Breaking News: Gas leak on the Plaza

The Kansas City Fire Department had the Kansas City Public Library on the Plaza evacuated just now, due to a gas leak.   Department trucks are on the scene now.

Farewell to a friend

Sure, it's dry here right now

Did you know there are several wildfires burning at this very moment on the North American continent?

Here's a list:

--Gladiator Wildfire
Arizona State Forestry Division - State Office
Arizona, USA
Active 14,963

--Hewlett Fire Wildfire
Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests/Pawnee National Grassland
Colorado, USA
Active 7,685

--Whitewater Wildfire
Gila National Forest
New Mexico, USA
Active 985

--Collins Wildfire
Coronado National Forest, Arizona, USA
Active 50

--Sunflower Fire Wildfire
Tonto National Forest, Arizona, USA
Active 16,115

--Baldy Fire Wildfire
Gila National Forest, New Mexico, USA
Active 4,000

--Bull Flat Fire Wildfire
Fort Apache Agency, Arizona, USA
Active 2,145

--Highway 1 Wildfire
Superior National Forest, Minnesota, USA
Active 175 1 day ago

Then, not to be done there, as though that's not enough, there's a wildfire in Canada now, too:

Kirkland Lake, Ont. forest fire forces 300 from homes

Natural Resources officials say the fire broke out Sunday morning and by Monday had consumed more than 20 square kilometres of forest.

My point?

If it is, in fact, a rather long, hot, dry Summer, the way some meteorologists have forecasted, it may be a rough one.

A really rough one.

Here's hoping it's not.

(I'd say pray for rain but when Texas Governor Rick Perry did that with a group last year, things only got much worse).

Links: http://www.kpho.com/story/18568191/gladiator-fire-claims-2-more-structures; http://inciweb.org/; http://www.nifc.gov/nicc/sitreprt.pdf; http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20120521/kirkland-lake-forest-fire-120521/

What is this? "Wierd Headline Wednesday Redux"?

My proof:

• Ohio woman found dead in septic tank held purse
• Flying bear kills two Canadians in freak accident
• 96-year-old woman confesses to 1946 murder

And then this, closer to home:

Wichita Temps Jump 20 Degrees At Midnight

And believe me, I didn't go looking for these this morning.  I didn't have it already in mind when I found this stuff.  They were just there.  In fact, it was on the first, front page of my site.  

It seems the whole world is going mad.

Or maybe we just get too much information.

A few staggering statistics on the Arizona wildfire

Out today:

• It's the 2nd largest wildfire in all of Arizona's history;
• It began a little more than a week ago;
• It has consumed 311,481 acres since it started May 29;
• Roughly 2,500 firefighters, including many from several Western states and as far away as New York, are working to contain the blaze;
• Two other fires--besides this one--have blackened large portions of the state;
• Haze was being carried by a ridge of high pressure as far as central Iowa, said Kyle Fredin, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Denver. The smoke was also visible in New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska and, yes, our own Kansas;
• The fire is considered totally uncontained;
• The fire is growing;
• It has driven thousands from their homes in eastern Arizona and grown to 486 square miles;
• It is bearing down on two of the most populous towns in the mountains.

Link to more information:  http://www.npr.org/2011/06/07/137041434/wildfire-becomes-second-largest-in-arizona-history

Fires and floods, all from today's news: what's going on

Check this out.  All these headlines and news stories are out just today, fresh off the wire.  This is what's going on across the country right now.

First, fires.

The ones in Arizona:

Arizona forest fire expands to 233,000 acres

Major wildfire spreads across eastern Arizona

Then on the East Coast:

Wildfire smoke drifts 130 miles up Ga. coast

Wildfires Buring 200K Acreas In NE Fla.

‎


Then Texas, you can't forget Texas:

Wildfires continue to burn in several counties ‎ And Colorado: Colorado health department warns of dangerous haze from wildfires Next up is the flooding. First Nebraska: Farmers Can Prepare for Flooding Now Low-level emergency declared at Fort Calhoun nuke plant ‎‎ Then Iowa: Platte River flood threat in Nebraska‎ Modale Residents Prepare For Historic Flooding ‎ Governor says Missouri River flooding worst in his lifetime (audio)‎ Montana: Wyoming residents reach out to Montana flood victims ‎ Missouri on the Western side: Federal, State Officials Warn of Long-Term Missouri River Flooding ‎ And check out this little beauty from this story, here, above, in case you wonder when it will be over:   (Washington, DC) -- More water will be released into the Missouri River than ever before in the coming months as federal officials work to deal with record amounts of rain and mountain snow packs. Kevin Grody of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers warns the mountain snow pack in Montana has not started to melt much yet and cited several inches of rain in the past few weeks. Grody said the release of water from several reservoirs will more than double previous records for releases. He said the six dams on the Missouri River are in good shape and are not expected to have any problems, but said the levee system could be troublesome due to a mix of levees built for different levels of flood protection. Federal officials expect flooding to continue on the Missouri River into mid-August at the earliest. Then there's Missouri on the Eastern side: Missouri River Flooding Expected ‎ Illinois: CF Industries to close plant on flooding worries ‎ Minnesota: Amtrak service between St. Paul and Spokane to resume Tuesday ‎ Then there's the different areas experiencing drought to severe drought across the country. There's South Carolina: SC drought alert and brush, grass fires start early for Anderson area ‎ And Colorado: Drought plagues rangeland - The Pueblo Chieftain: News And Texas, again: Water restrictions increase amid Texas drought And Oklahoma:   Drought grows more dire in Texas and Oklahoma And Kansas: Winter wheat harvest begins in Kansas amid drought fears Then we can't forget the tornadoes this year in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and then our own Joplin, just down the road, along with Reading, Kansas, of course. According to the American Red Cross, this is just some of the things they've responded to this year alone: American Red Cross volunteers have staffed numerous disaster response efforts so far this spring, including those still underway in Alabama and Mississippi, the recent storms in Massachussets, Missouri, Oklahoma and Minnesota, flooding in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Vermont, and the anticipated flooding right here in Nebraska. My point is only that there sure seems like there's a heckuva lot going on, weather-wise, and that most of it hasn't been good by a long shot. The sky isn't falling but it's busy. ‎

From the "you gotta' be kidding" file

Texas chops $34 million from Forest Service during wildfire problem

Cutting unnecessary programs or duplicate or ineffective programs, sure, everyone gets that, but cutting programs to be cutting programs and reducing spending when the spending is necessary and wise is just, well, ignorant and unfortunately needs to be pointed out, in this case.

Quote of the day--on corporations paying taxes

When corporations like Bank of America don’t pay their fair share of taxes, we have to ‘cut’ teachers, firefighters, and public servants. Do you pay your taxes? So do we. Why don’t corporations pay their fair share, just like everyone else? Bank of America is Bad for America. Bank of America pockets Billions in profits and bailouts, but $0 in American taxes — that’s immoral and un-American.
--US Uncut

Link to original post:  http://www.disinfo.com/2011/03/ever-want-to-yell-at-300-billionaires-who-helped-wreck-the-economy-video/

Big fires in Texas?

Who knew?


One person dead, 120,000 acres burned in Texas wildfires

First Russia, last year, and now us.


Link to original post:  http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/02/28/texas.wildfires/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+rss/cnn_topstories+(RSS:+Top+Stories)

The Funk fails to lead again/some more

Yesterday, as I wrote here earlier, our not-so-illustrious Mayor Mark "the Funk" Funkhouser was on KCUR's "Central Standard" radio program.  He told of what he did during his first tenure ("got our economic/financial house in order", paraphrased) and said what he would want to do in a second term if--God forbid--he were re-elected.

The Star points out today--very well--in an op/ed piece on the "E tax" mess we and St. Louis are in, that as soon as the vote on the Prop A/E-tax was done, St. Louis' mayor jumped all over it and said they were going to form a business/government alliance to defeat it.

Our own mayor?

To date, no word of coordination with anyone.

Instead, again, as the Star points out:  "...Mayor Mark Funkhouser hasn't provided any real leadership to rally different groups behind the cause.  Instead, he's feuded for months with the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, creating a deep schism with business leaders."

So typical of this mayor.  Instead of working WITH people--nearly anyone--he virtually always fights them.  I've said, time and again, I can't imagine who this mayor works WITH.  It's him and Gloria against the world. And they seem to like it that way.

So since the mayor isn't leading on this, people from the chamber, the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City, the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO, the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 42 and the Heavy Constructors Association of Greater Kansas City have all decided to come together, wisely, and fight this E-tax vote coming up.

Thank goodness someone's leading in town.

We sure aren't going to get it from Mayor Mark Funkhouser.

Link:  http://www.kansascity.com/2010/12/06/2502435/the-stars-editorial-riding-to.html

Russia's ugly situation

This is how serious it is: Russia fought a deadly battle Tuesday to prevent wildfires from engulfing key nuclear sites as alarm mounted over the impact on health of a toxic smoke cloud shrouded over Moscow. The emergencies ministry said that over the last 24 hours, 247 new fires had appeared, more than the 239 that were extinguished, and 557 fires were still raging across the affected region. The heatwave has a huge impact on all areas of Russian society and economists warned Tuesday the record temperatures could have cost the country 15 billion dollars and undercut a modest economic revival. Worst hit has been the agriculture industry, which has seen 10 million hectares of land destroyed. Climate change, anyone? Link to original post: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/08/10-1