Latest news with #Winslow
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rep. Josh Harder announces legislation to stop invasion of 'stinky' golden mussels
( — A single female mussel can produce up to one million offspring a year, and in some river systems, they have the spread of up to 150 miles per year on average, according to the Nevada Irrigation District. Democratic Representative Josh Harder introduced legislation with members of the Delta Delegation to stop the exploding invasion of golden mussels appearing in parts of Northern California cities. Lucky guest wins $549K jackpot at Thunder Valley's new slot machines The golden mussels are a razor-sharp invasive species that spits sludge, emits a rotting odor, and destroys the ecosystems and water infrastructure, according to Kevin Winslow, Communications Director at the U.S. House of Representatives. 'Don't let the name fool you, these golden mussels are sharp, slimy, and stinking invaders that clog our waterways with sludge and threaten our fragile Delta ecosystems. We need to act now to stop their advance,' said Harder. 'This bill protects our waterways and our Delta economy by jumpstarting eradication efforts right now, not when it's far too late.' If the golden mussels are left unchecked, the infestation could be a threat to the water supplies that 27 million Californians rely on, along with the $50 billion in agriculture, Winslow stated. The first sighting of the golden mussels was near the Port of Stockton in October of 2024, and the infestation now ranges as far south as Kern County, according to Winslow. Lake Tahoe inspectors find golden mussels in a boat in Alpine Meadows Just most recently, on May 30, Lake Tahoe watercraft inspectors identified highly invasive golden mussels on a boat at the Alpine Meadows inspection station. Authorities stated that the Golden Mussel Eradication and Control Act fights the invasion by developing new eradication efforts in the valley. Here's how the act gets the job done: Deploys a rapid response program to monitor, contain, and begin eradicating the current infestation. Invests in new technology and inspection stations to speed up local eradication efforts. Increases state, local, and federal coordination through a comprehensive report on best practices and new guidance on golden mussel prevention. The Golden Mussel Eradication and Control Act has been endorsed by the Delta Continues Coalition, which is made up of county supervisors from Contra Costa, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, and Yolo Counties. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Illinois bill on governor's desk would require law enforcement to work with federal gun tracing database
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — When law enforcement finds a gun while investigating a crime scene, they can track its history on a national database called eTrace. A bill that passed both chambers of the statehouse would require all law enforcement agencies to use it. Illinois law enforcement agencies have been encouraged to partner with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' software in the past. But now a bill on the governor's desk would make that mandatory. Illinois bill strengthening rules on gun storage heads to Pritzker's desk Law enforcement leaders like Kenny Winslow of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police said many of the smallest departments didn't have the resources to participate before. 'It requires a lot of staffing hours to try to back trace this,' he said. Winslow said his organization is neutral on the final proposal. While the tool can be helpful for police to connect suspects to evidence and crime scenes, he said eTrace is not perfect. 'When people think that this is simple, that you put the information to a system that fits back all the information that you want, that's not how it works.' Winslow said. 'The trace system spits back information and potential, what we call hits, and then you fall off those heads on potential leads, and then those leads potentially lead you to somebody else that may have owned a gun.' Even with the flaws Winslow feels the eTrace system has, law enforcement said it's worth the effort to try to prevent violent crime in their communities. 'When you talk about gun violence, I think it's important that we do every step we can in order to try to curb that violence,' Winslow added. Bill heading to Pritzker's desk to prevent time limit on anesthesia Gun control advocates said tracing guns is an important part to prevent gun trafficking. 'If we have data on these recovered crime guns about who the original purchasers are, we can use that as a deterrent and to hold these folks accountable so that these guns are not moved into a secondary illegal market,' Kathleen Sances, the President of G-PAC, said. Sances added requiring more participation with eTrace will help it be successful. 'We'll be able to do a better job solving these crimes, tracing these crime guns and keeping our community safe,' she said. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul was a major force behind the bill. 'We cannot truly prevent gun violence in our state unless we make sure all Illinois law enforcement agencies are using the best resources to trace crime guns,' Raoul said in a statement. The Illinois Attorney General also runs a statewide gun tracing database called Crime Gun Connect. Sances said half of all law enforcement agencies participate in that database. More information on eTrace can be found on the ATF's website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
RNZ News
15-05-2025
- General
- RNZ News
FENZ to investigate cause of fire that burnt thousands of hay bales near Ashburton
Photo: RNZ / Nathan McKinnon A fire investigator will examine the cause of a fire that has burnt through 14,000 hay bales south of Ashburton in Canterbury. The blaze broke out in two hay sheds housing 214,000 bales at Andrew Quigley Contracting in Winslow shortly before midnight on Wednesday. FENZ incident controller Carrie Swanson said the fire had been contained but 50 firefighters remained on site. She said it was too early to assess the full extent of the damage or how many bales had been destroyed. "Crews are working really hard to make sure that the exposures are protected, so that's other assets and buildings that are nearby, just to make sure that no embers are transporting onto those," she said. Swanson said heavy machinery was being brought in to remove the bales and crews expected to be there for the next day or two. It was not yet clear how the fire started, she said. Photo: RNZ / Nathan McKinnon Ashburton district councillor Rob Mackle saw smoke coming from the business the morning. He said Quigley was well-respected in Ashburton and the farming community. "It's a large contracting business, employs a number of staff, and they will be out there helping Andrew at the moment," she said. "There'll be a massive cleanup for him going ahead, but it is a great community here, they'll all be pitching in to help I imagine." Ashburton mayor Neil Brown was at the scene working a day shift for the fire brigade, Mackle said. He said he assumed the fire was caused by combustion, although that was yet to be determined. "If you put hay into a shed, there's always an element of risk of it heating up and catching alight. There is always that risk, but you do your best to mitigate that," he said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
14-05-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Thousands of hay bales go up in smoke in barn fire near Ashburton
Generic fire truck. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King Fire crews south of Ashburton have been battling a large rural fire burning through around 14,000 hay bales since late on Wednesday night. Fire and Emergency first received a 111 call to the blaze in two sheds at an agricultural contracting yard in Winslow. The two buildings have a combined total of around 214,000 hay bales inside them. The fire covered an area of 150m by 25m. Seven tankers, three fire trucks, two rural fire trucks and a command unit were at the scene. Fire and Emergency shift manager Simon Lyford said due to the hay bales burning the blaze would take some time to extinguish. People travelling in the area might see some smoke and the occasional flame. Lyford said there was no risk to life or homes, however, there were other buildings nearby on the yard that the fire crews were protecting.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Deceitful': 3 former execs at Mass.-based Magellan Diagnostics plead guilty over faulty lead tests
The former CEO and two other high-ranking executives for Massachusetts-based Magellan Diagnostics have pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to the company's lead-testing devices that produced inaccurately low results for tens of thousands of patients, the U.S. Attorney said Tuesday. Amy Winslow, 53, of Needham Heights, Magellan's former CEO, pleaded guilty to one felony count of introduction of misbranded medical devices into interstate commerce, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement. U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris scheduled her sentencing for July 23. Hossein Maleknia, 66, of Bonita Springs, Florida, Magellan's former chief operating officer, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of introduction of misbranded medical devices into interstate commerce. Saris scheduled his sentencing is scheduled for June 26. Reba Daoust, 68, of Amesbury, Magellan's former Director of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs, pleaded guilty to one felony count of making false statements. She is scheduled to be sentenced on June 24. Winslow, Maleknia and Daoust were indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2023. Prosecutors said the three former executives misled regulators and customers about lead-testing devices manufactured by Magellan, a medical device company headquartered in Billerica. The company's LeadCare II and LeadCare Ultra devices detected lead levels and lead poisoning in the blood of children and adults using either venous, i.e., blood draws through the arm, or fingerstick samples. LeadCare II, which was predominantly used to test fingerstick samples, accounted for more than half of all blood lead tests conducted in the United States from 2013 through 2017. LeadCare Ultra was predominantly used to test venous samples. By hiding the malfunction and later misleading customers and the FDA about when they discovered the malfunction, and the risks associated with the malfunction, Winslow, Maleknia and Daoust 'caused an estimated thousands of children and other patients to receive inaccurately low lead test results,' Foley said. 'We trust that medical devices provide accurate results. We trust that when doctors give us information, it's based on reliable science. These defendants eroded that trust by misleading regulators and customers about devices they knew could provide inaccurate results, and thereby knowingly endangered the health of children and other patients across the country,' Foley said. 'These convictions should make one thing clear: corporate fraud that puts public health at risk will not go unpunished. Individuals who choose to mislead rather than uphold the integrity of our healthcare system will be held accountable,' Foley said. The FDA ultimately found that the LeadCare devices could not accurately test venous samples, leading to a recall of all LeadCare devices using venous samples and a warning to the public not to use the devices for venous blood samples because of the malfunction, Foley said. 'What these three senior executives did was downright deceitful and dangerous,' Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, said in a statement. 'They concealed a medical device malfunction that resulted in inaccurate lead test results for thousands of children and other vulnerable patients in order to boost Magellan's bottom line. The public should know the FBI and our partners are working hard every day to ensure those who put profits over patient safety won't get away with it.' According to court documents, as referenced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no safe level of lead in the blood. Lead exposure may cause irreversible lifelong physical and mental health problems. Young children and pregnant women are most vulnerable to lead exposure, especially those from low-income households and those who live in housing built before 1978 because those homes are more likely to contain lead-based paint and have fixtures containing lead. 'These corporate executives knew about a serious flaw in Magellan's lead testing devices that produced inaccurate reporting of lead levels in the blood. They chose to conceal that flaw, completely disregarding the well-being of patients, in their corrupt effort to benefit the corporate bottom line,' Special Agent in Charge Roberto Coviello of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, said in a statement. 'These convictions serve as a strong reminder that we will continue to work tirelessly to investigate and bring to justice those who engage in dangerous schemes that put patient safety at risk.' If you or a family member believe you received an inaccurate blood lead test result from a LeadCare device between 2013-2017, federal officials are asking you to complete the questionnaire located on the FBI's website. Information about the status of the case is located on the U.S. Attorney's Office website. For the charges of introduction of misbranded medical devices, Winslow and Maleknia face a sentence of up to three years in prison, up to one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. For the charge of making false statements, Daoust faces a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up $250,000 or twice the gross gain from the offense, whichever is greater. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
