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Central First School in Ashington transformed an old bus into classroom They have also converted a shed, toilets and corridors to ease pressure School is still oversubscribed and is having to turn pupils away Figures have revealed almost one in five primaries have too many pupils The deadline for new primary school applications is tomorrow

By Lucy Crossley for MailOnline

Published: 05:16 EST, 14 January 2015 | Updated: 11:38 EST, 14 January 2015

Schoolchildren are being taught inside corridors, sheds and even a toilet because of overcrowding in classrooms, it has emerged.

One school in Northumberland is not only having to turn pupils away, but is also being forced to teach children in make-shift classrooms, including a garden shed.

Central First School in Ashington, which bought a double decker bus on eBay for use as a temporary classroom last year, has been finding new means of teaching its ever-growing pupil population.

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Schoolchildren, such as these pupils at Central First School in Ashington, are being taught inside cupboards, corridors, sheds and even a toilet because of overcrowding in classrooms

Pupils at work in a school corridor. New figures have revealed that one in five primary schools have more pupils than they have the capacity for

Central First School is not only having to turn pupils away, but is also being forced to teach children in make-shift classrooms, including a garden shed

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Children taught inside corridors, sheds and a TOILET because of overcrowding

A website that served as a report card for Pennsylvania's public schools' academic performance now carries information that details their fiscal performance as well.

At a Capitol news conference on Wednesday, Rep. Jim Christiana, R-Beaver, announced the launch of this online tool at http://www.paschoolperformance.orgthat he said will give "people more access to the way we spend their hard earned tax dollars."

For a step-by-step guide on how to access the information, click here.

He noted that schools collectively spend $27.6 billion a year but finding out how that money is spent has been less than transparent. Twice, he had introduced legislation to create a SchoolWATCH website that would present public schools' fiscal information but the bill never made it into law.

He said he often heard from "opponents to transparency" that "there was no way to grant this level of access without undue cost and undue burden to our schools." He called them "pathetic excuses," particularly when he found out the Department of Education already collected much of the same information that his legislation sought to make available.

Of particular note is the website includes individual salary information for professional employees including superintendents, principals, teachers, psychologists, among others. Information that appears on the site now is for 2012-13. Department officials say the 2013-14 information will be posted in May when it becomes available from school districts.

Tim Eller, education department spokesman, said the fiscal information that now appears on the school profiles for the 500 school districts, 176 charter schools, 14 cyberschools, 73 career and technical schools and 29 intermediate units was scattered throughout the department's website.

This site, however, makes it more readily available and easier to find, he said. "This put it in one area where the public can access and gain information with the click of a mouse," he said.

Christiana said he plans to continue to push for passage of a law in this legislative session to ensure this effort to make school fiscal information more transparent becomes a permanent feature.

House Education Committee Chairman Stan Saylor, R-Red Lion, said the committee will consider Christiana's bill at a meeting later this month.

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Online transparency tool sheds light on public school spending

By By Craig Scott and Lauren SalbergJanuary 9, 2015 12:00 am

Toilets and sewer systems are designed to transport and dispose of specific materials. The pipes that connect your home to the sewer or a septic system are only wide enough to transport three things: water, toilet paper and human waste.

When other materials are flushed down the drain, they can get stuck and cause damage from clogged drains to sewer backups and overflows; and these materials can create maintenance challenges for pumping out septic tanks.

Sewer back-ups are not only smelly; they can damage homes and businesses resulting in expensive repairs. If a spill leaks into the environment, the negative effects can be extensive. All these complications result in damaged systems, which increase the citys sewer maintenance, repair costs and your sewer bill.

Recently, the prime culprits in clogging sewer systems have been flushable products. Contrary to their name, these products should not be flushed, as they do not degrade as fast or as easily as toilet paper. The only truly flushable item is toilet paper, which readily disintegrates in water, making it easy to travel through sewer drains. Currently, there are no state or federal standards for flushable products, so products labeled flushable or septic safe have no regulated definitions.

Additionally, disposing of chemical products through the toilet leads to dissolved chemicals traveling through the sewer system and into aquatic environments, where they can pollute and disrupt these ecosystems.

Items that should never be flushed include:

Flushable items (cleaning wipes, toilet bowl scrub pads, disposable mops, diapers);

Tampons, tampon applicators, sanitary napkins, condoms;

Medications, vitamins and supplements;

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Be mindful of what youre flushing down toilet

About 19 months ago, rain forced groundbreaking ceremonies to be held under a tent, but a ceremony marking UnityPoint Health-Trinity's official ownership of a $63 million addition was held on a frigid Tuesday in the comfort of its new heart center's lobby.

Executives from Trinity and some area builders wore big smiles as a large ornate key was passed from Dan Meyers, the project director for the contractor, and Rick Seidler, the Trinity president and CEO.

The project that got underway June 5, 2013, has gone quite smoothly and will end up under budget, said Jay Willsher, the chief operations officer at Trinity.

"It's an exciting day for us," Seidler said, pointing out that it is the largest addition in the history of the complex at 2701 17th St., originally constructed in 1972 as Franciscan Hospital.

The addition includes the heart center as well as an enlarged emergency medicine department. Importantly, it adjoins the Robert Young Center for Community Mental Health. Included are six special rooms called "crisis stabilization units," which are for behavioral health patients.

Those units and an adjoining room setting are designed to calm agitated patients. The concept has received attention from hospitals across the United States, Seidler said.

The addition encompasses 90,000 square feet and is three stories high.

The ceremony represented the awarding of Trinity's "certificate of occupancy" from the city of Rock Island. That means it meets all city standards, regulations or codes for its intended purposes, allowing the owner to occupy the space.

Before the doors open officially to public use, the addition must be cleaned, equipment moved in and employees trained. Approval also is needed from state regulators, Seidler said. The target date for the addition to open is April 19.

Marika Jones of the Trinity Health Foundation announced that $6.2 million was raised locally for the project, $200,000 over the $6 million goal. The money came from physicians, staff members and others in the community.

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Trinity RI gets key to hospital addition

A company that operates 11 establishments in the city won Chicago Park District approval Wednesday for a restaurant that will sit at the south end of Maggie Daley Park.

The company that won the bid, Four Corners Tavern Group, will also run a kiosk near the skating ribbon on the north side of the park.

Chicago Park District Superintendent Michael Kelly said the kiosk will be well-received, noting that the second-most requested item at the ribbon has been hot chocolate.

"Not only does it make good business sense," Kelly said, "We have to do it."

The restaurant group, which employs about 600 people, was the largest company out of three that made a bid, parks officials said at the meeting.

Four Corners will pay $1.1 million to build the restaurant, officials said. Preliminary renderings of the building's design were also presented at the meeting. The restaurant will feature glass walls and a grass-covered roof, similar to the feel of the field house north of the skating ribbon, said Rob Rejman, director of planning and construction for the Park District.

The company will also pay for all utilities and waste removal and $75,000 in rent per year, and 5 to 10 percent of its gross profits will go to the Park District.

"As they make more money, we make more money," said Steve Lux, Park District chief financial officer.

The commissioners approved a 10-year agreement with the option to terminate at any time. The Park District can renew the agreement five more times for one year each time. After that, the restaurant will be rebid, Lux said.

Rejman said public meetings regarding the design will be held at a yet-to-be-determined date.

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Company chosen to run Maggie Daley Park restaurant, kiosk

Vu Tran, owner of the popular Janes Seafood and Chinese Restaurant in New Iberia, walked around the rebuilt restaurant Tuesday with a smile on his face. The day hes been waiting for was almost near.

Ten months ago Tran and his family lost their restaurant to a fire. Reportedly, the only thing left standing after the blaze was the hostess station.

After almost $400,000 in construction, the restaurant is close to reopening.

The community has been a great help. They are anxiously waiting for the opening. Theyve been following our updates and theyre excited to have us back, said Tran as he walked around the restaurants construction site.

Its kind of nerve racking. I know its going to be crazy once we open, Tran said.

Tran said he was encouraged after the fire and planned on building the restaurant back bigger and better. The restaurant is certainly bigger with a 2,300-square-foot increase from its original size of 4,000 square feet, according to Tran.

Janes Seafood also will offer a private dining room and a full-scale oyster bar. Instead of just beer, Tran said customers will have a choice of mixed drinks as well.

We will serve oysters raw and charbroiled. Were also adding a grill so you can have grilled items, Tran said. I think the bar is going to be something different. I think people are really going to enjoy it.

Tran said the restaurant spent close to $100,000 on inventory, putting the total reconstruction process at close to a half million dollars.

Paul Migues with Migues Electrical said the restaurant is almost up and running with a few minor steps to go.

Excerpt from:
Janes to reopen a year after fire

MASON CITY | The building that housed the Clarion Inn will be torn down in mid-February to make room for a new hotel, restaurant and condominium project.

Les Kinseth, president of Kinseth Hospitality Cos., said construction of the new Hampton Inn & Suites will begin in April, weather permitting.

On Tuesday, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved a change of zoning from Z2 (sub-urban) to Z4 (multi-use) to accommodate the development of the condominium part of the project.

Kinseth said crews are now working to abate asbestos on the property, a routine function when buildings are being torn down and others are to be constructed on the same property.

The commission is expected to receive a site plan at its February meeting.

Part of the discussion Tuesday centered on the traffic flow on the frontage road at Briarstone Drive. Barb Schultz, who lives in the area, said vehicles are often stacked up at the intersection and it is likely to be worse when the Kinseth project is completed.

John Groninga, commission chairman, said, "Legend has it that the intersection was designed by the City Council and it certainly has that look to it. The accident rate is considerably low. The frustration rate is incredibly high."

Commissioner Gary Christiansen agreed.

"As we move forward, that needs to be addressed," he said.

Plans for the new hotel, restaurant and condominium project were announced in April 2014.

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Construction of new hotel to begin in April

Streetcar construction in downtown Kansas City is hurting some businesses by making it tough for customers to get to restaurants and shops.

Anton Kotar said construction crews opened up the street in front of his burger restaurant on Wednesday. He said his lunch business is half of what he hopes for.

"My optimism comes from the fact that my background is in construction," Kotar said.

He said he doesn't panic if he comes in to work and finds natural gas service stopped for a bit.

Other businesses up and down the two-mile streetcar line have faced similar problems. Some said they were not prepared for the amount of road construction and the difficulties facing their customers.

Main Street in downtown Kansas City remains open in both directions, but it's peppered with orange cones. Navigating through the area where construction is going on can be a challenge.

"It's hard to say we'll have minimum disruption when we have maximum damage," Kotar said. "The water and sewer lines are pretty beat up in this town."

Downtown and the streetcar planners are trying to support the businesses with promotions. Anton's Burgers was featured as the gathering spot for the weekly Lunch Bunch promotion. Kansas City Mayor Sly James sent a tweet encouraging people to eat there.

Next week, a different business along the streetcar construction zone will get the spotlight.

Streetcar construction is scheduled to be finished in September.

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Construction frustrates businesses along streetcar route

POLSON A new $11.4 million Red Lion hotel is under construction in Polson, and will have an attached conference center and a MacKenzie River Pizza Co. grill and pub.

The development was financed with help from new market tax credits provided by the Montana Community Development Corp., headquartered in Missoula.

This project will create 42 new full-time jobs in Polson, said Melanie Calahan, director of marketing for the MTCDC. In addition to jobs, the conference space and rooms give Polson more resources for attracting regional events, which will bring more economic activity into the community.

The three-story, 80-room hotel is the fourth such project that the nonprofit organization has helped finance in western Montana, along with the Mission Valley Aquatics Center, which is just down the street from the new Red Lion, and both the Poverello Center and the Garlington, Lohn & Robinson office building in Missoula.

The total amount of new market tax credits provided for those four projects is $37.2 million, which is a sizable portion of the $185 million that the community development corporation has provided for projects in Montana since 2009.

All of these projects make an impact on low-income people and/or places, whether thats providing jobs or emergency homeless shelter, Calahan said. The NMTC program also redirects mainstream financial support to Montana (and Idaho) that wouldnt have made it here otherwise, and it leads to significant change that wouldnt have happened otherwise.

Dave Glaser, president of the MTCDC, said the developers of the new hotel/restaurant in Polson approached him about a year ago.

New market tax credits provide a subsidy to projects that are in low-income areas to provide jobs and economic vitality, he said. Sitting down with the developers, we learned that Polson in particular is trying to build up their year-round tourist visitation. A stand-alone hotel by itself isnt enough to make that attractive, and by putting in a restaurant and conference center it achieves those goals.

Polson now has received more new markets tax credit from MTCDC than any other small town in Montana and Idaho.

Rick Orizotti, who is developing the hotel along with Herb Leuprecht, said that the new hotel is expected to be completed in June.

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$11.4M hotel, restaurant under construction in Polson, with help from tax credits

Berwicks, a restaurant and bar that had been touted as a symbol of downtown Hendersons renaissance, has closed after just four months in business.

But a pizzeria has already signed a deal to move into the same space on Water Street in a few months, offering a bar, live music and karaoke.

City officials and business owners hope the Berwicks closure is just a hiccup. But it suggests the road to a more vital downtown wont be an easy one.

Billed as an urban lounge, Berwicks opened in August and closed just before the new year, laying off about 10 employees. A small handwritten Closed sign was taped to the door.

Owner Jimmy Wike said the business was losing money, but he wouldnt say how much. A self-described absentee owner who lives in Mesquite, he said that distance made it hard to oversee Berwicks. More importantly, he said, he didnt get tens of thousands of dollars in expected redevelopment aid from the city.

When word of the closure spread, building owners Tim Brooks and Doug Beavers immediately started getting calls from potential tenants.

That alone, they said, is a good sign for downtown.

Its a great opportunity right now to get in on the ground floor, said Mike Zakis, who will open Sunset Pizzeria in the spot vacated by Berwicks. He hopes to open around April.

Zakis, who already has two locations elsewhere in Henderson, said hes confident he will be able to draw people downtown with good food and entertainment.

There is money and people in this town, Zakis said. Its just that they need a new place to go.

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Henderson restaurant closure suggests redevelopment will take time