2 Store Owners Charged In $1.3M Cell Phone Insurance Fraud Scheme

May 20, 2015

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com)

Officials Wednesday announced two cell phone store owners have been charged for their involvement in an insurance fraud scheme that amounted to over $1 million.

According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Jason Young Kwon, 31, of Santa Fe Springs, and David Kisuk Chang, 31, of Burbank were each charged with 22 counts of insurance fraud, 18 counts of identity theft, and one count of grand theft.

Authorities explained Kwon and Chang were business partners who owned separate cell phone stores. They are accused of billing more than $1.3 million from an insurance company after filing false insurance claims for cell phones that were allegedly stolen, lost or damaged.

In 2011, two fraudulent claims were submitted by using forged drivers licenses of two male customers.

Authorities explained the customers were unaware that their licenses were being used for illegal activity.

Replacement cell phones that were provided by the insurance company were then sold by Kwon and Chang for profit.

Both men pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against them on Monday and Tuesday.

They are scheduled to return to court on May 28 for a preliminary hearing.

If convicted, Kwon and Chang face up to 43 years, eight months in state prison, the district attorney’s office reported.

The California Department of Insurance is investigating the case.

Canadian TSB encouraged by rail safety advancements, concerned by stalled progress in aviation and in fishing safety

May 21, 2015
 
Gatineau, Quebec 

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) today released its annual reassessment of responses to Board recommendations. The reassessments show that while there has been positive movement to improve rail safety, progress towards advancing safety continues to be slow in the aviation and fishing industries.

Recommendations are made when the Board identifies systemic safety issues that pose a serious risk to Canada's transportation system. The Board then reassesses its active recommendations on an annual basis to determine what progress has been made, and to make those accountable for safety in the transportation system aware of outstanding issues.

“Recent initiatives to improve railway crossing safety and the transportation of flammable liquids by rail are encouraging. However, we are concerned that more needs to be done to prevent approach-and-landing accidents and that fishing vessel safety regulations have yet to be put in force.” said Kathy Fox, Chair of the TSB.

The Board is encouraged by the action taken to improve safety in the rail industry, with seven additional recommendations receiving the highest rating of Fully Satisfactory. 

The new Grade Crossings Regulations will address a number of outstanding recommendations on railway crossing safety. The Board also believes that Transport Canada's announcement of tougher tank car standards will help make the transportation of crude oil by rail safer once they are fully implemented. 

In the meantime, the Board calls upon Transport Canada to ensure that risk control measures during the transition are effectively managed.  Also, more progress still needs to be made for physical defences against misinterpreting or not following railway signals.

In aviation, Transport Canada has been slow to respond to some recommendations regarding aircraft certification requirements, particularly in the areas of post-impact fires. Progress is also slow in addressing two recommendations which would prevent or minimize the consequences of approach-and-landing accidents, as described in the TSB Watchlist. 

On the other hand, offshore helicopter operations will become safer, as people aboard those flights will require emergency breathing apparatuses and flights will only be conducted if the sea conditions allow for safe ditching in the event of an emergency.

In the marine mode, progress towards advancing fishing vessel safety is stalled by delays in enacting the new Fishing Vessel Safety Regulations. The new regulations will require additional emergency equipment, education and vessel stability information. 

Until the regulations are in force, lives will continue to be lost. Because of the delays, the Board has reassessed five fishing vessel safety recommendations and assigned the lowest rating of Unsatisfactory. 

That said, the Board is pleased that Transport Canada and other stakeholders have developed the National Places of Refuge Contingency Plan and regional plans have been completed, posted and exercised for all regions. This will mitigate risks associated with navigation-related emergencies.

Oil Miners and Profiteers Band Together to Add Their Voice to Climate Debate

Published in Oil Industry News on Thursday, 21 May 2015
Europe’s largest oil companies are banding together to forge a joint strategy on climate change policy, alarmed they’ll be ignored as the world works toward a historic deal limiting greenhouse gases.

These sleazebags and polluters, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA, BP Plc, Statoil ASA and Eni SpA are among oil companies that plan to start a new industry body, or think tank, to develop common positions on the issues, according to people with knowledge of the matter. So far the largest U.S. companies -- Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. -- have decided not to participate, the people said, asking not be named before a public announcement expected as early as next month.

Efforts to reduce fossil fuel investments and spur renewables such as solar and wind power have gathered pace in the past two years with oil companies sitting largely outside the debate. One aim of the European producers will be to push natural gas as more climate friendly in generating power than coal, the people said. Of the most used fossil fuels, gas is the one that pollutes the least while coal tops emissions.

“There are companies that are now going beyond the industry’s traditional defensive position by at least appearing to rethink strategy and practices,” said Carole Mathieu, research fellow at the French Institute for International Relations in Paris.

The heads of the biggest European oil producers have been pushing the idea of more active engagement with climate policy in recent weeks.

“If each of us is attacked separately, we will be stronger as a group,” Total Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said today in Paris. “If we have an announcement of something, it will be then.”

Waking Up

The industry is slowly waking up to the existential danger to their operations emerging from policies designed to limit climate change. With global temperatures and carbon emissions at a record, governments are looking for a way to clamp down on pollution. 

The International Energy Agency, a policy adviser to industrial nations, says half of all fossil fuel reserves may have to remain in the ground to prevent overheating.

“We’re trying to put together a group of people to begin to speak the same language” on climate, BP Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley said at a meeting hosted by IHS Inc.’s CERA consulting unit in Houston in April. “There’s a bit of different language coming out of different companies and therefore our voice is lost in this.”

Statoil Chief Executive Officer Eldar Saetre has embraced the UN’s goal to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, a level beyond which scientists say will bring disastrous climate change such as more violent storms and rising sea levels. He set up a renewable energy unit and described steps the industry should follow, starting with a shift to cleaner fuels such as gas, reducing flaring and support for carbon pricing.

Seeking Acceptance

“If we don’t, we risk becoming an industry that neither gets access nor acceptance -- and that’s not a good thing,” Saetre said at the CERA gathering.
Shell is urging the industry to get out of its defensive crouch and make its views understood. It wants alternative arguments to counterweight the divestment campaign, which has persuaded institutions such as the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Stanford University to scrap fossil fuel investments.

“In the past we thought it was better to keep a low profile on the issue,” Chief Executive Officer Ben Van Beurden said in February. “It’s not a good tactic. We have to make sure that our voice is heard by members of government, by civil society and the general public.”

Demanding Action

The European companies are more sensitive to environmental issues because governments in the region are leading the way on climate and voters are demanding action. The 28-nation European Union plans to cut carbon emissions 40 percent by 2030, double the commitment it made for 2020.

For their part, Exxon and Chevron say there’s little difference in the approach between them and their European competitors. Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson has said he’d speak more openly about the issue and acknowledged the risks of climate change warrant action. He is urging policymakers to consider a global price on carbon emissions and since 2007 included carbon prices in his company’s business planning.

Chevron said today in a statement that it shared the concerns of governments and the public about climate change and action was needed to address the risks. Exxon declined to comment.

While Europe’s big oil groups present a friendlier position toward climate change, they are continuing with investments that environmental groups sharply criticize, including drilling in the Arctic.  They are able to do that because of the corrupt U.S. Congress and U.S. Government;  most of these crooks are sold to the oil company lobbyists.

Slight Reductions

Emissions data released through the Carbon Disclosure Project shows little difference between the U.S. and European oil companies over the past four years. All of the companies have reduced pollution “slightly” since 2011, with BP in the lead mainly because of asset sales needed to pay more than $40 billion in costs associated with a Gulf of Mexico disaster in 2010.

“All companies need to be low-carbon or zero-carbon by 2050,” said Paul Simpson, CEO of the Carbon Disclosure Project, which helps 822 institutional investors with $95 trillion in holdings analyze risks from sustainability issues. “The oil and gas sector is one that doesn’t yet show a clear transition. The longer that goes on, the more concern investors will have.”
Source: www.bloomberg.com

6 WORKERS HURT IN FLOOR COLLAPSE AT DOWNTOWN LA CONSTRUCTION SITE. THE COLLAPSE OCCURRED DUE TO THE FAILURE OF FLOOR SUPPORTS

MAY 21, 2015

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Six workers were hurt when the second floor of a building under construction in downtown Los Angeles collapsed Wednesday, fire officials said.

The incident took place at a four-story construction site at 1000 S. Olive St. at around 7 p.m, said Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

At least five workers were taken to the hospital, but no one was seriously injured, officials at the scene said. Workers were pouring concrete on a wooden frame when the floor buckled.

In total 35 firefighters attended the scene to aid the rescue effort.

Initially it was thought the incident was caused by structural collapse, however it was later discovered it had occured due to the failure of floor supports. It caused the freshly poured concrete floors to come crashing down.

Aerial footage taken by NewsChopper4 showed workers on gurneys being loaded onto the back of ambulances.

FALLING FACADE INJURES CONSTRUCTION WORKER IN KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE

MAY 21, 2015

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE

A construction worker was injured when the front facade of a building collapsed on him near downtown Knoxville on Thursday, officials said.

The 20-foot-long section of material fell on the man as crews were adding stucco to the single-story building on the 500 block of Cooper Street, according to Knoxville Fire Department Capt. D.J. Corcoran.

The worker, who was not identified, was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center with injuries to his lower legs, Corcoran said.

His injuries appeared to be nonlife-threatening, the captain said.

Source: http://www.knoxnews.com