Saturday, March 15, 2008

The Internet group Anonymous today held further protests critical of the Church of Scientology.

The global protests started in Australia where several hundred protesters gathered at different locations for peaceful protests.

In a global speech, the Internet protest movement said Scientology “betrayed the trust of its members, [had] taken their money, their rights, and at times their very lives.” The protesters welcomed the public interest their protests have led to, and claimed they witnessed “an unprecedented flood of Scientologists [joining] us across the world to testify about these abuses.” The group said it would continue with monthly actions.

In a press statement from its European headquarters, Scientology accused the anonymous protesters of “hate speech and hate crimes”, alleging that security measures were necessary because of death threats and bomb threats. This also makes the Church want to “identify members” of the group it brands as “cyber-terrorists”.

Wikinews had correspondents in a number of protest locations to report on the events.

Anonymous states that the next protest is scheduled to take place on April 18, which happens to be the birthday of Suri, the daughter of Tom and Katie Cruise.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Two weeks ago, on February 1^st, it was the second day of the national environmental Focus the Nation teach-in. One of these events, which took place at the same time at other educational institutions across the country, took place in the city of Lynn at the campus of North Shore Community College.

Wikinews accredited reporter Patrick Mannion was there in attendance along with Congressman John F. Tierney of Massachusetts’s 6th congressional district and Lynn’s State Senator Thomas McGee. One of Lynn’s two representatives, Robert Fennell, also attended; the other representative Steven Walsh sent an aide. The representatives for the nearby cities of Salem and Beverly, John Keenan and Mary Grant along with various local area mayors and city councilors also attended the event.

John F. Kerry, the senator for Massachusetts was supposed to attend but could not due to voting on the economic stimulus package in Washington D.C.. However, Senator Kerry did record a video statement DVD for the event in which he addressed the gathered crowd. North Shore’s president, Wayne M. Burton, hosted the event.

Senator McGee started things off by talking about the need to recreate the North Shore Technical High School to include a focus on environmental jobs and the need to improve the Essex Agricultural and Technical High School which is deteriorating, but is known for it’s agricultural teaching which would help to save the dwindling farming areas north of Boston.

McGee urged people that should get more involved with their local farming co-ops and that farmland needs to be recognized and redeveloped. He noted that obesity in young people is a problem and that schools are developing partnerships with local farms to provide more healthy meals and to show students whats going on at their local farm.

Representative Keenan commended the college for holding this dialogue and Al Gore along with his movie, An Inconvenient Truth. Keenan noted the need for Salem’s coal-fired power station for the need to switch to clean coal.

Walsh aide’s brought up the fact he is committed to ending paper waste at the Massachusetts State House.

The city council president from Chelsea, Roseann Bongiovanni, who is also the associate executive director of the local community organization, the Chelsea Collaborative, asked the various reasons for the crowd in why they became concerned about global warming. The audience noted the melting of ice sheets, air quality, Hurricane Katrina and Al Gore.

Bongiovanni then noted that Chelsea and neighboring East Boston have no green space or waterfront due the industrialization of both areas, noting that 100% of the jet fuel for planes at Logan Airport, 70% to 80% of heating oil and that the trucks delivering the oil are spewing diesel. She also noted the large salt pile in Chelsea used for the deicing of highways in the Commonwealth and said that it is located there “illegally.”

She further noted the company, Energy Management Inc., behind the controversial Cape Wind project, proposed building a diesel power plant across the street from a Chelsea elementary school and that air quality in Chelsea is bad. She closed her dialogue by noting that “Global warming does not recognize boundaries.”

Mary Grant said she was interested in hearing ideas and noted the redeveloping of Beverly’s high school to include more solar panels and a new wind turbine and that the school would be powered by 50% of it.

One person asked the need to lower the level of bureaucracy in government as she was “running aroundcity government” in order to have a bee farm in her backyard.

Robert Fenell, the owner of Lynn’s Capitol Diner who is notable for keeping chickens at the establishment located in downtown Lynn just two blocks away from the college noted that people should start going organic and going back to nature, that people should switch to more energy efficient lighting and grow gardens in their backyard.

After Fennell spoke it was time for questions and answers, and questions were given by various audiences members including Mannion himself, who asked about the MBTA‘s Blue Line and rapid transit and others asking various questions such wither or not to include a green curriculum in state education or asking for the politicians to talk more on some of their positions.

After questions and answers finished, the video statement from John Kerry began to play. Kerry noted that there are still skeptics of global warming and climate change in Congress who “test the science” despite the efforts and research of Al Gore and the United Nations and noting that “the White House is the last place for change.”

He then went on to say that the world needed a new international treaty on climate change and noted that America is horrendous when it comes to energy efficiency. Kerry also noted that the Bush administration resisted the change and the points of the climate conference in Bail; “Luckily, time is almost up,” added Kerry.

Kerry went on to mention the need for massive new research on new energy and capturing carbon and noted he was working with Alaska’s senator, Ted Stevens on pushing for sequestering plants.

Kerry continued the theme of environmental conservation and change by topping off his statement by reminding the crowd of first Earth Day and how it lead to the creation of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and the Environmental Protection Agency and it noted it happened because of people’s actions.

Tierney finished off the speech by noting the need for high risk energy research in the style of DARPA so we can better compete against the “Chinas and Japans.” He also called for more green-collar jobs and noted his work on last year’s Green Jobs Act.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued proposed calorie labeling rules requiring most retail food vendors to display the calorie counts in items on their menus and menu boards. The proposed rules, issued Friday and expected to be finalized in 2012, would apply to most restaurants, snack bars, vending machines, coffee shops, drive-through restaurants, and convenience and grocery stores.

The US Congress required the rules in the health-care reform law passed in 2010. The rules proposed by the FDA must undergo a public comment period before they are finalized and take effect, said Michael R. Taylor, Deputy Director for Foods at the FDA.

The proposed regulations pertain to businesses devoting more than 50 percent of their floor space to the sale of food or that consider themselves restaurants, specifically food-selling chains with at least 20 stores nationally. Included are candy stores, bakeries, and ice-cream parlors.

The FDA’s proposed guidelines specify that chains post the calorie counts of foods and drinks on menus and menu boards or next to the food item, such as at a salad bar. The menu is to prominently exhibit the calorie content of each item in a way customers can see easily, giving them the same information packaged foods prepared at home currently provide. The information must be displayed in “clear and conspicuous” print and colors.

Many cities and states have passed laws requiring calorie labeling on menus, beginning with New York City in 2008. California implemented a similar law in January, although many counties are waiting for the release of the federal guidelines before they begin enforcement. Some fast-food chains there, such as McDonald’s and Starbucks, are displaying calorie counts on menus in some of their stores.

The rules are intended to curb the national obesity epidemic since, according to FDA estimates, one third of the calories people consume yearly come from food eaten out. In a statement issued yesterday, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services said, “Giving consumers clear nutritional information makes it easier for them to choose healthier options that can help fight obesity and make us all healthier.”

Excluded from the rules are businesses whose primary product is not food sales but that sell it, such as bowling alleys, airports and airplanes, amusement parks, hotels and movie theaters. Alcohol is also excluded.

Thursday, March 2, 2006

Buffalo, New York —In an unanimous vote, the City of Buffalo‘s Planning Board voted to table the Elmwood Village hotel Proposal, postponing voting on legislation for up to 30 days.

The Board said its decision was due to the lack of public involvement, saying that there have not been enough meetings.

The Elmwood Village Hotel is a proposed project by Savarino Construction Services Corporation and was designed by Karl Frizlen of The Frizlen Group. The hotel would be placed on Elmwood and Forest Avenues in Buffalo, New York. In order for the hotel to be built, at least five buildings, that include both businesses and residents, must be demolished.

The Forever Elmwood Corp. is a Buffalo-based non-profit organization founded in 1994. Justin Azzarella, the Executive Director for the organization voiced support for the proposal, stating: “I am here today to lend Forever Elmwood’s support the hotel project. Particularly, Forever Elmwood is encouraged by the fact that this building follows the more stringent Elmwood Village Design Guidelines. We have been speaking with Savarino Construction, and they have promised us [Forever Elmwood] that they will engage the community further, including the surrounding Block Clubs and businesses. For that reason, while Forever Elmwood is in support of this project and the type of project that it is, we are asking also that the project be tabled so that the community can be further engaged. Specifically the surrounding Block clubs which include the Granger, Claremont, Asland and The Lincoln Parkway Block Clubs.”

“Because of the excellent work that Karl does and the game plan that they have, I think its an ideal use of this particular location. I think that this particular type of development needs to be encouraged and promoted as opposed to roadblocked,” said a man who owns five properties near the proposal site.

However, Evelyn Bencinich, a resident of Granger Place and whose house would be located directly behind the hotel said, “My property value will be depreciated or non-existent because no one is going to want to live behind a multi-story hotel. We are facing up to a year of noisy and dangerous demolition and construction. Children, pets and even drunk rebellers could wander on site and get hurt. Traffic tie-ups caused by large machinery and garbage bins is inevitable. Where will pedestrians walk? We could experience increased unsanitary flooding in our yards and basements due to the digging and cementing for the underground parking garage. Rats will be displaced into the immediate neighborhoods and be in great abundance. Once we get past the year of nightmare construction, what if you build it and they don’t come? We could ultimately have a seven million dollar rooming house on our corner.”

Patty Morris, co-owner of Don Apparel with Nancy Pollina at 1119 Elmwood also asked that the project be tabled saying, “this has only been public knowledge for less than two weeks and the public never saw the redesign. How can you vote on anything that no one has seen yet? The Board cut off Morris saying, “so specifically you don’t have any problem with it [the design] you just…” Morris then said, “Oh I am totally against this project, but thats besides the point isn’t it.”

The planning board is also concerned that the current design may still be too big.

At one point Board member Susan Curran Hoyt said, “we know you’ve cut down your number of rooms on this project, but we still see it doesn’t seem to fit the description of a ‘botique’ hotel,” and asked Eva Hassett, Vice President of Savarino Construction, “we wonder if you could reduce the rooms further.”

“One thing I didn’t talk about was the price levels of these rooms and that will be important to know. The room rate will be somewhere between US$120 and $160 a night, which is about the same price of the Hampton Inn down town and the smaller you make the hotel, the more expensive the rooms will get. We believe that we’ve made a good compromise in terms of the size of the hotel and perhaps botique means different things to different people,” said Hassett.

The board was also concerned that there is not enough parking asking, “are there alternative plans for valet parking off-site, in the event that you have a full hotel or a large event going on?”

“We are exploring several possibilities with respect to additional parking for valet and parking near-by,” replied Hassett. “We are also exploring the possibility of using the rear of 1105 Elmwood for additional parking, which would give us an additional ten or eleven spaces.”

The new design has a total of 55 parking spaces for 72 rooms, with 39 of them underground and the rest on ground level.

Hassett also said that a “parking study” will be done on the area.

Concerns that the second floor of the hotel will be too close to the property of 605 Forest were also brought up. The board asked how far the hotel would be from the property and Karl Frizlen replied saying it would “be approximately five feet from the property line,” but he also admitted that, “I do not know exactly how close the house next door” will be from the hotel, but did say “I think the house is about four or five feet away from the property line and we [the hotel] sit right on the property line.”

The board is concerned the setback from the property is not enough saying the space between the building and the hotel is “pretty narrow.”

The City’s Common Council also agreed to table the proposal also citing the need for more public engagement and the need for more organizations to respond including the Buffalo Preservation Board and the Office of Historic Preservation.

During that meeting, Hassett also said the proposal to try and get a variance to obtain the properties of 605 and 607 Forest were “now off the agenda.”

The Common Council is expected to meet and hold a public hearing about the project and the rezoning of the properties to be demolished (1119-1121 Elmwood) on Tuesday March 7, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall. At the moment the properties are not zoned for a hotel.

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Peng Chang-kuei, a Chinese-born chef credited with creating the internationally popular dish General Tso’s chicken, was yesterday announced to have died by his son.

Chuck Peng told The Associated Press his father died of pneumonia in Taipei, Taiwan on Wednesday. The chef fled China to Taiwan in 1949 and invented the dish shortly thereafter. In the 1970s Peng opened a New York restaurant, which he claimed was a regular haunt of Henry Kissinger. Peng credited Kissinger with the dish’s popularity.

Peng conceived the famed dish, which is unknown in China, as unfried. Garlic and soy sauce provided flavour, as did chillies. Today the chicken is served across the US as fried chicken in a sweet, sticky sauce. The chillies remain, with broccoli also appearing. Peng named it after Zuo Zongtang from his native Hunan Province; Zongtang assisted in suppressing the 19th-century Taiping Rebellion.

Peng said the meal was invented for a US admiral visiting Taiwan. Over three days, Peng was contracted to produce several banquets, with not one repeated dish. After exhausting traditional chicken dishes Peng said he created what became General Tso’s chicken as an experiment.

In later years he ran Peng’s, a chain of Taiwanese restaurants. General Tso’s chicken also remained popular across the US. His son claimed he remained working in the kitchen until a few months before his death, at 97. In a documentary two years ago, shown photos of General Tso’s chicken served in the US in modern times, he remarked “This is all crazy nonsense.”

Running away from his farming family in Changsha, Peng trained under Cao Jingchen. He fled communist rule that followed the 1930s Japanese invasion. He fathered seven children, six of whom remain alive, from three marriages. Chuck Peng described his father as “very good to other people, [but] very hard on his family.” Peng Jr. spoke of a “very demanding” man who “thought other people’s cooking was no good.”

Two years ago the Taipei City Government awarded Peng an Outstanding Citizen award. Peng, then 95 and unstable, collected the award in person and delivered a speech in Mandarin Chinese.