the airport environment to leverage current and emerging technologies. IoT can be used to provide information and services to airport passengers with current and evolving technologies. Airports, airlines, and other stakeholders can use these innovative technologies and data to enhance the user exp...

TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Research Report 163: Guidebook for Preparing and Using Airport Design Day Flight Schedules explores the preparation and use of airport design day flight schedules (DDFS) for operations, planning, and development. The guidebook is geared towards airport leaders to help provide an understanding of DDFS and their uses, and provides detailed information for airport staff and consultants on how to prepare one.

The PHP development team announces the immediate availability of PHP 7.2.30. This is a security release.All PHP 7.2 users are encouraged to upgrade to this version.For source downloads of PHP 7.2.30 please visit our downloads page, Windows source and binaries can be found on windows.php.net/download/. The list of changes is recorded in the ChangeLog.

Apple in mid-April reopened Apple Garosugil, its lone store in South Korea, located in the Seoul's Gangnam District.


Apple's South Korea reopening has served as a test ground for further store reopenings, and Apple created an instructional video on reopening practices that's now being shared with other retail employees around the world as they prepare to reopen stores. We're not able to share the video, but it provides a good overview of the measures Apple is putting in place to safely operate retail locations.

Retail employees are following a strict set of guidelines that very heavily emphasize social distancing of two meters (or six feet in the United States). Apple is taking the following measures:

• Prior to when work starts, all employees undergo a health screening complete with a temperature check, with the results logged in a daily spreadsheet.


• Daily briefings are done in the mornings in the Forum area at Apple Stores, with employees making sure to sit at least two meters apart.


• Prior to being allowed in the store, customers are also given a temperature check.


• All ‌Apple Stores‌ are providing hand sanitizer, which customers are encouraged to use.


• Stores are limiting the number of people inside, forming lines with customers waiting at least two meters apart.


• Products purchased by customers or returned after repair are delivered from the back in a relay system, being handed off from employee to employee to allow each person to stay in a separated zone without back and forth.


• Product specialists and Genius Bar staff are positioning themselves across tables away from customers in order to maintain distance.


• In the forum area, employees sit one cube away from customers they're interacting with.


• Employees are encouraged to communicate with one another through the Talk app to cut down on unnecessary movement within the store.


• Half of the workstations in the back are empty, with employees working at alternating workstations to keep more distance between them.


• Tables have been rearranged to put products on corners to prevent customers from being near one another.


• Products on tables have been reduced.


• Communal tables and couches have been removed from employee break rooms and have been replaced with individual chairs evenly spaced about the room.


• Operating hours are reduced.


• Employees are all wearing face masks.

After opening its South Korea store on April 16, Apple has reopened its sole store in Vienna, Austria, and 21 stores located in Australia. Stores in Germany will begin reopening on May 11, and all of the newly opened locations are following many of the same guidelines listed above to keep both customers and employees safe.

There's no word yet on when Apple retail stores in the United States will start to reopen, but Apple CEO Tim Cook last week said that stores in North America will begin reopening starting in the month of May.

Apple plans to evaluate data and make reopening decisions on a city by city, county by county basis, following local guidelines and recommendations before opening up a store.
This article, "Apple Preparing Retail Employees to Return to Work With Tips From South Korea Reopening" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Does a stooge prepare your income tax returns? Watch the Three Stooges prepare a tax return and learn from them. Don't be a stooge: hire a CPA to prepare your next tax return! Continue reading →

An updated Disaster Resilience Scorecard to help cities and local government agencies improve their preparedness and reduce risks from disasters was launched today at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. Developed for the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction by AECOM, IBM with support from USAID and the European Commission, the Scorecard gives better access to information, knowledge resources, and tools to effectively reduce risks from the impacts of natural hazards and climate change.

Each year, weather-related power outages cost the U.S. economy as much as $33 billion a year. Additionally, one severe weather event has the potential to impact the daily lives and routines of millions of people. As 2017 marks the fifth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, The Weather Company, an IBM Business (NYSE: IBM) and Zpryme are releasing the results of a survey that found that U.S. utility companies still feel underprepared for weather-related outages and that their reactive approach to outage prediction leads to lost time and resources.

: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has signed a five-year multimillion dollar agreement with Veda (ASX: VED), a leading provider of credit information and analysis in Australia and New Zealand. The agreement extends Veda's existing strategic outsourcing relationship with IBM, which continues to provide Veda with a highly reliable and resilient infrastructure, and now includes cloud services.

ASL to benefit from IBM Cloud and IBM PureApplication to deliver for secure real time payments for NPP Australia

How to Prepare for the Trump Recession

The global coronavirus pandemic has put our economy in free-fall.

Even through Donald Trump’s reckless economic policies, like his pointless trade war with China or his deficit-busting tax cuts for his billionaire donors, the economy has somehow managed to keep chugging along — until now. 

All of the stock market gains from Trump’s time in office have been wiped out, and over the course of just over one week in March the Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced its five largest drops in history. 

Worse than a plummeting stock market, businesses and major industries have been forced to shutter their windows to help combat the rapid spread of the virus, putting hundreds of thousands of workers’ paychecks at risk. 

A recession is inevitable at this point. Here are 3 things we can do to prepare.  

Number one: We need to reform unemployment insurance so it reflects the needs of today’s economy. 

When it was first created in 1935, unemployment insurance was designed to help full-time workers weather downturns until they got their old jobs back. But there are fewer full-time jobs in today’s economy, and fewer people who are laid off get their old jobs back again. 

As a result, only 27% of unemployed workers receive benefits today, compared to 49% of workers in the 1950s. We need to expand unemployment coverage so that everyone is protected.

Number two: We need to strengthen Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, also known as  public assistance. 

Since its creation in 1996, the number of families receiving cash assistance has declined dramatically – and not because they’re doing well. Between 2006 and 2018, just 13% of families were lifted out of poverty, while the number of families receiving public assistance fell by 39%.

Already weak, the program didn’t hold up well during the Great Recession. Funding doesn’t automatically expand during economic downturns – meaning the more families are in need, the less money there is to help them. The program also has strict work requirements, which can’t be fulfilled in a deep recession. Worse yet, many individuals in need have already exhausted their five years of lifetime eligibility for assistance.

We need to reform the public assistance program so that more families in need are eligible. It should be easier to waive the strict work eligibility requirements during the economic downturn, and the lifetime five-year limit should be suspended.

Number three: We need to protect the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or food stamps. 

Unlike public assistance, SNAP responded well during the Great Recession. Its requirements are designed to expand during economic downturns or recessions.

Waiving work requirements during the Great Recession made thousands of people in need eligible for the program who otherwise wouldn’t have been. Between December 2007 and December 2009, the number of SNAP participants rose by 45%. The program helped keep an estimated 3.8 million families out of poverty in 2009.

But that might not be an option this time around, as SNAP has come under attack from the Trump administration, which is trying to enact a draconian rule change that would kick an estimated 700,000 of our most vulnerable citizens off of the program. Luckily, a judge blocked the rule from going into effect, but the administration is still fighting to enforce it — even in the middle of a global pandemic. We need to make sure SNAP’s flexibility and ability to respond to economic downturns is protected before the next recession hits.

Stronger safety nets are not only good for individuals and families in need. They will also prevent the looming recession from becoming an even deeper and longer economic crisis. 

Unless you live under a rock you know well enough about the devastation that recently happened in Japan and just how fast a devastating earthquake can tear things apart. If you live in an area prone to earthquakes your emergency preparedness plan must encompass earthquake survival. So how do you prepare for an earthquake? In this first of 2 posts on earthquake survival I’ll show you what you can do to better prepare your home.

In my last post I listed some ways you can prepare your home for an earthquake. In this post I’ll show you some things you can do to prepare yourself and family for one. How you prepare for an earthquake will vary depending on where you live, how much space you have, how big your family is, and last but not least what your budget is.

It seems like every other day there’s some natural disaster being broadcast on the news. From tornados, to floods, and the recent earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan. These are constant reminders that even though humanity can achieve a lot Mother Nature is still the boss. This also means that everyone should have a good grasp of disaster survival tips to prepare for when the SHTF. For most disaster preparedness means making a bug out bag and having some plan on how to prepare their home for a disasteror emergency.

How to Prepare for Severe Weather Season When spring arrives in some parts of the U.S., so does extreme weather like tornadoes and thunderstorms. And as fall and winter approach, many homeowners begin bracing themselves for wildfire season or hurricane season, followed by winter storm season. Although the types and the severity of these extreme weather events varies widely depending on where you live, it’s important for all homeowners to stay informed and to be prepared. With more people spending […]

The post A Guide to Prepare for Severe Weather Season appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

PREPARADENESS has finally been achieved.

The wildfire disaster that struck Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada in May 2016 destroyed more than 2,400 structures and created insured losses of more than $3.5 billion. The incident captured the hearts and minds of the media and citizens the world over,

As the nation marks the one-year anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub massacre in Orlando this week, a group of experts on active shooter/hostile incident response will assemble at National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) headquarters to develop NFPA 3000, Standard for Preparedness and Response to Active Shooter and/or Hostile Events. It is expected that the initial standard will be completed by early 2018; then the public will have the opportunity to offer input for immediate review.

With wildfire season already starting in some regions of the United States and around the corner in others, now is the time to start thinking about your physical and financial preparedness.  To help you be better informed, NFPA is hosting two free

First, a big shout out to all of those who participated in Wildfire Community Preparedness Day!  We are always in awe of the number of people and organizations that use the day to take action to make a difference in their community.  Many of

Soon after he offered public assurances that the government was ready to battle the coronavirus, the powerful chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, sold off a significant percentage of his stocks, unloading between $628,000 and $1.72 million of his holdings on Feb. 13 in 33 separate transactions. As the head of the intelligence […]

There is no better comfort food than a Chicken Pot Pie. It may seem daunting to make this savory dish, but trust us, it’s not when you use Queenhobo’s easy recipe. Most people stress about the crust, but you don’t have to when you use canned biscuits instead of a traditional topping. The thick biscuit […]

Some times you want something sweet without all the work. Catwithseventoes share their recipe for Lazy Bread Pudding that will literally take a matter of minutes to make. You simply gather the ingredients and microwave. Easy peasy! This dish is a great breakfast or snack when you are on the run. You can also whip […]