Wednesday, June 29, 2005

A recent survey conducted by the American Cancer Society has turned up some surprising results: Americans generally hold false beliefs about the nature of cancer and its treatment, even though many believe they are well informed.

Health experts say this ignorance could be dangerous: People may be making poor health decisions — avoiding cancer screenings or rejecting potentially life-saving treatments — based on their incorrect notions.

The most common misconception is that surgery causes cancer to spread. Decades ago, cancer often was not discovered until it was very advanced. At that stage, surgical efforts were rarely successful, and many patients died soon after procedures were performed. This may have given rise to the mistaken belief that the surgeries caused the disease to worsen.

Another commonly held myth is that there is a cure for cancer, but the medical industry is withholding it in order to continue profiting from the sale of less effective treatments and medications.

Believers in this “conspiracy theory” may not be guided by it in making their personal health decisions, though. The American Cancer Society says that even though many people are suspicious of the medical industry in general, they have a trusting relationship with their own physicians and are likely to follow their advice.

Almost 20 percent of the people surveyed felt that medications for cancer pain were ineffective.

About 10 percent expressed the belief that cancer could be cured with a positive attitude alone, while a similar number felt that there was no effective treatment for cancer.

The fact is, cancer survival and treatments — including pain management — have vastly improved in the last thirty years.

Results of the survey appear in the August 1 issue of Cancer, a journal published by the American Cancer Society.

Monday, October 30, 2017

At the request of Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló, the Puerto Rican Electric Power Authority (PREPA) yesterday announced it has cancelled a US$300 million contract with a Montana-based company called Whitefish Energy Holdings amid concerns it may have been awarded improperly and the prices may be unusually high. Whitefish was to have rebuilt parts of the United States commonwealth’s energy infrastructure, which was recently destroyed when Hurricane Maria struck the island.

According to Whitefish spokesperson Chris Chiames, Whitefish was “very disappointed” and may consider a lawsuit. He also said about 350 Whitefish employees have been working on Puerto Rico for the past month, and their efforts will restore power to much of San Juan soon. He noted, “We will certainly finish any work that [PREPA] wants us to complete and stand by our commitments.” According to Governor Rosselló, Whitefish has already been paid eight million dollars.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) questioned whether the prices negotiated were reasonable and how Whitefish came to be awarded the contract. Whitefish is two years old, when the contract was signed only two people worked for it full-time, and it has connections to the current U.S. Secretary of the Interior. According to PREPA head Ricardo Ramos, FEMA approved the Whitefish deal, but FEMA officials said they did not.

Whitefish is based in the town of Whitefish, Montana, the hometown of Ryan Zinke, who is currently serving as U.S. Secretary of the Interior in the administration of the US President Donald Trump. Zinke and Andy Techmanski, Whitefish’s chief executive, are acquaintances, and Zinke’s son worked for Whitefish one summer. The founder of one of Whitefish’s financial backers, HBC Investments, has made nontrivial campaign contributions to Republicans and specifically to Trump.

Zinke told the public, “I had absolutely nothing to do with Whitefish Energy receiving a contract in Puerto Rico[…] Any attempts by the dishonest media or political operatives to tie me to awarding or influencing any contract involving Whitefish are completely baseless.”

Zinke also posted online, “Only in elitist Washington DC would being from a small town be considered a crime.”

The head of the U.S. House of Representatives natural resource committee, Republican Rob Bishop, has sent PREPA a letter requesting documentation of the deal and an explanation of the means by which it was made.

Maria Cantwell, a Democrat serving on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources called for “an investigation to determine how we got into this situation in the first place,” saying “taxpayers should pay a fair rate for the emergency repairs Puerto Rico desperately needs, […] not be gouged by Whitefish Energy or anyone else.”

According to the Associated Press, in one copy of the Whitefish contract, each employee would be paid a US$80 food allowance each day, and US$1000 each time they fly to or from the mainland U.S., with hourly pay rates for foremen, linemen and mechanics in the hundreds of dollars.

The federal control board in charge of Puerto Rico’s finances recently said they had appointed retired Air Force Colonel Noel Zamot to oversee the restoration of Puerto Rico’s power infrastructure, but Governor Rosselló said Puerto Rico’s own government is responsible for the power company, which has debts in the billions.

The category 4 Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico several weeks ago with high winds and intense rain. About 70% of Puerto Rico still has no electricity.

Puerto Rico was colonized by Spain and came under U.S. control in the Spanish-American War in 1898, along with Guam and the Philippines. Every person born in Puerto Rico is a United States citizen by birth. Puerto Rican residents do not participate in national elections, and have a non-voting representative in the U.S. congress. Mostly, they are exempt from federal income tax but not other federal taxes.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Art thieves in Greece broke into the Athens National Gallery on Monday and stole three valuable works of art.

Among them was a painting by famous Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, dated 1939, called Woman’s Head which was a gift to the Greek people for their resistance to the Nazis during World War 2. The other two works were Mill by Piet Mondrian and a sketch of St. Diego de Alcala by Guglielmo Caccia. A fourth painting, Landscape, also by Piet Mondrian was dropped by the thieves when pursued by security. All three works stolen were stripped from their frames.

The police stated multiple alarms during the evening of the heist in other parts of the building had distracted the gallery guard. Investigating yet another alarm, he saw the shadow of a fleeing individual. Citizen’s Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis apologized for the loss, citing that the security at the gallery was “non-existent”.

The value of the works stolen was not yet determined by gallery officials. The artwork in question was on display at the gallery as part of an exhibition called “Unknown Treasures”, including works of Albrecht Durer and Rembrandt.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Actor John Barrowman escaped serious injury in a 80mph crash while filming a segment for TV show Fifth Gear in Powys, Wales. One of the show’s presenters, Tiff Needell, was in the passenger seat at the time of the accident.

Barrowman, whose character in the BBC series Torchwood is unable to die, lost control of the Subaru before plunging down an embankment. The car flipped four times before coming to a rest, narrowly avoiding landing in a lake.

Paramedics at the scene managed to pull the two stars out of the car, having to remove glass from Barrowman’s eye and later taking him to hospital.

Three years ago, Richard Hammond, presenter of rival show Top Gear, was involved in a 288mph crash while filming a piece for the show.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

What would you tell your grandchildren about 2008 if they asked you about it in, let’s say, 20 years’ time? If the answer to a quiz question was 2008, what would the question be? The year that markets collapsed, or perhaps the year that Obama became US president? Or the year Heath Ledger died?

Let’s take a look at some of the important stories of 2008. Links to the original Wikinews articles are in all the titles.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Jack Diesing Sr., former chairman of the College World Series has died at the age of 92. His son announced the cause of death as complications from Parkinson’s disease. Diesing was chairman of the series from 1963 until 2002.

Diesing helped the tournament become one of the most successful college events in the United States. He became chairman in 1963 after his boss at Brandies department store died and passed on his duties to Diesing, one of which was the chairman role.

Before taking the role the series had only made a profit in five of its fourteen years. Under Diesing’s leadership the series never made a loss. During his time as chairman he also negotiated a long term contract with the NCAA and lengthened the series from 5 to 10 games.

Diesing’s son, Jack Diesing Jr., released a statement on his fathers death saying “My dad will be missed by a lot of people, but he won’t be forgotten”. He continued to say that his goals were to make “Omaha a better community” and to secure the “CWS to mantain its legacy”.

At the time of his death Diesing was still chairman emeritus of College World Series of Omaha Inc., a non-profit organization that helped with the coordination of the series.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

In a New York press conference at 16:15 UTC, June 1st, Fritz Henderson, the Chief Executive Officer of General Motors, which filed for bankruptcy and Chapter 11 protection from its creditors earlier today, outlined a plan for what he called a “New GM”.

Speaking to the press under safe harbor provisions of U.S. law, Henderson described the events of today as a “defining moment” in the history of General Motors. Speaking to the public he said that “The GM that let you down is history,” and described a “New GM” that he expected to result from the bankruptcy process.

Henderson stated that he envisioned the bankruptcy process would take between 60 and 90 days. He stressed several times his view that the process would be one that is executed quickly, saying that not just a sense of urgency but “pure unadulterated speed” was his expectation of the process. He emphasized that “GM remains open for business” during the bankruptcy period, continuing to sell and to support its products, and that day one motions had been filed in the bankruptcy court in order to allow this.

Regarding the bankruptcy process he said, “We will do it right. And we will do it once.”

He stated that the plan for General Motors had the support of the United Auto Workers union, the Canadian Auto Workers union, the GM VEBA, and a majority of the unsecured bondholders of GM. He also mentioned that GM had already received €1.5 million in bridge financing from the German government.

In response to questions about the possibility of the United States federal government, a majority shareholder in the restructured company, dictating future product development and strategy, such as the sale of more fuel-efficient and green vehicles; he first observed that the federal government had already stated to him that it had “no real interest in running our business” and that he expected that still to be his job. Of the specific hypothetical scenario where the management of GM wants to make one type of car, because it thinks that it is the right thing for the business, and the U.S. government wants to make another type of car, he stated that “I don’t think it’s going to happen.” Expanding on that point he stated that he expected the “New GM” to focus upon “highly fuel-efficient and green technology”, and that operating both in accordance with U.S. environmental laws and in response to customer demand would naturally result in the New GM producing the types of vehicles that the U.S. government would encourage.

The “New GM” he also expected to focus on “four core brands”, and will size its dealership to match that. He stated that GM would offer a “deferred termination” package to dealers, to allow them to cease dealing in GM vehicles in a managed and gradual way.

He stated that the bankruptcy filings did not cover General Motors’ businesses in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East, and Asia and the Pacific. Of GM’s profitable ventures in China, specifically, he stated that they were “a critical part of the New GM”. In response to questions of whether the New GM would import cars from China to the U.S., he stated the formative company’s core principle that “We build where we sell” applied in both directions, with GM building in China to sell in China and building in the U.S. to sell in the U.S., stating that this shortened supply chains.

He declined to predict when the New GM would return to profitability, stating that the goal was rather to lower the break-even EBIT point for the company. He also declined to speculate upon when the U.S. government would sell its stake in the company, saying that that was a question “better addressed to the U.S. Treasury”, and merely saying that he expected it to be “years, not months” when the U.S. Treasury felt it would give “the right return for taxpayers.”