Monday 05/18/19

Human Interest News — Posted on May 18, 2009

Siren song
The mystery noise that awoke many in the neighborhood surrounding the University of the District Columbia on April 29 turned out to be remnants of a long-forgotten civil defense system installed on campus in the 1970s. Worse than a blaring siren at 5:30 in the morning? No one knew how to turn it off. That’s because until the alarm atop a UDC building went off, few university officials even knew it existed. And, for more than two hours, no one could stop it. After two hours, electricians were able to disconnect the upstart siren.

Vision quest
In real estate, it’s location, location, location. Vision care in the United Kingdom apparently works the same way. Lesley Fletcher says the NHS, the government’s socialized health-care service, is refusing to pay for medicine that will prevent her from going blind–just because of where she lives. Most local trusts will provide British citizens with [the prescription drug] Lucentis…, but Fletcher’s local NHS trust west of Leeds is an exception. At $1,200 per treatment, her local NHS trust has deemed the treatment too expensive to be cost effective. And unless Fletcher can convince higher-ups in the bureaucracy to change their policy, her myopic macular degeneration will likely lead to sight loss.

Criminal enterprise
Jim Andrews has a way with words. And you can’t blame him for that, unless you’re Chicago city Alderman Robert Fioretti. The 2nd Ward alderman says he takes issue not so much with the business Andrews wants to run–a hot dog stand employing ex-convicts on Chicago’s West Side. Rather, it’s what Andrews plans to call the business that upsets Fioretti. In a send-up of West Side neighborhood’s crime problems, Andrews wants to call his stand “Felony Franks.” Andrews has a few slogan ideas too: “Home of the Misdemeanor Weiner” and “Food so good, it’s criminal” are a few ideas. Fioretti isn’t laughing: “This, no matter what anybody says, is not that cute of an idea. It’s a great concept for ex-offenders, but it’s a poor theme for a restaurant,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times.