Wednesday, March 8, 2006

A small, single-engine plane crashed in the median of Interstate 75 near Holly, Michigan Tuesday afternoon. The crash site is located about 100 feet from the East Holly Road overpass, near Exit 98, with approximate geographical coordinates of 42.784283° N 83.535847° W.

The Piper model PA-28-180 aircraft crashed in the median during mid-afternoon local time, and slowed traffic when police and rescue teams were en route to the scene. According to local television station WEYI-TV, two passengers were aboard the plane, and did not sustain any large injuries.

According to the FAA database, the plane was manufactured in 1968, and was issued a license in 1970. The most recent owner according to the database is a flying school in Coldwater, Ohio.

Tuesday, January 3, 2006

Three miners have escaped uninjured after being trapped underground by a mineshaft fire on Tasmania’s west coast. The men took shelter in a chamber more than a kilometre underground. A worker noticed smoke coming from a shaft at Avebury nickel mine on Trial Harbour Road near Zeehan at 7.45am.

The blaze started after a truck working 400 metres underground toppled and caught fire. It took nearly five hours for rescue teams to bring the blaze under control, move the burning truck and reach the trapped miners.

Allegiance Mining chairman Tony Howland-Rose said the workers were safe. “The emergency response procedures in place at Avebury were activated and resulted in the vehicle fire being extinguished and the safe rescue of the miners,” Mr Howland-Rose said.

Ambulance crews say the men appear to be in good health. Queenstown Police Inspector Mark Beech-Jones says rescue workers reached the men just before midday.

“We’ve dispatched a number of ambulance service personnel there just to give them a check up but from our initial discussions with them, they are fine,” he said.

The Avebury nickel mine is a new project for the Sydney-based company – Allegiance Mining. Allegiance suspended trading on the stock exchange this morning. Mr Howland-Rose said the suspension of trading would be in place until it became clear what had happened at the mine.

The mine is undergoing a $60 million redevelopment and was due to resume mining later this year.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Tanya Dumstrey-Soos, 32 was killed at the Siberian Magic exotic animal park in Bridge Lake British Columbia, Canada after being attacked by a Bengal Tiger named Gangus.

“The animal is part of a collection of exotic and domestic animals. It appears that the animal … reached outside of the cage and grabbed her. Upon arrival police determined that all the animals were in their cages and the woman was found lying on the ground receiving help from family,” said Const. Annie Linteau, a spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, [RCMP]. Gangus is one of two Bengal Tigers at the park.

The owner of the park is Kim Carlton, the boyfriend of Dumstrey-Soos. The entire attack was witnessed by the children of Carlton, his 15 year-old daughter and 12 year-old son who both called for help shortly after the attack.

Dumstrey-Soos was standing near the tiger’s cage when he grabbed her legs. According to the mayor of nearby Williams Lake, Scott Nelson, all of the injuries inflicted onto Dumstrey-Soos were at her waist and below. She was taken to a hospital in the town of 100 Mile House, where she was pronounced dead.

Authorities with the B.C. SPCA are not surprised that the attack happened, claiming that they tried to remove the tigers from the park several times.

“This is extremely sad, but not unexpected. We’ve spent thousands of dollars trying to have these animals removed.” said B.C. SPCA spokeswoman, Marcie Moriarty who also said that the animals arrived in 2005. Moriarty also said that the tigers lived in small cages made of chain-linked fencing and that the locks were too small.

The reason that the tigers were not removed from the park is because, according to Moriarty, the SPCA does not have the facilities to hold the tigers until proper housing can be provided for them.

“When we went up there, we realized we weren’t just dealing with animal cruelty, we were dealing with a public safety issue,” added Moriarty.

Dumstrey-Soos worked as a receptionist and saleswoman at the 100 Mile House Advisor newspaper.

Friday, March 24, 2006A large explosion ripped through a research building of the École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Mulhouse (ENSCMu) in Mulhouse, eastern France. Mulhouse’s mayor, Jean-Marie Bockel, confirmed that the blast killed one person and injured another. Police declared Code Red, and the neighborhood was evacuated.

According to the French Press, TF1, the victim was in his forties and had worked at the institition for about a year. A young woman was seriously injured and about a dozen people received minor injuries, with two suffering from shock. 150 firefighters were on the scene.

The ENSCMu is a technology college, with an enrollment of 8,000 and a 25-hectare campus near the town’s centre. It is known for its museum of coloring agents (Musée des Colorants), which has about 2700 samples, mainly from the second part of the nineteenth century. The museum’s database is available online in French.

The blast occurred at 11:25 GMT (12:25 local time). It is reported to have been heard two kilometres away and to have broken the windows of nearby buildings. The blast was followed by a fire that was contained by about 15:00 (local time).

The explosion’s cause is not yet clear but it is believed to have happened in a ground-floor laboratory in an annex building constructed in 1977. The lab was apparently focused on industrial safety.

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Computer systems used by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for the handling of tax filing data for Canadians have been temporarily shutdown due to infrastructure problems.^[1] A March 7 article in the Toronto Star^[2] states that due to errors in the electronic filing system, Canada Revenue Agency will be unable to accept any tax filings electronically or corrections to prior filings.

A fact sheet from the CRA ^[3] states that “until the problem is resolved, we cannot process returns filed on paper, or returns filed electronically before the system interruption. Refunds will be delayed until processing is resumed”.

A check of the taxing authority’s website^[4] regarding the issue states “We have temporarily shut down public access to electronic services to ensure the integrity of taxpayer information.” and that “We have now traced the source of the problem to software maintenance conducted on March 4, 2007. We are currently working to bring all systems back online gradually.”

A CRA press release dated March 6 ^[5] states “Commissioner of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Michel Dorais today instructed some computer applications related to personal income tax filing to be temporarily halted.” he also said, “there is no indication that this situation was caused by intrusion, hacking, or computer virus”. Further, “These applications include online services like Efile, Netfile, and My Account. Mr. Dorais said that he instructed that this preventative measure be taken following indications that CRA computer systems have run into infrastructure problems. In order to safeguard existing systems and to maintain the integrity of CRA’s taxpayer information holdings, Mr Dorais ordered tax filing processes halted.”

An article in The Globe and Mail ^[6] states that taxpayers “can wait for Netfile to return to service, or they can print their returns and mail them to the CRA”, which will be processed when the computer glitch is resolved.

The deadline for Canadians to submit tax returns is April 30. The CRA indicates it is too soon to speculate on whether the filing deadline will be extended. They expect to restore all services, including EFile and Netfile, well in advance of the filing deadline.^[7]

The shutdown also affects third-party companies that prepare tax returns and electronically file the data using the EFile facility on behalf of clients. According to the CRA, millions of individual Canadians use the Netfile service each year.

The Agency will provide updates daily to the media until the situation is resolved.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The Red River at Winnipeg is almost clear of ice blocks and ice jamming, however there are still dangers from the Red River flood.

Ice blocks which were as high as two storey buildings were ripping out trees, fences and railway ties. “You’ll see huge pans of ice standing vertical, up to 20 feet (6.1 m) high,” said Steve Topping, an official with the provincial Water Stewardship Department. “Ice was shoved up on the shore and took out trees with a very devastating effect. It has changed people’s view of the river.”

“It is incredible, the force. One piece of ice pushed out of the river about 20 feet. You watch the force push this up right in front of your eyes,” said Dean North, of the Selkirk Golf and Country Club.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police are ticketing sight seers who are driving through road closure signs and approaching excavators, cranes and crews breaking up the ice. Vehicles, people, boats, and kayaks are getting in the way.

An eight year old boy is in critical condition after slipping on a culvert Thursday. He was pulled underwater by the speed of the flowing water and remained under for about five to ten minutes until adults could rescue him. The air ambulance supplied by Alberta’s STARS (Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society) remains in the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

“This is not a spectator sport. It’s not about getting the best pictures for the family albums. I know floods are seen as a bit of an event, but some of the instances I’m hearing about, people should give their head a shake, they really should,” said Steve Ashton Manitoba Emergency Measures Minister, “Those who fall into the river or get into trouble in another way would be not only endangering themselves but the emergency response crews trying to rescue them. I don’t want to see a situation … where we’re trying our darndest to prevent flooding and save lives and somebody [who] decides to go have a white-water experience ends up killing themselves.”

Early Easter Sunday morning floodwater reached the rural municipalities of St. Andrews and St. Clements north of Winnipeg. Residents were sent an evacuation advisory Good Friday, however some residents remained. Rescue efforts commenced Saturday night to find those stranded and unable to leave as their vehicles cannot travel in the swollen overland floodwaters. Some people were rescued from roof tops as entire houses were swept off of their foundations by the large ice blocks hurtling down the river.

Highways in the area remain closed. Neil Gobelle, of Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation said to “definitely continue to watch the Red River Valley and north of the city up in the Selkirk area. Things are changing quite a bit, quite quickly, so we’ll keep an eye on those areas.”

As of Easter Sunday, Winnipeg is expected to be ice free on the Red River. The River rose 4 feet (1.2 m) in the course of 24 hours. Rain is in the forecast and the higher temperatures of 17 °C (62.6 °F) will cause melting of snow and ice.

A weather system caused by La Niña is being watched by the United States National Weather Service and its potential effects between April 16-18 for residents along the Red River Valley. “We want people to be aware there is a very real possibility of the river going higher than what is out there,” said Mark Ewens, data manager at the NWS, “To have spring floods like this back-to-back is just an unfortunate series of events that have come along to plague us this spring. We’re wanting people to understand that this is a potentially serious problem.”

Monday, November 26, 2007

In the 18 months since Andrea Muizelaar was crowned winner of the reality TV series Canada’s Next Top Model, her life has been a complete whirlwind. From working in a dollar store in her hometown of Whitby, Ontario, to modeling haute couture in Toronto, she had reached her dream of becoming a true Top Model.

But at what cost? Unknown to casual television viewers, Muizelaar had been enveloped in the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, which inevitably became too much for her to bear. She gave up modeling and moved back to Whitby, where she sought treatment for her disorder, re-entered college, and now works at a bank. Where is she now? Happy and healthy, she says.

Recently Andrea Muizelaar sat down with Wikinews reporter Mike Halterman in a candid interview that stretched to nearly two hours, as she told all about her hopes and aspirations, her battle with anorexia, and just what really happened on Canada’s Next Top Model.