The Characters
Rick Sorrells, former DCS superintendent forced to retire in 2017 amidst questions about the finances at DCS. In April 2018, Sorrells pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud and admitted to receiving more than $3 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for entering into contracts for $70 million in school bus camera equipment. He s expected to be sentenced in August.
Larry Duncan, former president of the DCS Board and a former Dallas City Council member. He stepped down from his position as president of board for Dallas County Schools on May 17, 2017 amid ongoing investigations into a multi-million budget gap, the agency s controversial stop-arm camera program and a sale-leaseback land deal that will cost taxpayers millions.
Covid 19 coronavirus: Can vaccines cause blood clots? Here s what we know
16 Mar, 2021 06:53 PM
10 minutes to read
A doctor prepares a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in London. Photo / AP
New York Times
By: Denise Grady and Rebecca Robbins
There is no evidence so far of a link between the AstraZeneca shots and a few new cases in Europe of serious illness and deaths. But investigations are underway. Millions of people in dozens of countries have received the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine with few reports of ill effects, and its prior testing in tens of thousands of people found it to be safe.
Thunderclouds that cause lightning strikes increasing in frequency
11 minutes to read
The thunderclouds that cause lightning strikes are increasing in frequency. So where are you most at risk? By Paul Gorman. Sparks zapped between his metal fillings and leapt from his horse s shoes, confirming to James Falloon that he had narrowly escaped a lightning strike.
Just 10 metres or so behind him, fellow Northland Hunt participant Roger McGill and his horse, Jaffa, lay dead.
Falloon, a former Canadian cowboy and now a semi-retired farmer in the Wairarapa, said thunder was rumbling to the north near Dargaville when the hunt began just before midday on April 15, 2008.
Woman buries two unborn babies after GP prescribes harmful medication
15 Mar, 2021 01:00 AM
4 minutes to read
A woman buried two unborn babies after GP prescribed harmful medication. Photo / 123rf
Emma Russell is a health reporter for the New Zealand Heraldemma.russell@nzherald.co.nz
A woman in her 30s buried two unborn babies after her GP prescribed medication that could cause severe and life-threatening birth defects.
She was also diagnosed with drug-induced Cushing s syndrome after multiple doctors ignored warnings from specialists about overuse of a skin cream and failed to inform the woman of the risks.
Today, her main doctor has been found in breach of the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers Rights for failures in the woman s care.
Wastewater main overflows in Mahoe St, Rotorua, some reaches Utuhina Stream
15 Mar, 2021 02:15 AM
2 minutes to read
A foreign object blockage is the suspected cause of a wastewater overflow in Rotorua today.
Signs have been erected in an inner-city stormwater culvert warning people to keep clear of a sewage overflow.
The signs are in the culvert that connects to the Utuhina Stream between Tarewa Rd and the reserve by Mataatua Marae.
The culvert is between Tarewa Rd and the reserve by Mataatua Marae. Photo / Andrew Warner
A man who lives on Tarewa Rd said he saw two Fulton Hogan trucks used to for sucking up sewage on Tarewa Rd late this morning.