| Dublin police to ride three-wheeled scooter
DUBLIN Police will soon be patrolling the city's busiest shopping center on a three-wheeled, clean-energy scooter. The T3 scooter, which has a top speed of 25 mph, looks like a beefier version of a Segway. It runs on batteries that need recharging every 30 miles. The police department now uses patrol cars and bicycles to navigate the shopping center on Hacienda Drive and Dublin Boulevard. The scooter, which was donated by center businesses, will give officers a good option, said Dublin police Lt. Glenn Moon. Patrol cars have more visibility, a good deterrent to bad behavior, but they are harder to use in crowded areas, Moon said, while bikes can be used when officers don't necessarily want to be seen. The motorized scooter is the best of both worlds, he said. "It has the (visible) deterrent of a patrol car, but somewhat of the stealth" of a bike, Moon said.
Rialto Muslim woman's headscarf lawsuit allowed to move forward
When booked at the jail, a guard forced Medina to remove the scarf and remain without it for most of the day, until she was released, she stated. A devout Muslim, Medina wears the scarf, called a hijab, as part of her religious practice. County officials have said head coverings are security risks. In its motion, the county sought to dismiss one of four claims in Medina's lawsuit. She could not prove nor did she allege that she was threatened or harmed at the jail, the county argued. The ACLU responded that a physical threat was not required under the statute. The threat of additional detention at the jail was sufficient cause for Medina to feel intimidated, attorneys argued. In her ruling, Phillips agreed that the "element of restraint" was a factor.
Flip Shelton: Don't sweat the scorpions
NI Hao. I'm back from the Kingdom of Bicycles and had a cracker of a holiday. It seems my pre-travel worries were unwarranted. (Dear reader: if you missed my last column I was caught in a Chinese conundrum and feared retribution from the god of travel, Hermes.) According to English pop songstress Katie Melua, there are "nine million bicycles in Beijing" and, given that the city is as flat as Ballarat, the topography is certainly conducive to cycling. To give you some perspective -- just over one million bikes were sold in the whole of Australia last year, while in Beijing nine million bikes exist in an area roughly twice the size of Melbourne. That's about 536 bikes a square kilometre! In bravery akin to a matador facing a rampaging bull, cyclists gather at intersections before building up enough strength in numbers to venture across.
Road rage madman hits cyclists
There is a relevant law on the statutes, you know. Bugger the bike riders. Posted by: uncle arthur v the ugly of north 11:55am today Comment 24 of 26 WR, too right I dont own a bike and if I did i certainly wouldnt ride it on the road during peak hours. People are wanting to get to work and constantly having to wait and make way for bikes that should be on bike paths drives alot of people mad, as your comment about arrogance and agressiveness proves! Posted by: HG of 11:55am today Comment 23 of 26 To Bikes are FIne on Roads!! of Perth, i didn't say that i don't feel sorry or feel bad for the riders that were hurt.. i think the attack is disgusting.. But just like alot of OTHER people commenting, i am saying that riders are beginning to become a problem and they should be paying the same fees as drivers to use the roads.
ACTU pleads for rate rise amnesty
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is being urged to consider the plight of working families when deciding whether to increase interest rates this week. Analysts say higher than expected December quarter inflation figures and solid domestic demand give the RBA a strong case to increase interest rates at its board meeting in Sydney tomorrow. If the bank's board does decide to raise rates, they will be at their highest level in 12 years. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) says low and middle income families cannot afford another rise, and the RBA should hold rates at current levels until the full impact of the global financial situation becomes clearer. ACTU president Sharan Burrow says many families already have their finances stretched to the limit by mortgages, credit cards and other loans, and the RBA should look at other economies.
Saturday Mechanic: Servicing Brake Discs
If the dime goes in beyond the top of the president's head, the score is too deep. If a score is too thin for the dime to slip in, it's harmless. Another test is to run your fingernail across the surface radially. If your nail catches, the rotor needs to be resurfaced. If not, you're probably okay, provided there's enough thickness left on a true-running rotor. Uniform thickness is critical. Measure each rotor with an outside micrometer at a number of evenly spaced points around the lining contact surface. A variation of .005 in. or more is enough to cause the pulsation you feel. Lateral runout is caused by a rotor that's uniform in thickness, but is wavy. Uneven thickness and excessive runout often go together. That is, the runout causes the uneven wear on the rotor.
Michigan Lawmakers Want To Repeal Mandatory Motorcycle Helmet Law ...
Just when confidence in elected officials is falling. And just when people think governing has become the shallowest enterprise since Amway. We now have Michigan legislators draining a little more water out of the pool. Michigan lawmakers today (June 7) repealed Michigan's 37-year-old mandatory motorcycle helmet law. Now, only a veto by Governor Jennifer Garnholm, who is running for re-election in a tough contest against former Amway president Dick DeVos, can stop this assinine piece of legislation. According to AAA Michigan, the bill, sponsored by Sen. Alan L. Cropsey (R-DeWitt), would remove the mandatory helmet requirement for all riders and passengers 21 years of age or older, but does not require motorcycle riders to carry Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance coverage.
How will the $14B transit upgrade for B.C. affect you and your ...
This transit funding will be spread over 10-20 years, so at maybe $1 billion per year it is half of the recent commitment to roads. And Victoria is actually only promising to contribute $4.7 billion of this funding, so its real commitment of about $300 million annually is 15% of its new capital spending on roads. Transit ridership is about 11% of commuter traffic, so this is indeed perfectly fair and democratic, especially if you just want to keep transit usage where it is...which seems to be the real plan. Noticing that a key funder--Ottawa--was not even at the press conference, one begins to wonder if this "transit-expansion business plan" was written for the Vancouver Stock Exchange. Posted January 15, 2008 11:34 AM .
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