| Bicycle parts shop destroyed in JB morning blaze
JOHOR BARU: A bicycle parts supply shop was destroyed during an early morning blaze in Bandar Baru Uda here. Twenty-seven firemen and seven fire engines were dispatched to the location after receiving a distress call at 8.20am. Operations commander Hamid Suhari said the fire was controlled within 15 minutes but was only put out totally at 2.20pm. "Some shop workers who discovered the fire when they reached the store informed us about it," he said. He added that no casualties were reported. Hamid said losses were estimated at more than RM200,000. Last Thursday, a bicycle workshop in the same housing area and situated near the supply shop was also destroyed in the fire. The incident also occurred at about 8.20pm. Losses were estimated at more than RM100,000 in that fire.
State Police arrest man in bicyclist’s death
LAROSE — State Police on Tuesday arrested a Cut Off man accused of leaving the scene of a fatal traffic accident Sunday night, according to a news release. Troop C Public Information Officer Gilbert Dardar said in the release that Tommy Eymard, 57, was booked with one count of felony hit-and-run just before noon Tuesday. Troopers determined it was a white 1998 Chrysler Cirrus, driven by Eymard, that hit a bicycle rider Sunday night on La. 308 near the Larose Truck Plaza, a State Police news release said. Car parts found at the scene of the crash matched the damaged Cirrus that troopers located on Tuesday, the news release said. The bicyclist, Rigoberto O. Valladares, 41, of Lockport, was dead at the scene. .
Winter storms at both ends of the country dump snow, snarl travel
CHICAGO (AP) — Winter storms at both ends of the country dumped snow and snarled air and land travel Friday, killing at least 10 people, blocking major highways and even stranding 400 train passengers in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Nearly 7 1/2 inches of snow was reported at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport before the front moved out of the area Friday. About 500 flights were canceled at O'Hare, which canceled 600 flights Thursday and housed hundreds of stranded travelers who spent the night awaiting planes from other cities also affected by the storm. At least 12 inches of snow was reported in Springfield by Friday morning, said National Weather Service meteorologist Gino Izzi. Other parts of Illinois saw similar amounts. "If you don't have to be out here, don't," Ty Wilson, a very wet Chicago bicycle messenger, said as he stopped along a slushy street between morning deliveries.
Proposed plan would protect Iowa Counties from bicyclist lawsuits
A proposal that would provide some protections to counties when bicyclists use those county roads is making its way through the Iowa Legislature this session. The proposal is receiving a rather high profile after one family sued Crawford County over a bicycling accident. In that case, the bicyclist was competing in RAGBRAI, an annual, multi-day bicycle event that travels from border to border and attracts thousands of participants. If a bill offering counties some sort of protection is not passed, some have openly wondered about the future of the event, sponsored by the Des Moines Register. “The truth of the matter is I haven't even seen it [the bill] yet," said Rep. Lance Horbach, R-Tama. “I'm working on some other things that are taking a lot of my time." RAGBRAI will be making an overnight stop in Horbach's hometown this year.
Scotsman takes the wheel at Coles
WESFARMERS has lured the chief executive of British car parts and bicycle retailer Halfords to run its newly-acquired Coles supermarket business with a $2 million welcome mat. Scotsman Ian McLeod, 49, whose current employer generates annual revenue of less than 10 per cent of the $20 billion business he will soon be managing, will receive a $2 million signing-on payment, another $2 million in annual salary and stands to make up to $2.4 million in annual bonuses. Wesfarmers managing director Richard Goyder said Mr McLeod had "lived and breathed retail" since joining British retail chain Asda as a graduate trainee in 1981, where he played a leading role in the turnaround engineered by chief executive Archie Norman in the 1990s. Mr Goyder said Mr McLeod was at the top of Wesfarmers's list of candidates to run Coles's food, liquor, fuel and convenience store business, and declared himself unconcerned at the new recruit's association with US retailer Wal-Mart's ill-fated German operation.
City's two-wheel transformation
London is likely to become one of the most cycle-friendly places in the world, with a series of two-wheeler superhighways cutting a swath through traffic and congestion. Plans for the super-cycleways will be unveiled next week as part of an initiative to stimulate a 400% increase in the number of people pedalling round the capital by 2025. At a cost of £400m, the 12 routes are intended to be the motorways of cycling and are likely to be emulated by other cities across the UK. Londoners without bikes will be able to use one of the city's free bicycles. "We want nothing short of a cycling transformation in London," said the mayor, Ken Livingstone. "We are announcing the biggest investment in cycling in London's history, which will mean that thousands more Londoners can cycle in confidence, on routes that take them quickly and safely to where they want to go." The cycle scheme is one of several environmental announcements expected in the capital over the coming weeks, including a decision on plans for a £25-a-day congestion charge on the highest-polluting vehicles and a proposal to re-fit 900 civic buildings across the capital to make them more energy-efficient.
Aquaduct gets the medal for its pedal-powered idea
A few months back, I pointed in this blog to the call for entries for the "Innovate or Die" contest for a pedal-powered machine (aka bicycle). Right now, I'd be hard-pressed to ride a bike here in New Jersey, for fear of wind-burn and on account of the slight snow we had today, but I AM walking the two miles to the train station routinely. (Reduces the energy stored in my body, too.) But, anyway, the contest co-sponsors — Google, Specialized Bicycles, and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners — actually have announced the winner. The winning entry, schemed up by five students in California, is the Aquaduct, which transports and filters water. Their idea is that women in third world countries would be able to use the vehicle both to collect water (which they often have to travel a large distance to find) and to purify it.
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