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What's Up, Walmart?

The odds of several stores suddenly closing for six months - all at the same time, and all ostensibly due to plumbing problems - are infinitesimally small. Something else is going on.

Earlier this month, Walmart suddenly and mysteriously closed five stores in four different states, citing “plumbing problems” as the reason for the six-month closure. The company’s advice to the thousands of employees it had just laid off? Don’t stress, avoid chocolate.

Fortunately, the ex-employees probably won't have much difficulty with that last part, as chocolate isn't generally something that can be purchased with food stamps. The plumbing excuse, however, doesn't pass the smell test. Perhaps they're trying to head off another labor dispute.

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Walmart closes several stores over plumbing issues

Pilots Use iPads?

It seems that a number of American Airlines 737 jets were delayed because an iPad app used by the pilots and co-pilots malfunctioned and shut down the devices. Planes returned to the gates so that they could pick up a WiFi signal and reboot.

An American Airlines spokesperson confirmed the issue, telling the Verge: “Some flights are experiencing an issue with a software application on pilot iPads … In some cases, the flight has had to return to the gate to access a Wi-Fi connection to fix the issue.

That inspires a lot of confidence!

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iPad glitch grounds American Airlines flights

Disappointing KOIN Story

As expected, their curator claimed that everything's fine with the elephants (apart from Packy's tuberculosis). Bobby also claimed that the animal's temporal gland abscess was from a 20-year-old "surgical site", which is an outright lie (or possibly, pure ignorance).

Self-styled elephant expert Blair Czuti also appeared, falsely claiming that the elephants spend sixteen hours a day on chains.

In point of fact, the elephant facility was revolutionary precisely because it was the first one specifically designed to allow the animals to wander around unsecured, at all hours. As usual, Blair doesn't know what the hell he's talking about - that's not surprising, as he's unfamiliar with elephant management practices. Blair's one of those guys who reads stuff and suddenly considers himself an expert. I know him, and have always been impressed with his propensity for the obtuse.

As for Packy's temporal abscess: Bobby was actually almost right. There was never any surgical work done on his temporal area, but Packy has historically chosen to sleep on his left side exclusively; placing pressure on the gland - and during musth, when the gland drains profusely, it becomes a bacteriological garden. That's what caused the abcess, not any veterinary procedure.

Interestingly, the question of how elephants acquired tuberculosis was never addressed in the KOIN story, though it's clearly important in an "investigative report" that purports to delve into issues of elephant health at Oregon Zoo. You'd think that when zoo staff have to don hazmat gear to work with elephants, it might pique some degree of concern. Apparently, not.

 

BREAKING: KOIN Investigation, Oregon Zoo

Investigative reporter Carla Castano has been looking into recent elephant management practices  at Oregon Zoo for the past several months, and the story comes on tonight.

Metro tried to price the station out of investigating by demanding thousands of dollars in fees to produce requested documents, and they've been dodging and weaving week in and week out. Castano may have been slowed, but interviewed animal care professionals as well as animal "rights" activists in pursuing the story. This should be interesting, at the least.

"Curator" Bobby Lee will doubtless be featured, claiming that "his" management program is state-of-the-art. Perhaps Deputy director Chris will get involved. Certainly, "Interim director" Terri will stay out of it.

We can only wait and see.

Oregon GOP Strives To Toughen Ethics Rules, Disclosure

Although the state has strong public records laws, agencies such as Metro routinely circumvent them by demanding that those requesting copies pay through the nose; often, the fees they demand run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Indeed, one investigative reporter at a local television station mentioned that Metro wanted over $15,000 to retrieve requested documents. Julie Parrish is among those seeking to change that culture:

“We know what the real problem is with public records - it’s the stonewalling with time and fees, and not getting the records to the public,” said Rep. Julie Parrish, a West Linn Republican who sponsored the bill.

It was also backed by journalists and transparency advocates, who said weaknesses in the current law keep the public in the dark about the functions of government.

 

“Sometimes the stations don’t do the news reporting they need to do because they can’t afford (records),” said Bill Johnstone, president of the Oregon Association of Broadcasters.

But a parade of officials from local governments complained it would be impossible for them to fulfill all records requests within six weeks, as the bill would require. They said complying with records requests would have to take precedence over other priorities, particularly in small agencies that have staff performing multiple functions.

It'd be surprising if there was a "parade of officials from local governments" in support of the bill; after all, despite giving lip-service to transparency, they really like things just the way they are.

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Sanity Momentarily Strikes Portland City Councillor

I confess that I was fairly skeptical when Portland City Council, fearful of voters potentially wresting control of the water and sewer bureaus away from them, vowed to bring in the Citizens Utility Board to kind of nose around and see if they could find any particular reason for the constant escalation of water/sewer rates. Portland's rates are among the highest in the country, and the City Council has been facing a backlash as irate ratepayers discovered that millions of dollars in ratepayer funds were being illegally diverted to pay for pet projects completely unrelated to services.

But much to my surprise, CUB has actually discovered a big part of the problem, and it turns out to involve the crony developers pals of Portland City Council itself:

After years of controversy and increasing water and sewer rates, the nonprofit Citizens Utility Board was brought in to help save Portlanders money. After spending months looking at the issue, they uncovered a problem.

“To put it in very plain terms, it means homeowners and ordinary people paying their water bill are subsidizing developers who aren’t paying the full freight,” Commissioner Nick Fish said.

In the past year alone, CUB found, developers paid nearly $3 million less than they should have. As well, developers underpaid on industrial waste fees by another $4 million.

One of the worst offenders on the Portland City Council, when it came to diverting ratepayer funds for pet projects, was former commissioner Randy Leonard, who spent $1.2 million to retrofit a former restaurant in Water front Park in order to convert it into a headquarters building for the Portland Rose Festival Association. He diverted another million to build a "demonstration Water House" in east Portland, another million to design and build the "Leonard Loos" (public toilets, popular with the drug crowd), and nearly another million to build an ampitheater in a park at the confluence of the Bull Run and Sandy Rivers.

Since Leonard left, the city has returned the funds used to build the Rose Festival Headquarters to the water bureau, and sold the "Water House" (albeit for less than half the cost of construction). The next question is whether or not they'll have their developer buddies start paying their freight. Fish, at least, claims to be submitting a recommendation addressing that issue to mayor Streetcar Charlie.

Walking Back

Oregon state Senator Chuck Riley (D-Hillsboro) is walking back his Saturday remark about slavery:

"Obviously, I don't think slavery was ever right," Riley said Monday.  "I never had time to say that because of all the yelling."

He didn't mean to say what he said; it just sort of popped out of his mouth in the heat of the moment. So we're all good now, right?

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Canada Gets It!

Our friends to the north have become the first country in the world to require that for every new regulation passed, one of equal burden must be removed.

Canada has taken action to tackle the hidden taxes imposed on its economy  by regulations. The Red Tape Reduction Act (C-21) requires that for every new regulation introduced by the Canadian federal government, one of equal burden must be removed from the books.

They believe that some $11 billion will be returned to the economy without adverse public or environmental effect. Would that the USA could bring itself to follow suit!

Like Your Tuna Well-Aged?

Most tuna these days is certified as "dolphin- safe". People-safe, not so much:

Jose Melena, 62, was inside a 35-foot oven for maintenance when other workers loaded about six tons of tuna into it, then shut the door and turned it on. Melena cooked to death as the pressure cooker reached 270 degrees, and his remains were found by another worker.

Two people who were employees at the time have been charged, as has the company itself - the appropriately-named Bumble Bee.

Mother Of The Year

We could use a lot more like her.

Note to kid: a man didn't die so that you could steal toilet paper and Oreos.

A Baltimore mother is being hailed for doing her part to quell the violence after a video of her smacking her son upside the head when she spotted him rioting and throwing rocks at police emerged on Monday.

The unidentified mom recognized her son even though he was wearing a black ski mask that covered much of his face. 

She spotted him on TV throwing rocks and went after him like a heat-seeking missile.

You go, girl!