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Guantanamo
Detainees Are Facing Death Penalty Khalid
Sheik Mohammed and four others have been charged by a Pentagon
official with conspiring in the Sept. 11 attacks. A
Pentagon official has formally approved death penalty charges against
reputed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other men for
allegedly conspiring in the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the charge
sheet obtained Monday night by The Miami Herald. Military Commissions
officials e-mailed the approved charge sheets to defense lawyers in
Washington, D.C., after the close of business Monday -- confirming
plans for the first war court prosecution seeking execution as the
ultimate penalty. That means that, absent defense requests for delay,
the men could make their first appearance at the war court in June...more> FDNY
Soccer Sponsors Youth Clinic The
FDNY Soccer Club and the Firefighter Sergio Villanueva Soccer
Foundation are hosting our 2008 Youth Soccer Clinic.
This year’s Clinic will feature Coaches from the World famous
Liverpool Football Academy. The
Liverpool Academy is the training ground for tomorrow’s stars of the
English Premier League. The Clinic will also include Players and Coaches from both
the Merseyside Fire Service, of Liverpool, as well as the FDNY Soccer
Team...more> FBI,
ATF Battle for Control of Cases (Editor's
Note: This article is presented to our readership because turf-battles
like this have a direct impact on the lives of firefighters of the
FDNY. If we don't solve these problems of ego and control we will
suffer another major terrorist attack that will kill more
firefighters.) In
the five years since the FBI and ATF were merged under the Justice
Department to coordinate the fight against terrorism, the rival law
enforcement agencies have fought each other for control, wasting time
and money and causing duplication of effort, according to law
enforcement sources and internal documents. Their new boss, the
attorney general, ordered them to merge their national bomb databases,
but the FBI has refused. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives has long trained bomb-sniffing dogs; the FBI started a
competing program...more>
Over
Union Beefs, FDNY Expands Dispatch System
The
Fire Department expanded its pilot dispatch program to The Bronx May 1
and it will institute it citywide on June 1, although the fire unions
still believe it is compromising firefighter and public safety. In
reaction to high response times in Queens, the department instituted a
pilot program in that borough in February that had Dispatchers send
out fire companies with only an address for the incident in order to
get units out faster. The department said this process shaved average
response times by half a minute, but the fire unions said it was
resulting in units going to wrong addresses and not having further
information about the incidents...more
(subscription)>
Fire,
EMS Unions Unite in Opposing Shared Medal Day
The
Fire Department will now have a combined Medal Day for firefighters
and Emergency Medical Service members on the first Wednesday in June,
to the dismay of unions representing employees in both fields. Until
this year, the EMS Medal Day was a separate event during National EMS
Week at the end of May. EMS has been a division of the FDNY since
1996. It was previously under the auspices of the Health and Hospitals
Corporation...more
(subscription)>
Fire
Almost Destroys Photographer's Dream Exhibit
A
few weeks ago, photographer Klaus Lucka would have called an
exhibition of his photography at Lincoln Center a dream come true, but
after a fire devastated his apartment, he's just glad to be here at
all. "I went to the window and hung out the window to get fresh
air, but then it was like smoke was coming around me, so the only way
that I could save myself was by leaning outside out the window,"
said Lucka...more>
Firefighters rescued Lucka. He was lucky to be alive, but thoughts
immediately turned to this exhibit, "Portraits of the Artist's
Mind."
Faithful
Flock to Father Mychal Judge's Grave to Honor 9/11 Hero
The
faithful still arrive steadily, some with their hands folded in
prayer and others with their hands filled with keepsakes. They clutch
rosary beads and plastic figurines of firefighters, navigating past
Dominick's Pizza and the Hair Port on their unlikely pilgrimage to
Totowa.
Just beyond a bank branch on Union Blvd., they reach the final resting
place of Father Mychal Judge. The FDNY chaplain, the first official victim of 9/11, is buried just inside
Holy Sepulchre Cemetery's front gate on the left, tucked between two
fellow Franciscan...more>
(View Father Judge
Photo Tribute)
Fire
Alert Over Sexy Bait- Bravest Warned Firefighters
say they're the targets of stings designed to bait them into
inappropriate or even criminal behavior. In an April 18 memo, United
Firefighters Association president Stephen Cassidy wrote to his
members: "The UFA has confirmed that the City's Department of
Investigation is conducting random 'integrity' tests of city
employees."...more>
Granny
Fire-Death Suit
A
70-year-old grandmother of nine bled to death because firefighters
from Bedford-Stuyvesant's Engine Company 214 made a slipshod effort to
find her in her four-story Halsey Street apartment building after a
911 call last year, her family claims in a lawsuit. Firefighters
knocked on a neighbor's door and then "sat outside in the
truck" on Mother's Day last year, as Muriel Holloway bled to
death after an implanted treatment valve in her arm opened up,
according to the complaint filed by her family. She had been
undergoing kidney dialysis treatment for 13 years...more>
6
Injures in Henry Hudson Parkway Bus Crash - Greyhound Coming From
Springfield, Mass., Slams Into Overpass In Riverdale Section Of Bronx
There
was chaos in Riverdale on Friday night as a Greyhound bus carried its
passengers into harm's way, slamming into an overpass on the Henry
Hudson Parkway. The FDNY said the bus got wedged near 252nd Street
just before 7:30 p.m. Greyhound spokesman Dustin Clark said it was
carrying 37 passengers from Springfield, Mass., to the Port Authority
Bus Terminal in Manhattan. The impact peeled away the roof and dropped
debris onto occupied seats.The FDNY said six people were taken away by
ambulance, but, amazingly, none of the injuries were considered life
threatening...more>
Fatal
Accidents Loom Over City's 'Safety Week'
With
New Yorkers talking not about “the big construction accident,” but
“the latest big construction accident,” Construction Safety Week
never felt timelier. Perhaps the person most aware of the city’s
growing concern about construction safety is acting Buildings
Commissioner Robert LiMandri. He stepped into the job when former
Commissioner Patricia Lancaster resigned three weeks ago — after she
disclosed that the Department of Buildings mistakenly approved the
Upper East Side building where a crane collapse killed seven people...more>
Firefighter
Pulls 4 from Blaze
A
veteran firefighter who helped save four people from a burning
building in Lower Manhattan says he was just doing his job. The fire
happened Wednesday night on Church Street. Two women and two children
were trapped on the third floor until firefighter Thomas Maresca
helped pull them to safety. But Maresca says he doesn't consider
himself a hero...more>
Man
Burned in Suspicious House Fire
A
suspicious fire gutted a Richmond home last night and sent its
occupant to the hospital with serious injuries. Jay Levine, 40,
suffered second-degree burns of his right arm and smoke inhalation
after a fire broke out at 248 Amber St., fire officials said. Levine
said he was asleep when the fire started, according to FDNY Deputy
Chief William Tanzosh of Division 8. Rescue personnel placed an oxygen
mask on Levine's face and took him to Staten Island University
Hospital, Ocean Breeze, where he was listed in stable condition.
Tanzosh noted that two firefighters also suffered injuries: One with a
minor burn, the other with neck and back pain suffered in a slip...more>
Fire
and EMS Promotions and Surprise Graduation
It
was a day to celebrate the FDNY and its members’ dedicated service
to the United States. Twenty-two members of the Fire and EMS Command
were promoted during an enthusiastic ceremony at the Fire Academy on
May 8. One of the promoted members, Battalion Chief Steven P.
Fitzgerald, will be deployed to Iraq with the Army National Guard in
June. Also during the ceremony, Probationary Firefighter Christopher
Little received his certificate of completion from the Academy, since
he is due to be deployed to Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps before his
graduation ceremony in June...more>
Brave
Birthday Boy's Gift of a Lifetime
His
simple wish was their willing command. Responding to terminally ill
Yuri Benefeld's modest hope - that a cop and firefighter stop by to
say hello on his 12th birthday - some 40 members of the NYPD and FDNY
showed up yesterday for a surprise party beyond his wildest dreams...more>
Political
Play: McCain Visits NYC Fire Station
John
McCain offered to hand out a few New York slices as he visited a fire
station on a light day of campaigning Thursday. "Can I
distribute?" the expected Republican presidential nominee asked
the firefighter holding a stack of pizza boxes at the midtown
Manhattan station. McCain also paused in front of a memorial to
firefighters who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks...more>
FDNY
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