Colorado officials committed to cleaner air and reducing reliance on fossil fuels have reached a turning point on whether to tolerate the hulking oil refinery north of Denver that ranks among the state’s major polluters and regularly malfunctions . They must approve or deny Suncor Energy’s applications to renew its operating permits, which serve as contracts governing the emission levels of toxic pollutants that can cause cancer and serious heart, lung and other health problems. This is oversight power Colorado air pollution regulators have declined to use over nearly a decade of letting Suncor run the refinery under the equivalent of an expired driver’s license — a perk granted to companies if they submit timely renewal applications. Suncor’s outdated permits, which records show were issued in 2006 and 2012, allow emissions of 866,100 tons a year of heat-trapping gases and toxics including sulfur dioxide, benzene and hydrogen cyanide . During malfunctions, pollution exceeds what the permits allow. Colorado air pollution control officials defended their approach, saying it doesn’t impinge on their ability to enforce provisions of the old permits, and blamed bureaucratic backlogs. They’re acting now, they say, because Colorado is cracking down on pollution. Suncor’s refinery, built 89 years ago on a 230-acre site along Sand Creek in Commerce City, malfunctioned 108 times over the past five years, according to state records obtained by The Denver Post. That’s an average of about one breakdown every three weeks — often visible when putrid yellow grit wafts over Denver. The records show toxic pollution spiked above permit limits more than 500 times over the past two years. Suncor also benefits from annual state tax credits, $2.3 million in 2019, for investing in an enterprise zone. But now state officials, reviewing Suncor’s permit applications, say all options up to and including closure are on the table — though they’re mindful of the ...
Health and fitness news articles
12-Year-Old Creates Self-Care Workshop For Students Struggling During Pandemic
BOSTON (CBS) – A local tween is on a mission to help students who are struggling with mental health during the coronavirus pandemic. Jay’dha Rackard led her first rally when she was just 10 years old, protesting a persisting problem on her school’s playground: used needles. READ MORE: 'The Whole Front Exploded,' 2 Hurt As Car Crashes Into Boston Home “People were getting pricked, kindergarteners, so it just wasn’t safe for me to go to school,” said Jay’dha, who is now 12. She called for increased safety measures at her school in Boston’s South End and started shining a light on the root of the problem: the school’s proximity to the so-called Methadone Mile. “That’s when I started speaking up for people saying they needed this health care and needed just help to make them feel better.” Jay’dha brought her concerns to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and started collecting and donating clothes, deodorant and toothbrushes to those struggling on the streets. She even spent this past Christmas out in the rain handing out coats and food. “I was always taught to take care of other people and help other people when they need it,” she said. Now, a year into the coronavirus pandemic, this young leader has noticed a new problem among her peers. “There are a lot of people who are suffering with this right now because they’re not able to see their friends or go to school,” she said. So Jay’dha applied for and won a $20,000 grant from the Boston Public Health Commission that she used to design a self-care workshop. “Self-care is mental health,” said Jay’dha. READ MORE: Governor Charlie Baker, Wife In Florida Following Death In Family Over the February school break, she gathered a small group of girls at her brother’s recording studio in Hyde Park to talk about how the pandemic is making them feel. “We wrote tired, bored, annoyed, depressed,” said Jay’dha, pointing to a list of words written on a sheet of paper on the wall. The girls also made salt scrubs, ...
US COVID-19 vaccination program is our ‘can do’ World War II moment
What do a Formula 1 race track in Texas, an unused air strip in Connecticut and a Six Flags America amusement park in Maryland have in common? Answer: They all have been converted into mass COVID-19 vaccination sites. The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination program has hardly been smooth. Multiple problems still need to be solved, especially vaccinating elderly minorities who have limited ability or resources to make appointments online and get to vaccination sites. ADVERTISEMENT But American ingenuity and resourcefulness is starting to produce results, just as it did in World War II after a string of demoralizing defeats in early 1942. American industry mobilized , and soon automobile manufacturers were turning out tanks and bombers, and toy train companies were making compasses for naval ships. That kind of improvisation is taking place in the battle against COVID. In just six days in January, the Community Health Center, a nonprofit health care provider in East Hartford, Connecticut, set up a mass vaccination site on an empty, snow-covered Pratt & Whitney runway, which lacked electricity. The center, which didn’t know how it would get paid, brought in trailers, generators, lights and portable toilets, set up a wireless network and hired dozens of nurses. The site operates at a fast, efficient pace. People line up on the runway in their cars in 10 parallel rows. (Someone came up with thousands of orange traffic cones.) The National Guard directs the cars down the runway, where nurses give vaccinations, and then directs those cars to a waiting area for monitoring for adverse reactions. The site uses Pfizer vaccines, which have to be kept in an ultra-cold freezer set up at a nearby college football stadium. A golf cart takes batches, which are good for only two hours, from the stadium to the runway. The New York Times ran photographs of the activity at the vaccination site, and they make you proud to be an American. Around the ...
Heinz Field COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic Adding More Appointments; AHN, Dick’s Sporting Goods Team Up For Clinic
By: KDKA-TV News Staff PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The Heinz Field COVID-19 vaccine clinic will be offering more appointments. READ MORE: Pittsburgh Weather: Chillier Temperatures And Sunshine Start The Weekend Giant Eagle announced that it’s extending the clinic after “an overwhelmingly positive response.” Additional appointments will be made available through Giant Eagle’s online scheduling tool. These appointments will be for March 8 through March 9, and they’ll be available Friday afternoon. Giant Eagle says more appointments may be added as vaccine is received. WATCH: KDKA’s Lindsay Ward Provides The Latest On Your Day Pittsburgh READ MORE: 'Back To Work PA:' Wolf Administration Releases Proposal To Deal With Pandemic Job Losses The clinic kicked off this week. Giant Eagle said more than 4,000 people will get the shot between Tuesday and Friday. It’s for people in Pennsylvania’s Phase 1A. Appointments can be made here . Allegheny Health Network and Dick’s Sporting Goods are also setting up a mass coronavirus vaccination site to vaccinate more than 5,000 people in Phase 1A. Appointments have already been filled for Friday’s clinic, which is at the company’s corporate office in Coraopolis. No walk-ins will be accepted. MORE NEWS: Pittsburgh Police Investigating Woman Found Dead Inside Her Home According to a release, the clinic is the “largest, single-day COVID-19 vaccination clinic to date in the greater western Pennsylvania region.” ...
Evesham Township Parents Fighting Proposed Bus Cuts That Would Force Children To Cross ‘Very Dangerous’ Road
MARLTON, N.J. (CBS) — Some Evesham Township residents are fighting their school district. They say proposed school bus cuts could jeopardize the safety of their children. While some parents across the region are pushing districts to let their students back into class, parents in Burlington County find themselves battling a local school board over school bus cuts they say will put their children at risk. READ MORE: WATCH LIVE: Philadelphia Officials To Provide COVID-19 Vaccination Program Update DeMasi Elementary School sits on Evesboro-Medford Road, a wide, 45 mph thoroughfare that young students may have to walk along each morning and afternoon due to cuts proposed by the Evesham Township School District. “The school board debated bus cuts 10 years ago and they ultimately decided that it was too dangerous to have the children cross the road,” Emily Gervasi said. “We, as parents, right now don’t understand what has changed over the last decade. If anything, the road has gotten busier.” Parents fear speeding cars will eventually hurt one of their own. “Definitely in the morning, it’s still dark. The road is very dangerous to cross,” Yulia Cunningham said. “I just would not feel comfortable, probably not even with my high schooler if he had to walk.” Even with proposed crossing guards, the idea doesn’t sit well with some parents. “My father was almost hit crossing that intersection,” Cunningham said. If approved, the cuts would equal about $145,000 — around 0.2% of the budget. To bridge the gap, the district is offering a pilot program at a steep price. READ MORE: Sixers' Matisse Thybulle Receives Special Birthday Mural In Fishtown ‘That’s going to cost each parent about $350,” Jeremy Huang said, “and so I have three kids, I pay enough taxes so for us to pay additional $1,000, I believe, in my opinion, the school should have had plans for this way before the pandemic starts.” For now, parents have started a petition. They plan to present it ...
