Exhibit honors Vietnam's heroes from Texas

Jim Cruz made his way through the crowd that assembled in front of a wall of shiny military-style dog tags. He grabbed one, felt it, read the inscription and took a picture of it.

Cruz, 64, was one of dozens who made it to Saturday's premiere of the Texas Vietnam Heroes Exhibit at the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures, which included state Sen. Leticia Van De Putte and other dignitaries. The exhibit features commemorative dog tags bearing the names of the 3,417 Texans killed or declared missing in the Vietnam War.

?I don't have no hair, but what I do have stands up,? said Cruz, showing goose bumps on one arm and pointing to the memorial with the other. ?Those are the heroes right there.?

Cruz, who retired in San Antonio after 23 years in the Army, first photographed the dog tag of a man he never met, a favor for a woman who previously stopped him to shake his hand and thank him for his service.

?It was of her father. I told her I was going to blow (the photo) up big and bring it to her,? Cruz said. ?Now I'm going to take pictures of my buddies, the ones I was with ... who didn't make it home.?

He said he lost four friends from Texas in the Vietnam War, and 26 total from all over the country.

Each of the people in the memorial is individually represented by commemorative dog tags embossed with the name, rank, branch of service, home of record and date of death. Black dog tags honor Texans missing in action, such as Army Staff Sgt. Manuel R. Puentes of El Paso.

Don Dorsey, a sniper in the Marine Corps during the war, embossed the dog tags with the help of fellow Marine James Hart. It took about 400 hours.

?As I was doing it ... I had to wonder how they were killed,? Dorsey said. ?I got to introduce myself to everyone and learn a little about them. I could relate to some of them from their ages or where they were from. Some I knew from high school.?

?Emotionally, it is a closure we believe a lot of the families and veterans need,? said Jim Cisneros, whose brother, Roy Cisneros, was killed Sept. 11, 1968, defending his platoon.

Roy Cisneros has an elementary school named after him in the Edgewood School District. More than 50 of the district's students died or were declared missing in Vietnam.

Cisneros was awarded posthumously the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor, and Jim Cisneros said his brother's legacy lives on in the memorial.

?It represents the sacrifices of one of the most horrific wars in American history,? Cisneros said. ?What it represents to me is the courage of all of the veterans who sacrificed their lives.?

Albert Martinez, retired from the Navy, came to see the dog tags of two elementary school friends killed when the trio served in Vietnam: Basilio Gomez and Joe Pierce Jr. They were killed within a couple of months of arrival there, Martinez said.

?For me, I know where they died, but I don't know the circumstances,? Martinez said. ?I got their pictures in uniform and medals they won. But this is like holding their own real dog tags ... It's long overdue.?

The dog tags match a set to be entombed next year at the Texas Capitol Veterans Monument. The traveling exhibit was designed by Excalibur Exhibits' Eriq Moquin, whose father served in the Army in Vietnam. Valero helped bring it to San Antonio, its first stop, where it will be on display at the institute through August.

?I think it helps people get closure because they get to touch and feel and see, and tell their grandchildren, 'This was my war,'? said Robert Floyd, chairman of the monument. ?We hope that it will help in healing and let people across the state know that we're not going to forget about these guys.?

Source: http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/exhibit-honors-vietnam-s-heroes-from-texas-1.233771

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Union: Bus strike in parts of metro Phoenix ends

by Jacques Billeaud, Associated Press

Video report by Jason Volentine

Posted on August 4, 2013 at 1:38 PM

Updated today at 5:52 PM

PHOENIX (AP) -- A union leader said Sunday that bus drivers in the suburbs east of Phoenix have tentatively reached an agreement with a national bus company to end a four-day strike by the drivers.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1433 president Bob Bean says the union reached a favorable agreement early Sunday afternoon with First Transit to end the strike and let bus service resume in time for Monday morning's commute.

Bean declined to provide details of the agreement and said union members will have to ratify the agreement within the next week and a half.

First Transit didn't immediately return calls and emails seeking comment.

Bean says the picket lines have now ended.

The agreement was reached after a 32-hour negotiating session that was aimed at resolving the dispute between the 560 drivers and the company.

Some 40 routes in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa and Tempe were shut down when the work stoppage began Thursday. Express routes from those cities to Scottsdale and Phoenix were also affected.

The routes serve some 57,000 riders daily, including many workers without cars who can't walk miles to work in the summertime heat.

First Transit took over operations July 1 after winning a three-year contract from the Valley Metropolitan Regional Transit Authority with options for seven additional years in January.

The new contract combined operations in Mesa and Tempe that serve the eastern Phoenix suburbs and involved savings of $36 million over the previous contract by operating both parts of the system together and streamlining operations. Union officials said it cut $77 million over 10 years.

Drivers have said job security has been their biggest issue with First Transit since the new transit contract would override First Transit's proposed deal with the union.

First Transit has said it also offered higher wages and lower health care costs.

In March 2012, a strike crippled bus service in metropolitan Phoenix for six days before it was settled.

Source: http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/Union-Bus-strike-in-parts-of-metro-Phoenix-ends-218293851.html

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Va. diocese: Woman who worked for Catholic church near DC among Spain train crash victims

ARLINGTON, Va. ? ?Catholic church officials say an employee of a diocese outside Washington, D.C., was among the 80 people who died in the Spain trash crash this week.

The Diocese of Arlington says on its Facebook page that Ana Maria Cordoba, an administrative employee from northern Virginia, died in the wreck.

Catholic News Service, a division of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, reports that Cordoba, a benefits specialist, was traveling with her husband, Philippe, and her daughter, Christina, a rising high school senior in Arlington.

CNS reports that Philippe and Christina Cordoba were in stable condition at a hospital.

Family members were on their way to see the Cordobas' son, who had completed a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

Messages left for the diocese late Thursday were not immediately returned.

Source: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/DqZfbUA4rFI/

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/321772669?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Moldova: probe into doctor using 'household' drill

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) ? Officials at a hospital in Moldova are investigating a surgeon's claim that he had to use a handyman's drill to perform an operation because proper equipment was unavailable.

Grigore Rusanovschi, a doctor at the Valentin Ignatenco Hospital in Chisinau, says he posted a video online Monday showing him using the drill. He accused management of failing to respond to his requests to buy equipment.

Hospital director Nicolae Starciuc said, however, that drills he purchased were not being used.

Health Minister Andrei Usatii told The Associated Press Wednesday that investigators had found three proper drills at the hospital, but had not found the drill that Rusanovschi says he used.

Viorel Soltan, former deputy health minister, said Wednesday that the video was accurate.

"It is genuine what happened and there are other cases that happen in Moldova where doctors use household drills," Soltan said.

Moldova is one of Europe's poorest countries with an average monthly salary of euros 225 euros ($300).

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/moldova-probe-doctor-using-household-drill-124715365.html

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Join us for a live chat Monday with Boise State football's Joe Southwick, Charles Leno

By Chadd Cripe
ccripe@idahostatesman.com
? 2013 Idaho Statesman

LAS VEGAS ? The Mountain West football media days event begins Monday ? and we?ll get you started with a new feature in the morning.

Boise State senior quarterback Joe Southwick and senior left tackle Charles Leno Jr. will join me for a live chat with Idaho Statesman readers. The chat will begin at 10:30 a.m. MT with me and likely columnist Brian Murphy. We?ll answer questions for 30 minutes and begin collecting questions for the players.

Southwick will join us at 11 a.m. MT and answer questions for about 15 minutes. Leno will take over at 11:15 a.m. for about another 15 minutes.

You can access the live chat through IdahoStatesman.com in the morning or by going to my blog page, blogs.idahostatesman.com/broncobeat.

Southwick and Leno meet with the media Monday. Coach Chris Petersen has sessions Monday and Tuesday. Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson speaks Tuesday. The event ends at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

We?ll have in-depth coverage throughout the two days. I should have some comments from Southwick and Leno posted this evening and I?ll have a story in tomorrow?s paper.

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Just a head?s up: I am working off an iPad because my laptop crashed shortly after I arrived in Las Vegas. So don?t be surprised if you see a few technical glitches over the next couple days.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IdahostatesmancomSports/~3/nHPN-LvQfjs/

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Financial services recovery would drive UK economy and jobs - PwC

LONDON | Mon Jul 22, 2013 12:05am BST

LONDON (Reuters) - A properly run financial services industry would generate a quarter of a million new British jobs by 2020, oiling the wheels of sectors such as manufacturing and retail, a new report says.

Research published on Monday by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) suggests that robust regulation and benign economic conditions that help the embattled financial sector to recover would also spur 2-3 percent growth in the economy by the end of the decade.

An alternative scenario, in which the financial services sector continues to languish, would bring an unimpressive 0.2 percent rise in gross domestic product and create only 12,000 more jobs, the report said.

"In addition to providing credit, (the financial services industry) creates demand in other sectors and helps improve the flow (of) capital around the economy," said Nick Forrest, an economist at PwC.

"A well-functioning financial services sector improves both capital efficiency and overall UK productivity."

PwC's report says that good regulation coupled with a robust economic backdrop would generate 47,500 new jobs in financial services such as banking and insurance by 2020.

The knock-on effect of a recovery in the financial industry, would be 45,900 more manufacturing jobs, 41,600 in retail and 67,400 in general services, it said.

The region benefiting most from this level of job creation would be London, with 132,800 new jobs by 2020. The region to benefit least would be Northern Ireland, creating only 2,900 new jobs.

(Reporting by Chris Vellacott; Editing by David Goodman)

Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/07/21/uk-pwc-report-idUKBRE96K0DK20130721?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

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