Krystal Klean joins the chamber: Krystal Klean, a window cleaning and pressure washing business, new to Ramona, marks its membership in the Ramona Chamber of Commerce at a ribbon-cutting event on April 26. Rick and Kim Lowe, second and third from left, get ready to cut the ribbon while their 13-year-old son, Jason, stands at far left.
Peregrine falcons keeping a low profile: While experts from the Peregrine Foundation search for the new nesting site, three female chicks were banded Monday afternoon at the Mississauga Executive Centre on Robert Speck Pkwy. It's the oldest nesting site in the GTA. "We found three very healthy looking, feisty chicks," Nash said of the banding, which was done by biologist Mark Heaton of the Ministry of Natural Resources.While the peregrine parents were distracted, the chicks were removed from the nest, taken on an elevator ride down to the lobby of the office building, and banded. They were then returned to the nest. The eldest chick, at 28 days, was named Jennifer. Her younger sibling, born a day later, was named Janet. The youngest chick was named Skyreach, in honour of the window cleaning company that provides platforms for volunteers to stand on while they distract the parent birds and keep them away from the nest until the chicks are banded and returned.
Working at heights top killer in Abu Dhabi worksites: Abu Dhabi: With 53 lives lost in 2011, working at heights and falling objects continue to be the leading cause of death on worksites in Abu Dhabi, health officials said. A new programme introduced on Wednesday by the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (Haad), however, aims to reduce these risks by ten per cent annually. "With the construction industry in the UAE and the GCC region growing swiftly, working at heights has become a common requirement for many jobs. "This risk is also present in many other sectors, like agriculture, the oil and gas industries, window cleaning and painting operations, and even at homes and offices, while changing light bulbs, for example," said Dr Omniyat Al Hajeri, director of public health and policy at Haad.
Benefit fraud cheats caught in crackdown:
A crackdown on benefit fraud in East Lothian has seen eight people referred by police to the Department of Work and Pensions.
Officers from the force’s East Lothian Community Action Team worked with benefits officials to carry out checks on building contractors, gardeners and window cleaners.
The checks were carried out by teams working in Gullane, Dunbar, North Berwick, Aberlady, Archerfield, Haddington, East Linton and Gifford, with officials promising to continue pursuing benefit cheats.
Sergeant Andy Doig said: “Benefit fraud is a considerable drain on the public purse, especially in today’s financial climate.
“This is an ongoing initiative and we will continue to carry out random checks throughout East Lothian to identify those fraudulently claiming benefits.”
Larbert residents: Are parking restrictions too restrictive? Neighbours who campaigned for yellow lines to tackle indiscriminate parking on their street are wondering if it was such a good idea after all.
Residents in Broomage Park complained to Falkirk Council about cars being left outside their homes by drivers making the short walk to Larbert Railway Station to catch a train to work.
Double and single yellow lines were put down to discourage the practice. But now there are complaints traffic wardens are being over zealous when it comes to issuing tickets.
It is claimed that earlier this month the ‘Yellow Perils’ slapped a £60 fine on the van owned by the local window cleaner who was working up his ladder only yards away.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) (Singapore) is reviewing penalties for employers who endanger the lives of their maids.
Under the law, employers who fail to provide a safe work environment can be fined up to $5,000 or jailed six months or be both.
They can also be permanently barred from hiring maids.
In the past five years (2007 to 2011), 14 employers have been punished on this count.
Minister of State for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin said in a blog post on Thursday that his ministry is 'reviewing whether the current penalties are adequate to ensure deterrence'.
Mr Tan's comments come after eight Indonesian maids died this year while cleaning the outside of window panes or hanging laundry out to dry.
The Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics, a migrant workers group, responded by calling for a ban on maids cleaning the outside of windows.
The Indonesian Embassy announced that from May 1, Singapore employers and their Indonesian maids have to sign a contract with a clause that bars maids from cleaning out-facing windows.
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| Rick Williams owns and operates Fallbrook Window Washing. |
Fallbrook Window Washing Co. has a well deserved, sparkling reputation: When a person loves the type of work he or she does, it always shines through. That’s why Rick Williams, owner/operator of Fallbrook Window Washing Co., has gained the excellent reputation he has, because local residents know they can count on him to provide outstanding service and that he really does care about the quality of each and every job. "A good reputation is worth more than gold," said Williams, who has served the community since 1973. "I like the fact that I offer very personalized service. Customers know they can trust us." Customers find Williams’ friendly and courteous manner engaging and most importantly, know they can trust him to work throughout their home in a careful and cautious manner. Behind the scenes, Rick’s wife, Jan Williams, and daughter Jamie Stewart assist in other daily functions of the business.
One of the reasons Williams is a preferred local service provider is because of his availability and flexibility in serving the community. "We pride ourselves on quick scheduling," said Williams. "We try to make ourselves available when people need it and sometimes that can be on very short notice." Given the fact that he serves a large number of both residential and commercial customers, many customers have become Williams’ friends and that is something that pleases him. "I like being recognized when I am out and about around town," he said. "There are so many wonderful people here." And there is an additional reason he knows so many people. In the town of Fallbrook, Rick Williams’ name is not only synonymous with excellent window cleaning, but also superb dog training. He has helped dog owners for many years in private home settings and through group classes at the Fallbrook Community Center. In addition, he raises puppies for Canine Companions for Independence. Volunteering has always been important to Rick and over the years he has served as a tree steward for Save Our Forest and as a firefighter/EMT with De Luz Volunteer Fire Dept. Jan works with at-risk youth through GANAS, an outreach program of the Fallbrook Citizens Crime Prevention Committee. Fallbrook Window Washing serves the Fallbrook, Bonsall and Rainbow area.
The statues in Charleston’s parks aren’t that different from your car — at least in the sense that both look bad if they’re not washed and waxed every now and then.
That’s why the city is spending $9,000 to spruce up George Washington, John C. Calhoun and eight of its other more notable bronze landmarks. Bill Turner, project manager with Capital Projects division of the Parks Department, said the annual cleaning helps keep the statues looking good while preventing deterioration. “If you don’t keep those things kind of clean and waxed, they get all green and patinaed, with streaks down the stone,” he said. “Eventually, they’ll get pitted and deteriorated. Turner said the window-cleaning and maintenance crew is working under the direction of a monument conservator. “We like this work to be done correctly and in keeping with outdoor sculpture standards,” he said.
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| Hannah Szajner studied in the library at Century College in White Bear Lake, where the windows behind her are made of smart glass manufactured by Faribault-based SAGE Electrochromics. The windows change tint with the flip of a switch. |
Did U.S. loan delay bring on Minnesota company's sale? The founder of high-tech window factory in Minnesota is denying a suggestion that two years of government foot-dragging over a promised loan guarantee triggered the company's sale to a French firm. "We'd still be doing this deal," John Van Dine, chief executive of Sage Electrochromics, said in an interview when asked if the U.S. delay drove the company into the arms of a foreign suitor. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., had said at a Senate committee hearing in February that the federal delay had left Sage "running out of time, and they may have to sell themselves to a French company."
The sale to French building products giant Saint-Gobain was announced Wednesday. Saint-Gobain had been a 50 percent owner of the company, which employs 125 workers in Faribault, Minn., making windows that save energy by changing their tint at the flip of a switch. Sage now becomes a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain and will remain in Faribault with Van Dine as CEO. The sale comes more than two years after the U.S. Energy Department offered Sage a $72 million loan guarantee to help build a larger factory. The loan never closed, and the entire program faced Republican-led political scrutiny after the 2011 bankruptcy of a California solar company that had received a $535 million federal loan guarantee.
Preventing Memory Loss: Computers Combined With Exercise Helps, Says Study: Moderate exercise has been linked to increased memory function in many studies, and Dr. Geda feels this indicates his results would translate to younger populations as well.
The best results were for those who exercised moderately five to six times a week, but even once a week was helpful, Dr. Geda emphasizes. "You should never underestimate any small amount of activity," he says.
He referred to Dr. James Levine's NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) research, which posits that all the small movements we make throughout the day can add up to the kind of activity we need for both physical and mental health. Cleaning Your Windows helps - Why hire a professional window cleaner when you can get a workout and save money in the process? Between the stretching, the repetitive motion of squeegeeing, and climbing up and down on a step ladder, window cleaning in an easy way to burn calories and save a few bucks too.
Cities Caution Homeowners Of Door-To-Door Sale, Idaho: With warmer weather, come the knocks of door-to-door salespeople. The city of Ammon is warning homeowners to be extra cautious and ask to see their newly required identification badge. Police said just this past weekend, pairs of people were trying to sell glass cleaner by going door-to-door in local neighborhoods. One woman, they said, was wearing an ID tag from the state of Georgia. So, while it may have looked like she got the green light locally, she hadn't. Nick Scott solicited tickle giggles from his son on the lawn of his Ammon home Monday evening. But, he said, knocks from salespeople on his front door, don't leave him laughing. "(It) got to the point of two to three times a day and they'd always interrupt during dinner," said Scott. So, Scott put a "no soliciting" sign right in his front window. He said it's usually ignored, and Saturday was no exception. Scott said people selling glass cleaner left with a sale, but only because he wanted to get rid of them. "It's the pushiness and the not taking 'no' for an answer, which gets very agitating," said Scott. Shawna Avery, an Ammon enforcement officer, said the solicitors weren't licensed by the city to sell door-to-door. After a string of crime by salespeople last summer, Ammon's city council changed its ordinance to require an ID card to be worn around the neck at all times. The permit costs $100.
The archbishop of Prague, Miroslav Vlk turns 80 years old on May 17th. That means he will no longer be eligible to vote in an eventual conclave. His personal story is quite interesting. In the 50's he wasn't allowed to enter into the seminary, since the communist government forbade the study of theology. So, he began working at a car factory.
But eventually, in the year 1968 he was ordained a priest at the age of 36. For years he celebrated the Sacraments secretly and to avoid attention, he began working as a window cleaner in Prague.
Technology driving development of convenience format: Convenience retailing is well placed to capitalise on the public's appetite for easy shopping with technology, including mobile, cloud-based operations systems and location-linked promos, driving the sector's development. Andrew Don reports. Barclaycard's launch of PayTag, a new way to pay with a mobile phone, is one of a raft of developments competing to make shopping more convenient over the next few years. The device, which will hit the market next month, is about a third of the size of a plastic card, attaches to any mobile phone and can be used to make payments of up to GBP15-20 (US$24-32) by holding it over a contactless payment terminal. Birch pointed to iZettle, which has launched a dongle in Scandinavia that turns an iPhone into a chip card reader with no monthly fees and a fixed €0.15 (12p) +2.75% transaction charge. "Never mind the corner shop. This means the school fete, the window cleaner and the kids football team coach will soon be taking cards quickly and easily," Birch says.
Weeping window cleaner jailed: A window cleaner who forged the signature of a frail and trusting customer on a £5,650 cheque to pay into his own bank account wept as he was jailed. But Stephen Langley’s tears failed to move relatives of his 91-year-old widowed victim – including her son the Wigan Casino DJ legend Russ Winstanley – who blame him for her subsequent death. Russ said: “My mum wanted the case pursued so that other people would not fall prey to him but was so worried she could not sleep and feared he would come and get her. “She started losing concentration and had a bad fall and died in June last year. In all honesty my sister and I feel it was this case that led to her death.”
Liverpool Crown Court heard that Beech Hill resident Elizabeth Winstanley, then aged 90, had had all her faculties and wits about her and was very careful about signing cheques, which they would fill in for her and she would then sign. Langley, a gambler who had run up £15,000 debts, had initially lied to police claiming that she had signed the cheque to cover the cost of him replacing two rotten windows. But later the 25-year-old came up with another bogus story and said he had found a blank cheque in the street four houses from her home in Baytree Road on January 27 last year. Langley, who had cleaned her windows for eight years, claimed he did not realise it belonged to the victim, as he did not know her name. He filled it in and banked it and as soon as it cleared he transferred it to his Ladbroke’s account.
Langley, a father-of-two, of Sandringham Drive, Leigh, pleaded guilty to fraud but Judge David Swift rejected his account of events as being “incapable of credibility” and found that he had taken the cheque from her handbag and forged her signature. He said Mrs Winstanley, who lived alone, was particularly careful about her cheques and both her children confirmed that the signature was not hers. The court heard that Langley, had tricked his victim into going upstairs to close a window while he took the cheque from her bag. Jailing Langley for three months, Judge Swift said: “This was on any view a serious example of breach of trust.”
Rapist jailed 20 years after attack: A rapist who attacked a woman in her Clapton home and then returned a month later to burgle her has been jailed for 13 and a half years after a cold case inquiry by Met detectives. The sexual assault happened 20 years ago this month, and it took advances in DNA techniques to finally bring the attacker to justice. Anthony Jordan, 50, from Eastbourne, East Sussex broke into the woman's flat in Hackney, east London in the early hours of the morning, put a pillow over her face and attacked her. Jordan also took £10 from the woman's purse as well as her cigarettes and lighter. A month later he "brazenly" returned to burgle the flat again but accidentally triggered a panic alarm and was caught by police. The court heard that the window cleaner has a previous conviction for breaking into another woman's home and attacking her with a hammer when he was 17. He will remain on the sex offenders' register for life.
Between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on May 2, a laptop computer was reported stolen from the sunroom of a residence in the 2400 block of Southway Drive. The owner said three people had been cleaning the windows during the time, and one of them had been acting a "bit off," according to reports. This man broke a window, tracked dirt in the residence and seemed less willing than the other workers to discuss the missing laptop. He also left earlier than others in a car while the others drove a company truck.
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| Windows on an apartment building were broken when cables from window-washing equipment lashed the side of the building during a wind storm. |
Downtown block reopened to traffic: Fire crews blocked off a section of downtown Calgary on Thursday morning after high winds caused several windows on an apartment building to break, showering the pavement with glass. A wild wind storm whipped through the city on Thursday afternoon and cables, meant for window clearing, slapped up against a building in the 700 block of 5 Ave. breaking several windows. As a result, 5 Ave. between 6 St. and 7 St. S.W. was closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic until crews could get up the side of the building and take care of the problem. The road was reopened just after 11:00 a.m.
A busy downtown road remained closed through the morning rush Thursday after windows on a high-rise were destroyed during high winds Wednesday night. Fifth Avenue S.W. between 6th and 7th Streets was closed just after 6:00 p.m. Wednesday when ropes from a window washing swing stage smashed through a number of windows on an office building. "When they were done they parked it at the bottom of the building ... so they can continue where they left off the next day." explains District Chief Lee Cheshire. "The cords were actually the power cords that provide power to the swing stage that lift it up." The closure didn't just affect traffic and workers in the building, it also blocked off access to about 600 parking spaces below the McDougall Centre. Crews didn't start work on replacing the broken windows until shortly after 6:00 a.m. as elevator service in the building was turned off overnight.
Shower of glass 'like hailstones' in mall: A wheelchair-bound man and his support worker got "a hell of a fright" after being showered with falling glass from an exploding glass ceiling panel inside Dunedin's Wall Street mall yesterday. The Dunedin City Council is investigating the incident, which occurred about 11am when a 2-metre-long panel of safety glass in the ceiling suddenly shattered, sending glass fragments falling two floors to the public atrium below. Support worker Ed Bedford said he and his wheelchair-bound client - who has cerebral palsy - were directly underneath the panel when they heard a bang "like a bomb going off". The glass fragments came down "like hailstones" and left both men badly shaken but not injured, he said.
Glass master: For years, business owners in Chico and elsewhere have been infuriated by vandals who have defaced their windows by scratching gang symbols or random graffiti into them, ruining the look of their storefronts. Buying and installing new windows is extremely expensive, but Nate Allen’s Bidwell Windows now offers a more affordable solution. The Orland-based Allen has operated his window-washing business for years, but says he’s cornered the market on a new service that repairs vandalized windows. Contact him at bidwellwindows@hotmail.com or 828-8049.
Are you really the only person who can erase these ugly scratches? Yes. As far as I know I’m the only person from Yuba City to the Oregon border who does this. It’s odd because I counted over 90 downtown businesses that have these scratches. I buff them out, then polish the glass. You can only notice it if you look at the window sideways; then you can see a slight wavy area. I’m sure I’ll have competition soon but I’m not worried.
Why do people scratch windows? Some are random or juvenile nonsense. Dogs even scratch home windows trying to get in. But most of them are gang symbols to mark territory. It makes the tagged businesses seem like they’re advertising for gangs. People use rocks, rings or diamond tools. I’m doing my best to keep downtown clean.
How did you get started? I heard about it being done in big California cities, so I handed out 40 cards to scratched downtown businesses. Thirty said they were interested, so four months ago I got a loan and bought a kit to do it. So far I’ve done seven businesses, like Fleet Feet Sports, Trucker, Cyclesport and The Fashion Lounge. Chico’s graffiti eradication unit even hired me for a job. I’ve been a window washer for 15 years and now split my time between both. My years of hard work and perseverance are finally paying off. When I get busier I’ll hire another window cleaner and want to expand to surrounding counties.
How do people hear about you? I hand out business cards but it’s mostly by word of mouth. I lined up several jobs when people saw me doing Fleet Feet.
What are the advantages of repairing windows instead of replacing them? It’s “green” because every year over 1 million tons of glass are put into landfills that could be recycled. Plus, it takes lots of energy to make new glass. So this is green, saves businesses money and puts a little money in my pocket to help me raise my two young kids.
