There’s no way to delay that trouble comin’ every day
John McNeil over at KZO
John McNeil over at KZO got to flirt with the national spotlight last night.
He was on CNN’s Nancy Grace show talking about a missing Colon woman. Venus Stewart was snatched from her front yard in late April. You can read WKZO’s own account of the story here: Colon Township Woman May Have Been Abducted
Apparently, Ms. Grace and Mr. McNeil hit it off. She’s asked him to come back on the air again tonight. Channel 60 on Charter. 8 p.m. and again at 10.
The Battle Creek Enquirer is reporting that the city commission over there is amending rules regarding the amount of junk that can be dumped into the Kalamazoo River.
Specifically, they’re increasing the amount of nickel that can be dumped into the sewer system and totally eliminating the limit on dissolved inorganic solids.
Here’s the background: Battery-maker Toda America Inc. wants to build a $70-million plant in Battle Creek. They want the higher limits to accommodate the production of lithium ion batteries.
Now, that Battle Creek water eventually makes its way to Kalamazoo on its way to Lake Michigan, and the question is how much of that junk will come flowing through here?
A few facts.
First, the effluent is pre-treatment water. That means it goes to the city’s water treatment plant before being released into the Kalamazoo River.
However, the city’s utilities director says higher levels of nickel and the other stuff will make it past treatment.
Second, there is no federal limit to the amount of nickel in drinking water. That’s because nickel isn’t really deadly and actually could be a necessary nutrient.
However, the World Health Organization (and other groups) indicate that consuming too much nickel can make ya sick.
Lastly, dissolved inorganic solids can be about anything from pesticides to, I dunno, Pixy Stix dust. Battle Creek’s utilities chief says they can handle whatever Toda can dish up, letting out no more than the legal limit of such solids into the Kalamazoo River.
Here’s hoping that’s true.
Pfizer family tree
Remember that whole deal over Bextra?
Brief rundown: Pharmacia makes Bextra; Bextra’s a painkiller; FDA says it’s okay to use a little bit for arthritis and menstrual cramps; salespeople decide that means it’s okay to use lots of it for all kinds of things; they start selling it to everybody and their grandmother; some people die; somebody blows a whistle; there’s a lawsuit; Pfizer (which bought Pharmacia) loses and has to pay crazy-big money. (You want more, go read Reuters.)
Great! Good!
But, what if it wasn’t really Pfizer being punished? It seems that’s what actually happened.
See, Pfizer is a company worth billions of dollars(pdf) that employs thousands of people. And there’s a little law that says a company convicted of health-care fraud can’t collect on Medicaid or Medicare. And that kind of restriction would basically crush any pharmaceutical company.
In the case of Pfizer, it could send a ripple through the economy and causing mass layoffs or some sort of thing.
So, rather than crush Pfizer, the feds agreed Pfizer could set up a shell company — basically a subsidiary of a subsidiary of a subsidiary of a subsidiary — to take the brunt of the legal action.
That dummy corp., set up the same day Pfizer agreed to plead guilty, was named Pharmacia and Upjohn Company, Inc.
You all will recognize the name of the company belonging to that which once helped put Kalamazoo on the map. Rest in Peace William E. Upjohn.
PS. Thanks to TechDirt for the link.
