UNDATED (AP) – After dismal 2016, shale gas drillers begin to turn a corner. Pennsylvania’s drilling industry is showing signs of life. Natural gas producers drilled more than twice as many shale wells in the first half of 2017 compared to the same period last year. About 20 additional drilling rigs are exploring for natural gas and fracking crews are suddenly in short supply.
One big reason is that natural gas prices have recovered from 20-year lows, nearly doubling since last year. The pace remains much slower than it was during the industry’s boom years earlier this decade. But David Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a trade group, says “there’s a cautious optimism out there right now” among drillers.
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania health network that fell victim to a worldwide cyberattack says all acute, ambulatory and ancillary care services have been restored at its medical neighborhoods and satellite community locations. Heritage Valley Health System made the announcement Monday. The cyberattack affected the entire health system on June 27.
The health system says there was a lack of access to computer systems following the cyberattack. But it says the only operational interruptions were with lab and diagnostic imaging services at community locations. It says those lab and diagnostic imaging services are fully functional now. The health system says patients will be accepted at all 14 community lab and diagnostic imaging locations beginning Wednesday. Health system president Norm Mitry says providing care without computer access is challenging but employees “continued to deliver safe patient care throughout this adverse situation.”
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Oddities and Conversation Starters
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Officials at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum have criticized a Louisiana congressman for narrating part of a five-minute video from inside a former gas chamber at the Nazi concentration camp in Poland. Louisiana news outlets report that U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins posted the video Saturday. In it, the Republican says the gas chamber killings took only about 20 minutes and show why the U.S. military “must be invincible.”
A post on the Auschwitz Memorial’s official Twitter account said Tuesday that a former gas chamber is not a stage but a place where there should be respectful silence. Later Tuesday, it posted a photo of the entrance sign to that building, asking visitors to “maintain silence here.” Higgins’ offices were closed Tuesday for the July Fourth holiday and he could not immediately be reached for comment.
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) — City commissioners in Florida have agreed to begin the process of changing the names of streets named after Confederate generals in the heart of an African-American neighborhood. During a contentious three-hour meeting Monday night, the Hollywood City Commission voted 5-2 to begin renaming Lee Street, named after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee; Hood Street, named after Gen. John Bell Hood, and Forrest Street, named after Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan member Nathan Bedford Forrest.
The SunSentinel reports a final vote is expected Aug. 30. The current plan calls for Forrest Street to become Savannah Street, Hood Street to become Macon and Lee will be renamed Louisville. The meeting followed a protest in June that led to the arrests of five people.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Public school districts in the U.S. are rethinking how they cope with unpaid lunch debts amid a wave of outrage over practices that single out children by taking food out of their hands or stamping them with a payment reminder. The U.S. Agriculture Department is requiring districts to adopt policies this month for addressing meal debts and to inform parents at the start of the academic year.
The agency isn’t specifically barring some of the potentially embarrassing tactics. It is encouraging schools to work more closely with parents to address delinquent accounts and ensure children don’t go hungry in classrooms. Some states are taking matters into their own hands, with New Mexico this year becoming the first to outlaw school-meal shaming and several others weighing similar laws.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon has become the first state in the U.S. to allow residents who don’t identify as male or female to mark their gender as “not specified” when they apply for a driver’s license, learner’s permit or identity card. The rule went into effect Monday. It comes after the mayor of Washington, D.C., said the district was the first jurisdiction to offer the option late last month.
Oregon’s Driver and Motor Vehicle Services said the new rule emerged after a judge last year allowed a Portland resident to legally change to “non-binary” gender. The DMV said it studied state laws, updated computer systems, worked with law enforcement and the courts, and changed administrative rules to comply with the court order. California lawmakers also are considering adding a third gender option on state IDs.
LITTLE TORCH KEY, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say two Florida men were caught with three endangered Key deer tied up in their car. The Miami Herald reports that 18-year-old Erik Acosta Damas and 23-year-old Tumani Anthony Younge were arrested early Sunday morning. Wildlife officials say a Monroe County deputy pulled over the men’s car on Little Torch Key for having a tail light out.
The deputy found two doe in the back seat and a buck in the trunk. The animals were untied and released. National Key Deer Refuge Manager Dan Clark says the deer, which grow to the size of a large dog, had been captured on Big Pine Key. The federally protected deer are found only in the Florida Keys, where their population is around 600-800. Damas and Younge each face three felony and nine misdemeanor charges. Jail records didn’t list attorneys.
NEW YORK (AP) — A handful of animal rights activists who were taken into police custody as they tried to unfold a banner at the annual July Fourth hot dog eating contest at Nathan’s Famous in New York have been released without charges. The demonstrators say they’re from a group called Direct Action Everywhere, and want Nathan’s to stop holding the contest.
Police say they took five people into custody on Tuesday, brought them to a precinct for questioning and then released them. Another group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, separately had members giving away free vegan hot dogs outside the event. Joey “Jaws” Chestnut won the men’s division for the 10th time, by eating 72 hot dogs and buns. Miki Sudo won the women’s division with 41 hot dogs and buns..
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
