Podcasts about sanitation department

Ever wondered how your brain takes out the trash?

The All Local 4pm Update for Monday, January 20 2025

This episode originally broadcast November 21, 2024. The original podcast post is here: https://pixelatedgeek.com/2024/11/binary-system-podcast-434-wtnv-258-swap-meet-arcane-and-ren-faires/ Night Vale's holding its first-ever Swap Meet this week, and the Sanitation Department wants to make sure you follow all the rules: there's no money of any kind allowed, tangible and intangible swaps are encouraged, and Faustian Deals that cost you your immortal soul? Those are perfectly acceptable, go talk to the demons in the booth by the fuzzy blankets. After the recap we jump into Season 2 Episode 2 of Arcane, which is just as beautiful as ever and features a fight scene that is completely bonkers. Seriously, it's ridiculously over the top. We loved it. Finally Kathryn gives us the breakdown of Time Travel Travellers' Weekend at the Carolina Renaissance Festival, which could only be improved by one thing: those Scottish Meat Pies we got at a Medieval Fair (*censored*) years ago and still remember. Listener recipes cheerfully accepted. And on an unrelated note: Why DO people hate Imagine Dragons? This week's outro is a clip from Twin Gods by White Bat Audio, find more at karlcasey.bandcamp.com. You can follow Kathryn, Elizabeth, Wade, and Leland on Instagram to see more of the DragonFall Drawing Challenge! Looking for a present for that hard-to-shop-for person? Want to buy them (or yourself) a square foot of a castle in Scotland? Look no further! You can support the restoration of Dunan's castle, legally call yourself Lady or Laird, AND if you use this link to get there, you can support this podcast too! ScottishLaird.co.uk. For updates, fan art, and other randomness, come follow us on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram!

Get up and get informed! Here's all the local news you need to start your day: Federal security agents were the first to confront the man accused of fatally stabbing three people in Manhattan on Monday. WNYC's Charles Lane reports. Meanwhile, a key City Council committee has approved Mayor Eric Adams' proposal to overhaul the city's zoning code, aiming to create tens of thousands of new homes. Also, the Sanitation Department is reminding New Yorkers to compost fallen leaves and yard waste instead of waiting for the city's annual leaf collection period. Plus, on this week's transportation segment of “On the Way,” WNYC's Stephen Nessen, Ramsey Khalifeh, and editor Clayton Guse discuss the MTA's phased congestion pricing plan, including toll hikes through 2031 and Republican opposition. They also examine plans for temporary connector roads during Cross-Bronx Expressway repairs and answer a listener's question about outdated Q train models and subway signal upgrades.

Mayor Eric Adams has agreed to unlock $5 billion for sewers, streets, and open spaces in exchange for City Council support of his signature housing plan, according to two city officials. Meanwhile, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge celebrates its 60th anniversary this Thursday. Also, the NYPD has a new Commissioner. Jessica Tisch, who previously led the Sanitation Department, is returning to the police agency, where she once served as Deputy Commissioner of Information Technology. Jillian Snider, a retired NYPD officer and Director of Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties at the R Street Institute, weighs in on what Tisch's leadership could mean for the department. And finally, Thanksgiving is almost here. WNYC is spotlighting unique holiday traditions. We hear from Michael Antonoff of Forest Hills.

Night Vale’s holding its first-ever Swap Meet this week, and the Sanitation Department wants to make sure you follow all the rules: there’s no money of any kind allowed, tangible and intangible swaps are encouraged, and Faustian Deals that cost you your immortal soul? Those are perfectly acceptable, go talk to the demons in the... The post Binary System Podcast #434 – WTNV #258 “Swap Meet,” Arcane, and Ren Faires first appeared on Pixelated Geek.

Mayor Eric Adams has named Jessica Tisch, who currently leads the Sanitation Department, as the new NYPD Commissioner. Meanwhile, the MTA is planning another round of fare and toll hikes. Plus, one of Andy Warhol's rejected portraits of Donald Trump's Fifth Avenue skyscraper from 1981 has sold to an anonymous buyer for $750,000. WNYC's Ryan Kailath has more. Finally, WNYC is inviting listeners to share unique Thanksgiving traditions. Bill Markey from Tarrytown, New York, recalls a moving tradition his family observes the day after Thanksgiving.

The Sanitation Department hosts the first ever Night Vale Regional Swap Meet.Weather: “Break the Wheel“ by Alice Knows KarateOriginal episode art by Jessica HayworthRead episode transcriptsUNLICENSED Season 2 is here! Only on AudiblePre-order the Welcome to Night Vale Roleplaying Game today!Sign up for the Night Vale newsletter for good news and recommendations.Patreon is how we exist! If you can, please help us keep making this show.Music: DisparitionLogo: Rob WilsonWritten by Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor & Brie WilliamsNarrated by Cecil BaldwinFollow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.Check out our books, live shows, store, membership program, and official recap show at welcometonightvale.comA production of Night Vale Presents.

The Sanitation Department hosts the first ever Night Vale Regional Swap Meet. Weather: “Break the Wheel“ by Alice Knows KarateOriginal episode art by Jessica Hayworth Read episode transcripts UNLICENSED Season 2 is here! Only on AudiblePre-order the Welcome to Night Vale Roleplaying Game today! Sign up for the Night Vale newsletter for good news and recommendations. Patreon is how we exist! If you can, please help us keep making this show. Music: Disparition Logo: Rob Wilson Written by Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor & Brie Williams Narrated by Cecil Baldwin Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Check out our books, live shows, store, membership program, and official recap show at welcometonightvale.com A production of Night Vale Presents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Embattled NYPD Commissioner Tom Donlon is expected to vacate his post as early as Friday after his background check hit a snag — and the city's current Sanitation Department boss, Jessica Tisch, is seen as the top contender to replace him, the Daily News has learned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Western Cape's Riverlands community has to wait for another 12 weeks before water supply is restored.The community was flooded for a second time after the Water and Sanitation Department failed to redirect water away from residential areas when opening the fourth dam's spillways over the weekend.Ali Sabley. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thirty-two New York senators are urging the state Board of Elections to revise the draft language for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment. They want simpler terms like “abortion” and “LGBT” included to ensure clarity on the ballot question. The amendment guarantees access to abortion and protects LGBTQ individuals from discrimination. Meanwhile, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office is dropping its indictment against a police officer who shot a man running away from him based on new evidence. The case will be re-investigated. Also, WNYC's Ramsey Khalifeh reports on why air conditioners on New York City's 1 trains are failing. Plus, WNYC's Community and Partnerships Desk is transforming some laundromats across the New York metro area into civic engagement hubs. George Bodarky, who leads the project titled “Suds & Civics,” makes a stop at Star Laundromat in Staten Island. Finally, starting this Wednesday, the Sanitation Department is opening a new site in Brooklyn where New Yorkers can get free compost for their gardens.

Less than 10% of Chicago's waste is recycled, according to the city's Streets and Sanitation Department. That's despite a goal to keep 50% of waste out of landfills by 2025 and as other cities boast even higher rates. Axios' Monica Eng has been covering the city's waste management struggles for years. She tells host Jacoby Cochran what's driving Chicago's abysmal recycling rates and offers some tips for all of us to do better. Learn more about the city's new food scrap drop-off program. Some Good News: Chicago Documenters Orientation Want some more City Cast Chicago news? Then make sure to sign up for our Hey Chicago newsletter.  Follow us @citycastchicago You can also text us or leave a voicemail at: 773 780-0246 Become a member of City Cast Chicago. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientist specializing in water resource management at University of Free State, Prof Anthony Turton on what to make of the challenges facing SA's water quality which is said to have reached crisis level, following the Water and Sanitation Department held a 2-day Water Services Authority Summit in response to the Blue Drop and No Drop reports and the Green Drop progress assessment reports released in December.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Suzanne Colucci has the afternoon's top headlines from the WCBS 880 newsroom...

The multi-billion rand Giyani water reticulation project in Limpopo has come to a grinding halt. This is due to squabbles over tenders. Local contractors are demanding to be awarded tenders, and the local Chamber of Commerce is accusing the Water and Sanitation Department of appointing a main contractor without its knowledge. The Chamber of Commerce has also stopped a R41 million water project in Tzaneen. The closure of these projects has left more than 52 villages affected. Sakina Kamewndo spoke to SABC Repoter, Pimani Baloyi.

all local 6a 9.22.23

Get up and get informed! Here's all the local news you need to start your day: Mayor Adams is launching a social media campaign to address critiques of his migrant crisis management. Meanwhile, nurses at New Brunswick's Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital enter their third week of striking due to stalled contract negotiations. Also, New York City seeks residents' help in identifying businesses bypassing the Sanitation Department's mandate for enclosed trash bins.

For eight years, Chicago has been dubbed the “rattiest” city in the country by pest control company Orkin. The city sees some 40,000-50,000 311 calls for rats each year, and they peak in the summer, says Josie Cruz, head of rodent control at the city's Streets and Sanitation Department. Cruz joins host Jacoby Cochran to talk about why there are so many rats in Chicago and what you can do to keep them at bay. Some news: Apply to join the Mayor's Youth Commission Chicago Public Schools has started serving free breakfast and lunches for Chicagoans 18 and under Want some more City Cast Chicago news? Then make sure to sign up for our Hey Chicago newsletter.  Follow us @citycastchicago You can also text us or leave a voicemail at: 773 780-0246 Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About 45 municipalities across the country could face criminal charges after the Water and Sanitation Department issued them with notices of lack of compliance. According to the Interim Blue, Green, and No Drop Watch Reports released in Pretoria, these municipalities failed to supply clean, quality drinkable water to communities. They also failed to maintain their wastewater treatment plants as required by the law. For more on this Elvis Presslin spoke to Dr. Ferrial Adam, the Executive Manager of WaterCAN

Jessica and the guys talked about Rat Proof garbage containers. Will this take up parking spots?

Let's hope New Yorkers have a sense of humor and heed the call.

Residents and community leaders in Giyani, Limpopo want the Water and Sanitation Department to account for yet another missed deadline to complete the Giyani Bulk Water Project. The project was supposed to be up and running by the end of last month. The multi-million rand project has been delayed several times due to alleged mismanagement of funds and corruption. This has left over 55 communities in and around Giyani without water, despite the project starting 14 years ago. Elvis Presslin spoke to Deputy Director General, Water Services at the Department of Water and Sanitation, Risimati Mathye...

It's hard to watch the news without also seeing and feeling the pain of toxic and self-destructive behavior influencing so many lives, such as widening and lethal addictions and extremely polarizing ideas and actions.Addiction is a persistent and intense urge to use or do something that brings unhealthy negative consequences. Why do so many people struggle with addictive behavior? Why does humanity seem to be going collectively mad? What are the reasons for the extreme toxicity and polarization?This predicament and its root cause in the brain/body conundrum were introduced in our last edition of the series “Current Openings: What the World Doesn't Quite Get Yet.” In our new Current Openings, hosts Aviv Shahar and David Price Francis delve deeper into the mystery of the human brain and mind - and the pathways of transformation.As the conversation begins to reveal, the human brain is open-ended potential, capable of creating new circuitries and connections. It craves constant stimulation, the more the better, often to the detriment of our overall well being. Addiction to drugs and extreme behavior, as examples, can become familiar outcomes of brain dominance.Aviv and David trace the steps that began this conundrum, from thinking that true knowledge could best be sourced outside of self, to shutting down the intuition and natural human connection to universal intelligence and inspiration. They also highlight the steps back to a balanced, regenerative life, including:We have that second life in us which can select; we can use our human superpower, as I think of it, which is the ability to make conscious choice. We can actually intervene.Any deliberate journey must begin with appreciating the truth of where you are. Like being shown a map a big marker that says, ‘You are here'. Otherwise a map is useless.As our thoughts change, we actually make new pathways in our brain. We change our mind and we change our brain. We change the energetics, and that can change the pathways.The brain always seeks to find the higher octane energetic quality, especially when it is separated from the feedback loop of a well-balanced, well-orchestrated human life.Mindfulness is an attempt to get the brain back to be part of the body; although it is effective, it is not necessarily the smartest or the wisest way.The definition of insanity is doing more and more of what is not good for you, which is also the definition of addiction.This conversation is part of the continuing Portals discovery into what is emerging on the frontiers of human experience in this time of profound change. Information about upcoming special events can be found on the Events page. Also visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel. TWEETABLE QUOTES“I love looking at the etymology of words because they give us a trace through time. And pathology says to me, what's the study of the path that we take? Because the path is something you walk along; what's the path of the human race? What's the path of the individual? And it always gives rise to a pathology, because for every clockwise movement, there's always a counterclockwise movement. And they know this even in the study of pharmaceuticals.” (David)“We've now lived centuries in a system with the brain orientation and its desire for more and more and more exciting food, exciting energy, exciting stimulation, leading the way. And we now see this as normal.” (Aviv)“You can't clear toxic energy with toxic energy. So, it needs something cleaner and clearer. The word sanity is very interesting. I saw this once in New York, that a big truck went by and it said Sanitation Department. I thought, well, that's really interesting because what keeps us sane - and sane is the word sanitation - which has to do with cleaning. And with nutrition, we get the idea of eating foods, which we can assimilate good energy from.” ( David )“So our brain can actually be, I suppose, you could say angelic to our body. We're processing really high frequency, high level, high energy signals and raining that into our body. Then you've got mindfulness, human proposition stuff, but to me that's a mind that's full of a higher frequency. And that is a higher form of meditation. Mind emptiness is just stopping the toxic flow. So that we can also say the energy of the heart. That's where people say, I want to be heart-centered. Energy of the heart can come up into the mind.” (David)“So if we create an empty space, and don't actually then set about making new connections, most likely what happens is what was already there, comes back in. The person can actually bring in stuff that was lower than what was already there. But the purpose of that initial interim step, as you called it, is then to be able to take something and create a higher connection. That's where we get the traditions of such things as mantras, and call overs, and prayers to make a hierarchy action of some kind.” (David) RESOURCES MENTIONED Portals of Perception WebsiteAviv's LinkedIn Aviv's TwitterAviv's WebsiteCurrent Openings Live EventCurrent Openings SeriesDavid Price Francis Energy WorldsThe Addiction Trap

This is the 4:00 update of The All Local for Thursday, December 1st, 2022

On this episode of Mount Pleasant Podcast, Fred Tetor, Retired Mount Pleasant Fire Chief who has been involved in more than 40 Christmas Parades in Mount Pleasant since 1972 talks with host Brian Cleary about the parade over the decades which is held on the second Sunday of every December which is December 11th this year beginning at 5:30 pm. Fred talks about how the parade used to be held during the day, grew and moved from the Old Village to Coleman Boulevard while becoming more professional every year, how floats used to be rented from out of town and he shares interesting and funny stories about happenings during the parades over the years. Fred also tells how the parade is organized over the years by the Police, Fire and Recreation Departments to make the parades a success, about the daily lighting of town's holiday tree near Moultrie school where children would visit Santa Claus at his wooden sleigh maintained by the Sanitation Department … and more! Tune in!

The Water and Sanitation Department says the incessant rainfall over the weekend has resulted in some dams levels reaching full capacity forcing the department to open sluice gates. The disruptive rainfall in various parts of the country led to incidents of flooding being reported with more than 300 people forced to shelter at a community hall after their homes were flooded in Soweto. Emergency Services personnel says they will continue to monitor flash floods hotspots as more rainfall is predicted. Tshepo Phagane reports....

City of Rock Hill Public Works Project Manager Kevin Richardson joins Matthew and Ashley on CityCast to discuss the Sanitation Department, Leaf Collection and which sea animal he would choose to help him win in a fight.

Why do some people have access to water and some don't after the floods in KZN? Where does the water in our taps even come from, how does it get there, and are we experiencing problems because the infrastructure was not maintained? Darren Maule spoke to the Head of the Water and Sanitation Department of eThekwini, Mr. Ednick Msweli on Tuesday and he answered all of the questions and concerns you might have.

Water and Sanitation Department, DG Dr Sean Phillips, sets the scene for this year's National Water and Sanitation summit.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When I say, "do not eat while listening to this podcast," I truly, truly mean it. Erin and Nicole are talking about THEE bane of the Sanitation Department's existence: Fatbergs. Enormous, gloopy clogs with the ability to take down entire towns' sewage systems in a single flush. Joe Rogan wishes he had that kind of talent.SHOW INFORMATIONHosted and produced by Nicole Mackie and Erin Saul, as part of the Whohaha Podcast NetworkMerch: Dude, That's F****d Up StorePatreon: Patreon.com/DTFUPodcastFacebook Page: @DFTUPodcastFacebook Group: Listeners of Dude, That's F****d UpInstagram: @DTFUPodcastTwitter: @DTFUPodcastYouTube: DTFUPodcastWebsite: DTFUPodcast.comEmail: DTFUPodcast@gmail.comMusic: The Hands of StoneArtwork: Brad Walters DesignSubscribe: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google PodcastsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Sanitation Department will now allow citizens to retrieve something they once disposed of but now wish maybe they hadn't been so hasty. Weather: “A Lonely Impulse of Delight” by Twin Beds https://twinbeds.bandcamp.com/ Transcript available at http://welcometonightvale.com/transcripts 2022 EUROPE / UK TOUR ANNOUNCED! “The Haunting of Night Vale” Tickets on sale December 3! http://welcometonightvale.com/live New novel from Jeffrey Cranor & Janina Matthewson: YOU FEEL IT JUST BELOW THE RIBS https://www.withinthewires.com/ Hot Night Vale merch! https://topatoco.com/wtnv Patreon is how we exist! If you can, please help us keep making this show: http://patreon.com/welcometonightvale/ Music: Disparition http://disparition.bandcamp.com Logo: Rob Wilson http://robwilsonwork.com Written by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor. Narrated by Cecil Baldwin. http://welcometonightvale.com Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Check out our books, live shows, store, membership program, and official recap show. Produced by Night Vale Presents. http://nightvalepresents.com

The Sanitation Department will now allow citizens to retrieve something they once disposed of but now wish maybe they hadn't been so hasty. Weather: “A Lonely Impulse of Delight” by Twin Beds https://twinbeds.bandcamp.com/ Transcript available at http://welcometonightvale.com/transcripts 2022 EUROPE / UK TOUR ANNOUNCED! “The Haunting of Night Vale” Tickets on sale December 3! http://welcometonightvale.com/live New novel from Jeffrey Cranor & Janina Matthewson: YOU FEEL IT JUST BELOW THE RIBS https://www.withinthewires.com/ Hot Night Vale merch! https://topatoco.com/wtnv Patreon is how we exist! If you can, please help us keep making this show: http://patreon.com/welcometonightvale/ Music: Disparition http://disparition.bandcamp.com Logo: Rob Wilson http://robwilsonwork.com Written by Brie Williams, with Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor. https://twitter.com/briezillionaire Narrated by Cecil Baldwin. http://welcometonightvale.com Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Check out our books, live shows, store, membership program, and official recap show. Produced by Night Vale Presents. http://nightvalepresents.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest: Farouk Robertson | Communications Manager at Water& Sanitation Dept: City Of Ct The City of Cape Town's Water and Sanitation Department has asked residents last week to reduce non-essential water consumption due to the insertion of a 2 400mm diameter bulk water pipeline project and how it will strengthen water supply to Khayelitsha residents. Wasanga is joined by Farouk Robertson, Communications manager at Water & Sanitation to get an update. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Farouk Robertson | Communications Manager at Water& Sanitation Dept: City Of CT The City of Cape Town's Water and Sanitation Department has asked residents to reduce non-essential water consumption this weekend from Friday to Monday as the Faure Water Treatment Plant will be shut down. Africa speaks to Farouk Robertson, Spokesperson for Water and Sanitation about the insertion of a 2 400mm diameter bulk water pipeline project and how it will strengthen water supply to Khayelitsha residents. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The South African Human Rights Commission has called on the national government to take over the running of Water and Sanitation Department at the City of Tshwane.in Recommendations from its recent report on the water situation in Hammanskraal, the commission also called for the previous and current management at the City of Tshwane, to be held accountable for the water crisis. The SAHRC found that waste water treatment plants in Tshwane are malfunctioning which has resulted in rivers and Dams being polluted with untreated and partially treated sewerage and sludge.

Jake and Erik open the podcast by revealing whether they smoke. Afterwards, some intense kindness conversation ensues as the fellas revisit the story of Joe, Jake's Lawn Mowing Neighbor. They read a response from Meg Goetz involving this "Joe-Gate," and Jake the Reciprocator reveals how he responded to the unsolicited kindness. Erik differentiates unsolicited help and unsolicited kindness. The comedians' ADD takes over the podcast as they both cope with being sent unsolicited money. Finally, Erik gets unnecessarily stressed out about giving Sam a hug, and Jake headlines the pod with another legendary Shameful Story that involved the Sanitation Department as well as Testicular Department.Jake's New Comedy Album: https://orcd.co/asoftoneErik's New Comedy Special: https://bit.ly/3hQwpIxShameless Plug: https://www.hbo.com/100-foot-waveShameless Plug: https://www.graperoommusic

Today we sat down with Ray Ouellette. Ray is the supervisor of the Street and Sanitation Department in Selmer. We hope you'll join us.

Episode 38 of Another Prank Call Show, produced by Ryan Jardina, DenmarkIsARealCountry, simplex, El Pepe Frito, and Catlifechoseme.In this episode I prevent a water war, expand handicap parking, and raise all kinds of hell at a grocery store.Support the show on Patreon.Shop the APCS spreadshirt store.Check out the APCS website.Leave the show a voicemail at (404) 721-2710Follow APCS on Twitter.Email the show.Like and subscribe on YouTube.APCS would not exist without the decades of inspiration from the PLA, and couldn't possibly continue without the support of Olga.Opening song and background music by Henrik, closing song is We Are the Sanitation Department of Power Ballad City by Kinematic.© 2021 Porcelain Phone Productions.

The persistent rainfall which has hit parts of the country for about two weeks now has resulted in improved dam levels for the country’s largest water system. The Water and Sanitation Department says critical dams in the integrated Vaal River system have seen increased water levels week on week to a healthier position.

After two accidental deletions on some minor breakdowns Part two is complete! Once again we apologize for the delay. In part 2 DangerRuss gives a practical demonstration of multiverse manipulation while the V Zeros attempt to prevent their prisoner from escaping. Ending Music By James, Sawlead on soundcloud Everything Else - Kevin Macleod 

Lazarus explores the nature of the universe through donuts and dinosaurs with his new mentor, DangeRuss, the keeper of the Hole to the Multiverse and the head of the Vanguard's Temporal Sanitation Department, while Hoshi and Stampede take a school field trip, and the Wallaby gets a publicist.Due to technical issues we lost the final edit or the second half of this episode. As a result we've decided to release the episode in 2 parts. The first half will be released on the normally scheduled day and the second half will be released as soon as it is finished. We apologize for the inconvenience.Ending Music By James, Sawlead on soundcloud Everything Else - Kevin Macleod 

AGBC collects a variety of links from across the internet and analyzes them to power our links page. Links are selected and ranked based on whether they are about New York and interesting enough to share. A few times per day, this same system also re-ranks the past few hours of news links and creates our top stories page. Taking that same idea and expanding it, here are the top stories about NYC for each month of 2019, along with a bit of follow-up to see how things have progressed since they were first published. January 2019 New York City's 2019 Women's March in Photos Not quite as large as the original 2017 Women's March, but still impactful enough to earn the highest-rated news story from January 2019. The third Women's March was actually two marches after one had split from the original organizing committee. Accusations of antisemitism against organizers of the national march led local organizations to split from the group based in Washington D.C. On January 19th, both an independent group, the Women's March Alliance, and the original national group held protest marches, one on the Upper West Side and one in downtown Manhattan at Foley Square. For 2020, the Women's March Alliance plans to march near Columbus Circle, but has not released a route as of yet, and the official local chapter of the national Women's March plans a rally in Foley Square. Both events are scheduled for January 18th. February 2019 Police detective killed by friendly fire in New York City A chaotic robbery at a T-Mobile store in Richmond Hill in Queens led to the first NYPD killed in the line of duty in nearly two years. The death of Detective Brian Simonsen brought increased focus to the case and revealed the many strange details of what would have been a typical store robbery. Most striking was the revelation that, although a bystander correctly told police that the man was robbing the store with a gun and forcing employees into a back room, in the aftermath of the police response and the shooting of the suspect, the gun was found to have been fake, and Simonsen had been accidentally shot and killed by fellow police officers. When the suspect emerged from the back room holding the realistic gun, officers retreated back outside, but the suspect not only raised the gun, but made movements as if he were firing it at officers. The seven officers at the scene then fired 42 shots within 11 seconds, striking the suspect eight times and hitting two officers. A second suspect, who had served as a lookout during the robbery, was captured several days later. Sergeant Matthew Gorman, who was also one of the first to respond to the robbery, was also hit in the hip by shots fired by other officers, but survived his injuries. In an interview with local news site The City in April 2019, the suspect said he was attempting to commit suicide by cop and he expressed that he wanted to tell the family of Detective Simonsen how sorry he was, although more recently, speaking to the NY Post from Rikers while awaiting trial, he stated that the robbery was meant as a prank and that he shouldn't be held responsible for the shootings of the officers. Although Detective Simonsen's death had been the first NYPD death in almost two years, tragedy would strike again in September 2019, when Detective Brian Mulkeen was accidentally shot and killed by fellow NYPD officers during a struggle with a suspect at the Edenwald NYCHA Houses in the Bronx. March 2019 Manhattan drivers near new era that may include $11.52 tolls The top story for March was about the congestion pricing plan, which was planned as part of the budget. Although the final toll price to charge vehicles entering Manhattan south of 60th Street hasn't been decided on, a prior study in 2017 by a state-appointed task force called for a $11.52 toll, which is being used as a baseline for what the new recommendation will actually be in 2020. The congestion pricing plan would go on to pass as part of the state budget on April 1, 2019 despite the pricing not yet being finalized. Under the current plan, pricing and enforcement systems will be studied throughout 2020 and announced at the end of the year. With details still up in the air, the earliest that congestion pricing could take effect would be 2021, but it remains to be seen how many legal challenges the various parts of the system will face, including potential last-minute lawsuits similar to those that delayed the 14th Street busway for three months this year. When congestion pricing does take effect, the funds will be used to improve the entire MTA system and install bus and bike lanes citywide. If the timeline holds true, New York will be the first city in the United States to implement congestion pricing, following world cities like Singapore, London, and Stockholm. April 2019 Toll hike makes Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge most expensive in country While the congestion pricing plan made headlines in March 2019 when it was finalized in the state budget, another toll jumped into the spotlight by April 2019, when the Verrazzano Bridge became the most expensive toll bridge in the country. Depending on your discounts and payment methods, may pay a variety of prices to cross, but the most expensive crossing, a Staten Island-bound non-E-ZPass trip, increased $2 and hit $19 on April 1st, 2019. If you're looking to cross the bridge on a budget, you can get a discount for using an E-ZPass, which will bring the price down to $12.24, and if you're a Staten Island resident, you can further chop away at the price by showing proof of residency to get a $5.50 price, or if three or more people can carpool together in a Staten Island-registered vehicle, the price drops to $3.40. The MTA-maintained bridge had daily traffic of more than 202,000 daily crossings in 2016, down from an all-time high of 219,000 in 2001, and in 2017, tolls on the bridge totaled about $417 million per year. May 2019 Brooklyn, Queens neighborhoods top list of fastest growing rental markets With May 1st being the time when New York leases traditionally expired, it's no surprise that the top story for May was about rental prices. Real estate site StreetEasy outlined their report in which housing sales were dropping while the rental market was growing, especially in Brooklyn and Queens. StreetEasy saw the biggest rental growth in the most expensive neighborhoods, which they theorized may be because people who want to live in those desirable neighborhoods are more willing to rent as sales prices have been increasing three times more quickly than rentals. Given the different rates of price increases between rentals and sales, an expensive rental may still be the smartest choice once all the costs of owning an apartment are factored in. Even with Amazon canceling plans to move to Long Island City, that neighborhood remained in the greatest demand in Queens, with Dumbo taking the priciest spot in Brooklyn. Although May 1st is no longer official the city's Moving Day, the middle of the summer is still a difficult time to change apartments, so if you're looking for a new place, consider trudging through the snow-filled streets when the lower number of renters means you'll have more bargaining power when signing a new lease! June 2019 Even Without Amazon, Rents Spike in Northwest Queens Like I said, during the summer, a city's mind turns towards real estate, and for June, real estate site Mansion Global looked at data from Douglas Elliman and Citi Habitats focused on the high end of rentals in the city. Like the StreetEasy report, Douglas Elliman found luxury rents rising in Long Island City despite Amazon's decision to cancel HQ2. Long Island City will continue to grow with or without Amazon, and the new luxury buildings rising up in the former industrial neighborhood are finding tenants willing to make it the most expensive neighborhood in Queens. Luxury rentals in Manhattan stayed the same year-over-year, with the Soho and Tribeca area remaining the priciest, with a median monthly rent of $6,150, and Dumbo the priciest in Brooklyn, with a median rent of $5,100. July 2019 NY House Dems call on city to bail out thousands of cab drivers suffering because of taxi medallion ‘crisis' As the summer moved on, the top story for July highlighted the ongoing crisis hitting yellow cab drivers, who are being impacted by ride-share companies while being left with large investments in pricey taxi medallions and business expenses. In July 2019, the Daily News covered a letter signed by 10 U.S. Congressmembers from New York who asked the city council's newly-formed Taxi Medallion Sale Prices Task Force to ensure assistance for taxi drivers and medallion owners who were suffering from a weakening medallion market and predatory lending. The letter came after a New York Times report on the hardships faced by taxi drivers, including mounting debt that led some drivers to suicide. The city was eyed as a source of assistance after the report showed more than a decade of artificially-inflated medallion prices and the city's $855 million earned from selling medallions directly and by collecting taxes on medallion sales. After an influx of mostly-unregulated ride-share companies flooded the market, prices of medallions dropped, leaving medallion owners in debt on an asset that had been sold as a sure-fire investment. For reference, taxi medallions peaked at a price of $1 million in 2013, but none of have for more than $500,000 since 2018. August 2019 NYPD officer shoots self in head in Queens home, ninth suicide of city cop this year After July's story highlighting the risk of suicide among taxi drivers, in August a similar threat was revealed among NYPD officers, when an off-duty officer took his own life, becoming the ninth officer to die by suicide in 2019. Robert Echeverria was a 25-year member of the NYPD, and his death turned the conversation toward an epidemic of officer suicides that needed special attention. According to the Daily News, another officer had taken his own life just one day earlier, and four officers killed themselves in June 2019. Sadly, by October 2019 a 10th officer would die by suicide, doubling the typical rate of suicides seen among NYPD officers and leading the city to establish confidential mental health services for NYPD members, offering free counseling and prescriptions through a partnership with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Officers interested in seeing what services the program provides can search "NYPD Finest Care" or call NewYork-Presbyterian at 1-877-697-9355 and ask for the NYPD Finest Care counseling program. September 2019 Six hundred straphangers evacuated in Brooklyn after train's mechanical failure We couldn't escape 2019 without a story of the subway breaking down, and September certainly delivered when a Manhattan-bound 'C' Train became stuck between stations underneath Brooklyn Heights at the High Street–Brooklyn Bridge station. Although there was also smoke reported in the tunnel, the cause was determined to have been the train's emergency brakes being activated. Although that sounds like the same work of the chronic emergency brake puller arrested in May 2019, this brake was apparently automatically activated after one of the shoes that make contact the third rail and power the train lifted off and caused sparks and smoke in the tunnel. In order to evacuate the tunnel, another train was pulled to the end of the disabled train and passengers were able to walk from one to the other and evacuate through the nearby station. Thankfully only one person was treated for a minor injury, which was a much better outcome than if a train of 600 people had come to a jolting stop, where many people would have been thrown to the ground. If you happen to find yourself crawling out of a smoke-filled subway tunnel but your coworkers refuse to believe your story, you can submit a Subway Delay Verification online to receive an official confirmation that you were late due to the MTA. One train evacuation aside, according to the MTA's own data, major incidents are slowly trending down across the entire subway system after a spike in January 2018. Subway on-time performance has also been on the rise, with Andy Byford claiming on-time performance topped 80% for the first time in six years, a figure defined as a train arriving within five minutes of its scheduled arrival. October 2019 ​Videos Of Teen Arrests In Subway Spur Outrage​ November 2019 City Council Grills MTA On Fare Evasion, Homelessness, And Hiring 500 New Cops By the time October and November rolled around, the MTA was having a harder time in the news. For two months, the top stories were directed at policing in the subways. Two chaotic arrests caught on video in October spread across social media and formed protests in response to what people saw as unnecessarily aggressive actions by police in the subway. Adding to the problems raised by the videos were confusion about what the teenagers in either video were being detained for, and the confusion was amplified by the clipped nature of the videos, only showing the police response and not the events that led to any of the teens being detained. Once it was revealed that one of the arrests was over turnstile jumping, the focus turned toward the MTA and Governor Cuomo's plan to hire 500 new police officers who would be assigned to the subway system. Critics saw the 500 officers as an unnecessary addition to preexisting NYPD subway patrols and the MTA police force, and at a time when the NYPD's data showed a decrease in subway crime. During a meeting with the city council in November, the plan for the new officers was scrutinized, with questions raised on why the 500 officers, which would cost $50 million a year, were being added when the MTA was running at a deficit. The costs of police assigned to stop fare evasion could potentially put a dent in the estimated $215 million per year lost to turnstile jumping, but the methods the MTA uses to estimate those losses were also questioned, as well as whether the 500 police would even be assigned to monitor fare evasion or if they were meant for general policing. The lack of any concrete plan for the 500 officers made the public and the city council skeptical, combined with video going viral on social media at the same time showing what people already considered an overly aggressive police response to a possible turnstile jumper. December 2019 'Bus lanes are for buses': MTA rolls out enforcement cameras on Brooklyn bus line And, ending out a year of top stories, another MTA story, but one where the MTA gets some good-natured retaliation after so many critical stories in previous months. For December, bus-mounted cameras took the top story spotlight as the MTA's social media campaign for the cameras gave straphangers a chuckle. Back in September, the MTA first started having some fun introducing their bus-mounted traffic cameras by showing an animated bus taking a photo that actually zapped the delivery truck out of the way, sending the bus lane scofflaw off into some other dimension and leaving the bus lane clear. After a 60-day trial period where warnings were mailed out, the cameras began issuing actual tickets along the M15 Select Bus line in December, where the cameras had caught 15,000 total bus lane blockages during the 60-day trial period. The first casualty in December was Santa and his sleigh! In a second social media post promoting the expanding bus camera program, a B44 bus zapped Santa's sleigh out of the way after Santa left his delivery vehicle parked in the bus lane. In another animation, an M15 bus cleared the snowy streets by zapping a car with an ice ray and knocking it out of the bus lane. The cameras will also come to M14 buses to help enforce parking and stopping rules along the 14th Street busway. So that was the year in New York City news! A few quick, unscientific numbers from our database of news stories: Of the 27,556 links indexed over 2019, the most common borough mentioned was Brooklyn, followed by the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and then Staten Island. "Police" and "NYPD" appeared in 3,575 stories, with firefighting keywords like "FDNY" and "fire" appearing in 1,066 stories. Both "man" and "woman" appeared in the top 25 most-popular terms, with terms like "man" and "boy" appearing 1,739 times and "woman" and "girl" appearing 1,058 times. A Great Big City has been running a 24-hour newsfeed since 2010, but the AGBC News podcast is just getting started, and we need your support. A Great Big City is built on a dedication to explaining what is happening and how it fits into the larger history of New York, which means thoroughly researching every topic and avoiding clickbait headlines to provide a straightforward, honest, and factual explanation of the news. Individuals can make a monthly or one-time contribution at agreatbigcity.com/support and local businesses can have a lasting impact by supporting local news while promoting products or services directly to interested customers listening to this podcast. Visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more. AGBC is more than just a news website: Every evening, just before sundown, A Great Big City checks the Empire State Building's lighting schedule and sends out a notification if the tower's lighting will be lit in special colors for a holiday or celebration. Follow @agreatbigcity on social media to receive the alerts. Park of the day Sherman Street Seating Area — 40.650827, -73.973892 — This plaza provides a nice set of benches and some old trees providing shade before you ascend the stairs to cross Ocean Parkway via the pedestrian bridge. Parks Events Recycle your Christmas tree at Mulchfest — The Parks Department and the Sanitation Department are ready to take that Christmas tree off your hands with locations across the city where they will chop up real trees into mulch that can be spread around other trees to protect them from cold weather. You'll be able to drop off your tree, and at some locations you'll even be able to see the trees get chopped into mulch and be able to take some mulch home with you to either use on your own tree or to spread around a tree along the street. Remember to remove all lights and ornaments before handing over your tree, and schedule your trip for a Saturday if you want to see the mulch-making machine in action! Check out the list of locations at nycgovparks.org and drop off your tree anytime from December 26th to January 11th and visit one of the chipping sites on Saturdays beginning at 10am to pick up a bag of mulch! If you can't make it to the park, the Sanitation Department offers curbside pick-up of trees from January 6th through January 17th, when you can place your tree outside with regular trash bags. Real trees collected curbside will also be made into mulch and used in parks across the city. Concert Calendar Here's the AGBC Concert Calendar for the upcoming week: Flosstradamus is playing Webster Hall on Friday, January 3rd at 9pm. Dry Reef is playing Mercury Lounge on Friday, January 3rd at 10pm. I Love The 90s with The Fresh Kids of Bel-Air is playing (Le) Poisson Rouge on Friday, January 3rd at 11pm. Ja Rule with Ashanti is playing New Jersey Performing Arts Center on Saturday, January 4th at 8pm. Satisfaction is playing Bergen Performing Arts Center on Saturday, January 4th at 8pm. Jessie's Girl is playing (Le) Poisson Rouge on Saturday, January 4th at 9pm. Reggaeton vs Hip Hop Night NYC is playing Bowery Ballroom on Saturday, January 4th at 10pm. Firebeatz is playing Marquee New York on Saturday, January 4th at 11pm. Wolfgang Gartner is playing Webster Hall on Saturday, January 4th at 11pm. Motion City Soundtrack with The Sidekicks is playing Webster Hall on Wednesday, January 8th at 7pm. Yola is playing Music Hall of Williamsburg on Wednesday, January 8th at 8pm. yMusic is playing Bowery Ballroom on Thursday, January 9th at 7pm. Smif-N-Wessun with Black Moon is playing Gramercy Theatre on Thursday, January 9th at 7pm. The Dead South with Legendary Shack Shakers is playing Warsaw on Thursday, January 9th at 8pm. Cimafunk is playing Webster Hall on Thursday, January 9th at 8pm. Afromondo Showcase is playing SOB's on Thursday, January 9th at 8pm. Find more fun things to do at agreatbigcity.com/events. New York Fact Here's something you may not have known about New York: 220 West 135th Street lost its National Historic Landmark status in 2009 when it was discovered not to have been the correct address for the home of Florence Mills Weather The extreme highs and lows for this week in weather history: Record High: 72°F on January 6, 2007 Record Low: -4°F on January 1, 1918 Weather for the week ahead: Light rain on Friday through next Wednesday. Thanks for listening to A Great Big City. Follow along 24 hours a day on social media @agreatbigcity or email contact@agreatbigcity.com with any news, feedback, or topic suggestions. Subscribe to AGBC News wherever you listen to podcasts: iTunes, Google Play, or Player FM, Spotify, Overcast, or listen to each episode on the podcast pages at agreatbigcity.com/podcast. If you enjoy the show, subscribe and leave a review wherever you're listening and visit our podcast site to see show notes and extra links for each episode. Intro and outro music: 'Start the Day' by Lee Rosevere — Concert Calendar music from Jukedeck.com — Buzzy 'Auld Lang Syne' by David Fifield — 'Auld Lang Syne' by Two Ton Baker and the Maple City Four

EPISODE 296: Picture New York City under mountains of filth, heaving from clogged gutters and overflowing from trash cans. Imagine the unbearable smell of rotting food and animal corpses left on the curb. And what about snow, piled up and unshoveled, leaving roads entirely unnavigable? This was New York City in the mid-19th century, a place growing faster than city officials could control. It seemed impossible to keep clean.  In this episode, we chart the course to a safer, healthier city thanks to the men and women of the New York City Department of Sanitation, which was formed in the 1880s to combat this challenging humanitarian crisis. Along the way, we'll stop at some of the more, um, pungent landmarks of New York City history -- the trash heaps of Riker's Island, the mountainous Corona Ash Dump, and the massive Fresh Kills Landfill. PLUS: We'll be joined by two special guests to help us understand the issues surrounding New York City sanitation in the 21st century: Robin Nagle is a Clinical Professor at NYU and the Anthropologist in Residence for New York City’s Department of Sanitation, and the author of "Picking Up - On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City". Maggie Lee is the records management officer in the Sanitation Department, and also serves as the deputy director for Museum Planning for the Foundation for New York’s Strongest. She has helped organize “What is Here is Open: Selections from the Treasures in the Trash Collection” -- an art show centered around pieces thrown out with the trash, which is currently running at the Hunter East Harlem Gallery at 119th and 3rd Avenue through September 14, 2019. Support the show.

It was Easter... some kids were on an egg hunt in the Griffith Park area... then suddenly a 13-year-old boy fell into a sewage pipe. He was finally rescued after 12 hours, but there are LOTS of questions about how something like that could happen.  We go In-Depth with the assistant general manager of the L.A. Sanitation Department.  Also on today's show... why Wall Street is in the red.  We talk about TV anchors on Sinclair Broadcasting who were ordered to read a script about how THEY cover real news, but news on OTHER stations could be false.  And then... Mark Zuckerberg's thoughts about how outsiders could help resolve Facebook's transparency problems. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gauteng residents are being warned NOT to send bottled water to drought stricken CapeTown. The Water and Sanitation Department says the charitable act will put Gauteng's own water supply at risk. Various Gauteng communities have been donating water bottles and tanks that will be sent to Cape Town which faces running out of water entirely by 16th April. Meanwhile organisations helping Gauteng residents collect water supplies have called on residents not to stop donating despite the warning. We speak to Water and Sanitation department spokesperson, Sputnik Ratau.

We were all sitting around the big kitchen table. It was Saturday morning. Pancake morning. Mom was squeezing oranges for juice. Henry and I were betting on how many pancakes we each could eat. And Grandpa was doing the flipping.Seconds later, something flew through the air headed toward the kitchen ceiling……and landed right on Henry.After we realized that the flying object was only a pancake, we all laughed, even Grandpa. Breakfast continued quite uneventfully. All the other pancakes landed in the pan. And all of them were eaten, even the one that landed on Henry.That night, touched off by the pancake incident at breakfast, Grandpa told us the best tall-tale bedtime story he'd ever told.“Across an ocean, over lots of huge, bumpy mountains, across three hot deserts, and one smaller ocean… … there lay the tiny town of Chewandswallow.In most ways, it was very much like any other tiny town. It had a Main Street lined with stores, houses with trees and gardens around them, a schoolhouse, about three hundred people, and some assorted cats and dogs.But there were no food stores in the town of Chewandswallow. They didn't need any. The sky supplied all the food they could possibly want. The only thing that was really different about Chewandswallow was its weather. It came three times a day, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Everything that everyone ate came from the sky.Whatever the weather served, that was what they ate. But it never rained rain. It never snowed snow. And it never blew just wind. It rained things like soup and juice. It snowed mashed potatoes and green peas. And sometimes the wind blew in storms of hamburgers. The people could watch the weather report on television in the morning and they would even heat a prediction for the next day's food. When the townspeople went outside, they carried their plates, cups, glasses, forks, spoons, knives and napkins with them. That way they would always be prepared for any kind of weather.If there were leftovers, and there usually were, the people took them home and put them in their refrigerators in case they got hungry between meals.The menu varied.By the time they woke up in the morning, breakfast was coming down. After a brief shower of orange juice, low clouds of sunny-side up eggs moved in followed by pieces of toast. Butter and jelly sprinkled down for the toast. And most of the time it rained milk afterwards.For lunch one day, frankfurters, already in their rolls, blew in from the northwest at about five miles an hour. There were mustard clouds nearby. Then the wind shifted to the east and brought in baked beans. A drizzle of soda finished off the meal.Dinner one night consisted of lamb chops, becoming heavy at times, with occasional ketchup. Periods of peas were followed by gradual clearing, with a wonderful Jell-O setting in the west. The Sanitation Department of Chewandswallow had a rather unusual job for a sanitation department. It had to remove the food that fell on the houses and sidewalks and lawns. The workers cleaned things up after every meal and fed all the dogs and cats. Then they emptied some of it into the surrounding oceans for the fish and turtles and whales to eat. The rest of the food was put back into the earth so that the soil would be richer for the people's flower gardens. Life for the townspeople was delicious until the weather took a turn for the worse.One day there was nothing but Gorgonzola cheese all day long. The next day there was only broccoli, all overcooked.And the next day there were brussel sprouts and peanut butter with mayonnaise. Another day there was a pea soup fog. No one could see where they were going and they could barely find the rest of the meal that got stuck in the fog.The food was getting larger and larger, and so were the portions. The people were getting frightened. Violent storms blew up frequently. Awful things were happening. One Tuesday there was a hurricane of bread and rolls all day long and into the night. There were soft rolls and hard rolls, some with seeds and some without. There was white bread and rye and whole wheat toast. Most of it was larger than they had ever seen bread and rolls before.It was a terrible day.Everyone had to stay indoors. Roofs were damaged, and the Sanitation Department was beside itself. The mess took the workers four days to clean up, and the sea was full of floating rolls.To help out, the people piled up as much bread as they could in their backyards. The birds picked at it a bit, but it just stayed there and got staler and staler. There was a storm of pancakes one morning and a downpour of maple syrup that nearly flooded the town. A huge pancake covered the school. No one could get it off because of its weight, so they had to close the school.Lunch one day brought fifteen-inch drifts of cream cheese and jelly sandwiches. Everyone ate themselves sick and the day ended with a stomachache. There was an awful salt and pepper wind accompanied by an even worse tomato tornado. People were sneezing themselves silly and running to avoid the tomatoes. The town was a mess. There were seeds and pulp everywhere. The Sanitation Department gave up. The job was too big.Everyone feared for their lives. They couldn't go outside most of the time. Many houses had been badly damaged by giant meatballs, stores were boarded up and there was no more school for the children.So a decision was made to abandon the town of Chewandswallow. It was a matter of survival.The people glued together the giant pieces of stale bread sandwich-style with peanut butter……took the absolute necessities with them, and set sail on their rafts for a new land.After being afloat for a week, they finally reached a small coastal town, which welcomed them. The bread had held up surprisingly well, well enough for them to build temporary houses for themselves out of it.The children began school again, and the adults all tried to find places for themselves in the new land. The biggest change they had to make was getting used to buying food at a supermarket. They found it odd that the food was kept on shelves, packaged in boxes, cans and bottles. Meat that had to be cooked was kept in large refrigerators. Nothing came down from the sky except rain and snow. The clouds above their heads were not made of fried eggs. No one ever got hit by a hamburger again. And nobody dared to go back to Chewandswallow to find out what had happened to it. They were too afraid.”Henry and I were awake until the very end of Grandpa's story. I remember his goodnight kiss.The next morning we woke up to see snow falling outside our window. We ran downstairs for breakfast and ate it a little faster than usual so we could go sledding with Grandpa.It's funny, but even as we were sliding down the hill we thought we saw a giant pat of butter at the top, and we could almost smell mashed potatoes.

We were all sitting around the big kitchen table. It was Saturday morning. Pancake morning. Mom was squeezing oranges for juice. Henry and I were betting on how many pancakes we each could eat. And Grandpa was doing the flipping.Seconds later, something flew through the air headed toward the kitchen ceiling……and landed right on Henry.After we realized that the flying object was only a pancake, we all laughed, even Grandpa. Breakfast continued quite uneventfully. All the other pancakes landed in the pan. And all of them were eaten, even the one that landed on Henry.That night, touched off by the pancake incident at breakfast, Grandpa told us the best tall-tale bedtime story he’d ever told.“Across an ocean, over lots of huge, bumpy mountains, across three hot deserts, and one smaller ocean… … there lay the tiny town of Chewandswallow.In most ways, it was very much like any other tiny town. It had a Main Street lined with stores, houses with trees and gardens around them, a schoolhouse, about three hundred people, and some assorted cats and dogs.But there were no food stores in the town of Chewandswallow. They didn’t need any. The sky supplied all the food they could possibly want. The only thing that was really different about Chewandswallow was its weather. It came three times a day, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Everything that everyone ate came from the sky.Whatever the weather served, that was what they ate. But it never rained rain. It never snowed snow. And it never blew just wind. It rained things like soup and juice. It snowed mashed potatoes and green peas. And sometimes the wind blew in storms of hamburgers. The people could watch the weather report on television in the morning and they would even heat a prediction for the next day’s food. When the townspeople went outside, they carried their plates, cups, glasses, forks, spoons, knives and napkins with them. That way they would always be prepared for any kind of weather.If there were leftovers, and there usually were, the people took them home and put them in their refrigerators in case they got hungry between meals.The menu varied.By the time they woke up in the morning, breakfast was coming down. After a brief shower of orange juice, low clouds of sunny-side up eggs moved in followed by pieces of toast. Butter and jelly sprinkled down for the toast. And most of the time it rained milk afterwards.For lunch one day, frankfurters, already in their rolls, blew in from the northwest at about five miles an hour. There were mustard clouds nearby. Then the wind shifted to the east and brought in baked beans. A drizzle of soda finished off the meal.Dinner one night consisted of lamb chops, becoming heavy at times, with occasional ketchup. Periods of peas were followed by gradual clearing, with a wonderful Jell-O setting in the west. The Sanitation Department of Chewandswallow had a rather unusual job for a sanitation department. It had to remove the food that fell on the houses and sidewalks and lawns. The workers cleaned things up after every meal and fed all the dogs and cats. Then they emptied some of it into the surrounding oceans for the fish and turtles and whales to eat. The rest of the food was put back into the earth so that the soil would be richer for the people’s flower gardens. Life for the townspeople was delicious until the weather took a turn for the worse.One day there was nothing but Gorgonzola cheese all day long. The next day there was only broccoli, all overcooked.And the next day there were brussel sprouts and peanut butter with mayonnaise. Another day there was a pea soup fog. No one could see where they were going and they could barely find the rest of the meal that got stuck in the fog.The food was getting larger and larger, and so were the portions. The people were getting frightened. Violent storms blew up frequently. Awful things were happening. One Tuesday there was a hurricane of bread and rolls all day long and into the night. There were soft rolls and hard rolls, some with seeds and some without. There was white bread and rye and whole wheat toast. Most of it was larger than they had ever seen bread and rolls before.It was a terrible day.Everyone had to stay indoors. Roofs were damaged, and the Sanitation Department was beside itself. The mess took the workers four days to clean up, and the sea was full of floating rolls.To help out, the people piled up as much bread as they could in their backyards. The birds picked at it a bit, but it just stayed there and got staler and staler. There was a storm of pancakes one morning and a downpour of maple syrup that nearly flooded the town. A huge pancake covered the school. No one could get it off because of its weight, so they had to close the school.Lunch one day brought fifteen-inch drifts of cream cheese and jelly sandwiches. Everyone ate themselves sick and the day ended with a stomachache. There was an awful salt and pepper wind accompanied by an even worse tomato tornado. People were sneezing themselves silly and running to avoid the tomatoes. The town was a mess. There were seeds and pulp everywhere. The Sanitation Department gave up. The job was too big.Everyone feared for their lives. They couldn’t go outside most of the time. Many houses had been badly damaged by giant meatballs, stores were boarded up and there was no more school for the children.So a decision was made to abandon the town of Chewandswallow. It was a matter of survival.The people glued together the giant pieces of stale bread sandwich-style with peanut butter……took the absolute necessities with them, and set sail on their rafts for a new land.After being afloat for a week, they finally reached a small coastal town, which welcomed them. The bread had held up surprisingly well, well enough for them to build temporary houses for themselves out of it.The children began school again, and the adults all tried to find places for themselves in the new land. The biggest change they had to make was getting used to buying food at a supermarket. They found it odd that the food was kept on shelves, packaged in boxes, cans and bottles. Meat that had to be cooked was kept in large refrigerators. Nothing came down from the sky except rain and snow. The clouds above their heads were not made of fried eggs. No one ever got hit by a hamburger again. And nobody dared to go back to Chewandswallow to find out what had happened to it. They were too afraid.”Henry and I were awake until the very end of Grandpa’s story. I remember his goodnight kiss.The next morning we woke up to see snow falling outside our window. We ran downstairs for breakfast and ate it a little faster than usual so we could go sledding with Grandpa.It’s funny, but even as we were sliding down the hill we thought we saw a giant pat of butter at the top, and we could almost smell mashed potatoes.

The Department of Water and Sanitation is hot water for allegations of misuse of millions of tax-payers money on fruitless and wasteful expenditure. In a statement, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) has expressed its shock that the department was found to have paid some suppliers millions of rands, up to three times using the same invoice. This was revealed when water and sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane appeared before SCOPA on Tuesday to explain the alleged huge financial mismanagement in her department. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to Water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane

The department of water and sanitation has warned of possible flooding along the Vaal River as Vaal Dam reaches full capacity. The Vaal Dam, among other areas in Gauteng, reached 100 percent capacity for the first time in six years. The Water and Sanitation Department says it's started releasing water from Bloemhof dam and will do the same for the Vaal dam. The department has also announced that it is in the process of lifting water restrictions in the Gauted province. Nationwide restrictions were implemented last year after an El Nino weather pattern brought drought conditions to much of southern Africa. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to Wits Professor and water expert Professor Mike Muller

The Water and Sanitation Department says it will take up to two or three years for the country to recover from the drought conditions it's currently experiencing. Government earlier declared eight provinces - including KwaZulu-Natal - disaster areas due to insufficient rainfall. Many municipalities across the country have been forced to impose water restrictions as a result. Authorities say despite the recent rains there has been no significant change in dam levels. Mbuso Mkhize reports.......

Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane says her department is working at innovative ways to introduce low or no-water solutions for flush toilets. Mokonyane says the new plans aim of eliminate the use of clean water to flush toilets. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to Minister Mokonyane....

Garbage, shit, waste, crap, refuse, discards, dreck - these are all words we use to describe that pile of stuff we all collect but will soon find a way to make disappear. In America, it's never been easier to throw away your trash and in this episode we face the pile head-on. Fannie and Sophie hitch a ride with the NY Dept of Sanitation to make the morning pick up rounds, and later sit down with Anthropologist-in-Residence for the NY Dept of Sanitation, Robin Nagel, whose recent book, Picking Up, is a detailed survey of the Sanitation Department from the inside. Then we try and figure out just how much waste Americans are creating with the help of the EPA and Edward Humes, author of Garbology (a great book if this show happens to turn you into a trash nerd). Plus we dig up some footage of the late Professor William Rathje and the curious discoveries he made abot decomposition (or lack of) in our nation's landfills. Music by Dave Nelson and Kevin Shipp. 

This video is part five of a multi-part series of a two-day symposium "Public Management and the Lindsay Years (1966-1973)", presented by Baruch College School of Public Affairs in collaboration with the Museum of the City of New York on September 29 and 30, 2010. This session addresses the challenge of allocating limited resources to growing demand for service in Fire, Police and Sanitation Departments. Specific initiatives in these departments were undertaken to address this issue; they were the use of Tactical Control Units in the Fire Department, the Fourth Platoon in the Police Department and a revised Chart Day System in the Sanitation Department. Panelists include: Steve Savas Presidential Professor, Baruch College First Deputy Administrator of NYC in Lindsay Administration; Herbert Elish Chief Operating Officer, The College Board Sanitation Commissioner in Lindsay Administration; Peter Kolesar Professor Emeritus, Columbia University Analyst, NYC Rand Institute during Lindsay Administration. The speakers are introduced by Stan Altman, symposium organizer, Professor of School of Public Affairs and Director of American Humanics at Baruch College.

This video is part five of a multi-part series of a two-day symposium "Public Management and the Lindsay Years (1966-1973)", presented by Baruch College School of Public Affairs in collaboration with the Museum of the City of New York on September 29 and 30, 2010. This session addresses the challenge of allocating limited resources to growing demand for service in Fire, Police and Sanitation Departments. Specific initiatives in these departments were undertaken to address this issue; they were the use of Tactical Control Units in the Fire Department, the Fourth Platoon in the Police Department and a revised Chart Day System in the Sanitation Department. Panelists include: Steve Savas Presidential Professor, Baruch College First Deputy Administrator of NYC in Lindsay Administration; Herbert Elish Chief Operating Officer, The College Board Sanitation Commissioner in Lindsay Administration; Peter Kolesar Professor Emeritus, Columbia University Analyst, NYC Rand Institute during Lindsay Administration. The speakers are introduced by Stan Altman, symposium organizer, Professor of School of Public Affairs and Director of American Humanics at Baruch College.

This video is part five of a multi-part series of a two-day symposium "Public Management and the Lindsay Years (1966-1973)", presented by Baruch College School of Public Affairs in collaboration with the Museum of the City of New York on September 29 and 30, 2010. This session addresses the challenge of allocating limited resources to growing demand for service in Fire, Police and Sanitation Departments. Specific initiatives in these departments were undertaken to address this issue; they were the use of Tactical Control Units in the Fire Department, the Fourth Platoon in the Police Department and a revised Chart Day System in the Sanitation Department. Panelists include: Steve Savas Presidential Professor, Baruch College First Deputy Administrator of NYC in Lindsay Administration; Herbert Elish Chief Operating Officer, The College Board Sanitation Commissioner in Lindsay Administration; Peter Kolesar Professor Emeritus, Columbia University Analyst, NYC Rand Institute during Lindsay Administration. The speakers are introduced by Stan Altman, symposium organizer, Professor of School of Public Affairs and Director of American Humanics at Baruch College.

Episode 4-- Lawrence of Venus: In the interest of keeping space as British as possible, Reginald Lawrence is ordered by the Royal Space and Sanitation Department to travel to Venus and help the natives overthrow their Martian subjugators. Unfortunately, the primitive Venutian people (led by Prince John F. Feisal) prove to be even more backwards than Lawrence had anticipated. Determined to carry out his mission, Lawrence devises a plan that may just be crazy enough to conquer the red planet. Players: KingPengvin, Murpheykid, Docontheweb. Production Assistance from Guppi and SG We would love to hear from you! E-mail us at mindsmysteries@gmail.com