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Published Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016, in Vol. 17, No. 202
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San
José, Costa Rica,
Wednesday, Oct.
12, 2016, Vol. 17,
No. 202
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Caja says
heart surgery waiting reduced
By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Hospital México said that it has reduced the wait time for heart surgery by 652 percent. That means the average wait has gone from 745 days to 99 days, said the hospital, an agency of the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social. Among other changes, the hospital has scheduled surgeries on more days, the Caja said. The hospital was under great pressure to do so. Last year the chief of cardiology went public and said patients were dying because of the wait time. She is Sofía Bogantes, and she testified at the legislature that more than 100 patients died because they did not receive treatment quickly enough. They were supposed to receive angioplasty in which a catheter is placed in an artery or vein to widen it and permit passage of more blood. Drug raid nets nine not in prison already By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Anti-drug police say they broke up yet another cocaine smuggling organization in a series of 10 raids Tuesday. They detained nine persons, and also conducted a raid on a section of the La Reforma prison in Alajuela where a 10th suspect was doing time. Because the man in prison is considered one of the leaders of the organization, the Ministerio de Justicia y Paz immediately said it has been working to block cell telephone signals there. Prisoners with illicit cell telephones have been responsible for frauds and other serious crimes for years, but officials have been unable to do much about it except grab the phones. Now the ministry said that it presented a proposed law to the legislature in April to block cell telephone transmissions. The bill basically puts the burden on cell telephone providers to come up with a solution. Prison guards have confiscated thousands of cell phones from inmates. They get them because visitors and inmates are allowed to mix freely. The case Tuesday involved a handful of earlier arrests, including those of motorists accused of carrying cocaine in their vehicles. There were such incidents Dec. 21, July 6 and Sept. 25. Most of the raids were in the southern zone but also in Goicoechea north of the capital. This group is accused of obtaining drugs in Panamá and bringing them north by vehicle to the capital. Anti-drug police said they had confiscated slightly more than 200 kilos from this organization over the last 10 months. Police and investigators also have their hands full with several warring drug gangs in Limón who have caused public shootouts that killed bystanders. Insiders held in robbery of firearms By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Judicial investigators said Tuesday that they have detained four men accused of a stickup at a La Uruca security firm where 63 firearms were taken. Held is the guard who was on duty that day and one of the supervisors of the firm, said the Judicial Investigating Organization. However, no weapons were found, they said. The 35-year-old guard was detained at his home in Los Guido de Desamparados. The 27-year-old supervisor was detained at his home in Carmen de Cartago. The two other suspects also were detained in Carmen de Cartago, said agents. The case upset police officials because of the high number of firearms that were presumed to be going into the blackmarket. Get the money out of U.S. politics Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I agree with Mr. Rogers to some degree. I agree partly with his analyses of the "big boogeyman" and its influence. Anytime money plays a part in politics the money wins out. It is the big banks, Wall Street, the military industrial complex, and large corporations that are running the show, not the people or the politicians. The politicians will always be bought if they have an opportunity to get money for reelection or a great job after their time in government. I agree with term limits. Do your service and get out. I believe in opening up the two-party system to a broader system. The root of the problem has and will always be money. So what really needs to be done is have government-funded elections without any private or corporate money spent to back any individual. Citizens United has become a disaster for the electoral system. Look at all the false advertisements, on TV for politicians and initiatives being proposed by different states. It is all funded by big business. Get the money out of politics, and you get the corruption out as well. Stop the influence of big businesses, bankers, oil, unions, insurance, pharmaceuticals and the military industrial complex and you will see a very different outcome to what the people really want. Henry Kantrowitz
Punta Leona Deadline is today for political letters By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Some U.S. states already have begun absentee voting, so A.M. Costa Rica is moving up slightly the deadline for letters to the editor expressing a political preference in the Nov. 8 general elections. Originally the deadline was Oct. 14. The new deadline is today. Readers are invited to express their preferences for U.S. president and other national offices. After today letters of a political nature involving the Nov. 8 election will not be accepted.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 202
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| Fire
fighters in training today for a massive Nicoya
earthquake |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Firefighters were to be on the job at 6 a.m. today in simulating a major earthquake on the Nicoya peninsula. The Cuerpo de Bomberos said that specialized units, some with dogs, will simulate searching through the wreckage of an earthquake seeking survivors. The 30-hour simulation is scheduled to last until noon Thursday. The fire and rescue agency said the simulation supposes that |
local
rescue units were overwhelmed by a major disaster and
called for assistance from the rest of the country. That scenario is not far from the mark because the peninsula and the entire Pacific coast are possible sites for major earthquakes. There have been some recently including one in the 7.5 magnitude range Sept. 4, 2012, and the hospital and church in the community of Nicoya still bear the scars, as do locations on the mainland. Experts say that the area is due for a quake in the 7.0 and above range every 50 years. |
| José Figueres statue will go back to the plaza in a special park | |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The larger-than-life statue of José Figueres Ferrer is going back to the Plaza de la Democracia as of Dec. 1, and he will not be alone. The Museo Nacional said that two other statues will be placed on pedestals in a small park created for that purpose. The statues are of a girl playing a musical instrument and of one reading a book. The museum said that the statutes would provide an introduction to a new exhibition that will be ready in 2017 covering the history of the country. Figueres, of course, is the leader of the 1948 revolution and a main author of the existing Constitution. He also is the man who abolished the military and turned the main army post into what is now the museum. The Figueres statute had been on a concrete pedestal in the plaza. But it was removed for repairs. Work is supposed to begin this week in the plaza to remove some concrete and erect the pedestals and create the small garden. The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad is involved in the work. |
 Museo
Nacional rendering
This is how the park and three statues are
expected to be. |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 202
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| Costa
Rican audiologists are seeking a colegio of their
own |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Representatives of audiologists were at the legislature Tuesday in support of a bill that would create a professional colegio for them. The visit comes at a time when lawmakers also are considering a bill to abolish the dental colegio. Audiologists are those who check hearing and also fit individuals for hearing aides. The bill, No. 18.794, would require those practicing this business to become members of the new colegio and pay dues to the proposed organization. Like other colegios, the goal is to protect the membership and perhaps fix prices, although that is not in the bill now. José Raúl Sánchez Cerdas representing the Comité pro Fundación Costarricense de Audiología appeared before the Comisión Permanente Ordinaria de Asuntos Sociales to seek |
committee
approval. The bill has been in the hopper since 2013. Audiologists now belong to other colegios, including the one for physicians and therapists. The job required a university degree here and elsewhere. The colegio here would admit persons with bachelor degrees. In other countries, the minimum requirement is a master’s degree, and in the United States some states now require a doctorate. The Universidad de Costa Rica and a private institution now offer degrees in this field. The bill would require audiologists to leave their current colegio and affiliate with the new one. A colegio is an alternative to government licensing. The board of the colegio sets standards for the occupation and is supposed to enforce them. The dental colegio is being criticized because it benefits from a tax on dental supplies and has been called a social club. |
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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 |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 202
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from lawyers of detainees By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on whether Muslims and other immigrants held for months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States can sue former attorney general John Ashcroft and other officials. Senior Bush administration officials, including former FBI director Robert Mueller and the Immigration and Naturalization Service commissioner, James Ziglar, have asked the justices to reverse a 2015 lower court ruling allowing the long-running suit to proceed. The lawsuit was filed by a group of Muslim, Arab and South Asian non-U.S. citizens who, their lawyers say, were held as terrorism suspects based on their race, religion, ethnicity and immigration status and abused in detention before being deported. Two of the justices, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, have recused themselves, meaning only six justices will hear the case. The court remains one justice short following Antonin Scalia's February death. Justices do not have to say why they recuse themselves from cases. But Justice Sotomayor sat on a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit during an earlier version of the case, while Justice Kagan was U.S. solicitor general during its initial prosecution. The U.S. officials will be represented by the Justice Department, which argues that there is no evidence they personally condoned any potential unconstitutional actions. The court will rule by the end of June. Britain considers suspending rights pact during time of war By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Rights activists and lawyers are up in arms over Britain's plan to suspend an international human rights convention during times of war, a step the government said would protect British troops from spurious legal claims of torture and murder against them. The move by British Prime Minister Theresa May followed years of mounting anger in the Conservative Party and the country's tabloid press over thousands of cases filed against soldiers who served in Iraq. The British government has spent about $135 million since 2004 defending the cases, many of which were launched under the European Convention on Human Rights, and the government has paid out $24 million in the settlement of 326 cases without admitting liability. Britain's tabloid press has railed against what they see as meddling, unelected European judges, arguing they are wrecking British law. Under the plan, Britain would temporarily suspend parts of the Human Rights Convention before planned military actions. The suspensions would mainly focus on Article 2, which imposes upon the 47 signatory states the duty to refrain from unlawful deprivation of life, to investigate suspicious deaths and to prevent avoidable deaths. Established in 1953 and effective across Europe, the convention grew out of a continent-wide determination never to see again the appalling rights violations of the Second World War and was inspired partly by Britain's wartime leader, Winston Churchill. It was drafted in large part by the British Conservative politician and Nuremberg trials prosecutor David Maxwell Fyfe. Despite the antecedents, Britain's Conservatives have been targeting the European Convention on Human Rights for years and the European Court of Human Rights, which hears convention cases. They claim the convention is a charter for ambulance-chasing lawyers and bleeding-heart judges. In January, Ms. May's predecessor, David Cameron, promised to crack down on an industry trying to profit from spurious claims against British servicemen and hinted that Britain might eventually withdraw altogether from the pact. Ms. May said suspending parts of the convention during conflict would allow British troops to take difficult decisions on the battlefield without fear of having dubious legal claims filed against them when they returned home. She and her ministers said that the government and its military would still adhere to the Geneva Convention on Human Rights, and that claims of egregious violations by British soldiers could still be brought before domestic courts because they'd breach British and military law as well as the Geneva Convention. Trump rips Republican elite for giving up on his campaign By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump lashed out Tuesday at fellow Republicans for giving up on his campaign and instead focusing on House and Senate races and keeping control of Congress. With Democrat Hillary Clinton enjoying a double-digit lead in one poll and experts giving her an 86 percent chance of winning the election, top Republicans have seemingly conceded the presidential race to the Democrats. Trump ranted against the Republicans on Twitter, calling House Speaker Paul Ryan, who is no longer campaigning for Trump, a very weak and ineffective leader. "Disloyal R's are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary. They come at you from all sides. They don't know how to win. I will teach them." Trump tweeted. But he also sounded a bit grateful not to be saddled with politicians he considers to be losers. "It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me, and I can now fight for America the way I want to." He called Democrats "far more loyal to each other than the Republicans!" Trump's campaign may have been mortally wounded by the emergence of a 2005 videotape in which he made crude comments about women, telling a TV host that he can grope women because he is a star. The While House said Tuesday that President Barack Obama found Trump's remarks about groping women repugnant and considered it sexual assault. Trump apologized for his 2005 words during Sunday's debate with Mrs. Clinton, calling it locker room talk and that he was not proud of his remarks. He said he was embarrassed and hated what he said. But he viciously attacked Mrs. Clinton during the debate, saying she had threatened several women who accused her husband, former president Bill Clinton, of raping and sexually abusing them. Trump gave three of Bill Clinton's victims front-row seats at the debate and pointed them out to the audience several times. Hillary Clinton ignored the sexual assault issue Tuesday during an appearance in Miami in favor of what she called a global crisis: climate change. She called global warming a real and urgent problem and said the U.S. could take the lead in addressing it. Mrs. Clinton said she fully backed the Paris Agreement on climate change, while Trump wants to scrap it. She told the crowd that Trump has called global warming a Chinese-created hoax. FBI investigating hacking of Democratic committee By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, says the FBI is investigating the hack of his emails, which were posted by WikiLeaks. Podesta told reporters late Tuesday that the investigation is part of a wider FBI probe into the hacking of Democratic Party emails. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security said last week that Russia was to blame. This is a continual theme of the Hillary Clinton campaign, although no proofs have been offered. Other sources say that the hacking comes from U.S. Intelligence officials who are frightened that Mrs. Clinton may become president because she has shown she cannot keep confidential documents secret. Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak denied Tuesday that Moscow has any intention of intervening in the U.S. election in any way. The leaked Democratic Party emails have embarrassed the Clinton campaign. They include allegations that campaign officials tried to discredit Mrs. Clinton’s former rival for the nomination, Bernie Sanders, as well as suggestions that the campaign should laugh off the controversy surrounding Mrs. Clinton's State Department emails. Part of U.S. is still flooded, but Haiti is a true disaster By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Flooding from Hurricane Matthew remained a threat Tuesday in parts of the eastern United States, while the death toll continues to grow in the Caribbean. Haiti, the country hardest hit, observed the last of its three official days of mourning Tuesday. Official death tolls there have varied widely, from around 400 to over 1,000. Many areas of the country remained difficult to reach. By Tuesday morning, the U.S. death toll stood at 27. Hundreds of thousands remain without power, and the situation could worsen as rivers crest. In North Carolina, helicopters and rescue boats carried people to safety after a levee was breached near the town of Lumberton, according to Gov. Pat McCrory. Fifteen of the 27 deaths occurred in North Carolina, all but one of them in that state involving motor vehicles. "Do not go through water," McCrory urged North Carolina drivers at a news conference Tuesday morning. "We've had over 10 people killed as a result of that. We're not messing around and we do not want to put people at risk to save you once you make that decision." Dozens of river and stream gauges were still showing flood stage across the Carolinas and Virginia, and five locations in North Carolina were at all-time highs, according to the National Weather Service. After speaking with Federal Emergency Management Administrator Craig Fugate and Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco, President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in North Carolina Monday. The declaration will make federal funding available to affected individuals in 10 counties hit by the storm. Matthew, which dissipated after leaving the Atlantic coast, was the most powerful storm to hit the eastern United States in nearly a decade, and one of the longest-lasting major hurricanes on record. Damage estimates in the U.S. are in the billions of dollars. But the destruction was on another level in Haiti, where thousands of homes were flattened, crops destroyed and critical infrastructure left in tatters. A United Nations official in Haiti, surveying the vast destruction, ruined crops and casualties, described the scene as if a nuclear bomb had gone off. Paul Hasse, national director for the humanitarian agency World Vision in Port-au-Prince, said nothing in Haiti’s southwest was spared. "The island in the middle on the western side took a really hard blow. Fifty percent of the houses are destroyed there. And the northwest as well. It's not getting a lot of attention, but we're hearing from our partners who worked there that it's extremely hard hit," he said. The immediate concern is keeping people alive and treating cholera cases, Hasse said. But that will eventually give way to longer-term problems, such as how to restore crops and rebuild homes. The United Nations on Monday appealed for $119 million to bring life-saving assistance to Haiti. Haiti says 1.5 million people have been affected by the hurricane and 350,000 are in need of immediate assistance as most are homeless. Storm damaged Space Center but not the key launch pads By the A.M. Costa Rica
wire services
Launch pads and equipment at the Kennedy Space Center mostly escaped damage as Hurricane Matthew swept along Florida's east coast, the director of the NASA facility said Tuesday, but last week's storm still caused millions of dollars' worth of damage. The roofs of several buildings were damaged or destroyed as the eye of the hurricane passed 20 to 25 miles (32 to 40 kilometers) east of Cape Canaveral, home to the spaceport that serves as the U.S. launch site for human spaceflight. The center reopened for normal activity Tuesday. The damage allowed rain to flood equipment and furnishings, Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana said, estimating that repairs would cost millions of dollars. He declined to provide specific figures until evaluations were complete. "It wasn't as bad as it could have been," Cabana told reporters on a conference call. Processing hangars for the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), such as where its Orion spacecraft is being assembled for flight in 2018, were spared, Cabana said. At launch pad 39A, which NASA is leasing to tech billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX company, winds reached 135 mph (217 kph) 100 feet (30 meters) off the ground and up to 86 mph (138 kph) on the surface. Still, SpaceX's launch pad and a second pad, 39B, which NASA is refurbishing for its heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket, withstood the winds and appeared to be in good shape, Cabana said. The hurricane tracked just off Florida's east coast on Friday, sparing the state from a direct hit. SpaceX's second Florida launch site, located just south of Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, had some damage to the exterior of its payload processing facility, SpaceX spokesman John Taylor wrote in an email. The hurricane damage is in addition to still-undisclosed damages from the Sept. 1 explosion of a Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad. Among the severely damaged buildings at Kennedy Space Center was an iconic oceanfront house, where for decades astronauts have spent private time with their families and friends before blasting off into space. Cabana said the house would be repaired, but is a much lower priority than the space center's operational facilities. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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of
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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 |
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San José, Costa
Rica, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 202
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Virilla bridge closed again overnight By the A.M. Costa Rica
staff
Officials closed the country’s most stubborn bridge again overnight. The Consejo Nacional de Vialidad said that the Río Virilla bridge on the General Cañas autopista was supposed to be reopened at 5 a.m. today. The reason was that part of the concrete bridge deck in the San José-Alajuela lanes needed to be replaced. The bridge has been falling apart for the last four years despite several and expensive efforts to repair it. Finally, officials built a bridge under the existing bridge and said they would widen it to three lanes in each direction. That is a 7.3 billion-colon job, about $13.5 million. This is one of the key roadways that connects the capital to Juan Santamaría airport. Overnight detours were to be through Heredia Centro. The Consejo did not announce the closing until after 5 p.m. Tuesday. The agency said the bridge would be resurfaced in the coming months. Two-year Irazú eruption being recalled By the A.M. Costa Rica
staff
With the Turrialba volcano staging irregular eruptions a couple of times a day, experts are turning their attention to the two years that the sister mountain, Irazú, emitted ash and covered much of the metro area. The Red Sismológica Nacional said that it plans an open discussion of Irazú Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Escuela Centroamericana de Geología at the Universidad de Costa Rica in San Pedro. Meanwhile, the Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico at Universidad Nacional is seeking recollections of the 1963 to 1965 eruption on its Facebook page. A number of residents have replied, and their basic summary is that the eruption was terrible. Some provided photos. A lot of the ash fell on the capital, and some homeowners had to shovel ash from the roofs of their homes. |
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| From Page 7: McDonald’s Ronald benched over clown scare By the A.M. Costa Rica
wire services
U.S. fast-food giant McDonald’s is putting its popular mascot on hiatus while reports of creepy clown sightings increase across the U.S. Ronald McDonald, the red-haired, floppy-shoed clown, will limit public appearances until further notice. McDonald’s Corp. said Tuesday that it is being “thoughtful in respect to Ronald McDonald’s participation in community events” as a result of the current climate around clown sightings in communities. McDonald’s decision comes after a spate of pranks and threats nationwide that have involved eerie clowns. The trend began during the summer with unconfirmed reports in South Carolina. Since then, reports elsewhere have involved costumed hoaxsters frightening people on the street or people terrorizing others via social media. The sightings in the U.S. appear to have sparked copycat acts in Australia and New Zealand, with police issuing stern warnings for would-be clowns. Ronald McDonald has helped promote the company for decades and has become the namesake for a series of animated videos produced for the chain and a charity that helps sick children and their families. |
