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The ex files: 8 types of girlfriends every lesbian has had
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The Lesbian Herstory Archivesa New York City-based archive, community center, and museum dedicated to preserving lesbian history, located in Park Slope, Brooklynwas founded in Charlotte Moore Illustrated by Vero Romero When I lesbian back to my first same-sex relationshipthere are a few stereotypes about lesbians which I realised early on are pretty much baseless.
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Prospero – Spreading the infection
March 10, 2005 by Ikecht
Prospero is a Toronto based industrial dj and the man behind sub.session.media. Spreading The Infection is his first release (after a limited CDR in 2003) and to most people this will be the first they ever hear from him, though he has contributed tracks to several compilations allready.
On this 2CD set Prospero presents many musical styles to the listener. Industrial is what it all counts up to, but the parts are noise, EBM, ambient, trance, drum & bass, and many more. They all seem to fit into the musical tracks and together are responsible for the dark undertone of this album. The variety of styles somehow blends into a style that defines Prospero. A style that is much to my liking indeed. No way to describe the style in short everything I think of falls short, from dark drum & noise to EBM soundscapes, they just don't fit.
But just creating a 2CD album out of nothing, clearly was not enough for Prospero. So he also went out to friends with his tracks and had some remixed by people many will know, like This Morn Omina, Nerve Filter, Displacer, Converter, to name a few. And indeed the tracks came out strong. The originals aren't on the album anymore, so no way to compare them, but the remixes that made it onto the album do taste like more.
An old concept, that we don't encounter that much anymore, also made it to this album: the collaboration. Four of the tracks on this album were co-created with other acts. Especially listen to "Co:man:d" that was created with Converter, Manufactura, Displacer and S:cage and which came out as the best track on this album, but also check out "Let The Planet Burn" (collaboration with Battery Cage) and "Broadcast of The Coming Dawn" (collaboration with Pneumatic Death).
So overall, a great album that all industrial fans should buy.
artist: Prospero
label: Brume Records
details: 2004, 2CD, 22 tracks [SubBrume 01]
Filed Under: industrial, Reviews
Dubia Fortuna – In tabernas mundus
Jack or Jive – Absurdity
V/A – Zombie Commandos from Hell


CNN's Arwa Damon in Iraq: 'There Is No Limit to The Sheer Evil and Cruelty' of ISIS
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By Mark Joyella on Oct. 28, 2016 - 3:25 PM
CNN senior international correspondent Arwa Damon reported Friday from the Khazer refugee camp in Iraq, talking to children displaced by the battle to liberate Mosul from ISIS.
"It's something I won't ever get used to, it's something that is always jarring," Damon told TVNewser. "I have such admiration for their resilience, but sadly there's nothing they said that really surprised me. There is no limit to the sheer evil and cruelty that we hear about."
Damon, along with CNN correspondents Nick Paton Walsh and Michael Holmes, has been covering the fight for Mosul for the last two weeks. It has been difficult to get reliable information from inside the city, and some of the most valuable reports come from refugees who were able to escape. "What is especially chilling is that the refugees we are talking to say the closer you are to Mosul – and now as the troops get closer to Mosul – the more brutal the treatment is at the hands of ISIS," Damon said. "I shudder to think about what we are going to hear from the city itself. Already just today, for example, there are reports that ISIS strung around 20 people together in Mosul, electrocuted them and left their bodies as a message to others."
Damon, who covered a rocket attack on the town of Taza that may have involved mustard gas, continues to follow reports ISIS intends to use chemical weapons to defend Mosul. "It seems that their capabilities are quite basic. But is it unnerving? Yes, of course."
For Damon and her team, including photographer Brice Laine (above, right), the risks of reporting only lessen when they pull back to their hotel in a city about 50 miles from Mosul. "Each time we walk through the door, we realize how fortunate we are. That whatever story we may have covered that day from the advance and the fighting, the suffering of the civilians, the tragedies and the courage, we have the option and the ability to be able to retreat."


Turkey Saudi Arabia Missing Writer
A man places a poster of missing Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, on a barrier that blocks the road leading to the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, as people gather in his support,Friday, Oct. 5, 2018. Khashoggi, a 59-year-old veteran journalist who has lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. since Prince Mohammed's rise to power, disappeared Oct. 2 while on a visit to the consulate to get paperwork done to be married to his Turkish fiancée. The Saudi Consulate insists Khashoggi left its building, contradicting Turkish officials who say they believe he is still there. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Creation Date: October 05, 2018 07:09:08 AM
Submission Date: October 05, 2018 10:50:12 AM
Photographer: Emrah Gurel
Location: Istanbul, TURKEY
Transmission Reference: XLP106
Byline Title: STR
Caption Writer: LP


Report: Zimbabwe Crackdown Saps Hopes of Reform Zimbabwe Crackdown Saps Hopes of Reform...
Zimbabwe Crackdown Saps Hopes of Reform
The violence is a blow to Zimbabweans who hoped for greater freedom of expression in the post-Mugabe era.
By Jefcoate O'Donnell, Robbie Gramer
| January 17, 2019, 3:21 PM
A police officer removes tires set by protesters during a demonstration in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on Jan. 14. (Zinyange Auntony/AFP/Getty Images)
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Authorities in Zimbabwe have killed at least eight people and shut down the internet following protests on fuel price hikes in the past week around the country, in the most severe bout of state-mediated violence since President Emmerson Mnangagwa came to power in 2017.
Security forces have detained hundreds of activists, including Evan Mawarire, a high-profile pastor who led a national protest movement in 2016 dubbed #ThisFlag. Many are facing charges of inciting public violence. An association of Zimbabwean doctors said they have treated nearly 70 people for gunshot wounds.
The crisis is the latest indication that Mnangagwa is not the democratic reformer many in Zimbabwe had yearned for when Robert Mugabe was ousted in 2017 after his 37 years in power. Mnangagwa was on a trip to Eurasia when the protests started and remains outside the country.
Chipo Dendere, a professor of political science at Amherst College who is from Zimbabwe, said what is different this time is "the open militarization of the state."
"People wanted to see Mugabe go, but they didn't realize that they were actually creating a bigger monster," said Alex Magaisa, a Zimbabwean lawyer and professor at the University of Kent. "The military is now very much in control—and very powerful."
It's too early to assess the scale and severity of the crisis or whether it portends big shifts in Zimbabwe's fragile political environment. But several Zimbabwean activists, health workers, and civil society organizers who witnessed the violence said the crackdown appears more widespread and severe than those in the past decade. They described widespread beatings by security forces, a police raid on a hospital where those assaulted were receiving treatment, and the military taking over a police station where protesters were detained. All spoke on condition of anonymity, citing concerns for their safety.
"The crackdown is profound … and brutal, and we cannot work out what the endgame is."
"The crackdown is profound … and brutal, and we cannot work out what the endgame is," said a Zimbabwean health worker.
Mnangagwa announced massive price increases for both petrol and diesel on Jan. 12 to generate revenue for the state, which is grappling with sharp budget shortages, uncertainty around the potential return to a national currency, and an economy in tatters.
"Increasing the price of fuel means that the cost of food goes up, it means that the cost of public transportation goes up, it means that retailers have to increase costs," said Siphosami Malunga, a Zimbabwean based in Johannesburg who serves as the executive director of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa.
As a result, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions called for a three day "stay away" that closed schools, government offices, and shops and emptied main streets. The tactic was designed to limit demonstrators' contact with Zimbabwean police and military.
But when protesters barricaded main roads to support the shutdown, security forces responded with door-to-door raids. "Uniformed members of the police and army forced entry into homes by breaking doors and windows" in Harare, according to Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. As of Thursday, Peter Mutasa, the president of the rights group, was missing.
The crisis marks the country's second violent crackdown on protesters in six months. In August 2018, security forces opened fire on supporters of Zimbabwe's opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who disputed the results of the election that cemented Mnangagwa's rule. Six people were killed in the violence. International election watchdogs criticized the vote for irregularities.
John Tomaszewski, the Africa regional director for the Washington-based International Republican Institute, said Zimbabweans experienced a wave of "euphoria" after Mugabe's ouster in 2017 and before Mnangagwa assumed the presidency.
"People could say and do things they couldn't before," he added. "And you can't put that back in a box."
Zimbabwe's security minister, Owen Ncube, blamed the opposition party and nongovernmental organizations for inciting the latest uptick in violence. "The prevailing security situation in the country is a culmination of a well- orchestrated series of events by the MDC Alliance, working in cahoots with NGOs, civic society, youth organizations, pressure groups, and individuals," he said in a statement to the state-controlled newspaper, the Herald.
Other experts say the protests aren't about political opposition but the country's dire economic situation."ZANU-PF [Zimbabwe's ruling party] would like to blame the opposition, but the reality is that these protests are not being led by the opposition but by citizens that are fed up and frustrated that the government has failed them," Magaisa said.
Mooya Nyaundi, a Zimbabwean lawyer and human rights activist based in Washington, D.C., said anger over the fuel price hikes spans the political spectrum as hopes dry up for meaningful economic reform in the post-Mugabe era. "The economy, whether you are ZANU-PF or MDC—it affects everybody," she said. "I think that's where a lot of the anger is stemming from—that false hope."
Inflation in the Zimbabwean economy rose to over 42 percent last month, a high point for the country since record-shattering inflation rates hit Zimbabwe during its 2008 economic crisis. (The International Monetary Fund estimated inflation during that crisis hit 500 billion percent.)
With Mnangagwa traveling abroad, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga is running the country. Chiwenga is one of the ruling party's most feared leaders, having led a deadly campaign to sideline the political opposition in 2008 and help Mugabe retain power.
Years later, in 2017, when rumors began to circulate that Mugabe was preparing a path to leadership for his wife, Grace, it was Chiwenga, then the head of Zimbabwe's Defense Forces, who intervened to install Mnangagwa.
"He's the enforcer," said Todd Moss, an expert on the region and former State Department official now at the Center for Global Development.
"Under the Mugabe dictatorship, the police were always at the forefront, and the use of the military was there, but behind closed doors," Dendere added.
To make it hard for organizers to coordinate the protests and to prevent images and video of the crackdown from seeping out and prompting international criticism, the Zimbabwean government moved to shut down internet access on Jan. 14.
Social media apps, including WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter, were all blocked until Wednesday afternoon. The #KeepItOn Coalition, a group of civil society organizations urging the Zimbabwean government to lift the internet outage, said Zimbabwe's internet blackout cost the cash-strapped country over $5 million per day in direct economic costs, based on estimates from internet freedom advocacy organizations.
"The internet shutdown is not just a violation of freedom of expression—the government are also shooting themselves in the foot."
"The internet shutdown is not just a violation of freedom of expression—the government are also shooting themselves in the foot," Nyaundi said.
Mnangagwa flew to Russia on Monday to seek loans for his country and is traveling the rest of the week to Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Azerbaijan. He then heads to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum. In Russia, Mnangagwa pushed for Russian investment in oil, gas, and diamond projects in Zimbabwe.
But any deals he strikes will be overshadowed by the violence, experts say.
"Their mantra has been that Zimbabwe is open for business," Nyaundi said. "No investor is going to want to go into Zimbabwe when there is no reliable internet. It's an unstable environment."
Jefcoate O'Donnell is an editorial fellow at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @brjodonnell
Robbie Gramer is a diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @RobbieGramer
Tags: Africa, Internet, protests, Zimbabwe
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Sir Vincent Fairfax, 1981
Bryan Westwood
oil on canvas	(frame: 138.6 cm x 103.0 cm, sight: 130.3 cm x 94.9 cm)
Image not available (NC)
Sir Vincent Charles Fairfax CMG (1909-1993), pastoralist, was the son of JHF Fairfax. Educated at Geelong Grammar and Oxford, he was a director of John Fairfax Ltd from 1956-1987 - although by 1946 the Fairfax board consisted only of himself and two cousins, Warwick and John, a trio described as the company's 'head, hands and heart'. As the 'heart', Sir Vincent embodied the conservative virtues historically promoted by the Sydney Morning Herald. He was the national president of the Scout Association from 1977-1986, the president of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales from 1970-1979, the chairman of AMP from 1966-1982, a Director of the Bank of New South Wales from 1953-1982, and the Rector's Warden of St Mark's Darling Point from 1948-1971.
Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Currently not on display
Bryan Westwood (age 51 in 1981)
Sir Vincent Charles Fairfax CMG (age 72 in 1981)
Subject professions
Business, trades and industry
Fairfax Media Limited (13 portraits)
(View all 9)
1. Sir Ian Potter, 1973. 2. Portrait of Brian Dunlop, c. 1972. 3. Sir Ian McLennan, c. 1978. 4. James Oswald Fairfax, c. 1991. All Bryan Westwood.
Magazine article by Helene Ladomirska, 2006
As Bryan Westwood's portrait of Brian Dunlop hangs adjacent to Brian Dunlop's portrait of the philanthropist Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, we see the artist of one work as the subject of the other.


Psychogenic amnesia: syndromes, outcome, and patterns of retrograde amnesia
Harrison, Neil A, Johnston, Kate, Corno, Federica, Casey, Sarah J, Friedner, Kimberley, Humphreys, Kate, Jaldow, Eli Joseph, Pitkanen, Mervi and Kopelman, Michael D (2017) Psychogenic amnesia: syndromes, outcome, and patterns of retrograde amnesia. Brain, 140 (9). pp. 2498-2510. ISSN 0006-8950
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awx186
There are very few case series of patients with acute psychogenic memory loss (also known as dissociative/functional amnesia), and still fewer studies of outcome, or comparisons with neurological memory-disordered patients. Consequently, the literature on psychogenic amnesia is somewhat fragmented and offers little of prognostic value for individual patients. In the present study, we reviewed the case records and neuropsychological findings in 53 psychogenic amnesia cases (3M:1F), in comparison with 21 consecutively recruited neurological memory-disordered patients and 14 healthy controls. In particular, we examined the pattern of retrograde amnesia on an assessment of autobiographical memory (the Autobiographical Memory Interview). We found that our patients with psychogenic memory loss fell into four distinct groups, which we categorised as: (i) fugue state, (ii) fugue-to-focal retrograde amnesia, (iii) psychogenic focal retrograde amnesia following a minor neurological episode, and (iv) patients with gaps in their memories. While neurological cases were characterised by relevant neurological symptoms, a history of a past head injury was actually more common in our psychogenic cases (p=0.012), perhaps reflecting a 'learning episode' predisposing to later psychological amnesia. As anticipated, loss of the sense of personal identity was confined to the psychogenic group. However, clinical depression, family/relationship problems, financial/employment problems, and failure to recognise the family were also statistically more common in that group. The pattern of autobiographical memory loss differed between the psychogenic groups: fugue cases showed a severe and uniform loss of memories for both facts and events across all time-periods, whereas the two focal retrograde amnesia groups showed a 'reversed' temporal gradient with relative sparing of recent memories. After 3-6 months, the fugue patients had improved to normal scores for facts and near-normal scores for events. By contrast, the two focal retrograde amnesia groups showed a lesser improvement and continued to show a reversed temporal gradient. In conclusion, the outcome in psychogenic amnesia, particularly those characterised by fugue, is better than generally supposed. Findings are interpreted in terms of Markowitsch's and Kopelman's models of psychogenic amnesia, and with respect to Anderson's neuroimaging findings in memory inhibition.
Psychogenic, fugue, retrograde, amnesia, autobiographical memory
Brighton and Sussex Medical School > Neuroscience
Alexei Fisk


And It Was All Yellow
By May 23, 2017 1234
Does the fact the Predators just ran through the Western Conference make their sweep against the Hawks easier to stomach? I suppose a little. Had they biffed it to St. Louis, things would probably feel a little different.
I'll say this for Sam…in our playoff preview podcast, he didn't think it would take more than 15 games for the Hawks to make it through the West. He was close; he just had the wrong team. As we discussed in that podcast way back when, the playoffs were never more shallow than they were this year. Perhaps that's why the Hawks getting bounced in 4 stung a bit more. It was only until this series where the Predators were truly tested and even then, it's still Anaheim. Not exactly a core known for going out on their shields.
To be fair, the Ducks deserved a better fate in last night's tilt and were done in by an in-over-his head Jonathan Bernier. Bernier did his team no favors by putting them in two two-goal deficits. Not helping matters was allowing a very soft goal in the first two minutes of the game which allowed the Preds and their fans to continue to work themselves into a frenzy.
To their credit, the Ducks were able to fight back finally only to see the lead handed right back to the Predators on one of their first shots on goal since Anaheim tied it. You can only do so much with 20,000 strong slobbering all over themselves. Or Filip Forsberg clearing attempt that took fourteen crazy bounces before heading towards an empty net to seal your fate.
Sometimes, there's no stopping what is meant to be.
Make no mistake, the Predators have lived a charmed life in this postseason (minus their injuries to key players) and their first empty net goal of the night was another perfect example. Starting with Rinne diving back to save a puck that was headed towards his empty cage in Game 3 versus the Hawks and continuing through tonight, it's all come up Nashville thus far. That's not to say they don't work hard or didn't deserve to make this far. They certainly do. There was no team more worthy in the West this spring.
You could make an argument for Anaheim but they are literally too stupid to insult. Besides, you reap what you sow when you lose a Game 5 on home ice in a tied series.
–A Pittsburgh/Nashville Final would definitely be the most interesting of options left for the 500 people in other markets who still give a crap. I'm not sure the Predators could keep up with the Penguins, what with their battered offensive lineup…but the Penguins aren't exactly a beacon of good health these days either. Which is sort of what Sam was saying the other day. This playoffs, more than any I can directly recall, have become this war of attrition where teams are digging through forwards 14, 15 and 16 on the depth chart to fill out lineups.
I don't think this has become a trend yet – just last year the Sharks and Penguins had everyone who mattered playing in the Final. But it bears watching as we move forward.
–One thing Hawk (or Chicago, in general) fans can learn from Predator fans is how to truly enjoy the moment. Of all the excitement in this postseason, there hasn't been much consternation about this upcoming offseason and the contract extensions that await Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson. One thing that's always bugged me when the Hawks were making their deep runs was the impending doom that followed any success.
"Uh oh, Bryan Bickell scored again. Add another million to his cap hit."
"Brandon Saad is so good. The Hawks are going to have to pay up."
"Will someone send an offer sheet to Jonathan Toews or Patrick Kane?"
Like, who cares, Scooby? Meanwhile, the Hawks are playing meaningful, exciting games in the summer. As if there was nothing else worth discussing. I truly think this is more of a Chicago fandom type exercise than something strictly related to hockey and Hawk fans. The reason I believe this to be true – In October, I saw Sam's head spin a full 360 degrees like Regan Macneil when someone had the audacity to ask him about next year's Cub lineup on the eve of Game 6 of the NLCS.
–Seems like enough for now. Hopefully the Penguins finish off the James Bond villian-led Senators tonight in homage to Roger Moore (skypoint) tonight and we can get one step closer to the off season.
The NHL Is Out To Lunch, And So Is YCP
This One's Easy


Elective Surgeries and Invasive Procedures Set to Resume in New Jersey: Department of Health and Division of Consumer Affairs Issue Guidance
On May 15, 2020, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed Executive Order 145, rescinding the suspension on elective surgeries and invasive procedures in the state effective 5:00am on May 26, 2020.
The Governor further mandated that the Department of Health (DOH) and Division of Consumer Affairs (DCA) issue guidance regarding the limitations and precautions under which elective surgeries and invasive procedures can resume in healthcare facilities and in outpatient settings.
Department of Health Guidance
On May 19, 2020, the DOH issued two guidance documents, one for hospitals and one for ambulatory surgery centers. The guidance documents for both facility types are almost identical in their areas of focus, as summarized below. Providers, however, should review the full DOH guidance to ensure compliance with all requirements therein before resuming elective surgeries and invasive procedures.
Conditions for Facilities to Resume Elective Surgeries and Invasive Procedures – Facilities must ensure additional steps are implemented to protect patients and their healthcare workforce from COVID-19 exposure including implementation of state and CDC guidelines, screenings for staff with symptoms, enforcing social distancing and mask usage, utilization of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 zones, and cleaning and disinfecting plans. Hospitals are also required to have sufficient plans for future surges including allocation of resources and repurpose/redeployment of staff to urgent care roles.
Eligibility to Resume Elective Surgeries and Invasive Procedures – Facilities must review capacity data to ensure a downward trajectory of COVID-19 cases. Hospitals must also have sufficient availability and staffed ICU, Critical Care and Medical Surgical beds, while ambulatory surgery centers must ensure sufficient staff training on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and infection prevention practices before resuming elective surgeries and invasive procedures.
Standards to Guide Prioritization Decisions – In addition to ensuring that social distancing is maintained, facilities must establish a prioritization policy for providing care and scheduling cases. All cases must be reviewed by a site-based governance group to ensure consistency and consider the urgency of the case. Hospitals are required to utilize a Level 1-5 system to rank the urgency of procedures. The guidance also includes a list of factors for the governance group to consider in making its prioritization decisions.
PPE and Staffing Requirements – Facilities must ensure they have sufficient supplies of PPE to protect healthcare workers and patients. They must also ensure sufficient staffing for all planned surgical and invasive procedures and update their disinfection and cleaning protocols to ensure they are COVID-19 compatible. Ambulatory surgery centers are also required to have a transfer agreement in place with an acute healthcare facility to prepare for a potential second wave of COVID-19 infections.
Cohorting COVID-19 and Non-COVID-19 Patients – Hospitals are required to separate COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients from each other, while ambulatory surgery centers are prohibited from performing procedures on COVID-19 positive patients.
Requirements That Patients Seeking Procedures Undergo Testing, Self-Quarantine and Other Preventative Measures – In hospitals, elective surgical or invasive procedures for COVID-19 positive patients must only be performed if the procedure is categorized as a Level 1 (lifesaving/critical), Level 2 (urgent/intensive) or Level 3 (essential/acute), which are defined in the guidance. Furthermore, scheduling for all facilities must be done in a manner that promotes social distancing, and all patients must be tested no more than 96 hours before a scheduled procedure with a preoperative COVID-19 RT-PCR test to ensure that the patient is COVID-19 negative. Further, facilities must counsel patients on COVID-19 practices such as social distancing, self-quarantining and notification of the facility of symptoms or contact with a COVID-19 diagnosed individual or those who are presenting COVID-19 symptoms.
Policies Surrounding Visitors – Facilities are required to continue prohibiting visitors with the following exceptions: (1) pediatric patients are entitled to have one parent or guardian present; (2) same-day surgery or procedure patients may have one support person present; and (3) outpatients may be accompanied by one adult.
Policies Surrounding Discharge of Patients – The DOH has expressly confirmed that facility discharge policies do not need to be changed.
Reporting Metrics for the Resumption of Procedures – In an effort to continue maintaining data in preparation for a possible second surge of infections, hospitals must continue to collect and report data through the portal regarding COVID-19 case counts, non-COVID-19 case counts, and capacity data. Furthermore, ambulatory surgery centers must continue reporting PPE inventory and caseloads.
Key Resources, Recommendations, and Guidance Documents – The DOH posted links to a number of state and federal documents providing further guidance on each of these areas of focus and the requirements set forth within each.
Division of Consumer Affairs Guidance
On May 18, 2020, the DCA published an Administrative Order and Notice of Rule Adoption outlining its policy guidance regarding the resumption of elective procedures in any outpatient setting. The guidance identifies several key areas of focus, as summarized below. Once again, however, providers should review the full DCA guidance to ensure compliance with all requirements therein before resuming elective surgeries and invasive procedures.
Avoid Person-To-Person Contact In the Office – Healthcare professionals should utilize telemedicine where possible, triage whether in-person appointments are necessary, prioritize critical services and at-risk populations, and sufficiently socially distance, screen and require protective equipment for those that do visit the office.
Facilitate Social Distancing Within the Office – Healthcare professionals must install physical barriers and minimize patient contact with staff in the reception area along with isolating patients with respiratory illnesses and minimizing the number of individuals in examination and other rooms. Furthermore, to the extent possible, staff should be given their own workspace and supplies/equipment to minimize sharing.
Adopt Enhanced Office Cleaning and Disinfection – Healthcare professionals must allocate sufficient time between appointments for appropriate disinfection, ensure compliance with CDC guidelines, remove any waiting room materials intended for reuse and which are difficult to disinfect, and allow staff sufficient break time for hand washing throughout the day.
Establish Rigorous Protections for Staff – Healthcare professionals should accommodate work-from-home, if possible, along with monitoring the temperatures of all staff in the office, ensuring they utilize sufficient PPE, and staggering schedules to minimize infection risks.
Stay Informed About Developments and Obligations – Healthcare professionals must continue to monitor CDC and state guidance along with continuing to log patients for contact tracing and reporting of COVID-19 cases and exposure to the local boards of health.
The DCA also made clear that healthcare licensees performing elective surgery or elective invasive procedures involving direct contact with the patient's face, eyes or mouth, or which present a high risk of aerosolization, shall not only comply with the items above but also the following requirements:
Defer elective surgery or procedures or routine dental or eye care, if a patient is COVID-19 positive or symptomatic, until at least 10 days have passed since the patient first experienced symptoms and at least 3 days have passed since recovery
Postpone any elective surgery or procedure for asymptomatic patients if a postponement will be unlikely to result in an adverse outcome
Weigh, and review with the patient, the risks of elective surgery, invasive procedures or routine eye or dental care if the patient is identified to be at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19
Wear PPE to protect mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and mouth during aerosol-generating procedures as well as those likely to generate splashing or spattering of blood or other bodily fluids
Implement additional infection control measures, assuring that all surfaces are disinfected between patients
Dental professionals should continue to comply with OSHA regulations and CDC Recommended Infection Control Practices for Dentistry and should use high volume evacuators and isolation strategies including rubber dams when appropriate to limit exposure to aerosols
Eye care professionals should use a slit lamp "breath" shield/barrier that is as large as possible without interfering with clinical care
It is anticipated that the Department of Health and the Division of Consumer Affairs will continue to adjust their guidance and policies as circumstances evolve here in New Jersey. We will continue to monitor these agencies for new developments and will keep you advised accordingly.
Please contact the author of this Alert, John W. Kaveney jkaveney@greenbaumlaw.com | 973.577.1796 with questions. Mr. Kaveney is a partner in the firm's Healthcare Department.
John W. Kaveney


Bombing that killed more than 200 deadliest attack in Baghdad in years
By Mohammed Tawfeeq, Joe Sterling, Tiffany Ap and Hamdi Alkhshali, CNN
Updated 5:20 PM EDT, Mon July 4, 2016
Baghdad terror attack deadliest since 2003
Crisis in Iraq 13 videos
US planes spy on ISIS from edge of space
Inside liberated Mosul neighborhoods
How will Trump handle Iraq?
ISIS ambush in Kirkuk
US service member killed in action in northern Iraq
ISIS using drones in battle for Mosul
Iraqi-led forces push into ISIS territory
Mosul: Most intense day of fighting
Iraqi troops enter Christian town on outskirts of Mosul
Iraqi refugees debunk ISIS' portrayal of Mosul
Exploring ISIS tunnels near Mosul
Dramatic moments from the battle for Mosul
NEW: The strike follows a spate of attacks believed to be conducted by ISIS
More than 80 bodies are so charred they will require DNA testing to identify
More than a day after a suicide truck bomb ripped through Baghdad, families are still hoping that rescuers searching through the rubble can locate the bodies of their loved ones.
The bombing early Sunday in a busy shopping district was the deadliest single attack in Iraq's war-weary capital in years, killing at least 215 people, Mohamed al-Rubaye, deputy head of the security committee of the Baghdad Provincial Council, said Monday on Afaq TV.
Crews remain at the scene in the Karrada neighborhood where the blast occurred, trying to pull bodies from the devastation. Around 175 people were wounded, Rubaye said.
And 81 of the bodies are so charred, DNA testing will need to be conducted to identify them, he said.
One couple at the scene were searching for their teenage son who had gone to a cafe with his friends to celebrate his birthday.
Another man was looking for five relatives, including children, who were buying new clothes for Eid-al-Fitr – the celebration that marks the end of Ramadan on Tuesday.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a string of assaults during the holy month for Muslims, a period of fasting and prayer, and also a time when jihadists launch operations against those they regard as their enemies.
Spate of terror attack as Ramadan draws to a close
A second bomb exploded Sunday at an outdoor market in the Shaab neighborhood of southeastern Baghdad, killing one person and wounding five others, police said.
Both Baghdad strikes are a sign of the Sunni-Shiite tension in the Muslim world. Sunni-dominated ISIS claimed it was targeting Shiite neighborhoods. Karrada and Shaab are predominately Shiite neighborhoods.
Attacks worldwide
Muslim men conduct Tarawih prayers, during which long portions of the Qur'an are recited, at the East London Mosque on the evening before the start of the holy month of Ramadan on June 28, 2014 in London, England.
Rob Stothard/Getty Images
What is Ramadan?
ISIS said it would carry out more terror attacks during Ramadan. The Baghdad bombing came after massacres at a cafe in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, and security targets in Yemen. There have also been recent suicide attacks in Jordan and Lebanon.
Last month, a gunman shot up a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, an attacker killed a police commander and his partner in France, and four Israelis were killed at a Tel Aviv market.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for some of these attacks, while the terror group inspired others, authorities said.
A recent wave of suicide bombings also struck three Saudi Arabian cities over a 24-hour period ending Monday. The attacks occurred near the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, near a Shiite mosque in Qatif, and in Medina, the holy city, where four people were killed. Analysts suspect ISIS could be behind the strikes.
Witness: 'I lost several friends'
In Karrada, college student Sadeq al Zawini, 25, was watching as rescue workers pulled bodies from the rubble.
"We've had it with the Iraqi government and politicians. They can't continue blaming Daesh and other terrorist groups. We need a solution," he said, using another name for ISIS.
"I lost several friends myself, some are still missing," he said, sobbing.
Iraqis expressed their anger over the situation when Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other officials attempted to survey the bomb damage.
Women react Monday, July 4, at the site of a suicide bombing that took place a day earlier in Baghdad, Iraq. At least 200 people were killed by a truck bomb in the Karrada neighborhood. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images
A man mourns in Najaf, Iraq, during a funeral for Karrada victims on Sunday, July 3.
HAIDAR HAMDANI/AFP/Getty Images
A woman walks by a building that was damaged in the Karrada blast.
Firefighters work at the scene in Karrada early on July 3.
Hadi Mizban/AP
A body is carried away from the site of the blast.
SABAH ARAR/AFP/Getty Images
People who lost their relatives mourn after the bombing.
Amir Saadi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Iraqi security forces look for victims.
Khalid Mohammed/AP
People look for victims after the explosion.
An Iraqi woman grieves at the scene of the Karrada blast on July 3. A second bomb exploded Sunday at an outdoor market in the Shaab neighborhood of southeastern Baghdad, killing one person and wounding five others, police said. Both Baghdad strikes are a sign of the Sunni-Shiite tension in the Muslim world. Sunni-dominated ISIS claimed it was targeting Shiite neighborhoods.
The Karrada attack was the deadliest incident in Baghdad in years.
People hug near the site of the Karrada blast.
Men mourn after losing five members of their family in the Karrada bombing.
People light candles at the scene of the Karrada bombing.
Suicide bombing kills at least 200 in Baghdad
Amateur videos posted on social media showed residents throwing objects at a convoy carrying Abadi in Karrada. In the videos, protesters yelled, "Thief!" and "Get out!"
Abadi called the Karrada strike "dastardly" and "cowardly" and said the country will hold a three-day mourning period.
In a statement, Abadi said he understands the reaction of residents in "that moment of grief."
He said he came to Karrada to console families and "share their sorrow in this painful tragedy that happened."
He said ISIS tried to hijack the joy that Iraqis felt over recent victories against ISIS in Falluja.
Bombing follows Iraqi gains on ISIS
This flurry of ISIS strikes during Ramadan comes as the United States said the group is losing ground in the warfare across Syria and Iraq.
Iraqi forces announced last week they have seized the city of Falluja, 40 miles west of Baghdad, from ISIS. At the time, authorities assured Baghdad residents that the bombings would stop.
The long, sad history of Falluja
falluja iraq explainer nws orig_00000000.jpg
Why Falluja matters
But Cedric Leighton, a CNN military analyst and retired Air Force colonel, said he thinks the attacks will worsen, adding that ISIS' game plan is to generate instability.
"They are trying to create enough chaos in Iraq itself so that the Iraqi forces will find it very difficult to actually take advantage of the forward momentum they have achieved because of their victory in Falluja and that is a very serious issue that the al-Abadi administration is going to have to address."
Attacks such as the one in Baghdad will drive a wedge between the government and the people, in particular Shiites.
"The wedge was already there, and it's fairly easy for them to exploit this," Leighton said.
Opinion: ISIS is losing the war
CNN's Susanna Capelouto, Steve Visser and Ben Wedeman contributed to this report.


Gidea Park man fined for selling cars from layby
Published: 10:20 AM August 15, 2011 Updated: 12:08 PM October 13, 2020
A Havering man who sold cars illegally from a layby, despite repeated warnings from Havering Council, has been fined.
Roy Lellow, 53, of Belgrave Avenue, Gidea Park, received at least 27 warnings from the authority between July 2008 and March 2010 for leaving vehicles advertised for sale off the A127 Southend Arterial Road, the council said.
Council offices left warning stickers on the vehicles on many of these occasions, Havering Magistrates Court was told on Thursday 4 August.
Despite this, in March this year a council enforcement officer saw vehicles parked at the A127 between Belgrave Avenue and Main Road, Romford.
The vehicles included two Ford Focus cars and a Ford 1.6 Zetec, advertised at �1,895, �2,195 and �1,695.
All three had the same mobile phone number which belonged to Mr Lellow.
On May 17 two more Ford Focus cars were spotted parked in the layby and advertised for sale.
Council officers seized the vehicles using powers under the London Local Authorities Act 1990.
Later that afternoon the council was contacted by Mr Lellow. He was invited to an interview on 20 May when he confirmed he was the current owner of the two seized vehicles.
He admitted placing 'for sale' signs in the windows and other signs advertising the prices.
He confirmed he did not have a licence to trade in the borough of Havering for any purpose. In addition, the area where the vehicles were found was not an area licensed for street trading.
He pleaded guilty at Havering Magistrates' Court to four offences of unlawful trading and was fined �1,500 and ordered to pay �2,093 costs to the Council.
Cllr Barry Tebbutt, Cabinet member for Environment, said: "Mr Lellow ignored at least 27 warnings to stop trading in this unlawful way which puts legitimate traders and licence holders at a disadvantage. Not only that, but it puts consumers at risk through a lack of registration. When buying a vehicle that is merely displaying a phone number the purchaser could lose their rights and may not be able to trace the seller. Selling cars in this way also makes our streets unsightly."


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Posted inEconomy, Environment, Frac Sand Rush, Government, Health & Welfare
Wisconsin frac sand sites double
'I've never seen anything like this,' says federal official who ranks state production No. 1 in nation
by Kate Prengaman July 22nd, 2012 June 17th, 2014 Why you can trust Wisconsin Watch
An overview of the 400-acre plot of Preferred Sands mine in Blair, Wis., in Trempealeau County on June 20, 2012. Lukas Keapproth / WCIJ
Wisconsin's Sand Rush
View locations of sand deposits and frac sand mining and processing operations. Click the image below to open a larger version.
Are frac sand miners failing to check for a rare butterfly? (January, 2012)
Sand Mining Surges in Wisconsin (July, 2011)
Explainer: What is fracking? (July, 2011)
BLAIR — Tucked behind a hill in rural Trempealeau County, farmland undergoes an industrial transformation.
Outside this city of 1,300, Preferred Sands turns Wisconsin's sandy soil into a hot commodity. A wall of green trees opens to a vast expanse of sand buzzing with activity. Excavators mine and conveyors carry the sand from towering stockpiles up into the processing plant. Every week, this facility ships 7,500 tons of sand by rail to oil and gas fields in Texas, North Dakota and Pennsylvania.
This 400-acre mine and processing facility is just one of 20 such operations that have sprung up in the past two years in Trempealeau County. The mines and processing plants produce strong, fine-grained sand in high demand for a type of oil and natural gas drilling known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
The number of Wisconsin frac sand mining operations has more than doubled in the past year, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism found, and the state leads the nation in production.
"We have the best sand in the world," said Tom Woletz, the frac sand specialist at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
"And we have a lot of sand."
The frac sand industry has grown fast, and no government agency has an up-to-date list of all of the mines and processing plants in Wisconsin. A year ago, the Center identified 41 facilities operating or proposed in the state. This summer 87 are operating or under construction, with another 20 facilities in the proposal stage.
"Our office has turned into a zoo," said Kevin Lien, director of land management for Trempealeau County. "We have seven applications for mining permits in July. Everyone here is engulfed in mining. It's a huge workload for us."
Frac sand fever has hit much of west-central Wisconsin, catching residents and local governments by surprise. Permit applications have come in faster than residents or officials can process them — or the implications for their communities.
Minnesota officials believe that state may be poised for a similar boom. Applications have been pouring in for new facilities in addition to the six mines, three processing plants and loading and unloading facilities already operating in southeastern Minnesota, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
The frac sand boom has divided residents into those who believe mining will create sorely needed jobs in rural Wisconsin and those who fear the impacts these mines may have on human health, road safety and the environment. Some critics worry that industry tactics — such as one company buying lunch for residents sporting pro-mining T-shirts at a recent public hearing — make it hard for local officials to objectively evaluate the proposals.
Some communities have readily welcomed frac sand mining for economic reasons. Others, including Buffalo, Dunn, Eau Claire and Pepin counties and a handful of towns, slapped on temporary moratoriums to give them time to review and update their land-use regulations.
"No doubt it was something we've never dealt with before," said Terry Schmidt, the Jackson County zoning administrator. "Requests come in monthly. We've been busy learning a lot about frac sand."
Bruce Brown, senior geologist with the Wisconsin Geological Survey, agrees with other state officials that Wisconsin may be reaching the peak of the frac sand boom.
"I think it's going to slow down," Brown said. "People worry that we're going to sell out all of the sand in Wisconsin. That's not going to happen."
Communities caught off-guard by sand boom
The demand for sand has soared in tandem with the explosion in controversial hydraulic fracturing operations in Texas, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
A chart of the national increase in frac sand production over the past decade. Source: U.S. Geological Survey (Click to enlarge)
Frac sand production has increased seven-fold in the past decade, according to the United States Geological Survey. Thomas Dolley, a mineral commodity specialist at the USGS, said he can't give state-specific numbers to protect individual companies' proprietary information. But he confirmed that Wisconsin is currently the nation's largest producer of frac sand.
"It's like a land rush for this material," Dolley said. "I've been covering this commodity for 11 years and I've never seen anything like this."
The sand is used to prop open fractures in the bedrock, allowing oil or natural gas to flow past. Wisconsin's world class sand sells for about $45 per ton. Shipping the sand is expensive, so each ton can fetch $200 by the time it reaches the drill site, and each well requires 1,500 to 2,500 tons of sand.
Wisconsin's sand industry began more than a century ago, although at a much more modest level. Regulators and industry officials note that frac sand mining employs the same processes as all industrial sand mining.
"I think the whole process is pretty straightforward," said Todd Murchison, the regional manager for Preferred Sands, a Minnesota-based company that operates sand mining and processing facilities, including five sites in Wisconsin. "If we agree that mining needs to be done, then we want to do it as safely as possible."
Frac sand operations must follow state regulations for non-metallic mines. The rules written two decades ago were meant for small sand and gravel quarries, not 1,000-acre mines or industrial facilities that process up to 800,000 tons of sand a year.
Currently, all non-metallic mining companies must have a plan for restoring the land and controlling stormwater runoff from their properties. Two damaging sand spills occurred in Wisconsin this spring, caused in part by failure to follow existing regulations.
Mines and processing facilities also must abide by state laws protecting navigable waters, wetlands, large groundwater withdrawals, drinking water quality and endangered species. Wisconsin's sandy soil is prime habitat for the endangered Karner blue butterfly, which, as the Center reported in January, some companies may be failing to check for.
Large mines and processing facilities also must meet state air pollution limits for airborne particles, in part to reduce exposure to silica dust, a substance that can cause a life-threatening lung disease. While silica exposure in the workplace is tightly regulated, there are no specific limits for silica dust in the open air.
In January, the state Department of Natural Resources decided that no additional regulations are needed.
"The current non-metallic mining regulations implemented at the county level, as well as the various environmental regulations implemented by the department, are adequate to ensure that permits for individual sand mining operations and processing facilities are protective of public health and the environment," the agency said.
The influx of permits has forced local governing boards to make complicated decisions about how to manage this unfamiliar industry.
"Having served as a town official myself, I know that there's many things that we're not prepared for," said Pilar Gerasimo, a journalist and environmental activist in Dunn County who served as a chairwoman of the Lucas Town Board.
Gerasimo believes local leaders are often too quick to go along with mine operator requests. She worries that some decision are not being made by "qualified people armed with good information."
Others disagree, saying local governments are doing a good job managing the boom.
"They are pretty conscientious about it," Brown said. "They want to make sure proposals are realistic and that the reclamation plan is accomplishable."
Power to regulate varies
The ability of local governments to regulate this growing industry depends largely on whether the areas are zoned. In zoned areas, mine operators must apply for conditional use permits from the local governments. Many county officials believe that these permits are sufficient to regulate sand mining because they are flexible and site-specific.
But the Center found that about a third of existing and proposed facilities are in jurisdictions that have no zoning, leaving local officials with little control over how or where mining occurs.
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Trempealeau, Jackson, and Chippewa Counties lead the state with the most operating frac sand facilities, but Barron and Buffalo Counties are poised to catch up soon with lots of proposed mines.
"If you don't have zoning, it makes it very difficult to say no," said Dan Masterpole, the conservationist for Chippewa County, where frac sand facilities are located primarily in unzoned towns. "We have no authority to regulate where (mining) should occur, operations, noise, air, dust or any of those type of nuisance-related impacts."
In unzoned areas, the only control counties have over mining is the reclamation permit, which primarily deals with how the site will be returned to a productive land use, like agriculture or a park, after mining is complete. The permit also requires that the mine put up a bond to cover the cost of reclamation if it goes out of business. The DNR handles air and water regulations for all sites, zoned or not.
In areas with zoning, local governing boards listen to presentations from mine operators and gather public comments at meetings to determine which restrictions to place on conditional use permits.
Common conditions include restricting hours of operations or the number of trucks per day, requiring dust monitoring and even rerouting truck traffic to avoid school bus routes. These conditions satisfy many residents, but others believe they don't do enough to keep the community safe.
Mike O'Connor, a Buffalo County resident, attended many of these meetings in the past year to voice his concerns about the frac sand industry — particularly what he believes will be unsafe heavy truck traffic on winding local roads.
"This just came out of nowhere and caught everybody by surprise," O'Connor said. "We've got a lot of very fearful people and a lot of very greedy people, and the tragedy is the lack of political leadership to bring these people to the table together to work something out."
Jobs, environment part of debate
In Gilmanton, a town with fewer than 500 people in Buffalo County, many lawns sport bright green signs proclaiming "Sand = Jobs." About half the residents in attendance at a public hearing in June wore bright green shirts with the same slogan, provided by Glacier Sands, a mine operator applying for permits.
Company co-owner Ryan Thomas said he plans to hire about 100 employees plus local contractors for electrical, welding and other services for the four mining, processing and loading sites his Menomonie-based company is planning for Buffalo County.
In addition to jobs, the local economic benefits of frac sand mining include equipment purchases and increased property tax revenues.
Mine supporters wear pro-sand mining T-shirts to a Buffalo County Board meeting in Gilmanton, Wis. on June 14, 2012. Kate Prengaman/Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
Negative impacts include wear and tear on county roads from hundreds of sand trucks hauling heavy loads. Some counties, including Chippewa and Wood, have created road impact fees that would shift the costs of damage and improvements to the frac sand companies.
For many residents, the promise of new jobs and new industry trumps all other concerns.
"No one moves here, there's no jobs here," said Lisa Bloom, a local teacher wearing a green "Sand = Jobs" shirt. "Change is hard, but Gilmanton needs change to survive."
Bloom and her family intend to lease their Buffalo County farm to Glacier Sands so the company can mine the property's rolling hills. Once mining is complete in about 15 years, she said her family plans to farm on the newly leveled fields.
Bloom isn't worried about her family living with a mining and processing operation in their backyard. But across Wisconsin's sandy countryside, people living near such operations are concerned about the health effects of dust.
The sand grains themselves are harmless — think sand on a beach — but the silica dust particles created by the sand processing are basically tiny glass shards.
Exposure to silica dust can cause silicosis, a potentially fatal lung disease. There are federal limits on acceptable silica exposure in the workplace, and some workers use respirators. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reported 75 deaths in Wisconsin from silicosis between 1996 and 2005, mainly among manufacturing and mining workers.
According to Darrell Smith of the trade group Industrial Minerals Association, based in Washington, D.C., silicosis is easily prevented with good ventilation and engineering that keeps dust in enclosed spaces and minimizes risks to workers.
A conveyor pours crushed sand into a stockpile before it is washed and sorted by grain class size at the Preferred Sands mine in Blair, Wis. on June 20, 2012. The stockpiled sand is kept wet to minimize dust. Lukas Keapproth/Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
Some mines and processing plants also monitor the air outside their facilities, but according to Hillary Carpenter, a toxicologist with the Minnesota Department of Health, no research-supported safe level of silica exposure in the ambient air has been developed. At a June public meeting in Winona, Minn., he explained that to date, there has not been enough concern about environmental silica exposure to warrant a study.
At the Preferred Sands facility in Blair, the company has installed dust collectors at key points in the sand process and has erected monitors along the perimeter, Murchison said. The company also only ships sand in covered railcars.
Chemical use raises questions
Another concern centers on the use of chemicals called flocculants that many facilities use to help remove sediments so that they can continually reuse the millions of gallons of water needed for mining and processing.
Gerasimo and other environmentalists worry that the flocculants may make their way into the groundwater and cause unforeseen problems. According to the DNR's Woletz, these chemicals already are approved for erosion control and even municipal water treatment. The mines use lined storage ponds to prevent seepage into the groundwater, he said.
Murchison said the Blair mining and processing facility recycles 90 percent of its water — the remainder evaporates — further reducing the potential for groundwater contamination. He said the company wants to be a good neighbor and has established a citizen steering committee to help Preferred Sands understand and address community concerns.
"We need this stuff, we need natural gas," Murchison said. "We need energy independence, in my opinion. I think that the key is we're going to do it, but let's do it right."
But when companies don't take thorough environmental precautions, accidents can happen, as two spills in May demonstrated.
At a Burnett County mine, a leak in a new storage pond poured silty water into the St. Croix River for days until a hiker noticed the problem. Shortly after Preferred Sands bought the mine in Blair from a Canadian company, a wet stockpile of sediment slipped and flooded a neighboring home.
Murchison said the company knew the stockpile it inherited was unstable. Over the winter, the material was too frozen to move. Once it thawed, workers quickly moved to restructure the large pile. But before they finished, a big storm dumped so much rain that the remaining pile slid downhill, he said.
Both companies are now facing possible fines from the state.
"We've had a huge amount of change since we had that spill," Murchison said. "Every day, we have to leave everything so that it will be safe in case it rains two inches overnight."
Gerasimo and O'Connor both worry about other damage to their communities, such as lost tourism or residential development if the mining operations detract from the quiet and peaceful scenery that draw people to west-central Wisconsin.
"Many of us are here for Aldo Leopold's sand country," O'Connor said, referring to the famous Wisconsin environmentalist. "This is a really spectacular piece of the world, so to have it ripped apart is kind of emotional.
"But there is a pretty compelling story on the other side. It's a very ambiguous issue which makes it emotionally very difficult."
The nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, other news media and the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by the Center do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.
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by Kate Prengaman, Wisconsin Watch

Wisconsin frac sand sites double

by Kate Prengaman, Wisconsin Watch
July 22, 2012

Wisconsin's Sand Rush

Interactive Map

View locations of sand deposits and frac sand mining and processing operations. Click the image below to open a larger version.

Previous Coverage

 Are frac sand miners failing to check for a rare butterfly? (January, 2012)
 Sand Mining Surges in Wisconsin (July, 2011)
 Explainer: What is fracking? (July, 2011)

BLAIR — Tucked behind a hill in rural Trempealeau County, farmland undergoes an industrial transformation.

Outside this city of 1,300, Preferred Sands turns Wisconsin's sandy soil into a hot commodity. A wall of green trees opens to a vast expanse of sand buzzing with activity. Excavators mine and conveyors carry the sand from towering stockpiles up into the processing plant. Every week, this facility ships 7,500 tons of sand by rail to oil and gas fields in Texas, North Dakota and Pennsylvania.

This 400-acre mine and processing facility is just one of 20 such operations that have sprung up in the past two years in Trempealeau County. The mines and processing plants produce strong, fine-grained sand in high demand for a type of oil and natural gas drilling known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

The number of Wisconsin frac sand mining operations has more than doubled in the past year, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism found, and the state leads the nation in production.

"We have the best sand in the world," said Tom Woletz, the frac sand specialist at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

"And we have a lot of sand."

The frac sand industry has grown fast, and no government agency has an up-to-date list of all of the mines and processing plants in Wisconsin. A year ago, the Center identified 41 facilities operating or proposed in the state. This summer 87 are operating or under construction, with another 20 facilities in the proposal stage.

"Our office has turned into a zoo," said Kevin Lien, director of land management for Trempealeau County. "We have seven applications for mining permits in July. Everyone here is engulfed in mining. It's a huge workload for us."

Frac sand fever has hit much of west-central Wisconsin, catching residents and local governments by surprise. Permit applications have come in faster than residents or officials can process them — or the implications for their communities.

Minnesota officials believe that state may be poised for a similar boom. Applications have been pouring in for new facilities in addition to the six mines, three processing plants and loading and unloading facilities already operating in southeastern Minnesota, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

The frac sand boom has divided residents into those who believe mining will create sorely needed jobs in rural Wisconsin and those who fear the impacts these mines may have on human health, road safety and the environment. Some critics worry that industry tactics — such as one company buying lunch for residents sporting pro-mining T-shirts at a recent public hearing — make it hard for local officials to objectively evaluate the proposals.

Some communities have readily welcomed frac sand mining for economic reasons. Others, including Buffalo, Dunn, Eau Claire and Pepin counties and a handful of towns, slapped on temporary moratoriums to give them time to review and update their land-use regulations.

"No doubt it was something we've never dealt with before," said Terry Schmidt, the Jackson County zoning administrator. "Requests come in monthly. We've been busy learning a lot about frac sand."

Bruce Brown, senior geologist with the Wisconsin Geological Survey, agrees with other state officials that Wisconsin may be reaching the peak of the frac sand boom.

"I think it's going to slow down," Brown said. "People worry that we're going to sell out all of the sand in Wisconsin. That's not going to happen."

Communities caught off-guard by sand boom

The demand for sand has soared in tandem with the explosion in controversial hydraulic fracturing operations in Texas, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

A chart of the national increase in frac sand production over the past decade. Source: U.S. Geological Survey (Click to enlarge)

Frac sand production has increased seven-fold in the past decade, according to the United States Geological Survey. Thomas Dolley, a mineral commodity specialist at the USGS, said he can't give state-specific numbers to protect individual companies' proprietary information. But he confirmed that Wisconsin is currently the nation's largest producer of frac sand.

"It's like a land rush for this material," Dolley said. "I've been covering this commodity for 11 years and I've never seen anything like this."

The sand is used to prop open fractures in the bedrock, allowing oil or natural gas to flow past. Wisconsin's world class sand sells for about $45 per ton. Shipping the sand is expensive, so each ton can fetch $200 by the time it reaches the drill site, and each well requires 1,500 to 2,500 tons of sand.

Wisconsin's sand industry began more than a century ago, although at a much more modest level. Regulators and industry officials note that frac sand mining employs the same processes as all industrial sand mining.

"I think the whole process is pretty straightforward," said Todd Murchison, the regional manager for Preferred Sands, a Minnesota-based company that operates sand mining and processing facilities, including five sites in Wisconsin. "If we agree that mining needs to be done, then we want to do it as safely as possible."

Frac sand operations must follow state regulations for non-metallic mines. The rules written two decades ago were meant for small sand and gravel quarries, not 1,000-acre mines or industrial facilities that process up to 800,000 tons of sand a year.

Currently, all non-metallic mining companies must have a plan for restoring the land and controlling stormwater runoff from their properties. Two damaging sand  spills occurred in Wisconsin this spring, caused in part by failure to follow existing regulations.

Mines and processing facilities also must abide by state laws protecting navigable waters, wetlands, large groundwater withdrawals, drinking water quality and endangered species. Wisconsin's sandy soil is prime habitat for the endangered Karner blue butterfly, which, as the Center  reported in January, some companies may be failing to check for.

Large mines and processing facilities also must meet state air pollution limits for airborne particles, in part to reduce exposure to silica dust, a substance that can cause a life-threatening lung disease. While silica exposure in the workplace is tightly regulated, there are no specific limits for silica dust in the open air.

In January, the state Department of Natural Resources  decided that no additional regulations are needed.

"The current non-metallic mining regulations implemented at the county level, as well as the various environmental regulations implemented by the department, are adequate to ensure that permits for individual sand mining operations and processing facilities are protective of public health and the environment," the agency said.

The influx of permits has forced local governing boards to make complicated decisions about how to manage this unfamiliar industry.

"Having served as a town official myself, I know that there's many things that we're not prepared for," said Pilar Gerasimo, a journalist and environmental activist in Dunn County who served as a chairwoman of the Lucas Town Board.

Gerasimo believes local leaders are often too quick to go along with mine operator requests. She worries that some decision are not being made by "qualified people armed with good information."

Others disagree, saying local governments are doing a good job managing the boom.

"They are pretty conscientious about it," Brown said. "They want to make sure proposals are realistic and that the reclamation plan is accomplishable."

Power to regulate varies

The ability of local governments to regulate this growing industry depends largely on whether the areas are zoned. In zoned areas, mine operators must apply for conditional use permits from the local governments. Many county officials believe that these permits are sufficient to regulate sand mining because they are flexible and site-specific.

But the Center found that about a third of existing and proposed facilities are in jurisdictions that have no zoning, leaving local officials with little control over how or where mining occurs.

Trempealeau, Jackson, and Chippewa Counties lead the state with the most operating frac sand facilities, but Barron and Buffalo Counties are poised to catch up soon with lots of proposed mines.

"If you don't have zoning, it makes it very difficult to say no," said Dan Masterpole, the conservationist for Chippewa County, where frac sand facilities are located primarily in unzoned towns. "We have no authority to regulate where (mining) should occur, operations, noise, air, dust or any of those type of nuisance-related impacts."

In unzoned areas, the only control counties have over mining is the reclamation permit, which primarily deals with how the site will be returned to a productive land use, like agriculture or a park, after mining is complete. The permit also requires that the mine put up a bond to cover the cost of reclamation if it goes out of business. The DNR handles air and water regulations for all sites, zoned or not.

In areas with zoning, local governing boards listen to presentations from mine operators and gather public comments at meetings to determine which restrictions to place on conditional use permits.

Common conditions include restricting hours of operations or the number of trucks per day, requiring dust monitoring and even rerouting truck traffic to avoid school bus routes. These conditions satisfy many residents, but others believe they don't do enough to keep the community safe.

Mike O'Connor, a Buffalo County resident, attended many of these meetings in the past year to voice his concerns about the frac sand industry — particularly what he believes will be unsafe heavy truck traffic on winding local roads.

"This just came out of nowhere and caught everybody by surprise," O'Connor said. "We've got a lot of very fearful people and a lot of very greedy people, and the tragedy is the lack of political leadership to bring these people to the table together to work something out."

Jobs, environment part of debate

In Gilmanton, a town with fewer than 500 people in Buffalo County, many lawns sport bright green signs proclaiming "Sand = Jobs." About half the residents in attendance at a public hearing in June wore bright green shirts with the same slogan, provided by Glacier Sands, a mine operator applying for permits.

Company co-owner Ryan Thomas said he plans to hire about 100 employees plus local contractors for electrical, welding and other services for the four mining, processing and loading sites his Menomonie-based company is planning for Buffalo County.

In addition to jobs, the local economic benefits of frac sand mining include equipment purchases and increased property tax revenues.

Mine supporters wear pro-sand mining T-shirts to a Buffalo County Board meeting in Gilmanton, Wis. on June 14, 2012. Kate Prengaman/Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Negative impacts include wear and tear on county roads from hundreds of sand trucks hauling heavy loads. Some counties, including Chippewa and Wood, have created road impact fees that would shift the costs of damage and improvements to the frac sand companies.

For many residents, the promise of new jobs and new industry trumps all other concerns.

"No one moves here, there's no jobs here," said Lisa Bloom, a local teacher wearing a green "Sand = Jobs" shirt. "Change is hard, but Gilmanton needs change to survive."

Bloom and her family intend to lease their Buffalo County farm to Glacier Sands so the company can mine the property's rolling hills. Once mining is complete in about 15 years, she said her family plans to farm on the newly leveled fields.

Bloom isn't worried about her family living with a mining and processing operation in their backyard. But across Wisconsin's sandy countryside, people living near such operations are concerned about the health effects of dust.

The sand grains themselves are harmless — think sand on a beach — but the silica dust particles created by the sand processing are basically tiny glass shards.

Exposure to silica dust can cause silicosis, a potentially fatal lung disease. There are federal limits on acceptable silica exposure in the workplace, and some workers use respirators. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reported 75 deaths in Wisconsin from silicosis between 1996 and 2005, mainly among manufacturing and mining workers.

According to Darrell Smith of the trade group Industrial Minerals Association, based in Washington, D.C., silicosis is easily prevented with good ventilation and engineering that keeps dust in enclosed spaces and minimizes risks to workers.

A conveyor pours crushed sand into a stockpile before it is washed and sorted by grain class size at the Preferred Sands mine in Blair, Wis. on June 20, 2012. The stockpiled sand is kept wet to minimize dust. Lukas Keapproth/Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Some mines and processing plants also monitor the air outside their facilities, but according to Hillary Carpenter, a toxicologist with the Minnesota Department of Health, no research-supported safe level of silica exposure in the ambient air has been developed. At a June public meeting in Winona, Minn., he explained that to date, there has not been enough concern about environmental silica exposure to warrant a study.

At the Preferred Sands facility in Blair, the company has installed dust collectors at key points in the sand process and has erected monitors along the perimeter, Murchison said. The company also only ships sand in covered railcars.

Chemical use raises questions

Another concern centers on the use of chemicals called flocculants that many facilities use to help remove sediments so that they can continually reuse the millions of gallons of water needed for mining and processing.

Gerasimo and other environmentalists worry that the flocculants may make their way into the groundwater and cause unforeseen problems. According to the DNR's Woletz, these chemicals already are approved for erosion control and even municipal water treatment. The mines use lined storage ponds to prevent seepage into the groundwater, he said.

Murchison said the Blair mining and processing facility recycles 90 percent of its water — the remainder evaporates — further reducing the potential for groundwater contamination. He said the company wants to be a good neighbor and has established a citizen steering committee to help Preferred Sands understand and address community concerns.

"We need this stuff, we need natural gas," Murchison said. "We need energy independence, in my opinion. I think that the key is we're going to do it, but let's do it right."

But when companies don't take thorough environmental precautions, accidents can happen, as two spills in May demonstrated.

At a Burnett County mine, a leak in a new storage pond poured silty water into the St. Croix River for days until a hiker noticed the problem. Shortly after Preferred Sands bought the mine in Blair from a Canadian company, a wet stockpile of sediment slipped and flooded a neighboring home.

Murchison said the company knew the stockpile it inherited was unstable. Over the winter, the material was too frozen to move. Once it thawed, workers quickly moved to restructure the large pile. But before they finished, a big storm dumped so much rain that the remaining pile slid downhill, he said.

Both companies are now facing possible fines from the state.

"We've had a huge amount of change since we had that spill," Murchison said. "Every day, we have to leave everything so that it will be safe in case it rains two inches overnight."

Gerasimo and O'Connor both worry about other damage to their communities, such as lost tourism or residential development if the mining operations detract from the quiet and peaceful scenery that draw people to west-central Wisconsin.

"Many of us are here for Aldo Leopold's sand country," O'Connor said, referring to the famous Wisconsin environmentalist. "This is a really spectacular piece of the world, so to have it ripped apart is kind of emotional.

"But there is a pretty compelling story on the other side. It's a very ambiguous issue which makes it emotionally very difficult."

The nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, other news media and the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by the Center do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

This article first appeared on Wisconsin Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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Tagged: DNR, Frac-Sand Mining, Fracking, Jobs, local government, mining, natural resources, permits, Rural Wisconsin, water, zoning
One reply on "Wisconsin frac sand sites double"
Richard Reinke says:
Could this article be directed to Assembly Representative Brett Hulsey rep.hulsey@legis.wi.gov
and Susan Hedman EPA regional director located in Chicago. Because the frac sand crosses state lines: Wisconsin to Pennsylvania, the feds have jurisdiction because it constitutes interstate commerce.
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Peggy Spiegler Melanoma Research Foundation Transforms Tragedy to Action
Everyone's life is marked by defining moments. A marriage, the birth of a child, or a job promotion would mark a happy or joyous defining moment. An illness or the loss of a job would mark a sad or unhappy defining moment. I would consider a stage four melanoma diagnosis a tragic defining moment.
Some people are fortunate and their lives are free of any tragic moments. For the Spiegler family our tragic moment came on February 8, 2008. That is the day when Peggy woke up and said to me, "I don't feel horrible but something is not right." Two weeks later we were in the doctor's office at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania and learned that Peggy had a stage four melanoma.
Peggy's bravery in the face of such a dire diagnosis was typical of so many other patients that I have since come into contact with. I do not know where they get their strength. Her gallant fight to beat melanoma lasted only a few months. When she was diagnosed in 2008 there was not much in the arsenal of drugs to help her survive. I once read someone describe how a small platoon of soldiers were all killed by an overwhelming force. The writer said they were not defeated, they were overwhelmed. That is how I will always remember Peggy's struggle.
After we lost Peggy our family decided that we wanted to do something to honor her name and help prevent other families from going through the same nightmare that we did. We had no definite plan in place but we reached out to our family and friends to help organize our first fundraising event. We have been raising funds ever since then.
In November of 2014 The Peggy Spiegler Melanoma Research Foundation met with six other foundations in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The intent was to bring small grassroots foundations together to share resources, make our voice louder, and support each other.
As I sat at the table and listened to people tell their stories of how they had lost family members, I was amazed at the strength of these people. They were not going to let melanoma define them. They were going to fight back. I was energized by their strength. I sat there and revealed my innermost feelings to people that I had never met in my life, feelings that I had not shared with my family. I knew that it was safe to do this and that everyone there would know exactly how I felt.
The group of seven original members has grown to over 20 members and I am so proud to be a part of what that group, the Melanoma Action Coalition, has accomplished in two short years. MAC has also helped to redefine the mission of the Peggy Spiegler Melanoma Research Foundation. We are spending more and more time on education and prevention. Our free skin screenings and awareness programs are a big part of what we are doing now to help save lives.
Yes, our family and friends are permanently scarred by the Feb. 8th diagnosis, but we are out there fighting hard so that other families do not have to be defined by that same diagnosis.
--Neil Spiegler
Neil heads the Peggy Spiegler Melanoma Research Foundation and is president of the Melanoma Action Coalition
Polka Dot Mama Raises Melanoma Awareness
My name is Tracy Callahan and I am the Founder and CEO of the Polka Dot Mama Melanoma Foundation established in 2015. I was first diagnosed with early stage melanoma at the age of 38, and by age 40, I had been diagnosed two more times. I am the Mom of two amazing boys ages 8 and 11 and they nicknamed me the "Polka Dot Mama" because of my many moles. I consider myself fortunate that my melanomas were caught early. I know that this is not the case for many.
After my third diagnosis I decided to start blogging. I knew that I wanted to use my voice to raise awareness for this often unspoken about cancer. Soon after starting my blog I began planning a Gala. I knew that I wanted it to not only benefit melanoma research, but I also wanted to stay committed to keeping it locally sourced. In addition to being a melanoma advocate, I am also a foodie! On May 1, 2016, we hosted our first annual "Taste For a Cure: Chef's Gala Benefiting Melanoma Research." This unique farm-to-table gala allowed us to raise $40,000 that was donated to the Melanoma Research Alliance, our charitable ally. We have been overwhelmed with the support of our local community.
In addition to raising money for research through our community efforts we have also raised over $30,000 this year for education and awareness efforts. We have been able to raise awareness both through social media and at a local level. We attend sporting events, run clubs and local events handing out free sunscreen and promoting sun healthy habits and early detection of melanoma. We also provide education to school age children all the way up to adults. Our vision is to reduce the incidence of melanoma by raising awareness, encourage prevention and improving early detection, rapid diagnosis and effective treatment of melanoma.
This fall we have several events planned including a Chili Cook Off to fund the installation of sunscreen dispensers at nine local firehouses, a virtual 5K Polka Dot Run that anyone in the world can participate in and a Martinis for Melanoma. We are also in full swing organizing our second annual Taste for a Cure that is already half sold out!
We are honored to be collaborating with the Melanoma Action Coalition and hope that together we can have a larger impact.
Remembering, sharing, and working together
Announcing MAC's new blog.! Over the coming months, we plan to feature both personal reflections and informative articles submitted by our members. In our first post, one of our members recalls her first MAC meeting and all that has happened since..
My daughter Rebecca was not a big fan of groups. Although she did meet and share experiences with others in waiting rooms and hospitals throughout the course of the clinical trials in which she participated, she did not seek out support groups or online communities during the seven years she lived with melanoma. We who were caring for her followed her lead. We were like travelers doing our best to navigate strange and treacherous territory without the benefit of the experience of anyone who had gone before.
After we lost Rebecca and decided to establish a foundation in her memory, we continued to go it alone. We stumbled through everything from incorporating and applying for 501(c)(3) status to planning our first fundraisers and deciding how to spend the money we raised, without ever thinking that we might benefit from talking to others who had done this all before. After about two years of our Lone Ranger existence, it occurred to me that it might be useful to find and connect to other melanoma organizations. I contacted the Melanoma Research Alliance and had the good fortune to speak with Jennifer Engel, who was then MRA's Development Manager for Foundations. She promptly added our foundation to MRA's mailing list and gave me names of a few other foundations working in my local area. I was happy to have this bit of connection but did not reach out any further after that, continuing to steer my foundation along its lonely path.
A few months later, I brought in the mail and found an interesting letter. It was from Neil Spiegler, who ran the Peggy Spiegler Melanoma Research Foundation in New Jersey, and it invited members of foundations throughout the mid-Atlantic region to attend a meeting in Cherry Hill, NJ that fall. I was excited beyond belief at the invitation. I would actually get to meet some other people doing what I was trying to do, share ideas, maybe get some advice. I promptly accepted the invitation and eagerly awaited the meeting date.
On November 1, 2014, I drove the two hours from Baltimore to Cherry Hill through pouring rain. When I arrived I couldn't find the address I was given. After driving in circles quite a few times, I finally located the meeting place and ran from the parking lot through sheets of rain to arrive soaked and disheveled just as the meeting was about to begin. The greeting I received was as warm and welcoming as the outside was cold and nasty. There were 10 of us, representing seven organizations, gathered around the table. We introduced ourselves informally before we began and then told our stories more fully as we sat down together. The stories we told were not just about fundraisers and awareness activities but about why we were doing what we were doing. They were stories of those we had lost and stories of those who were still fighting this disease—and as I told Rebecca's story, I felt that for the first time in many years I was talking to people who got it, who understood, just as I understood their stories,
We talked together, cried together, worked and planned together that day, and left knowing that we had already formed strong bonds. In subsequent months, we began the work of building a formal coalition. We are now 20 organizations strong and growing. Our membership reaches from coast to coast. We share ideas and resources, turn to each other for advice, support one another, and bring our voices together to advocate for such public policy initiatives as restrictions on the use of tanning beds. But at the heart of what connects us is still a shared commitment to defeating melanoma rooted in deep personal experience.
In February, we held our first annual meeting in Washington, DC. Many of us gathered for dinner afterwards. As drinks were served, one of our members asked for our attention. Raising his glass, he made a toast "to all those who aren't with us tonight." No other words were necessary. Raising our glasses, we looked around the table, meeting the eyes of those who knew our stories, those who understood our pain, and those who shared our determination to work together toward the day when no one has to sit round a table remembering a loved one lost to this dreadful disease.
Christine Garrison
Christine is president of The White Aisle Foundation and a MAC Steering committee member.
These entries are the collective work of MAC members.