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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Friday, Oct. 31, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 216
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Survey shows
slight increase in poverty
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The annual survey of Costa Rican homes established that the number of residents living in poverty is up abut 1.7 percent. The survey by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos determined that residents of 318,810 homes were living in poverty. That's up 32,727 homes since the year before, the agency said. What was called extreme poverty involved 94,810 home, also an increase from 2013, the agency said. In terms of people, the survey said that 1,170,634 were living in poverty, about 24.6 percent of the total population. Some 23.9 percent of those considered living in poverty did not have jobs, according to the report. Of those who are employed but still poor some 72.3 percent are engaged in what was called informal employment. The survey also showed a slight drop in per capital income and noted that inflation of about 5 percent reduced the buying power of the population.  Observatorio Vulcanologico y Sismologico/
Cyril
Muller
This is the Volcán
Turrialba crater about noon Thursday.All eyes
are on the Turrialba volcano
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The next move is up to the volcano. Emergency officials are trying to determine if as 25-minute eruption by the Volcano Turrialba late Wednesday night was a hint of what is to come. So far the biggest result has been the dusting of a good part of the metro are with a thin layer of ash and concern about the welfare of school children near the mountain. Emergency officials closed Parque Nacional Irazú because of the noxious gases given off by its nearby sister volcano. Five cantons around the mountain, Turrialba, Jiménez, Alvarado, Oreamuno and Cartago Centro, are under an alert. The Comisión Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias suggested that classes not be held today in these five cantons due to the effects of the gas and any residual ash. Some residents as far away as Alajuela reported hearing explosions that they thought came from the volcano. But the noise probably was thunder. The ash fell in a triangular pattern southwest of the volcano. The Observatorio Vulcanologico y Sismologico said that ash fell in San Gerardo de Irazú, San Ramón de Tres Ríos, Coronado, Moravia, Curridabat, Desamparados, Aserrí, Escazú, Santa Ana, Belén, Guácima de Alajuela, Río Segundo de Alajuela, San Pedro Montes de Oca, Guadalupe, San José and parts of Heredia. The Dirección General de Aviación Civil issued a warning to commercial passenger jets involving an area with a radius of 20 miles of the volcano and to a height of 19,000 feet. The volcano continues to spout a column of gas. Many who lived near the volcano already have moved elsewhere. A few who remained were evacuated early Thursday. The ash was more dense closer to the volcano and some pastures could not be used. The eruption was between 11:10 and 11:35 p.m. Wednesday, but scientists had been studying the mountain for several days due to rumblings and low-level seismic shocks. Most of the reports on the volcano have come from the Observatorio at Universidad Nacional. The volcano experts were at the scene and one participated in a flyover earlier today. The eruption appears to have made internal changes in the volcano crater. Now the experts are trying to find out if the eruption is a result of gas that has built up or a mass of magma within the mountain. The later could mean a major eruption. The eruption, the dusting of ash and clips of past eruptions made great television Thursday. The major stations devoted at lest half their air time to the event. Quakes hit Nicoya and metro area By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Posted at 3:15 a.m. Saturday The country felt two earthquakes greater than a 4.0 magnitude Friday and early Saturday. . The first was in the middle of the Nicoya peninsula and was estimated at 4.3 magnitude. That took place at 6:49 p.m., said the Laboratorio de Ingeniería Sísmica. At 1:23 a.m. a 4.1 quake took place just south of Hatillo in the Central Valley. The epicenter was between Hatillo and Aserrí, said the Laboratorio. The quake was felt through much of the metro area.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San
José, Costa Rica, Friday, Oct. 31, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 216 |
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| Peeks into computer files of top soccer player now
considered a crime |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Poder Judicial said Thursday that the chief prosecutor has order that a criminal investigation be launched in the case of breaches of a secret law enforcement database. Legislators also moved Thursday to conduct their own investigation of the breaches that involved Kaylor Navas, the star soccer player, and the files of his two sisters. Involved are four prosecutors and 24 judicial police agents. At least three may be off the hook because it appears that they were told to look into the Navas files by a supervisor. Still unknown is the motive for breaching the secrecy. Actually what is contained in the files are fairly routine items. The software is designed to accumulate information from other state computers. So the files could contain electric and water bills, |
municipal tax
bills criminal records, if any, ownership of telephones
and vehicles and income and bank information. This is about the same
type of information available through commercial credit agencies. The Poder Judicial said that the fiscal general or chief prosecutor Jorge Chavarría Guzmán had assigned the case to the Fiscalía Adjunta de Probidad, Transparencia y Anticorrupción and said it was to be treated as a felony, abuse of authority. That is a 180-degree shift for Chavarría who said initially that he was conducting a disciplinary investigation. More than 2,000 persons in the Poder Judicial and various police agencies have access to the files. There may have been other breaches that will be investigated, too, said the Poder Judicial. Navas has hired a local lawyer to represent him. He is playing soccer in Spain. |
 Dirección General de
Tributación potos
The 24 closures affected a
variety of businesses. |
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| Tax police close down 24 establishments for various
violations |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The tax police closed down 24 commercial operations this week. The violations included failing to provide facturas or receipts for services or goods, being behind on sales tax payments and even failing to register a company with the tax agency in the first place. The actions took place in San José, Alajuela, Heredia and San Carlos. The agents of the Dirección General de Tributación physically closed the businesses and placed a sticker on accesses warning that entry is prohibited. |
The businesses
included restaurants, car washing firms, cabins, auto
shops, fabric sales outlets, repair part sales stores and cosmetic
sales. The best known is the Inka Grill in Curridabat, which
Tributación said was behind on remitting sales taxes. In most cases the businesses are required to stay shut for at least five days while arrangements are made to become current with taxes. Some firms try to avoid their tax obligations simply by not registered with Tributación. When caught, operators may find their actions elevated to a criminal charge. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Oct. 31, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 216 | |||||
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| Virtual leatherbacks give answers to long-sought engineering
questions |
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By
the Florida Atlantic University news staff
Bigger is better, if you’re a leatherback sea turtle. For the first time, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Florida Atlantic University, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have measured the forces that act on a swimming animal and the energy the animal must expend to move through the water. A surprising finding: Longer, slender turtles are less efficient swimmers than more rotund turtles, which get better stroke for their buck. By taking these measurements, the research team built models of swimming turtles and, in doing so, have enabled others to “compute the energetics, behavior and distributions of a species anywhere on Earth now or in the future,” says Warren Porter, a professor of zoology at Wisconsin. The findings are published in the journal PLOS One. As climate change shifts the habitable ranges of both land and sea animals, and as scientists and others try to reconstruct ancient habitats of long-ago species, the ability to assess and predict an animal’s physical interactions with the environment is key. The researchers see their work as instrumental for everyone from land managers to paleoecologists, students and conservationists. “If you’ve got mechanistic models, then whatever kind of scenarios you want to run for the environment, you can run these models and have a lot of confidence that they’re giving you good numbers,” says Porter, who previously developed a model for land animals. Several labs have tried to model the movements of animals in water but “swimming animals are very, very difficult to measure experimentally,” Porter says. “It’s very difficult to get drag and thrust.” No one before had been able to measure the fluid dynamics of a swimming creature, or the energetics required to perform the work of moving through water. This allows scientists to measure critical aspects of biology, such as how much food an animal must eat to survive. It was serendipity that connected Porter and the lead author of the study, Peter Dudley, a former graduate student in Porter’s lab, to the scientists at Florida Atlantic University who would eventually help solve the problem. Jeanette Wyneken, a Florida professor of biological sciences, had developed methods to keep newborn leatherback sea turtles in the lab for study. She and her former students created a tether system that allows the turtles to swim freely while also staying safe; the turtles don’t recognize barriers and can easily injure themselves in their enclosures. Porter, Dudley and Todd Jones — Professor Wyneken’s former graduate student and now a National Oceanic and Atmospheric |
 Florida Atlantic University/ Jeanette
Wyneken
A virtual turtle can be
manipulation to be either fat or skinny.Administration physiologist — tethered the turtles to instruments that allowed them to measure the force they produced while swimming. They also measured the oxygen the turtles consumed (a direct measure of their metabolism) and the heat they exchanged with the environment. All the while, the scientists took video of the tiny turtles. Then the team recreated a virtual environment with a swimming turtle, to see if they could predict how much energy the turtle was using. Dudley, whose background is in engineering, says Porter uses on-the-ground engineering tools in his lab. They scaled this up to model the three-dimensional motion of swimming juvenile leatherback sea turtles, to find power and heat transfer rates during the larger animal’s flipper strokes. It was here, by playing with the parameters of their virtual reality turtles, that the researchers learned husky turtles were better swimmers than their leaner counterparts. “That was a surprise and I thought it was a mistake when I originally did it,” says Dudley, who eventually learned that the flippers of thinner turtles come closer together at the bottom of their stroke than those of larger turtles, causing them to lose power. It is that question — how does body size interact with the physical environment to constrain evolutionary design — that lies at the crux of the study’s findings. “We can literally design animals now and ask how are they going to function, just like a car or a rocket ship,” says Porter. He is currently engaged in an initiative called Climate Quest, a competition to solve climate-change problems, and is putting this expertise to use. |
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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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Oct. 31, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 216 | |||||||
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| Returning Samantha Power cites big gaps in ebola care By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The international community must do more to fill alarming gaps in the fight against the ebola epidemic, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said to an audience in Brussels as she headed home from a visit to the three hardest-hit countries in West Africa. Ms. Power said the initial international response is making a difference, and has created what she called the first tangible signs that the virus can and will be beaten. But, she said, many countries have not done enough, and urged them to not assume the job is done. “The international community is not yet doing enough to stem the tide of the epidemic, causing devastating heartbreak to countless families and allowing a global threat to metastasize,” Ms. Power said. She praised the many nongovernmental organizations and their volunteers, who have moved in to fight ebola, as well as local political and religious leaders who are promoting the needed actions by individuals to fight and prevent the disease. Those steps include seeking treatment quickly, isolating infected individuals, expediting the burial of victims, and not stigmatizing survivors and the families of the dead. “This is a crisis that is so vast, with needs so great, with potential consequences so dire, that no country can afford to stand on the sidelines. A few are doing a lot, but a lot are doing very little or nothing at all,” Ms. Power said. She declined to say which countries she believes are not doing enough to fight ebola, but she said contribution data is readily available on a United Nations Web site. Ms. Power, who stopped in Brussels after visiting Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia this week, said more resources are needed to track the disease and spread public awareness in affected areas. She called for more flexible planning, faster decision-making and for support for the affected countries as they try to rebuild and expand their health care systems. Those systems were inadequate before the epidemic and have now been devastated by the deaths of hundreds of doctors and nurses. But Ms. Power said she also came away from West Africa with unexpected hope. “Today, the affected countries are, in fact, in a very different place than they were six weeks ago. I came away more convinced than ever that if we rally the right response, together we can stop ebola,” she said. Ms. Power said governments need to stop spreading fear, in part by unnecessarily putting restrictions on returning volunteers who have been to the infected countries. She called for leaders to send clear and consistent messages about ebola, based on science and facts. Also on Thursday, the World Bank pledged $100 million to help recruit more foreign health care workers to treat ebola patients in West Africa. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said Thursday the three countries facing the biggest outbreak of the deadly virus are struggling to cope with the disease. Kim said in a statement the World Bank hopes the additional aid, on top of more than $400 million already sent to West Africa, can help be a catalyst for a rapid surge of additional health workers. Meanwhile, a nurse in Maine, vowing not to be bullied by politicians and threatening to sue the state over an ebola quarantine she calls unscientifically sound, defied the order and left her home for a bike ride Thursday, according to television images. Kaci Hickox left her home in Fort Kent to take a morning bicycle ride with her boyfriend, MSNBC and other networks reported. Ms. Hickox, 33, who tested negative for ebola after returning from treating patients in West Africa, said that she plans to take the issue to court if the state did not lift the quarantine. Also Thursday, President Barack Obama's top ebola official, Ron Klain, is meeting in Atlanta with officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It will be his first in-person meeting with the Centers since taking the post two weeks ago. Obama said Wednesday the U.S. may continue to see more cases of ebola until the outbreak in West Africa is contained. He also honored U.S. health workers who have already returned from working in West Africa and those who plan to go in the future, calling them heroes acting out of a sense of duty. Word Health also gave its latest update on the outbreak Wednesday, warning that the transmission of ebola remains intense in the capitals of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. New material may boost solar plant efficiencies By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Scientists have created a new solar power material they call the black hole of light because it can absorb and convert to heat 90 percent of the sunlight it captures. A team of researchers at the University of California at San Diego developed the silicon boride-coated nanoshell material that can be used in concentrating solar power plants, according to a news release. Researchers said the new material could increase the efficiency by about 30 percent. Concentrating solar power plants consist of thousands of mirrors, which reflect sunlight at a central tower covered in a light absorbing material. The concentrated light is converted to heat which can power a steam turbine that produces electricity. These power plants work by heating molten salt, which can be stored in thermal storage tanks and continue to produce energy even when it’s dark. This is a big advantage over photovoltaic cells, which stop producing energy at night. Researchers said one big advantage of their material is its durability: It withstands heat of over 700 degrees C. and can survive exposure to other elements. They added that the plants are more efficient at higher temperatures. Currently, such plants have to reapply sunlight absorption material about once a year, meaning the plant is not producing energy during the maintenance. The University of California at San Diego team says their material has a longer lifespan, adding they are close to achieving a material that will last for many years. Concentrating solar power plants currently produce about 3.5 gigawatts of energy globally, which is enough to provide electrical power to more than 2 million homes. That number could rise to 20 gigawatts in coming years. There was also good news about solar power in a report released by Deutsche Bank this week, which said rooftop photovoltaic energy will be as cheap or cheaper than other sources of electricity in 47 U.S. states by as early as 2016. The report, written by Deutsche Bank’s leading solar energy analyst Vishal Shah, assumes the U.S. will continue a 30 percent tax credit on solar system costs. The credit it due to expire in 2016 as well. According to the report, even if the tax credit were to be cut by two thirds, solar power would still achieve parity with other forms of electricity in 36 states. Currently solar power costs the same as other sources of electricity in only 10 states. The report says the amount of electricity from solar panels in the U.S. could be 16 times greater in 2016 than it was in 2008. These trends in solar come at a time of dropping fossil fuel prices, which usually triggers a loss of interest in solar. Earlier this year the International Energy Agency said concentrating solar power plants could provide 11 percent of the world’s electricity by 2050. Photovoltaic systems could account for another 16 percent, the agency said. Currently, solar power accounts for less than 1 percent of the world’s electricity needs. Birth under midwife care has an upward trend in U.S. By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A small but growing number of women in the United States are choosing to give birth using the services of a certified nurse-midwife rather than an obstetrician. The number of midwife-attended births at home, in birthing centers and in hospitals reached 8.6 percent of all births in 2012. Beth Drake of Derwood, Maryland, is one of those statistics. She recently gave birth to baby Debra with the help of a certified nurse-midwife in the comfort of her own home. The first-time mother decided on a home birth after witnessing her sister give birth in a hospital. “To see the baby taken away from her right away and placed on the table - he was warmed and fully taken care of - but he was crying and alone; it just didn’t seem as gentle a way to come into the world as I wanted for my child,” she said. So for her own pregnancy and labor, Mrs. Drake and her husband Derek chose Mairi Breen Rothman, a certified nurse-midwife who’s been delivering babies since 1996. Mrs. Drake said having Rothman there for the hardest parts of her labor was very reassuring. “Mairi would suggest changing positions and would be there to rub my back and I think that was the most surprising thing for me about the whole experience was how present she really was with me the whole time.” And her delivery was a memorable birthing experience. “As soon as the baby came out, she was immediately placed on my chest,” she said. “So I got to say hello to my baby right away, and Derek was right there so he was the second person that she would have seen. It was really, really special to have all of the intensity gone and this new part of life started in such a gentle way.” Certified nurse-midwives are nurses who receive specialized training in obstetrics, labor and delivery. They generally work with low-risk pregnancies, and are required to have a plan for consultation, collaboration and referral with other levels of medical care should things become complicated. “I have this poster that says ‘home birth; it’s not just for hippies anymore,’” noted Ms. Rothman with a smile, “because women from every walk of life choose to have their babies at home.” The numbers are growing, even though midwives have often had to struggle with negative stereotyping. Opponents of home birth cite studies that claim a higher risk of neo-natal deaths due to the distance a patient would have to travel to get to a medical facility in case an emergency develops. But Ms. Rothman said these studies are not based on science and are the subject of great controversy in the birth community. “Midwives have fought for legitimacy for many decades, so as a result they’ve become extra competent, extra vigilant, and very much specialists in the care of women experiencing normal childbirth and normal pregnancy.” She notes that in many countries in the world, many of them with much better infant mortality rates that the U.S., midwifery care is the portal of entry into the maternity care system. “Everyone starts with a midwife,” she explained, “and they only move to a more specialized form of care if it’s indicated by their personal health. But in the vast majority of cases you don’t need medical care, you just need maternal health care during your pregnancy.” She points to the Netherlands, which has some of the best outcome data of anywhere in the world in terms of maternal infant and infant mortality, where a third of the babies are born at home. Concerns about the safety of using a midwife are unfounded, agrees Eugene Declercq, professor and assistant dean of community health sciences at Boston University School of Public Health. “The evidence suggests that an integrated system where midwives do what’s often called primary care, first line care, for mothers is every bit as safe as a system based entirely on having high-risk specialists do all the births.” That approach is summed up by a phrase used in England: "all mothers deserve a midwife and some mothers need an obstetrician too." "I think that describes to me what would be an ideal system; that care starts with midwives but that they work in conjunction with obstetricians around cases that may require risk and may require more specific medical intervention.” According to Declercq, that sort of cooperative approach offers safety at a lower cost. “The impact of that in the long run would be less intervention in our system and most importantly, intervention only when it’s necessary.” The larger point, he said, is to have an integrated system where midwives and obstetricians are working together and not at odds with each other. And that seems to be happening at a slow but steady rate. Many hospitals around the country are responding to women's interest in having a more natural birth experience by working more closely with midwives and are also setting up baby-friendly environments where mothers can keep their babies with them in a home-like setting and receive nutrition and breastfeeding support. In the meantime, new mom Beth Drake encourages women who are thinking about their childbirth options to educate themselves about their choices so they can make the best decision for themselves - and their babies. Iowa is key state Nov. 4 for winning the U.S. Senate By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The balance of power between Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate hinges on the outcome of the Nov. 4 midterm elections. Each party is campaigning for votes in close races, including the midwestern state of Iowa. The winner in Iowa could be decided by the party most successful in convincing their supporters to get out to vote. Even though the Nov. 4 midterm elections are still days away, the polls are open in Iowa. Early voting here began in late September, and so far, more than 300,000 people have cast ballots, including 18-year-old Jameisha Morgan. She says, "It felt good after I voted and to turn in my vote.” It was the first time Ms. Morgan cast a ballot in an election. She is supporting Democratic candidate Bruce Braley in the U.S. Senate race in Iowa. She says the biggest reason other voters her age don't cast their ballots is a lack of interest. “They’re not even worried about the election. Most people don’t even know who Bruce Braley is," she said. "So getting them to talk about it and be educated is the hardest part.” Ms. Morgan has some help in that effort, thanks in part to high profile visits to the state and campaign rallies that featured former secretary of State Hillary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama. Speaking specifically to young voters on Iowa university campuses to support Bruce Braley, the first lady’s message was simple - each vote counts. “Make no mistake about it, this race is going to be tight," said Mrs. Obama. "And we know that races like this can be won or lost by just a few thousand, even a few hundred votes.” Braley’s challenger, Republican Joni Ernst, echoed a similar message to GOP supporters at the annual Ronald Reagan Dinner in the state capital, Des Moines. “Every vote makes a difference, folks," said Ernst. "I’m asking all of you if you haven’t voted yet, please make sure that you absentee vote. Make sure you do that. If you would rather go to the polls, that’s great. But make sure you go to the polls.” University of Iowa political science Professor Tim Hagle says the key to winning the close Senate race in Iowa is courting the vote of those not affiliated with either political party. “It wasn’t expected that this Senate race for us would be this close. it is giving us more attention,” he said. “The independents here, what we call no party voters, is an even larger group than Democrats or Republicans," he said. "Now they don’t turn out quite as well for midterm elections than those who have registered for one of the parties, but you have to energize your base, and reach out to those no party voters because they are the ones who are going to decide the election.” Voting Registration numbers back up Hagle’s assessment. He adds the party affiliation of those who have signed up to vote in Iowa is split almost evenly between Democrats and Republicans. Most polls show Joni Ernst and Bruce Braley virtually tied in the lead up to Election Day Nov. 4. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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Special
to A.M. Costa Rica
Considered worldwide a symbol of freedom and depth of character, the dragonfly depicts a change of perspective in self-awareness and insight. Three Costa Rican artists chose to call their group The Golden Dragonflies because of
Born in San Isidro, Coronado, Costa Rica, artist Salazar started her career in the 90s exploring with paint on wood and other materials. After studies in design and artistic drawing at the Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje, she also joined the Escuela La Casa del Artista, where she received a degree in fine arts with an emphasis in painting. Through her exceptional pictorial style, full of color and movement, Ms, Salazar's paintings represent women who, immersed in their dreams, leave their pasts behind to continue building their future, expressing the hopes and dreams that women must cherish. Using art as a source of medical therapy, Costa Rican artist Marin discovered her talent late in life. Focusing on surrealism, Ms. Marin's art intertwines the beauty of women with tropical and vibrant flowers, allowing projection of her thoughts in a beautiful and subtle way. "The flower is a delicate subject for these women," she said. "For some it is the sweet scent and striking colors which signify a gift or a pleasant memory, and for others it harbors changes that lie ahead. I want to bring a positive message to women, their feelings and experiences." Ms. Marín received the title of middle technical in fine arts from the Escuela La Casa del Artista in 2010 and has also worked as a teacher of drawing and painting at different institutions in Costa Rica, and is currently working at Fundacion El Futuro de Todos, a training center for young people with Down syndrome. The opening Saturday is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the gallery, located 5 kilometers west of the Daniel Oduber Airport. More information is available at 2667-0592, 8386-6968, or hiddengarden@thevanstonegroup.com Ministry will honor folklorist By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud will celebrate the Día de la Mascarada Tradicional Costarricense today from 11 a.m. to noon at the ministry, the Centro Nacional de la Cultura on Avenida 7 east of Parque España. The late Elías Zeledón Cartín, a folklorist and researcher of Costa Rican legends, will be honored. Rodolfo González will present some of Zeledón stories. Also invited to the brief observance is the Gigantes de Torroella de Montgrí, a 25-member Spanish mascarada group that is visiting the country. The group will bring examples of mascaradas typical of Cataluna |
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| From Page 7: U.S. economy
reported growing at 3.5 percent
By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U. S. economy expanded at a solid 3.5 percent annual rate in July, August and September. Thursday's report from the Commerce Department says third quarter growth was helped by exports and spending by consumers and government. A separate report showed the number of Americans applying for unemployment assistance rose slightly last week, but experts say the long-term trend shows a strengthening job market. The improving job market is one reason that the U.S. central bank ended a major effort to bolster the economy on Wednesday. The Fed says the economy no longer needs so much help. Fed experts say the economy still needs ultra-low interest rates, though, to continue its recovery. Many economists say the key interest rate probably will remain at its current low rate until the middle of next year. |
