Category: Environment

Stimulus money creates green jobs in South Bronx

by Ted Regencia, posted in Bronx, Community, Environment, Labor

Text and photo by Ted Regencia

In the borough where the unemployment rate hovers around 12.3 percent—the highest in the state–“green-collar” jobs in heating, cooling, and window retrofitting are still experiencing modest growth. That’s due in large part to 2010 federal stimulus money earmarked particularly for the environmentally friendly industries, according to the Hunts Point-based Sustainable South Bronx advocacy group.

“We are at 70 to 75 percent of people getting jobs,” said Annette Williams, training director at Sustainable South Bronx. “Within the last month, we have gotten 13 people hired.”

Williams’ organization advocates environment-friendly solutions to the chronic joblessness endemic to the South Bronx. Eight years ago the group initiated a green jobs program that trains unemployed and low-income residents in building maintenance, urban forestry, landscaping and hazardous waste cleanup. In 2010, the organization received an extra $150,000 windfall from President Barack Obama’s $396 million federal green technology stimulus funds for New York State.

To read the full story, please visit BronxInk.org

Hurricane Irene: The Aftermath In The Bronx

by Ted Regencia, posted in Community, Environment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

August 28, 2011

By Ted Regencia

NEW YORK — Hurricane Irene packed a much weaker punch when it hit New York early Sunday morning of August 28, prompting Mayor Mike Bloomberg to declare that the city “certainly dodged a bullet.” But it still left some scattered scenes of destruction in the Bronx, uprooting trees and destroying properties around the Parkchester district.

Along Metropolitan Avenue, a downed tree fell on top of a Toyota RAV4 smashing its windows and crushing the roof. A Mercedes Benz SUV parked right in front of the Toyota was also damaged.

Continue reading “Hurricane Irene: The Aftermath In The Bronx” →

Ex-Warner Bros. employee is 3rd Pinoy fatality in Missouri

by Ted Regencia, posted in Community, Environment

The Filipino Channel-Balitang America
May 30, 2011

By Ted Regencia

(Joplin story also featured as a banner headline of The Philippine News)

CHICAGO — It’s been a week since the deadly tornado hit Joplin, Missouri and authorities are reporting that the death toll has climbed up to 139, including a Filipino who once worked for Warner Brothers in New York.

Relatives from Cebu confirmed to ABS-CBN the death of 76-year-old Thomas Sarino. A naturalized American citizen, he is the third person of Filipino origin to have died from last Sunday’s disaster.

According to his niece Grace Sarino, she was contacted by a certain Taylor Jayne Thompson who then relayed to her the coroner’s confirmation of the elderly Sarino’s death.(Photo courtesy of Grace Sarino)

To read the full story, please visit ABS-CBNNews.com

Pinoys share their story of survival in Joplin

by Ted Regencia, posted in Community, Environment

The Filipino Channel-Balitang America
May 26, 2011

Text and video by Ted Regencia

To see the entire report, please visit ABS-CBNNews.com. See the Filipino version here

JOPLIN, Mo. – Even as the tight-knit Filipino community in Joplin continues to mourn the death of two kababayans, stories of survival are also being told by many.

Today occupational therapist Frank Herrera turns 35. His family is now homeless. His pregnant wife and their daughter are all alive.  He said that is his best birthday gift.

On Wednesday, Herrera returned to his heavily-damaged house to retrieve their belongings, including a Sto. Nino relic and the bottles of vitamins for his daughter. He showed the bathtub where they were huddled at the height of the tornado. Continue reading “Pinoys share their story of survival in Joplin” →

Two Filipinas killed in Midwest tornado

by Ted Regencia, posted in Community, Environment

The Filipino Channel-Balitang America
May 25, 2011

Text and video by Ted Regencia

Please see the Filipino version here

JOPLIN, Mo. – Two Filipinas have been confirmed dead following the  weekend tornado that has killed at least 123 people and left hundreds injured in Joplin, Missouri.

Grace Aquino was found inside a collapsed church last Sunday, May 22.  Aquino’s two daughters said their mother died while protecting their 12-year-old brother, who survived with minor injuries.

On Tuesday, May 24,  the body of another Filipina, Esterlita Moore,  was recovered from the second floor of a building next to her house. The 64-year-old hairdresser was apparently thrown by the raging wind. A breast cancer survivor, she died clutching bottles of medicine.

Both victims were from Pampanga, Philippines.

Tornado kills over a hundred; leaves massive devastation in Midwest town

by Ted Regencia, posted in Environment

Web Exclusive
May 23, 2011

Text and photo by Ted Regencia

JOPLIN, Mo. — It’s the single deadliest tornado to hit one town in the United States since 1953, according to the National Weather Service.

At least 116 people were reported killed as of Monday evening, while thousands more remain homeless when a tornado hit this southwest Missouri town of Joplin on Sunday leaving a scene of massive devastation.

Street block after street block, this town of about 50,000 people looked like a scene from a disaster movie and a horror flick combined, with houses crushed like playthings, huge trees uprooted from the ground and streets covered with every imaginable debris.

Continue reading “Tornado kills over a hundred; leaves massive devastation in Midwest town” →

Towns near Mississippi still facing more threats of flood devastation

by Ted Regencia, posted in Community, Environment

Xinhua English
May 02, 2011

Text and photo by Ted Regencia

CAIRO, Ill. — “We’re like a bowl set in a big tub of water. Water is all around us,” former Cairo Mayor James Wilson told Xinhua, as he described the situation in Cairo, which has so far been spared of the flooding while towns all around it are submerged in water.

Wilson warned the threat of a water breach that could sink the entire city remains a reality even as the total floodwater level subsided following the decision of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to blast the Birds Point-New Madrid Levee.

As it is now, Cairo is about 16 feet below the flood level and the only thing that prevented it from being completely underwater are the levees.

To read the full story, please visit Xinhua English