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San José, Costa Rica, Monday, March 14, 2016, Vol.
17, No. 51
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Train, motorcycles continue to
be deadly
By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
The valley train and motorcycles continued to be killing machines over the weekend. The spot in Barrio La California where the train line crosses the westbound lane of Avenida Central was the scene of a fatal accident Friday night. Dead was a motorist with the last name of Solís. He was 29. Investigators said that it appears that the man did not realize the train was nearby. The time was about 8 p.m. Trains mix with vehicles in that part of Avenida Central. Each weekend results in a number of motorcycle deaths A 24-year-old man with the last name of Brizuela died late Saturday night on Ruta 32 in Barrio Turnon when his motorcycle was struck by an automobile. Investigators said that the man was last in a group of cyclists who were crossing the highway. A 32-year-old man with the last name of Gutiérrez died early Sunday when his motorcycle collided head-on with a tractor trailer in San Carlos. Investigators said it appeared that the motorcyclist swerved to avoid a parked vehicle. A 29-year-old man with the last name of Parrales died also early Sunday in Hojancha de Nicoya when his motorcycle crashed into a wall. Investigators said that the man had lost a hand in a previous motorcycle accident but continued to drive. There are idiots in Congress, too Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I advocate Donald Trump against Bernie Sanders. One total outsider with one who might as well have been. Both are running on platforms/positions that are antithetical to the Washington, D.C., establishment. So far, neither the press nor the establishment Republicans get it. Both are clueless why Trump the whacko and Bernie the socialist are still hanging around this election season. Although nuanced by other factors, the bottom line is most of America is so disenchanted with the crap and BS that goes on in Washington, D.C., that they would vote for a rodent before voting for someone who identifies as an insider. The sad thing is that all these bright minded voters do not get the problem when it comes to their own elected senators and representatives. Those politics operate on the premises that they are all bums except for the guy/gal we elected. Sad, sad, sad. The President does not create or pass laws that another body must sign off on. Only congress has that power and they have done an extremely poor job getting the needed laws in place. Congress is, in fact, the entity responsible for our totally messed up tax system. A citizen ought to be able to do their taxes without assistance from a CPA, an accountant, or a software computer program. Ours is an absolute disgrace. Congress is responsible for the lack of any cohesive law/policy on illegal immigrants. Congress is responsible for the corporate welfare of corporations large enough to rival many countries. Congress is responsible for every law in place in the U.S. Yet, election after election, voters keep returning their idiots back to the Senate or House to do the job of ????,,,, gee, what are these clowns actually supposed to be doing? lol. Not much I guess. So let’s get one idiot after another in the White House with almost no chance of getting anything done assuming they actually do get elected. Hopefully one of these egos will take the time to explain in simple language to the American voting public how our devised system works and why it is important to implement single term limits for all federal jobs in Congress. I used to run a business. I was constantly solicited by these parties to give them $$$. Finally, I got tired of it. I promised each one the sum of $10,000 if they would sign in writing and publicly declare support for single term limits for any elected employee of the U.S. government. I did this in writing and by leaving a detailed message. I never got a call back, although they were still begging me for my $200 donation right up until election day. The U.S. needs to scrap a bunch of laws and start over. Gary Keenan
Cariari/Belen, Heredia
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are copyrighted by Consultantes Ro Colorado S.A
2065 and may not be reproduced anywhere without
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| A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, March 14, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 51 | ||
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| Bridge promised for next May The new bridge over the Río Virilla is expected to be ready by May, according to highway officials. The piers of the bridge are in place, said officials. This is part of the job to widen the route from La Uruca to Heredia Centro. Once the new bridge is open, a twin will be built to carry two more lanes and the older span will be demolished. |
 Consejo Nacinalde
Vialidad photo
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| Health
ministry and processor firms plan to reduce sodium in
foods |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Health ministry officials and leaders of the national food chamber are scheduled to announce today plans to reduce sodium in commercial products. The chamber is the Cámara Costarricense de la Industria Alimentaria. The health ministry said in an announcement that food processing companies would agree to reduce sodium voluntarily and in a progressive fashion. Sodium usually is considered to be salt, sodium chloride. Salt is essential to life, but too much can have serious health |
consequences,
according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. A
lot of processed meat products have large amounts of
salt. The FDA says that only 11 percent of the salt
consumed by Americans comes from adding it at the dinner
table. Not all sodium is salt, either, the FDA warns: Some common food additives like monosodium glutamate (MSG), sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), sodium nitrite, and sodium benzoate also contain sodium. Sodium can elevate the blood pressure and make the heart work harder. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this Web site
are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado S.A.
2016 and may not be reproduced anywhere without
permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | ||
| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, March 14, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 51 | ||
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| A
cactus interior is found to have water-purifying
properties |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The slimy guts of cactuses can purify contaminated
water, according to researchers at the University of South
Florida, who presented their work at the meeting of the
American Chemical Society in San Diego.Norma Alcantar, associate professor of chemical engineering at the university, said the mucilage, or guts, of the cactus, has cleansing properties. It "attracts sediments, bacteria and other contaminants," she explained, so they can be removed from the water. She has been experimenting with the substance for a decade, using it successfully to clean contaminated drinking water after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. She and her team also have found it to be an effective oil dispersant. Professor Alcantar learned about the process from her Mexican grandmother, who used boiled prickly pear cactus to pull sediment particles from dirty water, making it drinkable. Cactuses are common around the world, so they are a sustainable product, as well as being non-toxic, biodegradable and low cost. Her lab is now investigating how cactuses could help the aquaculture industry. The recirculating systems in fish farm tanks and ponds can create unpleasant tastes and odors in the fish, due to a buildup of bacteria and sediment. Professor Alcantar's research is focused on how an extraction of cactus mucilage could degrade the smelly compounds. |
 Voice of
America/ Diaa Bekheet
Prickly pear cactus is shown in a southern U.S.
Desert. But they are well represented in Costa Rica,
too. |
Here's reasonable
medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The
contents
of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced anywhere
without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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A.M. Costa Rica's
Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, March 14, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 51 | |||||||
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says no one reported on pilot By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
French aviation investigators said the co-pilot of the Germanwings jetliner who crashed the plane in the French Alps last year had been referred to a psychiatric clinic just two weeks before deliberately killing all 150 people on board. The findings by the Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses, the French authority responsible for safety investigations into accidents or incidents in civil aviation, were included in a report issued Sunday, more than a week before the first anniversary of the March 24, 2015, tragedy. The agency found that 27-year-old Andreas Lubitz had consulted several doctors about ongoing psychological issues in the months before the crash. None reported Lubitz's condition to either aviation authorities or officials at Germanwings. Preliminary findings show that Lubitz had told the flight school for Lufthansa, the corporate parent for its budget carrier Germanwings, in 2009 that he had a serious depressive episode, but Lufthansa certified him as fit to fly. The Bureau report cited a lack of clear guidelines in Germany's regulations over when a threat to public safety outweighs patient confidentiality. Investigators are urging aviation bodies to mandate that all pilots undergo regular mental health checkups to detect any problems. Lubitz crashed the Airbus A320 plane into a mountainside near the French village of Le Vernet during a flight from Barcelona, Spain, to Dusseldorf, Germany. He was alone in the cockpit, having locked out Captain Patrick Sondheimer when the senior pilot went to the restroom. Sondheimer could be heard on the plane's black box recorders frantically demanding Lubitz to open the door as it was making its final descent. GOP campaign disruption are being blamed on Trump By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Leading U.S. Republican presidential contender Donald Trump is denying any responsibility for the violence that has erupted at his political rallies, and is defending his supporters who have been charged with assaulting protesters. "We're not provoking. We want peace. We don't want trouble,'' he told a large crowd in Bloomington, Illinois, the first of two comparatively docile events Sunday. His denials came even as political rivals continued to blame him for sowing the seeds of anger that have led to the violent confrontations. Fights and pushing and shoving have broken out between his supporters and protesters opposing his candidacy at rallies in several states where key Republican nominating primary contests are set for Tuesday. Authorities have arrested a small number of protesters, some inside his rallies in Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, and others outside on nearby streets. In Illinois Sunday, Trump assured his backers that their frustration is righteous rage against a corrupt political and economic system. He cast his naysayers as bad people who do harm to the country. The real estate billionaire instead cast blame on Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders for the increasingly frequent disruptions and threatened to retaliate by sending his supporters to Sanders' rallies. Sanders responded: "Send them. They deserve to see what a real honest politician sounds like.'' Sanders said some of his supporters had disrupted the Trump event, but that his campaign played no role in organizing the anti-Trump protest. At one Trump rally outside Dayton, Ohio, Saturday, a protester charged toward the stage where Trump was speaking in an airport hangar. But Secret Service agents guarding Trump intercepted the demonstrator before he reached the candidate. At another Trump rally last week in the mid-Atlantic state of North Carolina, a 78-year-old Trump supporter sucker-punched a protester as security guards escorted the demonstrator out of the gathering. The Trump supporter was charged with assault, and Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday that the man got carried away. Trump said he had instructed his aides to look into paying the man’s legal fees to handle his court case. Trump’s Republican challengers, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, as well as Democratic presidential candidate former secretary of State Hillary Clinton, all blamed Trump for the marked turn toward physical confrontations at his political rallies. All of Trump’s Republican challengers have pledged to support him if he wins the party’s presidential nomination at the Republican national convention in July, after the end of the state-by-state nominating contests. But both Rubio and Kasich say they are wavering in their commitment should Trump get the nomination. “I think a significant number of Republicans will not vote for Trump,” Rubio said, if the New York developer is the party nominee in the November national election, quite possibly against Mrs. Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate. Rubio said it’s getting harder every day to justify his pledge to support Trump if he wins the Republican presidential nomination. Cruz, a conservative agitator in the halls of Congress against both Republican and Democratic leaders, said Trump would be a disaster in a general election matchup against Mrs. Clinton. The party primary elections and caucuses are apportioning delegates to the Republican and Democratic national conventions in July, where the presidential nominees will be formally selected. Trump and Mrs. Clinton both are leading the races for their party nominations, but neither is close to the majority of convention delegates needed to claim victory. Until now, all the state nominating contests in both parties have split the awarding of delegates roughly along the lines of the vote counts in each state. But on Tuesday, in both Florida and Ohio, the winning Republican contenders will collect all the delegates, 99 in Florida and 66 in Ohio, in winner-take-all primaries. Trump has been leading Rubio in Florida, but is locked in a close race in Ohio with Kasich, who governs the Midwestern state. Mrs. Clinton and Sanders will continue to collect pledged convention delegates roughly based on their vote totals in each state, not winner-take-all. Obama is likely to name his High Court pick soon By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
At any moment, President Barack Obama could name his pick to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last month. Reports from the White House say the president has narrowed his list of potential nominees as the vetting process enters a final phase even as Senate Republicans insist they will not consider any jurist Obama chooses. For weeks, rumors have swirled over who is and isn’t on the president’s list of candidates. When asked, Obama has offered few clues as to who he intends to pick. “I want somebody who is an outstanding jurist, who has impeccable legal credentials, who by historical standards would not even be questioned as qualified for the court,” he said last week. “As far as timing, we would like someone as soon as possible, but the vetting process has to be thorough,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York. Republicans want the president to forgo a nomination entirely. “We know what kind of judicial activist this president puts on the Supreme Court,” said the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley. With Obama in the last year of his presidency, Republicans want his successor to fill the vacancy. “My constituents back in Texas and, I think, people at large do not want this lame-duck president tilting the ideological balance of the Supreme Court for a generation,” said Sen. John Cornyn. “We are not going to take up the nominee. We will leave that to the next president, whoever he or she may be.” Democrats are betting that blanket, pre-emptive Republican opposition to a Supreme Court pick will soften once a nominee emerges.  Voice of
America/ J. Taboh
A visitor takes a photo of some of the 5,000 orchids
being featured at a new exhibit at the U.S. Botanic
Garden.U.S. Botanic Garden
awash
with 5,000 orchids on display By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
America is a nation of orchid lovers. In fact, last year orchids surpassed roses as the most popular ornamental flower. That's no big surprise to Devin Dotson, public affairs and exhibit specialist at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, where he recently helped launch a huge orchid exhibit. "Orchids are really important in the United States," he said. "You can buy them really frequently and easily now." That hasn't always been the case. It wasn't until the invention of the Wardian Case in the mid-1800s that orchids and other tropical plants could be shipped around the globe. Without these miniature portable greenhouses, the delicate flowers would never have been able to survive the difficult journeys across the ocean. Now orchids bloom on every continent except Antarctica, and are the world's largest plant family, delighting millions of people with their amazing diversity of forms and colors. Five thousand of the natural beauties are now on display at the U.S. Botanic Garden, which presents an orchid show every year in partnership with Smithsonian Gardens, which is also in Washington. "Between the two of us, we have some of the largest orchid collections in the U.S." Dotson bragged. "So for about two months, you're going to be able to walk through the conservatory and see thousands of orchids in bloom . . . from very big and showy ones . . . to very small and minute ones." On a recent spring-like day, the vibrant flowers were, indeed, center stage as visitors young and old gathered to admire, take pictures, pose for selfies and even pull out their sketch books. Each year, the garden explores a different theme. The focus this year is how orchids have been used as inspiration for photographers and artists over the past centuries. "We have a long history of seeing orchids in artworks from many people around the world; from Asia, to the new world, to here in the Americas," Dotson explained. Among the photographs on display in the exhibit hall is a series on pollinators, highlighting a different aspect of the flowers. "So we have pictures of butterflies and moths, bumble bees, flies, different pollinators," Dotson said, pointing to photos of different orchids. "Whereas normally you're really focused just on the flower, this really celebrates how we get more of those orchid flowers through that pollination story." The exhibit is also set up so visitors can take their own pictures. In the main conservatory, a 12-foot-tall green wall, filled with colorful orchids, serves as an inviting backdrop for group photos or selfies, and offers a chance for photographers to get close-up shots of the flowers. "We know when people come for the orchid show they're very excited," Dotson said. "They love how orchids can be so visually stunning, and so we've presented some really cool opportunities for them to photograph the plants in very naturalistic settings." Snowmobile driver held after Iditarod dog killed By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
A snowmobile ran into two dog teams that were competing Saturday in Alaska's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The deliberate crash killed one dog and injured at least three others. The teams of sled drivers Aliy Zirkle and Jeff King were struck outside the village of Nulato on the Yukon River, a little more than halfway into the 1,600-kilometer (994-mile) race from near Anchorage to Nome. The Iditarod Web site said the snowmobile driver, Arnold Demoski, 26, had been taken into custody. Police said the motive for the incident was unknown. Race officials said Ms. Zirkle was approaching Nulato when a person on a snowmobile repeatedly attempted to harm her. One of King's dogs was killed in the attack. "It did not seem like an accident," King told the Iditarod Web site. "The river is a mile wide, the packed trail is 40 feet wide. I had lights on, reflectors on my harnesses, sled bag, two lights on my person. It really felt like an intentional attempt to scare me." King requested and received medical attention at the checkpoint, but he and Ms. Zirkle both planned to continue the race to the finish in Nome as planned, King with only 11 dogs remaining on his team. Ms. Zirkle was in third place. King, a four-time Iditarod champion, was in fifth place. The race leader was Brent Sass, and reigning champ Mitch Seavey was in second place Russia may face sports ban due to anti-doping violations By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
As a new doping scandal roiled the Russian sporting world, a decision whether to ban Russian athletes from the 2016 Rio Games over previous violations went into overtime. Friday the International Association of Athletics Federations postponed a final decision over Russia's eligibility for the Olympics until May, arguing that reforms promised from the Russian side still had not been implemented. Russia's track and field association was provisionally suspended from international competition by the federations association last November following a condemning report by the World Anti-Doping Association. The anti-doping report accused Russia of state-sponsored cheating and widespread deception in its anti-doping program. Russian sporting officials blamed the violations on a few corrupt individuals since dismissed from their posts and said the anti-doping program had been overhauled in a bid for reinstatement. But a series of new high-profile doping violations unveiled this week have renewed doubts on Russia's reform efforts. At issue is use of the drug meldonium, a Soviet-era medication initially developed to improve Red Army soldiers' endurance in the field. The drug aids circulation in the blood and is widely used by families in the former Soviet Union as an affordable and non-prescription prophylactic. Grindeks, the Latvia-based manufacturer of the drug, issued a statement calling meldonium a "therapeutic drug ... not doping." Yet, after monitoring use of meldonium among athletes last year, the anti-doping association added the drug to the banned substances list starting Jan. 1, arguing it provided an advantage in competition. The new meldonium ban has already snared several top Russian athletes, including former world number one tennis star Maria Shaparova, Olympic gold medalist in short-track speed skating Semion Elistratov, and world champion speed skater Pavel Kulizhnikov. The anti-doping association’s announcement of the meldonium violations was met with derision by leading figures in the Russian sports world. Speaking on Russia's 24 TV network, Olympic figure-skating champion Yevgeny Plushenko said athletes should follow the rules, but compared taking meldonium to swallowing vitamin C. Russia's minister of sport, Vitaly Mutko, cautioned that more violations by Russian athletes are likely along with warnings for sports fans to brace for the worst. "Revolutionary decisions about the return of the Russian team to international competition are not expected," Mutko said Friday. Few doubt that Russia's exclusion from the Rio Games would be anything but a disappointing blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader has invested heavily in returning Russian athletics to their former Soviet glory, much to Russian sports fans' delight. Russia placed second at the Summer Games in London, and took the top spot in the medal count when it hosted the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The
contents
of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced anywhere
without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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| A.M. Costa Rica sixth news page |
| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, March 14, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 51 | |||||||||
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One person's trash is another's . . .
plant Way back when, when we lived near Atlanta, I had a good friend who owned a nursery, and I bought many a plant there. Strolling over her acres of plantings, I found something I hadn’t thought about: If plants were past
Anyone but Robin would have been worried that a woman (mumble-mumble) years old would be clambering over, around, and through a dumpster, but I had been on plant rescues with Robin, and she knew I was made of study stuff. Soon after she said yes, I was ready to dumpster dive. We all know that supermarkets throw away spoiled food, but nurseries throw away things that are alive! Around that dumpster there were partial flats of plants that were past their prime. Slightly withered begonias that the watering wand missed, flats of faded pansies, wilted asters, they all went in the trunk of my car. The real treasures, though, were inside the dumpster. That’s where they threw the bigger stuff. There were tiny rose bushes in there that practically begged to be taken to a new home. There were small hydrangeas in deplorable condition. There were even azaleas. Azaleas in a dumpster! It was a sad sight, so I pulled out as many as I could and took them all home. At home I checked them all over for specific problems, not just lack of water or care. Some were root bound, some had sickly roots, some were just too scraggly to sell, and I set to work on repairing them. Every plant got a new pot and new soil. Roots were untangled and sometimes trimmed. Unhealthy branches were removed, larger plants were pruned, and they all got a healthy dose of fertilizer. All the plants were moved to the deck where I could keep a good eye on them and the waiting began. Morning and afternoon, they were all checked for needs and growth. A little extra water here, a touch more of fertilizer there, a little more shade for the azaleas. And it worked! About 80 percent of those free plants began to grow, then thrive and get planted at the perfect locations in the garden. When we moved from Georgia to Costa Rica, those plants were still strong and healthy. Amazing what you can find in a dumpster.  Plant of the Week
Since you are probably tired of my orchid mania, here is a staghorn fern, genus Platycerium. Some of the species have become adapted to dry conditions and can be grown in our more arid areas, but most prefer moister conditions. Staghorns can be a meter wide (3.3 feet) and can be gently divided or grown from spores. Your staghorn will want bright light but not direct sunlight, plenty of water and occasional fertilizer. This great ornamental can be grown on a plaque or hung on a tree. If you would like to suggest a topic for this column, simply send a letter to the editor. And, for more garden tips, visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/ Arenal-Gardeners/413220712106845. |
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| From Page 7: Government and paper squabble over salary By the A.M. Costa Rica
staff
Casa Presidencial acted quickly Saturday to dismiss a report in El Diario Extra that the head of the Banco Central was making 14 million colons a month. The daily newspaper also reported that he received a big raise when compared to his predecessor. The monthly amount is about $26,400, which is well above the average for government employees. The central bank chief, Olivier Castro Pérez, is only making 10.1 million colons, said Casa Presidencial in a hasty news release. That is only $19,130 a month La Extra quickly posted a revision to its Web page saying “We didn’t lie.” The newspaper said that Casa Presidencial was reporting the net salary after deductions for social charges like the monthly assessment for the Caja Costarricense se Seguro Social. The gross salary is, indeed, 14 million colons a month, the newspaper affirmed. |
