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Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
PS&S Sponsors Drinking Water Project in Nicaraguan Village
Firm Helps Non-Profit, 'Green Empowerment,' Construct a Micro Utility; 100 Families to Get Safe Drinking Water in El Paraisito WARREN, N.J., June 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Approximately 300 residents of a small farming community in Nicaragua will soon have access to clean, safe drinking water thanks to PS&S' sponsorship of non-profit organization, Green Empowerment's, construction of a micro-utility. El Paraisito, located in the municipality of Pueblo Nuevo, Estelí, is within Nicaragua's dry corridor, a region highly vulnerable to water scarcity. Currently, the residents of El Paraisito rely on community wells which are located far from homes, lack proper protection, and receive little to no maintenance. This creates risks to community health and well-being as well as demands hours of work each day for women and children to collect water. 'Green Empowerment asked if we could help the citizens of El Paraisito and we said 'yes,'' said PS&S President and CEO, John Sartor. 'As an architecture and engineering firm, we understand water utilities and, while we are not responsible for design and construction, PS&S has lent financial assistance.' In partnership with FEDICAMP, an association of 'campesino' (small farmer) community groups dedicated to increasing economic opportunities & living conditions in rural Nicaragua, the Green Empowerment team is constructing a community-wide water system that will utilize electric pumping, gravity-fed distribution, filtration and chlorination. The system will feature a machine-drilled well, a pipeline network connecting to a storage tank, a water treatment system, a two-mile distribution network, and metered household connections, bringing clean potable water to every household in the community. 'Working with an engineering firm like PS&S, who really gets both the technical side of things and the heart of our mission, is a win-win for us and for the people of El Paraisito,' said Green Empowerment Executive Director, Andrea Johnson. 'Partnerships like this really matter. Small and mid-size firms can support a project from start to finish.' Johnson noted that the project includes comprehensive training on system maintenance and management. Community members will help build the infrastructure, elect a water committee, and vote on a monthly water tariff, setting them up to successfully manage the system for years to come. 'This important project is a way for us to help a good cause in a country that has connections to our area with sizable Nicaraguan American communities in Hudson, Bergen and Passaic counties as well as many other parts of the Tri-state area,' concluded Sartor. According to census data, the New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York Marketing Statistical Area (MSA) has the fourth largest Nicaraguan American population in the United States after Florida, California and Texas. About PS&S Founded in 1962, PS&S has evolved into a unique best-in-class architecture, engineering, surveying, and environmental consulting firm, providing design and consultation services to a wide range of public, corporate, institutional and commercial clients. PS&S is ranked among the top national design firms by Engineering News Record (and among the top 15 national engineering firms in pharmaceuticals). Recognized both for its breadth of services and depth of expertise, PS&S is the single source for planning, permitting and design at the local, State and Federal levels. To learn more, please visit Media Contact: Deborah Kostroun201-403-8185deborah@ A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Nurses rally outside VA hospitals to highlight staff cuts, vacancies
During a typical nursing shift at VA Medical Center San Diego, Andrea Johnson said she barely has time to catch her breath between room checks, family consults and patient requests. 'What happens if you cut housekeeping staff, and it falls to us to get rooms cleaned?' she asked. 'If dietary staff is cut, will nurses have to take on the responsibility to deliver meal trays? Who is going to handle scheduling to make sure a bed is available? 'All of those things affect our time and our ability to care for our veterans.' Johnson, a seven-year employee of VA, was one of dozens of department nurses rallying outside the California hospital Wednesday to protest an array of moves by President Donald Trump's administration that they say unnecessarily threatens the health of veterans and federal workers. House vets chairman backs VA staffing cuts but promises oversight The event, planned by the National Nurses Organizing Committee and National Nurses United, or NNU, followed similar protests in New York, Chicago, North Carolina and other sites in recent weeks. More are scheduled through the end of the month. 'We're not going to let them just bully the workers,' said Irma Westmoreland, an official at NNU and a VA nurse working in Georgia for the last 34 years. 'We're not going to let them do things that are illegal. We're not going to let them just fire people for no reason.' The rallies were originally conceived to protest looming staffing cuts across the department. VA Secretary Doug Collins has proposed trimming the workforce back to 2019 personnel levels, which would eliminate around 80,000 positions across the department. VA officials have emphasized that those cuts will not impact services or benefits and said positions to be eliminated will not be ones which directly work with veterans or family members. In a statement, VA Press Secretary Peter Kasperowicz dismissed the protests as fear-mongering and exaggeration. 'Positions that are critical to providing care to veterans — including nursing positions — will not be affected by efforts to make VA more efficient,' he said. 'VA's focus is on streamlining administrative functions, eliminating redundancies, and reducing managerial administration burdens without hurting veteran care.' But nurses like Johnson and Westmoreland — and Democratic lawmakers critical of the plans — insist worker cuts of that scale will inevitably hurt veterans' care, even if the effects are indirect. 'We're already spread way too thin,' said Beverly Simpson, a VA nurse who works in West Virginia. 'Any more cuts or responsibilities affects the quality of the health care that the veterans receive, and it makes so much more room for errors to occur.' Officials from NNU have lamented VA's nurse hiring practices for years, saying the department has not been aggressive enough in properly staffing hospitals to meet growing needs. Now, they said, the problem is getting even worse. Trump announced a federal hiring freeze earlier this year, but exempted some critical jobs like VA health care posts. However, NNU leaders have said the uncertainty over future job cuts has led many members to start seeking jobs elsewhere and is discouraging potential recruits. VA leaders dispute those claims. They said of the 91,000 nursing jobs in the VA system, about 8,800 are unfilled now — a vacancy rate lower than most other major medical systems. 'There is a nationwide shortage of nurses that makes recruiting and retention difficult across the health care sector,' Kasperowicz said. 'We continue to demonstrate the ability to attract nurses to VA, and we have hired more than 1,600 nurses in the first half of [fiscal] 2025.' He also challenged union officials to provide details of personnel shortages to VA management, so those problems can be addressed. Union officials said past complaints about the problems have gone unanswered. Further complicating the conflict are White House moves to scale back federal union protections. As those collective bargaining fights are being debated in court, the nurses' rallies have grown to include a coalition of other federal workers, local union representatives and several veterans advocacy groups. Department officials said final plans for VA jobs cuts are still being developed and reviewed, with an eye toward preventing problems in benefits and health care delivery. In a social media post just a few days after the first nurses rally, Collins said that too many critics 'view the VA as a federal jobs program' and are pushing instead to 'maintain a dysfunctional status quo' at the department. 'Our shared goal needs to be making things better for veterans rather than protecting the department's broken bureaucracy,' he said. But those assurances have not won over the nurses protesting outside VA locations. Officials said they will keep holding the events until their concerns are heard, and until a sensible plan for VA staffing levels is made public. 'When the unions band together with the community, there isn't anything we can't accomplish,' Westmoreland said. 'We're going to stop this. We're going to make sure that our VA is safe for our veterans.'
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Feels like it was yesterday' Newport businesses look back at Helene damage six months later
NEWPORT, Tenn. (WATE) — It's been half a year since Hurricane Helene ripped through East Tennessee. Downtown Newport businesses are continuing to pick up the pieces. The devastating storm struck in September 2024. Since then, businesses in Newport have been making a comeback. Some reopening and others bringing new energy into the community. Cocke County still striving for a return to normal six months after Helene flooding Flowers by Wilma, a staple in Newport for 50 years, is still recovering after an entire warehouse of inventory was damaged. 'We did have about three and a half foot of water in our warehouse, which houses all of our supplies. It was awful. It just broke our garage door, pushed everything out front, and it was just a hot mess. Now the interstate's back open and Newport downtown is ready to get this traffic for our local customers to come and see us,' said Candace Campbell, owner of Flowers by Wilma. Amazing Grace Consignments opened its doors after the storm aiming to revitalize downtown. Owner Andrea Johnson shared she had to replace the floors after four feet of water flooded the building before they could open. From New Zealand to America: 97-year-old Veteran served in two wars for two countries 'We want to bring more light to the town. We want to be the light. We want to be as helpful as we can be. And we're trying to give to groups around who have lost everything and are doing rehab centers or giving to them. And so we want everybody to be blessed. This community has really been together. They have really looked out for each other. Everybody gave what they could, whether it was our town, money, resources, the churches have all stepped up,' explained Johnson. At Po Boys Stop Shop, the staff expresses their gratitude, noting that every day brings the community closer to full recovery. 'It was slow on us at first when the flood hit. But we have noticed businesses beginning to pick back up and we would like to say we appreciate everybody's supporting small business. I mean, that's all we are, just a little small business, but we've made it through it all,' said Phillip Bailey, Parttime Owner of Po Boys.'Yes, we're banding together. Yes, we are making some improvement, but we've got a long way to go,' added Campbell. Five Tennessee roads remain closed six months after Helene as recovery continues While many businesses are making progress, some couldn't recover from the loss and damaged caused by Helene and have closed their doors for good. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
