---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <20190329035813.GA19410@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2019 03:58:13 +0000 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Ramping Up The Campaign To Make Our Hospitals Safer (This is from the CWA newsletter) CWA members across New York State have been campaigning for years as part of a labor and community coalition to protect healthcare workers and make hospitals safer by establishing safe staffing ratios for nurses and other healthcare workers. Nurses and other healthcare workers - including many of our members - are being forced to care for more patients than they can adequately handle, even as hospital CEOs make millions of dollars per year. Again and again, research shows that this increases the odds of infections or even death. CWA members have advocated tirelessly for years for legislation that would set standards across the state for healthcare worker patient loads. With the New York State Assembly in its final days of debate on their budget proposal, we're focusing on making sure that the budget includes a guarantee to regulate safe staffing ratios after a study of the issue by the Department of Health is complete. You can help. Call your NY State Assemblymember at 855-980-2128 to tell them that the budget must include a guarantee to regulate Safe Staffing ratios after the study is complete. -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <3b46816f-e09f-44db-a1da-8012246c754d@googlegroups.com> Date: 29 Mar 2019 09:25:15 -0700 From: "Neal McLain" <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com> Subject: FTC hands multimillion-dollar fines to four robocalling companies By Adi Robertson, CommLawBlog, Mar 27, 2019, 11:38am EDT Four "robocalling" companies, including an operation that allegedly scammed businesses by pretending to be Google, have shut down and settled lawsuits with the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC announced the news yesterday, claiming that the groups made "billions" of illegal prerecorded calls to phones across the US. Now, they've agreed to pay several million dollars and cease operations. It's a noteworthy step, but it's only one small piece of solving the robocall problem. https://tinyurl.com/y3dup27y Neal McLain Brazoria, Texas USA ------------------------------ Message-ID: <bd095075-17db-4727-a71e-f7c3f6a995ad@googlegroups.com> Date: 29 Mar 2019 14:09:24 -0700 From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Man gets 20 years for hoax call that led to fatal police shooting CBS News reported that a California man was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for making bogus emergency calls to authorities across the U.S., including one that led police to fatally shoot a Kansas man following a dispute between two online players over a $1.50 bet in the "Call of Duty: WWII" video game. U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren sentenced [accused person], 26, under a deal in which he pleaded guilty in November to a total of 51 federal charges related to fake calls and threats. The 2017 death of 28-year-old Andrew Finch drew national attention to the practice of "swatting," a form of retaliation in which someone reports a false emergency to get authorities, particularly a SWAT team, to descend on an address. Authorities said an Ohio gamer recruited [accused person] to "swat" a Wichita gamer, but the address they used was old, leading police to Finch, who was not involved in the video game or the dispute. full article at: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tyler-r-barriss-sentence-20-years-hoax-call-fatal-police-shooting-today-2019-03-29-live-updates/ ***** Moderator's Note ***** Ellis Paul was right: the man convicted is a loser, and that's all I want to know about him. I won't repeat his name. Prime Miniter Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand has set an example for the rest of the world, by refusing to name the shooter at the Mosques in Christchurch, and thus has brought credit to herself and the nation she leads, by deciding not to pretend that knowing who committed a crime is the same thing as taking action to prevent it happening again. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Sat, 30 Mar 2019