Safe for use in occupied spaces, hydroxyls neutralize odors, mold, and bacteria without damaging materials, making them essential for restoration professionals.

In conjunction with the 2021 Ladder Award program honoring outstanding young restoration professionals, we asked young leaders in the industry to share words of wisdom for aspiring young professionals.

Annissa Coy answers a question she’s never been asked before: “Would you ever use clean bric-a-brac heavy clean, high density line item…?” In her response Coy shares her approach to efficient billing.

In this episode of Ask Annissa, Annissa Coy responds to the following message: “My customer is asking me for a guarantee of my work and for the removal of odor. … I don’t know how to answer this.” 

How big of a facility do you need to conduct contents restoration? And, if you want to work with hard and soft contents, which should you get started with first? Annissa Coy answers these two questions.

This edition of Ask Annissa features two special quests and addresses one of the biggest challenges for restoration contractors.

This edition of Ask Annissa covers the best ways to remove smoke odor from oil paintings.

Annissa talks about different ways to utilize the Hydroxyl machine, how to choose the best unit.  

In this episode of Ask Annissa! Annissa talks about licensing and regulation in the restoration industry

This edition of Ask Annissa addresses the method for developing a fair and accurate estimate.

The IICRC and its volunteers develop two accredited-industry standards!

Just in time for 2025 planning, KnowHow and the R.I.A. reveal their “Cost of Doing Business” Study, an extensive look at all facets of successfully running a restoration business, examining the best (and worst) factors to move your company forward today!

With Don O'Dell's expertise in quality service and safety, he is poised to lead New Crystal Restoration's project management team, further enhancing the company’s trusted reputation across the tri-state area. Learn more about his journey and the valuable skills he brings to this leadership role.

Jon-Don has launched a temporary Hurricane Support Center in Sarasota, FL to provide essential disaster restoration equipment, supplies, and expertise to contractors aiding in the recovery from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Professional Metal Fabricators won their bid on the project and got to work on the support structure for the stained glass — and some issues arose.

Queens College alum Nira Burstein talks about making "Charm Circle," her intensely persona, award-winning documentary about the fractured emotional landscape of her parents' lives in the house in Flushing where Burstein grew up.

Industry veteran Barry Costa of Costa Group Education announces retirement plans.

Daniel E. Dwyer, que ha servido en el consejo durante 10 años, no respondió a los intentos de contactarlo.

The post Guía electoral: Hay un candidato que busca un escaño para el concejo municipal de Farmville elegido por todos los residentes appeared first on Charlottesville Tomorrow.

El candidato no respondió a los intentos de contactarlo.

The post Guía electoral: El concejal actual es el único candidato para el distrito de Stanardsville del consejo de supervisores del condado de Greene appeared first on Charlottesville Tomorrow.

Ninguno respondió a los intentos de contactarlos.

The post Guía electoral: Tres candidatos buscan dos escaños para el consejo municipal de Mineral appeared first on Charlottesville Tomorrow.

With a population of just 1,400, the new Councilors say it could take years to raise the money for some of these projects.

The post Gordonsville’s two new town councilors want to fix sidewalks, build a park and address issues with the town’s water supply appeared first on Charlottesville Tomorrow.

The 4th and final part of our series on human trafficking explains what lawmakers and the PCC have been doing to help solve the problem. https://fb.watch/7X9-8f1Bdi/

The PA House Health Committee today unanimously passed Senate Bill 500, which calls for Medicaid coverage of human donor milk. The milk is vitally important for many newborns suffering from health issues. The PCC supports this issue. It has already passed the Senate and just needs approval by the full House. Here are the Facebook and X links for the two stories we ran. https://fb.watch/nLLsZciiLe/?mibextid=cr9u03 https://fb.watch/nLLsZciiLe/?mibextid=cr9u03 https://x.com/pacatholic/status/1714669965268193289?s=46&t=BhvQl7L4iZmDeA-ftim4Og https://x.com/pacatholic/status/1714667221551587757?s=46&t=BhvQl7L4iZmDeA-ftim4Og    

Two years ago we spent time talking about the issues facing mothers and children during our nine-month series on Maternal & Early Childhood Issues. Part of that focus was on the work done by doulas, particularly by Amy Wilt and her group at Dauphin County Doulas. Since then, doulas have received a lot of attention across Pennsylvania, with lawmakers in Harrisburg taking the lead on working to increase the access to doulas and their coverage by insurance. Doula services are now covered under Medical Assistance after changes by the Shapiro Administration. In order to be recognized by Medicaid, doulas must be certified through the Pennsylvania Certification Board. Department of Human Services Secretary Dr. Val Arkoosh and Department of Health Acting Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen recently stressed the importance of doulas as part of care teams for historically underserved populations. With this in mind, we talked once again with Amy Wilt to see what she though of the increased awareness. “I’m so happy about that. That’s great movement,” she said. “Even two years ago when we first spoke, we weren’t recognized as a profession. Nobody talked about us. Nobody knew what we did….There’s a lot more who are learning about us, which is fabulous. “I’ve seen this huge shift, with late-in-pregnancy moms–‘oh I just learned what a doula is and I really need you on board.’ We’re filled up until August and September is my first opening.” But there is still progress to be made. Wilt says she is grateful for the increase in insurance coverage. But she would like to see the coverage give doulas more up-front coverage to ensure client commitment. “I’m not allowed to charge you a deposit to hold your spot. I’m not allowed to charge you anything,” Wilt said, referring to the restrictions involved with the current form of insurance coverage. “That then causes a problem because I don’t know that you are going to call me for your birth. They need to take a look at that. ” Wilt says she has found that moms without a financial commitment, like a deposit, are less likely to call for the birth. “If they don’t call for the birth, then we lose a significant amount of money. We’re just getting paid for a pre-natal visit.” And they have difficulty knowing whether or not to reserve time for moms in the months ahead. Wilt says it will end up hurting the doula industry if things don’t change.  

You will never guess where you can find a wide selection of biblical quotations when you visit Harrisburg. Well, yeah, the bible. But I’m talking a building. It’s the State Capitol of all places–hard to believe in this day and age where there is always someone looking to be offended. PA Rep. Kathy Rapp, a Republican out of the northwestern part of the state, put out a nice booklet that is complete with the verses and the scenes that accompany those verses. Many are in the Governor’s reception room, House chambers and Senate chambers. Rapp stated in the first page of her book “Pennsylvania’s history and heritage is rooted in religious significance. From William Penn’s own vision and statement of establishing a Holy Experiment, to the first laws proposed by the General Assembly, to the first section of the first Constitution, the Charter of Privileges, entitled the freedom of conscience, our founders based their way of life on religious convictions. There are verses from the Old Testament, including Isaiah 42:1,4,7,10 “Behold my servant whom I uphold to pen the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. Sing unto the Lord a new song ye that go down to the sea.” There are also several from the New Testament and the Gospels, like Matthew 5:10 “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake.” No, this would not happen today. Not with the hyper-politically correct world we live in. In fact, it’s kind of surprising no one has fought to take it down. Maybe they have and I don’t know it. For example… There’s a case involving Lehigh County and the cross on its county seal that was added in 1944. It was fine then, but of course it had to offend somebody eventually. Yep. It did. The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation—how they came across the symbol is beyond me—joined four Lehigh County residents and filed a lawsuit. According to the Morning Call, they argued “the seal was a violation of their first amendment rights.” U.S. District Judge Edward G. Smith agreed with the folks who were offended. He ruled in September that Lehigh Co. would have to change it on flags, cars or other property but could keep it on older documents. The County appealed to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which is waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to act on a similar case before it makes a ruling.  

Religious News Service reporter Bobby Ross, Jr. recently asked this question, “When adoption agencies can turn away gay prospective parents, what happens to the kids?” With conflicts between religious based adoption and foster care agencies and government non-discrimination regulations playing out across the country including the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, this is an important question. In March, the City of Philadelphia issued an urgent call for 300 new foster parents to provide loving homes for some of the over 6,000 kids in Philadelphia foster care. That same month, the City abruptly barred Catholic Social Services, one of the city’s top-rated foster agencies, from placing children with foster families. This decision makes it exponentially harder for hundreds of children in need of foster care to find homes. Foster homes are sitting empty, even as the city begs for more families to help in its foster care crisis. Catholic Social Services and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have been serving children throughout Philadelphia for over a century. Their Catholic mission drives them to find loving homes for all children in their care, regardless of the child’s race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. Catholic Social Services currently serves over 100 children in foster homes. No family or individual has ever complained that the agency’s Catholic mission prevented them from fostering or adopting a child. Sharonell Fulton from Overbrook Farms has been a foster parent for over 25 years. She has opened her home to over 40 children, including two children currently in her care. She strives to provide a loving, stable home and treat each child as if they were her own. To do that, Fulton relies on Catholic Social Services’ help, including around-the-clock support and access to information and resources. “What justice is there in taking stable, loving homes away from children?” Fulton said in a statement to CatholicPhilly.com. “If the city cuts off Catholic Social Services from foster care, foster moms like me won’t have the help and support they need to care for the special-needs kids.” By freezing and threatening to cancel its foster care contract with the CSS, the city is “taking away this help and causing harm and heartache to countless families like mine,” Fulton said. The children will suffer if parents like Fulton do not have the support they need. In May, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court in Philadelphia on behalf of archdiocesan Catholic Social Services (CSS), Sharonell Fulton and two other women caregivers associated with the archdiocesan agency. They asked the court to halt the city’s harmful policy. A hearing is expected later this year.

Catholic adoption agencies across the state have been curtailing or stopping their work altogether as a result of a policy by the Wolf Administration that would take away a lot of their power to decide who would be the best parents for adoption. PA Rep. Dave Zimmerman (R-Lancaster) says there is still hope that a religious exemption will be granted by lawmakers for organizations. “A number of us in the House actually held up the budget because of a religious exemption, related to the Foster care and adoption,” Zimmerman told me in his Lancaster district office. Despite their determined efforts the Governor held firm and it was kept out. “They took the religious exemption out, which means an adoption agency would have to work with any type of family arrangements, whether it’s a man and wife, or an LGBT couple. They would have to work with all of those.” Zimmerman and several of his colleagues would like to see the exemption established. They have an agreement from House and Senate leadership to run bills in the fall to make that happen. “This is just one area. So the question is ‘what’s next?’” Zimmerman said. “I believe that our country and our state were established on religious liberty, religious freedom. We need to have these religious exemptions available to business and family throughout our state. It’s very important.” Zimmerman said another issue that drew debate in the last session was the compulsory age for education. The current law requires children between the ages of eight and 17 to be in school. But new regulations installed in one of the budget codes would expand that from six to 18. Zimmerman was one of the lawmakers who opposed the change. “There are a lot of issues with that,” he said. “Some children are just not ready at six. What about someone who graduates early? What about—in our district—the Plain community that gets work permits at 15?  None of that has been really addressed at this point, so there are some real concerns about the compulsory age.” The age change was something that was being pushed by the Governor, Zimmerman said. Even though it was placed in the budget, he says there will be an effort in the fall to get the change modified. ‘I also look at it as a liberties issue,” Zimmerman added. “The parents can probably make a better decision on their children than government.” Zimmerman remains very committed to pro-life issues. He voted for the Down Syndrome Protection Act and has signed on as a co-sponsor to Rep. Stephanie Borowicz’s (R-Centre, Clinton) “heartbeat” abortion bill, which he hopes to see introduced in the fall.

The 4th installment of our series on Maternal and Early Childhood Issues looks at the role the Wolf Administration has played in curtailing Catholic adoption efforts in Pennsylvania. https://fb.watch/bBXX1F6m97/ A woman we’ll call Kelly talked with me about her adoption a number of years ago through Catholic charities. She learned details of what happened as she got older. Kelly says it could have worked out any better. Kelly’s story was a familiar one for decades, but one that is happening less and less in many states across the country, as officials have placed restrictions on adoption agencies that contradict their long-held beliefs. Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf several years ago joined Democratic governors in other states to require adoption agencies to place children with same-sex parents in order to get funding. That requirement by Governor Wolf would be in direct contrast with the long-standing Catholic belief that a marriage is between a man and a woman. It is that parental combination, Catholics believe, that is the best way to raise a child. The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference appealed to the Wolf Administration for a religious exemption. It was denied in 2018, basically causing most adoption efforts by Catholic organizations in PA to grind to a halt. Similar regulations have been shutting down Catholic adoption agencies across the U.S. ever since Boston Catholic Charities did so in 2006. The efforts by the PCC to remove this burden continued on both the state and federal level. We sent an appeal to the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington to grant us a religious exemption. We worked closely with U.S. Congressman Mike Kelly on getting federal relief. A number of state senators sent a letter to President Trump asking him to provide relief for our efforts. We’re hoping that a recent Supreme Court ruling involving foster care services by Catholic Charities in Philadelphia. Fulton vs. the City of Philadelphia started when the city said it would no longer contract with Catholic Social Services because CSS would not certify same-sex couples to be foster parents In response, two foster mothers—Sharonell Fulton and Toni Simms-Busch—and the CSS sued the city, arguing that severing the contract violated their religious freedom. Fulton and Simms-Busch, the mothers who are plaintiffs, claim it was their Catholic faith that inspired them to be foster mothers.After losing in two lower courts, they petitioned the Supreme Court, which first agreed to hear the case in February 2020. Over a year later  the Court ruled that the city’s refusal due to the agency’s same-sex couple policy violated the Free Exercise Clause. Great news and a big win for religious liberty. The PCC is hoping the principal will carry over into adoptions, but the damage may have already been done. In 2019 the Diocese of Greensburg closed its adoption and foster care program after 65 years because of the decision by the Wolf Administration. Adoptions were halted by Catholic agencies in other parts of the state.  Will the adoption work done by these organizations ever return to what it once was? We can only hope and pray.

Time for an update on doulas, a topic we addressed last year in our 9-month long series on Maternal & Early Childhood Issues. Today we talk again with our doula expert Amy Wilt and check on legislation that has been proposed in Harrisburg to have insurance cover doula services. pic.twitter.com/Cbmwbnb9FG — PAcatholic (@PAcatholic) August 8, 2023

Associate Professor of Humanities Winston Chow from SMU’s School of Social Sciences has researched on the areas of urban vulnerability to climate change; sustainability in urban climatology; and perceptions of environmental and climate change in tourism. In recent years, he has published papers on the impact of weather extremes on urban resilience to hydro-climate hazards and trans-boundary variations of urban drought vulnerability and its impact on water resource management in Singapore and Johor, Malaysia. In this podcast, Associate Professor Chow will discuss the continued economic growth of a city by adopting sustainable urban development measures.

11/14/2024 - 1:00 PM - Venue: Casper's Donuts

11/13/2024 - 6:30 PM - Venue: The Senate

It's on! What's on? The Iditarod -- 98 years after the history-making dog sled run, the dogs are off again, and that means it's on. 

The post #AntarcticLog: To the dogs appeared first on The Plainspoken Scientist.

A new study in the Peruvian Amazon shows that the assumption that distance lowers risk from mercury contamination doesn’t hold up.

The post Gold mining with mercury poses health threats for miles downstream appeared first on GeoSpace.

On 30 July, AGU and its coalition partners in Friends of NOAA sent a letter to Senator Ed Markey’s office (D-MA) endorsing the Forecasting Optimization for Robust Earth Climate Analysis and Subseasonal to Seasonal (FORECASTS) Tracking Act of 2024. This legislation continues to progress the work done by Congress in the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 by providing funding for essential activities at the National Oceanic and …

The post AGU endorses the FORECASTS Tracking Act appeared first on The Bridge: Connecting Science and Policy.

Food Processing Suppliers Association attributes the success to work with its strategic partner Messe Düsseldorf.

Chile recently passed a law that will ban all single-use plastic in several fields. The industry has been searching for materials that are non-plastic but that still have all the characteristics of plastic.

Blister Packaging for Certain Immediate Release Opioid Analgesics for Treatment of Acute Pain – Docket No. FDA-2019-N-1845 as it relates to opioid packaging, and recently passed Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients (SUPPORT) Act, passed in late 2018.

Dove Kids Care packaging features positive affirmations and provides access to interactive body confidence resources by scanning a QR code on the back of each bottle.

Changes include new seals on all products indicating Non-GMO Project verification as well as a how-to-recycle logo.

These new grades offer a significant moment for cosmetic industry packaging as well as the plastics industry.

The refill system consists of a removable 75 ml refill pack made of recyclable PP that needs to be replaced approximately every three months.

The association is activating its succession plan to guide the process of selecting a new Executive Director. It has formed a committee to oversee the search process that will commence in September.

The new 265,000 sq. ft. of office and manufacturing space is the new Product Inspection Headquarters of the Americas, and houses all of the Product Inspection business units. 

Anyone associated with pharmaceuticals and packaging is likely aware President Trump signed the SUPPORT Act recently. The Substance Use–Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act, also known as SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, includes a specific address to the type of packaging that should be utilized to stem the tide on opioid addiction.

Based on the new State of the Industry U.S. Packaging Machinery Report infographic by PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, domestic shipments of packaging machinery is forecast to grow at a nearly 4% CAGR through 2024.

With commercial readiness expected just in time for Dairy Month (June), the facility can process up to 1 million pounds of local milk per day into shelf-stable and ESL milk and other liquid dairy products, many of which will be packaged in Tetra Pak® cartons.

Honey I’m Home! is a range of dog treats that, in just 16 months, has transformed the by-products of India’s village buffalo farmers into a range that has taken the pet food market by storm.

Toray Plastics (America) Inc. introduces new Lumirror® STM Soft-Touch Matte film, a unique, matte-coated polyester film technology that simplifies processing and enables the manufacture of a robust, upscale, soft-touch matte lamination.