Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 16 March 2017
APNewsBreak: State lawmakers

Durbin says railway must do more to prevent gun thefts grapple with fatal
Ghost Ship blaze
MICHAEL TARM The most recent heist was in ing revenues of around adding extra patrols and
AP Legal Affairs Writer September, when thieves $10 billion, to send him in- K-9 units. PAUL ELIAS
CHICAGO (AP) — U.S. Sen. made off with more than formation on any plans to After examining hundreds Associated Press
Dick Durbin told Norfolk 30 guns. In 2015, alleged beef up security, writing, “It of court records, the AP SAN FRANCISCO (AP) —
Southern this week that it California state lawmakers
must do more to secure said Wednesday they are
a major rail yard on Chi- grappling with a growing
cago’s South Side after public safety problem in
three major gun thefts which cities where finan-
led to many of the weap- cially struggling artists are
ons circulating in nearby illegally converting ware-
violence-plagued neigh- houses into housing and
borhoods, according to a entertainment venues
letter the Illinois Democrat The Senate Governance
sent this week to the com- and Finance Committee
pany’s CEO. Wednesday in Sacramen-
The letter , provided to to was the first time state
The Associated Press by lawmakers have formally
Durbin’s office Wednes- considered the issue since
day, cites the theft of some the Dec. 2 fire at the so-
150 guns between 2014 called Ghost Ship ware-
and 2016. Officials say most house killed 36 in Oakland
of the guns, including semi- during a music concert.
automatic rifles, spread Artists say high rents in the
into nearby communities, San Francisco Bay Area
helping to fuel the kind of and Southern Califor-
violence that last year led nia have driven them to
to 762 homicides in Chica- lease warehouses in indus-
go, more than in New York trial areas not zoned for
City and Los Angeles com- U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., appears, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Durbin has told Norfolk South- residential and entertain-
bined. ern that three major gun thefts from its rail yard on Chicago’s South Side threaten neighborhoods ment uses. The Ghost Ship
“These repeated incidents already plagued by violence and that it must do more secure the facility. warehouse was not permit-
of gun theft ... jeopardize (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke) ted for entertainment or a
the safety and well-being residence, though artists
of Chicago residents,” lived there and often put
Durbin wrote in the March street-gang members used is clear that more needs to reported earlier this month on public performances.
14 letter to CEO James A. box cutters to get into one be done by Norfolk South- that just 16 of the 111 guns “We have been struggling
Squires. train, carrying away 111 ern.” stolen in 2015 have ever to identify the answers,”
The thefts haven’t, until new guns en route from Asked about the letter, been recovered and that said state Sen. Nancy Skin-
now, drawn much scru- New Hampshire weapon Norfolk Southern spokes- most were found in the ner, D-Berkeley, who rep-
tiny from elected officials. maker Sturm, Ruger & Co. woman Susan Terpay said possession of purported resents the neighborhood
There have been neither to Washington state. in an email Wednesday: street-gang members or where the Ghost Ship was
federal nor local hearings It was sheer luck, not an in- “We don’t have a com- drug dealers. located.
devoted to the rail-yard side job, that they selected ment at this time.” She has One recovered Ruger was Oakland assistant city
gun thefts, contributing to a boxcar with guns, offi- said previously about the tied to a Jan. 22, 2016, manager Claudia Cap-
a perception in communi- cials said. rail yard that the company shooting. Another was pio said city officials have
ties hugging the yard that Durbin’s letter also asks the is “doing everything within found in a dealer’s home flagged 15 buildings for
no one is taking responsibil- Virginia-based company, (its) power to prevent” the alongside 429 bags of closer inspections for pos-
ity. which has annual operat- gun thefts, including by heroin.q
sible code violations since
the fire. City officials across
6-month-old boy dies after sitter couldn’t reach 911 the state have also report-
ed receiving an increase
of public complaints about
DALLAS (AP) — Dallas pub- and operators end up put- him, and I just kept kissing 911 on Saturday evening. warehouses possibly being
lic safety officials are press- ting callers on hold as they his lips. He was still warm. I City Manager T.C. Broad- used illegally for living and
ing T-Mobile for solutions try to catch up. just kept saying, ‘Brandon, nax said he spoke with T- working spaces.
following the death of a The boy’s mother, Bridget please wake up. Please Mobile CEO John Legere, Oakland officials said the
6-month-old boy whose Alex, told the station that wake up,’” she told the sta- and that Legere pledged city’s fire and building de-
baby sitter couldn’t reach she was at her sister’s home tion. to send his top engineers partment officials failed to
911 operators. when her baby sitter fran- The baby was transferred to Dallas on Wednesday to inspect the warehouse de-
The city said in a statement tically called her, saying to another hospital, where address the problem. T-Mo- spite neighbor complaints
that the 911 call center her 6-month-old son had he died without regaining bile spokeswoman Stacey about the building in the
was jammed with calls Sat- fallen from a day bed and consciousness. DiNuzzo said she had no months before the fire.
urday evening because was unconscious. The baby The city issued a statement additional statement from The fire department is still
of an ongoing issue with sitter said she called 911 Tuesday saying Dallas po- the company. investigating and has not
T-Mobile. Dallas television three times but kept being lice found no immediate “This is an unacceptable determined a cause. Em-
station WFAA (http://bit. placed on hold. evidence connecting the situation and the citizens battled fire chief Teresa
ly/2mqaXdi ) reported that Alex said she sped home death to the ghost-call is- of Dallas deserve better,” Deloach Reed, 59, an-
when T-Mobile customers and took her son to a hos- sue, but confirmed the Broadnax said, adding that nounced Tuesday she
call 911, ghost calls are cre- pital. caller was using T-Mobile he was hopeful the issue
ated that jam the system “I jumped in the car with service when trying to call could be fixed.q would retire on May 5.q