NYC Marathon canceled for 2012 as region recovers from Sandy
NYC Marathon canceled for 2012 as region recovers from Sandy
NEW YORK — Under growing pressure with thousands still shivering from Sandy, the New York City Marathon was canceled Friday by Mayor Michael Bloomberg after mounting criticism that this was not the time for a race.
With the death toll in the city at 41 and power not yet fully restored, many New Yorkers had recoiled at the prospect of police officers being assigned to protect a marathon, storm victims being evicted from hotels to make way for runners, and big generators humming along at the finish-line tents in Central Park.
Around 47,500 runners — 30,000 of them from outside New York — had been expected to take part in the 26.2-mile event Sunday, with more than 1 million spectators usually lining the route. The world’s largest marathon had been scheduled to start in Staten Island, one of the storm’s hardest-hit places.
Bloomberg had pressed ahead with plans to run the marathon on schedule, but opposition intensified quickly Friday afternoon from the city comptroller, the Manhattan borough president and sanitation workers unhappy that they had volunteered to help storm victims but were assigned to the race instead.
Finally, about three hours later, the mayor relented.
Iraq war contractor ordered to pay $85M
PORTLAND, Ore. — A jury on Friday ordered an American military contractor to pay $85 million after finding it guilty of negligence for illnesses suffered by a dozen Oregon soldiers who guarded an oilfield water plant during the Iraq war.
After a three-week trial, the jury deliberated for just two days before reaching a decision against the contractor, Kellogg Brown and Root.
The suit was the first concerning soldiers’ exposure to a toxin at a water plant in southern Iraq. The soldiers said they suffer from respiratory ailments after their exposure to sodium dichromate, and they fear that a carcinogen the toxin contains, hexavalent chromium, could cause cancer later in life.
Rocky Bixby, the soldier whose name appeared on the suit, said the verdict should reflect a punishment for the company’s neglect of U.S. soldiers.
“This was about showing that they cannot get away with treating soldiers like that,” Bixby said. “It should show them what they did was wrong, prove what they did was wrong and punish them for what they did.”
GOP likely to hold House after $1B campaign
WASHINGTON — You can do a lot with a billion dollars — but still not change much. This Election Day, it’s likely to produce another Republican-led House that’s little different from the existing version.
Candidates, both political parties and hordes of corporate, labor, ideological and other groups have spent a record $1.1 billion on House races since this campaign cycle began last year, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Yet by the time the last votes are counted Tuesday, Democrats may pick up a handful of districts but are widely expected to miss their goal of gaining the 25 additional seats they need to grab control of the chamber.
The reasons?
“First and foremost it’s redistricting,” said Democratic pollster Dave Beattie, citing how GOP-led state legislatures were able to redraw congressional maps. “Institutionally, they were able in a redistricting year to protect the House gains they made in 2010,” when Republicans captured House control.
Like most years, the vast majority of both parties’ incumbents are likely to win. The percentage of victorious House members seeking re-election has dipped below 90 percent only twice since 1974 — in 2010 when the GOP stormed into control and 1992, when Democrats were hurt by a scandal involving the House post office.
Through October, the GOP has enjoyed a 4:3 spending edge.
By wire sources