Latest news with #Heckler
TimesLIVE
08-05-2025
- Automotive
- TimesLIVE
E-bike, toy recalls announced by Consumer Commission
'The interchangeable 720w lithium-ion battery resides inside a black case under the frame. 'According to the supplier, their investigation and testing revealed that a small number of batteries supplied to certain Heckler e-bikes may be at an increased risk of an electrical short circuit. In such cases, this may pose a fire hazard, resulting in a risk of injury or property damage.' The affected Santa Cruz Heckler 9 e-bikes were made available from February 2022 to April 2025 and were sold nationally. People are urged to stop using the e-bikes immediately and disconnect the battery from the Heckler 9 e-bike and charger. Consumers can check whether their battery is affected by visiting the company recall page. If affected, they can register to receive a replacement battery at no cost.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Yahoo
MPD: Gun stolen from Memphis gym a year ago used in homicide
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A gun stolen during a rash of vehicle break-ins at an East Memphis gym was used in a deadly shooting in Hickory Hill over the weekend, police say. MPD said the weapon that was recovered in the suspect's car was one of two handguns stolen from vehicles parked at Gold's Gym on White Station Road more than a year ago. Just before 9 p.m. Saturday, a man was shot and killed outside an apartment building in the 9000 block of Ridge Drive. Police said they found a blood trail leading to the parking lot and five 9mm shell casings. MPD: Man turns himself in downtown after deadly shooting According to police, a few hours after the shooting, Raffael Newman, 44, walked into 201 Poplar downtown and told a Shelby County Deputy he was responsible for the shooting and told them where they could find the gun. Raffael Newman (SCSO). Man shot and killed in 4000 block of Ridge Road in Hickory Hill Saturday night. The black Heckler & Koch VP 9mm was reported stolen on June 2, 2024. Gun thefts from vehicles continue to be a big problem in Memphis and those guns are being used to commit crimes. Recent numbers from the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission show that 2,868 guns were stolen in Memphis last year, and 56% of those were from stolen cars. Car theft attempt turns into shooting at TJ Mulligan's in Midtown: MPD In 2023, MPD reported that 40% of guns used in crimes were stolen, but it is unclear how many of those weapons were involved in violent crimes. Car break-ins have skyrocketed in Memphis in recent years, and police say most of the time, thieves are looking for guns. MPD continues to urge gun owners to remove firearms from their vehicles or secure them in a safe when leaving them unattended. There are around 70,000 registered gun owners in Shelby County. A Tennessee law passed in 2014 allowed gun permit holders to keep guns in their vehicles without a permit. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to
Otago Daily Times
24-04-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Personalising Arrowtown's war dead
Denise Heckler with Arrowtown's new WWI memorial panel on Soldiers Hill. PHOTO: PHILIP CHANDLER A passionate Arrowtowner, Denise Heckler got the idea for a memorial panel remembering Arrowtown's WW1 victims when she saw a panel beside the Glenorchy Hall several years ago. "This panel seemed to personalise these men more than mentioning a name on a monument. "I very much wanted to do it because I thought Arrowtown has given my family so much that I have no problem doing something like that to help." With the support of the Queenstown & District Historical Society she belongs to, and particularly Marion Borrell, Heckler spent two years learning about these 18 soldiers, 14 of whom died in battles — including four within a few days at Passchendaele in 1917 — and four who succumbed to disease. Contrary to what she'd expected, there wasn't a hurry to enlist, possibly because many menfolk were needed on local farms. That changed after the Military Service Act 1916 introduced a conscription ballot for men between 20 and 46. Heckler's research took her to the Auckland War Memorial Museum where she even found the soldiers' medical records. "I noticed they were quite short, 5 foot 8 [173cm], 5 foot 10 [178cm]; they commented on John Boyd Hunter as he was 6 foot 2 [188cm]. "And their teeth were terrible." She also had great help from the archivist at Arrowtown's Lakes District Museum, Jo Boyd, and found photos of nine of the soldiers. She also included for the panel a photo of mainly Arrowtown soldiers taking a break from training at the Featherston Military Camp. "Many went to those camps and got influenza and measles and it wasn't an easy road before they even left." Heckler notes Arrowtown's population in 1916 was only 308 so the impact of losing so many people, as for many other small towns, would have been widespread. "I discovered the churches, regardless of the denomination of the soldier who had been killed, acknowledged that soldier at their [next] service." She also got an insight into the degradation of war — "it surprises me we keep doing this". After the panel was unveiled she gave a talk to the historical society. "I quoted John Smith, who had been fighting in the Somme, describing how they didn't have tea for four days, had 10 days without a shave and when they slept it was in a foot of mud. "He said it was the next best thing to Hades." Heckler says Arrowtown's Returned and Services' Association sponsored the project and Print Central produced the panel at a very reasonable price. She admits she'll probably also have to research Arrowtown's eight WW2 casualties for another panel. Anzac Day commemorations 6.30am: Queenstown Dawn Service, Memorial Gates, Marine Parade (service sheet accessed by QR code), followed by march to Queenstown Memorial Centre for wreath-laying 10am: Parade from Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall to Soldiers Hill 10.30am: Arrowtown service at The Cenotaph, Soldiers Hill (Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall if wet) Noon: Bagpiper Graeme Grass plays The Lament for Edith Cavell on the Edith Cavell Bridge Roll of honour
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
When We Forget Political Moderates
Margaret Heckler is not a name many Americans would recognize today, which is a shame. Political heroes are scant. Politicians who prioritize bipartisan collaboration rather than power and prestige have disappeared. And politicians who have broad appeal to Republicans, Democrats, independents, feminists, immigrants, veterans, Christians, and minorities are seemingly nonexistent. Heckler defies all of our modern expectations for political leaders—similar to how she defied the political boundaries of her own day. As a lawyer and mother of three children, Heckler ran for office in 1966 at the age of 35 without the support of the Republican establishment and unseated Joseph W. Martin, a long-time incumbent and former Republican speaker of the House. She joined Congress as a Republican representing a largely Democratic district in Massachusetts, and was one of 11 congresswomen in a room of 352 congressmen. After more than a decade in the House, she went on to become secretary of health and human services and then ambassador to Ireland. Why does Heckler's name not loom large in our imagination like the other female power figures of her day? Over the course of her career, she secured access to credit for women, federalized hospice care, and commissioned the first report on minority health. She also marched alongside Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan; was admitted to Harvard Law School a few years before Ruth Bader Ginsburg (but was forced to attend Boston College Law School because of the Harvard dean's discrimination); and successfully persuaded Ronald Reagan to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court, which he did with Sandra Day O'Connor—the same woman who two years later swore in Heckler as HHS secretary. There are two reasons, I think, for our apparent cultural amnesia when it comes to Heckler. One is that, for the entirety of Heckler's time in the House, she was in the minority party. In the 1970s, Heckler was perhaps the fiercest promoter of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act—which secured the ability for women to get credit in their own name—sponsoring one of the many drafts, testifying before Congress, meeting with CEOs of several major banks, and leveraging her position on the House Banking Committee. However, New York Rep. Bella Abzug or Louisiana Rep. Lindy Boggs, both Democrats, are better remembered as the champions of the bill in the House. But perhaps the more likely reason Heckler has been lost to public memory is because her bipartisan achievements do not neatly fit current political expectations. Her legacy looks paradoxical to us, with her political priorities crisscrossing what we would label as 'conservative' or 'liberal' stances. She supported her immigrant constituents, pushed veteran advocacy, fought for the Equal Rights Amendment, held nuanced pro-life views, and expanded federal healthcare research for Alzheimer's disease, minorities, and AIDS victims. Today, would those be the priorities of any establishment Democrat or Republican? Indeed, today, Heckler might be accused of inconsistency or worse—being called a squish or a RINO. In reality, she was incredibly consistent, but to something much greater than party politics. To understand what drove Heckler, one must look to the deeper side of her faith and personal life. In the recently released first biography of Heckler—written by her daughter-in-law Kimberly Heckler, who I had the honor of assisting—personal stories reveal the making of a devout Catholic, determined, and compassionate public servant. Given away as a child to be raised by a devout elderly woman, Heckler channeled her wounds of abandonment into an impressive career. For Heckler, being 'driven by her faith' meant that 'her compassionate heart refused to settle for anything less than the most humane and dignified government policies.' The result was a career that prioritized care for those most overlooked in society—a commitment that came at the risk of criticism in the media or the loss of a job. Heckler pursued policy goals she cared about even when it required her to go against her own party or public opinion. For example, Heckler joined the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs in her first year of Congress, amid the increasingly unpopular Vietnam War, and went on to sponsor or co-sponsor 107 bills to help veterans receive access to education, housing, and geriatric centers. Then, when she was secretary of health and human services, she included hospice care as a Medicare benefit—much to the ire of the Reagan administration, which was dead-set on reducing government spending. Even more remarkably, when the AIDS epidemic broke out, Heckler spoke out in the face of the same administration's silence, declaring it the top health priority in the United States. One of Heckler's former assistants said she 'watched her go to hospitals, meet patients, hug and kiss them, and hold their hands, beg the White House for more resources, spend hours with the NIH researchers, praying for the patients and their families and mourning for those dying.' Heckler succeeded in advancing AIDS awareness and research, but that advocacy was one of several reasons she was eventually pushed out of the position—along with the allegation that she was 'too liberal.' Heckler had wide-ranging, genuine friendships with everyone from former President George H.W. Bush and former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill to the fierce Rep. Bella Abzug. She also formed what was once considered the most successful bipartisan group in Congress with fellow House member Elizabeth Holtzman (D-NY): the Congresswoman's Caucus, known today as the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues or Bipartisan Women's Caucus. Nowadays, across-the-aisle friendships and legislative compromises appear like a distant dream. Congress has hemorrhaged moderate leaders in recent years. In 2022, 50 of the most moderate members left the House, and this year, the Senate lost moderates like West Virginia Rep. Joe Manchin, Arizona Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney. The fatigue of trying to bridge increasing polarization, gerrymandering, or district political drift have outlasted and outwitted those with bipartisan intentions. In the absence of boldly bipartisan leaders today, who should we look to for models of political leadership? We need to look to the past, to figures like Margaret Heckler. We need courageous leaders who are not afraid to challenge their party's status quo. And we need more people, as Kimberly Heckler writes about Margaret Heckler, who are 'driven by compassion and justice rather than vitriolic party politics.'
