Did they get rid of the bedbugs. I might have to use that method someday....but I don't have a stolen trailer.

FYI to my Eastern State friends, have you guys heard of a possible terror threat for NY and D.C? I am just now hearing it on the news. Evidently the threat they say is credible but unconfirmed and involves car bombs and tunnels. Right now they are asking to be alert.

Here in CA, and probably it makes me nervous only cause it's happening at the same time as these threats, there is a massive power outage in San Diego, part of O.C. and into AZ. It sounds pretty major but I don't know specifics.


TIS

Washington (CNN) -- U.S. officials said Thursday evening they have "specific, credible but unconfirmed" information about a threat against the United States coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"We have received credible information very recently about a possible plot directed at the homeland that seems to be focused on New York and Washington, D.C.," a senior administration official told CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr.

The plot is believed to involve three individuals who have possibly entered the United States, at least one believed to be a U.S. citizen, the official said.

Shepard Smith referenced it.

They have it on local news now and everything is at a stand still. They still don't know what caused it but say it'll probably be out til tomorrow sometime. Btw, even part of Mexico is affected. I must just be missing it cause parts of OC is affected (I'm just outside of OC). Traffic is a nightmare too I hear. Maybe this is the "carmageddon" LOL I'd hate to be trying to get home now.


TIS

The NYC mayor and police commissioner will be holding a press conference in about 40 minutes to discuss this.

SC,

Although I intend to stay updated, keep us posted if you can. I just heard a brief update on tv. They say it originated in Pakistan and involved 3 people.




TIS

I imagine the national news channels (like CNN) will carry the press conference (about 6:30 your time). I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open now and don't expect I'll be awake later.

I'm sure they will. You get a good night's sleep.



TIS

Priest charged with stealing $143,000 from Swissvale parish
Thursday, September 08, 2011 By Sadie Gurman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Allegheny County district attorney's office today charged a Swissvale priest with pocketing more than $143,000 in church funds over the course of more than a decade.

The Rev. Francis J. Drabiska, 50, of the Word of God Parish told investigators that between 1999 and 2009, he stole as much as $180,000 in loose cash from the church collections, which he said he used "to live a lifestyle beyond his means," according to a criminal complaint.



Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11251/1173110-100.stm#ixzz1XPmaN8L8

That's the world we live in today. The Church has to stop priests from skimming.

Feds pay taxes, let evicted 101-year-old keep home
Josh Katzenstein/ The Detroit News

Two days after being evicted from her southwest Detroit home of nearly 60 years because of back property taxes, 101-year-old Texana Hollis can move back in. On Wednesday, federal housing spokesman Brian Sullivan said the agency would pay the taxes, remove the padlocks and allow the woman and her two sons to remain in the home on the 8300 block of Carbondale.

"We just to make sure that Mrs. Hollis knows that her home of many years is hers to live in for as long as she wants," Sullivan said.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development foreclosed on her house Monday because one of the woman's sons failed to pay $7,000 in property taxes to keep a reverse mortgage taken out in 2002, despite months of warnings. The delinquent tax bill initially was reported as $59.95 based on information from the county treasurer's office. The eviction garnered national attention and calls from outraged readers asking how they could help the woman.

Her son, Warren Hollis, 64, took out a reverse mortgage for the assessed property value of $32,000, an option HUD offers senior citizens.
By 2006, the amount paid to the family exceeded the value of the house, so HUD took control of the mortgage. In June 2010, HUD warned of foreclosure.
On Monday, court officers put the family on the street...

http://detnews.com/article/20110915/METR...e#ixzz1Y1EpxOpy

I wonder what I would do when I'm 101. I guess I'll find out in forty years.

Hey New Yorkers. I was watching something the other day when someone asked why they didn't get their fish from the East River. The guy answered that he wouldn't eat anything out of the East River. You comments.

Because Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes there. Would you eat anything off Luca Brasi's bed?

Have you ever seen the East River?

I think the East River is 80% water. Still better than the Cayahoga River in Ohio.

This is an actual sign posted along the waterways of all five boroughs since 2007. It doesn't inspire much confidence, but it should be noted that good fishing is never more than a short trip from the most urban areas of NYC. I eat fish out of the Long Island Sound all the time.

As long as we are discussing New York sources of nutrition, remember that scene in Pope Of Greenwich Village when Eric Roberts scolds a guy for buying some type of food from one of those street cart vendors? Now that was the early 80s. I don't know how safe they were back then, but what about now?

I eat food from street vendors all the times - dirty water dogs, chestnuts, Mystery Meat on a Stick, and it's all good. How safe is it? I can't remember ever getting sick afterwards.

I live a 10 minute drive from the Hudson River, and I see people fishing quite often. I hope they're simply doing it for sport, because there's not a chance I would eat anything that came from there, especially living near a former GM plant that was on the river, not to mention the nuclear facility that's also nearby.

On my trips to NYC I purchased a couple times from food vendors. I often wondered the same thing though and wonder if it's safe. Then, I look around and see all kinds of "business" people buying food so I guess I go with the flow. Hey I even saw the Law & Order detectives eating food from a vendor. So I figure it can't be that bad LOL

We don't have street vendors in CA (not like NYC). However, when you see old beat up van driving down the street with the menu sloppily hand painted on the truck, that's when I stay away.

TIS

If you ever saw where they store those carts at night, you wouldn't eat anything off of any of them. The rats lick the grills clean at night.

NBCNewYork.com updated 2 hours 11 minutes ago

A helicopter carrying five people has crashed in the East River, and two people are believed to be trapped underwater.
Emergency responders are on scene along the river and in rescue boats near 34th Street.
Authorities said five people were on board and three were pulled out of the water.

Following up on the copter crash, MSNBC is saying that they have pulled all but one woman out of the water (I assume all alive). They also said it was a tourist copter with visitors from England aboard. What a horrible experience. I hope everyone is ok.





TIS

oli -

This may help to answer your remark about eating fish from the East River. The copter went down very close to the bulkhead, and the water is not very deep there (perhaps twenty feet) but the copter is completely hidden from surface view (the water is that murky).

So, in other words, you're not gonna be going fishing there any time soon? (sounds yucky)

TIS

The last passenger was brought up.... she was dead.

Here's a photo of the rescue scene. That chopper is nowhere in sight. And this is the link to the full story.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/helicopter-crash-yorks-east-river/story?id=14666235

Poor lady that died. How sad. You never think of that kind of thing happening, especially while on vacation. The article did say another guy is in critical condition.

Yea, looking at the pic that SB posted, the water is definitely murky. I can imagine how hard it is to dive and search for people.

TIS

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-authorities-evacuating-central-illinois-town-following-train-derailment-20111007,0,5779614.story

This is big time news just minutes from the Mark Mansion. It was on CNN, Fox, GMA, etc... Nobody was hurt, thank God.

I hear there is a major Blackberry glitch throughout the nation (world??)I don't own a Blackberry but I'm hearing there's been an outage for quite a while now. I imagine many are going nuts.


TIS