'Occupy Anchorage' protesters soldier on into winter
01.01.70
Despite two days of heavy snow in Alaska’s largest city with temperatures dropping into the teens at night, the protesters at Occupy Anchorage, an offshoot of the national Occupy Wall Street movement , show little sign of letting up. A few personal tents line the sidewalk of Sixth Avenue, while demonstrators congregate under a larger tent with tarps for walls, gathering around propane heaters.
The Occupy movement has received plenty of publicity -- condemnation and praise. Although the demands of the protesters vary from city to city -- even from protester to protester -- complaints generally revolve around the role money plays in U.S. politics, unequal distribution of wealth, and the growing divide between the "haves" and "have nots."
Protesters assert that 1 percent of the population controls more and more of the country’s wealth.
While the Occupy movement continues to draw publicity around the country -- with protestors being injured or arrested in places like Atlanta, New York City and Oakland, Calif. -- the Anchorage protest has been quieter and smaller. Day or night, people walking or driving downtown and passing by Anchorage's Town Square Park have a good chance of seeing people parading up and down the sidewalk, with signs touting "Peace," "We are the 99%," or "1% got bailed out, 99% got sold out."
Source: Alaska Dispatch
Marin family hospitalized after carbon monoxide poisoning
01.01.70
A family of four poisoned by carbon monoxide fumes from a faulty heater at their Point Reyes Station home was doing fine Monday morning after being whisked to Marin General Hospital by county paramedics.
The parents, along with their son and daughter, thought they had the flu for the past three days as all suffered from flu-like symptoms, but when the two children became listless Monday morning the parents called 911 and were told by a dispatcher to get out of the house.
Marin County fire Capt. Rick Wonneberger said fire personnel took the four to Marin General shortly after 9 a.m. Monday "where they are doing well."
A faulty propane wall heater was to blame, he said, adding a landlord was fixing it and installing carbon monoxide detectors.
"They got sick," he said. "They had flu-like symptoms for three days and it got progressively worse."
Monday morning, "the kids were not acting normally, they weren't responding and were very sleepy," Wonneberger said.
Source: San Jose Mercury News