California failed to test nursing home inspectors for COVID-19

by  on  in Home News

Since early in the COVID-19 pandemic, California health officials have required nursing homes to bar entry to outsiders who might bring the coronavirus in with them and trigger a deadly outbreak among the elderly, vulnerable residents.

As a result, aging parents haven’t seen their families in months. Many have died without a final embrace from the people they loved.

But despite requiring routine testing of residents and employees, there’s one group California health officials have knowingly sent from nursing home to nursing home without first testing them for the lethal virus: state inspectors.

Interviews with eight registered nurses working

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LafargeHolcim CEO stresses importance of sustainability

by  on  in Building Material

The Untervaz Cement Plant, in Switzerland.

Copyright LafargeHolcim Ltd | Photographer: Rüdiger Nehmzow

The CEO of LafargeHolcim told CNBC Thursday that the building materials firm had to improve operations so that sustainability became part of its DNA.

Speaking to “Squawk Box Europe,” Jan Jenisch was asked about the topics of ESG (environmental, social and governance), how his industry was perceived as being both dirty and energy inefficient, the notion of using government funds to “build back better,” and the role LafargeHolcim could play in this. 

“In our company it’s clear: we want to be part of that, and we have

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How to take a room to new heights

by  on  in Home Design

By Cathy Hobbs, Tribune News Service
Published 5:35 p.m. ET July 23, 2020

Whether a room or space has low, typical-height or extra-high ceilings, a number of design tricks can help to maximize a space’s height. Height adds a lot to a room — it can make a space feel more open as well as add a sense of spaciousness. Looking for tips? Here are some top designer hacks. 

Do:

1. Add mirrors. Mirrors hung vertically or in a series can add

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More than a dozen injured in Chicago shooting outside funeral home | US news

by  on  in Home News

Fourteen people have been injured in connection with a shooting late on Tuesday outside a funeral home on Chicago’s South Side, police officials said on Tuesday.

The victims were taken by the Chicago fire department to nearby hospitals in serious condition, said a fire department spokesman, Larry Langford.

Mourners outside a funeral home were fired upon from a passing SUV, said Eric Carter, first deputy superintendent of the Chicago police. Carter said several targets of the shooting returned fire. The SUV later crashed and the occupants fled in several directions. One person of interest has been taken into custody. Carter

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Designing a flexible material to protect buildings, military personnel // Mizzou News // University of Missouri

by  on  in Building Material

May 26, 2020
Contact: Eric Stann, 573-882-3346, StannE@missouri.edu

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Shake, rattle and roll.

Picture of an earthquake

A team of engineers at the University of Missouri has designed a flexible material that can help buildings withstand multiple waves of energy traveling through a solid material, including the ground motions found in earthquakes.

Even though they are miles from the epicenter of an earthquake, buildings can collapse due to how an earthquake’s energy makes the ground shake and rattle. Now, a team of engineers led by Guoliang Huang, a James C. Dowell Professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University

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