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The most dramatic political development (in terms of state governance) so far this year has been the passage of anti-public employee union legislation in the Middle West. Next Tuesday, Wisconsin will give us our first look at the political consequences, when people there will vote in a statewide special election for a State Supreme Court seat. That election has become a de facto referendum on Governor Scott Walker's legislative (and anti-union) agenda. Our sources indicate that the Republican incumbent, who won the February primary vote in a near-landslide, no longer commands a majority in private polling and that turnout will...

I'm surprised they don't include images of dead bodies. No doubt firefighters perform heroic acts everyday - including that awful day in Oklahoma City when Timothy McVeigh blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. But to use images from that attack to oppose a law that would affect union collective bargaining procedures? NewsOK: [link] A state senator today blasted a firefighter union television advertisement as "horrific and tasteless" for using images of the Oklahoma City bombing to make a case against his bill. The advertisement by the International Association of Firefighters began airing today. It...

On the day that the bill passed the Wisconsin Assembly effectively ending 50 years of collective bargaining in Wisconsin and eviscerating the ability of public unions to raise money through dues, a new front opened in the battle for the future of Wisconsin families. Bagpipes blaring, hundreds of firefighters walked across the street from the Wisconsin Capitol building, stood outside the Marshall and Ilsley Bank (M&I Bank) and played a few tunes — loudly. Later, a group of firefighter and consumers stopped back in at the bank to make a few transactions. One by one they closed their accounts and...

Los Angeles - Thousands of mourners gathered today for a funeral at the downtown Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels to remember Los Angeles firefighter Glenn Allen, who was killed battling a blaze in the Hollywood Hills. "Glenn Allen was a beloved husband, father, brother, and son, a 36-year veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department, who like his father before him, dedicated his life to the most selfless public service there is -- saving other people who find themselves in harm's way," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said during his eulogy. "He was a giant on the force." The funeral...

San Diego, Calif., Jan 31, 2011 / 01:12 pm (CNA).- Members of the San Diego Fire Department have won a sexual harassment lawsuit against the city for being forced to participate in a local gay pride parade in 2007. On Jan. 26, the California Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by the city and instead upheld a lower court ruling in favor of the firefighters. The move ends a several-year legal legal battle for four firefighters who lodged a complaint against San Diego for being forced to participate in the city’s gay pride parade in 2007. Although the...

Those of us who have worn the uniform and their families know what God, sacrifice, duty, honor and country are all about. I humbly ask my fellow veterans, service personnel, law enforcement, firefighters, first responders and their families to give generously to FreeRepublic so that it might survive and thrive in a world constantly threatened by socialism, communism, totalitarianism and other threats to our freedom and liberty. The recent shootings in Tucson, Arizona and the Left's attempts (before the victims were in an ambulance) to blame conservatives, the Tea Party Movement, talk radio and Governor Sarah Palin just illustrates the...

PASADENA, Calif. -- Thousands of volunteers were hard at work in Pasadena and Irwindale getting the floats ready for the 122nd Rose Parade Presented by Honda, but one float in particular is much more than just a float. "It's a dream come true for me. This is something I've wanted to do for nine years," said Jerry Thomsen, a firefighter specialist. When America was attacked more than nine years ago, a group of Los Angeles firefighters headed to Ground Zero to help, and Thomsen was among them. Now he and his L.A. firefighting buddies are honoring their fallen comrades in...

(CNN) -- A 27-year-old mother surrendered her baby girl to firefighters in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve, authorities said Saturday. She told firefighters at Fire Station 46 that the newborn was just six hours old. The firefighters accepted the girl, wrapping her in a blanket. She was healthy and did not appear to have been neglected or abused. Firefighters named the newborn Noel, in honor of the Christmas holiday...

PROVIDENCE — Two management-level firefighters are back among the union ranks, at their request, an action decried by two City Council members who say it was done to increase their pensions. With the lower rank of first-class firefighter, the near-retirement employees can benefit from the 3-percent compounding cost-of-living-adjustments provided to union members hired before July 1, 2010. They will also receive pension benefits based on their higher, management salaries if they retire now. (Pension benefits are based on the highest of the last three years of service.) “It is quite clear that the voluntary reduction in ranks just granted these...

Tennessee house in ashes after homeowner 'forgot' to pay $75 fee Firefighters in rural Tennessee let a home burn to the ground last week because the homeowner hadn't paid a $75 fee. Gene Cranick of Obion County and his family lost all of their possessions in the Sept. 29 fire, along with three dogs and a cat. "They could have been saved if they had put water on it, but they didn't do it," Cranick told MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. The fire started when the Cranicks' grandson was burning trash near the family home. As it grew out of control, the...

A vet said Moses was unharmed by the ordeal Firefighters in the US state of Oregon have had to use all their shovelling skills to do a delicate job: dig a camel out of a sinkhole. They were called by the Clackamas County owners of the 1,500lb (680kg) animal, named Moses, who said they were simply unable to free him. The rescuers had to dig for hours to rescue Moses, whose long skinny legs were deep in the mud. A veterinarian later checked the animal and said he was unhurt. The firefighters got a call from the animal's owners late...

In the days after 9/11 I remember reading a poem here on FR about the Firefighters who died in the Towers. Each stanza began with "Up Up"... shouted the Leutenant, bellowed the Captain, the Chief... the final stanza began: Up Up called the angels... can you help me find it? thanks

9 city firefighters, paramedics to jog in N.Y. 5K honoring firefighter killed on 9-11 With the benefit of hindsight, it's not a fair question to ask if other firefighters would do what Stephen Siller did that awful day. We know it cost him his life, along with 342 other New York firefighters and paramedics at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Siller was off duty and on his way to play golf, but when he heard about planes hitting the towers he drove from Brooklyn toward Manhattan. When he found the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel shut down, he abandoned his...

Oakland, California - (Helmet Cam) Firefighters performed rescue breathing on a dog that was found unconscious/unresponsive in a house fire.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Firefighters from two nations took off Thursday on a round-the-clock run from Southern California to New York in remembrance of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Tour of Duty run officially began with a flag ceremony at 8:46 a.m. - the time when the first plane struck New York's twin towers in 2001. Several New York firefighters were running, including James Dowdell. His father, firefighter Kevin Dowdell, was among more than 400 emergency workers killed while responding to the attack. Firefighters feel "a special kinship" with firefighters who died, North Las Vegas fire Capt....

Atlas reader Madeline left this comment:I say this through tears, I really mean it. When your job calls for you to risk everything for something enormous and you rise to the occasion to do it, you are driven by sheer passion for what you do. I saw Robert and Hannity as two forces to be reckoned with, as you have been Pamela. On the morning of 9/11, I was putting my youngest son on his bus to first grade. It was his first day since a week before on the correct first day of school, he woke up with acute...

"In the chaotic aftermath of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, a poorly orchestrated effort to knock down the towering blaze may have inadvertently led to the sinking of the platform, according to interviews and documents obtained by the Center for Public Integrity and shared with ABC News. As part of an ongoing government investigation, Coast Guard officials are trying to reconstruct the initial response to the rig explosion that unleashed one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history. One concern surrounds the use of briny seawater instead of fire-retardant foam to drench the rig. The Coast...

Bridgeport, CT, United States (AHN) – Two Connecticut firefighters were killed Saturday afternoon while making sure there were no people inside a burning house. Bridgeport firefighters Lt. Steven Velazquez and Michel Baik were inside the burning house when they sent out mayday signals to their colleagues. When a rescue team finally reached their location, they found the men unconscious. They were pronounced dead after being taken to the hospital. Three other firefighters suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Investigators are looking into what caused the massive house fire and into what killed Velazquez and Baik. Saturday marked the first time a Bridgeport firefighter...

N.J. cops, firefighters start paying for pensions, health careFriday, May 21, 2010 BY CHRIS MEGERIAN State House Bureau TRENTON — A law reducing pension and health care benefits for police and firefighters will go into effect today after a state judge refused to block it. Unions representing police and firefighters argued that the changes improperly infringe upon the collective bargaining process. They also said the requirement to contribute 1.5 percent of their salary to health care constitutes a tax on public employees. But Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg rejected their arguments, allowing the changes to go into effect. "I don’t...

Back in November, Huntington's Mayor Updike layed off six firefighters and closed the east end fire station because of a budget shortfall. Now these life savers will be back on the job due to the receiving a "Safer Grant" totaling over $800,000....