FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2007
Friday Edition: No Money for "Hometown Heroes"
Bill Dedman has this
terrific story on MSNBC.com:
More than three years after President Bush signed a law granting federal benefits to families of firefighters, police officers and EMTs who die of heart attacks and strokes on the job, not a dollar has been paid. The U.S. Justice Department has denied all 34 claims that have been decided, and has yet to act on more than 200 others, MSNBC.com has learned.
In the Hometown Heroes Act of 2003, Congress said that heart attacks and strokes on the job should be presumed to be line-of-duty deaths, making survivors eligible for federal benefits.
Check with your local public safety agency, Fraternal Order of Police and firefighters union or association to see what cases might be pending locally. Here are two groups that help in cases like these --
Concerns of Police Survivors, Inc. and
National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.
On the surface, the application form for benefits hardly looks daunting. Originally, this legislation was intended to provide benefits to survivors of emergency workers who died in the line of duty. Dedman points out:
The Hometown Heroes Act of 2003 extended the same benefits to victims of heart attacks and strokes on the job. The death benefit, which is adjusted each October for inflation, is now $295,194. To qualify, the victim had to have been involved in "non-routine stressful or strenuous work" in law enforcement, fire protection, prison security or disaster relief, among other duties. And the heart attack or stroke had to occur within 24 hours of such activity. Contractors, such as those widely used by the Forest Service to fight wildland fires, are not eligible for the benefits.
The story also says:
The denials come to light as a
new study demonstrates that firefighters are at much higher risk of heart attacks when fighting fires or responding to alarms. In the study to be published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that firefighters face up to 100 times their normal risk of heart attack while working at a fire.
About 11 of the 34 Hometown Heroes claims denied so far were filed by the families of law enforcement officers, according to the Fraternal Order of Police, which also got its numbers this week from the Justice Department.
Some in Congress have been stomping their feet, but they've yet to move the Justice Department. See protests from Democratic Representatives
Patrick Kennedy, from Rhode Island, and
Bob Etheridge, from North Carolina.
Bill tells me:
Reporters can search, at least for firefighters, to find those in their area who may qualify. Use this form (link below) to search for deaths in your state. The narratives indicate whether it was a heart attack or other cause. Remember: Only heart attack or stroke deaths from Dec. 15, 2003, forward are covered. Other deaths were already covered by the benefits program.
Here's that link:
http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/applications/ffmem/index.jsp
If you choose, say, Connecticut, and search, you get a list.
Key: To see the narratives, look for the link to "show the details of all records below."
$1 Million Not What it Used to BeNearly three million Americans and Canadians have a net worth of $1 million -- not counting the value of their primary residences.
But an Associated Press story points out that
a million bucks just isn't what it used to be:
The fact is, $1 million doesn't go as far these days as it used to. For one thing, it's vulnerable to inflation -- someone who bought $1 million worth of goods in 1957 would need $7.3 million to buy the same goods today, according to Federal Reserve figures.
It's also vulnerable to longevity. Americans are living much longer than they used to, and that means they need larger nest eggs to get them through retirement.
Sexual Assaults in the MilitaryReports of sexual assaults in the military rose 24 percent in one year. 3,000 sexual assault reports were filed in 2006, compared with almost 2,400 the previous year.
AP reports that the Pentagon says
it has become easier to report such attacks and victims may believe their complaints will be taken more seriously now than in previous years.
Spring Vacation Sexual Attack WarningsA group that works on behalf of sexual violence victims
is warning spring breakers:
"College women are four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than any other age group," said Scott Berkowitz, president and founder of [Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network]. "Increased exposure to strangers and new surroundings can amplify these risks, particularly on spring break."
There are some very basic steps students can take to maximize safety. Knowing how to reduce risk can help prevent possible sexual assaults, both during and after spring break.
Central Florida 13, a station that covers Daytona Beach, reports:
"In my professional opinion, there's probably one out of four [sexual assaults] that are reported," Suzy Williams from the Sexual Assault Response Team said. "We haven't even touched the surface of what the statistics are."
Williams says cases may not be reported because some spring breakers may feel ashamed of placing themselves in harms way by either being at the wrong place at the wrong time or by drinking too much.
Al's Morning MultimediaI liked the
Washington Post's
multimedia piece about Al Gore's global warming testimony this week. The video features correspondent Dana Milbank's analysis of the testimony, as well as some great drama. It is so much more effective than a podcast, slideshow or text narrative.
The main thing I didn't see much of in the piece was Gore's actual testimony, which, of course, could have made the piece informative, as well as fun to watch.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends upon the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected.
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