The Obama administration says it is increasing border security and cracking down more on drug trafficking and smuggling from Mexico into Southwestern states such as Arizona.
On Friday, U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke said the federal government has upped illegal drug case filings by 99 percent since 2008, filed 25,200 illegal immigration cases and boosted wiretaps by 50 percent for cases related to money shipped from Arizona to Mexico and other foreign locations.
On Monday, the White House released additional figures as administration officials met with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, Attorney General Terry Goddard, Burke and other state officials.
The White House offered the following stats:
K9 patrol units along the border have been increased to 13 from five.
384 agents were added at Southwestern ports of entry along with five high-tech detection units to the six already deployed at Mexican border crossings.
$85 million in illicit cash was seized along the border over the last 12 months — a 22 percent jump from the preceding 12 months.
Federal agencies seized 1,404 firearms and 1.62 million kilograms of drugs along the border the past 12 months — increases of 22 and 14 percent, respectively.
Former U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton said more resources are being focused on border and immigration cases as well as crimes on Indian lands and white-collar and mortgage fraud crimes since Burke took over as federal prosecutor in 2009 and the Obama took office.
Charlton — now a private attorney for the law offices of Gallagher & Kennedy PA — served as U lowest fee payday loans.S. Attorney for Arizona from 2001 until the end of 2006. Charlton exited from that post as part of Bush administration purge.
After 9/11 there was a heavy focus of federal investigation into national security and potential terrorism cases, he said, adding the Bush administration also focused on child pornography.
He expects federal pursuit of child and illegal sex rings to continue under Obama. “It’s still a very serious problem,” he said. But he said the Obama administration appears to be moving more aggressively and with more resources on white collar and mortgage fraud cases as well as on the immigration front.
The statistics were released as Brewer and U.S. Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain press for more federal resources along the border. Brewer, in particular, has argued the state is under siege from drug cartels and smuggling rings and says more border walls, air patrols are needed.
“Administration officials continue to say that the border is as safe as it has ever been, yet the feds are posting signs 80 miles from the Arizona border warning Americans to stay away from our public lands,” Brewer said in a e-mail promoting her reelection bid. “We need action from the federal government not signs ceding sovereign U.S. territory to international drug cartels and human smugglers.”
The new owner of Anna Bannana’s in Moiliili has received his liquor license and plans to rename the bar Anna O’Neil’s after renovating and remodeling the pub.
The Honolulu Liquor Commission recently transferred the liquor license from former owner Banyan Tree LLC to Anna O’Brien’s Inc., headed by Bill Comerford. He also owns Honolulu establishments O’Toole’s Irish Pub, Kelley O’Neil’s and Irish Rose Saloon.
Comerford said he plans to close the bar for about a month for renovations and hopes to reopen later this summer under the new name. He declined to say how much he’s investing in the renovation.
“We’re just trying to make everybody understand that by changing the name we are honoring the past by keeping ‘Anna’ in it and trying to give a little bit of our own influence by putting the ‘O’Brien’s’ on it so they know who’s operating it,” he said.
He said he will continue to offer a mixed bag of live music that is a popular draw at Anna Bannana’s.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo remains the overwhelming favorite to become New York’s next governor yet voters want to hear more from him on the state’s budget woes.
That message is from a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday.
Overall, 64 percent of New York voters, against 21 percent, want the Democratic candidate to weigh in on the protracted fiscal situation. Broken down by party, Republicans say (68-20) percent Cuomo isn’t explaining enough, an opinion shared by Democrats (58-26) percent and independent voters (71-15) percent.
“Imagine that: Voters want to hear more from a politician. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been too quiet on how we would solve Albany’s budget mess, which he’ll inherit — if he’s elected,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Despite his silence, Cuomo maintains a 72-16 percent approval rating and holds a commanding lead on two Republican challengers. Quinnipiac has Cuomo in front of former Congressman Rick Lazio, 58-26 percent, up from 55-26 percent April 13. When put against Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino, Cuomo’s advantage is 59-23 percent, compared to 60-24 percent in a previous poll.
Lazio, the endorsed GOP candidate, tops Paladino in a Republican primary 46-17 percent, with 28 percent undecided.
The poll results on the governor’s race and other issues, including the U.S. Senate seat held by Kirsten Gillibrand and President Barack Obama’s job performance can be found here.
Discount Windows & Doors has opened a showroom on Kamehameha Highway, next to King Nissan in Kaneohe.
The facility, at 45-564 Kamehameha Highway, is in addition to the company’s 4,000-square-foot office and warehouse space in North Kaneohe.
Spirit Airlines and its striking pilots agreed to meet with mediators today, the union said, signaling a potential thaw that would be welcomed by the thousands of customers holding tickets on the grounded airline.
Sean Creed, head of the pilots union at Spirit, said the National Mediation Board has asked both sides to meet in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. However, union officials said the strike would continue until they approve any deal.
Spirit said it wouldn’t fly until Thursday at the earliest, forcing its roughly 16,000 daily passengers to get where they were going by rental car or an expensive walk-up fare on another airline. Spirit carries just 1 percent of the nation’s air traffic, but those travelers have been 100 percent grounded by the pilots’ walkout.
Spirit aircraft have not flown since pilots walked out Saturday in a pay dispute. Just a few days before the strike, the airline was saying it would fly through it. That didn’t happen. It has said it would try to get passengers onto flights on other airlines payday loans for bad credit. Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson declined to say Monday how many passengers had gotten seats on other carriers with Spirit’s help.
Spirit has said its last offer would have raised pilots’ pay by 29 percent over five years, although pilots would have to work more to get that money. Pilots have been negotiating for more than three years, and they have said the proposed raise works out to less than 4 percent per year.
Pilots have said their pay should be similar to that of pilots at other discount airlines such as JetBlue Airways and AirTran Airways, a unit of AirTran Holdings Inc. The company has said those airlines are much bigger than Spirit.
Privately held Spirit is based in Miramar, Fla., and ended 2009 with $139.5 million in cash and short-term investments, according to filings with the government.
Spectrum Brands Inc., the Madison-based manufacturer of Rayovac batteries and Remington shavers, said Friday that shareholders have approved the company's proposal to buy Russell Hobbs Inc., marketer of the George Foreman and Toastmaster small appliance brands, for $661 million.
Spectrum (NYSE: SPB) said 96.38 percent of the company's outstanding shares have been voted to adopt the previously announced merger agreement. That includes shares held by its largest holder, Harbinger Capital Partners Master Fund I Ltd. and its affiliates.
The company now expects to close on the transaction June 16.
The merger of Miramar, Fla.-based Russell Hobbs and Spectrum Brands will create a new global consumer products company based in Madison with an estimated $3 billion in annual revenue.
As part of the transaction, when the deal closes the company expects to close on its refinancing of the Company's existing senior debt and a portion of Russell Hobbs' existing senior debt through a combination of a new $750 million term loan, new $750 million senior secured notes and a new $300 million asset-based lending revolving facility no teletrek payday advance. The refinancing is expected to provide an enhanced long term capital structure to support the combined company's strategic business objectives.
Russell Hobbs’ consumer brands include Black & Decker, George Foreman, LitterMaid and Toastmaster. Spectrum’s brands include Rayovac batteries and Remington shaving and grooming products, which have major production operations in Wisconsin.
Austin Community College President and CEO Stephen Kinslow is reportedly retiring after 34 years serving the school.
The Austin-American Statesman reported Tuesday the community college’s top executive stepping down after his contract expires June 2011. Kinslow’s filled the role for six years, previously working as interim chief, assistant dean and in other positions.
Kinslow was originally appointed to the position in 2005 for a two-year term after former president Robert Aguero abruptly left, having served only nine months with the school. ACC’s leaders appointed Kinslow to help the college stabilize before searching for a new president, but instead renewed his contract at the end of the two years.
The college is now beginning a nationwide search for his replacement, possibly hiring a search firm to lead the hiring.
Prior to working in Austin, Kinslow, 60, taught public school in Big Spring, Texas and for the Dallas County Community College District. He earned his doctorate from the University of Texas, his master’s from Southern Methodist University and his bachelor’s from the University of Texas at Arlington.
He currently serves on the board of directors for the Austin and Round Rock Chambers of Commerce, the Leadership Round Rock board, the Texas Association of Community Colleges board of directors, the ACC Center for Public Policy and Political Studies, the E3 Alliance board and as vice chair of the Texas Campus Compact.
The St. Louis public relations community has been buzzing about BP’s response to the deadly Gulf oil spill and how it’s a lesson in what not to do.
“Unfortunately for BP, they have let the crisis manage them; they have not managed the crisis,” said Tim Beecher, a senior vice president and senior partner at Fleishman-Hillard.
Beecher knows a thing or two about crisis communications. After the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska, many companies built crisis response centers and started doing drills for refinery fires and shipping accidents. Beecher helped Amoco with such a plan in Chicago so officials could rehearse and prepare for the worst. “They (BP) need to start asking the federal government and state governments for help and maybe even put out an international appeal, ‘We can’t find our way out of this by ourselves.’ They need to ask for the best and brightest engineers and scientists. They need that kind of brilliance right now to stop the leak and start the cleanup.”
Fueling the fire of BP criticism are the many gaffes BP CEO Tony Hayward has made, PR professionals say.
BP should have immediately recognized the seriousness of the problem instead of downplaying the incident, said Mary Sawyer, director of public relations at the Brighton Agency. “As late as May 18, Hayward insisted the environmental impact of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico would be ‘very, very modest.’”
Sawyer called the remarks “terribly self-centered and completely inappropriate.”
“This disaster killed 11 people, and we can’t even begin to estimate the environmental and economic impact of tragedy,” she said. “He was right to apologize for his remarks, saying they were hurtful and thoughtless.”
But the apology was too little, too late, said Jill Haynes, a spokeswoman for Isle of Capri Casinos and president of the St. Louis Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.
“At this point, over 40 days after the tragic explosion on an oil rig off the Louisiana coast, (Hayward) has finally taken the step he should have taken weeks ago. He apologized. Unfortunately, that apology fell on deaf ears … To top it off, immediately after he apologized, he added, ‘I want my life back,’ resulting in an outpouring of additional criticism.”
Lauren Kolbe, president and founder of Kolbe Co., described BP’s communications as “relatively cold and lacking compassion.”
“They don’t appear to be communicating confidently or expressing confidence in their plans and actions, which is leaving people uneasy,” she said. “That, coupled with the seemingly slow and ineffective actions being taken to deal with the spill, is making BP appear incompetent, resulting in the loss of the public’s confidence.”
BP recently hired former vice president Dick Cheney’s press secretary to handle media relations but still has a way to go to restore its reputation. New photos of oil-covered animals also aren’t helping the BP’s carefully cultivated “green” image.
PR experts said if they were BP’s spokespeople they would have used social media to more quickly communicate to the public about the disaster.
“BP underestimated the impact of the Internet on spreading news, photo and video,” said Craig Kaminer, president of Twist. “They were quick at dealing with TV and print reporters, but not at dealing with websites, YouTube, live webcam feeds, blogs and social media sites. When Toyota had their problems, they stopped production and focused all attention on the problem.”
Ron O’Connor, principal of O’Connor & Partners, said BP’s first mistake was to commit to a quick and positive outcome. Instead, the company should have stressed the difficulty of the situation and do so in a way that paints a picture that everyone can understand, he said. “What engineers were attempting was similar to blindfolding a four-year-old youngster, then facing that youngster into a 120-mile-an-hour wind and telling him/her to swing a golf club at a whiffle ball in an attempt to make a hole-in-one at a distance of four football fields,” O’Connor said. “Difficult to achieve, especially when the world is watching and the mere presence of a TV camera gives us the incorrect impression that what we're seeing may be just a foot or two underwater.”
The disaster is now much bigger than BP, Kaminer said. “It will impact millions of lives and livelihoods, and potentially wipe out coastal communities for generations. This is not only possibly fatal for BP but it will impact every oil company and their operations.”
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $5 million to the Public Health Foundation of India for tobacco control efforts.
According to the Seattle foundation, smoking kills 1 million people in India every year and is the leading cause of death among Indians between the ages of 30 and 69. The grant will focus on two states in India — Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh — over the next three years.
Departments of Health, Gujarat & Andhra Pradesh announce the launch of project STEPS with Public Health Foundation of India
(Strengthening of Tobacco control Efforts through innovative Partnerships and Strategies)
Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) has been awarded five million dollars by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to strengthen the National Tobacco Control Program in two states of India, namely Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, over a three year period (2009-2012). Project STEPS will provide the much needed district specific strategic response to the rapidly escalating global tobacco epidemic in India.
The Government of India, in compliance with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, launched the National Tobacco Control Program (NTCP), under the 11th Five Year plan, to build state capacity to effectively implement tobacco control laws, and also to bring about greater awareness of the ill effects of tobacco use. Under the program, Tobacco Control Cells have been set up at each state for implementing State and District Tobacco Control Programs.
PHFI is a public-private partnership linking the government, academia, civil society and the private sector, and engages key stakeholder groups in strategic partnerships. PHFI and its educational institutions – the Indian Institutes of Public Health − are in a unique position to promote and sustain the tobacco control movement in India in partnership with the state governments. PHFI and IIPHs adopt a broad, integrated approach to tobacco control, targeting 11 districts in 2 states with long term vision of extending the successful models and interventions tested through this project, all over India.
The goal of project STEPS is to reduce the health burden of tobacco and associated risks; promote health equity through reduction in health and economic burdens resulting from tobacco consumption by engaging, enabling and empowering two key states and their stakeholders. STEPS seeks to facilitate state level action for implementation of centrally designed tobacco control programs. PHFI will be actively assisting the State Governments and NGOs in developing innovative models of community mobilization, community based self help cessation groups, replicating and adapting effective school based tobacco prevention interventions in India, alongside working with Indian Language Print Media to enhance tobacco control coverage in regional newspapers.
Project STEPS will also be conducting economic research to generate data to fill the research gap in India and examine various intervention models to identify opportunities and barriers for adopting alternate employment opportunities for the workforce involved in tobacco production, manufacture and distribution sector along with multiple government and NGO stakeholders. Along with Government of India and State Governments, this project will test models to mainstream tobacco control into existing health programs to improve quit rate among Indian tobacco users payday advance lender.
PROJECT STEPS will work in the following districts to strengthen implementation of COTPA in Andhra Pradesh/ Gujarat:
Distance Learning programs to strengthen capacity of state and district level health workforce, NGO professionals and other public health professionals are being launched as part of STEPS activities by PHFI. Short term courses on tobacco control serving Lawyers, Journalists, Health Professionals and Administrators, too will be launched by December this year.
To mark this event, Prof. K. Srinath Reddy, eminent cardiologist, tobacco control activist, and President, PHFI said:
“We hope to see Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh emerging as the champion states for tobacco control, demonstrating how various proven measures for tobacco control can be effectively implemented to reduce tobacco consumption. We expect to see a greater number of tobacco consumers quitting their deadly habit and others, especially women and young persons, being provided greater protection from becoming the victims of the tobacco trap and passive smoking. These two states will then become role models for other states, to adopt their best practices and gear up their own tobacco control programs”.
Project STEPS will have a strong presence in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. In the next three years, multi-dimensional interventions, research and capacity-building initiatives under Project STEPS will strengthen implementation of tobacco control programs at the district level with active involvement from the Indian Institutes of Public Health at Gandhinagar and Hyderabad.
Commenting on Project STEPS initiatives in Gujarat, Prof. Jay Satia, Director, Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar, observed that:
“Gujarat faces enormous and complex public health challenges related to tobacco use mainly due to high and varied use of tobacco. Even among school going adolescents it is as high as 18%. PHFI through its Indian Institute of Public Health-Gandhinagar (IIPHG), is partnering with the Department of Health, Government of Gujarat to implement the STEPS project. It will demonstrate innovative strategies for wider adoption at state level leading to significant reduction in health and economic burden of tobacco use.”
Prof. Mala Rao, Director, Indian Institute of Public Health, Hyderabad, observed that:
“Tobacco consumption is a reflection not only of individual choice but also of the socio-economic conditions which determine how people behave as well as their chances of a healthy life. We welcome the STEPS initiative which, for the first time, offers us the opportunity to marshal the evidence on how to establish a truly coherent approach to tobacco control with a better chance of success in rooting out this killer habit.”
Project STEPS looks forward to a fruitful collaboration with the State Government, district administration, Indian Language Print Media, Non Government organizations, community based groups stakeholders and activists to create an enabling environment for tobacco control activities.
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