My Union just posted this link on their FB page, thought I would pass it along for anyone who might find it of benefit.


After a disaster, letting your family and friends know that you are safe and well can bring your loved ones great peace of mind. This website is designed to help make that communication easier.



https://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php

The St. Louis Fire of 1849 was a devastating fire that occurred on May 17, 1849 and destroyed a significant part of St. Louis, Missouri and many of the steamboats using the Mississippi River and Missouri River. This was the first fire in United States history in which it is known that a firefighter was killed in the line of duty. Captain Thomas B. Targee was killed while trying to blast a fire break.

In the spring of 1849, the population of St. Louis was about 63,000 with a western boundary of the city extending to 11th Street. The city was about three quarters of a mile in width and had about three miles of riverfront filled with steamboats and other river craft. St. Louis, located near the junction of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, was the last major city where travelers could get supplies before they headed west. Here travelers bought supplies and switched steamboats before going up the Missouri River to Omaha, Nebraska or other trail heads for the Oregon and California trails west. At the time of this fire, the city was also experiencing a cholera epidemic which would end up killing about 10% of the population (over 4,500). The town was booming as people came in from around the U.S. and abroad and bought supplies before heading overland to participate in the California Gold Rush.

On May 17, 1849 at 9:00 p.m. a fire alarm sounded in St. Louis. The paddle wheeled steamboat "The White Cloud" on the river at the foot of Cherry Street was on fire. The volunteer Fire Department with nine hand engines and hose reel wagons promptly responded. The moorings holding the "White Cloud" burned through and the burning steamboat drifted slowly down the Mississippi River, setting 22 other steam boats and several flatboats and barges on fire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_Fire_(1849)

The Missouri General Assembly ends on Friday. So far, the legislature has approved some consequential bills -- and left others unattended. As we count down to the end of the session on Friday, this list will be updated to reflect legislation that’s passed -- or passed on.

Click on the subject to get more information about the bill.

https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/30898/moleg_bill_list_2013

JEFFERSON CITY • The Missouri Legislature is sending a bill to Gov. Jay Nixon that would make public employee unions ask their members each year if they want to continue being members.

With the legislative session entering its final days, the legislation doesn’t go as far as some lawmakers had hoped toward restricting labor groups. An effort to make Missouri the latest right-to-work state this session appears to have stalled, and the bill that did pass was amended by Democrats.

But the legislation, which earned final approval at the Capitol on Monday, would require public employee unions to get consent every year from members before deducting fees from their paychecks. Additionally, the bill also would require such unions to get annual written permission from members before using those fees for political purposes.

House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, repeatedly has said he sees the so-called “paycheck protection” legislation as a step toward right-to-work. On Monday, after the bill passed his chamber, Jones tweeted that the House had “moved one step closer to complete worker freedom.”

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/elizabeth-crisp/missouri-legislation-could-weaken-public-labor-unions/article_8499e734-cda2-5df3-97a1-d090ed17623d.html

St. Louis – The campaign by workers who legally struck 30 fast food restaurants last week had its first victory highlighting one of the campaign’s key goals – to win respect for fast food workers as valued employees — when an area manager for Jimmy John’s was removed for publicly humiliating the store’s workers.

The manager’s actions were brought to the public’s attention as a result of the new community campaign supporting fast food workers seeking to win a wage increase, job respect and health care and the right to join a union without fear of retaliation.

In an effort to win a reasonable wage that would give them the ability to support themselves, hundreds of fast food workers across St. Louis walked off the job for two days last week to protest miserable wages, working conditions and unfair treatment. The walkouts came on the heels of similar successful efforts in New York and Chicago, and were followed late in the week by a similar protest in Detroit.

While the two-day strike in St. Louis of national fast food outlets by more than a hundred fast food workers, joined by several thousands supporters, went without incident, the campaign’s first major victory – at Jimmy John’s – occurred when the campaign exposed the fact that the manager routinely humiliates workers by forcing them to degrade themselves publicly by holding up embarrassing signs:

http://labortribune.com/fast-food-workers-win-first-battle-area-manager-removed-from-store/

Republic Services Inc. will place a plastic cap on its Bridgeton landfill by early September to control foul odors and extinguish an underground fire, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster announced Tuesday.
Capping the landfill is part of an agreement between Koster and Republic filed Monday in St. Louis County Circuit Court. The attorney general sued Republic on March 27, alleging violations of state environmental laws.

Koster said his office would “aggressively” track the company’s compliance.

The work is expected to temporarily worsen the stench from the landfill fire, and Republic has agreed to provide hotels for nearby residents for the next month.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/22c999f8-9a51-569e-b4b2-7ad3e44c524c.html

I thought I was pretty good at minimizing my use of plastic. I wrap sandwiches in compostable baggies, grind fresh peanut butter into a glass jar, and buy a bunch of stuff in bulk.

Then I decided to follow the advice of blogger Beth Terry of myplasticfreelife.com and collected all my plastic waste (recyclable and not) for a week. It’s one thing to know theoretically that all those random scraps add up, another to watch the pile growing under the kitchen sink and imagine it floating forever in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Achieving a plastic-free life feels like a Sisyphean task. But it cheers me up to hear about how cities from Austin to Mumbai to Mexico City are banning single-use plastic bags—a global trend that will surely make a dent in the mountains of plastic trash overtaking the planet.

With that in mind, I made my own reusable shopping bag out of a broken umbrella. I snipped the fabric loose from the umbrella spine, folded it, cut out two squares, and then sewed them together along the sides and bottom. I made handles with the leftover material.

http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/201305/repurpose-umbrella-tote-bag/default.aspx

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — Price Chopper has opened a three-car electric vehicle charging station at its Balltown Road store in the town of Niskayuna, N.Y.

The retailer plans to open four more EV stations in the near future in Latham, Slingerlands, Clifton Park and Wilton.

The General Electric “WattStation," which is free to use, was funded in part with a $46,000 incentive from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.


Read More: http://supermarketnews.com/latest-news/price-chopper-gives-electric-cars-free-charge#ixzz2TJPwyvLd