| ACCESS rider says driver threatened her over complaint
A King County Metro Transit contract driver is under investigation for allegedly threatening a woman who reported him for arguing about his use of a cell phone while driving. The driver works for Metro's ACCESS service, a minibus transit program for disabled and elderly passengers unable to use regular bus routes. The bus rider, a middle-aged woman who uses a wheelchair, employs the service to get to and from school, according to a police report. On Jan. 31, she was on a ride home while the driver argued with another passenger who didn't like him talking on his cell phone while driving. The woman grew concerned because the increasingly heated argument seemed like it could get physical, so she dialed the driver's dispatcher on her cell phone, according to a police report.
PA exec discusses security after 9/11
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has spent nearly $2.7 billion on security-related ex penses since the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, most of it from its own pocket, the authority's deputy director told a legislative panel yesterday. Jamie Fox told members of the Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee that the bistate authority has been forced to be self-sufficient because overall federal assistance is inadequate and because public authorities are eligible for funds only for port security. "They put into place a system for doling out these scarce resources that does not take public authorities such as the Port Authority into account," Fox said. "Year after year we see that this system does not work, and we must gain the ability to seek funding directly from the federal government." Among its security-related improvements, the authority spent $139 million on a system that de tects intrusions around the four airports it operates.
NH drafts list of items not covered by Medicaid
CONCORD, N.H. Advocates for the disabled and low-income seniors in New Hampshire are protesting new limits on the medical equipment covered by Medicaid. The state Department of Health and Human Services recently drew up a more detailed list of products not covered by Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for the poor. Medicaid covers equipment ranging from non-motorized wheelchairs to leg braces. The new list would bar reimbursement for motorized wheelchairs, bathtub grab bars, wheelchair ramps and adult diapers for anyone over 21. Advocates for seniors and disabled people say the state should pay for more if it wants to help disabled and chronically ill people stay with their families, instead of going into nursing homes. They also say some of the banned equipment is essential to keeping disabled people independent.
Helping the homeless of Algiers
SAMUSOCIAL Algiers is a mobile emergency aid service that rescues homeless people and helps them find shelter. Director Mustapha Alilat talks to Magharebia about his organisation. Text and photos by Mohand Ouali for Magharebia in Algiers – 19/01/07 .
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