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The U.S. Forest Service says drones interfered with firefighting aircraft about 25 times last year, often forcing the planes to be diverted from fast-moving wildfires.
Accidents also pose a threat.
Last October, a F182 6-Axis quadcopter drone landed at 1:30 a.m. near the White House lawn after a Washington man lost control of it several blocks away. U.S. Park Police confiscated the device, and the owner was fined $85 for operating an unmanned aircraft in a restricted area.
And debris from a drone that crashed into the ground injured an 11-month-old girl in a stroller on a Pasadena street in September.
To help identify drones, the FAA requires owners to register their aircraft into a federal database before they fly the aircraft outdoors. Since the registry went live in late December, more than 406,000 people have registered. That compares to about 590,000 pilots licensed to fly manned aircraft.
People who do not register their drones could face a civil penalty of up to $27,500 or criminal penalties of up to $250,000 and three years in prison for noncompliance.
Off-the-shelf drones are difficult to detect and monitor because they fly low and slow, and don't carry a radio transponder to signal their position. Most drones are made primarily of plastic and are too small for radar detection.
Drones are banned from flying above most stadiums hosting concerts or sporting events. The FAA advises against flying drones over what it calls critical infrastructure, including power plants, prisons and office buildings, but it is not illegal.
Last year, 45 states considered 168 bills meant to regulate use of drones, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which documents state laws. So far, 26 states have moved to limit police use of drones, bar drone surveillance over private property, or impose other restrictions.
In California, for example, it's illegal to use a drone to photograph or record footage of a person or property without his or her consent. The legislation was mostly meant to limit intrusions by celebrity-seeking photographers.
Some municipalities have passed their own drone rules.
Poway, for instance, passed an ordinance in September that prohibits drones within two miles of a wildfire or other public emergency -- the first such ban in San Diego County -- after drones hindered firefighting efforts. Violators can be fined $1,000 and face possible jail time.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., which makes the Pentagon's MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper missile-firing drones, is based in Poway.
"There's a great irony that one of the world's largest drone manufacturers is based here and is our largest employer," Poway's mayor, Steve Vaus, said in a telephone interview. "But we wanted an enforceable ordinance on the books to protect our first responders in the case of an emergency."
Inevitably, the boom in drone sales has created a market for companies selling counter-measures. Some technology companies have developed devices intended to disable drones by jamming their signals in midflight.
DroneShield, based in Herndon, Va., builds sensors that it says can detect the unique audio signature of a drone in flight, and send an alert if drones fly near a stadium, prison or other restricted property. The company says it has installed about 200 acoustic detection systems so far.
"The chance of drones being used in a way that endangers security and privacy is increasing," James Walker, chief executive of DroneShield, said in a telephone interview. He said the company's devices will be placed along the route of the Boston Marathon on April 18 to notify police if unauthorized drones fly near the runners or spectators.
Some individuals also have taken on the drones.
William "Willie" Merideth, a truck company owner in Hillview, Ky., was grilling dinner for his family on a warm Sunday evening in July when he saw a small drone with a camera mounted on it pass near his property three times in half an hour, he said.
He went inside and grabbed his Binelli shotgun and a few shells of birdshot. After the third blast, the drone fell into the woods behind Merideth's house.
"We had no idea who owned it, what they were up to. Were they looking for stuff to steal? Were they stalking kids? You just don't know," Merideth said in a telephone interview. "There was no other recourse for me to stop them from coming over my property."
The drone's owner called police, and Merideth was charged with felony wanton endangerment and criminal mischief. In October, Bullitt County District Judge Rebecca S. Ward dismissed the charges, saying Merideth "had a right to shoot" the drone.
The incident has made Merideth a folk hero in the corners of the Internet where gun enthusiasts and privacy advocates meet.
The Kentucky press dubbed him "the drone slayer." A banner on Merideth's Facebook page reads: "Not only did I do it, but I meant to do it. And I'd do it again."
Merideth isn't against private citizens flying drones.
"I think they're neat. In fact, I'd like to have one," he said. "But they need to be used in the proper way."
The Pentagon takes a similar position. It was a terrorist target on Sept. 11, 2001, is on the flight path to nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and is the obvious focus of foreign surveillance.
"We're going to leverage every capability we can to protect this building," said Daniel P. Walsh, assistant director for security integration and technology at the Pentagon Force Protection Agency. "This is an emerging threat."
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged the creation of broader coalitions of civil society, business and community leaders to combat the effects of climate change and build support for implementation of the Paris Agreement to limit the rise in global warming.
The Secretary-General also pledged to intensify high-level political action and policy engagement, including a commitment to build momentum at the upcoming Ocean Conference at UN Headquarters in early June 2017.
The threat posed by climate change is ``reason to build ever broader coalitions – with civil society and business, with cities and states, with academia and community leaders,’’ the Secretary-General said in a major speech on 30 May at the New York University Stern School of Business.
The Secretary-General, who has made conflict prevention and reform of the UN development system among his top priorities, underlined the challenges that climate change poses to countries around the globe.
The Secretary-General emphasized the need to strengthen development of the green economy, including the shift to solar power and renewable energy.
``The falling cost of renewables is one of the most encouraging stories on the planet today,’’ the Secretary-General said, noting in particular that in Europe more than 90% of new power generation capacity comes from renewables.
``Those who fail to bet on the green economy will be living in a grey future,’’ Mr. Guterres said in his wide-ranging speech, in which he noted that there was no alternative but to face up to the need for countries to honour and act on climate change commitments.
This Sunday evening at 5 join VPR Classical in wishing a big happy 10th birthday to From the Top, NPR’s showcase of young musicians. The program has spent the last decade introducing us to some of the very best rising talent from around the nation – and, right here in Vermont!
For the next 10 weeks, From the Top checks in with performer from the past to see where he or she has gone in music and in life.
From the Top came to Burlington in February to record this broadcast live from the Flynn in Burlington. Listen this Sunday at 5 on VPR Classical as some of Vermont’s best young musicians take the stage!
Hear the "From the Top" taped live at Chandler Music Hall in Randolph. Featured performers include 17-year-old horn player Katie Jordan from Charlotte and 18-year-old violinist Thea Talento from Woodstock (pictured). Vermont Public Radio will broadcast this special episode on both VPR and VPR Classical.
Ronni Chasen may not be a name you recognize, but she was behind some of the biggest names both in Hollywood and the music industry. Â As a publicist and press agent, she represented artists as big as Alanis Morissette, and she also worked as an Academy Awards strategist, helping seven of her represented films to win Best Picture.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, after attending the premiere of Burlesque, Chasen went on a few work-related errands before heading to her home in Westwood. Â During the drive, she was shot several times in the chest and crashed her car into a utility pole. Â She was pronounced dead at the scene. Â Police say robbery was not the motive, and they’re checking her e-mails and phone records to see if there are any clues as to who might have wanted such an important Hollywood fixture dead.
Domestic animals in France are no longer viewed as “furniture” but as “living beings capable of sensitivity”, after parliament voted in favour of changes to the country’s two century-old Napoleonic civil code.
Up until now, cats and dogs, along with other pets and farm animals, had the same status in the code as an armchair.
The definition was deemed an outrage by a group of French intellectuals and the animal welfare group, Fondation 30 Million d’Amis, which launched a two-year battle to upgrade their status.
“When it was drawn up in 1804, the civil code was the reflection of a society where animals didn’t benefit from the same attention as we afford them today,” said Reha Hutin, head of 30 Million d’Amis.
“At the time in an essentially rural France, animals were considered from a utilitarian perspective, as an agricultural force,” she added, citing René Descartes’ definition of the “animal-machine”.
That view was now “obsolete”, she argued.
In recent months, farming unions had expressed concern that any change – in particular one that afforded animals a special status between “goods” and “humans” – could “threaten livestock farming”.
The new legislation does not go this far, nor does it mention whether animal’s “sensitive” nature means they suffer from battery farming, as Green MPs had hoped.
But Jean Glavany, who drew up the proposed legislation, said it was an important “symbolic” step.
The law does not extend to "wild" animals, from wolves or earthworms.
French criminal law already punishes mistreatment or cruelty to animals with a maximum two-year prison term and 30,000-euro fine.
But experts say that bar a few recent high-profile trials, including when a man from Marseille was handed a year’s jail term for hurling a kitten onto a wall, few cases ended in convictions.
“This will change mentalities, notably among judges and prosecutors so that punishments are truly applied,” said François Legueulle of 30 Million d’Amis.
It could also have repercussions on who a pet ends up with in case of divorce.
“The family judge will be able to take into account the spouses financial situation, their treatment of the animal, its relationship with the children to decide whether it should end up with Monsieur or Madame,” said Mr Legueulle.
There’s a conspiracy afoot! So says alt-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who recently shared his belief that there's a "Jewish Mafia" actively trying to scam and hurt Americans.
The tinfoiled host ad libbed a scattershot monologue about the Jewish brothers Ari, Ezekiel and Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday, warning his listeners of the apparent dangers they pose.
If this sounds anti-Semitic to you, you're not alone. Jones prefaced his impressive rant by acknowledging that he is frequently called anti-Semitic.
“They’re always trying to claim that if I talk about the world government and corruption, I’m anti-Semitic,” Jones said.
As with most Jonesian rants, what followed was a string of sentences that mostly led nowhere, interrupted by outbursts about George Soros' being a Nazi collaborator.
Apart from his denial that the moon landing ever took place, Jones' favorite conspiracy theory has involved a New World Order, supposedly run by Jews with sinister intentions.
Toward the end of the segment, Jones seemed to have come to terms with his anti-Semitism.
"I mean it’s, like, if being against Jews that are weirdo Nazi collaborators and gangsters makes me anti-Semitic, then fine," Jones said. "I’m not against Jews, but at a certain point, when you people call you out, I’ve been called out in hundreds of newspapers in the last month, as being anti-Semitic, because I talk about a global, corporate combine."
Jones has made a name for himself this year, attaining a heightened platform during the current election cycle thanks to Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has often spewed loony theories that originated from Jones' radio show.
Trump’s relationship with Jones is not just superficial. The GOP nominee appeared on Jones’ show in December, where he touted the host’s “amazing” reputation. After the first presidential debate, Trump gleefully adopted Jones’ theory that Hillary Clinton was on drugs during the debate.
Joe Nathan is a veteran of six postseasons.
MILWAUKEE – What do you get the team that has everything?
The Cubs showed on Tuesday one of the ways they plan to strengthen a team with the best record in the majors, by signing a rehabbing former All-Star closer to a low-risk deal for second-half bullpen depth.
“I’m super pumped,” said Joe Nathan, a six-time All-Star, who at 41 is 13 months into his second Tommy John surgery rehabilitation. He was immediately placed on the 60-day disabled list.
Nathan’s signing to a big-league contract for the prorated league minimum (plus performance bonuses) underscores the kind of strategy team president Theo Epstein suggested last week when he talked about ignoring the Cubs’ five-week start and preparing for inevitable adversity and needs.
“It’s always a good strategy,” said manager Joe Maddon, who said a few days earlier that if he could choose something to add to the roster it would be pitching. “You can never have enough pitching depth.
Left unsaid was the fact the Cubs’ biggest position-area weakness is, like most other teams, specifically the bullpen.
A group that looked good the first month of the season, with few stressful innings, was up and down during the 10-game homestand, producing a 5.59 ERA (29 innings) under a heavier workload and more high-leverage conditions.
The Cubs’ pen ranked 13th in the majors in reliever ERA (3.66) heading into Tuesday’s opener of a three-game series in Milwaukee, and four of the Cubs’ eight relievers have ERAs of 4.66 or higher. Only closer Hector Rondon (1.35) and Adam Warren (1.84) are under 3.60.
Nathan, who has pitched in six postseasons, already has thrown four bullpen sessions on his rehab progression, with another scheduled for Wednesday. He heads to Mesa, Ariz., Friday to continue his work with Cubs staff.
“The body feels great all the way around,” said Nathan, whose conditioning regimen is still remembered by young teammates who were routinely outrun in spring training drills by a 38-year-old Nathan as recently as 2013 with the Texas Rangers.
If the next two months of his rehab stay on the pace of his first 13, Nathan could be a low-risk, low-cost impact acquisition in the second half for a team with World Series aspirations.
And as Grimm pointed out, the Cubs’ pen doesn’t have that elder-statesman, veteran presence that helped stabilize last year’s young, sometimes patchwork group.
The Cubs were one of the first to reach out to Nathan, he said, then watched him play catch early in his rehab work, before returning for one of his recent mound sessions.
Once he realized the Cubs were serious, he started texting with Cubs starter John Lackey, a friend from All-Star games and a big-league exhibition trip to Japan.
“I just told him we’re having a lot of fun; ‘you’re going to like it,’ ” Lackey said.
Nathan, who ranks eighth all-time with 377 saves, said one more shot at a World Series ring and a fierce love for the game drove his willingness to go through the grueling process for the second time in his career, in his 40s.
It’s some of the “tedious” moments during the long process that test that desire most he said.
“That’s when you say, `Is this what I really want to do? Is it worth it?’ “ he said. “I knew it was always worth it. They’re going to have to rip the jersey off me to get me out of this game.
On Sunday April 29th from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm everyone is invited to participate in a community healing meditation gathering. Beginners as well as experienced practitioners are welcome.
Asheville is blessed to have this gathering led by Master Mingtong Gu.
Mingtong is one of the most skilled teachers of mindful meditation and group healing.
Mingtong received the Qigong Master of the Year Award at the 13th World Congress on Qigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine. He operates the Wisdom Healing Qigong retreat center in New Mexico as well as provides trainings / healing gatherings all over the world. He is this year’s keynote speaker for the National Qigong Association’s Conference that draws people from all over the world.
During this special gathering, Mingtong will guide you in an energetic method of meditating. This method can be the beginning of a meditation practice or can deepen any meditation tradition you choose to practice.
To sign up and read more about this rare offering as well as other sessions being provided by Mingtong, go to www.chicenter.com/Asheville. For personal assistance with any questions or needs, contact your local Wisdom Healing Qigong teacher, Deb Moore, at debm.moore@gmail.com.
DAW Technologies appointed Robert J. Frankenberg and James S. Jardine as members of its board of directors and David R. Grow as COO. Formerly, Frankenberg was CEO and president of Novell. Prior to joining Novell, he was vice president and general manager of the personal information products group at Hewlett-Packard. Jardine is a practicing attorney in Salt Lake City and the managing director of the law firm of Ray, Quinney and Nebeker. Grow has served as the company's CFO for the past year. He will continue to serve until a replacement is named.
Tuesday — at Cleveland, 7 p.m.
Wednesday — Orlando, 8 p.m.
Wednesday vs. Orlando — The Hornets face former coach Steve Clifford in the 2018-19 regular season finale. Orlando's 127-89 home win on Feb. 14 gave Clifford his first victory against his old team. Former Hornets coaches are 5-4 all-time against Charlotte. Dave Cowens was 0-2, Paul Silas 4-0 and now Clifford is 1-2.
Entering the final home game of the season, the Hornets rank 23rd in the NBA in attendance. Charlotte averages 16,471, which would rank fourth in the 14-year history of the Spectrum Center. The three highest attendance years came in 2015-16 (17,485), 2016-17 (17,332) and 2014-15 (17,192)...Charlotte finished the season 10-20 against the Western Conference. It was the Hornets' worst mark against the West since 2015. Since returning to the NBA in the 2004-05 season, Charlotte has finished with a winning record against the Western Conference only once; The franchise went 17-13 in the 2009-10 season...The Hornets enter Wednesday's final home game with a 25-15 record at the Spectrum Center. Only eight home records have been better — 32-9 in 1998, 31-10 in 2010, 30-11 in 1997, 2000 and 2016, 29-12 in 1995 and 28-13 in 1994 and 2001. Of those eight seasons, only in 1994 did the Hornets fail to make the NBA playoffs.
Edison Sanchez’s two-run double in the eighth inning broke a 3-3 tie to send the Lynchburg Hillcats toward a 6-3 victory, completing a series sweep of Frederick at Calvin Falwell Field Thursday afternoon.
It marked the first series sweep by the Hillcats (28-25) this season against any opponent and improved Lynchburg to 8-3 this year against the Keys (21-30). The victory also stretched the Hillcats’ winning streak to a season-high five games.
After stranding the go-ahead run at third base in the seventh, Lynchburg (28-25) took advantage of a break in the eighth when Levi Hyams reached via a wild pitch on a strikeout. Two batters later, with two outs in the inning, Eric Garcia extended the frame with a walk.
Garcia’s free pass allowed Sanchez to provide the deciding hit with a two-run double into the left-center field gap, which gave Lynchburg a 5-3 lead. He came home on the very next batter thanks to an RBI single by Daniel Castro. Sanchez finished the game 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored, while Castro went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.