Saturday, May 18, 2019

Ohio Suicide Rate Jumps 24% From 2008 To 2017 Amid Deindustrialization Wave


America's manufacturing sector was established in Ohio. But decades of deindustrialization have left once-thriving communities across the state in ruins. Ohio's manufacturing jobs were slashed to half by 2016, and median household income fell below the national average.
At the same time, tens of thousands of Ohioans lost their jobs, became depressed under financial pressure, and from 2008 to 2017, the suicide rate in the state jumped 24%, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.

Some of the highest rates were located in Appalachian Ohio, the southeastern part of the state, and the suicide rate among men was four times greater than women.


Rates skyrocketed 80% among young millennials (children 14 and younger) and 57% for baby boomers, according to a report published by the 28-organization public-private Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Population Health.
During the period, there were 15,246 suicides across the state, for an average annual rate of 13.3 deaths per 100,000 people, the report says, which equates to more than 520,000 years of life were lost over the decade.

Summit County had 786 suicides from 2008 to 2017, at a rate of 14.51 per 100,000 population. Summit's economy experienced deep deindustrialization over the years, leaving surrounding communities in a state of shock.
Other counties and their suicides and rates were: Stark (591, 15.74), Medina (206, 11.95), Portage (189, 11.71), Cuyahoga (1,461, 11.41) and Wayne (125, 10.92).

Lori Criss, director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, said the suicide crisis is a significant concern for the State Health Improvement Plan.
"Our department and a number of others have initiatives that address suicide prevention and support families impacted by losing a loved one to suicide," Criss said. "This gives us a chance to really look at those and to grow them in intentional ways to have the impact that we need with specific communities or populations who are at higher risk."
The report shows nine of the 10 Ohio counties with the highest suicide rates are located in the Appalachian region.
Orman Hall, the study's author, explained these areas had experienced economic deprivation through deindustrialization.
Michelle Price, program director at the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation, added that these counties had seen incomes collapse for farmers and industrial workers.
Other findings: The highest suicide rates were among white Ohioans; rate increases were more in rural communities than in metropolitan areas, and firearms accounted for half of all suicides.
With a manufacturing recovery nowhere in sight and a deepening trade war, it's likely suicide rates across the state will continue to move higher into 2020. When the next downturn strikes, one-off factors relating to financial asset losses could drive the rate to record highs.

Friday, May 17, 2019

Four for Fridays!

Tenderheart Bear has to attend to some family business up north.  She asked me to fill in for her.  Here are your questions:

1) Do you spend more time on the computer or watching TV?

2) If your vehicle has a flat, can you fix it?

3) Should we go to the moon again (est. cost $1.6 billion)?

4)  Who killed JFK?

I hope you enjoy the questions and have a wonderful week.

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Fresh coat of paint for sculpture Becker commissioned, part of uptown revitalization


RACINE — Uptown's tangled red sculpture is showing its age; some edges are speckled with rust but in some places, particularly inside the artwork, whole stretches are more rust than paint.
The sculpture was commissioned by former Mayor Gary Becker to herald a new era for the neighborhood as an arts district, a vision that quickly fell apart after Becker's arrest in 2009.
Now, Visioning a Greater Racine's revitalization team is reviving the dream of an arts district but on a smaller scale; instead of inviting artists across the country to flock to Uptown, they hope to beautify and revitalize the district through public art that also promotes local "artists, creatives and influencers."
Kristina Campbell, owner of The Branch, 1501 Washington Ave., is spearheading an initiative, along with the local nonprofit Visioning a Greater Racine, to show the sculpture some love.
"It's in pretty rough shape," she said.

Read more: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/fresh-coat-of-paint-for-sculpture-becker-commissioned-part-of/article_ab1ec5a7-5230-516a-a1cc-e1b196e55009.html#tracking-source=home-top-story


Let it rust away.  That way it will more accurately represent Uptown.

Just say NO to GloboHomo

Sent to Rep Robin Vos: 
 
Just say NO to GloboHomo: 
 
Globohomo - or the acceptance of "Anything Goes" is an Agenda being 
promoted by S.C Johnson & Co. Which is an unaccountable Corporate 
entity which demands special privileges- such as not paying taxes on 
their City of Racine Operations. Just say NO to Globohomo, Pediophila, 
and outsourcing jobs by saying NO to SC Johnson & Sons. 
 
https://journaltimes.com/opinion/letters/blaski-h-r-pushes-lgbt-agenda-on-all/article_80aeda19-71fa-52df-a0e1-d7fac4a161d2.html 

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Flinging Species

From The Shepherd Express:


Herbie: I don’t have insurance either, but a check-up at the doctor’s is a no-win situation. Say you’re feeling kind of OK but it’s time for your regular physical, so you go and the doctor gives you a gold-star clean bill of health. What have you accomplished?
Emil: Fock if I know.
Herbie: You’ve kissed off a couple hours of your precious time, not to mention the big-ass bite your checkbook just took. It’s like putting on a pair of brown shoes in the morning and then asking the first guy you pass on the street to tell you what color your shoes are. He says, “Your shoes are brown, fockstick.” And you say, “Thank you, sir. Here’s a check for $350 bucks.” Well that’s just crazy, I don’t care who you are.
Ernie: You got a point there, Herbie.
Ray: And speaking of fockstick…
Little Jimmy Iodine: Hey, Artie! Over here. Put a load on your keister.
Art: Hey gents, what do you hear, what do you know.
Ernie: I heard Aaron Rodgers was on that “Thrones” TV game show last Sunday.
Ray: I saw it. And like most focking Sundays the last couple years, he was on the losing side.
Julius: And I know the wife is telling me she wants to sign us up for such a thing, some kind of dancer-cize class. You get to dance with the exercise to boot, she says.
Ray: You got to be jerking my beefaroni. Dance and exercise? What the fock, how can dancing possibly be good for you. You ever see these ballerinas? How can possessing the physical stature of a prisoner-of-war possibly be healthy for you’s? Those gals need to eat more, and I don’t mean “dining,” I mean “chowing.” Skip the tutu; put on the feedbag.
Herbie: Dancing is one of those human baggage things we Homo sapiens still lug around from prehistoric times, like appendicitis. Dancing was discovered by the cavemen, who often stepped on sharp objects ’cause they had yet to evolve the necessary brainpower to invent shoes or the flashlight.
Ernie: And exercise can kill a guy, what the fock. Look at all these knobshines keeling over left and right from this jogging malarkey. All exercising does is to put the unnecessary wear and tear on your muscles, your bones and your what-not.
Emil: I’ll bet you’s a buck two-eighty the Neanderthal man never came back home from a day-and-a-focking-half of hardcore hunting and gathering and told the wife to hold supper for a bit ’cause he wanted to put on his shorts and go for a goddamn jog, ain’a?
Art: Any you’s guys see in the papers that some kind of researchers with fossil records are saying the so-called modern humans 40,000 years were porking the Neanderthals, who happened to be a different focking species?
Ray: A different species? Big focking deal. You ever been to Tijuana?
Little Jimmy: You kind of got to feel sorry for those Neanderthals. I don’t know much about them, but it seems they were like the trailer trash of the human line of evolution, then one day all of a sudden they’re scoring some booty from some hot piece of new species and the next thing they know, they’re extinct.
Art: I’d sure like to shake hands with the first ape-type guy who had the good sense to walk about on only two legs. Focking-A, at the time the rest of his gang probably considered it only a cheap parlor gag, but I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and give this genius some kind of reward for having the presence of mind to understand that a couple, three million years in the future, mankind couldn’t be running around on all fours when he would need two of them to pause the remote, light a cigarette, start the car, or point to someone in the audience at a presidential debate.
Little Jimmy: It’s really a shame. I just wish that the video camera would’ve been discovered before the cavemen found the wheel or invented fire so that we’d have an accurate record of this stuff and be able to give credit where credit’s due, ain’a?
(It’s getting late and I know you got to go, but thanks for letting us bend your ear ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.)

From:  https://shepherdexpress.com/advice/art-kumbalek/flinging-species/

$40M Downtown housing, hotel announced


RACINE — A development of about 190 market-rate apartments and a five-story hotel — an investment of more than $40 million — is proposed for a key Downtown redevelopment site.
At his office Tuesday morning, Mayor Cory Mason announced a partnership with Hovde Properties of Madison to build on the former We Energies property at 233 Lake Ave., the southeast corner of Lake Avenue and Gaslight Drive.
The project includes two multistory apartment buildings, a hotel, a green central courtyard and an enclosed parking structure with a total value exceeding $40 million when completed.
Mason said of the plan: “It provides two things that we need more of: market-rate housing and hotel space, so it seems a good fit for the site.”

Read more:  https://journaltimes.com/business/local/m-downtown-housing-hotel-announced/article_c964619a-47fc-5909-85f3-028297f17e07.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my children!  How are you?  Our weather may actually be catching up to spring.  Or we'll all wear winter coats to the 4th of July Parade.  I'm very disappointed with the weather this spring.  We've had snow and slush on a couple of occasions.  This is autumnal weather.  I keep counting the days till Christmas.

I wouldn't mind a cool summer, but I don't want a cold one.  That seems to be the direction we're headed in.  Climate Change is nasty and can kill thousands of species of animals.  Just what the planet needs: more death.  A couple of days ago there was as much CO2 in the air as there was 300 million years ago.  That was a totally different world than ours.  But we could get there.

What do you think of the idea of redesigning Monument Square?  I think it's idiotic  Why does money burn such a hole in politician's pockets?  We're hiring some sort of firm to oversee the new design.  Always we hire some outside firm for just about everything.  It appears that Racine lacks the talent to do the job ourselves.  In any case, the Square does not need it.  Just you wait: sooner or later someone will suggest removing the monument.  And they'll seriously consider it.

 We have a large crew of "outsiders" running this city.  None of them come from here.  And some come from less than savory backgrounds.  I'm so tired of people who know nothing about Racine telling us what to do with our city.  They're just more suits standing in Mr.Mayor's welfare line.  If he likes you, you're in.  If he doesn't, you're out.  Mr. Mayor and his wife appears to be quite well off.  Especially with the help of the city assessor who valued the Mason's home and lot at about half of what his neighbors received.  It's good to be king.

I'm still waiting for Foxconn to fold.  Maybe it won't happen until the plant is fully engaged.  They have lied so much that I think they could give Lying John a run for his money,  Lies, secret courts, sealed documents, etc., etc. are the fruits of Mason's tree.  And Mr. Gou is running for president of Taiwan.  What a mess.

All of the housing developments because of Foxconn have to pause when Foxconn stalls.  When it finally dumps on us, we'll be left with a mess of housing and no one to live there.  Mr. Mayor Mason will have to come up with some sort of dog and pony show to keep the developers happy.  So it's a waiting game to see what and when Foxconn builds, and how much housing they'll need.  @NorthBeach might turn into a water park after all.

Downtown, downtown, downtown,  It's all you ever hear about.  The rest of the city flounders while downtown flourishes with the constant injection of money into the area.  The areas outside of downtown should secede from Racine.  Let downtown try to stand on its own feet.  Ha!  It would fall flat on its face.  Without a steady stream of subsidy money from the taxpayers.

Oh, the injustices!  Will they ever end?  Only when man changes himself.

madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com

In the meantime, try to do right and believe in a Higher Power.  Stay small.  Stay quiet.  Stay simple.  Let your Higher Power find you.  It's the only way to salvation.

_________________________ 
Please donate: paypal.me/jgmazelis  If you don't like PayPal, send me a note at madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com and I'll send you my street address so you can send a check or money order.  Thank you.

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Journal Times newspaper in Racine will cut 39 production jobs

The Journal Times newspaper in Racine told state officials Monday it will cut 39 production jobs. (Photo: Rick Romell, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

he Journal Times plans to cut 39 jobs that appear to be associated with production of the daily newspaper in Racine.
Positions being eliminated include press operators, maintenance workers and packaging associates. The Journal Times, part of Lee Enterprises Inc., notified state officials of the job cuts Monday. The layoffs are expected to take place on July 14.
Mark Lewis, president and publisher of The Journal Times, referred an inquiry to the Lee corporate offices in Davenport, Iowa. Lee’s communications director, Charles Arms, told a reporter to contact The Journal Times.
Lee publishes about 50 daily newspapers, including several in Wisconsin. Among the Wisconsin dailies are the Kenosha News, which Lee bought in January; the La Crosse Tribune; and, through the company’s stake in Madison Newspapers Inc., the Wisconsin State Journal.
Contact Rick Romell at (414) 224-2130 or rick.romell@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RickRomell

Monday, May 13, 2019

Some hospitals turn away ambulances when the patients are more likely to be poor, study finds

A new study finds that private hospitals close to ambulances more quickly when a nearby public hospital, that has more uninsured patients, goes on ambulance diversion. (Photo: File image)

Hospitals that temporarily shut their doors to ambulances have long argued the decision is driven purely by volume, so sick patients don't have to endure long waits for care in crowded emergency rooms.
But a new study has uncovered evidence of another motive for the practice: Hospitals may be turning away ambulances for financial reasons by avoiding treating patients with government health insurance or no coverage at all.
Using data from California, the study found evidence that suggests private hospitals are more likely to go on what is known as "ambulance diversion" if a nearby public hospital, which treats more indigent patients, is already turning away ambulances. 
In other words, researchers found private hospitals acted differently — by three separate measurements — depending on whether the nearby hospital turning away ambulances was public or private.
The researchers termed this behavior "strategic diversion."
Earlier studies have documented "defensive diversions," where a hospital will close because its ER is being overrun with patients after nearby hospitals also have closed. 



I've been dealing with doctors and hospitals quite a bit lately.  I don't find this the least bit surprising.  Turns out the further you go to the top of hospitals, the more pork you find. 

Keith Richards Reveals If Mick Jagger Is Well Endowed


Then there was Keith’s take on Mick’s private parts. In Life, the Stones guitar player mocked the frontman’s “tiny todger.” Again, it wasn’t the sort of thing you like to hear from an old pal. (Mick said an apology from Keith “a prerequisite” for their relationship to continue following the publication.)

Read more:  https://www.alternativenation.net/keith-richards-reveals-mick-jagger-well-endowed/

America's Achilles' Heel: the Mississippi River's Old River Control Structure

Above: Aerial view of the four structures of the Mississippi River Old River Control Structure, looking downstream to the south. Water flows from the Mississippi River through the four structures, to the Atchafalaya River (right). Image credit: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  
America has an Achilles' heel. It lies on a quiet, unpopulated stretch of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, 45 miles upstream from Baton Rouge. Rising up from the flat, wooded west flood plain of the Mississippi River are four massive concrete and steel structures that would make a pharaoh envious: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ greatest work, the two billion-dollar Old River Control Structure (ORCS). The ORCS saw its second highest flood on record in March 2019, and flood levels have risen again this week to their fifth highest level on record. While the structure is built to handle the unusual stress this year's floods have subjected it to, there is reason for concern for its long-term survival, since failure of the Old RIver Control Structure would be a catastrophe with global impact.
This first part of a 3-part series will study the history and importance of this critical structure, and how it almost failed in 1973. Part II, scheduled to run on Monday, is titled, Escalating Flood Heights Puts Mississippi River’s Old River Control Structure at Increasing Threat of Failure. Part III is titled, If the Old River Control Structure Fails: A Catastrophe With Global Impact, and will run later next week.

Read more: https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Americas-Achilles-Heel-Mississippi-Rivers-Old-River-Control-Structure?cm_ven=cat6-widget

Sunday, May 12, 2019

If Former Racine County Executive Jim Ladwig is a Republican, Why Did Democrat Beth Pramme Host a Fundraiser For Ladwig?



What’s going on in Racine County? Is there any real difference between the Republicans and Democrats, or are they working together against the People? Once you are accepted into the true inner circles of power, there are NO Republicans or Democrats, just Political Opportunists ruled by Corporate Interests. The reward for complying is just more pay raises, tax-free fringes of $30,000, $40,000+, retirements, double dipping, loot and scoot (take your taxpayer funded retirement and move to a State with no income tax), no accountability (just ask Rich and Jennifer Chiapete or Tim Zarzecki). You sit on Boards of non-profit Organizations which are taxpayer funded, but not subject to Wisconsin’s Open Records Laws, and spend hundreds of millions looted from the taxpayers which benefit the politically correct connected.  If your political career is in jeopardy because of personal sins, there are taxpayer funded Non-Profits and Corporations which will employ you and see you through. Meanwhile, the Little People are abused, jailed and fined, and the tax and fee hikes just keep coming! But that’s how it works in a kleptocracy – and that’s the form of government which operates throughout Racine County.

Read more: https://arrestrecordsofracinewipublicofficials.wordpress.com/2019/05/12/if-former-racine-county-executive-jim-ladwig-is-a-republican-why-did-democrat-beth-pramme-host-a-fundraiser-for-ladwig/