In the philosophical words of our beloved Flavor Flav…
” get up get, get get down
911 is a joke in yo town… Get up, get, get, get down
Late 911 wears the late crown”
Via Bossip — A lot of us “phone it in” for a few minutes here and there while at work…but one Texas woman took it to the point of criminality in a career where your presence on the job is a life or death matter.
Read the entire story here: Bossip
SMH! Terrible. Alot of people rely on 911 for health emergencies, etc.
According to CBS News — The Trump administration is considering a plan that would allow states to require black certain food stamp recipients to undergo drug testing.
The proposal under review would be narrowly targeted, applying mostly to people who are able-bodied, without dependents and applying for some specialized jobs, according to an administration official briefed on the plan. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said roughly 5 percent of participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could be affected.
The drug-testing proposal is another step in the Trump administration’s push to allow states more flexibility in how they implement federal programs that serve the poor, unemployed or uninsured. It also wants to allow states to tighten work requirements for food stamp recipients and has found support among GOP governors who argue that greater state control saves money and reduces dependency.
Internal emails obtained by The Associated Press indicated that Agriculture Department officials in February were awaiting word from the White House about the timing of a possible drug-testing announcement.
“I think we just have to be ready because my guess is we may get an hour’s notice instead of a day’s notice,” wrote Jessica Shahin, associate administrator of SNAP.
Conservative policymakers have pushed for years to tie food assistance programs to drug testing.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, sued the USDA in 2015 for blocking the state from drug testing adults applying for food stamps.
A federal judge tossed the suit in 2016, but Walker renewed his request for permission later that year, after Donald Trump had won the presidency but before he took office.
“We turned that down,” said former USDA Food and Nutrition Service Undersecretary Kevin Concannon, who served in the position under the Obama administration from 2009 until January of last year. “It’s costly and cumbersome.”
The proposal isn’t expected to be included in a GOP-written farm bill that could be released as soon as early this week, a GOP aide said.
Do you think it is fair to require food stamp recipients to drug test in order to meet eligibility?
Sound off in the comments.
Toxic lead was found in tap water drawn from nearly 70% of 2,797 homes across Chicago within the past two years, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis of results from the tested water. The daily newspaper published a report on that analysis Thursday.
Tap water in three of every 10 homes included in the analysis had lead concentrations above 5 parts per billion, the Tribune reported.
Lead can leach from certain kinds of pipes as water travels from utilities to home faucets. The US Environmental Protection Agency has set its limit for lead in tap water at 15 parts per billion — but for bottled water, according to the US Food and Drug Administration, the limit is 5 parts per billion.
“My immediate take is that Chicago has a lead problem,” said Dr. Philip Landrigan, dean for global health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and an expert on environmental pollution in children, who was not involved in the Tribune’s analysis.
However, “nobody should panic here. This is a problem that has to be dealt with, but it’s not a cause for panic,” he said. “In the meantime, fortunately, children can be protected here simply by switching water sources,” such as by drinking bottled water.
“Exposure is especially dangerous for young children and for pregnant women because the developing brain of a fetus in the womb or a young baby is very sensitive to lead, and even very low levels of lead exposure can cause brain injury in a child with loss of IQ and disruption of behavior,” Landrigan said. “So people have to take this quite seriously.”
Megan Vidis, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Water Management, said in a statement to CNN on Thursday that the city’s water beats the standards set by the EPA year after year.
The department “takes a proactive approach to mitigating lead in our water system by introducing corrosion control into water mains; providing residences and businesses with complete instructions for flushing whenever there is any water infrastructure work being done in the vicinity; and free lead testing of drinking water,” the statement said.
Um, yea ok.
Read the rest of this article here.
Is it a coincidence that Chicago, like Detroit, is a predominately urban city with this ongoing lead issue? Could racial demographics be the delay in getting these lead filled pipes replaced in these particular cities?
Please leave a comment & let me know what you think.
The Pen Hustle With Brandy Cavalli 
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