Daily Archives: August 8, 2017

A psychiatric center employee was arrested for allegedly collecting workers compensation for a back injury while he was on vacation, including taking a kayaking trip in the Caribbean, State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott announced on Monday.

Ryan Haley, 30, of Rome, is a security hospital treatment assistant at the Central New York Psychiatric Center in Marcy, Oneida County.

He was arrested on charges that he defrauded the workers compensation system and falsified documents to obtain time off and collect benefits. Investigators said Haley, while out of work, visited Puerto Rico and also worked in California with his girlfriend. He also faces unrelated charges of physically abusing a patient at the facility. All the charges are felonies, according to the Inspector Generals office.

An investigation by Leahy Scotts office found that on two occasions in 2016, Haley applied for workers compensation benefits by claiming an inability to work due to an October 2015 work-related back injury.

Haley received $2,286.05 in benefits while in Puerto Rico and $407.80 in benefits while in California, investigators said.

This defendant is accused of a contemptuous fraud in which he feigns being too injured to work while paddling a kayak on a Caribbean retreat, Leahy Scott said. Moreover, with utter disregard for the critical responsibilities of his job, he allegedly attacked one of the very patients for whom he was meant to care. I will continue to dedicate the resources of my office to protect the benefits meant to assist honest, hard-working New Yorkers.

Haley was arraigned on the charges and released by a judge while his cases are pending.

Excerpt from:

State worker faked injuries, went kayaking in Caribbean, IG says ... - Albany Times Union

The sixth named tropical storm of the season, Franklin, formed early Monday in the western Caribbean Sea. It is now on a definite strengthening trend and could be upgraded to the seasons first hurricane before it makes landfall on the Yucatan peninsula late Monday.

A hurricane watch is in effect for the coast of Mexico from Chetumal to Punta Allen. Tropical storm warnings begin in Belize City in Belize and curve around the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico to Campeche on its western side. The popular resort destinations of Cancun and Cozumel are included in the tropical storm warning.

Hardest hit areas could receive 3 to 6 inches of rain, with isolated amounts to 12 inches. These rains could produce life-threatening flash floods, the National Hurricane Center cautions. At least tropical-storm-force winds are likely, and some gusts over hurricane force (74 mph) are possible.

Although predicting the path of tropical storms can sometimes be challenging, there is little doubt that Franklin is on a crash course with the Yucatan. Computer model forecasts of its track are tightly clustered, which gives forecasters high confidence as to where its headed.

The storms intensity forecast is trickier. Although very few models predict it will reach hurricane intensity, that can absolutely not be ruled out. The storm is now in an environment where rapid intensification can occur.

After passing over the Yucatan, it is likely to merge over the Bay of Campeche on Tuesday afternoon. It will then have 36-48 hours over the warm waters there and has a good chance to re-intensify, possibly (re)attaining hurricane strength before its second and final landfall in Mexico (although theres a remote possibility that it could cross over Mexico and reform near the tip of the Baja peninsula, then hit Mexico a third time).

Franklin is the sixth named storm of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season. Using the entirety of hurricane records dating back to 1851, the average date of the sixth named storm formation is Sept. 20 so Franklin formed a whopping six weeks ahead of an average season. However, no storm this season has lasted more than two days and none have produced peak winds above 57 mph (50 knots), so Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) is just 44 percent of average for this date.

Franklin is strongly reminiscent of another storm that formed in the same area in 2012: Ernesto. Franklin is forecast to make landfall over the Yucatan at almost the exact same location, date and hour as Ernesto.

A long radar loop from Belize will aid in tracking Franklins structure as it approaches the coast (Ernesto, from 2012, is also available for comparison).

The storm name Franklin was first used in 2005, and replaced Floyd, which was retired after its infamous 1999 incarnation.

Another disturbance being monitored

Farther east, we are watching a disturbance make the trek across the deep tropics east of the Lesser Antilles. As some models suggested last week, it has been embedded in a hostile environment and will not be able to develop too much if at all until the Friday/Saturday time frame, when it is near the Leeward Islands. Its presently centered about 1,000 miles east of the Leeward Islands and moving toward the west-northwest at 15 mph.

We will continue to monitor this disturbance.

See the article here:

Tropical Storm Franklin forms in western Caribbean, hurricane watches posted for Mexico - Washington Post

Yes, travel broadens one's horizons. The broadening in question was a week spent traveling among some of the islands in the Caribbean, including a U.S. unorganized territory and a member of the U.S. Commonwealth.

Yes, the U.S. has territories, one of which is the U.S. Virgin Islands, bought from Denmark in 1916. The same rules that governed the old northwest before our Constitutional Convention governs them today. And yes, we have a modest commonwealth, which includes Puerto Rico, our bankrupt tropical paradise. Both of these, though having slightly different relationships with the United States, are similar enough to each other and to us to be useful in examining the effects of systemic long-term public debt, entitlements and enormous government workforces. We better pay attention, because results we now see there are what we will see here soon if we do not alter the way we think.

Both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands became deeply indebted largely by ignoring deficits and by funneling large sums to nonprofits, social welfare programs and government workers, both current and retired. In his 2017 address on the budget, Virgin Islands governor Kenneth Mapp was forthright in his admission that "this budget is about creating work," troubling in a territory where the largest employer by far is the government. He assured retirees their pensions would not be reduced, and current employees that their recently granted raises would not be rescinded, never mind the government's ability to pay. Hence public debt that now approaches 45.9 percent of GDP and $19,000 per capita the last being the highest of any U.S. state or territory, including Illinois and Puerto Rico.

The latter is no prize either, with a per capita debt of around $12,000 and a debt/GDP ratio of more than 92 percent. Leading the charge over the debt cliff were public corporations and services, inflexibility on government salaries and unfunded pension liabilities. Part of the problem is that Puerto Rico's economic situation has been worsening since 2006, when preferential tax treatments given to U.S. corporations operating in Puerto Rico were rescinded; the commonwealth's GDP has declined dramatically since then, although the government has not curbed spending. In 2016, when it appeared Puerto Rico could no longer meet its obligations, Congress passed the PROMESA act, allowing San Juan to declare bankruptcy to restructure its public debt. That triggered a stampede away from government paper not only there, but elsewhere, including the Virgin Islands pushing both governments further into economic quicksand.

Puerto Rico's bankruptcy has not only impacted the island's economy; a general air of decline and trepidation seems to have infected the capital. Old San Juan, a popular destination for tourists who provide more than 10 percent of the commonwealth's income, has seen a marked rise in shuttered storefronts, tagged mailboxes, broken water meters, collapsed sidewalks, broken windows and gutted buildings. Touts swarm anyone looking vaguely touristic with offers of anything one might imagine at the cheapest price possible. Think Istanbul's Grand Bazaar on a Thursday evening. But high-end shops are closing their doors as rising sales taxes make other Caribbean venues far more attractive. Security personnel are ubiquitous and conspicuous. There is a new down-at-the-heels feeling.

In the cruise port, the former arrival terminal is now only sporadically used more modern ships are too large for the facility, which appears not to have been upgraded since it was built. An awful crunch occurs when a ship terminates or originates there. A much longer open-air pier for day visits by larger vessels has been built, but both our ship and another 4,000-passenger behemoth stirred up a huge amount of slit with thrusters, maneuvering on and off the dock. This area will probably have to be dredged soon, and from the look of things, there's not going to be money to do that. What happens to Puerto Rico's tourism sector when it is struck from cruise lines' Caribbean itinerary is a real and really unpleasant question.

All of this screams from the rafters that debt used to cover ongoing operating expenses will bankrupt a government stupid enough, or vicious enough, to cling to that reed for long. And when that government sinks, it will take much of the economy with it, dealing terrible damage to the people least equipped for it. Want to see our future? Look at the Caribbean. One can go there easily, for a good, long, up-close view.

Tropical rum drinks might help when the nausea of recognition hits. Lots of them.

Morgan Liddick writes a weekly column for the Summit Daily.

Original post:

Liddick: Look to the Caribbean to see America's future (column) - Summit Daily News

Royal Caribbean Blog (blog)

Royal Caribbean plans beach enhancements at private destination of Labadee Royal Caribbean Blog (blog) Adrenaline Beach will be undergoing a beach enhancement, beginning on August 14, 2017. The footprint and quality of the beach and surrounding areas will be nourished. In addition, reef balls will be added to increase the tranquility of the water and to ...

View post:

Royal Caribbean plans beach enhancements at private destination of Labadee - Royal Caribbean Blog (blog)

8 P.M. UPDATE: The showers and thunderstorms associated with a strong tropical wave over the central Caribbean is showing signs of organization, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Additional development is possible while it moves west-northwest at 10-15 mph, and a tropical depression or tropical storm could form over the northwestern Caribbean before it reaches the Yucatan peninsula late Monday or Tuesday, according to the Hurricane Centers outlook issued at 8 p.m. Theres now a 70 percent chance of formation in the next five days.

Its also possible for a tropical depression or tropical storm to form over the Bay of Campeche during the middle of next week after the system passes over the Yucatan peninsula. An Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft is scheduled to investigate the system tomorrow afternoon, if necessary.

Meanwhile, shower activity associated with an elongated area of low pressure about 1,000 miles west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands is becoming slightly more organized. Some additional slow development is possible during the next two to three days before the system encounters less favorable environmental conditions during the middle part of next week.

Forecasters put the chance of development over the next five days at 50 percent as the system moves generally west-northwestward across the tropical Atlantic Ocean at about 15 mph.

Related Check the latest tropical outlook Storm2017: Tracking map, preparation guide, more Sign up for email newsletters

PREVIOUS STORY:

The National Hurricane Center dropped the chance of development for a system in the central Atlantic Ocean, but forecasters say they expect some development as it heads toward the Antilles.

The National Hurricane Center is watching two areas for tropical development.

A large area of disturbed weather more than 1,000 miles southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands, and still more than 2,000 miles from Florida, has been given a 30 percent chance of developing into a tropical cyclone by Monday afternoon and a 50 percent chance by Thursday afternoon, the NHC said in its 2 p.m. advisory. The system is moving west-northwest at about 15 mph.

Check The Palm Beach Post storm tracking map

Forecasters are also closely watching a system in the central Caribbean Sea that they say is starting to show some signs of organization, with data showing a small area of winds just below tropical-storm force. The system is moving west-northwest at 10-15 mph, and forecasters say a tropical depression or storm could form over the Yucatan peninsula Monday or Tuesday.

A hurricane hunter aircraft is scheduled to fly into the system Sunday afternoon at this time.

Updated season forecast: 61 percent chance of Florida landfall

Like Loading...

Read more here:

UPDATE: 2 potential systems brewing in Caribbean, Atlantic - MyPalmBeachPost (blog)