Thousands on Guam without water, power after Typhoon Dolphin strikes island, destroys homes

© AAP
Typhoon Dolphin batters Guam.

    

Many Guam residents were left without power or water yesterday while hundreds remained in island storm shelters.

More than 3,300 Guam Waterworks Authority subscribers experienced water outages and 40 percent of Guam Power Authority customers experienced power outages that lasted through yesterday, according to GPA and GWA spokeswoman Heidi Ballendorf.

Ballendorf said more than five of the emergency generators used to power water wells experienced malfunctions, which left about 8.2 percent of the agency's 41,000 customers without water.

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According to Ballendorf, crews installed the emergency generators before Dolphin's approach when they discovered more than five generators would not start.

In response, GWA electricians were deployed yesterday while the island was still in Condition of Readiness 1 to fix the downed generators.

GWA and Guam EPA lab technicians also were out yesterday at some of the 400 points along a 700-mile-long GWA water line to test water quality.

All residents, particularly those who lost water, are being advised to boil tap water used for cooking and drinking.

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At 3 a.m. yesterday, GPA crews were deployed to restore power to scattered areas.

"Our crews are working in 12-to-14-hour shifts day and night to solve the outages," Ballendorf said.

Ballendorf said the crews' priorities were "feeder" lines, which she said service the most customers.

Prior to the storm hitting the island, Ballendorf said GPA is able to detect the locations of outages as they occur and the moment they happen through smart grids and a remote operating system called SCADA.

"We know where the outages are and we're working diligently to get those back up," Ballendorf said.

Deanne Criswell, a senior federal official from Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters said the agency didn't receive any reports of fatalities or injuries on Guam or in the CNMI.

Criswell said, once the team from Region 9 and the 35-person Incident Management Assistance Team finish their assessments, FEMA will know what types of assistance will need to be provided. FEMA's Region 9 serves Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and Pacific islands.

More than 100 people were moved yesterday from the Maria Ulloa Elementary School shelter to the Astumbo shelter, which housed about 336 residents. The Machananao Elementary School shelter, which housed 199 residents, also remained open.

The other six shelters used during the typhoon were closed.

Once people are situated, officials will work out the next plan of action, governor's spokesman Julius Santos said. Priorities are set on trying to find solutions for these residents, and opening schools by Monday.

National Weather Service meteorologist Chip Guard said Guam was well prepared for Dolphin.

"It was unusual to see a small storm like that expand at the last minute," Guard said. "Regardless, I think the island got by really well because of the preparations people made."

Guard added: "This was probably the strongest storm we've had in 10 years."

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5 people treated for wolf bites in Israel

© Carlos Delgado/Wikimedia Commons
An illustrative photo of a gray wolf.

    

Five people were lightly wounded on Saturday when a wolf suspected of carrying rabies attacked three groups of hikers in separate incidents in northern Israel.

The five who were bitten by the canine were given rabies shots, as were another two people as a precautionary measure, according to Ynet.

The she-wolf first attacked a group of hikers in the Golan Heights. Although bystanders were eventually successful in chasing the wolf away with rocks, three individuals were bitten, including a father and his nine-year-old son.

The victims were transferred to the nearby Ziv Medical Center and were listed in good condition.

"The father is suffering from cuts and scratches on his hands and arms," said Majid Abu Janev, a nurse who treated the victims.

Three more people later arrived at the medical center; a man suffering from scratches and a fractured ankle he sustained while trying to escape the wolf and a woman suffering from a bite and deep scratches. The woman's husband was also given a rabies vaccine after coming into contact with her open wounds.

"We thoroughly washed, disinfected and bandaged the wounds and administered rabies vaccines," Janev said.

Later, a family from Kibbutz Neot Mordechai in the Upper Galilee was attacked by the same wolf near the Nimrod Fortress, a 13th century castle on the southern slopes of Mount Hermon.

Said one of the wolf's victims, Amir Menkes, 21: "Our family went for a walk near the area of the Hermon by the Nimrod Fortress. We went down from the parking lot towards a spring. We originally did not notice that a wolf emerged from a thicket, but she ran at us once we saw her. We started to run away but she chased us and bit me in the thigh. She also went after my brother, but then somehow got lost," Menkes said, adding that the family managed to film the wolf while driving to the hospital.

Park rangers launched an extensive search for the wolf. Authorities believe the wolf is rabid, as healthy wolves do not normally approach humans, particularly when they are in groups.

Rangers said they have also considered the idea that the female wolf may have had young pups by her and may have felt threatened by the presence of others.

This marks the third reported incident of a wolf attack in Israel in the past year. Last December, a group of children in the city of Katzrin in the Golan Heights were attacked, and in March a wolf attacked a passerby in the northern city of Tiberias and was later shot after being tracked down to nearby Kibbutz Ginosar.

The Agriculture Ministry has recorded five incidences of rabies in animals throughout the country this year, including one wolf. Last year, the ministry said its goal was to rid the country of rabies with mandatory vaccinations for all dogs over the age of three months and recommended vaccinations for cats and ferrets.

In addition, efforts are being taken to track down stray animals and administer oral vaccinations, with specific emphasis on jackals and foxes.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, most incidents of rabies are found in the north, as the borders of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan are popular transit points for animals carrying the disease.

At least 50,000 people die from rabies worldwide on an annual basis, with half of the victims being children under the age of 15, according to a report.

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Swedish man's roar scares off charging bear

© Håkan Vargas S/imagebank.sweden.se
A Scandinavian brown bear.

    

Ralph Persson, a hunter in Jämtland, northern Sweden, scared off a charging bear by roaring at the animal as it attacked him, it has emerged.

While out training a new hunting dog, Persson sensed a change in the animal's bark. Seconds later a brown bear came charging at him from the woods. "I screamed as much as I could and made myself very big," Persson told newspaper, in an interview which has gone viral over the past week.

The bear quickly veered off back into the trees, utterly surprised by Persson's ferocity. Both Ralph and his wife Lena filmed the encounter which can be seen on the newspaper's website.

Persson has come across many bears over his years as a hunter and it's this experience that helped save his life. But he didn't take the passive approach many advise. "To lie down and play dead? I do not believe in that," he told the newspaper.

His trick was to be more adversarial, a tactic he rather surprisingly credits to birds.

"I have seen in the past how even cranes have chased bears by folding up their wings."

Most bear experts agree that many more bears have seen humans in Sweden than humans have seen bears, so shy is the Scandinavian brown bear. They tend to steer clear of us. But Persson admits he may have got too close. "This time, I went over the limit. You have to have respect for the animals."

There have been at least three bear attacks in northern Sweden in the last 12 months, although none have been fatal. Hundreds of brown bears are killed in Sweden every year as part of an annual cull.

Bear attacks on humans are relatively rare in Sweden, compared to the US, where on average two people a year die as a result of an encounter with a bear. By contrast, there have only been two fatalities caused by bear attacks over the last century in Sweden.

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Giant sinkhole appears in a field in southern Turkey

Residents of Konya Province in southern Turkey have spoken of their terror when a giant sinkhole suddenly appeared in a local field.

"We are very afraid (for) our lives. It is luck that no one fell into it," said one local farmer.

Measuring 10 metres wide and 90 metres deep, the crater is thought to have formed in the space of 24 hours.

No one was injured as a result of the ground caving in.

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Ohio teacher fired for 'public humiliation' after scolding student bullying other children

© NBC
Nicole LeMire was fired by the school board Thursday.

    

Glen Oak Elementary School teacher told the Olentangy school board she'd fight to keep her job after a split board voted Thursday, May 14, to terminate her contract over bullying accusations.

Board members Roger Bartz, Dave King and Kevin O'Brien voted to suspend fifth-grade teacher Nicole LeMire without pay pending the final termination of her contract. Board member Julie Wagner Feasel voted against the measure, and board member Adam White was absent.

The board's action led to tears from parents and students who supported LeMire, along with shouts demanding answers about the decision.

According to the resolution the board passed, LeMire on April 14 asked students in her class to take turns saying how another student had misbehaved "and/or why (the student) was annoying or had no friends."

The resolution also states that LeMire disclosed confidential information about the student to a latchkey program employee. According to the document, LeMire received previous unpaid suspensions in June and December 2014 for "missed deadlines" and "poor communication."

LeMire, who has hired an attorney, said the district's accusations were "100 percent false."

"Indirectly, I am being considered for termination because of a single question I asked a student: 'Do you realize how your words and actions are hurting your friends?'" she said.

LeMire said she was not publicly shaming the student but was using the incident as a "sincere, teachable moment" for her students. She said her actions were in line with the district's policies on bullying.

LeMire said officials in Glen Oak's administration were using the incident as a pretense for firing her.

Parent Beth Osterholt said the student LeMire is accused of bullying had attacked her son prior to the incident. Osterholt said LeMire should be commended for being a force against bullying in the school.

"I know that my son needed to be stood up for, and (LeMire) stood up for him," Osterholt said.

Parent Thomas Sweeney said he sees terminating LeMire's contract as a big mistake.

"There's so many future children that she (would) influence in a positive manner," Sweeney said. "Anything that she does, she is always motivated to improve the lives of the children."

Although public comment at the meeting uniformly was in support of LeMire, O'Brien said his vote reflected both the comments and what he had learned in a closed-door executive session regarding the situation.

"We've got to act on everything we've been presented with," he said.

Feasel said, "I'm allowed to vote the way I feel," but she declined further comment on why she voted against initiating the termination process.

LeMire has 10 days after the vote to file a written demand for an appeal hearing before the board or a referee.

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Texas high school student finds 'ginormous bugs' in Michelle O's healthy lunch

© Eagnews

    

Parents knows it can be difficult to get kids to eat their greens, but after an incident at a Texas high school some students may never eat vegetables again.

"There's no way they could've missed (them), picking up a handful of broccoli like they do with their gloves on and not seen these ginormous bugs," Melissa Evans, mother of Caney Creek High School junior Falyn Evans, told Click2Houston.

Falyn Evans and her friend were served the bug-infested broccoli for lunch Monday and the two almost ate the insects before they realized they were there.

"It was kind of strange and gross that we had actually seen it and that it happened to us," she said.

KFOR reports school officials acknowledged the problem in an email to parents that provided very few details.

Officials were "notified this morning of complaints regarding food in the cafeteria," according to the statement Monday.

"Any concerns are taken very seriously and Conroe (Independent School District's) Child Nutrition Department is addressing the situation."

Food inspectors went through the cafeteria food Tuesday and discovered more bugs - the district contends they're aphids - in a batch of frozen broccoli, and believe the infestation was limited to the one batch, KFOR reports.

Regardless, Melissa Evans said she's not taking any chances, and will pack her daughter's lunch for the rest of the school year.

"She will be taking lunches," Evans told Click2Houston. "She will not be eating it anymore, at all."

That means Falyn Evans will join more than 1 million students who have opted out of the National School Lunch Program since new federal guidelines on nutrition went into effect in 2012. The federal lunch restrictions set limits on calories, fat, sugar, sodium, whole grains, and other aspects of school food, including food sold outside the cafeteria.

The changes, which have resulted in student revolts across the country, are the brainchild of first lady Michelle Obama, and are intended to fight childhood obesity through bureaucracy. The new federal school food regulations also require students to take a fruit or vegetable with every meal, whether they want it or not.

In many schools, student simply dump the greens in the garbage, a major reason why school food waste has ballooned to $1 billion annually since the new restrictions were implemented.

The broccoli bugs are only making matters worse.

KFOR reports another school district in Virginia has also struggled with school food issues recently, prompting parents in King and Queen counties to complain the food is making their children sick.

"Two boys are coming home daily with migraines because they can't eat what's on their plates at school," Beth Paulette, the boys' mother.

Paulette told WTVR the pizza, ribs, and hamburgers served to students at King and Queen Central High School are burnt beyond recognition and inedible.

"It looked so unappetizing I could not bring myself to try it at all," ninth grader Precious Jackson told the news site.

A WTVR reporter broached the issue with Stanley Jones, district superintendent.

"Would you want the children here eating food that looked like that or being served food that looked like that?" the reporter questioned.

"Of course not," Jones said, according to WTVR.

Jones blamed the problem on cafeteria staff not working as a team, and said he suspended the head of the district's food services a few weeks ago.

But the food services manager, Suzanne Gilbertson, showed WTVR multiple emails she sent Jones asking to intervene, and was rebuffed.

"I was advised that these employees, they do not report to me, as they report to human resources and the superintendent," Gilbertson told the news site.

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Families heading towards homelessness: UK rental property evictions hit record high

© Reuters/Suzanne Plunkett

    

Housing campaigners are calling for a drastic intervention in the housing market as the number of individuals being evicted from rental properties is at its highest level since records began.

The latest government figures show the number of evictions in the first quarter of this year rose to 11,307, an increase of 8 percent on the same period in 2014 and the highest level in a single quarter since records began in 2000.

The figures show the level has risen owing to a peak in the number of repossession claims made by landlords in 2014, followed by a lag time while the authorities processed the claims, of which there were 47,000 according to the Ministry of Justice.

Claims have since fallen, with roughly 42,000 during the first quarter of 2015, which suggest a trend that evictions will follow suit next year.

Homelessness charity Shelter said the results were a "glaring reminder" that the price of houses and "welfare cuts are leaving thousands of people battling to keep a roof over their heads."

"Every day at Shelter we see the devastating impact of a housing market at boiling point, with the cost of renting so high that many families are living in fear that just one thing like losing their job or becoming ill could leave them with the bailiffs knocking at the door," Chief Executive Campbell Robb said.

He urged the government to strengthen measures to "make sure people aren't left to fall through the cracks and hurtling towards homelessness."

Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said authorities had put measures in place to ensure families did not become homeless.

"There are strong protections in place to guard families against the threat of homelessness.

"We increased spending to prevent homelessness, with over £500 million made available to help the most vulnerable in society and ensure we don't return to the bad old days when homelessness in England was nearly double what it is today."

The report also found there had been a fall in the number of mortgage repossessions, which have dropped 56 percent since 2004.

The data coincided with another report from the Council of Mortgage Lenders which also reported a fall in mortgage repossession.

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