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Monday, October 2, 2006

Buffalo, New York —Sam Savarino, CEO of Savarino Companies, the development company to be in charge of building the Elmwood Village Hotel at Forest and Elmwood Avenues in Buffalo, New York has told Wikinews in an exclusive interview that the contract to buy the properties from 1109-1121 on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo has been “extended,” but would not elaborate on how long the extension would last.

“We have extended our agreement to purchase the property and will have it under contract for what we hope is a sufficient period of time,” said Savarino.

The hotel would require the demolition of the five properties on Forest and would cause several businesses to relocate or close their doors. The hotel will be 72 rooms and will cost at least 7 to 10 million dollars to build. Wyndham Hotels is expected to be the owner/operator of the hotel. The properites are still owned by Hans Mobius. Two other properties, 605 and 607 Forest might also be part of the proposal, but lawsuits have so far stopped any development from taking place.

Savarino also stated in a recent interview with Wikinews that his company may be “about ready for round two” in the process of resubmitting the hotel proposal to the City of Buffalo’s Common Council and Planning Board.

“If we were to go through the re-zoning process again it could be arduous,” said Savarino.

In July, Savarino “withdrew” the proposal which is undergoing a “do-over,” according to Vice President of Savarino Companies, Eva Hassett.

In related news, several residents around the area of the proposed hotel were speculating that current roadwork to repair and add sewer lines on Forest Avenue were part of the construction process for the proposed hotel. Savarino has denied those claims.

“We are certainly not doing any work on the site nor is any work being performed on our behalf or at our direction [in relation to the hotel],” said Savarino.

So far, the proposal has not been resubmitted to the City’s Common Council or Planning board and there is no word on when the proposal will be resubmitted.

Wyndham Hotels, which is owned by Cendant Corporation, has not commented on the proposal despite several attempts to contact them.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

A criminal investigation has begun in Edinburgh after three children were killed in a fire at a three storey house just before 3pm yesterday.

Firefighters were called to the house on Slateford Road in Scotland’s capital city, for a reported gas explosion, and they put out a small fire in an upstairs room. However, there was no evidence of an explosion and none of the surrounding houses were damaged. Three young children, two boys and a girl, were found to have died at the scene. Police are treating the deaths as suspicious.

A woman, believed to be the children’s mother, was found injured on the ground in front of the house and there are reports that witnesses saw her jump from a third floor balcony. She was taken for treatment at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

In a statement the Lothian and Borders Police said: “The investigation into the cause of this tragedy is in its early stages.” However, the police have also said that there was no fault with the gas supply.

Post-mortem examinations are due to be carried out on the children’s bodies. Police said no identities would be released until these were completed.

A police spokesperson said: “A criminal investigation is currently under way and nothing more can be said at this time into the circumstances which led to their deaths.”

The mother of the three children, now named as eight year olds Gianluca and Augustino and five year old Cecilia Riggi, is to be questioned by police after details emerged that suggest it is unlikely the children died in the fire.

Neighbours have reported that they heard screaming from inside the house and one source said that when they found the victims lying dead in the living room it was “a horrific scene.” However reports that the children died before the fire broke out have not been confirmed by official sources and only reports by neighbours and others at the scene have indicated this.

Police refused to confirm reports that the children had died before the fire broke out, and say that the results of the post-mortems would help them decide whether to launch a murder inquiry into the incident.

According to Detective Superintendent Allan Jones the mother, Theresa Riggi, and her three children had been living in Edinburgh for little over a month since they were reported missing from their home in Skene, Aberdeenshire last month. Mrs Riggi is currently in a stable condition in hospital and Det Supt Jones said they are hoping to speak to her on Thursday. He said: “She’s not in a position to speak to us at the moment.”

The children were reportedly at the centre of a custody battle between Mrs Riggi and the children’s father, Pasquale Riggi. He has been informed and is helping police to determine the last movements of the family. He is not a suspect in the investigation. Det Supt Jones reported: “He’s heartbroken but he’s very composed. He realizes he holds a lot of central information that we need. We’re conscious of the trauma he’s gone through.”

Theresa Riggi and her husband were going through divorce proceedings and she was due to appear at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Tuesday. She apparently did not attend the hearing. At that time the judge was told that her whereabouts were once again unknown.

The Judge, Lady Clark, granted a search warrant for Mrs Riggi and said that social workers should supervise the children, applying for child protection orders if necessary, after Mr Riggi’s counsel asked for an order to safeguard the children’s interests.

The children were allegedly educated at home so the Social Work Department had had no contact with the family since they moved to Scotland from the US.

It is believed that Mrs Riggi may have turned on the gas, and that a neighbour smelled the fumes and called the emergency services, which may have led to the original report of a gas explosion.

Tributes of flowers have been left close to the scene with cards of sympathy and condolences.

Lothian and Borders Police have released a statement confirming that the post mortems of Gianluca, Augustino and Cecilia have been concluded. Following this statement a warrant was issued and Theresa Riggi was charged with murder.

A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said: “A 46-year-old woman has been arrested and charged with murder in connection with the petition warrant which was granted earlier today,”

“Due to the medical condition of the accused, it is not at this time known when she will appear in court.”

In an earlier statement Mr. Riggi released a statement saying: “Our family is struggling to come to terms with the immense and tragic loss of three beautiful children.

‘Thanks to all who have offered such great comfort and support.

‘We request that the media respect our privacy at this difficult time.”

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Scotland on Sunday published, this Sunday, the results of an undercover investigation into the protests planned for the 31st G8 summit. The investigation of the “anarchists and dissenters” of the movement lasted six months and was carried out by Scott McCulloch, on behalf of the Scottish newspaper’s broadsheet Sunday edition.

McCulloch’s report details the training camps of the protest groups that were held this weekend in preparation for the summit next month. Attendees were expected to learn how to cut or climb over fences and how to avoid injury from attacks by guard dogs. Factories making tubes that protesters use to lock themselves to other protesters are also being set up according to the report on the investigation. Massive road blocks are planned in an attempt to disrupt the summit.

The protests are expected to be coordinated from a central point at the Ecovillage in Forthbank, close to the city of Stirling in central Scotland. An area of land owned by the Council was approved as the location for the ecovillage by Stirling Council on Friday 24 June. The site is intended to be a solar powered campsite for an allegiance of groups making up a possible total of 5000 people. A license to hold the event at Forthbank was sought by Convergence 2005 after two other proposed sites had already been disallowed by the Council.

Despite last minute objections raised by Central Scotland Police, the Council decided that Forthbank would be the least disruptive location for the protesters to gather, and noted that security measures had been taken. Security measures are already visible at other camps, including a steel barrier around the campsite at Craigmillar, Edinburgh. More serious security measures, designed to protect the attendees of the Summit, will involve warships and army helicopters, according to an editorial by Murdo MacLeod in the Scotland On Sunday on Sunday 26. The paper also reports that Mike Smith, from King’s College London, says that security fences and police snipers are expected to be surrounding the area of the Summit.

The summit itself is taking place in Gleneagles, which is 20 miles away from the main campsite in Forthbank. The ecovillage is expected to open at the start of July.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Former U.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Mark Everson took some time to talk with Wikinews about his campaign for the U.S. Republican Party’s 2016 presidential nomination.

Everson served as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the administrative head of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from 2003 to 2007, during the George W. Bush administration. After his departure, he briefly served as CEO of the American Red Cross, worked in the cabinet of Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, and worked for the tax consulting firm alliantgroup. He announced his candidacy this past March with a sixteen-page open letter in which he outlined the six pillars of his campaign: amnesty for illegal immigrants, reinstatement of the military draft, a promise to serve only a single presidential term, and calls for tax reform, deficit reduction, and corporate responsibility.

He was excluded from the August 6 Fox News Republican presidential debate and has been excluded from most presidential polls. However, he is listed on the Republican Party’s website as one of 18 candidates and filed a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint against Fox News for his exclusion from the August 6 debate.

With Wikinews reporter William S. Saturn?, Everson discusses his 2016 campaign, the media blackout of his campaign, and his views on the presidency and the possible Everson administration.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Many rhythm gamers are anticipating the release of “Taiko no Tatsujin 11: Asian Version”, the Namco Bandai Games Inc. (NBGI) beta version of which was recently showcased at the 2008 Taipei Game Show.

In fact, several managers from amusement stores in Taiwan frequently imported large quantities of arcade games, including rhythm games. Eventually, some slot machine developers modified codes from several game consoles like the Wii, PlayStation 2 (PS2), and Sega Saturn to fulfill needs for amusement arcades, but they risked hardware failure and copyright infringement.

But before those modifications happened in Taiwan, many rhythm games just used songs from other arcade machines due to copyright issues from enrolled songs.

The upcoming game will benefit Mandarin-language gamers after its release, but it may hide some secrets behind the development of “Taiko no Tatsujin 11: Asian Version”. Wikinews reporter Rico Shen recently interviewed the producer of “Taiko no Tatsujin” Tatsuhisa Yabushita to talk about some of the background of this upcoming game and its series.

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Leading VoIP provider Vonage negotiated access to the Qwest Communications emergency calling infrastructure, allowing Vonage customers in 14 states the ability to connect directly to emergency dispatchers by dialing 911.

With the exception of Rhode Island, VoIP’s 911 callers were delivered to the administrative offices of a public-safety answering point, instead of connecting directly to a standard 911 dispatcher. The resulting time delay was a consequence of the phone provider’s refusal to give VoIP providers access to the 911 infrastructure. Vonage Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Citron in a recent letter to Qwest Chairman and CEO Richard Notebaert, wrote “I applaud you [Qwest] for your willingness to put the health and safety of Americans before short-term competitive considerations.”

“With the access that Qwest has agreed to provide, Vonage will be able to route emergency service calls placed by its customers directly to public-safety operators, which will help save lives and safeguard property” Citron said.

Verizon agreed to begin a trial in New York City soon, and BellSouth also started “making some movement” on the issue, according to Vonage.

Vonage claims “that SBC has agreed to begin discussions on working cooperatively to improve 911 offerings available to customers using VoIP.” Vonage attorney William Wilhelm, in a letter to the FCC, “noted its concern that SBC has already provided 911 interconnection access to its unregulated VoIP affiliate.”

Monday, September 27, 2010

Low-cost US airline Southwest Airlines announced Monday that it would buy its low-cost rival AirTran Airways for US$1.4 billion. The merger announcement comes just days after United Airlines sealed a merger deal with Continental Airlines.

“The acquisition of AirTran represents a unique opportunity to grow Southwest Airlines’ presence in key markets we don’t yet serve and takes a significant step towards positioning us for future growth,” Gary Kelly, CEO of Southwest, said after the merger was announced.

The Southwest-AirTran deal, which awaits antitrust regulatory approval, will gain Southwest a larger US network. By merging with AirTran, Southwest will also be a strong competitor in Eastern United States cities such as New York City, New York, Charlotte, North Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia and Washington, D.C., cities that Southwest had previously not touched much. Southwest also will be going international for the first time, inheriting AirTran’s Mexican and Caribbean routes. The newly merged company would keep Southwest’s name and livery.

Southwest will be offering AirTran stockholders US$7.69 per share. That’s 69% more than AirTran’s Friday, September 24 closing price. However, AirTran stock shot up 62% to $7.36 on Monday, while Southwest’s stock rose more modestly to US$14.01. Delta Air Lines stock declined by 2% on Monday, as Southwest will gain an AirTran hub at Atlanta, which is also Delta’s primary hub.

The new airline would carry over 100 million passengers, creating the world’s fourth largest airline. Last year, Southwest carried 101,338,000 passengers, while AirTran carried 23,998,000 fliers. Southwest will be 25% larger after the merger is completed.

Though some people worry that airfares will go up, as people worried about during the United-Continental merger, others, including Southwest, aren’t too worried. “America needs this now. You could go from Rochester, N.Y., to somewhere on AirTran, and from Charlotte to somewhere on AirTran. But with this deal you can now go just about anywhere in the country, and to the Caribbean and Mexico, on Southwest.. . With the more than 100 destinations that Southwest will now have, all the legacy airlines will have to set their prices based on whatever Southwest does,” says Tom Parsons of BestFares.com. Parsons also said that “I think America is going to very happy that now they can fly coast-to-coast between 100 U.S. cities and make the legacy airlines be more competitive with the style of Southwest and their low fees.”

Consumer advocate Clark Howard also weigned in with a positive remark on the deal. “It’s so good for the flying public. This is an opportunity for a discounter to have the kind of heft and national reach of the full-fare airlines,” he said.

Southwest even has said that fares could go down, as the “Southwest effect”, which is supposed to stimulate competition, “has the potential to stimulate over two million new passengers and over US$200 million in consumer savings, annually” in Atlanta, according to the company. After the merger, Southwest also plans to drop AirTran’s checked baggage fees of US$20-25. Southwest currently does not charge for checked baggage.

Others aren’t as thrilled with the merger of the low-cost airlines. “This is truly a shocker, and it can only mean further consolidation. I don’t think anyone really saw this coming. More than any recent merger, it spells bad news for low fares, since both airlines were leaders in the low fare space and had frequent, almost weekly, sales. I can only imagine that now pressure is on for American to find a partner, and also US Airways, and that will lead to even less fare competition.” says George Hobica, of airfarewatchdog.com. Hobica also said that “The era of irrational, stupid, destructive fare sales is over. This is the new normal. JetBlue now has permission to raise prices between Baltimore and Boston. Other airlines now have permission to raise prices between Washington, D.C., and Florida.”

Though Hobica was generally pessimistic about the deal, he did state that the Southwest takeover would be a win for AirTran customers, “because Southwest has better service than AirTran and lower fees.”