Idaho Deer Incident Captured on Body Camera; Public Works Identity Crisis Ends in Maine
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Also: Wisconsin’s contaminated well water and big retirement wave at SEPTA in Philly.
Here’s some of what we’ve been reading today ...
OROFINO, Idaho: Usually when you think of the uses for body cameras, they’re limited to law enforcement. In Idaho, a state fish and game conservation officer turned on a body camera as he attempted to free a buck that had gotten tangled up in baling twine. “This might be a video of me getting my butt kicked, or it might turn out all right,” John McLain said, according to the department. Watch:
[ Idaho Fish and Game via Idaho Statesman ]
PORTLAND, Maine: For nearly 10 years, public works personnel in Maine’s largest city were dealing with an identity crisis. Their department, once known as the Department of Public Works, had been renamed the Department of Public Services. Some residents were confused and approached public works personnel with questions regarding social service programs, like rent or heating assistance. But as the Portland Press Herald reports, the confusion is now over. On Monday, members of the City Council changed the name back to the Department of Public Works. [ Portland Press Herald ]
MADISON, Wisconsin: What’s in Wisconsin’s drinking water sourced from wells? In some places, there’s a lot of nitrate. That’s according to a recent investigation by the Water Watch Wisconsin project from the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism :
According to state estimates, nitrate is at unsafe levels in an estimated 94,000 Wisconsin households. One in five wells in heavily agricultural areas is now too polluted with nitrate for safe drinking, according to data from the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
And public water systems recorded 57 violations of health-based standards for nitrate in 2014. Those systems were required to post notices, provide bottled water, replace wells, install treatment or take other corrective actions to reduce nitrate. More than 120 of the 11,420 systems failed either to monitor or report nitrate levels.
According to the 2015 Wisconsin Groundwater Coordinating Council, nitrate contamination is “increasing in extent and severity.” [ Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism ]
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania: The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority is seeing a higher number employees leave the agency this year thanks to changes to benefits. As The Inquirer reports:
This summer SEPTA made some major changes in the benefits packages for non-union employees that will go into effect in 2016. Retirees will be able to keep their health insurance for less time. Overtime will no longer factor in to pension payments, which are based on the average annual income of the last three years of employment. Managers will have to pay an increasing amount toward their pensions. A one percent of salary contribution goes up to 2.5 percent at the end of the year, and then 3.5 percent the year after that.
Eighty-five managers will be retiring by the end of the month. [ The Inquirer via Philly.com ]
SACRAMENTO, California: Thanks to an anonymous donation of $50,000, 49 of the Golden State’s redwood state parks will be free to visitors on the day after Thanksgiving. "We are starting a new tradition for Black Friday," Save the Redwoods League president Sam Hodder said, according to SFGate . "We invite everyone to experience the moments of joy, renewal and inspiration that you'll find among our natural wonders, the ancient giant redwoods." [ SFGate ]
Michael Grass is Executive Editor of Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
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