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Latest Bash Reports
Your Bash needs YOU!
We still need hares for the June bash and onwards. Only July has been claimed so far by uber-hare Stiff Upper. If you'd like to volunteer but have never hared before please get in touch. We can always pair you with an experienced hare to learn the ropes, but it isnt hard to learn... believe it or not, even Stiff Upper was once a virgin hare! See the Hare How-To Destructions for details :)
London Triathlon
Haven House Children's Hospice phoned us to see if any bike hashers would like to enter the London Triathlon on the weekend of 2nd/3rd August. They have 3 places left. It can be entered individually or as part of a relay team. See here for details, or contact email@example.com or call 020 8506 3637.
Dark Skies
We've been asked to highlight Dark Skies, a new charity through the night cycling event on June 7/8th in in Kielder Forest, Northumberland. The North East Autism Society and Cry in the Dark organise this, see here for details.
Blazing Saddles!
There are only 4 places left for Nash Bash next June. See here for details. See here who has signed up already.
Bad Teeth No Bar!
We need hares for January and from March onwards


text: The 1-Wire HVAC monitoring system is for residential Geothermal HVAC systems. This project utilizes the so called 1-wire temperature sensor. A single board computer handles the brunt of the work including web accessible trend data. With access to the underling temperatures, the over all system performance may be gauged. Earlier this year we covered a HVAC web enabled monitor that adds an element of control. As the industry adopts modern control architectures, we hope to see more HVAC hacks around.

subset: commoncrawl


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Super Smash Land, a Super Smash Bros. game remade to the constraints of the GameBoy (but not, literally, for it) has a playable demo now available for free on the PC.
Designer/programmer Dan Fornace says the project's been underway since September, and says in addition to Mario, Kirby, Link and Pikachu, the game will feature two secret characters when released. Brendan Becker, the game's sound engineer, says when the finished game is released, its chiptune soundtrack will also be made available for free. "I'm paying attention to detail where it counts and making sure the music and sounds are independently 100 percent possible using GameBoy hardware," Becker said. "Everything is done by hand from scratch, even the coin and fireball noises that sound pretty close to the originals.
Super Smash Land Demo Released! [Piki Geek]


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Copyright © 2015 - 2022 Lifecarenews.in
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FLOWER MOUND, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mannatech, Incorporated (NASDAQ: MTEX), a global health and wellness company committed to transforming lives to make a better world, announced that its Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.20 per share of common stock, payable on Thursday, March 30, 2023, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Thursday, March 16, 2023. The dividend demonstrates a commitment to rewarding shareholders and encouraging long-term investment in Mannatech's common stock.
Alfredo "Al" Bala, President and CEO of Mannatech, said, "Mannatech is fully committed to delivering value to our shareholders."
About Mannatech
Mannatech, Incorporated is committed to transforming lives through the development of high quality integrated health, weight management, fitness and skin care products distributed through its global network of independent associates and members. The company has been operating for more than 25 years with operations in 25 markets^. For more information, visit Mannatech.com.
^ Mannatech operates in China under a cross-border e-commerce platform that is separate from its network marketing model.
Please Note: This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by use of phrases or terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "hope," "could," "would," "expects," "plans," "intends," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "approximates," "predicts," "projects," "potential," and "continues" or other similar words or the negative of such terminology. Similarly, descriptions of Mannatech's objectives, strategies, plans, goals or targets contained herein are also considered forward-looking statements. Mannatech believes this release should be read in conjunction with all of its filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and cautions its readers that these forward-looking statements are subject to certain events, risks, uncertainties, and other factors. Some of these factors include, among others, the outbreak of the novel coronavirus ("COVID-19") pandemic, Mannatech's inability to attract and retain associates and members, increases in competition, litigation, regulatory changes, and its planned growth into new international markets. Although Mannatech believes that the expectations, statements, and assumptions reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cautions readers to always consider all of the risk factors and any other cautionary statements carefully in evaluating each forward-looking statement in this release, as well as those set forth in its latest Annual Report on Form 10-K, and other filings filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including its current reports on Form 8-K. All of the forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this release.
Donna Giordano
Manager, Executive Office Administration
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Dennis Quaid's Quest
After his infant twins nearly died from an accidental drug overdose, the actor found a bold new mission.
En español | It was, Dennis Quaid remembers, "the worst day of our lives." On the morning of November 19, 2007, the actor and his wife, Kimberly, rushed to Los Angeles's Cedars-Sinai hospital—one of the nation's best health care facilities—where their 12-day-old twins had been admitted two days before for treatment of routine staph infections. Their pediatrician and the head nurse met them at the door of their babies' room, where a cluster of doctors hovered over Thomas Boone ( known as T. Boone) and his sister, Zoe Grace (or Z.G.). "We could see them working on the kids," Quaid says. "It was chilling."
The pediatrician quietly informed the nervous parents that the twins had inadvertently been massively overdosed with a blood thinner called heparin, putting them at risk of bleeding to death. "Initially, I felt this really couldn't be happening," the actor remembers. "Then I felt fear—and helplessness."
Dennis and Kimberly went to the twins' bedsides and watched, immobilized. "They were bleeding out of every place where they'd been poked and prodded," says Quaid. In an attempt to stanch the flow, a doctor placed a clamp on T. Boone's umbilical cord. A stream of blood shot across the room, splattering the wall. "We were in shock," says Quaid.
To reverse the effects of the heparin overdose—the infants had twice received 1,000 times the correct dose—doctors gave T. Boone and Z.G. a drug called protamine. Dennis and Kimberly refused to leave their bedsides for the next 32 hours, gently touching and trying to soothe their babies. "They were really in a lot of discomfort, crying," Quaid says. "It had to be painful." Finally, late on the second day, the infants' blood coagulation levels inched into the normal range. A neurologist and other specialists assessed brain and motor functions, which, miraculously, appeared normal.
Though Quaid wanted the crisis kept quiet, news leaked fast. "That may have been a blessing in disguise," he says, "because a lot of people told us later they were praying for our babies. In the end, I believe that the power of prayer from so many is what saved them. It's obvious to me that a higher power in the universe is controlling what's going on."
Whether by act of God or human error, Dennis Quaid was now a very different man, with a very different mission.
We're sitting on a patio at Quaid's sprawling estate in Los Angeles's Pacific Palisades. For T. Boone and Z.G., this is home, though getting here wasn't easy. Quaid, 56, and Kimberly Buffington—an Austin, Texas, real estate agent he met in 2003 and married in 2004—tried to get pregnant for three years. Buffington, now 38, suffered repeated miscarriages. "That's really hard," Quaid says. "We had just about given up." The actor pauses, then offers up his trademark possum-eating-honey grin: "We gave it one more shot and found out it was twins—a boy and a girl!" Though the twins are the couple's biological offspring, they were carried to term by a gestational surrogate.
The babies were born healthy; T. Boone weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces; and Z.G., 5 pounds, 9 ounces. The proud parents brought them home, welcomed by friends and family.
For a tired but happy Quaid, it seemed like a new high in a mostly charmed life. The son of a Houston electrician, Quaid dropped out of college and headed to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career in his early 20s. Though he didn't achieve the immediate success of his older brother, Randy—who was nominated for an Oscar within a year of arriving in Hollywood for his supporting role in 1973's The Last Detail—Dennis eventually got noticed, most dramatically for playing astronaut Gordon Cooper in The Right Stuff in 1983, followed by key performances in The Big Easy in 1986 and Great Balls of Fire in 1989. He admits he handled fame badly, particularly by indulging a cocaine habit in the '80s. He eventually cleaned up, and, in 1991, he married actress Meg Ryan. The pair divorced in 2001 but share custody and parenting of their son, Jack Henry, now 18.
In 2002, Quaid received rave reviews for his portrayal of a Texas high school baseball coach in The Rookie and for his performance as a frustrated homosexual suburban husband in Far From Heaven. At the same time, he was thriving in his personal life. After The Right Stuff, he had learned to pilot jets. On his 500-acre spread in Montana, he spent downtime riding his beloved horses and indulging his passion for golf. He continued acting in movies, and in 2011 he'll appear in Soul Surfer, based on the true story of teenager Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm to a shark off the coast of Kauai in 2003.
But after the twins were born, Quaid committed to spending more time just being a dad. "Being a parent is one of my favorite things in life," he says. "It's one of the most challenging experiences, and one of the most rewarding."
On the afternoon of November 17, 2007, after the company had left, Dennis and Kimberly settled in with their brood. Then Kimberly, a hypervigilant new mom, noticed a sore on T. Boone's umbilical cord. Z.G. had a similar irritation on one of her fingers. The couple's pediatrician sent them to Cedars-Sinai, where both children tested positively for staph and were admitted for treatment with IV antibiotics.
Initially, Dennis and Kimberly would not leave the twins' bedsides. They even watched the next morning as a nurse dispensed a substance into their IVs. She explained that it was Hep-Lock, routinely used to prevent blood clots at IV sites. Without knowing it, the new parents had just witnessed the first of two overdoses of heparin (the next given several hours later when the IV bags needed changing ).
That evening, exhausted, the couple finally headed home. They were sitting in their living room, trying to unwind, when suddenly, at 9 p.m., Kimberly panicked, repeatedly saying, "They're passing. The kids are passing." Quaid thought she was reacting from fatigue, but he phoned the hospital and spoke to the on-duty nurse, who told him the twins were fine. Quaid believes the nurse probably knew about the overdose then but had been told not to notify them because they needed rest. "Our kids could have died that night," says Quaid, "and we wouldn't have been there for them."
At 6 o'clock the next morning, after a fitful sleep, the couple returned to the hospital, where they learned of the overdose. As they rushed to be with the twins, they were intercepted by representatives from Cedars-Sinai's risk-management division. "That's a team of lawyers, because the hospital is concerned about liability and not as much about the health and welfare of our kids," a still outraged Quaid says today.
Later, when the couple looked into the frequency of medical errors, they learned that U.S. hospitals are not required to publicly report errors, and that caregivers often conceal mistakes to avoid malpractice lawsuits. But a landmark 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine showed that 100,000 deaths occur in the United States each year as a result of health care harm. That report, coupled with a 2007 Centers for Disease Control report that an additional 99,000 people die annually from hospital-acquired infections, led the Quaids to deduce that health care harm is in fact the third-leading cause of death in the United States. As a jet pilot, Quaid uses an aviation analogy to drive home the numbers. "That's the equivalent of 20 jet airliners full of passengers going down every week," he says.
A handful of victims have spoken out about the problem—among them Sue Sheridan of Boise, Idaho. Her son, Cal, now 15, was insufficiently treated for jaundice as an infant and now suffers from a constellation of symptoms—cerebral palsy and auditory and vision impairment—known as kernicterus. Four years after Cal failed to be properly treated, Sheridan's husband, Patrick, was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor; a follow-up pathology report indicating that the tumor was malignant was misfiled, and Patrick, late to begin treatment, lost his battle with cancer in 2002.
Today Sheridan heads up two nonprofit organizations to address medical errors. One of them, Parents of Infants and Children with Kernicterus (PICK), has succeeded in requiring hospitals to test babies for jaundice before release. Another is working to require health care providers to notify patients directly of their pathology results.
When she read about what had happened to the Quaid twins, Sheridan says, "I had this sense of hope that somebody of Dennis's stature and celebrity, who'd witnessed the fear and horror that I had, would speak up. And he did."
Once the twins were stabilized, their father looked at them, each in a tiny Isolette, and felt an overpowering sense of gratitude. "They were finally sleeping," Quaid says. At that moment he made a vow—to help ensure that what happened to his babies would never happen to anyone else. "I thought, 'They're 12 days old, and they're going to change the world.' "
After launching an investigation into how the overdose occurred, Quaid learned that nurses had twice mistakenly given each infant a 10,000-unit dose of heparin, used to treat illnesses in adults, instead of a similarly packaged 10-unit dose called Hep-Lock, appropriate for use in IVs for infants. Three infants at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis had died a year earlier from the exact same overdose. Soon after, Baxter Healthcare Corporation, manufacturer of heparin, changed how it packaged the two dosages. Instead of being identical in size and similar in color—one light and the other dark blue—the higher dosage would now carry an orange label and a warning. But the company failed to recall the existing bottles. "Companies recall dog food!" exclaims Quaid. "Why weren't they recalled?" The heparin given to the Quaid twins bore the old packaging.
The Quaids have sued Baxter for negligence; the case is currently pending. The couple settled with Cedars-Sinai when, according to Quaid, the hospital agreed to make changes to prevent such an overdose from occurring again. "We didn't want to sue the hospital because we need really good hospitals," Quaid explains. "And as part of the settlement, Cedars spent millions—on electronic record keeping, bedside bar coding, computerized physician-order entry systems—to improve patient safety. I have to commend them for that." (A spokesperson for Cedars-Sinai says the hospital began implementing such safety measures before the twins' accident. "Immediately following this incident," adds spokesperson Simi Singer, "we began additional focused education on medication safety and have implemented additional procedures and protocols for our pharmacy and nursing staff.")
In early 2008 Dennis and Kimberly established the Quaid Foundation, which called for hospitals to adopt bedside bar coding, requiring scans on patient's wristbands to match scans on medications. "It's based on the same technology that you have at every gas station and grocery store in America," Quaid says. "If it's the wrong medicine or the wrong patient, an alarm goes off." Shortly after, Quaid met Charles Denham, M.D., a leader in the patient-safety movement and founder and chair of the nonprofit Texas Medical Institute of Technology (TMIT), which tests systems to improve health care safety. The son of a NASA rocket scientist and a jet pilot himself, Denham bonded with Quaid over their mutual enthusiasm for aviation—they own the same-model jet (a Citation). "We were a perfect team," Denham says. "We both believe that this is what we're supposed to do and that we can save lives doing it."
The Quaids folded their foundation into TMIT this year. "There are thousands of people who have been victims, whose voices have never been heard," says Quaid. "We're now coming together and demanding that something happen." To that end, Quaid is narrating a series of documentaries produced by Denham about medical harm, which TMIT is distributing free of charge to every hospital in the country. The first in the series, "Chasing Zero: Winning the War on Healthcare Harm" (available for free download from TMIT's website, safetyleaders.org), tells the stories of medical-error victims (including Sue Sheridan), as well as providers who have made mistakes.
One of them is Julie Thao, a Madison, Wisconsin, single mother of four, who spent 20 years as a nurse specializing in obstetrics and perinatal bereavement and loss counseling. "This was where I found my true validation in life," says Thao. All that changed in early July 2006. After working an 18-and-a-half-hour double shift, resting briefly, then starting a new shift, she connected what she thought was an IV antibiotic to a 16-year-old pregnant patient whose labor was about to be induced. The IV bag she hung, which looked identical to the antibiotic bag, actually contained an epidural solution that is fatal if put in the bloodstream. Within moments, the patient's heart stopped. Doctors performed an emergency C-section and saved her baby boy, but they could not resuscitate the mother.
Thao, charged with manslaughter, ultimately settled for a misdemeanor, requiring her to serve a year of probation and restricting her from practicing nursing until February 2013. But worse than any court-mandated punishment is her agonizing guilt. For months after the incident, "all I wanted was death," Thao says. "For so many years I'd been the one who took into my arms the mothers whose children had been taken from them. Now I was the one who took a child from its mother."
Thao got back on her feet, in part after Denham offered her a position at TMIT. She now speaks at health care safety conferences, sharing her story and emphasizing that health care providers are human and will, under a variety of circumstances, make mistakes.
"We're not here to denigrate health care workers," says Quaid. "They've dedicated their lives to treating human suffering—and they're overworked."
"We are treating sicker and sicker patients, faster and faster, with more complex treatments requiring more specialization, which fragments the care even more," says Denham. "And we're cutting corners due to cost containment. We don't have bad people. We have bad systems."
Quaid and Denham are now calling on hospitals to invest in a set of 34 practices (called the National Quality Forum Safe Practices for Better Healthcare)—everything from simple checklists to computerized infection control. "Our community-hospital boardrooms decide where the money is spent and whether it goes to patient safety," says Denham. Quaid and Denham also believe an oversight agency similar to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) should be established to monitor and investigate medical accidents, and that reimbursements for care be tied to providers' safety records.
"There's a reason that flying on a commercial airliner today is safer than walking," Quaid explains. "It's because when an accident happens, the NTSB makes a determination about what happened. Airline executives know they need to solve the problem quickly, whether it's a change in design or a new piece of technology, or people aren't going to fly their airline."
T. Boone and Z.G. are nearly 3 now and show no signs of lasting damage from the overdose. After nearly losing them, their parents make family time a priority, as the jungle gym, the tricycles, the toys, and the playhouse in the yard of their home suggest. In the twins' honor, Quaid will continue to speak out about medical errors. "And Kimberly is just as much a part of that," he says. "I go out and give speeches, and she holds down the fort." When T. Boone and Z.G. are older, the couple will tell them what they went through. "This is their legacy," Quaid says. "They're really tough, and they should be proud. Because of what happened to them, they already have saved lives."


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2.7 acres of vacant land with with great access to I-27 and 194. Service road is a 2-way road.
All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed and should be independently verified. All properties are subject to change, withdrawal, or prior sale. Steadfast Realty Agent shall not be responsible or liable for typographical errors, misprints, or misinformation contained in data provided by the Lubbock Association of REALTORS®. Square footage on any portion of this web site may be an estimate and should be independently verified. Property data is courtesy of the Lubbock Realtors Association multiple listing service. Updated: 22nd September, 2023 12:21 AM (UTC)
Listing Agent: Moe Evans
Listing Office: RE/MAX Lubbock


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3 strikes and you are out! Lightning storm over Miami Beach's famous South Beach
Coming around the corner-a slow ride in Prague. Feels like a dream like image .
Looking through an opening in a large tree trunk in the Canadian Rockies,
All rights reserved.This image or descriptive works can not be used, published or sold without written permission of the owner.
The last sunflower I found overlooking the Lavender Fields in Sequim ( pronounced Skwim) Washington. You can't see them but I was sitting in the middle of a bumble bee festival. They were all around me as I sat with my trusty tripod.


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By VC
In the articles entitled Dumbing Down Society Part I: Foods, Beverages and Meds and Irrational Consumerism (or The Few Companies Who Feed the World), we looked at the many reasons why processed foods should be avoided. Not only does consuming fresh, local foods a strong political move (more productive than occupying anything in my opinion), it is more importantly the best thing you can do for your body and your brain.
Consumer Reports published this week a study revealing that toxic levels of arsenic are found in popular brand fruit juices. An old saying says "for each rat you see, there are 50 you missed" (or something of the sorts). This also probably applies to processed foods. Each time a poisonous substance is found in a food product, there are probably 50 that are not even known or mentioned. So, why not avoiding that crap? Fresh pressed juice is so much better anyway.
Arsenic in your juice. How much is too much? Federal limits don't exist.
Arsenic has long been recognized as a poison and a contaminant in drinking water, but now concerns are growing about arsenic in foods, especially in fruit juices that are a mainstay for children.
Controversy over arsenic in apple juice made headlines as the school year began when Mehmet Oz, M.D., host of "The Dr. Oz Show," told viewers that tests he'd commissioned found 10 of three dozen apple-juice samples with total arsenic levels exceeding 10 parts per billion (ppb). There's no federal arsenic threshold for juice or most foods, though the limit for bottled and public water is 10 ppb. The Food and Drug Administration, trying to reassure consumers about the safety of apple juice, claimed that most arsenic in juices and other foods is of the organic type that is "essentially harmless."
But an investigation by Consumer Reports shows otherwise. Our study, including tests of apple and grape juice (download a PDF of our complete test results), a scientific analysis of federal health data, a consumer poll, and interviews with doctors and other experts, finds the following:
- Roughly 10 percent of our juice samples, from five brands, had total arsenic levels that exceeded federal drinking-water standards. Most of that arsenic was inorganic arsenic, a known carcinogen.
- One in four samples had lead levels higher than the FDA's bottled-water limit of 5 ppb. As with arsenic, no federal limit exists for lead in juice.
- Apple and grape juice constitute a significant source of dietary exposure to arsenic, according to our analysis of federal health data from 2003 through 2008.
- Children drink a lot of juice. Thirty-five percent of children 5 and younger drink juice in quantities exceeding pediatricians' recommendations, our poll of parents shows.
- Mounting scientific evidence suggests that chronic exposure to arsenic and lead even at levels below water standards can result in serious health problems.
- Inorganic arsenic has been detected at disturbing levels in other foods, too, which suggests that more must be done to reduce overall dietary exposure.
Our findings have prompted Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, to urge the FDA to set arsenic and lead standards for apple and grape juice. Our scientists believe that juice should at least meet the 5 ppb lead limit for bottled water. They recommend an even lower arsenic limit for juice: 3 ppb.
"People sometimes say, 'If arsenic exposure is so bad, why don't you see more people sick or dying from it?' But the many diseases likely to be increased by exposure even at relatively low levels are so common already that its effects are overlooked simply because no one has looked carefully for the connection," says Joshua Hamilton, Ph.D., a toxicologist specializing in arsenic research and the chief academic and scientific officer at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.
As our investigation found, when scientists and doctors do look, the connections they've found underscore the need to protect public health by reducing Americans' exposure to this potent toxin.
Many sources of exposure
Arsenic is a naturally occurring element that can contaminate groundwater used for drinking and irrigation in areas where it's abundant, such as parts of New England, the Midwest, and the Southwest. See the map from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) showing test results of arsenic levels in groundwater throughout the United States.
But the public's exposure to arsenic extends beyond those areas because since 1910, the United States has used roughly 1.6 million tons of it for agricultural and other industrial uses. About half of that cumulative total has been used since only the mid-1960s. Lead-arsenate insecticides were widely used in cotton fields, orchards, and vineyards until their use was banned in the 1980s. But residues in the soil can still contaminate crops.
For decades, arsenic was also used in a preservative for pressure-treated lumber commonly used for decks and playground equipment. In 2003 that use was banned, (as was most residential use) but the wood can contribute to arsenic in groundwater when it's recycled as mulch.
Other sources of exposure include coal-fired power plants and smelters that heat arsenic-containing ores to process copper or lead. Today the quantity of arsenic released into the environment in the United States by human activities is three times more than that released from natural sources, says the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
The form of arsenic in the examples above is inorganic arsenic. It's a carcinogen known to cause bladder, lung, and skin cancer in people and to increase risks of cardiovascular disease, immunodeficiencies, and type 2 diabetes.
The other form that arsenic takes is organic arsenic, created when arsenic binds to molecules containing carbon. Fish can contain an organic form of arsenic called arsenobetaine, generally considered nontoxic to humans. But questions have been raised about the human health effects of other types of organic arsenic in foods, including juice.
Use of organic arsenic in agricultural products has also caused concern. For instance, the EPA in 2006 took steps to stop the use of herbicides containing organic arsenic because of their potential to turn into inorganic arsenic in soil and contaminate drinking water. And in 2011, working with the FDA, drug company Alpharma agreed to suspend the sale of Roxarsone, a poultry-feed additive, because it contained an organic form of arsenic that could convert into inorganic arsenic inside the bird, potentially contaminating the meat. Or it could contaminate soil when chicken droppings are used as fertilizer. Other arsenic feed additives are still being used.
What our tests found
We went shopping in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York in August and September, buying 28 apple juices and three grape juices. Our samples came from ready-to-drink bottles, juice boxes, and cans of concentrate. For most juices, we bought three different lot numbers to assess variability. (For some juices, we couldn't find three lots, so we tested one or two.) In all, we tested 88 samples.
Five samples of apple juice and four of grape juice had total arsenic levels exceeding the 10 ppb federal limit for bottled and drinking water. Levels in the apple juices ranged from 1.1 to 13.9 ppb, and grape-juice levels were even higher, 5.9 to 24.7 ppb. Most of the total arsenic in our samples was inorganic, our tests showed.
As for lead, about one fourth of all juice samples had levels at or above the 5-ppb limit for bottled water. The top lead level for apple juice was 13.6 ppb; for grape juice, 15.9 ppb.
The following brands had at least one sample of apple juice that exceeded 10 ppb: Apple & Eve, Great Value (Walmart), and Mott's. For grape juice, at least one sample from Walgreens and Welch's exceeded that threshold. And these brands had one or more samples of apple juice that exceeded 5 ppb of lead: America's Choice (A&P), Gerber, Gold Emblem (CVS), Great Value, Joe's Kids (Trader Joe's), Minute Maid, Seneca, and Walgreens. At least one sample of grape juice exceeding 5 ppb of lead came from Gold Emblem, Walgreens, and Welch's. Our findings provide a spot check of a number of local juice aisles, but they can't be used to draw general conclusions about arsenic or lead levels in any particular brand. Even within a single tested brand, levels of arsenic and lead sometimes varied widely. To see our complete test results for all 88 samples, download this PDF.
Arsenic-tainted soil in U.S. orchards is a likely source of contamination for apples, and finding lead with arsenic in juices that we tested is not surprising. Even with a ban on lead-arsenate insecticides, "we are finding problems with some Washington state apples, not because of irresponsible farming practices now but because lead-arsenate pesticides that were used here decades ago remain in the soil," says Denise Wilson, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of Washington who has tested apple juices and discovered elevated arsenic levels even in brands labeled organic.
Over the years, a shift has occurred in how juice sold in America is produced. To make apple juice, manufacturers often blend water with apple-juice concentrate from multiple sources. For the past decade, most concentrate has come from China (PDF). Concerns have been raised about the possible continuing use of arsenical pesticides there, and several Chinese provinces that are primary apple-growing regions are known to have high arsenic concentrations in groundwater.
A much bigger test than ours would be needed to establish any correlation between elevated arsenic or lead levels and the juice concentrate's country of origin. Samples we tested included some made from concentrate from multiple countries including Argentina, China, New Zealand, South Africa, and Turkey; others came from a single country. A few samples solely from the United States had elevated levels of lead or arsenic, and others did not. The same was true for samples containing only Chinese concentrate.
The FDA has been collecting its own data to see whether it should set guidelines to continue to ensure the safety of apple juice, a spokeswoman told us.
The Juice Products Association said, "We are committed to providing nutritious and safe fruit juices to consumers and will comply with limits established by the agency."
Answering a crucial question
We also wanted to know whether people who drink juice end up being exposed to more arsenic than those who don't.
So we commissioned an analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), conducted annually by the National Center for Health Statistics. Information is collected on the health and nutrition of a nationally representative sample of the U.S. population, based on interviews and physical exams that may include a blood or urine test. Officials and researchers often use the data to determine risk factors for major diseases and develop public health policy. In fact, data on lead in the blood of NHANES participants were instrumental in developing policies that have successfully resulted in lead being removed from gasoline.
Our analysis was led by Richard Stahlhut, M.D., M.P.H., an environmental health researcher at the University of Rochester with expertise in NHANES data, working with Consumer Reports statisticians. Ana Navas-Acien, M.D., Ph.D., a physician—epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, also provided guidance. She was the lead author of a 2008 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (PDF) that first linked low-level arsenic exposure with the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the United States.
Stahlhut reviewed NHANES data from 2003 through 2008 from participants tested for total urinary arsenic who reported their food and drink consumption for 24 hours the day before their NHANES visit. Because most ingested arsenic is excreted in urine, the best measure of recent exposure is a urine test.
Following Navas-Acien's advice, we excluded from our NHANES analysis anyone with results showing detectable levels of arsenobetaine, the organic arsenic in seafood. That made the results we analyzed more likely to represent inorganic arsenic, of greatest concern in terms of potential health risks.
The resulting analysis of almost 3,000 study participants found that those reporting apple-juice consumption had on average 19 percent greater levels of total urinary arsenic than those subjects who did not, and those who reported drinking grape juice had 20 percent higher levels. The results might understate the correlation between juice consumption and urinary arsenic levels because NHANES urinary data exclude children younger than 6, who tend to be big juice drinkers.
"The current analysis suggests that these juices may be an important contributor to dietary arsenic exposure," says Keeve Nachman, Ph.D., a risk scientist at the Center for a Livable Future and the Bloomberg School of Public Health, both at Johns Hopkins University. "It would be prudent to pursue measures to understand and limit young children's exposures to arsenic in juice."
Robert Wright, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of pediatrics and environmental health at Harvard University who specializes in research on the effect of heavy-metals exposure in children, says that findings from our juice tests and database analysis concern him: "Because of their small size, a child drinking a box of juice would consume a larger per-body-weight dose of arsenic than an adult drinking the exact same box of juice. Those brands with elevated arsenic should investigate the source and eliminate it."
A chronic problem
Arsenic has been notoriously used as a poison since ancient times. A fatal poisoning would require a single dose of inorganic arsenic about the weight of a postage stamp. But chronic toxicity can result from long-term exposure to much lower levels in food, and even to water that meets the 10-ppb drinking-water limit.
A 2004 study of children in Bangladesh (PDF) suggested diminished intelligence based on test scores in children exposed to arsenic in drinking water at levels above 5 ppb, says study author Joseph Graziano, Ph.D., a professor of environmental health sciences and pharmacology at Columbia University. He's now conducting similar research with children living in New Hampshire and Maine, where arsenic levels of 10 to 100 ppb are commonly found in well water, to determine whether better nutrition in the United States affects the results.
People with private wells may face greater risks than those on public systems because they're responsible for testing and treating their own water. In Maine, where almost half the population relies on private wells, the USGS found arsenic levels in well water as high as 3,100 ppb.
And a study published in 2011 (PDF) in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health examined the long-term effects of low-level exposure on more than 300 rural Texans whose groundwater was estimated to have arsenic at median levels below the federal drinking-water standard. It found that exposure was related to poor scores in language, memory, and other brain functions.
Symptoms of chronic exposure
Chronic arsenic exposure can initially cause gastrointestinal problems and skin discoloration or lesions. Exposure over time, which the World Health Organization says could be five to 20 years, could increase the risk of various cancers and high blood pressure, diabetes, and reproductive problems.
Signs of chronic low-level arsenic exposure can be mistaken for other ailments such as chronic fatigue syndrome. Usually the connection to arsenic exposure is not made immediately, as Sharyn Duffy of Geneseo, N.Y., discovered. She visited a doctor in 2007 about pain and skin changes on the sole of her left foot. She was referred to a podiatrist and eventually received a diagnosis of hyperkeratosis, in which lesions develop or thick skin forms on the palms or soles of the feet. It can be among the earliest symptoms of chronic arsenic poisoning. But she says it was roughly two years before she was finally referred to a neurologist, who suggested testing for arsenic. She had double the typical levels.
"Testing for arsenic isn't part of a routine checkup," says Duffy, a retiree. "When you come in with symptoms like I had, ordering that kind of test probably wouldn't even occur to most doctors."
Michael Harbut, M.D., chief of the environmental cancer program at Karmanos Institute in Detroit, says, "Given what we know about the wide range of arsenic exposure sources we have in this country, I suspect there is an awful lot of chronic, low-level arsenic poisoning going on that's never properly diagnosed."
Emerging research suggests that when arsenic exposure occurs in the womb or in early childhood, it not only increases cancer risks later in life but also can cause lasting harm to children's developing brains and endocrine and immune systems, leading to other diseases, too.
Case in point: From 1958 through 1970, residents of Antofagasta, Chile, were exposed to naturally occurring arsenic in drinking water (PDF) that peaked at almost 1,000 ppb before an arsenic removal plant was installed. Studies led by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley found that people born during that period who had probable exposure in the womb and during early childhood had a lung-cancer death rate six times higher than those in their age group elsewhere in Chile. Their rate of death in their 30s and 40s from another form of lung disease was almost 50 times higher than for people without that arsenic exposure.
"Recent studies have shown that early-childhood exposure to arsenic carries the most serious long-term risk," says Joshua Hamilton of the Marine Biological Laboratory. "So even though reducing arsenic exposure is important for everyone, we need to pay special attention to protecting pregnant moms, babies, and young kids."
Other dietary exposures
In addition to juice, foods including chicken, rice, and even baby food have been found to contain arsenic—sometimes at higher levels than the amounts found in juice. Brian Jackson, Ph.D., an analytical chemist and research associate professor at Dartmouth College, presented his findings at a June 2011 scientific conference in Aberdeen, Scotland. He reported finding up to 23 ppb of arsenic in lab tests of name-brand jars of baby food, with inorganic arsenic representing 70 to 90 percent of those total amounts.
Similar results turned up in a 2004 study conducted by FDA scientists in Cincinnati, who found arsenic levels of up to 24 ppb in baby food, with sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, and peaches containing only the inorganic form. A United Kingdom study published in 2008 (PDF) found that the levels of inorganic arsenic in 20-ounce packets of dried infant rice cereals ranged from 60 to 160 ppb. Rice-based infant cereals are often the first solid food that babies eat.
Rice frequently contains high levels of inorganic arsenic because it is among plants that are unusually efficient at taking up arsenic from the soil and incorporating it in the grains people eat. Moreover, much of the rice produced in the U.S. is grown in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas, on land formerly used to grow cotton, where arsenical pesticides were used for decades.
"Initially, in some regions rice planted there produced little grain due to these arsenical pesticides, but farmers then bred a type of rice specifically designed to produce high yields on the contaminated soil," says Andrew Meharg, professor of biogeochemistry at the University of Aberdeen, in Scotland. Meharg studies human exposures to arsenic in the environment. His research over the past six years has shown that U.S. rice has among the highest average inorganic arsenic levels in the world—almost three times higher than levels in Basmati rice imported from low-arsenic areas of Nepal, India, and Pakistan. Rice from Egypt has the lowest levels of all.
Infant rice cereal for the U.S. market is generally made from U.S. rice, Meharg says, but labeling usually doesn't specify country of origin. He says exposure to arsenic through infant rice cereals could be reduced greatly if cereal makers used techniques that don't require growing rice in water-flooded paddies or if they obtained rice from low-arsenic areas. His 2007 study (PDF) found that median arsenic levels in California rice were 41 percent lower than levels in rice from the south-central U.S.
Setting federal standards
Evidence of arsenic's ability to cause cancer and other life-threatening illnesses has surged because some of the diseases linked to it have latency periods of several decades. Only recently have scientists been able to more fully measure the effects in populations that were exposed to elevated levels of arsenic in drinking water many years ago.
The Environmental Protection Agency periodically revises its assessment of the toxicity of various chemicals to offer guidance on drinking-water standards. Based on such a review, the agency changed the water standard for arsenic to 10 ppb, effective in 2006, from the 50-ppb limit it set in 1975. The EPA had proposed a 5-ppb limit in 2000, so the current limit is a compromise that came only after years of haggling over the costs of removing arsenic. Since 2006, New Jersey has had a 5-ppb threshold, advising residents that water with arsenic levels above that shouldn't be used for drinking or cooking.
For known human carcinogens such as inorganic arsenic, the EPA assumes there's actually no "safe" level of exposure, so it normally sets exposure limits that include a margin of safety to ideally allow for only one additional case of cancer in a million people, or at worst, no more than one in 10,000. For water with 10 ppb of arsenic, the excess cancer risk is one in 500.
Debate over that standard is likely to begin anew. The agency's latest draft report, from February 2010, proposes that the number used to calculate the cancer risk posed by ingesting inorganic arsenic be increased 17-fold to reflect arsenic's role in causing bladder and lung cancer. The proposal "suggests that arsenic's carcinogenic properties have been underestimated for a long time and that the federal drinking-water standard is underprotective based on current science," says Keeve Nachman, the Johns Hopkins scientist.
Each year the FDA tests a variety of foods and beverages for arsenic and other contaminants. It also started a program in 2005 to test for specific toxins such as arsenic and lead in domestic and imported products. As of late November, that program had published results for 160 samples of apple juice and concentrate. And the agency can alert inspectors at U.S. ports to conduct increased surveillance for products suspected to pose risks. Currently there's an alert for increased surveillance of apple concentrate from China and six other countries "where we have a suspicion there may be high levels of arsenic in their products," says FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Yao. But in fiscal 2010, the agency conducted physical inspections of only 2 percent of imported food shipments. For more about the FDA's tests, read our update and download a PDF of our complete test results.
Consumers Union urges federal officials to set a standard for total arsenic in apple and grape juice. Our research suggests that the standard should be 3 ppb. Concerning lead, juice should at least meet the bottled-water standard of 5 ppb. Such standards would better protect children, who are most vulnerable to the effects of arsenic and lead. And they're achievable levels: 41 percent of the samples we tested met both thresholds.
Moreover, the EPA should impose stricter drinking-water standards for arsenic, Consumers Union believes. (The drinking-water threshold for lead is 15 ppb, which acknowledges that many older homes have water pipes or solder with lead.) Officials should also ban arsenic in pesticides, animal-feed additives, and fertilizers.
As our tests show, sources of lead haven't been eliminated, but dramatic progress has been made: Since the 1970s, average blood lead levels in children younger than 6 have dropped by about 90 percent, thanks to a federal ban on lead in house paint and gas. The U.S. should be equally aggressive with arsenic, suggests Joseph Graziano at Columbia University. "We tackled every source, from gasoline to paint to solder in food cans," he says, "and we should be just as vigilant in preventing arsenic from entering our food and water because the consequences of exposure are enormous for adults as well as children."
How much juice do children drink?
Too many children drink too much juice, according to our poll of parents. One in four toddlers 2 and younger and 45 percent of children ages 3 to 5 drink 7 or more ounces of juice a day. The American Academy of Pediatrics cautions that to help prevent obesity and tooth decay, children younger than 6 should drink no more than 6 ounces a day, about the size of a juice box. (Infants younger than 6 months shouldn't drink any.) The possible presence of arsenic or lead in juices is all the more reason to stick with those nutrition-based limits.
Our findings are from 555 telephone interviews in October with parents, who were asked about children's juice consumption the previous day. Totals don't equal 100 percent because some said they didn't know how much juice their kids drank.
Arsenic can contaminate groundwater used for drinking and irrigation in areas where it is geologically abundant and in other areas where chemical conditions are likely to cause it to dissolve into water. Levels can vary widely throughout the United States, as illustrated in the map at right showing arsenic measurements for groundwater samples from about 31,000 wells and springs in 49 states compiled by the USGS. Click on the word "Interactive" on the map to learn about arsenic levels where you live. (To view the map, your computer or other device requires Flash.)
Orange or red symbols on the map indicate areas where samples contained arsenic at levels exceeding the federal limit of 10 micrograms per liter, or 10 parts per billion (ppb) for public drinking water.
Public-water-supply systems are required to treat water that tests high in arsenic so that it meets federal limits before delivering it to consumers. And in New Jersey, public water systems must meet an even stricter limit of 5 ppb. But if you have a private well rather than a public system, you are responsible for testing and treating it.
To learn more about why it's so important to reduce your exposure to even relatively low levels of arsenic in your drinking water, check out this helpful video produced by the Dartmouth Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program. And for tips on how to get your water tested and how to select a home treatment system, read "Ways to Reduce Your Family's Risk."
The 31,000 groundwater samples represented in this map were collected for studies on potable groundwater resources by the USGS, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Texas Water Development Commission, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and the six New England states. Estimation of the arsenic concentration in groundwater in any specific area must consider the following limitations and sources of variability:
• The data include a variety of well types, including private wells, public-supply wells, and monitoring wells not used for water supply.
• These groundwater samples do not represent drinking water served by public-water-supply systems because these utilities may treat or mix groundwater with high arsenic concentrations from individual wells with water containing lower arsenic levels in order to meet drinking water standards before delivering it to consumers.
• The appearance of the arsenic distribution is influenced by the order in which wells are plotted. In this map, wells with higher concentrations are drawn on top of those with more moderate concentrations. This overplotting may exaggerate the frequency of high values in areas where wells are close together. But given the risks posed by arsenic exposure, we opted in favor of making areas with elevated arsenic visible whenever possible to encourage private well owners in those areas to test and treat their water to reduce exposure risks.
• Arsenic concentration may vary with depth within the same aquifer, or between aquifers that are stacked vertically—for example, a shallow sand and gravel aquifer can overlie a deeper bedrock aquifer. The map does not show the vertical distribution of arsenic.
• Many of the wells were sampled more than once, but evaluation of the data indicates that there is no relation between arsenic concentration and time tested for most of the wells.
With these qualifications in mind, the data above provides an estimate of arsenic occurrence in the groundwater resource in general. Visit the USGS for additional information on the studies behind the map, along with more detailed maps for various portions of the country.
– Source: Consumer Reports


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24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — January 14, 2013: Markets Mixed at Open on iPhone Reports (AAPL, CSCO, ARMH, FB, S, DE, MSC, PPG, ED, FRX, LEN, RIMM, AZK, STRZA, DELL)
U.S. equity markets opened mixed this morning, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both getting pushed lower on a report that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has cut iPhone component orders on its suppliers (more coverage here). U.S. markets got little help from overseas. In Europe, industrial production data came in below expectations, with output falling in 16 countries (more coverage here). Markets closed higher in Asia, mostly on the strength of an announcement from China that it would increase the allowable amount of foreign direct investment by a factor of 10. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is speaking after markets close today in a conversation at the University of Michigan on monetary policy and the U.S. economy.
The U.S. dollar index fell 0.08% today, now at 79.498. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.5% at 649.58, with commodities prices mostly higher again today as corn prices continue to push higher. WTI crude oil closed up 0.6% today, at $4.14a barrel. Brent crude trades up about 1.1% at $111.89 a barrel. Natural gas is up 1.5% today at about $3.8 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 0.5% today at $1,669.40 an ounce.
The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly 19 points to 13,507.32 (0.14%), the NASDAQ fell about 8 points (-0.26%) to 3,117.50, and the S&P 500 fell -0.09% or just over 1 point to 1,470.68.
There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades of note today, including Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) raised to 'outperform' at William Blair; ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARMH) cut to 'neutral' at Piper Jaffray; Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) raised to 'buy' at Deutsche Bank; Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) cut to 'neutral' at UBS; and Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) raised to 'neutral' at J.P. Morgan.
Earnings reports since markets closed last Friday resulted in price moves today, including this one as of the last half hour of trading: PPG Industries Inc. (NYSE: PPG) is down 0.6% at $141.24.
After markets close today and before they open Monday morning we are scheduled to hear from Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED), Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX), and Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN).
Some standouts from today include the following stocks:
Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) is up 9% today at $14.78. The mobile phone maker is posting gains on today's reported weakness in Apple iPhone orders, the coming launch of the company's Blackberry 10, and short covering. Which is the most influential factor is matter of opinion.
Aurizon Mines Ltd. (NYSEMKT: AZK) is up 33.7% at $4.63. The junior gold miner has received a buyout offer from another junior Canadian gold miner, Alamos Gold Inc., at a 40% premium to last Wednesday's closing price. Alamos has applied to for a listing on the NYSE under the ticker symbol 'AGI.'
Liberty Media Corp. (NASDAQ: STRZA) is up 9.7% at $15.58. The owner of cable TV's Starz and Encore channels completed an IPO today that opened at $14.15.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is up 12.7% at $12.26. The PC maker is rumored to be a takeover target - again. More coverage here. And here's a look at other big high-tech stocks that could be ripe for plucking, providing there are some very deep-pocketed buyers out there.
Stay tuned for Tuesday. Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota, and Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser are giving speeches. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):
8:30 a.m. – Producer price index
8:30 a.m. – Retail sales
8:30 a.m. – Empire State manufacturing survey
10:00 a.m. – Business inventories
11:30 a.m. – 4-week Treasury bill auction
Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AAPL, ARMH, AZK, CSCO, DE, DELL, ED, FB, FRX, LEN, PPG, RIMM, S, STRZA


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CBS Developing 'Wizard of Oz' TV Series 'Dorothy,' as a Medical Drama?
Iconic cinema classic 'The Wizard of Oz' has spawned numerous TV attempts, everything from the Sci-Fi channel's 'Tin Man,' to Syfy's 'Warriors of Oz,' to a 'Game of Thrones'-style 'Red Brick Road' and even 'Once Upon A Time,' so what's next? Why, CBS medical drama 'Dorothy' of course! It makes perfect sense! Summon the TV-maker people, guys, we're serial!


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Healthy Start developed the Community Action Network to:
The Community Action Network is composed of clients, neighborhood residents, healthcare providers, social service and public health agencies, faith-based representatives and members of our local business community.
South Phoenix Healthy Start is a federally funded, community-based infant mortality reduction program. Our mission is to increase the number of infants that live and remain healthy past one year of age.


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*************** The ARRL Letter Vol. 27, No. 37 September 19, 2008 *************** IN THIS EDITION: * + Hams in Texas and Surrounding States Active as Ike Pounds Gulf Coast and Inland Areas * + Areas Not Directly in Storm's Path Also Affected by Ike and Lowell * + W1AW Supports EchoLink Operations During Ike * + Third Annual ARRL On-Line Auction Set for October * + Brennan Price, N4QX, Returns to ARRL Staff * + ARRL Welcomes USTTI Students * Solar Update * IN BRIEF: This Weekend on the Radio ARRL Continuing Education Course Registration + ARISS Update +Available on ARRL Audio News <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> =========================================================== ==>Delivery problems: First see FAQ <http://www.arrl.org/members-only/faq.html#nodelivery>, then e-mail <firstname.lastname@example.com> ==>Editorial questions or comments only: S. Khrystyne Keane, <firstname.lastname@example.com> =========================================================== ==> HAMS IN TEXAS AND SURROUNDING STATES ACTIVE AS IKE POUNDS GULF COAST AND INLAND AREAS As Hurricane Ike weakened and became a tropical storm and then a tropical depression after slamming ashore near Galveston, Texas early Saturday morning, hams in several ARRL sections were supporting agencies with their communications needs. Although the final word on all the locations where ARES was providing communications support has yet to be reported, it was clear that Amateur Radio played a part in the response to the massive storm. In a conference call with ARRL Headquarters staff the morning of Sunday, September 14, ARRL section leadership reported that ARES was supporting Emergency Operations Centers throughout the region, and that equipment shipped to the Gulf Coast under the Ham Aid program was either being put to use or held for possible use as requests arrive. * Texas South Texas Section Emergency Coordinator Mike Schwartz, KG5TL, whose section took the brunt of Ike's wind and rain, reported that he had spoken earlier to 9th District Emergency Coordinator Brian Cater, KC5YSM. Cater said his district, located to the east of Houston and Galveston, had lost power, but some food was available at hotels and other venues that were using backup generators. Electric utility poles were holding up well, since many had been replaced with newer ones after 2005's Hurricane Rita. Schwartz reported that ARRL North Texas Section Emergency Coordinator Bill Swan, K5MWC, sent two communications vehicles and a couple of ham radio operators from his section to the Orange area in South Texas. Hams in the Houston and the surrounding area responded to calls earlier this week to assist served agencies with Points of Distribution (POD) around the Greater Houston area. These PODs are set up to distribute water, ice and food to area residents dealing with Ike and that storm's aftermath. According to Joe Gadus, KD5KTX, an ARRL Public Information Officer in the South Texas Section, members of ARES South Texas District 14 -- under the leadership of District Emergency Coordinator Jeff Walter, KE5FGA -- were manning at least six PODs. "These hams provided communications between the National Guard units at the PODs and the Harris County Office of Emergency Management to coordinate the delivery and resupply of food, water and MREs (meals ready to eat) to the victims of Hurricane Ike," he said. "Most of the participating amateurs are also victims [of the storm], having suffered property losses and power outages expected to last approximately three weeks." Late Sunday, the Texas State Operations Center released a Situation Report that included the following: "Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (RACES): State emergency communications operations began at 1800 Thursday, September 11, with the activation of the State RACES network. Operations consisted of monitoring joint emergency frequencies. These were operated by RACES and ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) and other civil/Amateur Radio Clubs. "Military Affiliated Radio Service (MARS): Texas MARS operators activated AAN6ETX (Texas SOC MARS station) at 0800 local on September 13, 2008. AAN6ETX was put into 24/7 operation beginning at 1900 local on September 13. The MARS and RACES have been actively teaming together to solve problems and get information to the appropriate parties. Increased activity began on Saturday after the storm made landfall and damage assessments were in progress. Five reports were received from Houston Transtar, which had no other means of submission, other than Winlink. Messages and critical information regarding safe routes were relayed to a relief group heading into the Orange County area. At one point contact between the SOC and the City of Port Arthur was lost and the MARS station was able to connect them with a Navy MARS/ARES/RACES person in the area. The MARS is also supporting and monitoring Task Force IKE's recon team via AAR6NAC. As of Sunday, September 14, 2008, the combined RACES/ARES/MARS nets received and relayed multiple emergency communications reports to the SOC, and local jurisdictions." * West Texas Meanwhile, remnants of Tropical Storm Lowell are still affecting residents of the West Texas Section. Section Emergency Coordinator J.T. Caldwell, WA5ZFH, reported that the levees in the town of Presidio -- a town on the banks of the Rio Grande of about 5000 people -- are holding, "but water is close to the top." Even before Ike hit, that town was more than 11 feet above flood stage resulting from rains left by Lowell. Mexican authorities have been dumping water from their reservoirs that feed into the Rio Grande, causing that river to flood, affecting Texas towns in the region. "Additional water is being released from Luis Leon dam in Mexico," Caldwell said; a portion of the levee broke on the Ojinaga, Mexico side Tuesday night at approximately 11 PM CST. Presidio's lowest areas have been evacuated. Emergency workers also shut down the Presidio-Ojinaga International Bridge connecting the city to Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico, which was in danger of flooding as the Rio Grande continued to rise Tuesday. "Do not travel down here if your intent is to get to Ojinaga," Presidio City Administrator Cynthia Clarke warned travelers, adding that there had been three breaks in a levee. "There's no way to get across." "The forecast calls for the river level to rise sequentially each day," Caldwell said. "No one currently expects the levees to hold... [and] residents have been advised that if they hear sirens, immediately leave and seek higher ground -- hundreds of residents have [already] been evacuated. The shelters here have since been combined into one shelter at the Presidio Elementary School with about 120 people in it," with more expected as the levees breech or overtop. * Louisiana From Louisiana, where residents are recovering from the effects of Hurricane Gustav, Section Manager Gary Stratton, K5GLS, reported to those on the conference call that Amateur Radio volunteers have had constant telephone communications through the Ike emergency, and there have been no problems at all with VoIP systems <http://www.arrl.org/qst/2003/02/VoIP.pdf>. There is supplemental sheltering for Hurricane Gustav and additional shelters for Ike. Most shelters are supported by local clubs and ARES groups around the state, working with EOCs. Section Emergency Coordinator Jim Coleman, AI5B, is participating in Louisiana VOAD conference calls <http://www.nvoad.org/>. * Arkansas From Arkansas, Section Manager David Norris, K5UZ, reported via e-mail that SKYWARN nets in the state were busy Saturday and Sunday. "Several tornados were spotted and tracked with some causing damage in Cabot and possibly Apin. There has been quite a bit of straight-line wind damage in the state, and as of 10 PM September 14, approximately 20,000 customers were without power. Many trees are down in my area and both of my 75/80 meter arrays have fallen victim to the storm. No tower collapses here, just a lot of mangled wire." * Illinois After the remnants of Ike and Lowell brought 9 inches of rain to the Chicago area, Illinois Section Manager Tom Ciciora, KA9QPN, reported Monday morning that "Grundy County ARES activated in support of county EMA efforts in flood control. One shelter is activated at this time. Additionally, both Kane and Kendall Counties have been especially hard hit with numerous road closures and evacuations. It was a real character-builder for Kane County, as their EOC also flooded yesterday." * ARRL Headquarters Maintaining Coordination Efforts Following Sunday's conference call, the group of ARRL section leaders and Headquarters staff who had been participating in conference calls that spanned three major storms on three consecutive weekends agreed to suspend them. They can be reestablished on short notice, however. In addition, W1AW suspended its monitoring and coordinating operations as of 6 PM Eastern Time Sunday. Coordination of Amateur Radio's response to the recent hurricanes continues, and ARRL Headquarters continues to participate in national conference calls coordinating the response efforts on an as-needed basis, as do volunteers in Texas and Louisiana. Only on September 15, were many of the VOAD and other supporting agency crews beginning to be able to move in to areas that have seen the most destruction. ARRL Headquarters will be receiving further reports of the exact contributions hams are making in the recovery effort, and we will share them as information arrives. ==> AREAS NOT DIRECTLY IN STORM'S PATH ALSO AFFECTED BY IKE AND LOWELL While Hurricane Ike, as well as Tropical Storm Lowell, caused severe damage in and around the impact zone of the Texas Gulf Coast, the storm's aftermath was felt as far north as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. Just like their counterparts on the Gulf Coast, ARES members in the Midwest are assisting served agencies in their area. While Ohio was not in the direct path of Hurricane Ike, that state is definitely feeling the aftermath of the storm as more than 2 million homes -- 18 percent of the population -- in the southwest portion of that state and neighboring Kentucky have been without power since Sunday, according to a story on ohio.com, an online service of the Akron Beacon Journal. On Wednesday, ARRL District Emergency Coordinator for Ohio District 4 Robert Spratt, N8TVU, reported that the Butler County Emergency Management Agency had requested ARES assistance to "move a shelter trailer that can support up to 450 clients from the Hanover Township Fire Department to the City of Hamilton," a distance of about 5.5 miles. Spratt said that the shelter was being established to house those residents whose homes had been structurally damaged or deemed unsafe. Hurricane-force winds of up to 78 MPH blew through Ohio on Sunday, causing damage in 84 of the state's 88 counties, said Ohio Governor Ted Strickland. The governor declared a State of Emergency, allowing the Ohio Department of Transportation to help local communities remove debris from roads. Calling the power outage "the worst and widespread I have seen," a spokesman for the Dayton Power & Light Company said that 50 transmission poles that support larger voltage lines were down and some utility poles "were snapped in two." A spokesman for Duke Energy (which serves Ohio and Kentucky) said that even with the influx of electrical crews from outside the area, "We're still looking at some customers being without [electrical] service until Saturday or Sunday." In Illinois, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich declared seven counties -- Cook, DuPage, DeKalb, Grundy, Kane, LaSalle and Will -- disaster areas. With the state proclamation, state assets and personnel will be provided to affected communities to help them respond and recover from the floods. On Monday, September 15, the Grundy County ARES team was activated at 11:30 AM, said DEC Bob Cockream, AA9EE. "The KB9SZK VHF repeater was closed to all but flood-related and emergency traffic. We supplied a person to assist with communications to the Red Cross shelter at the Coal City High School, and another two hams to the village hall to help with both radio and phones. We had seven other EMA/ARES members working the field delivering sand bags and checking in on residents, as well as checking water levels, and reporting back to the village hall." Neil Ormos, N9NL, DEC for Cook County/Chicago, reported that he hasn't heard of any ham radio activations in Cook County yet, "but if people have been activated, they may be too busy to report. In general, conventional communications systems are working. The Red Cross has four shelters open in Cook County, but they are using conventional communications and have not sought ham radio assistance." In Indiana, only one county -- Harrison County in the southern part of the state -- has had an official ARES activation. According to AEC Scott Taylor, K9SET, the area had no phones -- either landline or cell -- or electricity. "I recorded several 70 MPH gusts on Monday, and there are many, many trees and power lines down, as well as major structural damage to homes and business here in my town of Corydon. It may be three to five days for some to get power. Only a few businesses seem to have power, but no residences have it at this time." In Dearborn County and Southeastern Indiana, there has been "much storm damage," said Dearborn County EC Ken Courtney, WA9BLA. "On Tuesday, we had winds here from 1:30 PM to 5:30 PM; on Sunday, we recorded gusts of 70 to 80 MPH across the area wide -- hurricane Category 1 strength. A mobile home rolled over and a semi was blown over on the I-275 bridge to Kentucky. There have been four fatalities in the Greater Cincinnati area, all with trees falling on people; one fatality was in Ohio County, Indiana." Courtney said that several hams will be doing disaster damage surveys later this week for the Dearborn County Homeland Security Agency. The ARRL is still receiving reports from the field concerning recovery efforts from these states. We will be updating our information as it becomes available. To catch up on the latest information, please visit the ARRL Web site <http://www.arrl.org/>. ==> W1AW SUPPORTS ECHOLINK OPERATIONS DURING IKE Throughout the course of Hurricane Ike, operators at W1AW, the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station, hooked into the HF radio of ARRL West Gulf Vice Director David Woolweaver, K5RAV, via EchoLink <http://www.echolink.org/>. According to W1AW Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, the link enabled hams in Newington to monitor the Texas Emergency Net. "Through Dr Woolweaver's initiative, we could use EchoLink in this fashion to assist ARRL HQ staff monitor critical Net operations using HF -- a capability we have never taken advantage of before." Carcia said that the reason the HF/EchoLink connection was used was due to the frequency the Texas Emergency Net was using. "The Net was on 75 meters," Carcia said, "and propagation did not favor us here in New England to be able to hear the transmissions. By using Dr Woolweaver's link, we could hear everything on the Net." During the monitoring sequence, Woolweaver changed the frequencies on EchoLink to enable ARRL HQ to stay on top of and monitor conversations related to message relays, Coast Guard contacts and Health and Welfare traffic from across Texas and the surrounding states. According to ARRL Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager Dennis Dura, K2DCD, this capability will be critical to future emergency communication response at ARRL Headquarters: "Without the EchoLink/HF connection, we here at ARRL would not have able to be in contact with ARRL South Texas Section Leadership." Woolweaver is working on getting more Texas stations involved in the EchoLink network to help out with future emergencies. He said that EchoLink can be successfully utilized to monitor and to engage stations on VHF and HF. "Using stations with EchoLink node capabilities and access to VHF and HF equipment, W1AW and other personnel at HQ will be able to become active participants and consultants in local and regional operations," he said. "You cannot underestimate the value of first hand information. The EchoLink to remote HF connection allows W1AW and ARRL staff to monitor and participate in local and regional operations any where any time. It does not get much better than that!" ==> THIRD ANNUAL ARRL ON-LINE AUCTION SET FOR OCTOBER The Third Annual ARRL On-Line Auction kicks off October 23, running until November 1 on the ARRL Web site <http://www.arrl.org/auction>. This is your chance to pick up one-of-a-kind Amateur Radio items. To see what the Auction will offer this year, be sure to check out the Auction preview that begins October 16. Last year, the Auction attracted more than 3000 registered bidders from more than 40 countries. While the majority of buyers were from the USA, Canada and the UK, there were buyers from Australia, Malaysia, Grenada, Vietnam and Tanzania. According to ARRL Chief Operating Officer Harold Kramer, WJ1B, "Last year's on-line auction -- our second -- proved to be a successful and enjoyable event for both hams and ARRL staff members alike. When the bidding ended, we realized that we had sold 162 items and raised just over $50,000." Proceeds from the auction benefit ARRL education programs including activities to license new hams, strengthen Amateur Radio's emergency service training, offer continuing technical and operating education, as well as creating instructional materials. ARRL Business Services Manager Deb Jahnke, K1DAJ, encouraged everyone to come and peruse the wide variety of offerings: "Browse through the Web site frequently, as items will be added on a daily basis. We also encourage you to look through the 'Help' and 'About Us' sections. You'll find useful information about bidding, FAQs and a host of other facts. To ensure an enjoyable experience, please be sure to read all policies under the 'About Us' section." This year's auction will again include many transceivers and other items that have appeared in the QST Product Review column and have thus been thouroughly tested by the ARRL Lab. There will be many vintage items offered, as well. Also, returning by popular demand will be four ARRL Lab unique "junque" boxes. These boxes have a starting bid of $50 and have almost anything you could ever possibly imagine in them. No one -- except the ARRL Lab staff -- knows what exactly is inside each box, but each is guaranteed to be full of things that the Lab staff consider valuable (but keep in mind that they collect just about anything). Jahnke said that due to many requests last year, "all product review items in the On-Line Auction include a link to a PDF file of the actual Product Review, as well as a reference to the QST issue that the review appeared in." ==> BRENNAN PRICE, N4QX, RETURNS TO ARRL STAFF Brennan Price, N4QX, returned to the ARRL Staff as the League's Technical Relations Manager on September 15, filling the vacancy created by the retirement of Paul Rinaldo, W4RI, earlier this summer. From 2000-2004, Price served as Field and Regulatory Correspondent and Assistant Technical Editor at ARRL Headquarters. As Technical Relations Manager, he will be responsible for representing the ARRL's interests to federal government agencies, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and other international organizations, and regional telecommunications organizations, personally and through the supervision of other Technical Relations Office staff. Saying that his goal is to "defend Amateur Radio spectrum, and if the opportunity presents itself, help gain some," Price is currently preparing for a meeting of United States Working Party 5A -- which considers issues in the Amateur Radio and Land Mobile services -- in Washington next week. Price holds a BA in chemistry from Vanderbilt University, an MS in chemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), and a JD with honors from the University Of Connecticut School Of Law, where he was appointed Executive Editor of the "Connecticut Law Review." Admitted to the Connecticut bar in 2005, he had been in private practice with a firm in Hartford. Price was first licensed in 1997 as KF4UZB, earning his Amateur Extra class license by 1999, acquiring the call signs KU4WJ and N4QX in the process. He is an ARRL Volunteer Counsel <http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/local/vci.html> and has stayed current with regulatory issues affecting the ARRL and Amateur Radio. While at the "Law Review," Price was invited to publish a scholarly summary of case and statutory law related to PRB-1, the FCC's limited preemption of Amateur Radio antenna and antenna support zoning restrictions <http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/PRB-1_Pkg/Price.pdf>. This 29 page summary is designed to inform amateurs and their counsel, as well as municipal counsel, of the state of the law before any party adopts an unwise strategy "We are fortunate to have filled this key position with someone with Brennan's experience, training and passion for Amateur Radio," said ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ. "His strong regulatory background and knowledge of the ARRL as a former staff member and active volunteer will help him come up to full speed very quickly. He jumped into preparations for the 2011 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-11) on his first day back." Price said he welcomes the chance to return to ARRL and join its Technical Relations staff: "The League's Technical Relations efforts have paid tangible dividends to Amateur Radio operators over the years: Our allotment at 60 meters and more broadcaster-free space on 40 meters are but two examples. I am pleased to have the chance to advocate for Amateur Radio on the national and international stage. Although WRC-11 is three years away, preparatory work is well underway, with Technical Relations Specialist Jon Siverling, WB3ERA, representing the ARRL at a meeting of a Permanent Consultative Committee of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) in Argentina this week." When not at work or on the air (he especially enjoys operating CW on 10 meters), Price enjoys officiating football and playing chess. ==> ARRL WELCOMES USTTI STUDENTS Next month, the ARRL will welcome students from various countries from all over the world who want to learn how to administer and regulate Amateur Radio programs in their home countries. This course, offered by the United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) <http://ustti.org/>, will help participants create, administer and foster an Amateur Radio Service in their countries. Designed for those in developing countries who regulate and manage their country's Amateur Radio Service, this course will help participants learn just who radio amateurs are. ARRL staff instructors will help course participants discover the ever-expanding universe of Amateur Radio communication. They will explain why Amateur Radio operators -- upwards of three million individuals in virtually every country of the world -- have earned licenses to operate stations in the Service and why they are recognized, both by their governments and internationally, as a valuable voluntary telecommunications resource. Course participants will also discover how a telecommunications administration can bring the benefits of a healthy Amateur Service to its nation. Now in its 26th year, USTTI is a nonprofit venture involving leading US-based communications and information technology corporations and leaders of the federal government cooperating to provide tuition-free management, policy and technical training for talented professionals from the developing world. This is the 24th year the ARRL has participated in the program. ==>SOLAR UPDATE Tad "To taste the luxury of sunny beams" Cook, K7RA, this week reports: Last week saw another brief sunspot appearance followed by a quick fade. This was an old Solar Cycle 23 spot -- number 1001 -- resulting in a sunspot number of 12 for September 11. Sunspot numbers for September 11-17 were 12, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 with a mean of 1.7. The 10.7 cm flux was 66.9, 66.3, 66.4, 66.8, 67.5, 69.4 and 67.1 with a mean of 67.2. Estimated planetary A indices were 2, 2, 0, 6, 15, 9 and 3 with a mean of 5.3. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 1, 0, 0, 4, 11, 7 and 3 with a mean of 3.7. For the near term, nothing indicates any emerging sunspots. The geomagnetic indicators should remain quiet with a planetary A index of 5 until the end of the month. From September 30-October 2, the planetary A index is expected to be 8, 30 and 8. Eight is a low number, but 30 indicates a geomagnetic storm, probably expected from a recurring coronal hole spewing a strong solar wind. For more information concerning radio propagation, visit the ARRL Technical Information Service Propagation page <http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html>. To read this week's Solar Report in its entirety, check out the W1AW Propagation Bulletin page <http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/>. This week's "Tad Cookism" brought to you by John Keats' "I Stood Tip-Toe upon a Little Hill" <http://www.bartleby.com/126/2.html>. __________________________________ ==>IN BRIEF: * This Weekend on the Radio: This weekend, the ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest and the ARRL International EME Competition are on September 20-21. YLRL Howdy Days are September 18-20. The NCCC Sprint is September 19 and the Feld Hell Sprint is September 20. Be on the lookout for these contests on September 20-21: The Colorado QSO Party, the SARL VHF/UHF Contest, the Scandinavian Activity Contest (CW), the CIS DX Contest, the South Carolina QSO Party, the Washington State Salmon Run and the QCWA Fall QSO Party. The Run for the Bacon QRP Contest and the 144 MHz Fall Sprint are both on September 22. The SKCC Sprint is September 24 and the BCC QSO Party is September 25. Next weekend is the NCCC Sprint on September 26 and the AGCW VHF/UHF Contest on September 27. Look for the CQ Worldwide DX Contest (RTTY), the Texas QSO Party and the Scandinavian Activity Contest (SSB) on September 27-28. The UBA ON Contest (CW) is September 28 and the 222 MHz Fall Sprint is September 30 (local time). The RSGB 21/28 MHz Contest is October 1. All dates, unless otherwise stated, are UTC. See the ARRL Contest Branch page <http://www.arrl.org/contests/>, the ARRL Contest Update <http://www.arrl.org/contests/update/> and the WA7BNM Contest Calendar <http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html> for more info. Looking for a Special Event station? Be sure to check out the ARRL Special Event Station Web page <http://www.arrl.org/contests/spev.html>. * ARRL Continuing Education Course Registration: Registration remains open through Sunday October 5, 2008 for these online course sessions beginning on Friday October 17, 2008: Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 2 (EC-002); Antenna Modeling (EC-004); HF Digital Communications (EC-005); VHF/UHF -- Life Beyond the Repeater (EC-008), and Radio Frequency Propagation (EC-011). Each online course has been developed in segments -- learning units with objectives, informative text, student activities and quizzes. Courses are interactive, and some include direct communications with a Mentor/Instructor. Students register for a particular session that may be 8, 12 or 16 weeks (depending on the course) and they may access the course at any time of day during the course period, completing lessons and activities at times convenient for their personal schedule. Mentors assist students by answering questions, reviewing assignments and activities, as well as providing helpful feedback. Interaction with mentors is conducted through e-mail; there is no appointed time the student must be present -- allowing complete flexibility for the student to work when and where it is convenient. To learn more, visit the CCE Course Listing page <http://www.arrl.org/cce/courses.html> or contact the Continuing Education Program Coordinator <email@example.com>. * ARISS Update: On September 13, Prairielands Council Scouts attending the Space Jamboree at Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff, KD5PKZ. Telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii assisted with the contact. Thirteen Scouts were able to ask Chamitoff 17 questions during the pass. Scout leaders replayed the question and answer session later in the day for all 3000 Scouts attending the Jamboree. The audio was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT server and Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP) Reflector 9010. Currently, ISS Expedition 17 has three ham astronauts on board: Chamitoff, Commander Sergei Volkov, RU3DIS, and Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko, RN3DX. Chamitoff is scheduled to return to Earth next month when the space shuttle brings Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus, KE5FYE, part of Expedition 18, to the ISS; Commander Michael Fincke, KE5AIT, will lead Expedition 18, arriving on the ISS via a Soyuz flight with Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov. ARISS notes that school contact approvals have been delayed due to the closure of Johnson Space Center for Hurricane Ike. To date, ARISS has supported 360 ISS-to-Earth school contacts and 10 terrestrial contacts. =========================================================== The ARRL Letter is published Fridays, 50 times each year, by the American Radio Relay League: ARRL--the national association for Amateur Radio, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259; <http://www.arrl.org/>. Joel Harrison, W5ZN, President. The ARRL Letter offers a weekly e-mail digest of essential and general news of interest to active radio amateurs. Visit the ARRL Web site <http://www.arrl.org/> for the latest Amateur Radio news and news updates. The ARRL Web site <http://www.arrl.org/> also offers informative features and columns. ARRL Audio News <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> is a weekly "ham radio newscast" compiled and edited from The ARRL Letter. It's also available as a podcast from our Web site. Material from The ARRL Letter may be republished or reproduced in whole or in part in any form without additional permission. Credit must be given to The ARRL Letter/American Radio Relay League. ==>Delivery problems (ARRL member direct delivery only!): email@example.com ==>Editorial questions or comments: S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA, firstname.lastname@example.com ==>ARRL News on the Web: <http://www.arrl.org/> ==>ARRL Audio News: <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> or call 860-594-0384 ==>How to Get The ARRL Letter The ARRL Letter is available to ARRL members free of charge directly from ARRL HQ. To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your address for e-mail delivery: ARRL members first must register on the Members Only Web Site <http://www.arrl.org/members/>. You'll have an opportunity during registration to sign up for e-mail delivery of The ARRL Letter, W1AW bulletins, and other material. To change these selections--including delivery of The ARRL Letter--registered members should click on the "Member Data Page" link (in the Members Only box). Click on "Modify membership data," check or uncheck the appropriate boxes and/or change your e-mail address if necessary. (Check "Temporarily disable all automatically sent email" to temporarily stop all e-mail deliveries.) Then, click on "Submit modification" to make selections effective. (NOTE: HQ staff members cannot change your e-mail delivery address. You must do this yourself via the Members Only Web Site.) The ARRL Letter also is available to all, free of charge, from these sources: * ARRLWeb <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/>. (NOTE: The ARRL Letter will be posted each Friday when it is distributed via e-mail.) * The QTH.net listserver, thanks to volunteers from the Boston Amateur Radio Club: Visit Mailing email@example.com <http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/letter-list>. (NOTE: The ARRL cannot assist subscribers who receive The ARRL Letter via this listserver.) Copyright 2008 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The ARRL Letter
The ARRL Letter offers a weekly summary of essential news of interest to active amateurs that is available in advance of publication in QST, our official journal. The ARRL Letter strives to be timely, accurate, concise and readable.
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