Monday, January 12, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/01/10/ces-2015-fcc-chair-tom-wheeler-on-open-internet-is.aspx

CES 2015: FCC Chair Tom Wheeler on Net Neutrality
By Daniel B. Kline
January 10, 2015

Federal Communications Commission Chair Tom Wheeler took office under a cloud of suspicion.

Many expected Wheeler, a former cable industry lobbyist, to side heavily with the industry. Instead, during his 14 months in charge of the regulatory agency, Wheeler has leaned toward protecting the interest of the public while balancing the needs of business. He's walking a tightrope to keep both sides happy, but he has largely managed to keep his balance.

Now, with the FCC considering exactly how to bring about an open Internet that can stand up to legal challenges, Wheeler sat down for a one on one interview with Consumer Electronics' Association CEO Gary Shapiro at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show.

The FCC has a plan
It was clear that Wheeler, an engaging personality who doesn't seem to take himself all that seriously, understood that he was speaking in front of a crowd of technology professionals -- people who overwhelmingly support open Internet. But he was also candid with Shapiro and announced publicly for the first time that the FCC is putting the finishing touches on its open Internet plan, which will be presented to the agency's commissioners on Feb. 5 and voted on Feb. 26.

"The whole open Internet issue is two challenges," Wheeler said. "The first is you want to make sure that innovators and consumers have open access to the networks. ...The other component that you have to deal with is you want to make sure that you're creating an environment that provides sufficient incentive for the ISPs to want to build more and better networks."

It was not an accident that Wheeler put consumers first. That was a theme he hit on repeatedly during the presentation. He made it clear that making sure there's something in it for business was important, but not nearly as important as providing open access for the public.

The FCC is going new places
"What is cool about this job is you get to exist at the intersection of new technology and policy," Wheeler said in his opening remarks.

He said that as technology has changed, the old regulatory system no longer works and and a new way of approaching regulation is needed.

"Trying to create an environment where you stimulate competition and try to encourage innovation requires the creation of a new paradigm," he said.

Shapiro cited the announcement by DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH  ) that it's launching a pay television service that would be purely digital and not require a cable subscription as an example of the shifting industry the FCC regulates. Wheeler agreed and explained that the emergence of over-the-top networks is why the open Internet issue has become so important.

"You've got to have access to the networks," he said.

How the FCC plans to act
Saying you support an open Internet and actually delivering one are different stories. Wheeler said the FCC had considered a number of approaches, but he heavily implied that the plan that will be presented to commissioners on Feb. 5 will be based on reclassifying Internet service providers under Title II of the Communications Act. Using Tittle II would make the ISPs utilities, subject to stricter regulation than they are currently.

"That would be a stinging defeat for ISPs and a victory for advocates of a stringent approach to net neutrality -- including President Obama, who appointed Wheeler," wrote the Los Angeles Times. It would also probably lead to court challenges from the service providers, and the Republican-controlled Congress could seek to overturn the FCC decision as well.

What is commercially reasonable?
Wheeler did not seem concerned, explaining that the test of what is appropriate -- the so-called "commercially reasonable" test, which the court that struck down the previous open Internet rules referred to, was the key.

"It became clear that 'commercially reasonable' could be determined as what is reasonable for the ISPs, not what's reasonable for the consumers and innovators," he said. A better method for judging ISPs' behavior is the "just and reasonable" standard under Title II, Wheeler said.

What are the goals
The chairman said that a number of solutions were considered, but the FCC found that Title II had the "best protections." He laid out the goals his agency considered the end product of any action:

No blocking.
No throttling of applications.
No paid prioritization.
Transparency.

Businesses matter, but there is precedent
Wheeler did make it clear that while Title II may not be what the ISPs want, making sure that they have incentive to build and improve their networks was also a major factor.
"Big ISPs came in and said that Title II would disincentivize us," he said.

Wheeler dismissed that idea, saying that the wireless industry is regulated under Title II and that "for the last 20 years the wireless industry has been monumentally successful -- hundreds of billions of dollars of investments as a Title II regulated [industry]."

There's a way to do Title II right, he explained. "The model has been set in the wireless business."

Good for everyone?
When you walk the floor of CES, Wheeler noted, "the Internet of Things type of opportunities that are out there on the floor ... demand open networks."

Ultimately, the bottom line for Wheeler is that open Internet is something consumers and innovators need, but it won't be bad -- even if enacted under Title II -- for ISPs.

"We're going to come out with what I hope will be the gold standard in how open Internet and investment ought to go," he said.




“Now, with the FCC considering exactly how to bring about an open Internet that can stand up to legal challenges, Wheeler sat down for a one on one interview with Consumer Electronics' Association CEO Gary Shapiro at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show.... But he was also candid with Shapiro and announced publicly for the first time that the FCC is putting the finishing touches on its open Internet plan, which will be presented to the agency's commissioners on Feb. 5 and voted on Feb. 26.... Wheeler said the FCC had considered a number of approaches, but he heavily implied that the plan that will be presented to commissioners on Feb. 5 will be based on reclassifying Internet service providers under Title II of the Communications Act. Using Tittle II would make the ISPs utilities, subject to stricter regulation than they are currently. That would be a stinging defeat for ISPs and a victory for advocates of a stringent approach to net neutrality -- including President Obama, who appointed Wheeler," wrote the Los Angeles Times. It would also probably lead to court challenges from the service providers, and the Republican-controlled Congress could seek to overturn the FCC decision as well.”

Here we are at yet another stopping point on the decision about Net Neutrality. At least Wheeler is on the side of virtue. The legal language 'commercially reasonable' versus “just and reasonable” shows clearly the predictable divide between Republicans and Democrats. Life goes on. I'll look for more news in February.



TERRORISM


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/terror-groups-like-isis-al-qaeda-recruiting-more-women-for-attacks/

Why female recruits are vital to terror groups
CBS NEWS
January 12

Hayat Boumeddiene, the girlfriend of the man killed in a shootout after after taking hostages in a Paris grocery store last week, spent six days in Istanbul before crossing the border into Syria late last week. It's believed she may have crucial information about whether her partner and the two others who took part in attacks last week were part of a bigger terrorist cell.

A Turkish official said Monday that Boumeddiene crossed the border into northern Syria on Thursday -- a day after her boyfriend Amedy Coulibaly allegedly shot a Paris police officer to death and then went on the run for two days, before himself dying in a police raid on the Jewish grocery store.

If Boumeddiene has gone to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or another extremist group, she will not be the first European woman to do so, reports CBS News correspondent Holly Williams.

If the 26-year-old is now with a jihadist group in Syria, she joins hundreds of young, Muslim women from Europe who have traveled to the war torn country to join ISIS and al Qaeda. Many of them are just teenagers and women have been involved in terrorism from the very beginning.

Photographs of Boumeddiene show her transformation; from the daughter of a French delivery driver to a radicalized extremist.

Professor Mia Bloom, author of a study on women in terrorism, told CBS News that young women from the West, like Boumeddiene, are sometimes easy prey for radical Islamic groups.

"They can't read Arabic, they can't go to the original sources, they can't put up a fight when someone says 'Oh, yes, this is permitted in the Quran.' They don't know to say, 'No, it's not,'" Bloom said.

As ISIS tries to set up a functioning, Islamic state in Syria and Iraq, it's actively recruiting women from Europe and the U.S. to marry its fighters.

In one recruitment video for women, ISIS stresses homely pursuits like cooking and sewing. But, historically, there are many examples of women playing more violent roles.

Female suicide bombers from Chechnya, known as Black Widows, have carried out several deadly attacks in Russia. Women from Sri Lanka, Iraq and Nigeria have done the same.

"You get a lot more media coverage when it's a female terrorist than when it's a male terrorist. And as a result the terrorist groups know this," Bloom said. "They get a lot more bang for their buck if they use a woman."



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/french-terror-attacks-bring-new-scrutiny-to-visa-waiver-program-in-u-s/

French terror attacks bring new scrutiny to visa waiver program in U.S.
By REBECCA KAPLAN CBS NEWS
January 12, 2015

The terror attacks in Paris last week put the threat posed by radicalized U.S. or European citizens back in the headlines, and with it has come new scrutiny on the visa waiver program.

This is the program that enables U.S. citizens to travel to countries in Europe (as well as a few others) with just a passport in hand, instead of having to go through the somewhat onerous process of securing a visa, and it also allows nationals from those countries (there are 38 total) to come to the U.S. without visas.

It's been effective in its intent to promote tourism and business travel. In the 2012 fiscal year, 19.1 million visitors entered the U.S. under this program, constituting 40 percent of all overseas visitors, according to a congressional report.

But with an estimated 3,000-plus European citizens having traveled to Syria to fight with jihadist groups, some lawmakers say the program warrants a second look by Congress.

"The visa waiver program is the Achilles' heel of America," the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said on CNN Sunday. "They can come back from training, they go through a visa waiver country, and they come into this country. Now, there are no-fly lists. There are terrorist lists. But they're in the tens of thousands and even millions, so it's difficult to ferret someone out."

Feinstein warned that jihadist groups have stolen travel documents that could allow them to circumvent efforts by U.S. and European intelligence agencies to track them. "I think we need to take a look at the visa waiver program again, and see what we can do to prevent this kind of thing from happening, because I believe it will happen, if it hasn't already," Feinstein said.

On CBS' "Face the Nation," Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, raised similar concerns about the ease of travel within Western Europe and said the U.S. needs to "look at all sorts of things," including the visa waiver system. American authorities, he believes, also need better intelligence on which fighters have gone to Syria and other countries to fight or train with jihadist groups, and that intelligence could feed into the U.S.'s no-fly lists, which he says are working well. He said his committee plans to launch an investigation into the security and defense gaps that may exist in the efforts to track foreign fighters.

But at least one former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official believes the program has built-in security sufficient to stop people who might threaten Americans from reaching our shores.

"Many concerns about the visa waiver program are outdated and [critics] don't fully understand what the US does get as a result of having visa waiver agreements with 38 countries," Jayson Ahern, a former acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border protection, told CBS News. Ahern, who is now a principal at the Chertoff Group, also said, "[These 38 countries] all also engage in information sharing with the US...you begin with a pretty strong starting point."

He noted that even though travelers under the visa waiver who come to the U.S. do not need visas, they still must submit data in advance of their flight that allows the intelligence agencies to flag potential threats. Ahern pointed out that DHS personnel are also stationed throughout the world conducting additional screening as people board airplanes to the U.S.

He lauded measures taken by DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson last November to require additional data from the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, including additional passport data, contact information, and other potential names or aliases. The new measures were intended to enhance the security of the program without hindering trade and travel.

Ahern said the multiple layers of security mean "we have a fairly robust protocol," though he conceded, "It doesn't mean that each of those elements can't continue to be or should be strengthened."

And certainly, foreign fighters will be looking for ways to subvert the security checks. In June, Juan Zarate, a CBS News National Security Contributor, and Tom Sanderson, the co-director of the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic International Studies, wrote about visiting a café near near the Bab al-Salam border crossing from Turkey to Syria. There, the pair wrote in the New York Times, a Belgian passport was for sale for $8,000 that the buyer could have altered to feature a new passport photo. Many newer passports have embedded biometric data like fingerprints to prevent this type of passport theft, but older passports do not.

In an interview with CBS News, Sanderson said that foreign fighters can be placed on the no-fly list, which would prevent them from entering the U.S., but it is impossible to ensure that every single name is there. He cited three types of extremists who might try to exploit the visa waiver system: those looking to carry out suicide bombings, returning foreign fighters, and homegrown terrorists who did not travel outside of their home country for formal jihadist training. This last group of fighters have passports without warning signs, such as extended stays in Turkey (where they could have crossed into the Syrian border).

In reality, "it's not a cakewalk to get into the United States," Sanderson said.

"Yet it is entirely reasonable to expect that some of those 3,000 fighters if they chose to get to the U.S. could do it with only a few hurdles," he added. They would need to be inconspicuous around screening agents, not raise the suspicions of officers who are looking for behavior signals, and likely have a network inside the U.S. that is helping them carry out an attack.

These issues are likely to emerge this week when the House votes on a bill to fund DHS. The Transportation Security Administration has a funding decrease of $94.3 million in the legislation from the 2014 fiscal year, although in his defense of the bill on "Face the Nation," McCaul said it increases DHS's overall funding. The department would receive an additional $400 million.

"We are absolutely committed to the security of our homeland and will do nothing on a bipartisan basis to erode those protections," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in a separate interview on "Face the Nation."

The $40 billion bill for the department "is not exactly chicken feed," he said.




“This is the program that enables U.S. citizens to travel to countries in Europe (as well as a few others) with just a passport in hand, instead of having to go through the somewhat onerous process of securing a visa, and it also allows nationals from those countries (there are 38 total) to come to the U.S. without visas.... "The visa waiver program is the Achilles' heel of America," the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said on CNN Sunday. "They can come back from training, they go through a visa waiver country, and they come into this country. Now, there are no-fly lists. There are terrorist lists. But they're in the tens of thousands and even millions, so it's difficult to ferret someone out." Feinstein warned that jihadist groups have stolen travel documents that could allow them to circumvent efforts by U.S. and European intelligence agencies to track them.... American authorities, he believes, also need better intelligence on which fighters have gone to Syria and other countries to fight or train with jihadist groups, and that intelligence could feed into the U.S.'s no-fly lists.... "Many concerns about the visa waiver program are outdated and [critics] don't fully understand what the US does get as a result of having visa waiver agreements with 38 countries," Jayson Ahern, a former acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border protection.... "Yet it is entirely reasonable to expect that some of those 3,000 fighters if they chose to get to the U.S. could do it with only a few hurdles," he added. They would need to be inconspicuous around screening agents, not raise the suspicions of officers who are looking for behavior signals, and likely have a network inside the U.S. that is helping them carry out an attack.”

There's no doubt that we need to tighten up our security systems. “... it's difficult to ferret someone out.” Some would-be terrorists have stolen papers and are capable of being inconspicuous around the screening agents. Americans hate the inconvenience of the long lines, but it is certainly necessary. Even with good laws in place, the bad guys have to be caught in the act of entering our country. This situation today makes me think the visa waiver plan is totally ill-advised, and should be stopped. I think this situation is going to go on for a long time, unless all Islamic people are banned from this country, which would be unfair to those who are not terrorists. I hate to see a total state of paranoia happen here. Race relations are bad enough here without that.





POLICING


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/troubling-deficiencies-cited-in-handling-nypd-chokehold-cases/

"Troubling deficiencies" cited in handling NYPD chokehold cases
CBS/AP
January 12, 2015

NEW YORK -- The New York Police Department and an independent agency tasked with investigating excessive force claims are inconsistent in determining how and when officers are held accountable for using prohibited chokeholds, according a report being released Monday by the city's new inspector general for police.

The review comes in the wake of the July death of Eric Garner and is the first report issued by the inspector general, Philip K. Eure. The report does not include the Garner case, which had been under criminal investigation until a grand jury declined to indict the officer, because the watchdog agency, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, has not made any determinations on the case.

The review recommends increased collaboration between the NYPD and the review board to streamline investigations and ensure consistencies.

The report is "a deep-dive into cases involving this prohibited tactic to explore and demystify how these complaints are addressed internally," Eure said. "Our targeted analysis revealed troubling deficiencies from the top-down that must be rectified."

The complaint review board investigates claims of officer misconduct and makes recommendations on whether to discipline an officer. Until recently, the NYPD could choose to try more serious allegations internally or ignore them. Under a 2012 agreement, the review board now tries some cases. The police commissioner has the final say on whether to discipline an officer.

The inspector general's probe of 10 suspected chokehold cases in the past five years found that the review board substantiated all of the chokehold claims and recommended disciplining the officers. But the Police Department did not pursue discipline in most of the cases, according to the report. Instead, most of the officers were instructed on department policy.

The types of cases varied.

In one, from 2010, officers stopped a man in Brooklyn with a group of friends and asked if they lived in the building. The man showed his identification and when officers searched his name, they found an active warrant. A struggle ensued, and the man said he was grabbed in a chokehold from behind. The review board recommended discipline, but the police commissioner instead instructed the officer on policy.

In 2012, a man said he was wrongly frisked as he was walking his bike along a Queens street. When he resisted, an officer put him in a chokehold. The officer was found not guilty at a departmental trial.

The report notes that the review doesn't try to explain why chokeholds were used, and it doesn't assume the allegations are true.

It also recommends more transparency by the Police Department in determining why it departs from recommendations by the civilian review board, and it suggests the board be better at informing the NYPD's internal affairs division about a report of officer misconduct.

Garner died July 17 after officers tried to arrest him on Staten Island on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. An officer is seen on video wrapping his arm around Garner's neck, then the 43-year-old yelled "I can't breathe!" 11 times before he loses consciousness. He later died. The officer said he wasn't using a chokehold, which is banned under NYPD policy, but rather a legal takedown maneuver. A grand jury declined to indict the officer on criminal charges.

New York City officials said last month they are trying to negotiate a settlement with the Garner family. Officials in Comptroller Scott Stringer's office said the push to reach a settlement of the $75 million civil rights claim brought forth by Garner's family is part of a strategy to settle major civil rights claims before lawsuits are filed.

"There are advantages of settling early and not going to court. Sometimes you have to go to court and litigate cases," Stringer told CBS New York. "Every case is different, and I'm not going to prejudge this case. We're not going to talk about the specifics, because as I said, this is very early in the process."




“The New York Police Department and an independent agency tasked with investigating excessive force claims are inconsistent in determining how and when officers are held accountable for using prohibited chokeholds, according a report being released Monday by the city's new inspector general for police.... The report is "a deep-dive into cases involving this prohibited tactic to explore and demystify how these complaints are addressed internally," Eure said. "Our targeted analysis revealed troubling deficiencies from the top-down that must be rectified." The complaint review board investigates claims of officer misconduct and makes recommendations on whether to discipline an officer. Until recently, the NYPD could choose to try more serious allegations internally or ignore them. Under a 2012 agreement, the review board now tries some cases. The police commissioner has the final say on whether to discipline an officer.... The inspector general's probe of 10 suspected chokehold cases in the past five years found that the review board substantiated all of the chokehold claims and recommended disciplining the officers. But the Police Department did not pursue discipline in most of the cases, according to the report. Instead, most of the officers were instructed on department policy.... The report notes that the review doesn't try to explain why chokeholds were used, and it doesn't assume the allegations are true. It also recommends more transparency by the Police Department in determining why it departs from recommendations by the civilian review board, and it suggests the board be better at informing the NYPD's internal affairs division about a report of officer misconduct.... New York City officials said last month they are trying to negotiate a settlement with the Garner family. Officials in Comptroller Scott Stringer's office said the push to reach a settlement of the $75 million civil rights claim brought forth by Garner's family is part of a strategy to settle major civil rights claims before lawsuits are filed.”

“Civilian Complaint Review Board, has not made any determinations on the case. The review recommends increased collaboration between the NYPD and the review board to streamline investigations and ensure consistencies.” It would be interesting to see what means the Review Board has of enforcing its recommendations, if any. A lawsuit as in the Garner case seems to be the most effective. As long as the Police Department authorities have the final say on whether an officer is disciplined, this will remain a problem it seems to me. This is only one kind of police abuse, also. New York has shootings as well. Having a Civilian Complaint Review Board is clearly ineffective in and of itself. Does the Department of Justice have to review each case? I think some federal laws which set up new rules and oversight of city departments around the nation are needed. Police officers still have too much autonomy.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/01/12/375663920/the-doctor-who-championed-hand-washing-and-saved-women-s-lives

The Doctor Who Championed Hand-Washing And Briefly Saved Lives
Rebecca Davis
January 12, 2015

Image – Ignaz Semmelweis washing his hands in chlorinated lime water before operating.
Bettmann/Corbis

This is the story of a man whose ideas could have saved a lot of lives and spared countless numbers of women and newborns' feverish and agonizing deaths.
You'll notice I said "could have."

The year was 1846, and our would-be hero was a Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis.

Semmelweis was a man of his time, according to Justin Lessler, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

It was a time Lessler describes as "the start of the golden age of the physician scientist," when physicians were expected to have scientific training.

So doctors like Semmelweis were no longer thinking of illness as an imbalance caused by bad air or evil spirits. They looked instead to anatomy. Autopsies became more common, and doctors got interested in numbers and collecting data.

The young Dr. Semmelweis was no exception. When he showed up for his new job in the maternity clinic at the General Hospital in Vienna, he started collecting some data of his own. Semmelweis wanted to figure out why so many women in maternity wards were dying from puerperal fever — commonly known as childbed fever.

He studied two maternity wards in the hospital. One was staffed by all male doctors and medical students, and the other was staffed by female midwives. And he counted the number of deaths on each ward.

When Semmelweis crunched the numbers, he discovered that women in the clinic staffed by doctors and medical students died at a rate nearly five times higher than women in the midwives' clinic.

But why?

Semmelweis went through the differences between the two wards and started ruling out ideas.

Right away he discovered a big difference between the two clinics.

In the midwives' clinic, women gave birth on their sides. In the doctors' clinic, women gave birth on their backs. So he had women in the doctors' clinic give birth on their sides. The result, Lessler says, was "no effect."

Then Semmelweis noticed that whenever someone on the ward died of childbed fever, a priest would walk slowly through the doctors' clinic, past the women's beds with an attendant ringing a bell. This time Semmelweis theorized that the priest and the bell ringing so terrified the women after birth that they developed a fever, got sick and died.

So Semmelweis had the priest change his route and ditch the bell. Lessler says, "It had no effect."

By now, Semmelweis was frustrated. He took a leave from his hospital duties and traveled to Venice. He hoped the break and a good dose of art would clear his head.

When Semmelweis got back to the hospital, some sad but important news was waiting for him. One of his colleagues, a pathologist, had fallen ill and died. It was a common occurrence, according to Jacklin Duffin, who teaches the history of medicine at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.

"This often happened to the pathologists," Dufflin says. "There was nothing new about the way he died. He pricked his finger while doing an autopsy on someone who had died from childbed fever." And then he got very sick himself and died.

Semmelweis studied the pathologist's symptoms and realized the pathologist died from the same thing as the women he had autopsied. This was a revelation: Childbed fever wasn't something only women in childbirth got sick from. It was something other people in the hospital could get sick from as well.

But it still didn't answer Semmelweis' original question: "Why were more women dying from childbed fever in the doctors' clinic than in the midwives' clinic?"

Duffin says the death of the pathologist offered him a clue.

"The big difference between the doctors' ward and the midwives' ward is that the doctors were doing autopsies and the midwives weren't," she says.

So Semmelweis hypothesized that there were cadaverous particles, little pieces of corpse, that students were getting on their hands from the cadavers they dissected. And when they delivered the babies, these particles would get inside the women who would develop the disease and die.

If Semmelweis' hypothesis was correct, getting rid of those cadaverous particles should cut down on the death rate from childbed fever.

So he ordered his medical staff to start cleaning their hands and instruments not just with soap but with a chlorine solution. Chlorine, as we know today, is about the best disinfectant there is. Semmelweis didn't know anything about germs. He chose the chlorine because he thought it would be the best way to get rid of any smell left behind by those little bits of corpse.

And when he imposed this, the rate of childbed fever fell dramatically.

What Semmelweis had discovered is something that still holds true today: Hand-washing is one of the most important tools in public health. It can keep kids from getting the flu, prevent the spread of disease and keep infections at bay.

You'd think everyone would be thrilled. Semmelweis had solved the problem! But they weren't thrilled.

For one thing, doctors were upset because Semmelweis' hypothesis made it look like they were the ones giving childbed fever to the women.

And Semmelweis was not very tactful. He publicly berated people who disagreed with him and made some influential enemies.

Eventually the doctors gave up the chlorine hand-washing, and Semmelweis — he lost his job.

Semmelweis kept trying to convince doctors in other parts of Europe to wash with chlorine, but no one would listen to him.

Even today, convincing health care providers to take hand-washing seriously is a challenge. Hundreds of thousands of hospital patients get infections each year, infections that can be deadly and hard to treat. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hand hygiene is one of the most important ways to prevent these infections.

Over the years, Semmelweis got angrier and eventually even strange. There's been speculation he developed a mental condition brought on by possibly syphilis or even Alzheimer's. And in 1865, when he was only 47 years old, Ignaz Semmelweis was committed to a mental asylum.

The sad end to the story is that Semmelweis was probably beaten in the asylum and eventually died of sepsis, a potentially fatal complication of an infection in the bloodstream — basically, it's the same disease Semmelweis fought so hard to prevent in those women who died from childbed fever.




“It was a time Lessler describes as "the start of the golden age of the physician scientist," when physicians were expected to have scientific training. So doctors like Semmelweis were no longer thinking of illness as an imbalance caused by bad air or evil spirits. They looked instead to anatomy. Autopsies became more common, and doctors got interested in numbers and collecting data.... Semmelweis studied the pathologist's symptoms and realized the pathologist died from the same thing as the women he had autopsied. This was a revelation: Childbed fever wasn't something only women in childbirth got sick from. It was something other people in the hospital could get sick from as well.... If Semmelweis' hypothesis was correct, getting rid of those cadaverous particles should cut down on the death rate from childbed fever. So he ordered his medical staff to start cleaning their hands and instruments not just with soap but with a chlorine solution. Chlorine, as we know today, is about the best disinfectant there is. Semmelweis didn't know anything about germs. He chose the chlorine because he thought it would be the best way to get rid of any smell left behind by those little bits of corpse.... You'd think everyone would be thrilled. Semmelweis had solved the problem! But they weren't thrilled. For one thing, doctors were upset because Semmelweis' hypothesis made it look like they were the ones giving childbed fever to the women. And Semmelweis was not very tactful. He publicly berated people who disagreed with him and made some influential enemies. Eventually the doctors gave up the chlorine hand-washing, and Semmelweis — he lost his job.... Even today, convincing health care providers to take hand-washing seriously is a challenge. Hundreds of thousands of hospital patients get infections each year, infections that can be deadly and hard to treat. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hand hygiene is one of the most important ways to prevent these infections.”

This is a sad, sad story. I thought surely the microscope hadn't been invented yet, but it had. According to Wikipedia Van Leeuwenhoek lived from 1632 to 1723. Unfortunately the study of the tiny “animacules” didn't get underway until the mid 1800s under the scholarship of Louis Pasteur. According to Wikipedia, “He reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and created the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax. His medical discoveries provided direct support for thegerm theory of disease and its application in clinical medicine.... The more formal experiments on the relationship between germ and disease were conducted by Louis Pasteur between 1860 and 1864. He discovered the pathology of the puerperal fever[9] and the pyogenic vibrio in the blood, and suggested using boric acid to kill these microorganisms before and after confinement.





http://www.npr.org/2015/01/12/372464410/regulators-take-action-against-delinquent-mines

Regulators Take Action Against Delinquent Mines
Howard Berkes
January 12, 2015

Two weeks after NPR and Mine Safety and Health News reported nearly $70 million in delinquent mine safety penalties at more than 4,000 coal and mineral mines, federal regulators suddenly revived a rare approach to force mines to pay.

They cited a delinquent coal mine for failing to pay $30,000 in overdue penalties and gave the mine's owner two weeks to pay. He didn't, so the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) shut down the mine. Within 40 minutes, mine officials agreed to a payment plan and the mine reopened.

It sounds like a straightforward and tough response, but it might not stand up to legal scrutiny. Federal law doesn't give MSHA the authority to shut down mines simply because they haven't paid their safety penalties. But the agency can force a mine to fix safety violations. In this case, the failure to pay penalties is considered an unfixed violation.

"The operator in this particular case did not challenge that legally. Somebody's going to," says Larry Grayson, a mine safety expert at Penn State University, and a consultant to industry and Congress.

"And then that's going to protract the amount of time it's going to take to resolve the issues," Grayson, a former mine superintendent, adds.

As the NPR/Mine Safety and Health News investigationfound, delinquent mines committed 131,000 violations and reported nearly 4,000 injuries while they were delinquent and while MSHA targeted many of them with other enforcement. Many mines were delinquent and continued to operate for years.

MSHA's attempt to shut down a delinquent mine isn't new. NPR identified three other cases in 2009. But Labor Department lawyers abandoned the tactic, according to multiple current and former agency officials, because it's not clear whether it's permitted by mine safety law.

"Until it is challenged, it is iffy," says Grayson, who says it will probably take a court challenge to be sure. "But once that process starts, as slow as it may be, there will be a level of worry among the operators and hopefully it would change many of them."

MSHA says it's also putting together what it calls a "better early warning system" for delinquent mines it might take to federal court to seek court orders for payment.

But neither MSHA chief Joe Main nor agency lawyer Heidi Strassler would discuss these initiatives. They "are not available for taped interviews," says MSHA spokeswoman Amy Louviere.

The action MSHA took recently targeted the Watson Branch coal mine in Claiborne County, Tenn., which is operated by Solid Fuel, Inc. Owner Darrell Wagner operates three other mines that have more than $2 million in overdue fines, some a decade old. Those three mines are now closed.

One of Wagner's mining companies, Wilcoal Mining, Inc., agreed to pay more than $626,000 in overdue penalties in federal court in 2013, but MSHA records indicate no payments were made. When asked to explain this failure to enforce the settlement, the agency said in a written statement, "We do not discuss internal attorney-client decision making concerning litigation strategy."

While they were delinquent and operating, Wagner's mines produced more than 244,000 tons of coal, according to government records. That coal is valued at an estimated $13.6 million, based on Energy Information Administration coal price reports for the same area and the same years.

Wagner did not respond to an interview request made through his attorney.

Wagner's Watson Branch mine was hit with five surprise blitz inspections while it continued to ignore its penalties. MSHA touts these special inspections targeting mines with troubled safety records, including delinquent mines. But NPR found that just ten delinquent mines that had these so-called "mine impact inspections" were cited for 5,700 violations and reported 120 injuries while they were delinquent and while MSHA applied this and other enforcement.

"They can continue to target egregious mines [but] it would be a very slow process," says Grayson. "Look at all of the injuries that are going to occur. And these are the high injury rate mines or operators. That's almost untenable for the cost of human health."

NPR found that delinquent mines overall have an injury rate 50 percent higher than mines that pay their fines.

NPR also found that taking mines to court and getting court orders and settlements takes months and, sometimes, years. Close to three dozen cases reviewed by NPR rarely resulted in payments, and injuries and violations continued while the cases were litigated.

That has Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), a member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, urging more definitive action.

"Unless the law is clear and unless the tools are substantial to impose accountability, [mine operators] will keep violating and take any kind of fine and just chalk it up to the cost of doing business," Casey says.

"In many cases, [they] won't change their behavior unless the sanctions are severe and substantial."

Casey says he will soon reintroduce a sweeping mine safety reform bill that includes the authority to shut down delinquent mines six months after their fines become overdue. But the measure failed to pass when both houses of Congress were controlled by Democrats and passage is considered even less likely in a Congress controlled by Republicans.

Some safety advocates suggest pulling the language specifically addressing delinquent mines and making that a separate bill or attaching it to a budget measure.

"I'd certainly be willing to evaluate that strategy," Casey says. "I want to get results and if results take more than one bill, I'm willing to consider that."

In the meantime, industry responses to NPR's series may add pressure to delinquent mining companies. A statistician at insurance giant AIG has asked about NPR's data showing higher injury rates at delinquent mines. He wants to determine whether delinquent companies have additional risk that has not been factored into their worker's compensation policies and rates.

And Grayson wants to do a deeper analysis of NPR's findings as part of an industry effort to assess risk at coal mines and identify unsafe mine operators.

"A bad operator will do anything to basically undercut the cost that they're going to have to bear," Grayson says. "They're taking market share away from good performers. It really is unfair competition."


COMMENTS

ElsiePrice26 • 3 hours ago
Just as poor people who get automobile tickets get the cost doubled if they don't pay on time, these mine operators should get their fines doubled. And if they don't pay, perhaps the employees and board members with the highest compensation should get their wages garnished.

Bob Potter  ElsiePrice26 • 2 hours ago
But that's why corporations were invented. So those responsible can't be held responsible.

Al Koldzig  Bob Potter • an hour ago
Only works for the big guys. Us little guys are told to sign off as 'responsible parties' if we want to do business, offering our 'personal guarantee'. I'm not sure which government alphabets make me do it, but most large businesses (inc and LLC) require this of my small inc. If I attempt bankruptcy to avoid debt or fines my personal finances will be gutted. Its all about leverage.

mjafla • 3 hours ago
Miners deserve better. Glad to see the law finally get some teeth.

H D • 3 hours ago
There are no delinquent solar panel fines to be collected. Solar panels don't create safety violations like coal mines, oil pipelines, and fracking all do. Why do we continue to endorse 19th Century technologies that ruin our resources? Oh, that's right. The Koch Brothers. Never mind. Keep digging. When we finally dig all the way to China, we'll find them leading the technology and the marketing for solar power.

Abbi Baily • 3 hours ago
"Casey says he will soon reintroduce a sweeping mine safety reform bill that includes the authority to shut down delinquent mines six months after their fines become overdue. But the measure failed to pass when both houses of Congress were controlled by Democrats and passage is considered even less likely in a Congress controlled by Republicans."
Utterly disgraceful. That's a bill that should have passed easily. I try not to fall into the "all politicians are scum" camp - some do seem to be trying - but news like this makes me wonder. Good lord, if you pay a bill one DAY late, you get more consequences than these pampered mine owners. What is wrong with people?

Zed Towers  Abbi Baily • 24 minutes ago
Why should it have passed easily? Democrats serve the same corporate masters.

Averal • an hour ago
Personal opinion
Part of ANY legislation, should be a method of enforcement
Otherwise the law is toothless.
But then again
That's probably what SOME legislators want.
The APPEARANCE that they are doing something
without actually doing it.




“Two weeks after NPR and Mine Safety and Health News reported nearly $70 million in delinquent mine safety penalties at more than 4,000 coal and mineral mines, federal regulators suddenly revived a rare approach to force mines to pay. They cited a delinquent coal mine for failing to pay $30,000 in overdue penalties and gave the mine's owner two weeks to pay. He didn't, so the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) shut down the mine. Within 40 minutes, mine officials agreed to a payment plan and the mine reopened.... "The operator in this particular case did not challenge that legally. Somebody's going to," says Larry Grayson, a mine safety expert at Penn State University, and a consultant to industry and Congress. "And then that's going to protract the amount of time it's going to take to resolve the issues," Grayson, a former mine superintendent, adds.... MSHA's attempt to shut down a delinquent mine isn't new. NPR identified three other cases in 2009. But Labor Department lawyers abandoned the tactic, according to multiple current and former agency officials, because it's not clear whether it's permitted by mine safety law. "Until it is challenged, it is iffy," says Grayson, who says it will probably take a court challenge to be sure. "But once that process starts, as slow as it may be, there will be a level of worry among the operators and hopefully it would change many of them."... One of Wagner's mining companies, Wilcoal Mining, Inc., agreed to pay more than $626,000 in overdue penalties in federal court in 2013, but MSHA records indicate no payments were made. When asked to explain this failure to enforce the settlement, the agency said in a written statement, "We do not discuss internal attorney-client decision making concerning litigation strategy."... NPR found that delinquent mines overall have an injury rate 50 percent higher than mines that pay their fines. NPR also found that taking mines to court and getting court orders and settlements takes months and, sometimes, years. Close to three dozen cases reviewed by NPR rarely resulted in payments, and injuries and violations continued while the cases were litigated. That has Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), a member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, urging more definitive action.... Casey says he will soon reintroduce a sweeping mine safety reform bill that includes the authority to shut down delinquent mines six months after their fines become overdue. But the measure failed to pass when both houses of Congress were controlled by Democrats and passage is considered even less likely in a Congress controlled by Republicans. Some safety advocates suggest pulling the language specifically addressing delinquent mines and making that a separate bill or attaching it to a budget measure. "I'd certainly be willing to evaluate that strategy," Casey says. "I want to get results and if results take more than one bill, I'm willing to consider that."

The attention of insurance company AIG has begun to look into the situation. NPR's finding that those companies who are delinquent in their payments also have more accidents and injuries, and may be underpaying their insurance premiums. Likewise, Larry Grayson the industry consultant to Congress said that the “bad operators” are operating at an unfair advantage by not seeing to their safety problems. Hopefully Congress will act soon. NPR looks like the hero in this matter. They aren't backing down in their study, though I'll bet they are getting pressure from Republicans. I always try to get at least a few stories from the NPR site, because they are usually a little more interesting and pertinent than many other news sites. I do hope something is done about these mine problems, because every few years a major accident occurs in a coal mine, which causes injury to a group of people who don't tend to have a college education and may not be able to get another job. Hopefully the workers do get insurance through the company, at least, but dying from black lung probably costs more than insurance will pay.