Another News Stories Blog

It really is a lot of fun for me to do news stories about various matters that I see happening around me. The stories I find to be quite fascinating about subjects that I want to know more about and assume that you may want to know more about them as well.

There are so many articles to comment on that.  What I do is not create a long article on each of them but rather take out a key point of the article for which I write to let you know about it.  In this way, I'm hoping to have given you the opportunity to read about a very interesting story so that you can form an opinion as well. 

I hope that this gives you something to think about. Make sure that you read the article as well to gain more details especially if you want to know more about the subject. 

WHEN WILL THE CANADA-US GOVERNMENT BRIDGE OPEN 

I am sure that you see that the expectation is that the Governmental bridge will open in 2020. Of course, I don't see how that is possible considering the litigation outstanding now and to which new lawsuits will be added I am sure in the future. 

Of course, wasn't the new Government Bridge supposed to open back in 2013 and of course never did.

When you take a look at this comment that I saw in a recent news article, I hardly think that the Government has any interest in trying to find $5 billion plus for new Government Bridge in the next few years.  That amount is so outrageously high that I don't see anyone putting up that kind of cash at all either. My expectation would be that the annual fee to pay off that loan may be substantially higher than the revenues that come so that the investor would probably go broke very quickly. 

Here is the comment: 

"There was no national auto strategy or new dollars to advance the Gordie Howe International Bridge project...

The Howe bridge was mentioned in the federal budget by noting how the project’s Request for Proposals designed to decide the winning contractor among a short-list of three finalists will be issued this spring.

“The new crossing at the site of the most important international land crossing in North America will contribute to the economic growth and continued prosperity of both Canada and the United States,” said the budget document. 

But there were no new funds in the budget behind that bridge commitment. 

The previous Harper government budgeted $630 million to get the project started. A $50-million “early works” project to prep the site on the Windsor side started last summer, while property acquisition is in full swing on the Detroit side. 

The federal government’s goal in this budget was to first identify a massive pot for infrastructure across Canada – $12 billion over five years – then in the upcoming months make announcements on where the funds will be allocated, Freeland said. 

“We are determined to get it right and spend carefully,” she said. “We are definitely committed to working on (the bridge). It is definitely an important project in the minds of cabinet. We will be putting together a full infrastructure plan that will include ports of entry.”  (Dave Battagello, Windsor Star, March 24, 2016) 

It's all a big joke on the Governmental side. The real question will be when they have a meeting with the Ambassador Bridge Company to settle this matter. 

PERHAPS THE CITY GOVERNMENT SHOULD SPEND CITY MONEY ON LOCAL WINDSOR EVENTS 

How many times has the City of Windsor refused to spend a few dollars on some function set up by a private organization who needs financing assistance? That seems to be what keeps happening to someone who asks for cash to help their organization out. 

Yet, it still doesn't always take place. Here is what I mean: 

"Big jerseys used to promote Windsor's bid for the 2017 Memorial Cup 

Windsor is hoping the third time is the charm in its quest to host the 2017 Memorial Cup. 

On Thursday, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens and Spitfires business manager Steve Horne signed two larger than life jerseys which will be apart of their April 18 presentation to the Canadian Hockey League in Toronto. 

It is the third time since 2009 the city has put in a bid... 

Windsor doesn’t yet know what other teams, if any, are vying to host the 2017 event. All that is known is it will be in Ontario. Windsor will be spending close to $30,000 on its bid. Dilkens said that when London hosted the cup in 2014 it reaped an economic benefit over $14 million. 

“This will put us on the map,” he said. “We know we are a hockey town, so getting behind the largest hockey event in the nation and trying to bring it here should not be a surprise to anyone.” (Kelly Steele, Windsor Star, March 24, 2016) 

THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS CHANGING DRAMATICALLY 

One thing that is very interesting about our society these days is how so many matters change because of the new technology that is around. It happened so quickly and so dramatically as well. Here is another interesting matter that is taking place now: 

"In Shift to Streaming, Music Business Has Lost Billions 

There is plenty of good news in the music industry’s latest sales report released this week. Streaming is up. Vinyl has continued its unlikely renaissance. And did we mention that streaming is up? 

But a closer look shows that the big sales numbers that have sustained the recorded music business for years are way down, and it is hard to see how they could ever return to where they were even a decade ago. 

Revenue from music sales in the United States has hovered around $7 billion since 2010, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. For 2015, the number was $7.02 billion, up slightly less than 1 percent from 2014. 

Within that steady total, however, have been drastic shifts in listener behavior. CDs and downloads have been gradually abandoned as streaming has become the platform of choice... 

Streaming — whether through paid subscriptions to Spotify or Rhapsody; Internet radio from Pandora; or even videos on YouTube — now makes up 34.3 percent of sales, edging out digital downloads as the industry’s biggest source of revenue. (Ben Sisario and Karl Russell, March 24, 2016, New York Times)  

TOBACCO AND NFL FOOTBALL 

A rather dramatic story in the New York Times about football in the United States and health issues: 

"N.F.L.’s Flawed Concussion Research and Ties to Tobacco Industry"

With several of its marquee players retiring early after a cascade of frightening concussions, the league formed a committee in 1994 that would ultimately issue a succession of research papers playing down the danger of head injuries. Amid criticism of the committee’s work, physicians brought in later to continue the research said the papers had relied on faulty analysis. 

Now, an investigation by The New York Times has found that the N.F.L.’s concussion research was far more flawed than previously known. 

For the last 13 years, the N.F.L. has stood by the research, which, the papers stated, was based on a full accounting of all concussions diagnosed by team physicians from 1996 through 2001. But confidential data obtained by The Times shows that more than 100 diagnosed concussions were omitted from the studies — including some severe injuries to stars like quarterbacks Steve Young and Troy Aikman. The committee then calculated the rates of concussions using the incomplete data, making them appear less frequent than they actually were. 

After The Times asked the league about the missing diagnosed cases — more than 10 percent of the total — officials acknowledged that “the clubs were not required to submit their data and not every club did.” That should have been made clearer, the league said in a statement, adding that the missing cases were not part of an attempt “to alter or suppress the rate of concussions.” 

One member of the concussion committee, Dr. Joseph Waeckerle, said he was unaware of the omissions. But he added: “If somebody made a human error or somebody assumed the data was absolutely correct and didn’t question it, well, we screwed up. If we found it wasn’t accurate and still used it, that’s not a screw-up; that’s a lie.” 

These discoveries raise new questions about the validity of the committee’s findings, published in 13 peer-reviewed articles and held up by the league as scientific evidence that brain injuries did not cause long-term harm to its players. It is also unclear why the omissions went unchallenged by league officials, by the epidemiologist whose job it was to ensure accurate data collection and by the editor of the medical journal that published the studies. 

In 2013, the N.F.L. agreed to a $765 million settlement of a lawsuit in which retired players accused league officials of covering up the risks of concussions. Some players have appealed the settlement, asking for an examination of the committee’s concussion research. 

Some retired players have likened the N.F.L.’s handling of its health crisis to that of the tobacco industry, which was notorious for using questionable science to play down the dangers of cigarettes."  (Alan Schwarz, Walt Bogdanich and Jacqueline Williams New York Time March 24, 2016)