|
||||
|
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
December 1-3, 2014. International Symposium on Minority Health and Health Disparities conference
Presenter applications are now available for the American Red Cross Emergency Preparedness Academy 2014!
|
Monday, May 5, 2014
MANNFORD WOMAN GUILTY OF FRAUDULENTLY RECEIVING OVER $30,000 IN DISASTER RELIEF
http://www.justice.gov/usao/okn/news/2014/rowellplea0502.html
Office of Inspector General | DHS
MANNFORD WOMAN GUILTY OF FRAUDULENTLY RECEIVING OVER $30,000 IN DISASTER RELIEF
May 2, 2014
TULSA, OKLAHOMA—United States Attorney Danny C. Williams Sr. announced today that a Mannford woman had pleaded guilty in federal court to fraudulently obtaining Federal Emergency Disaster Agency (FEMA) disaster assistance benefits made available to victims of the Mannford wildfires.
Kerry Lynn Rowell, 42, of Mannford, pleaded guilty before United States District Court Chief Judge Gregory K. Frizzell to a charge that she had made false statements to a Federal agency. Rowell faces the maximum statutory penalty of five (5) years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. A sentencing date has been set for August 12, 2014.
According to court documents, from August 23, 2012 to September 23, 2013, Rowell made false statements and provided false documents to support her application for FEMA disaster assistance. Rowell claimed her primary residence was destroyed, when in fact she did not reside at that residence. The house was actually owned by her mother and was uninhabited, dilapidated, and had no utility service. None of the personal property she listed on the FEMA application was in the abandoned house when it was destroyed by the fire. Rowell fraudulently received $31,400 in FEMA disaster assistance benefits.
“Anyone with information that an individual may have defrauded the government in connection with a disaster may call the toll-free Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General Hotline at 1-800-323-8603,” said U.S. Attorney Williams. “Complaints may be made anonymously and confidentially via the official website (www.oig.dhs.gov), or by mailing DHS Office of Inspector General/MAIL STOP 0305, Attention: Office of Investigations—Hotline, 245 Murray Lane SW, Washington, DC 20528.”
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General and the United States Secret Service. Assistant United States Attorney Charles M. McLoughlin prosecuted on behalf of the United States.
If someone has any questions about how assistance benefits may be spent, has made a mistake when reporting damage, or has misrepresented losses, he or she may correct the situation immediately by calling the toll-free FEMA Helpline at 1-800-621-FEMA or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) for the speech or hearing impaired.
Cultural Competency Curriculum for Disaster Preparedness and Crisis Response. A course for all first responders and educational programs
https://cccdpcr.thinkculturalhealth.hhs.gov/GUIs/GUI_CEU_info.asp
According to U.S. Census data, minorities now comprise roughly one-third of the U.S. population, and it is anticipated that these groups will be in the majority by 2042. It is projected that more than half of all children in the U.S. will be minorities by 2023. These changes are attributable to a wide variety of reasons and it is clear that our nation is becoming more diverse; what is less clear is the access to and quality of the health care that Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and culturally diverse individuals will receive. In order to provide appropriate care for diverse populations and to help eliminate current health disparities, the Cultural Competency Curriculum for Disaster Preparedness and Crisis Response (CCC-DPCR) was developed to effectively equip first responders with awareness, knowledge, and skills in cultural competencies to better treat the increasingly diverse U.S. population.
Target Audience
This activity is designed for First Responders of disaster preparedness and crisis response including Emergency Medical Technicians, Psychologists, Psychiatrists and Social Workers.
Registration:
https://www.thinkculturalhealth.hhs.gov/GUIs/GUI_TCHRegister.asp?mode=new&site=4
May 2014. Chikungunya declared an epidemic in the Caribbean
http://www.caribbean360.com/news/chikungunya-declared-an-epidemic-in-the-caribbean?utm_source=Caribbean360%20Newsletters&utm_campaign=aed9667c44-Vol_9_Issue_010_Sunday_News5_4_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_350247989a-aed9667c44-39414761#axzz30oLSVKbn
Chikungunya declared an epidemic in the Caribbean
ORANJESTAD, Aruba, Thursday May 1, 2014, CMC – The head of the Caribbean Public Health Authority (CARPHA), Dr James Hospedales, has declared the Chikungunya virus has reached epidemic proportions in the Caribbean.
“By definition this is an epidemic since it represents an unusual number of cases of this problem where we would never have it before,” Dr Hospedales told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
The mosquito-borne illness was first detected in the Caribbean in December 2013, in St Martin, and last week Antigua and St Vincent and the Grenadines became the latest countries to declare an outbreak.
St Lucia’s Chief Epidemiologist says the focus is on surveillance to stave off a potential Chikungunya virus outbreak. (HTS Channel 4/YouTube)
According to Dr Hospedales, as of April 28, there were 4,108 probable cases in 14 countries across the region.
He also stated that Caribbean countries have been putting measures in place to address the spread of the virus.
“PAHO (the Pan American Health Organisation) since 2012 had done a preparatory briefing, in July of last year we convened a Caribbean-wide virtual meeting of the chief officers in the countries in the labs, to highlight this emerging threat and to adjust our surveillance protocols and laboratory testing to have early detection.
“In December, once it came into the region we established an incident management team, and that has regular contact with the countries, with PAHO, with the French and so on,” Hospedales said.
Chikungunya is spread by the Aedes Egypti mosquito, which also spreads dengue fever.
Hospedales noted there are steps that can be taken to contain the disease.
“Our main recommendations are to continue to educate members of the public on the current situation, and get accurate information to avoid confusion.
“It is very important to inspect homes and communities to eliminate potential vector breeding sites for the Aedes Egypti mosquito,” he said.
He also advised that people who are sick with fever and suspect they may be suffering from dengue or Chikungunya, should use an insect repellant and sleep under a mosquito net.
“This is not a severe disease, in that people don’t die from it, whereas dengue can kill you, but Chikungunya has more long term a significant percent of people will have joint pains one year, two years afterwards,” Hospedales said.
To date Chikungunya virus has been confirmed in Anguilla, Aruba, Virgin Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St Barthelemy, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Maarten (Dutch) and St Martin (French).
Read more: http://www.caribbean360.com/news/chikungunya-declared-an-epidemic-in-the-caribbean#ixzz30oMcuVL1
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Special Announcement: White House Maker Faire
05/02/2014
|
||||
|
Chicago: Country Club Hills police chief gets five years in prison
http://www.suntimes.com/27180113-761/former-country-club-hills-police-chief-gets-five-years-in-prison.html#.U2XnF_ldXvk
Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
Former Country Club Hills police chief gets five years in prison
Former Country Club Hills police chief Regina Evans. | Sun-Times Media
Updated: May 2, 2014 2:28AM
SPRINGFIELD — Described by the prosecution as a “scourge” on Chicago, ex-Country Clubs Hills Police Chief Regina Evans was sentenced late Thursday to five years in prison for stealing more than $900,000 in state grant money.
Opting against the 10-year, one-month sentence that federal prosecutors sought, U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough nonetheless told Evans that she “broke the law in magnificent fashion with a magnificent fraud.”
The heart of government’s fraud case against Evans centered on her misuse of a $1.25 million state work-training grant that was part of her effort to revive the Regal Theater on the South Side. Evans pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money-laundering and conspiracy charges last year.
“That’s what makes your fall from grace so shocking to me, the fact you of all people knew these were crimes,” Myerscough said, alluding to Evans’ background on the south suburban police department and her lengthy time as a homicide detective and narcotics officer with the Chicago Police Department.
After a day of emotional testimony from her daughter, ex-husband, minister and family friends, Evans delivered a tearful 10-minute apology for her crime that drew sobs from many of the roughly two dozen supporters who crowded into the federal courtroom in downtown Springfield.
“I made some bad decisions in my journey to save the Regal Theater,” a gaunt-looking Evans, dressed in a red jumpsuit with her ankles chained, told the judge.
“I made a mistake. I was wrong. But is that enough to take my life away and keep me away from my child and family?” Evans asked, alluding to a 15-year-old son she still has at home.
Her 60 months in prison is to be followed by three years of supervised release, with the first year to be served in home detention. The remaining two years of supervised release require her to do 20 hours per week of unpaid community service.
Plus, Evans was ordered to make immediate restitution to the state for more than $917,000 in funds that prosecutors say was spent improperly from a $1.25 million Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity work-training grant tied to her and her husband’s renovation of the Regal Theater.
“To this day and very minute, she has never acknowledged the extent of the carnage she has caused,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Bass said in a blistering argument for a lengthier term.
“She’s not a person of complete, good character,” he continued. “She’s been a financial and personal scourge on the city of Chicago.”
To drive home those points, the prosecution brought forth one witness, who is a quadriplegic music promoter from Milwaukee, to testify how Evans bankrupted him by not sharing at least $262,900 in ticket sale revenue he was owed from a 2008 rap and hip-hop concert he staged at a Dolton venue she owned.
“Ms. Evans ruined my life. That’s all I can say,” Robert Sain, 31, said as he sat in his wheelchair while testifying remotely via video from Milwaukee.
But Evans’ lawyer, Lawrence Beaumont, outlined a far different picture of his client as he made the pitch to Myerscough to impose a 36-month sentence on his client.
Beaumont cited her decorated work as a suburban and city police officer and noted that former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. got a more lenient 30-month prison term for misusing $750,000 in campaign funds and Beanie Babies tycoon Ty Warner avoided prison altogether despite evading almost $5.6 million in taxes.
“She was a chief of police at Country Club Hills for part of this time. She was for 21 years a Chicago police officer,” Beaumont told Myerscough. “But she literally risked her life for the people of the city of Chicago. She’s been shot at on multiple occasions. She’s been attacked on multiple occasions. She’s saved people’s lives on multiple occasions.”
Without naming names, Beaumont lashed out at the prosecution during the hearing, accusing the government of having a “misguided vendetta” because after she “made telephone calls,” she didn’t deliver any prized political pelts sought by prosecutors.
“In my humble opinion, part of the prosecution in this case had some kind of vendetta against her because she refused to cooperate or didn’t cooperate the way they felt she should against some political people in Chicago. They seem to want to take that out on her, which in my opinion is inappropriate,” Beaumont said.
During testimony in her two-day sentencing hearing, U.S. Postal Inspector Basil Demczak indicated the government criminal investigation into grant fraud at the Department of Commerce and Opportunity remains ongoing.
Asked later to clarify those remarks, Bass said, “I can only speak for what’s in the record. Again, what’s in the record is what Inspector Demczak testified to, and that is this case arose from an investigation of DCEO’s employment opportunity grant program that was targeted at helping underrepresented persons, underprivileged minority persons in the Chicago-area community.
“The investigation involved not just looking at Ms. Evans as one grantee but the entire program and whether or not other persons, other grantees, or other public officials had engaged in any wrongdoing. Inspector Demzak testified that investigation is ongoing,” Bass said, declining to name any targets.
Much of Thursday’s testimony revolved around a succession of character witnesses Beaumont brought forth to bolster his case for leniency, including Evans’ daughter, minister, ex-husband and a man she took in as a troubled youth.
“I just really miss my mother,” her 31-year-old daughter, Jennifer Joanes tearfully told the court.
Dennis Banahan, a former Chicago police lieutenant to whom Evans was married for seven years in the 1990s, broke down as well when he testified that his ex-wife has “got a heart the size of Alaska but warmer.”
As for the charges she pleaded guilty to, Banahan called them “preposterous” and refused to accept them as fact, suggesting his ex-wife admitted wrongdoing merely because “she’s afraid of going to prison for 20 years.”
And Nicholas Mobley, 35, told Myerscough that Evans took him in and cared for him as a teen when his mother had AIDS. Mobley compared Evans to “a female Martin Luther King.”
Bass pounced on that comparison.
“Dr. King didn’t steal from people, did he?” Bass asked.
“I’m not aware of that,” Mobley answered.
Before she handed down Evans’ sentence, Myerscough seemed to dismiss much of what she was hearing from the former police chief’s supporters, saying much of the testimony didn’t comport with the massive fraud prosecutors had proven and that she had admitted to.
“It’s almost as if there’s a delusion somewhere in this room,” the judge said.