Boone County Watchdog: 01/28/16

Thursday, January 28, 2016

The Bank of Japan is stepping up its efforts to kick-start the country's struggling economy by taking interest rates into negative territory.

The central bank announced Friday that it will introduce an interest rate of minus 0.1% and will go even lower if needed.

In theory, negative rates encourage consumers to save less and spend more. They can also weaken a country's currency, helping exporters.

Investors responded positively to the Bank of Japan's announcement Friday. Stocks rose and the country's currency, the yen, fell against the dollar.

Financial markets' turbulent start to 2016 has been particularly punishing for Japan. Prior to the central bank's move, stocks had tanked around 10% since the start of the year, and the yen had strengthened.

The plunge in crude oil prices, meanwhile, has made it even harder for the Bank of Japan to hit its inflation target of 2%.

The central bank said the Japanese economy was in the midst of a moderate recovery, but it expressed concerns about plummeting oil prices and the uncertain outlook for emerging economies, especially China.

Japan has long struggled with deflation, and prices have been stagnating despite the central bank's aggressive stimulus measures in recent years that include a massive bond-buying program.

The Bank of Japan's announcement comes soon after closely watched statements from other major central banks amid the recent market turmoil.

Last week, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi gave stocks a lift by promising that the bank could pump out more money as early as March if necessary.

And on Wednesday, the U.S Federal Reserve said it was "monitoring global economic and financial developments."

CNNMoney (Hong Kong)

ABOVE IS FROM; http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/28/news/economy/bank-of-japan-negative-interest-rate/index.html

Lots Of Cities Have The Same Lead Pipes That Poisoned Flint

And there's no plan to dig them up.

01/28/2016 12:40 pm ET | Updated 1 hour ago

Arthur Delaney Senior Reporter, The Huffington Post

Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) doesn't know how many lead pipes there are in Flint.

Just how many lead pipes are there in Flint, Michigan, where the water has been undrinkable because of high lead levels? Nobody knows.

"A lot of work is being done to even understand where the lead services lines fully are, so I would say any numbers you're hearing at this point are still speculation," Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) said Wednesday.

It's a problem that's much bigger than Flint: there are millions of lead pipes all across America, putting children at risk of stunted growth, brain damage and a lifetime of diminished potential. Just this week, residents of Sebring, a town of 8,000 in rural Ohio, were told not to touch their tap water out of lead fears similar to Flint's.

"This is a situation that has the potential to occur in however many places around the country there are lead pipes," Jerry Paulson, emeritus professor of pediatrics and environmental health at George Washington University, said in an interview. "Unless and until those pipes are removed, those communities are at some degree of risk."

Roughly 10 million American homes and buildings receive water from service lines that are at least partially lead, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Service lines are the pipes connecting water mains to people's houses. Lead ones are mostly found in the Midwest and Northeast.

Despite the life-altering consequences of lead poisoning, there is no national plan to get rid of those pipes. A top reason for continuing to use lead service lines instead of immediately digging them up is that utilities can treat water so it forms a coating on the interior of the pipes -- a corrosion barrier that helps prevent lead particles from dislodging and traveling to your faucet. But if the water chemistry changes, the corrosion controls can fail.

That's what happened in Flint after the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality told the Flint Water Treatment Plant not to maintain corrosion controls that had previously been in place before the city switched water sources in 2014.

There is nothing a water utility can do to completely prevent lead leaching from a lead service line.Yanna Lambrinidou, water safety expert

The federal Safe Drinking Water Act requires water systems and state regulators to monitor lead levels coming out of people's faucets, and if 10 percent of samples have more than 15 parts per billion of lead, then the state has to evaluate its corrosion controls. And if that doesn't reduce the lead levels, then the law requires public water systems to begin replacing 7 percent of their lead service lines every year.

Even replacing the lines can be trouble, however, as the law only requires replacing the lines on public property -- replacing the portion of a lead service line on private property is up to the owner -- and it turns out that replacing just the public portion of a lead service line can cause lead levels to spike in a homeowner's water. That's because the work involved in replacing just part of a lead service line can jostle free lead in the the remaining part of the pipe.

(The Safe Drinking Water Act originally called for utilities to replace the entirety of a lead service line, but lobbying and a lawsuit by the American Water Works Association watered down the rule.)

"There is nothing a water utility can do to completely prevent lead leaching from a lead service line," said Yanna Lambrinidou, a water safety expert who teaches at Virginia Tech.

The EPA is currently considering changes to the Safe Drinking Water Act's lead rules, and an advisory panel has proposed a more proactive approach to replacing lead pipes. Instead of just waiting for higher levels of a deadly neurotoxin to show up in people's tap water, the proposal would encourage public water systems to go ahead and replace the pipes.

Lambrinidou was a member of the working group that crafted the recommendation, but she wound up dissenting because she believed it didn't do enough to force utilities to get lead pipes out of the ground.

"The rule needs to be such that it enforces actual lead service line replacement," Lambrinidou said.

What happened in Flint seems to show a weakness of the rule, since state regulators and the EPA agreed there was some ambiguity about whether Flint should have been required to implement corrosion controls. Snyder eventually admitted that his government had made a terrible mistake, and multiple state officials resigned, as did the EPA's regional administrator.

Flint reconnected to its original water source in October, and officials said yesterday there had been progress in the process of re-coating the interior of the city's aging pipes.

"Longer term, though, I think everyone understands we'd like to see those pipes replaced," Snyder said.

This story has been updated with a more recent EPA estimate of the number of lead service lines in use.

ABOVE IS FROM; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lead-pipes-everywhere_us_56a8e916e4b0f71799288f54

FBI releases video of Oregon occupier's fatal shooting by state police

FBI video of Oregon shooting

The FBI and Oregon State Police traffic stop and shooting of Robert “LaVoy” Finicum in Oregon on Tuesday. The video has been edited from the version released Thursday by the FBI.

Matt Pearce Contact Reporter

The FBI released video Thursday that shows Oregon State Police fatally shooting one of the men who occupied an Oregon wildlife refuge. Officials said he was reaching for a handgun that was in a pocket inside his jacket.

The shooting happened Tuesday afternoon during a traffic stop on a rural stretch of Oregon highway, where law enforcement had hoped to peacefully arrest the leaders of the armed group that had occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since Jan. 2.

As of Thursday evening, four holdouts remain at the refuge, officials and one occupier said.

In video taken from an aircraft, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, 55, can be seen speeding away from law enforcement officials during an initial traffic stop. He then drives his white truck into a snowdrift near a roadblock, nearly hitting a law enforcement officer.

“Law enforcement showed great restraint, and when the vehicle took off it just about seriously injured a law enforcement officer as it barreled toward that barricade,” Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon, said at a Thursday evening news conference where officials released the video.

Man killed in Oregon standoff had preached what he called a 'cowboy's stand for freedom'

Nigel Duara

Where some activists at an occupied federal wildlife refuge preached rowdyism and brimstone, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum was wistful, almost sad.

Bedecked in his trademark earmuffs and cowboy hat, the Arizona rancher would wonder aloud with a shake of his head why reporters couldn’t simply see the rightness...

Where some activists at an occupied federal wildlife refuge preached rowdyism and brimstone, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum was wistful, almost sad.

Bedecked in his trademark earmuffs and cowboy hat, the Arizona rancher would wonder aloud with a shake of his head why reporters couldn’t simply see the rightness...

(Nigel Duara)

It shows Finicum getting out of the vehicle and then lifting his hands in the air as Oregon state troopers approached him with their guns drawn. The video, which is shot from a distance, shows him then lowering his hands toward his body, then falling into the snow as he is shot.

“On at least two occasions, Finicum reaches his right hand toward a pocket on the left inside portion of his jacket. He did have a loaded 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun in that pocket,” Bretzing said.

Bretzing said that because law enforcement officials still had to deal with the other occupants of the vehicle, it took 10 minutes to start giving Finicum medical aid. An official time of death has not been released.

Oregon standoff at national wildlife refuge

About 15 men broke off from a Jan. 2 protest march to seize the unoccupied Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters to denounce the federal ownership of public lands and the incarceration of two eastern Oregon ranchers.

The encounter took place on a remote stretch of U.S. Highway 395 roughly halfway between the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and the town of John Day, where Finicum and several other occupiers were headed to attend a community meeting.

Until now, officials had released no information about how Finicum was killed. He wasn’t formally identified by government officials until Thursday, though his supporters had confirmed his death to the media. A major-incident investigative team from Deschutes County, Ore., is reviewing the shooting.

GO TO THE FOLLOWING TO VIEW VIDEO; http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-oregon-occupation-shooting-20160128-story.html

Public Access Counselor-accountable government is the cornerstone of a democracy

Posted by RVPEditor / In Belvidere Daily Republican

By Lisa Rodgers
Reporter
SPRINGFIELD- “For democracy to work, citizens need access to the information about what government does,” Mindy Ruckman, of Illinois Policy Institute wrote in an article entitled: “Local Transparency Project.” “Proactive transparency is the best way to educate society about the actions of government.”
“Proactive government transparency is one of the most important tools we have to help prevent, expose and put an end to government corruption,” wrote Director of Government Reform at the Illinois Policy Institute Brian Costin in 2012. “In light of the high levels of corruption in northern Illinois, it is surprising that many county governments are not doing more to provide basic financial and participatory information to their citizens online.”
In 2009, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan together with Illinois Legislators and advocates of open government drafted and passed Senate Bill 189, Public Act 096-0542 on Jan. 1, 2010. The purpose of this updated legislation was to increase transparency and accountability for every level of government in the State of Illinois.
Up until 2010, the public did not have the resources, provisions of the law or tools that would assure the public timely access to public records, meetings or allow the review of the Open Meetings Act (OMA) or Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) concerning a public body. These updated provisions are intended to strengthen the Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act in Illinois.
“It is the public policy of this State that public bodies exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business and that the people have a right to be informed as to the conduct of their business,”
the Illinois Open Meetings Act, 5 ILCS 120/1 states.
Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of government, it is declared to be the public policy of the State of Illinois that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts and policies of those who represent them as public officials and public employees consistent with the terms of this Act.
Such access is necessary to enable the people to fulfill their duties of discussing public issues fully and freely, making informed political judgments and monitoring government to ensure that it is being conducted in the public interest, according to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140/1.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan believes that an open, honest and accountable government, the cornerstone of a democracy, can be achieved only through the free and open exchange of information between government and the public.
In Illinois, our most important transparency laws – the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Open Meetings Act (OMA) – endeavor to open the workings of government to the public, shed light on government actions and, in the process, strengthen our democracy,” according to the http://foia.ilattorneygeneral.net/Default.aspx.
What is the Public Access Counselor Office of the Attorney General in Illinois?
The Public Access Counselor consists of lawyers and staff while working under the direction and supervision of the Attorney General.
Under the current law, they are provided the authority to resolve disputes pertaining to the Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Act. Their mission is to help people obtain public documents and access public meetings as well as enforcing transparency laws that will provide open, accessible and accountable government to everyone in the State of Illinois.
In addition, the Public Access Counselor is responsible for providing Educational Materials, Advisory Opinions, Mediate Disputes, OMA or FOIA Request for Review, the issuing of Binding Opinions and Electronic Training for government and public use.

The Public Access Counselor is a FREE service. Anyone may call (877) 299-3642 during normal business hours and ask questions directly to a Public Access Counselor in regards to the Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act.

There is also no charge for their online public or government training of the Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act.
In fact, citizens are encouraged to take the online training to become more educated about public bodies and the requirements the law sets forth that they must follow in order to maintain transparency.

The Public Access Counselor Office is more than willing to answer questions and provide accurate information to the people of Illinois.
For more information please visit http://foia.ilattorneygeneral.net/Default.aspx.
Or, contact by mail at:
Public Access Counselor
Office of the Attorney General
500 S. 2nd Street
Springfield, IL 62706

Anyone can also contact Public Access by email: publicaccess@atg.state.il.us; phone: (877) 299-FOIA (3642); or fax: (217) 782-1396.

ABOVE IS FROM; http://rvpnews.com/?p=5404

Attention Boone County: Scott Reeder’s warning is too late for us

The following opinion piece appeared today in the Rockford Register Star.

If you think that this would not/could not occur in Boone County. Take a look at the new addition to the Boone County Code which was passed at the January County Board meeting. Not only can your car be confiscated but an impound fee will be charged.

And based upon the Code’s Section 1-12, the woman from Moline would have to pay a $350 Administration Fee if the arrest occurred in Boone County. She has no defense. And there also are towing and storage fees.

My View: Civil forfeiture laws are foul

Posted Jan. 27, 2016 at 5:24 PM
Posted Jan. 27, 2016 at 5:24 PM

“It’s not the job of a police department to make money — it’s our job to enforce the law.”

I occasionally heard those words grumbled by cops when I was a young police reporter years ago, when the War on Drugs was just beginning.

That’s when state legislatures across the country began arming police with something called civil forfeiture laws.

Civil forfeiture is basically a money grab by government. Under these laws, cops can seize property that they say is being used to commit a crime or was purchased with money they say came from doing something illegal.

The problem: The person doesn’t even have to be convicted of a crime in order for the government to confiscate the property. Instead of seizing the yachts of drug kingpins, too often cops are nabbing the cars from little old ladies.

Don’t think so? Ask Judy Wiese of Moline. She is a 70-year-old woman who lives on $730 a month. As first reported by the The Dispatch and Rock Island Argus, she lent her 2009 Jeep Compass to a grandson so he could drive to work. The car was seized by police because the grandson’s driver’s license was revoked. She told the newspaper that her grandson had told her otherwise.

Regardless, Judy hadn’t broken any laws. She was just a grandma helping out a grandson. That was back in August. And this month she was still fighting to get the car back. It seems that even though she did not commit a crime, she had to go to court and prove that her car was not connected to a crime nor was it the proceeds of crime. She couldn’t afford a lawyer, struggled to write legal motions and was scolded by a judge for not having something notarized. When her case ended up in the newspaper, a lawyer volunteered his services and her car was returned after being held for months.

Most people aren’t so fortunate or so persistent. Unable to afford an attorney, they often just walk away from what is theirs.

Abuses of forfeiture laws have been reported throughout the United States. The Washington Post recently wrote about a college student who had spent years saving $11,000 for tuition only to have it confiscated in a Cincinnati airport because the cops thought it was suspicious that he was traveling with that much cash.

It may not be particularly smart to travel with that much dough, but it isn’t criminal.

Cops and prosecutors have a profit motive because their departments often get to keep the cash and property they seize. And anyone who has ever seen a speed trap in a small town knows revenue can be a powerful incentive for police departments.

Page 2 of 2 - Government has an insatiable appetite for money, and civil forfeiture is just one symptom of this pervasive appetite. Cops need to be enforcing laws, not seizing money and property from law-abiding citizens. Folks ought to be able to keep what they own unless they are convicted of a crime.

That’s not just common sense. It’s basic decency.

And it’s an issue the Illinois General Assembly needs to address.

Scott Reeder is a veteran statehouse reporter and a journalist with Illinois News Network, a project of the Illinois Policy Institute. He can be reached at sreeder@ilnews.org. Readers can subscribe to his free political newsletter by going to ILNEWS.ORG or follow his work on Twitter @scottreeder.

Above is from: http://www.rrstar.com/opinion/20160127/my-view-civil-forfeiture-laws-are-foul

Here is the impound ordinance just passed by Boone County.

Skipping to 1.5--Note such large crime as retail theft are included.

This administrative fee is mandatory. As stated in 1.3, “Shall” is mandatory not discretionary.

Medical Condition of the Presidential Candidates

First on CNN: Sanders releases doctor's note

By Jeff Zeleny, Senior Washington Correspondent

Updated 12:29 PM ET, Thu January 28, 2016

It is customary for presidential candidates to make public their health records during the campaign season. Sanders, who would be 75 on inauguration day, would also be the oldest president ever elected. Ronald Reagan, the current titleholder, was just a couple days shy of his 70th birthday when he first took office.

"Over the years you have been treated for medical conditions including gout, mild hypercholesterolemia, diverticulitis, hypothyroidism, laryngitis secondary to esophageal reflux, lumbar strain and complete removal of superficial skin tumors," Monahan wrote. "Your past surgical history consists of repair of your left and right side inguinal hernias by laparoscopic technique, and a right true vocal cord cyst excision."

Should candidates' health histories stay private?

Sanders has no history of heart disease, does not use tobacco and consumes alcohol "infrequently."

Hillary Clinton, Sanders' rival, released her records on last July.

According to her release, signed by Dr. Lisa Bardack, Clinton "is a healthy female, with hypothyroidism and seasonal allergies, on long-term anticoagulation ... she is in excellent physical condition."

Clinton suffered a concussion in 2012.

Donald Trump released a letter from his physician on December 14 stating that the 69-year-old Republican presidential candidate's latest medical examination "showed only positive results."

Trump's physician of 25 years, Dr. Harold Bornstein, said Trump "has had no significant medical problems" and called the candidate's blood pressure and lab results "astonishingly excellent" in a signed statement Trump released publicly.

How old is too old to be president?

Jeb Bush shared his doctor's note last October.

His physician since 2007, Dr. Alberto A. Mitrani, said, "Mr. Bush is a healthy and vigorous 62-year-old man."

"He is proactive from a cardiovascular perspective and actively engaged in his health care. He is compliant with medical recommendations and maintains favorable lifestyle habits. He is in excellent physical and mental condition and able to serve in any stressful and demanding executive setting including the Office of the President of the United States," he said. "Prior medical history includes vitamin D insufficiency, gastritis, colon polyps, sinusitis, and low back pain. Surgical history includes an appendectomy, a tonsillectomy, and arthroscopic knee surgery."

CNN's Greg Krieg, Jeremy Diamond and Ashley Killough contributed to this report.

Above is from: http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/28/politics/bernie-sanders-medical-records/index.html

Fiat Chrysler plans to kill off Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart...for now

The cars' respective plants will be retooled as the company projects a permanent growth in demand for higher-profit-margin trucks and crossovers.

As part of a call to discuss the company's future, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles mentioned that it would phase out the compact Dodge Dart and the mid-size Chrysler 200.

The company will instead focus on more profitable trucks and crossovers to meet current market demand, which Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) believes will be a permanent shift in buying tastes.

There is currently no timeline for when the 200 and Dart will go the way of the dodo bird, but there's also no guarantee that the cars will disappear for good, either. Reuters reported that FCA will seek partners to develop future compact and mid-size sedans, and our weirdly-close friends at Autoblog pointed out that production for both these cars was headed yonder Mexico way in the near future.

As for what the automaker will do with its Sterling Heights, Michigan and Belvidere, Illinois plants, they'll be retooled to increase crossover SUV and light-truck production. Market demand is high for these vehicles in the wake of some very cheap gas, and the profit margins are higher, as well. It's a win-win for FCA in that regard.

Both the Dart and 200 failed to meet sales expectations, with the former receiving low quality marks from Consumer Reports and the latter receiving criticism from FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne himself.

An email from Chrysler spokeswoman Kathy Graham told us via email that "the information stands on its own," and said that no additional details are available at the moment.

ABOVE IS FROM; http://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/fiat-chrysler-phase-out-chrysler-200-dodge-dart/

Two Health Board Members guilty of non-complicance with Open Meetings Act?

The photocopy shown below is from Boone County Health Department’s Administrator’s Review, which is part of board packet for the February 1, 2016 Health Department Board meeting.

Stay tuned for further details next week.

Above is from page 3 of 30 at: http://www.boarddocs.com/il/boone/Board.nsf/files/A6LVDC6FAE81/$file/Health%20Department%20Written%20Report%20January%2C%202016.pdf