Searchable News & Info From Reliable Online Sources.
- Letters: Tower Light Logging, VOMs and Plain Talk
Here is a sampling from recent letters to the editor. Read more Radio World reader letters. Should We Log Tower Light Observations? Regarding Gregg Skall’s article “What to Know About Your Station Log” in the May 20 issue: I have spent most of the last 25 years conducting ABIP inspections in New England and Florida. Before that I was a station owner, chief engineer/operator and director of engineering for 50+ years. Gregg states that regular observations of tower lights must be logged. I agree 100% that this is an incredibly smart practice. However I cannot find in the regs that the actual logging of these observations is required. FCC rule 47 CFR § 17.47 requires that these observations be made (unless there is an alarm system in use) but does not explicitly state that they must be written down in a station log. Moreover, 73.1820 talks about the logging of lights that have been extinguished or are not functioning properly, but it is silent regarding making an entry when everything is functioning correctly. Logging regular observations is prudent, especially if there should ever be a problem such as a plane strike. However I fail to see where making these entries has been codified into the rules. Robert A Shotwell Former owner Spectrum Investigative Services Inc. Author Gregg Skall responds: Bob Shotwell is correct. The article’s wording was not intended to suggest that logging of regular observations is required; it’s not. However, if you observe extinguished or malfunctioning is observed, the log must state the nature of the problem, the date and time of extinguishment or improper operation, and the date, time and nature of adjustments, repairs or replacements. Fig. 1: A small multimeter that fits into a tool kit. I’ll take the VOM Hi Mark Persons: My preferred type of multimeter (“Here’s Something I Can’t Live Without”) is still the analog VOM or volt-ohm-milliammeter. Sometimes waiting for the digital voltmeter or digital multimeter to lock up can cause one to lose a significant event. The meter sweep of the VOM can show the transient of interest that has a rise or decay time much faster than the DMM can provide a solution (voltage or current indication) for. One such usage is tracking down ringer failures on analog phone lines — yeah, those still exist in my world. From there you can determine if the signal occurrence is OK or… [TheTopNews] Read More.5 hours ago - Kamala Harris Reveals Her Master Plan for Democrats to Beat ‘Cheating’ Repub...
It might be time to ditch the the Electoral College, according to Kamala Harris. The ex-vice president floated the idea as one of her suggestions for her fellow Democrats, if they want to beat the “ruthless” Republicans in the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election. Harris dished her three-pronged plan for Dems while speaking at the National Urban League Conference on July 31 in Nashville. She said Dems have no choice but to consider radical ideas as a way to counter “cheating” by the GOP. “I know this is going to be controversial coming from me in particular — we need to revisit the Electoral College,” Harris said. The idea drew a few claps from the crowd. “We need to revisit the point of expanding the court to 13 justices like we have 13 district courts,” she continued. “We need to revisit, if they so want, statehood for Puerto Rico and D.C.” Harris, of course, was talking about adding four judges to the U.S. Supreme Court. Former President Joe Biden was the last commander-in-chief to pick a Supreme Court justice back in 2022, when Ketanji Brown Jackson was appointed. Her recommendation Dems need to “revisit” the Electoral College comes two years after she lost it 312-226 to President Donald Trump. The president received about 77.3 million votes in 2024 — which was a shade less than 50% of the votes — on his way to winning 31 states, while Harris earned roughly 75 million votes. Harris on Friday ripped one of Trump’s ’24 slogans as a way to drive home her point about drastic changes. “In light of and in this environment where they are cheating, we will be too big to rig. Too big to rig,” she said. “It means being ruthless — they are ruthless! We need to be ruthless too.” Harris continued, “and by that, I do not mean cruel. That is not our nature. By that I do not mean breaking the law. That is not what we do. But I do mean we must be uncompromising, and we must allow for a real conversation about revisiting certain things.” Watch above via Fox Nashville on YouTube.The post Kamala Harris Reveals Her Master Plan for Democrats to Beat ‘Cheating’ Republicans: ‘This Is Going To Be Controversial…’ first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.7 hours ago - Trump Makes the Case For His Anti-Weaponization Fund: ‘Their Families Were Des...President Donald Trump made a case for moving forward with his “anti-weaponization fund” during a flight aboard Air Force One on Sunday. After a day of golf at his Bedminster Club, Trump answered reporters’ questions during a brief gaggle, while pausing to take a shot at ABC News. REPORTER: You said the anti-weapon — TRUMP: Who are you with? REPORTER: I’m with ABC News. You said the anti-weaponization — TRUMP: BBC? REPORTER: ABC. TRUMP: Oh, ABC. That’s worse. REPORTER: You said the anti-weaponization — TRUMP: I like BBC better than ABC News. “The anti-weaponization fund is back on the table. What are your plans?” the reporter finally managed. “No, if they don’t approve — Look, we have a man named Todd Blanche. He’s outstanding in every way. Most of you know who he is. You’re not gonna find a better person. And everybody agrees. And it’s because I backed Cornyn’s opponent and his opponent won in a landslide. That’s the only reason it’s happening,” Trump said. “But I will say there are a lot of people that like — People were hurt so badly,” Trump continued. “Twenty-two suicides. They were destroyed. Their families were destroyed for doing things that, honestly, there’s never been an attack on any group of people in this country, in my opinion. Maybe one. There’s one group that was attacked violently and viciously, like these people were attacked. And this would be a reimbursement for the pain that they suffered. A lot of people like it.” “If they don’t approve Todd, I’ll put it back on the table. A lot of people like it. A lot of big supporters of Trump like it,” he added. Lame-duck Senate Republicans John Cornyn (R-TX), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) have all said they will not vote for Blanche unless they get written assurances that Trump’s $1.8 billion fund is completely dead. At issue are the people Trump wants to pay off, including the Jan. 6 rioters. In a Friday interview on CNN, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said “the math’s just not there” on a Blanche confirmation. “I’m a hard no on Blanche, and I mean, I haven’t encountered a single…Republican that’s like, ‘Oh, I love that $1.8 billion slush fund,’ or whatever you want to refer to it at all,” Fetterman said. “It doesn’t make any sense. I mean, it’s unconstitutional, honestly, from what… [TheTopNews] Read More.7 hours ago
- ‘I’m Not Looking to Kill People’: Trump Declares Iran Peace Deal Is ‘Imm...President Donald Trump announced a peace deal with Iran is “imminent” while speaking to reporters on Sunday aboard Air Force One. The president said talks to finalize the agreement will begin on Monday, with Trump saying the U.S. will get the two things he has pushed for most: the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a guarantee Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon. Trump said he was ready for a full-blown assault this weekend, but called it off at the last minute after Iran pleaded for him to abort the mission; the president said Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries also lobbied him to postpone the strikes. “I’m not looking to kill people, ’cause people die,” Trump told reporters on Sunday. “A lot of people die. And we don’t want that.” He added it was going to be the “biggest attack since World War II,” but he was holding off on it to see how the latest round of deal talks go. Trump on Saturday said the “perimeters of a deal” had been agreed to. His announcement came a day after he said the U.S. planned on ramping up its strikes on Iran. “We will be hitting them very hard,” Trump said during a televised press conference Friday at Camp David. “And you know at some point, they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore.’” The Wall Street Journal reported on the same day,”For weeks behind closed doors, Trump has been telling aides that the Iranians are ‘crazy,’ according to U.S. officials. He also has complained to confidants that the interim peace deal was ultimately meaningless, officials said, and that he always knew it wasn’t going to work.” The latest deal talks follow the 60-day ceasefire agreement the U.S. and Iran reached in mid-June. But that agreement fell apart after Iran hit a Cyprus-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz last month, leading to nearly two straight weeks of retaliatory strikes from the U.S. Trump on Sunday said he was hopeful this time around would be different. “We will see,” he said about the deal talks. “I would love to do that and save a lot of lives.” Watch above via Fox News.The post ‘I’m Not Looking to Kill People’: Trump Declares Iran Peace Deal Is ‘Imminent’ first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.8 hours ago
- Police Praise Off-Duty Trooper For Opening Fire on In-N-Out Burger Gunman Who Ki...Police in Twin Falls, ID, praised an off-duty state trooper and an armed citizen for firing back at a gunman who killed three people and injured seven others at an In-N-Out Burger on Saturday. During a press conference Sunday, Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks praised the two men as heroes for distracting the active shooter. “We believe their actions helped drive the suspect away from the scene, preventing further casualties,” Hicks said. “We want to take a moment and commend the actions of the off-duty officer and the citizen, and their heroic action to stop this incident.” Police have identified the shooter as 24-year-old Chad Williams, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Hicks said detectives were trying to determine a motive, adding that the suspect’s family was cooperating fully with law enforcement. “Yesterday at 2:29 p.m. multiple 911 calls were received by the communication center,” Hicks said. “Dispatchers could hear screaming and reports of gunshots in the background.” Twin Falls spokesperson Josh Palmer said the restaurant is in a busy shopping plaza, and hundreds of people were in the area when it happened around 2 p.m. That chain location had only just opened on July 24, “as part of the California-based company’s recent expansion to Idaho,” according to PBS News. The president of In-N-Out Burger, Lynsi Snyder, confirmed that one restaurant employee and two customers were killed in the shooting. She wrote on social media, “My heart is broken, my chest is heavy, my eyes burn from the tears I’ve shed. We lost one of our beautiful Associates tonight. In-N-Out will be mourning with the families and praying for them as they tread through a very painful season.” Fox News reported that two of the injured remain hospitalized in critical condition. The FBI encouraged anyone with images and videos of the the incident to share them with law enforcement. Watch the clip above via Fox News.The post Police Praise Off-Duty Trooper For Opening Fire on In-N-Out Burger Gunman Who Killed 3 first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.8 hours ago
- Democratic Candidate Haley Stevens Rejects Voter’s Plea to Kick Her Opponentâ€...
(Photos via: @Haleybooyah on Instagram and Zeteo) Michigan Senate candidate Haley Stevens (D) on Sunday rejected a call from one of her supporters to kick the “Muslim butt” of her opponent, fellow Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, in the upcoming primary. The Detroit News wrote about the exchange while following Stevens to a “Black church.” Reporter Grant Schwab wrote: “Miss Stevens, we know you’re gonna kick that Muslim’s butt,” a parishioner of Fellowship Chapel in Detroit said to Stevens as she arrived to attend the Sunday service. He was referring to her opponent, former Wayne County public health official Abdul El-Sayed, who has spoken about his faith in recent days. “You know what, we’re here for Michigan,” Stevens said in response, attempting to deflect the comment. “I know you are,” the African American man told Stevens from his car in the parking lot of the church. “But I don’t know about him.” Speaking to a Detroit News reporter immediately after the exchange, Stevens said: “Look, that’s not what my campaign is about. It is about what I just said to him. It’s about Michigan.” “I am proud of the rich diversity in this state,” she later added. “We, you know, are proud of our Lebanese American community, our Yemeni community, and, you know, just all the hopes and dreams for our future in Michigan.” Her response comes two days before the state’s Democratic primary is held on August 4. El-Sayed is leading in 17 of the 32 polls tracked by The New York Times, while Stevens has the edge in 11 of the polls. El-Sayed has been a fixture on cable news over the past few months, including one recent appearance on CNN where he dodged Jake Tapper’s question about why he said a lot of people were upset right after Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed. He also claimed Israel was was just as “evil” as Hamas during an April appearance on CNN, among other gripes he has about the country.The post Democratic Candidate Haley Stevens Rejects Voter’s Plea to Kick Her Opponent’s ‘Muslim Butt’ first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.9 hours ago
The Searchable USWebDaily.com and TheTopNews NewsBank Helps You Be Better Informed, Faster! Spread The Word.
