Ottawa firefighters responded to calls for service to Eastway Tank six times in the last 18 years, but city officials continue to withhold information about the nature of those emergencies.

An explosion and fire at the tanker truck plant on Jan. 13 killed six employees and critically injured a seventh.

Several agencies including Ottawa police, the coroner's office and the Ministry of Labour are investigating the disaster. On Friday, the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) announced its investigators had completed their work at the site.

CBC News requested a record of previous fire calls to 1995 Merivale Rd. from Ottawa Fire Services. The City of Ottawa, which is handling communications on the matter, twice refused to release the information, citing the current investigation.

In an internal email sent Friday and forwarded toCBC News, Kim Ayotte, the city's general manager of emergency and protective services, confirmed firefighters had responded to calls to that address six times in the last 18 years. Ayotte didn't make it clear whether those six calls included the disaster on Jan. 13.

However, Ayotte said Ottawa Fire Services could not release the detailed fire incident reports on those calls due to the ongoing investigations.

Nor is the department in a position to release information pertaining to any health and safety violations at Eastway, Ayotte said, as those fall under the purview of the Ministry of Labour.

Former employees of Eastway Tank have told CBC News they witnessed or had knowledge of three separate fires at the facility in recent years. The former employees said firefighters responded on at least two of those occasions.

The employees alleged witnessing several unsafe practices at Eastway, including welding near highly flammable liquids and pails of oil-soaked rags.

In a statement issued late Wednesday, Eastway owner and president Neil Greene called the allegations "unfounded."

"Eastway Tank has always worked to maintain the highest safety standards. We are working closely with investigators and are cooperating fully to get to the bottom of what happened," Greene said.

Greene also offered his sympathies to the families of the six workers who died: Rick Bastien, Danny Beale, Kayla Ferguson, Matt Kearney, Etienne Mabiala and Russell McLellan.

A seventh Eastway employee was critically injured and remains in hospital.

Eastway Tank, which housed a large production area, four service bays, a paint shop, a welding room, offices and staff facilities, was constructed in 1968.

On Friday, the fire marshal's officetweeted that its officers had cleared the scene but the"investigation into the origin, cause and circumstance around this incident continues."

In a later statement to CBC, the OFM said "there is still much work to be done," and confirmed OFM investigators had interviewed a number of witnesses "important to the investigation."

Investigators also examined vehicles, the OFM confirmed.

"The equipment on-site, including vehicles, was examined as part of our investigation.We have gathered the evidence required and the equipment remains on site," they said.

CBC News has seen images appearing to show the wreckage of two tanker trucks in the production area of the facility.

The initial explosion, and possibly subsequent blasts, clearly occurred in that part of the building.

"The nature of any fire scene is unique and fire investigators take their time to thoroughly go through all evidence and data before finalizing any report. As this investigation has only just begun, it would be premature to speculate on any findings or timeframe of completion," the OFM said Friday.

Ottawa police have interviewed at least one former Eastway employee, Josh Bastien, whose father Rick Bastien died in the explosion.

Families and friends of the victims held a private vigil outside the facility on Friday night. The ongoing investigations prevent the public from getting any closer to the blast site.

If you want to get in touch with a reporter about this story, pleasecontact CBC Ottawa.

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Firefighters called to Eastway Tank 6 times in 18 years - CBC.ca

If the average person were to hollow out a tree branch, turn it into a light fixture and hang it over a dining room table, it would look like the work of a Cub Scout. But in Constantin Boyms weekend home in the Hudson Valley, the branch is perfection. Not too crusty, not too knobby, so artless as to be almost invisible.

Mr. Boym, the chair of the industrial design department at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and co-principal with his wife, Laurene Leon Boym, of the design company Boym Partners, is very good at making things and has recently had lots of opportunities.

Sequestered with his family for 18 months in their 1955 cabin in Esopus, N.Y., he embarked on a long busmans holiday. Inside, he designed a second bedroom for the couples 24-year-old son, Rob, and a mudroom where the refrigerator and laundry appliances could live.

Outside, he introduced to the propertys eight acres a firepit, a village of acquired birdhouses in various architectural styles, a tomato garden, a pavilion with a faux deer trophy that he assembled from found wood (part of a series Mr. Boym calls Upstate Safari) and a metal sculpture on the site of a recently cleared glass-and-metal scrap pile, made from detritus found there (I think something from a baby carriage, he said).

Ms. Boym, who has recently taken to making ironic drawings of controversial consumer products like Land O Lakes butter and Sun-Maid raisins, received a new studio extending from a woodshed.

The couple renamed their augmented property Boym Park.

For people fortunate enough to own a country home during a pandemic, the relief of having a refuge is often tempered by the stresses of making it work. Stuffing a weekend house with a full complement of family members puts a strain on more than the septic system. And with the shortage of available contractors and the scarcity and expense of building supplies, it hasnt been easy to renovate ones problems away.

Which gives designers like the Boyms an advantage: Subjected to the same pandemic conditions as the rest of us, they are equipped to make scrappy home improvements that help maintain their sanity. They can act as their own general contractors, nudging the results they want from builders, electricians and plumbers, or they can do the jobs themselves, without making them look D.I.Y.

It pays to be hands-on and off-the-shelf (or out-of-the-forest). Mr. Boym estimated the cost of the art studio, built with hired help, at $20,000. Yet choosing humble materials like $27 worth of pressure-treated lumber for an outdoor bench that will last half a century is not just a matter of thrift, he said, but a commentary on consumption. He quoted the Russian Constructivist artist Vladimir Tatlins support of not the old, not the new, but the necessary.

Mr. Boym found it necessary that the bench hang around long enough to merge with a tree trunk, fitting into a notch carved into the seat. It was also necessary that another bench be built from logs embedded with oyster mushroom spores that will erupt over much of the piece. A third bench, up the slope, includes a cocktail or beer bar.

If he had his way, Mr. Boym, who was born in Russia, would also have included Soviet-style statues a worker or a girl with an oar but they are not so easy to find, he said.

Twenty-five miles northeast of Esopus, in the Columbia County hamlet of Elizaville, N.Y., Peter Matthiessen Wheelwright was finding it necessary to finish his second novel. An emeritus architecture professor at Parsons School of Design in New York, he had been working on the book for six years and had hit a dry patch when the pandemic struck. Mr. Wheelwright bolted with his wife, Eliza, for their little gambrel-roofed house on 200 acres. They had bought the property, a former marijuana farm, in 1986, after it was seized by the authorities.

I wanted a place to really get out and howl at the moon, he said. But with children and grandchildren swarming in less than 2,000 square feet, there was no quiet place to write.

As an architect, Ive never really had a chance to do a little free-standing thing for myself, he said, making it doubly rewarding to design a tiny studio with a sleeping loft. Construction began with the first Covid-19 stirrings, so he was able to secure most of the materials and labor before they were swamped by demand. The building is heated with a Danish wood-burning stove and has hot and cold water supplied by an office water cooler mounted over a sink that drains into a downspout. There is also a composting toilet and an elevated deck pierced by a fire cherry tree.

The job wrapped up in six months, a labor of love but not economy. Its the famous triad that good architects will explain to their clients, he said. You want it fast, you want it cheap, you want it well done. Pick two.

Mr. Wheelwright wanted it fast and with high-quality windows and doors, an angled ceiling and bead-board paneling instead of Sheetrock. He estimated the cost at $150,000 to $160,000.

Eight months later, his book was done. The Door-Man, a multigenerational saga that centers on the fossil discoveries of the real-life 20th-century paleontologist Winifred Goldring, is due out on Feb. 1 from Fomite Press.

A bit south, in the Dutchess County town of Rhinebeck, N.Y., Calvin Tsao and Zack McKown were also galloping to complete a small outbuilding on a large, rural parcel. The New York-based architects, along with their domestic partner and financial manager, David Poma, had been occupying a renovated gatehouse on 82 acres of protected land as their weekend home, but its 800 square feet left no room for hobbies, much less work. Limited by covenant to 600 square feet for the new structure, they laid out three small studios side by side, connected by a pair of bathrooms, one with a toilet, the other with a shower.

We wanted to use every bit of space, Mr. Tsao said. I always thought that corridors were pointless. The trio of rooms can also be reached from a common screened porch at the end.

The building looks out to an apple orchard and is painted a color based on tree-bark samples collected by the architects and mixed by Benjamin Moore. Six hundred square feet for a studio is not meant to be a razzmatazz design statement, Mr. Tsao said. It is meant to blend in with the flora.

The building nevertheless had a razzmatazz price $350,000 despite the use of engineered flooring, supplies from the local lumberyard and hardware store, and only a slight indulgence in Heath tiles for the bathrooms. The cost of construction is just skyrocketing, Mr. Tsao said.

A bit of the budget was shaved when they needed a column for the breezeway. We just bought a tree trunk for, like, $12, he said.

Started before the pandemic, the house was finished in May 2020, becoming a remote office, where the partners work on projects like rebuilding the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan.

The rural setting has rubbed off on them in profound ways; they are reclaiming oversight of the apple orchard, which had been outsourced to a local farmer, and turning it organic. We want to spend more time here to truly understand what agrarian life and culture is about, Mr. Tsao said.

Architecture is among the most restless of professions, with its far-flung client meetings and site visits. For an architect, to be locked down in a well-appointed studio is likely to feel unnatural. To be locked down in ones home could easily shade into torture.

I was working in about 15 square feet in my bedroom, and trying to coordinate showers and changing clothes and making the bed, Ryan Mullenix, a partner at the Seattle architecture firm NBBJ, recalled about the period in which he was under one roof with his wife and three remote-schooled children. What emerged out of desperation (plus an architect-build-it-thyself urge) was a 70-square-foot free-standing office in his backyard in suburban Bellevue, Wash.

The co-lead of NBBJs corporate design practice, Mr. Mullenix was like a scientist dosing himself with his own serum. His advice for clients trying to adapt workplaces for the future, he said, is to test it dont try to make it perfect the first time out. His little office is a model of minimalism just waiting to be tweaked.

Begun in June 2020, the project took a year to complete, with materials costing about $10,000. Mr. Mullenix did the work himself in his leisure hours, aided sometimes by friends and a professional electrician. He made dozens of trips to Home Depot and sanctioned only two custom moments in the form of a pair of sliding-glass doors for views and cross-ventilation. And, OK, the floor has radiant heat.

Two hours west of Seattle, at the tip of the Toandos Peninsula, Kristen Becker has spent her pandemic weekends learning to use a chain saw, drive a tractor and demolish a carport. This knowledge has all been in the service of renovating an old house that she and her husband, Saul Becker, bought three years ago after learning that it had once belonged to Mr. Beckers grandfather, who gambled it away in a drunken poker game. The couple, partners in the Seattle-based architecture and design company Mutuus Studio, paid $139,000 for the dilapidated three-story building, which had been abandoned for a decade. Gradually, they fixed it up as a weekend retreat and design laboratory.

Aiming for a cabin vibe, the couple created a sleeping loft for their two children that was open to the kitchen, to voices and evening conversations, to the sound of the fire crackling, Ms. Becker said. On the lower level, they furnished a game room with a free pool table they were offered unexpectedly one night, and dismantled and carted home. (Ms. Becker was in heels.)

As for the experimental part, Ive been suspending metal lampshades in the canal and growing barnacles on them as part of making fixtures for the house, said Mr. Becker, who trained as an artist and designs lighting for the company. His laminated linen and canvas panels, reminiscent of fine-art paintings and proletarian drop cloths (he has experience with both), were used on lamps and kitchen cabinet fronts. The crushed shells of oysters pulled out of the bay nearby became countertop material.

Ms. Becker calls the vintage finds she likes to collect and restore puppies. She described the house as a very large puppy.

Its going to be endless, a lifetime project, she said. Check back next year.

For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @nytrealestate.

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What Designers Have Been Doing at Home During the Pandemic - The New York Times

College of The Albemarle (COA) administrators, Dare County elected officials, builders and students gathered at the Professional Arts Building at the Manteo campus for the wire cutting ceremony for the new electrical lab on Wednesday afternoon, January 12, 2022.

COA President Jack Bagwell gave the welcome. It is awesome to grow and expand the campus, he said. This is an example of what we can do when we partner together.

Many members of the Dare County Board of Commissioners were present to celebrate the event. The Dare County Guarantee Scholarship program, funded by Dare County, provides qualified students with the ability to attend COA for free.

There are lots of exciting thing going on in Dare County, and we are blessed to be here. This is just a beginning step, theres more to come, Bagwell said. One year ago, the campus opened its new welding lab and this spring a ribbon cutting ceremony is planned for the opening of the new state-of-the-art academic building currently under construction in Manteo, which will open to students in the fall.

Robert Woodard, the chair of Dare County Board of Commissioners, talked about the countys contribution and vision. We are providing an opportunity at our location for students to obtain skills for a trade-based job. It is of utmost importance to retain students. Dare County needs skilled labor and it will also boost our local economy. We are stepping up to the plate and offering trades more and more, Woodard said.

We are living in truly remarkable times. We are blessed to live in Dare County today. We are looking forward to seeing this new facility full of new students and seeking opportunities that are available to our children in Dare County, Woodard continued.

Next, COA Dean Tim Sweeney introduced Dave Stormont of the Outer Banks Home Builders Association, whose speech answered the question: What does the new lab means for students? We have more work here [in the county] than we can deliver. There is more demand than there is labor. And were not getting ahead in that, were getting farther behind, Stormont said. Citing the age of the majority in the electrician work force mid 40s and 50s Thats concerning, he said. Thats a sign that we need to make some changes. This lab is a first effort.

Stormont talked about the good income possible with trades, and the almost guarantee of full employment because of the growth of the county and the increased demand for labor.

After passing out honorary COA Alumni Association certificates and hats to builders Matt Neal, Jake Overton, Duke Geraghty and Dave Stormont and to Chris ONeill from Kellogg Supply Company for their donations, it was time to cut the wires.

Doing the honors were theDean of Business, Industry and Applied Technologies Michelle Waters, COA President Dr. Jack Bagwell, Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard, Outer Banks Home Builders Association member Dave Stormont, general manager of Suburban Electric and new COA electrical instructor Mark Melton, builder Duke Geraghty and COA Dean Tim Sweeney.

Three wires were cut, after which visitors and students were invited inside to tour the new electrical lab. The first course offered in the lab is Intro to Electrical: Residential Basics. The classes began January 17 and runs through May 12, meeting two evenings a week.

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New College of The Albemarle electrical lab celebrated with wire cutting ceremony - The Coastland Times | The Coastland Times - The Coastland Times

The Biden administration wants to increase the Internal Revenue Service budget by $80 billion, claiming that would let Americas favorite federal agency hire more auditors to go after tax cheats and bring in an estimated $400 billion in extra revenue over the next decade. Right now Congress appears unlikely to release the funds, but the question remains: Will an energized IRS mean more audits for small- and medium-sized businesses?

Miri Forster

Either way, entrepreneurs and other taxpayers can take some steps to reduce the chance of an audit or to increase the likelihood of coming out unscathed, said Miri Forster, a tax partner and leader of the Tax Controversy Practice at Eisner Advisory Group LLC.

One recommendation: Taxpayers should make sure that all information returns like form W-2, form 1099 and schedule K-1 are received and that all income is reported, she said. The IRS gets copies of these forms and matches the information with the recipients tax return that is filed. Any discrepancies can raise a red flag with the IRS.

In addition, [t]axpayers that claim large non-cash charitable deductions should make sure to obtain the proper documentation for the deduction, Forster noted. As a general rule, IRC Section 170 requires that deductions for non-cash contributions of more than $500 are supported by contemporaneous, written acknowledgement by the donee organization of the non-cash contribution received, a qualified appraisal by a qualified appraiser that sufficiently details the donated property, and a Form 8283, Noncash Charitable Contributions, which is properly completed.

Red flags for small- and medium-sized businesses

Some business deductions fall into a gray area, where they might be legitimate but will probably cause the IRS to sniff around, according to some tax experts. Others are just begging to be investigated.

Lipton CPA Associates LLC Senior Partner Rich Lipton has been practicing for more than 30 years, but he still gets surprised at some of the tax deductions that some clients suggest.

One of them asked if he could claim the family dog as a deduction, since we provide more than half of his living expenses, Lipton recalled with a chuckle. I told the client, first you have to get a Social Security number for your pet.

A more-frequent question has to do with IRS Roulette, or taking a dicey deduction and hoping itll slide by due to the sheer volume of tax returns. Some clients say, Ive heard that IRS only audits an average of 1% of returns is it worth trying my luck? relates Lipton. My answer is pretty simple. I ask them, If you happen to be audited, do you think the IRS will only examine 1% of your return? That sets them straight.

Some strategies definitely raise red flags with the IRS, he added. Generally, pass-through entities like limited liability companies and partnerships dont pay income taxes at the entity level instead, the owners generally are taxed on their personal return, Lipton said. Some people think that if they dont take a salary are instead tak[ing] a distributive share of the profits they may be able to avoid Social Security and other payroll taxes. The problem is that bells are likely to go off if the IRS sees a company is turning a healthy profit, but no owners are taking a salary.

Lipton thinks the problem isnt that people are inherently dishonest, but that they feel theyre being taxed unfairly. If President Biden wants to hire more IRS auditors to catch tax cheats, thats fine, he said. But do it without raising taxes, because every time you increase the tax burden, you find that more people look for a way around it legally or otherwise.

When it comes to chancy deductions, Airplanes are a big issue, said Grassi Tax Services Partner Robert Tobey. A successful businessperson who buys an airplane, a boat, or art and other collectibles, including high-priced cars like a Ferrari, and then puts it on the companys books so it can be depreciated is basically asking for an audit. We advise clients to steer clear of that maneuver unless theres a legitimate business reason to do so.

A business that reports a lot of revenue, but very little profit may also raise a red flag, cautioned Ted Carnevale, a Grassi partner and co-leader of the New Jersey Market. Another is an S-corporation with no salaries and all draw, a tactic that is generally designed to avoid payroll taxes. Another attention-getting scheme is a highly profitable C-corporation with high salaries but no dividends, which may indicate a desire to avoid double taxation.

Some individuals try to play the IRS audit lottery, where they insist on taking a questionable deduction in the hopes that itll slip past an audit, added Carnevale. Some years back I represented a new client whose prior-year return was being audited. As I was reviewing the already-filed return I noticed his business travel and entertainment deductions seemed to be pretty high. It turned out he had deducted the sizable expenses of his daughters wedding as a business expense. I asked him how he justified it, and he quickly responded, marketing expense. I told him it would be difficult to defend if the auditors picked it up.

Did they? He got lucky, said Carnevale with a smile. They missed it.

Other CPAs also say that taxpayers who keep their nose clean dont have to worry too much. Pass-through entities like S corporations, partnerships and LLCs [where profits generally get taxed at the owners level, and the company itself is not taxed] have been vilified by some politicians, but I just dont see that, said Ted Carnevale, a partner and co-leader of the New Jersey Market at the accounting and advisory firm Grassi. Shareholders get K-1s, and they get matched up by IRS to individuals who have to report them. So its similar to W-2 statements.

Grassi Tax Services Partner Robert Tobey thinks the IRS is likely to go after low-hanging fruit, like cryptocurrency reporting. Its very complicated because the rules are very thin on cryptocurrency, and in the agencys 2021 criminal investigation annual report, IRS reported seizing $3.5 billion of cryptocurrency, or 93% of all seizures for the year.

Carnevale also pointed to a lot of discussion about ultra-wealthy individuals who borrow money against their assets while taking little or no salary to minimize their tax bite. Its particularly attractive during a low-rate environment like were seeing now, and some reports have called it the Buy, Borrow, Die strategy But the fact is theres generally nothing illegal about it. If Congress wants to change their behavior, the tax laws will have to be changed.

Not all deductions are permitted for tax purposes, Forster cautioned. Recently, in Geiman v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 2021-80, the Tax Court disallowed deductions claimed by an electrician for a concert ticket, ski lift tickets and for a suit and tie to attend a holiday work party. The burden is on the taxpayer to prove that expenses claimed are valid business expenses rather than non-deductible personal expenses. The taxpayer failed to demonstrate that the expenses were ordinary and necessary in connection with his work as an electrician.

[The IRS is likely to go after] low-hanging fruit, like cryptocurrency reporting. Its very complicated because the rules are very

Tobey

thin on cryptocurrency, and in the agencys 2021 criminal investigation annual report, the IRS reported seizing $3.5 billion of cryptocurrency, or 93% of all seizures for the year.

Robert Tobey, Grassi Tax Services Partner

In another case, Lucas v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 2018-80, the Tax Court disallowed deductions claimed for legal and professional fees incurred by an investment advisor-taxpayer for his own divorce proceedings, she added. The taxpayer claimed that the fees were incurred to defend a claim for distributions from his business. The court disagreed, ruling that the legal and professional fees were non-deductible personal expenses as they would not have been incurred but for the taxpayers marriage and related divorce proceedings.

Finally, in Vest v. Commissioner, 119 AFTR2d 2017-2043, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the Tax Courts determination that deductions claimed for expenses incurred to investigate the death of the taxpayers father were non-deductible, Forster explained. The taxpayer owned an internet dating and advertising business and wished to turn his fathers death into a book or movie. The fees were held to be non-deductible personal expenses because the investigation lacked a profit motive. The court determined the investigation was not run in a business-like manner, the taxpayer generated years of losses without any profit, the likelihood that the assets used in the investigation would appreciate in value were small, and there were strong personal reasons for the investigation.

The bottom line: Regardless of what happens to the IRS funding, playing by the rules will improve your chances of escaping an audit.

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Feeding the beast - NJBIZ

The modest West Baltimore rowhouse, located a block from the now-razed childhood home of bandleader Cab Calloway, appears an unlikely epicenter of campaign contributions to Baltimore States Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby.

But 2103 Druid Hill Avenue is listed as the address of 10 people who donated $3,200 to Friends of Marilyn Mosby, her campaign committee.

None of the 10 is reported as the buildings owner in property tax records, while all of them are identified in Mosbys report to the State Elections Board as employees of the Baltimore City States Attorney Office.

In fact, only one, Janice Bledsoe, works for the SAO. The others range from an equity manager to an inspirational author, a sewer contractor, an events planner, an architect, a hospital association lobbyist and three attorneys.

The buildings owner, on the other hand, has never contributed to any political candidate, according to state elections records.

A similar scrambling of names, addresses and employers throughout Mosbys report makes it impossible to determine with certainty who exactly contributed to Baltimores top law enforcement officer last year:

Is the real donor the person listed as the contributor?

Or is the donor the person tied to the address listed, which in dozens of cases does not match the contributor named?

Or is the employer of record a hint of the actual giver?

The 10 donors having the same West Baltimore building address that is not owned by any of them. (State Board of Elections database)

The Brew has tried unsuccessfully to reach Mosby and her treasurer, Shariff J. Small, for explanations about the discrepancies found in the report.

While the amount of funds in question is not large (about $20,000), the degree of confusion and the apparent inaccuracies are striking.

While the amount of funds in question is not large (about $20,000), the degree of confusion and the apparent inaccuracies are striking.

As chair of the committee, Mosby vouched under the penalty of perjury that the information in the report is complete and accurate.

Most of the contributions were raised during a 40th birthday fundraiser held in January 2020 for Mosby at the Sangria Patio Bar. Suggested contributions ranged from guest ($40) to host ($1,400).

Several of the larger donations came from regular Mosby contributors such as Robert Harrington, the city plumbing contractor, whose $1,400 contribution was listed to the 2103 Druid Hill Avenue address, and P&J Contracting, whose $1,400 contribution was linked to a Mount Vernon law office rather than his northwest Baltimore office and yard.

The fundraiser where scores of names and addresses were scrambled in a report that Mosby pledged to contain complete and accurate information. (Mosby flyer; January 20, 2021 campaign report)

Other oddities crop up in the report.

For example, Kevin Pfeffer, a $3,000 Mosby donor, is listed as residing at the Hanover, Md., address of Byron Deese, a Tuskegee University graduate who has given generously to Mosby and her husband, City Council President Nick Mosby, both Tuskegee alums, in the past.

Pfeffer is the president of CMDS, a drug management company, who last year recruited Bilal Ali, a former state delegate and ex-Mosby community liaison officer, as CMDS executive director.

Ali is also listed in the report as a $1,400 Mosby contributor, but not as a CMDS manager. Instead, he is identified as an employee of Coldspring Co., a construction contractor.

Outside of the unclear provenance of many Mosby donors, an examination of the report raises questions about how much money is in the states attorneys campaign coffers.

The Friends of Marilyn Mosby committee reported an ending cash balance (as of January 13, 2021) of $68,386.79. But Harbor Bank of Maryland, where the account is held, reported $49,263.18 nearly $20,000 less on the same date.

Almost always, campaign committees reconcile the two accounts, often to the last penny, in reports submitted to the State Board of Elections.

This last happened in Mosbys case in January 2019, when both the committee and the bank reported a cash balance of $53,401.21. Since then, the Harbor Bank account has lagged as much as $27,000 behind committees stated balance.

The Brew found several other recurring patterns in Mosbys latest report:

Employees and former SAO employees are linked to the addresses of longtime Mosby contributors:

SAOs Communications Director Zy Richardson, according to the report, contributed to Mosby through the Baltimore County address of a media services company whose CEO, Tyrone Taborn, earlier contributed $1,500 to Mosby.

Incoming City Councilman Antonio Glover, a former Mosby community liaison officer, contributed to Mosby under the address of ex-housing commissioner Daniel P. Henson. At the same time, three SAO employees used Glovers apartment building address to donate to Mosby.

SA Chief of Administration, Camille Blake Fall, contributed $40 to Mosby through Club Paradise, according to the campaign report. The owner of the West Baltimore bar previously donated more than $3,000 to Mosby.

SA Deputy Bledsoe (incorrectly listed as living as 2103 Druid Hill Avenue in the report) had her actual Baltimore address listed for contributions by two other individuals, one affiliated with the SAO.

Seemingly random people were used as campaign cutouts.

A donation linked to the Cockeysville address of the CEO of Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. is attributed to an electrician from Parkville. Last year, the electrician, Sekwan Merritt, received media attention when he sued the U.S. government for excluding him from the Paycheck Protection Program because of his criminal record.

Hairstylist Char Wilson is linked to the address of longtime lawyer-lobbyist Eric Bryant. Last year, Bryant managed Kweisi Mfumes 7th District Congressional race and is now Mfumes chief of staff.

2/19 UPDATE: Bryant tells The Brew, I dont have any knowledge of or relationship to Char Wilson.

DJ Quicksilva, also known as The Party KingPin, is listed as a Mosby contributor at an address associated with a former Pikesville businessman.

A $1,000 contribution listed to a Washington, D.C., attorney has the Bowie address of a public relations and branding expert who has a history of supporting Mosby (see below). Nicole Kirby is listed as the owner of both CarVer Communications and the Bowie property used as the address for attorney A. Scott Bolden.

Mosby contributors are listed by their first name, followed by the last name, a violation of Elections Board protocol of registering contributors by last name, then first name.

Listing contributors this way makes it difficult to compare Mosbys 2021 campaign report with her prior reports, which followed the last name, first name standard.

It also can add confusion to and diminish the transparency found in an online Elections Board search. Thats because the database is keyed to a last name, first name sequence.

To reach this reporter: reuttermark@yahoo.com

RECENT BREW COVERAGE:

Mosbys campaign issues statement on Brews story about her legal fees (2/16/21)

Cumming stands her ground, dismissing criticism by Mosbys lawyers (2/16/21)

Marilyn Mosbys lawyers were paid with campaign funds (2/16/21)

For Marilyn Mosby, a taxing question (2/14/21)

Seeking exoneration, Marilyn Mosby instead gets highly critical report from Baltimores Inspector General (2/9/21)

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Mosby's campaign finance report is riddled with mismatched names and addresses - Baltimore Brew

Early Years I enrolled in college but quickly decided it wasnt for me. A high school pal convinced me to study to be an electrician, but I failed to land an electrician job after night school. I remember asking Now what? My dad asked me if he ever thought about working for Met-Ed and having a job for life. I signed on with the company in 1985 to work in the York, Pennsylvania, area. I enjoyed learning how to climb poles under the tutelage of the seasoned linemen who helped train me. When the old guys told me get your tools and climb, we did exactly what they told us to do even if we could have used a bucket truck because we had a lot of respect for them. After five years of study in 1990, I topped out as a first-class lineman.

Moving into a Troubleman Position Inow have 35 years of total line experience including more than a dozen years as a troubleman. Earlier in my career, I enjoyed working on a crew with other first-class linemen. It was a coveted position that offered good pay, plenty of opportunity for overtime and weekends off. I would later work up to lead lineman, overseeing my crew with a keen eye for safety. But it was the hands-on nature of the job that spurred me to exchange my lead linemans hard hat for that of a troubleman when the opportunity arose more than a decade ago. I always loved doing the work, and it drove me nuts watching other people doing it from the ground.

Day in the Life A troubleman, by definition, is often the utilitys first responder to an outage or electrical problem. I relish working by myself and getting the job right the first time. Although I work solo most of the time, I know all 40 line workers in the York region. If there is too much work for any one person to handle, Ill arrange for more crews and materials to get the job done easier and safer. I am committed to improving customer service reliability by making repairs so that the problem doesnt reoccur. That might entail adding measures such as squirrel guards to prevent future animal-related interruptions in the same spot.

Memorable Moment Nine or 10 years ago, a call came in from my supervisor one evening. The firemen needed me to pull a deceased man out of a transformer at the Caterpillar plant. Contractors were in the process of subdividing the shuttered heavy equipment assembly plant into spaces for smaller businesses. A man attempting to steal copper wire was killed after contacting energized equipment. My supervisor gave me the choice of not having to retrieve the body since Met-Ed did not own the industrial equipment at the former plant. I accepted the grim task because I wanted to keep the firemen safe. I was the one with testers, rubber sleeves and rubber gloves.

Plans for the Future I plan to retire in five years and work part-time as a home electrician, installing service wiring in houses.

Editors Note: T&D World is excited to partner with Milwaukee Tool on a sponsorship for the linemen profiled in our Lifeline department. To thank the linemen for their dedication to the line trade, Milwaukee will send a tool package to each lineman profiled. If you are interested in being profiled in our monthly Lifeline department or know of a journeyman lineman who would be a good candidate, email T&D World Field Editor Amy Fischbach atamyfischbach@gmail.com.

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Spotlight on the Line Trade: Chris Siford - Transmission & Distribution World

WASHINGTONGoogle was targeted Thursday in an antitrust lawsuit joined by 38 states, which alleged that the Alphabet Inc. unit maintained monopoly power over the internet-search market through anticompetitive contracts and conduct.

The states alleged that Google leverages its position as the dominant search engineand the personal data such a perch allows the company to gatherto limit consumers from using competing search engines, force businesses to use its proprietary advertising tools and foreclose competition from specialized search engines for travel or local businesses.

Consumers have better products and services when theyve got choice in the marketplace, and theyve been deprived, said Democratic Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser at a video-streamed news conference with other state attorneys general.

This will be a unified effort, said Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, a Republican.

Google has long said it operates in a competitive market. In a blog post Thursday, Google economic policy director Adam Cohen said some of the actions described in the suit were taken to improve search results.

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More States Hit Google Over Alleged Monopoly Conduct - The Wall Street Journal

As many schools across the country continue to manage virtual teaching and learning this school year due to COVID-19, Harbor Freight Tools for Schools has distributed more than 3,500 tool kits to skilled trades teachers to lend to their students.

Like laboratory or other career courses, skilled trades classes can be particularly challenging to teach online because they require the use of tools not always available at home.

With more than one million students studying trades like construction, welding, manufacturing, automotive and electrical, take-home tools are one way to allow students to keep honing their hands-on skills even if their schools operate entirely or partially remotely. Many of the donated tool kits included a tool bag, assorted hand tools, measurement tools, and/or safety gear. Harbor Freight Tools for Schools may expand the tool kit effort to more schools as it evaluates impact and demand over the course of this semester.

We have been humbled by the incredible ingenuity and resilience weve seen from skilled trades teachers and students during the pandemic, said Danny Corwin, executive director of Harbor Freight Tools for Schools. Were providing these tool kits because we believe that skilled trades jobs are essential to our country, now more than ever, and that means skilled trades education is essential, too.

As COVID-19 shuttered businesses across the country this year, skilled tradespeople, particularly those employed in public works and utilities, were deemed essential by many states. Even before the pandemic, eight in 10 American voters agreed that skilled trades jobs are important, according to a NORC poll commissioned by Harbor Freight Tools for Schools.

Despite being regarded as crucial, and despite the family-supporting wages they offer, skilled trades jobs routinely ranked among the hardest to fill over the past several years. A forthcoming wave of retirements is expected to worsen existing shortages well into the next decade. That means todays skilled trades students have the opportunity to find meaningful and sustaining work in these fields.

Our country is going to come out of this pandemic strongerand skilled tradespeople and jobs will be essential to that recovery, said Eric Smidt, founder of Harbor Freight Tools for Schools. With many high school students preparing to enter a trade immediately after graduation, we want to make sure they can keep learning and growing their skills at home.

The tool kits come courtesy of donated tools from Harbor Freight Tools, the nationwide tool retailer. Smidt, the founder and owner of the company, created the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools program in 2014. Today, the program is operated by The Smidt Foundation, established by Smidt in 2016.

Tool kits have been made available to teachers who are past winners of the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence and are currently teaching at a U.S. public high school. Also, the prizewinning teachers nominated a trades teacher in their community to receive tool kits. Each teacher was able to customize their requested kits depending on their students course of study and needs. Kits have been distributed to schools, which will lend them to students to take home for the semester or school year, similar to the way schools lend laptops.

The tool kits expand on a project implemented last spring at Enumclaw High School in Washington State by construction teacher Bob Kilmer. Kilmer, a 2017 Prize for Teaching Excellence winner who recently retired and now consults for Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, provided tools to his students to pick up on campus.

These tool kits will be essential to keeping learning on track for students who love thinking with their hands, Kilmer said. We hope these tools make life a little easier and keep students on the path to meaningful post-secondary and career opportunities.

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Skilled Trades Students Nationwide Receive Tool Kits to Practice Hands-On Skills at Home - Transmission & Distribution World

stang gallops into the 21st Century in Fords first purpose-built electric vehicle Detroit Free Press

Curt Magleby,top lobbyist for Ford Motor Co. in Washington, D.C., is retiring after 32 years with the company on Dec. 31 just as the industry prepares for a new administration amid unprecedented transformation to all-electric vehicles.

He went from Exxon petroleum engineer to financial analyst for the electronics division at the Ford Rawsonville plant in 1988.

I still remember I had my Audi 4000 I had bought in California, Magleby, 61, told The Hill news. As a new MBA, you get there early, you park in front and you try to do all the things right. I remember, it was about like day three, and one of my colleagues came up and said, Curt, you might want to park the car in the other parking lot.

Curt Magleby, top lobbyist for Ford Motor Co. in Washington, D.C., will retire at the end of 2020 after 32 years.(Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

His hard work and commitmentled to international assignments that included oversight ofdaily plant operations in Mexico and, eventually, the top lobbyist spot in 2011.

In the new year, Laura Dove, a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, will step in andmanage Ford's federalgovernment affairs team in Washington.She started at Ford in May as director of transportation policy after working as the Secretary for the Majority.

Every Republican senator has counted on Laura to listen to our goals and concerns and help translate them into action on the Senate floor,McConnell, R-Kentucky,told Politico in February. She is a keen strategist who always thinks several steps ahead. She has not just been one of my own closest advisers, but a key resource to our entire majority and a central part of its many accomplishments.

Laura Dove, who becomes top lobbyist for Ford in Washington, D.C. in January, walks with Robert Duncan earlier this year. He succeeded Dove as U.S. Senate Secretary for the Majority, working with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.(Photo: Laura Dove)

Dove, 51, was elected Secretary for the Minority in 2013 and Secretary for the Majority in 2015. Her duties includedmanaging the Senate floor schedule and providing advice on parliamentary procedures to senators.

When Ford hired Dove earlier this year,U.S. Sen.Tom Carper, D-Delaware, said shehad a reputation for working across party lines.

At a critical time in our nations history, Laura worked to help senators find common cause and agreement on important issues, including addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, Carpersaid.

Dove will report to Mitch Bainwol, 61, chief government relations officer at Ford, who managesgovernment relations globally for the company. He is also a corporate officer.

Meanwhile,Rachel McCleery, Fords government and public policy communications manager since 2019, has beenpromoted toa newly created role of director, government relations for manufacturing policy.She plans to emphasize Ford's U.S. manufacturing priorities.

McCleery, 32, whoiswidely respected among reporters for her rapid responses at all hours, also will managepressaffairs until her successor is named.

We are delighted that Rachel has agreed to join the Government Relations team and advocate directly with the new administration and Capitol Hill next year," Bainwol said Wednesday. "She combines deep relationships throughout Washington, sophisticated grasp of the policy process and a deep understanding of what makes Ford Motor Co. so unique in Americas corporate and manufacturing landscape.

Meanwhile,Rachel McCleery, Fords government and public policy communications manager since 2019, has been promoted toa newly created role of director, government relations for manufacturing policy. She is seen here in 2020.(Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

McCleery is a native of Ida andthe daughter oflongtime UAW memberRob McCleery, a master electrician who works in Ford research and engineering in Dearborn.

Prior to Ford, sheworkedin severalgovernmentroles.

McCleery served as spokesperson for the Treasury Department's Office of Economic Policy and Tax during the Obama administration. She spent two years as chief communications adviser and deputy policy director toSenate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Oregon. McCleerymanaged the energy and environment policy portfolio for the late Congressman John D. Dingell, D-Dearborn, andalso served as the national communications director for U.S. Sen Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich..

Rachel was a valued member of my team, and I could always count on her to get our message out on the important work we were doing on behalf of Michigan families," Stabenow said in June 2019. "She was with me advocating for Flint families during the water crisis and fighting unfair trade practices that hurt our automakers and workers.

Mitch Bainwol, chief government relations officer at Ford since March 2019, oversees global strategy for the company. He began his career at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget as a budget analyst during the Reagan Administration. Later, he served as CEO of the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers.(Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

Regardless of who runs Congress or gets elected to the White House, Ford has consistently worked toward bipartisan outreach. Bill Ford Jr., executive director of Ford, is an outspoken supporter of sustainability andthe Paris Climate agreement, the international treaty signed in 2015 in Paris to slow global warming.

More: Top Ford labor negotiator Gary Johnson to retire after 34 years

More: Ford CFO replaced in management shake-up on Day 1 of new CEO

More: Ford hires global CMO from eBay amid shakeup in tech, vehicle launches

In July 2019, Ford sided with the State of California, which advocated for stronger air quality regulations, whileGeneral Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles sided with the Trump Administration in its fight against tougherstandards. GM revised its position after Joe Biden wonin November, dropping its pre-emption lawsuit but stopping short of embracing the California agreement.

Ford CEO Jim Farley tweeted that GM had "reversed course" after it quitthe Trump alliance.

Matt Godlewski oversees state and local government affairs for Ford Motor Co. while based in Dearborn.(Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

President-elect Biden has pledged support for the automotive industry, which he helped rescue during the Great Recession. In recent weeks, Bidenearned praise for plans to reduce climate-warming vehicle emissions with support of "ambitious" electrification goals.

Michael Sheridan leads international government affairs for Ford.(Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

TheFord government affairs team run by Bainwol is rounded out by:

John Kwant manages technology and mobility policy for Ford as part of its government affairs team.(Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

More: Ford wants to cut 1,400 salaried jobs in U.S.: Who is targeted

Contact Phoebe Wall Howard at 313-222-6512or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid. Read more on Ford and sign up for our autos newsletter.

Read or Share this story: https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2020/12/16/ford-lobbyist-curt-magleby-laura-dove/3916791001/

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Ford revamps Washington team as Biden heads to White House - Detroit Free Press

Here in South Florida and around the country, emergency departments see a notable increase in falls, back strains and other injuries during the holidays. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, injuries sustained while decorating account for some 15,000 trips a year to the ER.

Resource spoke recently with two experts from Miami Neuroscience Institute, a part of Baptist Health South Florida:

Jose Andres Restrepo, M.D., medical director for outpatient rehabilitation, specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, electrodiagnosis, regenerative medicine and musculoskeletal conditions including arthritis.

Raul A. Vasquez-Castellanos, M.D., neurosurgeon and director of complex spine surgery, specializing in the surgical treatment of complex spinal conditions including tumors, degenerative spine diseases, spinal deformities, scoliosis, kyphoscoliosis and neurotrauma.

We asked Drs. Restrepo and Vasquez for their thoughts on how you can prevent the most common holiday injuries and avoid the ER this holiday season.

Resource: In general, regardless of the season, what are the most common types of injuries you treat in your practice?

Dr. Vasquez: We see a lot of people who come in with nerve impingement, herniated disk, disk degeneration, chronic back pain, and simple spine fractures. Most of these result from falls or lifting heavy things. But I think it also has something to do with the fact that we live in an area with an aging population, at a time when people are living longer. As we age, our flexibility, balance and reaction times all start diminishing. We need to be mindful of our body and what its actually capable of doing.

Resource: What kind of injuries are you seeing now, as people decorate for the holidays?

Dr. Restrepo: So far this holiday season, weve seen a 10 to 15 percent increase in patients with back injuries. Most of these have been a result of decorating ones home for the holidays moving heavy furniture and boxes, falling off ladders and performing various other activities required for the job. Weve had patients complaining of everything from neck pain from looking up for long periods; back pain from bending over and lifting; hand and wrist pain from grappling with hammers, screwdrivers and other tools; ankle sprains from falling off ladders; knee sprains from awkward rotation of the knee, and bursitis of the knee from kneeling on hard surfaces for too long.

One patient came in with a back sprain and lacerations on his back. He was on a ladder stringing holiday lights along the eaves of his house, unspooling the lights he had wrapped around himself as he worked his way along the eaves. At some point he slipped and fell into the bushes below but, fortunately, his fall was broken somewhat by the lights he had wrapped around himself and the ones he had just strung around the chimney. Otherwise, his injuries might have been much worse.

Resource: Are you seeing anything different this year with holiday injuries because of the pandemic?

Dr. Vasquez: We are. What is common now, it seems especially with this second surge were seeing now is people are injuring themselves at home but reluctant to go to the ER because theyre concerned about exposure to the coronavirus. I can tell you that our facilities are perhaps the cleanest, safest spaces anywhere far more so than your local grocery store. Remember that delaying care is aggravating an existing injury. By not seeking treatment, you could possibly wind up with permanent weakness and long-term, chronic back pain. Is that a chance you want to take?

Resource: Dr. Vasquez, what recommendations do you have for avoiding injuries during the holidays?

Dr. Vasquez:

Resource: And Dr. Restrepo, what about youwhat advice can you offer that would help people avoid the ER during the holidays?

Dr. Restrepo:

Resource: If somebody is injured, should they go to Urgent Care or the ER?

Dr. Vasquez: If you suffer an acute injury from a fall, such as a broken back or broken arm, Baptist Health has Urgent Care and Urgent Care Express locations across South Florida, some of which are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We also have a couple of freestanding emergency departments in West Coral Way and West Kendall, and of course, there are on-campus ERs at all of our hospitals across the region. Serious back injuries requiring specialized care will be referred to our team here at Miami Neuroscience Institute. If you need us, were here 24/7 to help care for you.

Tags: ankle sprain, back pain, back sprain, Dr. Jose Andres Restrepo, Dr. Raul Vasquez-Castellanos, holiday decorating injuries, holiday decorating safety tips, Miami Neuroscience Institute

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Decorating for the Holidays? Doctors Share Tips on How to Avoid a Trip to the ER. - Baptist Health South Florida