A 22-year-old man and his associate were caught by police on Monday for their alleged involvement in house burglaries.

Mir Khazam Ali Khan alias Kaju of Shaikpet would pose as an electrician and target locked houses. He would mention incorrect personal details in the register maintained by apartment security guards while doing so. He was involved in 14 burglaries that took place in Marredpally, Tukaramgate, Nallakunta, Amberpet, S.R. Nagar, Begumpet, Ramgopalpet, Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills and Humayun Nagar police station limits.

As he was a known offender, police found his fingerprints at two houses in Begumpet and Humayun Nagar. Khans family members threatened to file petitions in the High Court when a police team went to his house to nab him. They had also installed surveillance cameras to keep a tab on the police's entry to their house, DCP (North) R. Jaya Lakshmi said.

She said a systematic information system enabled the police to nab him. Khans associate Mohammed Rawoof (44) alias Hafeez from Attapur was held for receiving the stolen property. Over 1.25 kg of gold jewellery and a bike were recovered from the accused.

Van rams motorcycle, kills rider

B. Suresh (45), a resident of Rajanna Bowli, died after a van hit his motorcycle at Rakshapuram on Sunday. He was shifted to a private hospital for treatment where he died while undergoing treatment. Santoshnagar police have registered a case and detained the Eicher van that hit him.

Woman succumbs to burns

A 27-year-old housewife from Laxmiguda who suffered burns at her house five days ago, died on Sunday night, police said. The victim, Sunita Rathod, and her mother-in-law, Bharathi (45), suffered burns when their house caught fire due to LPG leakage. They were shifted to Osmania General Hospital for treatment where Bharathi died two days ago, while Sunita died on Sunday.

Commits suicide

A 45-year-old cashier at a petrol pump, M. Satyanarayana Reddy, hanged himself to death at his house on Sunday, police said. The family members of the L.B. Nagar resident told police that he was depressed over his failing health and might have ended his life over it.

Originally posted here:
22-year-old serial burglar, accomplice held

Raises, overtime and bonuses including a brand-new incentive compensation program padded the salaries of Massachusetts Convention Center Authority staffers last year by hundreds of thousands of dollars in all, with Executive Director James Rooney taking home the biggest bonus, despite recent multimillion-dollar losses.

Rooney, topping the payroll at $283,277, was awarded his largest contractually allowable incentive-based bonus 10 percent of his base salary, or $25,752. His total earnings are up $8,117 over last year.

Overall, the MCCA handed out $232,252 in incentive-based bonuses to non-union workers as much as 5 percent of most employees salaries, on top of a 1.5 percent across-the-board raise.

Its the first year the MCCA rolled out incentive compensation, which paid out bonuses as high as $3,500 for achieving certain goals, such as exceeding sales targets, surpassing event booking goals and implementing projects on time and under budget, according to spokesman Mac Daniel.

The incentive program allows us to award and retain those employees that do extraordinary work, Daniel said. These were onetime bonuses, not salary increases, and it complies with the general framework used by the state. A smart, performance-based program like this helps reward and retain our most important asset our employees.

Some 134 staffers on the MCCA payroll received the bonuses.

But David Tuerck of the Beacon Hill Institute, citing a $71 million operating loss in fiscal 2013, said, Im not sure why anyones being rewarded in light of that kind of performance. For an entity thats running at substantial losses ... its inappropriate to be paying management such hefty salaries.

Daniel disputed the $71 million figure, saying after depreciation and other factors are backed out, $20 million is a more accurate loss figure. He argued the MCCA delivers an economic impact of $600 million to $700 million a year.

Staffers earnings were also boosted by huge overtime payments. Topping the OT list was electrician John P. Carroll, with $38,152 on top of his $71,293 wages, while workers got more than $20,000 in overtime each, mostly electricians, plumbers and public safety officers. Other top MCCA earners include: Chief Strategy Officer Johanna M. Storella, at $183,802; Chief Information Officer Steven G. Snyder, $166,499; general counsel William J. Smith, $159,892; general manager Maureen L. Baker, $159,392; Chief Facilities Officer John T. Haley Jr., $159,142; and deputy director Kenneth A. Sinkiewicz, $159,142.

More here:
Big bucks for MCCA staff

The head of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority took home more than $25,000 in incentive compensation, according to a Herald review of the agencys payroll records.

Executive Director James E. Rooney grossed $283,277 last year up more than $8,000 from the year before. Rooney collected a $257,525 salary, plus some $25,752 in incentive compensation. Other top earners in the MCCA last year include: Chief Strategy Officer Johanna M. Storella ($183,802), Chief Information Officer Steven G. Snyder ($166,499), General Counsel William J. Smith ($159,892), General Manager Maureen L. Baker ($159,392), Chief Facilities Officer John T. Haley, Jr. ($159,142) and Deputy Director Kenneth A. Sinkiewicz ($159,142).

"Jims contract incentive is based on performance on a wide variety of annual goals related to financial management, sales and event booking, customer service, event and service operations, technology goals, facility maintenance and enhancements, recruitment and diversity," said MCCA spokesman Mac Daniel.

All totaled, some 34 employees at the MCCA took home six-figure pay.

Staffers earnings were also boosted by huge overtime payments.

Overall, 118 workers bagged more than $5,000 in overtime last year.

At the top: electrician John P. Carroll who collected $38,152 in OT on top of his $71,293 salary earnings.

Some 21 workers took home more than $20,000 in overtime, mostly electricians, HVAC mechanics, plumbers, public safety officers and telephone technicians.

Read more:
Convention Center boss gets $25G bonus

Colorado Rockies manager Walt Weiss listens as umpire Chris Guccione explain his call on a play at third base during a game last season. (Associated Press file)

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. Baseball could no longer resist progress. It made no sense to avoid instant replay when the technology was available to get disputed calls right.

Passing the legislation in January wasn't the only hard part. Implementing it will present many challenges based on conversations with multiple front-office executives and managers this past week.

Big-league stadiums have not yet been wired to provide the same camera views for both teams. It would create a bad look for baseball if an electrician is getting a work order signed at home plate before the season's ceremonial first pitch.

The simple mechanics of the challenge also are creating questions. MLB officials will hold multiple workshops this spring to help soothe concerns and explain the process. Teams are facing a pair of salient issues: the time allotted for confirmation from a club employee and which employee will fill that role.

"I hear that we will have enough time, but we don't know," said Oakland manager Bob Melvin, whose team lost a game in Cleveland last season when the umpiring crew incorrectly viewed a replay on a potential home run. "Hopefully that's the case, so we aren't blowing challenges."

Several teams say they will use their video coordinators to challenge. Others suggested that they will hire someone specifically for the job.

"We will use somebody in-house. And what I do know is that it won't be the same person for all 162 games," Rockies assistant general manager Bill Geivett said.

That person will be planted for those three-plus hours. Rockies manager Walt Weiss joked "that person will have to wear diapers because they won't have time to go the bathroom." It creates a scenario where a person unknown to 99 percent of the fans could decide a game's outcome.

"The way I look at it is, it is never going to be that guy's fault. Ultimately, I am the one that (challenges). It's on me, not on you," Weiss said. "With anything new on this scale, I am approaching it knowing there are going to be issues early on."

Original post:
Renck: Baseball's instant replay has issues to fix before it's ready

A second Fremont City Council race will find its way to the May 13 primary election.

Only two candidates from each ward will advance to the Nov. 4 general election, but a third candidate emerged in Ward 2 on Thursday when Steven H. Landholm of 118 E. 17th St. filed at the Dodge County Clerks office.

Ward 2 is basically northwest Fremont. Non-incumbents have until March 3 to file.

The Ward 1 race to replace Steve Navarrette, who is not seeking re-election, already was destined for the primaries with Gregory Smith, Michael Wilson and Ashley T. Grohs running.

Landholm joins incumbent Mark Stange and challenger Vern Kucera on the Ward 2 ticket.

Todd Hoppe, as of Friday, was running unopposed for re-election in Ward 3, and the Ward 4 race included incumbent John Anderson and challenger Richard R. Oliva.

Landholm, 61, has never before run for public office, but said he now wants to serve the community where hes lived since 1974.

I was kind of wanting to get into politics to begin with, he said, and I just decided that nows that time to do it. Im going to basically retire by the end of the year, and I feel that I can put my full emphasis into being a councilman.

Ive always been watching the politics and what goes on, and concerned with what things actually happen, and get sometimes irritated with things, he said. And I said, 'Well, if youre going to change something, maybe youre the guy to do it then.' Thats the way I look at it. Everybody has a different opinion on things, and everybodys little input kind of helps.

Its just kind of a little bit of this and a little bit of that thats been going on in the community, and Id like to make sure that things just keep going along, Landholm said. Weve got some tax issues in the community that concern me as far as whats been going on here, plus how weve allocated monies.

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Landholm's entry forces primary for Ward 2

February 22, 2014 Updated Feb 22, 2014 at 4:52 PM CST

PEKIN, Ill. -- More than a hundred West Central Building Trades members gathered outside Pekin's Kroger on broadway in protest.

Union members are unsatisfied with Kroger's decision to hire an out-of-town general contractor to remodel the store. Kroger chose M & J General Contractors--an Elgin based company--to take on this $5 million project.

"We shop in this store. Our prescription drugs are at this store, and the people who they've hired take their dollars out of town," said Pekin electrician Paul Flynn.

"For every $7 made within our community, $6 stays here in our community and $1 leaves. If you have an out of town contractor like M& J it's a reverse cycle. Only $1 stays in this community and the other $6 is leaving," said Pekin carpenter Gene Sanders.

Kroger representatives say they decide on who to hire based on quality, availability and price. Representatives say more than half of the subcontractors they have hired are local.

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Local workers protest at Pekin Kroger

Thursday, Feb. 20 Turns out Lansing Board of Water and Lights general manager, J. Peter Lark, does have emails from the December power outage.

Documents delivered to City Pulse from the BWL this morning show a series of emails between Lark and BWL managers and commissioners, among others.

City Pulse requested the documents in a Freedom of Information Act request dated Jan. 3. The BWL denied that request.

Upon consideration of a (FOIA) appeal from another media outlet, records that were responsive to your FOIA request were discovered, a letter says from Brandie Ekren, the BWLs assistant FOIA coordinator.

The emails largely show BWL managers informing Lark of outage areas and requests for service.

The documents do not show any email correspondence between Lark and Mayor Virg Bernero. Additionally, the documents include a couple of emails between Lark and City Councilwoman Carol Wood between Dec. 23 and 26, though Wood has given City Pulse over 200 pages of emails between her and Lark and BWL spokesman Steve Serkaian over the period of the outage.

None of Larks emails indicate that he was in New York over Christmas visiting family.

One email from Serkaian on Dec. 26 explains how he wants to set up a media opportunity at a home without power.

Folks: I want my story tomorrow to be at a home that has its power line down, but also has a downed mast. Perhaps we could find an electrician that is repairing a mast. As you can see by the latest press release, we have to prepare our remaining customers on what to do to help us restore their power. And the media will help us do it.

Lark responded to Serkaian nearly two hours later: Good work. Thank you.

See original here:
Breaking: Larks emails discovered

Published on February 20, 2014 John Norman heads Bonavista business group

John Norman is the newest president of the Bonavista and Area Chamber of Commerce (BACC).

Jonathan Parsons photo

John Norman of Bonavista is the new president of the Bonavista and Area Chamber of Commerce following the annual general meeting on Feb. 8.

He was elected to the position at the Chambers annual general meeting, held Feb. 8 at the College of the North Atlantic in Bonavista.

As the new president, Norman has some ideas about what the goals of the business group should be.

The boards first step should be to complete a needs assessment of the region and to discern how the chamber may play a role in supporting the delivery on these needs, Norman said in a press release.

Areas that the chamber has identified are physician recruitment, dialysis service, enhanced culinary experiences and quality control in tourism and a young profession recruitment strategy.

During the election process Bonavista Mayor Betty Fitzgerald and Shane Hayes of Bonavista Social Club were elected to be 1st and 2nd vice-president, respectively. Lisa Ricketts of Vista Family Resource Centre was elected to the role of secretary, and the chief financial officer for the Town of Bonavista, David Hiscock, was re-elected to the role of treasurer. Hiscock also presented the chambers statement of revenue and expenditure, highlighting the strong health of the treasury.

Directors for the chambers regions were also chosen.

See the article here:
New president for local Chamber

Several Beaumont school district employees could be forced to repay salary they received while on leave if found guilty of crimes, though board trustees would have to pursue repayment.

Once before, trustees were unwilling to go after money to which the district had a claim.

In 2012, BISD contract electrician Calvin Walker forfeited $3.2 million in connection with a guilty plea to a federal misdemeanor charge of failure to file his taxes in a timely manner.

Trustees could have sought up to $2 million in restitution, but doing so would have meant declaring the district the victim of fraud. A board majority was unwilling to make that statement.

Former district finance director Devin McCraney, who faces a federal indictment on one count of conspiracy and 18 counts of fraud in the alleged theft of $4 million, has been on paid leave since November. He submitted his resignation last week, but it must be accepted by the board.

Naomi Lawrence-Lee, the district's purchasing agent, was placed on paid leave a month ago. She has not been charged with any crime.

Jessie Haynes, special assistant to the superintendent, has been on paid leave for six months following an altercation with a reporter and a school trustee at an August board meeting.

In all three cases, the district could at some point seek to recoup back pay from any or all of the three, but "there's nothing automatic about it," said Kevin O'Hanlon, an Austin attorney who served as an assistant attorney general and as general counsel for the Texas Education Agency.

BISD would have to seek it through litigation.

See the rest here:
Will BISD employees on leave have to repay salary?

Commentary: Progress has been much too slow.

Sun, Feb 16, 8:07 a.m.

Final repair plans are weeks away, but the tunnel contractor is hoping to access and repair the machine's bearing seals from above ground.

Fri, Feb 7, 5:09 p.m.

The contractor on Seattle's deep bore tunnel says they've found another issue with the boring machine, which has been nearly-idle for 2-months. Cost? Time delay? Who can say?

Sometimes I think things have really changed in regard to minorities and opportunities in the business world. Then sometimes I think nothing has changed.

Take the recent report that the builders of the Highway 99 tunnel are accused of being in breach of contract because they have not offered enough contracts to women and minority firms, as required by federal law. Bertha may be stuck in the mud as it tries to dig the tunnel, but the Seattle Tunnel Contractors seem to be stuck in the past.

I feel so discouraged about it all because of my past reporting. I came to Seattle in mid-1967 and one of my first reporting assignments was to cover the civil rights beat. That included some interesting press conference with the local Black Panther group here, but one of the most dramatic issues I covered was the efforts of the Central Contractors Association.

What were they trying to do? Get more contracts for minority firms from public works projects in the region. Sounds familiar.

Part of my beat included Walt Hundley and the Seattle Model Cities Program, part of the War on Poverty. Hundley encouraged black contractors to organize to gain some of the lucrative contracts being offered at the time that required minority participation. A group was formed, the Central Contractors Association, and they selected Tyree Scott, an electrician, as their leader.

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Tunnel shows us we're not there yet on minority contracting