WORK to replace a historic bridge that is a lifeline for a community is set to start up again after the lockdown.

The task of replacing Witton Park Bridge, near Bishop Auckland, is due begin next week, starting on Monday.

A 2.5m project will see the demolition and replacement of the crossing, which was found to be suffering from structural issues in 2018.

Since its temporary closure two years ago, engineers have been exploring a number of options for its replacement.

As a result, a detailed design and construction programme was developed. This included the demolition of the existing structure, repairs to the abutments and piers and the installation of the new bridge.

The replacement bridge is scheduled to open in late autumn 2020.

Durham County Councillor Brian Stephens, Cabinet member for neighbourhoods and local partnerships at Durham County Council, said: "This is an important crossing for local residents. I am delighted our engineers have been able to identify a solution and work can now start on the replacement.

Brian Buckley, strategic highways manager at Durham County Council said: The planning of this project has been a thorough process. The installation of the new bridge is a complicated one, due to the rail bridge which passes diagonally over.

"But it is necessary work and is important to ensure safety and long-lasting accessibility.

The health and safety of our workers is paramount and will dictate how we work going forward. We will ensure that current government guidance is adhered to in relation to social distancing.

The C93 will remain closed between the villages of Witton Park and High Grange, with a signed diversion continuing via the A68 and the neighbouring village of Witton-le-Wear.

As a result of the closure the area around the bridge has become a hot spot for fly tipping, with chunks of meat being disposed of the side of the road in February.

Durham County Councillor for West Auckland Rob Yorke said: Most of the steelwork and fabrication work has been carried out offsite, we expect to have workman on site within the next few week to dismantle and erect the new bridge. We are hoping the new bridge will be completed as planned by this autumn.

More here:
Work begins to replace historic Witton Park bridge - The Northern Echo

The term "race" should be removed from the German constitution, two leadingGreen politicians said Monday. In recent weeks, Germany has seen widespread anti-racism protests and dialogue around systemic racism in a German context following the police killing of unarmed black man George Floyd in the US.

"We have to unlearn racism," Green co-chair Robert Habeck and party vice-president for the state of Schleswig-Holstein Aminata Tour wrote in the German daily Taz. "Racism is also a German phenomenon. As a black woman and a white man we are affected differently by this, but it affects us all."

"The word race should be removed from the Basic Law," they added. "There is no such things as race, there are only people."

Read more:Germany struggles to face its own police racism

Germany's Basic Law is the country's constitution, penned in the immediate aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust, and so goes to great lengths to forbid the Nazi regime's worst crimes.

"No person shall be favored or disfavored because of sex, parentage, race, language, homeland and origin, faith or religious or political opinions. No person shall be disfavored because of disability," section 3 of Article 3 says.

Habeck and Tour argue that the term race implies the existence of different categories of people, claiming it undermines anotherkey clause of the Basic Law: "All people are equal before the law."

The politicians did not suggest a replacement word or an exact alteration.

The word "Rasse" in German, renderedas "race" in the official translation of German law, is described in the German Duden dictionary as dated and potentially discriminatory. It also has an ambiguity not as present for the word "race" in English; as itcan also refer to different breeds of animals.

Defense minister: 'Discrimination exists'

The German cabinet is planning to discuss all aspects of racism and xenophobia in a special sitting, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer told DW on Monday.

"It's a fact that discrimination exists in day-to-day life here in Germany as well," said the one-time possible successor of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Read more:Opinion: George Floyd killing opens racism wounds for European blacks

One of the key talking points will be possible laws to allow people to anonymously apply for accommodation or jobs, to remove possible discrimination based on name or appearance.

The Greens believe that sensitizing institutions and organizations to racism through training and education could offer a solution. Tour and Habeck cite training for the police on racism as key.

Recent polling has put Germany's Greens in secondor third place after Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of theday's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up toreceive it directly here.

See the original post:
Greens call for 'race' to be removed from German constitution - DW (English)

SINGAPORE - Chief engineer Awadhesh Prasad was looking forward to going home to India after his four-month contract with shipping company Executive Ship Management ended.

But the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic scuppered his plansas borders were closed, and he and the crew of the Crimson Monarch could not disembark from the bulk carrier.

This meant that Mr Prasad, 54, could not return home to Ranchi, capital city of eastern Jharkand, in February as planned.

He ended up continuing on the ship's journey to Canada, Brazil and Australia, among other countries, for about four more months, before his employer found him a way back on a chartered flight.

The bulk carrierhad not reached any port since May 9, when it left Brazil.

"Finally, today, I can go home," he told The Straits Times at Changi Airport Terminal 1 Departure Hall on Friday (June 12).

Mr Prasad was one of 87 ship crew members who boarded a chartered flight to Mumbai on Friday afternoon, after he disembarked from the Crimson Monarchto a smaller vessel which took him to Marina South Pier.

The chartered plane had flown 54 crew members from Mumbai to Singapore to replace the departing crew on six ships for their onward journey from the Port of Singapore.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said on Friday that it has approved more than 4,000 cases of crew sign-on and sign-off for more than 300 companies and 500 ships since March 27.

Chief engineer Awadhesh Prasad was looking forward to his return to India. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI

Signing-on and signing-off refer to the ship's handover process when one crew replaces another.

Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan raised the issue of seafarers being stranded due to Covid-19 restrictions worldwide on his Facebook page on Tuesday in response to a Financial Times article.

"Many crew have worked several months beyond their contracts, due to recent travel restrictions which bar crew from disembarking to return home," said Mr Khaw.

"This has led to the international shipping industry threatening to cease sailing unless replacement crew can be brought in."

Mr Khaw said this issue could potentially disrupt or clog up the global supply chain, given that commercial vessels carry 80 per cent of world trade.

Senior Minister of State for Transport and Health Lam Pin Min said in a Facebook post on Friday that the Republic has been facilitating crew change with a new protocol outlined in the Singapore Crew Change Guidebook.

The guide was developed by the Singapore Shipping Association and the Singapore Maritime Officers' Union, with MPA's support.

Seafarers posing for a selfie after disembarking from the STI Carnaby vessel. ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH

MPA chief executive Quah Ley Hoon said: "We have seen a sharp increase in the daily crew change applications since our last Port Marine Circular (on May 22)... Singapore has a responsibility to facilitate crew change in a safe manner for both the country and the ships, given the ongoing pandemic.

"The (guidebook) sets out a 'safe corridor' which companies can now use consistently and reliably for crew changes."

Getting a flight into India, which has banned air travel, was not easy, said Executive Ship Management managing director S.P. Singh.

"International flights are banned in India... In order to charter a plane, we had to go through a long process to get the relevant permissions. The Singapore authorities had been very cooperative," he added.

The crew checking in at Changi Airport Terminal 1 before leaving for Mumbai. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI

The back-up plan was to wait for governments to reinstate international flights, which Mr Singh felt was not a viable option.

"The seafarers were having a tough time, not seeing their families," Mr Singh said, adding that the crew's family members in India had been asking the company when their loved ones could come home.

Mr Prasad said that he called his wife and daughter every couple of days to check in.

"They are very understanding of the situation because it's all reported in the news. They kept asking me to take care," he said.

The vessel was never at risk of running out of food, and the crew could use high-speed Internet to call home, but it was the uncertainty of securing a way home before the pandemic ceased that frustrated Mr Prasad.

"It's very difficult, not knowing when I can go home... I worry for my family," he said.

Continued here:
87 ship crew members fly home to India from Singapore on chartered plane after being stranded at sea - straits times

A NSW Government department has defended spending more than $1.2 million on indoor plants for its new corporate offices in Parramatta.

The Department of Planning recently approved a contract worth $1,246,000 for the indoor plants in the 4 Parramatta Square building, not including external landscaping costs.

The three-year contract with supplier Tropical Plant Rentals includes the "supply, installation, watering, maintenance and replacement" of indoor vegetation.

A department spokeswoman said the indoor plants would complement the new building's green-star rating across 30 floors.

"Environmental sustainability of the built environment is one of the key focuses of the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment and the offices at 4 Parramatta Square will have a 5-star Green-Star Rating in accordance with the Green Building Council of Australia," she said,

A website for the local supplier offers indoor plant options including green walls, cabinet walls and vertical pot plants, although the exact details for the offices has not been released.

Stewart Little from the Public Service Association the union currently fighting a bid to freeze public sector wages said the contract "beggars belief".

"It's astonishing," he said.

"In the wake of the worst bushfire crisis we've ever seen, but also going into the COVID-19 crisis where really everyone's had to work under very, very strained circumstances, and you've got a situation now where the Government's seeking to impose a wage freeze.

"To have one department sign up to well over $1 million on indoor plants it's just extraordinary.

"They often tend to just look at one section of the budget and not look at where that's money could be spent elsewhere this is a classic example of that.

"You'd have to question that when you have an expenditure like this, what else is out there that we're missing?"

While not commenting directly on the Government contract, Tonia Gray from Western Sydney University said incorporating nature into workplaces otherwise known as biophilic design could have benefits.

"Biophilic design means letting nature in and that in itself has a myriad of benefits," Professor Gray said.

"Not only was productivity better but mood states and the fact that absenteeism was declined and just general camaraderie seemed to have an enormous spike as a result of bringing nature in.

"Even water features or the sound of water is cathartic and soothing in itself.

"A babbling brook is a lot better sound than the ping-pong of your emails coming in, isn't it?"

The Minister for Planning, Rob Stokes, declined to comment.

See original here:
More than $1.2 million spent on indoor plants for new NSW Government office - ABC News

Your medicine cabinet is your first go-to in times of illness, and sometimes it gets a little bare. But we're in the midst of a global health crisis. And whether you get Covid-19 or not, it's important to be prepared.

We know, we know. Some of these may be a little obvious, but go ahead and actually check your supplies now.

Let this be your friendly reminder to confirm you do, in fact, have the basics. If not, add these to your shopping list. Like now.

Here's a list of what you can use to make sure your household's medicine chest is well-stocked for the length of the pandemic.

Pandemic essentials

Do you think you have Covid-19? A fully stocked medicine cabinet can help you make an initial assessment.

"There are certain signs and symptoms that tip people off to whether they have Covid-19," said Dr. Gary LeRoy, the president of the American Academy of Family Physicians and an associate professor of family medicine at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

But also know how to use the thermometer right: Timing is everything. Check your temperature first, before you take your pain or fever reducer. "These medicines artificially lower your temperature," LeRoy said. Once you know how bad your fever is, then take your medicine.

Doctors recommend using rectal thermometers for infants. For children and adults, a thermometer under the tongue works just fine.

More advanced no-contact infrared thermometers also have their virtues, especially by eliminating the need to physically touch a symptomatic person.

"Infrared thermometers are easy to use, but they are more expensive," LeRoy said.

Cough drops and cough syrup: These stalwarts of the home health arsenal are a good initial line of defense to help reduce the coughing symptoms that are a key indicator of Covid-19.

Acetaminophen: It helps reduce the muscle ache pains associated with Covid-19 and other viruses, as well as fevers (again, check your or your child's temperature first before administering this pain and fever reliever).

Ibuprofen: This anti-inflammatory is also great for reducing pain and fevers. Use with caution, though, if you have gastrointestinal issues such as acid reflux, LeRoy said.

For all of these medications, make sure to read the labels carefully to ensure you take the right dosage.

The new additions everyone should have

"You should also have extra masks for visitors to your house who don't have one," LeRoy said.

Make sure you've got a supply of face masks for your whole family. You might not be doing much flying this summer, but you can still keep in mind a familiar line from flight attendants: Put on your mask before assisting others. We mean this literally.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes: Read the labels and try to focus on products that contain a base of 60% or more of alcohol.

At home, experts say the average person doesn't necessarily need a fancy device to measure blood oxygen levels. If shortness of breath is an issue, call your doctor.

"It is not physically possible to measure SpO2 (oxygen saturation levels) using current smartphone technology," the authors concluded.

More general items are still key in the pandemic

You ought to be keeping a supply of general health items at home, too.

Some of the symptoms of Covid-19 mirror those of other conditions, particularly allergies.

Antihistamines: Spring and summer mark allergy season, so if your symptoms feel a little better when you're not outside, you could be suffering from allergies. If these antihistamines aren't clearing up coughing or congestion, that could be a sign that something else is causing your symptoms.

"If it's not getting better, don't just keep treating it," LeRoy said. "Talk to your doctor."

Calamine lotion: It's a great standby if you're spending more time outdoors this summer and get exposed to poison ivy, poison oak or poison sumac.

Check expiration dates and dispose of medicine properly

Use the pandemic as motivation for an overall inventory check. As you're updating your stockpile, it's a great time to get rid of medications or other products past their use-by date. Besides avoiding a stomach ache or other complications, you'll be able to make room for new remedies.

Know when to seek care

Your home medicine cabinet is your first stop for routine scrapes or runny-nose symptoms. But it's no substitute for sound medical advice.

The contents of your medicine cabinet are a "tool, not a replacement for medical intervention or a conversation with your physician," LeRoy said.

Pay close attention to how you're feeling. "Chart what those symptoms are and then treat those symptoms," LeRoy said.

But before any of this gets out of hand, fulfill this homework assignment for us.

Seriously, check your medicine cabinet.

Now add this to your to-do list: Replace those last few items that are missing. You'll be glad you did.

Jen Rose Smith, Sandee LaMotte, Susan Scutti and Harmeet Kaur contributed to this story.

Read the original:
Time to stock your medicine cabinet for the pandemic - CNN

Ocracoke trouble spot along N.C. 12 shown Aug. 29, 2011. Photo: NCDOT Communications

This is the fifth installment in a continuing series on climate change and the North Carolina coast that is part of thePulitzer Centers nationwide Connected Coastlinesreporting initiative.

Twenty-seven years ago, an interagency panel of bureaucrats, politicians and scientists gathered for the first time in Atlanta, Georgia, to study how to save a North Carolina coastal highway skirting the volatile waters of the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

No one back then talked about resilience or adaptation, and certainly not retreat. Still, the diverse group turned out to be pioneers of brainstorming and collaborating to solve the multitude of challenges from sea level rise and other climate change impacts.

The Outer Banks Task Force met six times before being shelved after one year for lack of funds and staff. But that was only one iteration of numerous transportation study groups that assembled over the years to address N.C. 12, a sliver of roadway stretching about 65 miles on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands.

The two-lane road has been a headache for the state practically from the day the first tire hit the pavement. In 1962, the infamous Ash Wednesday Storm ripped open an inlet in Buxton and destroyed 25% of the dunes that buffered the road from ocean waves.

Still, the extreme and worsening coastal conditions for N.C. 12 serve as both lesson plan and cautionary tale for teams like the Outer Banks Task Force, working against time while begging for funds to maintain vital transportation infrastructure into the future.

Gov. Roy Coopersexecutive orderin 2018 directed 10 cabinet agencies and the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to integrate climate adaptation and resiliency planning into their policies, programs and operations. In response, the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency was created to coordinate agencies and assist communities facing storm recovery and/or risks of future climate change impacts.

But complex problems that involve many players, a slew of stakeholders and tons of money can become unwieldy and paralyzing.

At least 10 government entities federal, state and local were represented on the task force, in addition to several coastal engineers and scientists from different universities.

How do we simplify what were trying to do so that we get something done? former Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Geneva Perry asked the revived task force in November 1998, as quoted then in The Virginian-Pilot. This thing has been going on forever, and unless we keep kicking it, it dies again.

Built in phases during the 1950s, N.C. 12 bisects Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and seven villages. It is also the only route for millions of tourists that contribute to the Outer Banks $1 billion tourism economy.

The roadway, with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the massive Pamlico Sound on the other, is inches above mean sea level and crosses numerous weak spots on skinny barrier islands that are subject to severe beach erosion. To add to its vulnerabilities, the islands are close to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, the super-highway for Atlantic hurricanes.

Over the decades, the road has been repeatedly over-washed by ocean and sound tide; undermined by ocean surge; inundated by moon tide and rain deluges; buried by mountains of sand from storm-flattened dunes; broken apart by hurricanes and nor-easters; and covered by telephone poles, trees and debris from destroyed buildings.

Sections of road have been replaced, elevated, bridged or moved further from the ocean. Adjacent beaches have been widened and walkways have been built to protect dunes.

And the dunes between the beach and the road have been built, knocked down and rebuilt, higher, longer and stronger. Then flattened again.

Its a very good example of a corridor being impacted by climate, Jerry Jennings, Division 1 engineer with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, said in a recent telephone interview. Certainly, from Division 1s perspective, theres not another road that has the challenges that N.C. 12 has.

Located in the northeast corner of North Carolina, Division 1 is a huge, mostly rural territory that encompasses 14 counties. It not only includes the second-largest estuarine system in the nation, its coastal area the Outer Banks is one of the most vulnerable regions in the U.S. to the impacts of sea level rise.

Maintenance and repair of the road from Oregon Inlet to Ocracoke village has cost NCDOT about $75 million in the last 10 years, not including N.C. 12 improvements that were part of the recently completed Bonner Bridge replacement project.

Opened last year, the new Marc Basnight Bridge spans the inlet and incorporates phased work on the road to just south of Rodanthe.

The only other comparison in the state to N.C. 12 cited by some transportation officials could be the heavily traveled Blue Ridge Parkway in the mountains, which is subject to costly landslides and intense winter weather.

But a lot of environmental changes generally have been observed over time in coastal regions and in low-lying areas, Jennings said. Shoreline erosion along water bodies, for example, can impact roadway shoulders and potentially threaten the road. Flooding is a persistent problem on roads in Mackeys Island, Aydlett and Water Lily in Currituck County and on N.C. 94 at Lake Mattamuskeet in Hyde County.

Theres a number of those out there, he said. Its not just a beach thing.

An ongoing improvement project on Colington Road in Kill Devil Hills includes elevation of parts of the road vulnerable to tidal flooding, he said, which seems to be a longstanding problem.

That project will attempt to resolve that, Jennings said. Its hard to say what is directly related to climate change.

NCDOT had been working with the new North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, or NCORR. But NCDOTs resiliency work has been suspended indefinitely while the agency addresses severe budgetary shortfalls aggravated by COVID-19 shutdowns.

Unspecified cuts are also expected in NCDOTs Ferry Division, which operates about 20 ferries on seven regular routes on the coast. The passenger ferry between Hatteras and Ocracoke islands has been canceled for the season.

In March, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies released theNorth Carolina Climate Science Report, an assessment of current and projected climate impacts to the state. The report is a component of the comprehensiveN.C. Risk Assessment and Resilience Planthat is expected to be completed this summer.

The report found that future impacts in the state from climate change some effects are already apparent will likely be more intense storms, increased rain volume, more wildfires and drought, more hot days and higher humidity, increased flooding including sunny day tide and higher sea levels, especially on the northeast coast.

For transportation, it means offering people multiple ways to get around, by better connecting roads and sidewalks and providing quality transit services, the report said.

Jessica Whitehead, chief resilience officer with NCORR, said that NCDOT has been an engaged participant in discussions about such critical needs as building redundancy and updating old infrastructure.

Even with NCDOTs and other state agencies budgetary woes from the pandemic, Whitehead said that resiliency work will continue.

The thing about climate change in any of this, its not going to go away, she said. Were still going to figure out ways to plan for it.

Transportation projects in North Carolina have already been engineered for environmental changes, said Chris Werner, director of technical services at NCDOT.

Resiliency is a critical part of how we design and build our infrastructure, he said. We work with all our partners across the state.

Werner said that the agency has an inbuilt culture that fosters innovative and proactive approaches to problem solving.

Were always looking for cutting-edge analytics and software, he said. Most of us are engineers. The more data we can get, the more analytics we can perform.

One example is application of the states data-richFlood Inundation Mapping Alert Network, or FIMAN, to not only predict flooding on roads and bridges, but also to design for it by looking at trends in the data.

The agency, he said, is in the process of expanding the FIMAN gauge system from a property-impact focus to provide data specific to transportation infrastructure. For instance, data collection can be tailored so it can be used to prevent future road washouts.

Its not just a matter of fixing a damaged structure, he explained, the goal is to keep it from happening again by building redundancy and resiliency.

When severe flooding on U.S. 421 in Wilmington in 2018 during Hurricane Florence damaged the road and cut off traffic, Werner said, the agency took the opportunity to build better and stronger. After analysis of historic and current data, instead of just replacing ruined culverts, the department replaced them with a new bridge. Another bridge was also built nearby, providing the transportation corridor with both redundancy and resiliency in the event of future flooding.

Our goal is to build infrastructure thats durable and safe and resilient as possible, Werner said. As civil engineers, were constantly improving what weve done in the past. Thats what we do. It all stems from field observation and data.

Other measures NCDOT has put in place, he said, are monitors of water levels at low bridges, and identifying alternative travel routes on itsREADY NC app. The department has partnered with Google Maps and WAZE to feed their traffic data into the app. Also,DRIVENC.govshows up-to-date closures and maintenance work on the states roads.

In reality, the feats of engineering for NCDOT are not so much in dramatic crane work at bridge construction sites or road restorations after storms. Its mostly what goes on behind the scene at research centers and laboratories.

We do a lot of work with our universities, said Neil Mastin, NCDOT Research and Development manager. We work with business units and academics.

In May 2019, the department presented its first Research & Innovation Summit at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University to discuss transportation-related innovations and research.

Although it is not often a focus of public discussion, NCDOT has been studying numerous issues that could result in transportation improvements, although its research program for 2021 has been postponed, Mastin said.

Ongoing or planned research projects include the following:

Mastin said that NCDOT is also hyper-aware of the public concern about drainage issues. The state is responsible for the ditches and culverts within road right of ways, as well as the nine ocean outfalls in the state, all of which except one is on the Outer Banks.

Water in general, he said, is the enemy of transportation networks.

In the past, locations of all small and medium drainage pipes around the state were mapped, he added, with the ambitious goal yet mostly unfulfilled of eventually replacing them. But thats just pipes and flooding is getting increasingly worse.

Eastern North Carolina in particular, with land as flat as it is, makes it extremely challenging, Mastin said. We can fix one problem somewhere and it makes it worse somewhere else.

Drones are being used more often by NCDOT to provide footage of flooded areas and to help manage flood gates, he said. Theyre also used to build wetlands, to identify plant types, to measure elevation and to help determine where to send crews after disasters. Researchers are also studying development of drones to inspect bridges.

Improvements of material mostly concrete and asphalt are constantly being studied, Mastin said. One example of research results is the proposed bridge replacement on Harkers Island, which would be the states first fully composite reinforced bridge. Rather than using corrosion-prone steel rebar, he said, the structure will be built with a mixture of carbon fiber prestressed strands and fancy fiberglass.

Well be monitoring this closely, he said. This is really exciting.

The new Marc Basnight Bridge over notoriously wild and wicked Oregon Inlet was designed to last 100 years and was built with high-performance, less-permeable concrete made to better endure corrosive salt air and water. It is the first bridge project in the state to use stainless reinforcing steel, and the bridge has longer and deeper pilings to withstand scour.

The Outer Banks Task Force, in a significant way, laid the groundwork for the bridge and the N.C. 12 improvements by determining where the problems were and what to do about them. Most importantly, the panel recognized the need for safety and access for both the bridge and the road and linked them together as a single corridor.

Jennings, the division engineer, said that over the last few years, feasibility studies have been completed looking at long-term options for eroded areas in Buxton, Hatteras and Ocracoke, as well as costs of the alternatives and how long projects would last.

Years before the panel was replaced by a merger team that worked on planning and permitting for the road and bridge projects, the Outer Banks Task Force had designated six vulnerable hot spots between Oregon Inlet and Ocracoke village that were critical to address, and started the planning process on each one.

Predictions about the dire risks at each of the hot spots from storm surge, beach erosion, road loss, dune breaching, even another inlet cutting through have since played out all too often.

In 1999, John Fisher, a N.C. State University civil engineer and then-chair of the task force science panel, called a reconstructed dune lost during Hurricane Dennis at the eroding Ocracoke hot spot a Band-Aid that wouldnt last.

We seriously think you should think about abandoning that whole stretch of road and relocating the ferry system, he told the task force, according to The Virginian-Pilot on Nov. 7. It didnt make sense to us to try to maintain the highway.

That is exactly what NCDOT is now considering. After storm after storm over the last 20 years wiped out dunes in the same hot spot, it seems Hurricane Dorian last September may end up taking that one off N.C. 12s list.

Read more here:
Resilience Bigger Part of Plan to Save NC 12 - Island Free Press

Researchers are learning more about howCovid-19affects children, and a new study finds that among a group of children and adolescents in New York who were hospitalized with the disease, about a fifth 22% had obesity.

The study,published in the journal The Lancet on Wednesday, suggests thathaving obesity could put a child at an increased risk of getting severely ill withCovid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

"Obesity was the most significant factor associated with mechanical ventilation in children 2 years and older," the researchers added. "Contrary to some previous reports, infants seemed largely spared severe manifestations."

More on the study: The study included data on 50 young people, ages 21 and younger, who were diagnosed withCovid-19between March 1 and April 15 and hospitalized for at least a day or longer.

The data, which came from the patients' electronic medical records, showed that about half of the patients 52% had an adult family member or was living with someone with symptoms associated withCovid-19. None of the patients had a history of international travel around the time they were diagnosed.

Most of the patients 80% had a fever, and 64% had some respiratory symptoms, but three of the patients only experienced gastrointestinal problems, the researchers found. Nine of the patients, or 18% of them, needed mechanical ventilation and one patient died.

Overall, the researchers found that obesity was significantly associated with needing mechanical ventilation among children ages 2 or older. Among the patients who required mechanical ventilation, six of them 67% had obesity.

About the study: The study had some limitations, including that the group of patients included in the datawas smalland half of the patients were Hispanic.The researchers noted thatthe hospital serves a predominantly Hispanic community.Somore research is needed to determine whether similar findings would emerge among a more diverse group of patients.

Yet overall, "studies such as this one emphasize that certain groups of children may be disproportionally affected. In this study, 50% were Hispanic,"Dr. Jason Newland of theWashington University School of Medicine in St Louis, and Dr. Kristina Bryant of theUniversity of Louisville in Kentucky, co-wrote in an editorial that accompanied the new study.

"As theCovid-19 pandemic has spread and created adversity for many people physically, emotionally, and economically, the groups most affected have been those of color," Newland and Bryant wrote.

"Going forward, multicenter collaborative studies are needed to define the infectious and postinfectious sequelae ofCovid-19in children in communities across the US, including rural communities, and in all racial and ethnic groups. We also need to understand the association of the pandemic with adverse health outcomes in children beyond the consequences of viral infection," they wrote.

The researchers noted that on May 15, "the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a precipitous drop in the ordering and administration of pediatric vaccines. Are outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases on the horizon? That could be the next important chapter of the evolvingCovid-19story."

Read the original:
WHO says coronavirus is not mutating, but that doesn't mean it is not dangerous - CNN

The Government has now released its decisions on a number of freshwater policy initiatives that were first revealed in September 2019 under the banner Essential Freshwater Action for Healthy Waterways.

The announcements see the new National Policy Statement, National Environmental Standards and Stock Regulations proceed largely unchanged, but with notable tweaks to the time frames, nutrient limits, and regulatory mechanisms. Most notably, dissolved organic nitrogen and dissolved reactive phosphorous will no longer have national bottom lines, restrictions on farm intensification and stock exclusion requirements will both be relaxed slightly in response to submissions, and the Resource Management Act (RMA) will be amended to include a new regime for farm management plans.

The Action For Healthy Waterways package was first announced in September 2020, and was fairly described at the time as the biggest set of freshwater reforms since the RMA was passed in 1991. Our summary of the proposals as first announced is available here; this Newsflash focuses on the recent changes. The main proposals were:

The thrust of last Thursdays announcements was to confirm that the Government will proceed with the New NPS-FM, NES-Freshwater, and Stock Exclusion Regulations. While final drafting is not yet available (it will now be developed and then put to Cabinet for decisions by 20 July 2020), it appears that there will be refinements rather than wholesale changes to the exposure drafts of these three documents released last year. However, the Cabinet Paper and supporting materials do outline a number of notable changes, which are summarised below. No firm date is provided in terms of when these instruments will be passed into law (beyond later this year), but we can anticipate that it is likely to be late July or early August, before Government enters the pre-election caretaker period.

The RMA changes to introduce the new planning process were already well advanced through the Resource Management Amendment Bill 2019, which is now at the Second Reading stage. As introduced, the Bill had included a rather ambitious deadline of December 2023 for councils to notify the next wave of regional plans to reflect the new national policy instruments, but that date will now be pushed out (slightly) to December 2024 (with decisions due December 2026) as a result of COVID-19.

Another key change proposed to the Bill (via a supplementary order paper) is for it to introduce a new regime for farm plans (originally proposed as part of the draft NES-Freshwater) into the RMA itself.

To date there have not been any further public announcements in relation to the NES for Wastewater or the NES for Sources of Human Drinking Water.

It is intended that the New NPS-FM 2020 will entirely replace the existing NPS-FM 2014, although it retains and builds on many of the same concepts.

Many of the core features of the draft version released in September will be retained (with refinements), including (as detailed previously): a central focus on Te Mana o te Wai (the mana of the water), an expanded national objectives framework including new attributes to focus on broader components of ecosystem health, new requirements for primary contact sites (swimmability), and a suite of new requirements to protect streams and wetlands, and provide for fish passage.

Key changes announced from the draft version released in September last year include that:

As noted above, the deadline for notifying plan changes to give effect to the New NPS-FM will be shifted to December 2024.

The new NES will directly regulate a number of activities that have the potential to impact on freshwater, by setting out standards to be met and when resource consents will be required under the RMA.

Specifically, the draft released last year included standards for activities in wetlands and streams, requirements to provide for fish passage, restrictions on high risk farming activities (e.g. feedlots, sacrifice paddocks, and intensive winter grazing), restrictions on further intensification of farming and horticulture activities, and requirements to prepare farm plans.

Key changes to these proposals include:

In the exposure draft released in September last year it was proposed that the NES-Freshwater would include a requirement for freshwater modules of Farm Plans (FW-FPs).While the policy intent has not substantially changed, it is now proposed to instead provide for FW-FPs through a legislative change to the RMA itself.

That amendment is being progressed through supplementary order paper (SOP) to the RM Bill, to enable the development of an enforceable FW-FP regime through subsequent regulations under a new Part 6AAA of the RMA. The requirement to have a FW-FP will apply to almost all farms over a minimum size (e.g. 20 ha for pastoral farming and arable farming, 5 ha for horticulture), or otherwise as described in the regulations (yet to be prepared).

Farmers will be required to prepare a FW-FP in accordance with regulations, have it certified as appropriate by an independent certifier, and have their farm audited for compliance.Regional Councils in turn will be responsible for ensuring compliance. It is intended that regulations will initially prioritise the roll-out of FW-FPs in highly nitrogen-impacted catchments, being those within the top 10% of in-stream nitrate levels, once the new regime is in place.

The Stock Exclusion regulations (released in draft last September) will be phased in more or less as proposed, but relaxed in some respects in response to submissions.Key changes will be that:

The restrictions will now apply to grazing dairy cattle and pigs on all terrain, intensive stock activities on all terrain, and beef cattle and deer on low slope land only.

Overall, these announcements largely stay the course in terms of the policy direction signalled last year. While some may have hoped or feared (depending on their perspective) that the Government would delay or significantly water down the proposed changes given the economic situation following COVID-19, that has not really been the case (and Minister Parker was quick to clarify that the decisions to ease limits for DIN and DRP were made in advance of the pandemic).

When pressed on the economic implications of the new requirements on Thursday, Minister Parkers response was to the effect that we cant make things better by letting them get worse, and that delaying action now would only make it more expensive in the long run.Similarly, Minister Shaw acknowledged that there may have been some additional measures that the Green Party might have wanted, but emphasised that the package was nonetheless the strongest protection any government has ever put in place for waterways in New Zealand.

While these sorts of announcements tend to attract equal and opposite criticism from both environmental groups and the primary sector, to date the complaints from the environmental side have been slightly louder, principally in relation to what might be seen as a backdown on the proposed DIN and PRP limits. Of course, in the current economic climate and heading into the national election it can be expected that there will be further debate to come. That said, it is clear that the proposals have been relaxed in response to submissions (or advice) in a few key areas, such as those DIN and PRP limits and the detail of the stock exclusion regulations.Horticulture has also faired relatively well, being taken back out of the new restrictions on intensification (despite being one of the most nitrogen-intensive land uses), and potentially also being exempted from certain NPS-FM requirements in the key vegetable growing areas of Pukekohe and Lake Horowhenua.

At a more technical level, shifting farm plans from an NES requirement to a standalone RMA instrument (perhaps somewhere between a resource consent and a certificate of compliance in nature) is an interesting development.The regulatory (and political) challenge in this space has always been to develop a system that is flexible and responsive to on the ground circumstances, while also enforceable and effective in improving water quality. In this regard the policy explanation (at Appendix 1 to the Cabinet paper) states that, while industry involvement in the setup of the FW-FP regime is desirable, this is not a non-regulatory partnership with industry, and the future FW-FP regime will incorporate strong regulatory oversight.One of the future challenges will now be in resourcing, as it may take some time to get suitably trained and qualified farm plan certifiers and auditors up and running.

The new 190kg nitrogen limit is also notable because it is an input control in relation to water quality, whereas Government has to date preferred an output-based' approach to regulation.However, Minister Parker signalled that further input controls may be necessary in the future, if the present suite of output controls proved ineffective (and nitrogen management settings are to be revised in 2023).Similarly, the Cabinet paper describes the current freshwater package as the last chance saloon for output controls, and signals an openness to other blunter input measures (like stocking rates per hectare or limits on supplementary feed) if we do not see rapid progress on freshwater quality.

Beyond their immediate implications for primary production activities, the reforms will also be of interest to infrastructure providers, particularly in terms of the of the provisions in the NES-Freshwater and New NPS-FM around streams and wetlands, and the extent to which these will allow necessary maintenance and upgrades to significant infrastructure assets.There will also be more direct implications for providers of three waters infrastructure, as the increased focus on urban water quality will raise the bar for stormwater and wastewater operations in particular.

Overall, while there were few big shocks in the announcements on Thursday, the challenge of making meaningful progress on freshwater quality (without drastically reducing production levels) is as big as it ever was.The time frame for notifying new plans (or plan changes) to give effect to it all has only been slightly deferred to 2024, and the technical work, community consultation, and plan drafting remains a mammoth task for regional councils. Last weeks announcements provide useful certainty going forward, but the devil as always will be in the drafting detail, and we will be reviewing this with interest when the final wording of these new instruments is released in July.

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Government confirms Action for Healthy Waterways - with some key changes - JD Supra

A busy Yeovil road will close for five days as resurfacing work is carried out on the route - only two years after it was last resurfaced.

The A30 Sherborne Road will be closed between the Lyde Road junction and the Dorset boundary for the work.

The route will be closed for five days from Monday June 15, Somerset County Council has revealed, and heavy traffic disruption is expected.

The road was initially resurfaced in 2018, but the surface has already begun to deteriorate.

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A spokesman for Somerset County Council said: "Testing has shown the surface to be defective and it will be removed and replaced at no cost to the county council.

"This replacement is also taking place earlier than planned, making use of the quieter network at present.

"Works will take place over five nights, starting on June 15, with a road closure in place to keep the workforce and travelling public safe."

Councillor John Woodman, Somerset County Councils cabinet member for Highways and Transport, added: Our contractors use approximately 23,000 tonnes of road surfacing materials every year and failures like this are very rare.

However, when it does happen, we have the necessary safeguards in place to ensure faulty materials can be replaced at no cost to the taxpayer.

Although the additional works may not be welcome in the short term, the restored road surface will be much improved and provide lasting benefits.

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Busy Yeovil road to close for five days with heavy traffic disruption expected - Somerset Live

During the last couple of years, the vending machine market has demonstrated significant growth in general, with increasing market share of intelligent vending machines. According to research firm Technavio, the intelligent vending machine market size has the potential to grow by $11.24 billion during 2020-2024. As the maturity of connected devices and IoT sensors has been established, there is increasing demand both from customers and operators to use more intelligent machines.

In addition, the fast changing lifestyle of the population urbanization, extensive growth of public transportation usage, development of huge office buildings and parks and the consuming habits of the younger generations, millennials and Gen-Z led some research firms to claim an increasing market share of micro markets at the expense of slowing the growth of traditional vending machines.

Micro markets are more robust from a variety of products perspective, allow the selling of fresh foods, salads and sandwiches, and are much more relevant in office buildings' lobbies, workplaces, clubs, gyms, etc. The main challenge of micro markets is still the relatively high level of shrinkage, being open and relying on trust of the customers. That also limits their potential distribution to public areas such as railway stations.

Apparently, vending machines and micro markets leave a space for a solution that has significant potential growth: "a next generation vending machine" or "closed cabinet micro market." This type of machine will include a full micro market with a reasonably large number of SKUs functioning like a vending machine from a resilience and security point of view, while allowing a wider variety of products and price points. Several North American and European operators are offering such solutions, but until recently, it has not gained significant market share.

Micro markets are deploying a large variety of solutions, from single closed coolers or dry cabinets to combined cabinets to fully automated convenient stores equipped with several cabinets and open shelves offering an autonomous, frictionless shopping experience.

One of the main challenges in closed micro markets is the product recognition functionality. While solutions with sensors and telemetry can perform like traditional vending machines using scan-and-go or self-check-out technologies, such solutions actually downgrade the customer experience. That is why technologies such as smart weighing sensors, camera vision and in some cases even RFID will be used in micro markets.

With post COVID-19 market trends emerging, including the desire for more healthy food, sanitary and public safety, we can expect major growth in the demand for intelligent vending machines, equipped with more sensors monitoring the status of the food, and even consumers' temperatures.

The hotter trend appears to be the demand for closed micro markets. Closed cabinets of micro markets, or even autonomous closed micro markets, are expected to grow even faster because of their potential to better meet the customer's desires, including a full replacement for the supermarket.

Autonomous micro markets offer a variety of products, including fresh foods, available 24/7 (either at the office, on the way at the railway station or close to home in neighborhoods), while adhering to sanitary requirements, social distancing and providing a pleasant customer experience.

Micro markets are not only for traditional vending machine operators. By the nature of operations and data management, the micro market can be an ideal solution for retailers (mainly supermarkets and pharmaceuticals) wishing to expand beyond the store and allow customers 24/7 availability of products.

Even consumer product manufacturers, some of which are looking to get direct access to the end customers, are considering their own micro market networks.

And finally, having such digitized systems, equipped with a large number of sensors and available data, will become a rich source of data to be analyzed by the various stakeholders: operators, retailers and consumer product manufacturers, to learn and better understand the needs and habits of their customers. Such technology offers operational excellence, improved sales and many insights to other fields of expertise.

For an update on how the coronavirus is affecting convenience services, click here.

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Why the post COVID-19 era will drive intelligent vending, micro markets and beyond - Vending Times