Tennessee American to test water systems
Tennessee American Water began its annual water system flushing program Monday throughout its water system, which serves Chattanooga, East Ridge, Red Bank, Lookout Mountain and Rossville, Georgia.
Flushing will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays for approximately four weeks. Tennessee American Water crews will open a selection of fire hydrants for several minutes. When crews are flushing nearby, utility officials said customers may experience a temporary drop in water pressure or slight discoloration of their water.
Doug Wagner, Tennessee-American’s vice president of operations, said customers with discolored water should open a cold water spigot, like a hose bib or their bathtub, until the water clears. Any water discoloration or low-pressure should last only a short time.
“Customers count on us to provide high-quality water for their comfort, sanitation and fire protection,” Wagner said in a statement. “In addition to continuous infrastructure renewal like main replacements, essential maintenance activities such as our annual hydrant flushing program are key to providing our customers with high-quality drinking water.”
Basecamp to blend artists, entrepreneurs
The last Basecamp gathering of entrepreneurs in 2022 is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, and will feature yoga and local artists in addition to coworking, coffee, lunch and happy hour networking.
At the free community event in the Waterhouse Pavilion of Miller Plaza, attendees can hear from speakers and also engage with local artists to create poetry and works of art. The artists will include Meredith Garrett (also known as River City Street Poet), Josiah Golson and crafts with The Chattanooga Library. The Basecamp will also include talks from officials at ArtsBuild, Hip Hop CHA and 1 Million Cups.
“We want to provide spaces that nurture collaborations and foster creativity that benefit us all,” said Gabrielle Chevalier, marketing and communications manager for The Enterprise Center. “Bringing local artists and entrepreneurs (and aspiring entrepreneurs) together is just one more way The Enterprise Center is working to expand access and empower communities across Chattanooga.”
For those who register online ahead of the event, free lunch from Taqueria Jalisco will be available.
As a monthly event leading up to CO.LAB’s annual Will This Float competition next month, Basecamp is also a space for community members to meet the team behind the project, as well as sign up to pitch ideas.
“Will This Float? has helped birth such local businesses as Variable Inc., CPR Wrap, ChattTaste and Other Milk.
Chloe Morison, director of communications at the CO.LAB, said this year’s pitch competition is open to both high school students and adults.
Minnesota nurses launch 3-day strike
Thousands of nurses in Minnesota launched a three-day strike Monday, pressing for salary increases they say will help improve patient care by resolving understaffing stresses that have worsened in the coronavirus pandemic.
Some 15,000 nurses at seven health care systems in the Minneapolis and Duluth areas walked out, a number the union says makes it the largest strike ever by private-sector nurses. The affected hospitals said they have recruited temporary nurses and expected to maintain most services.
Scores of nurses began walking the picket line at 7 a.m. outside Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, one of 15 hospitals affected. Clad in the red T-shirts of the Minnesota Nurses Association and carrying signs with such slogans as, “Something has got to give,” several said their chief concern was patient safety.
Union spokesman Sam Fettig said the nurses chose a three-day strike, rather than an open-ended walkout, out of concern for patients.
The hospitals have offered a 10-12% wage increase over three years, but nurses are seeking more than 30%. Hospital leaders called their wage demands unaffordable, noting that Allina and Fairview hospitals have posted operating losses and that the cost of such sharp wage increases would be passed along to patients.
“The union rejected all requests for mediation and held fast to wage demands that were unrealistic, unreasonable and unaffordable,” several of the Twin Cities hospitals under strike said in a joint statement.
North Sea wind turbines to generate 76 gigawatts
Nine nations bordering the North Sea announced plans Monday to massively increase offshore wind power in the coming decades as part of an effort to combat climate change and become independent of fossil fuel imports, particularly from Russia.
German officials said members of the North Seas Energy Cooperation aim to expand wind power generation in the region to 76 gigawatts by 2030.
Subsequent targets are for 193 gigawatts of wind power in the North Sea by 2040 and 260 gigawatts by mid-century. Germany’s Economy and Energy Ministry said current generation capacity in the region is less than 20 gigawatts.
The countries that agreed to those goals include Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The United Kingdom, whose territory is surrounded by the North Sea and which has significant offshore wind plans of its own, is not a member of the group since leaving the European Union in January 2020.
Last month, seven European countries bordering the neighboring Baltic Sea committed themselves to a seven-fold increase of offshore wind power production there by 2030.
— Compiled by Dave Flessner