VIDEO: Son of slain Sikh plans US House run

Would greater controls on gun ownership save lives or simply limit freedom? It is the debate that renews after every mass shooting in the US.

In August 2012 six people were shot dead at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin by a white supremacist.

Frustrated by the lack of action in Congress and what he deemed insufficient attention to the massacre by President Barack Obama, the son of one of the victims is running for Congress on a gun control platform.

James Coomarasamy reports on Amar Kaleka's upstart challenge to 2012 Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Paul Ryan.

Produced by Lindle Markwell; filmed and edited by Peter Murtaugh

Altered States is a series of video features published every Wednesday on the BBC News website which examine how shifting demographics and economic conditions affect America on a local level.

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JCB plans £20m of UK investment

21 June 2011 Last updated at 11:02 JCB shop floor worker Chris Prince was laid off in the downturn in 2009 but has recently been re-hired Staffordshire firm JCB has said it will invest £20m in its UK factories over the coming year.

The firm, based in Rocester, made the announcement as it marked its 65th anniversary.

A spokesman said the money would be spread among its 11 UK plants and would be used to buy more equipment and recruit 50 staff.

It said demand from countries such as Brazil, Russia and India, where construction is growing, had surged.

In Brazil, the manufacturing construction firm has experienced 65% growth, in Russia 165% growth and in India, which is the digger maker's biggest single market, it experienced 53% growth in the past 12 months and has invested £20m in a new engine plant there.

'Looking up'

In the UK, JCB has developed 13 new excavating machines with increased steering control, and is re-hiring workers it said it was forced to lay off in the earlier stages of the British economic downturn in 2009.

Shop floor worker Chris Prince was laid off two years ago but was re-hired at the start of 2011.

He said: "Obviously it was gutting to be laid off at the time but obviously things are looking up."

JCB gave staff a bottle of wine, two glasses and a DVD of its history, to mark its 65th anniversary

JCB chairman Sir Anthony Bamford said: "I'm particularly pleased because we are coming out of a recession, the worst recession we have ever known.

"I'm not saying things look rosy now, but things certainly look better."

The company reported on Tuesday that it had more than doubled its earnings in 2010 compared to 2009.

And global sales in 2010 increased by 48%.

Staffordshire County Councillor Jeff Morrison said the success of JCB was crucial for the economic well-being of the people of Uttoxeter, where the company began in a garden shed 65 years ago.

Mr Morrison said: "Funnily enough, 18 months before the recession started it was actually at a boom time. The disposable income of the workers was at a massive high, there were people really spending money and the town gets the money spent in it, it filters through, it cascades through the economics of Uttoxeter .

"Of course when that dried up the town sort of went into hibernation and it's only now starting to pick up."

'Quite an anniversary'

Sir Anthony added: "The economy in the UK is definitely getting better- certainly are customers are more buoyant, happier than they were at the beginning of last year.

"I have now been here in this business for 47 years so I have been through a few recessions in my time and it's been traumatic for us."

JCB has 11 factories outside the UK and employs about 7,000 staff in total who each received a bottle of wine, two glasses and a DVD about the company's history, as a thank you from JCB to mark its 65th anniversary.

Workers in India were given an alternative to wine.

"Sixty-five is quite an anniversary for the business, I think it's worth marking and also actually saying thank you to our employees round the world, who've been with us through the years and the months through good times and bad times," he said.

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Big Brother Nikki plans acoustic tour

Wednesday, October 13 2010, 13:36 BST Nikki Grahame is to play a series of acoustic gigs around the country.

The Ultimate Big Brother star, who finished second in the series, will perform at The Talking Heads bar in Southampton on November 23.

The show will apparently feature "a full set of acoustic covers performed by Nikki Grahame in her own inimitable, drama-soaked fashion".

A Facebook posting from the venue urged prospective attendees: "PLEASE GET TICKETS ASAP THIS WILL SELL OUT SO MIGHT NOT BE ROOM ON THE NIGHT"

Further dates are expected to be announced soon.

Idris Elba ('Luther') Super cool Idris Elba chats to Digital Spy about the return of crime thriller Luther.

Public sector plans 'scaled back'

3 May 2011 Last updated at 17:50 By James Landale Deputy Political Editor, BBC News The documents detail a meeting between Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude and the CBI The government is scaling back plans to use the private sector to deliver public services, the BBC has learned.

Leaked documents suggest ministers have decided the "wholesale outsourcing" of public services to the private sector would be politically "unpalatable".

Ministers instead want to use more charities, social enterprises and employee-owned "mutual" organisations.

Outsourcing was meant to be a key part of the government's drive to cut costs and reduce the UK's budget deficit.

The shift in policy will raise questions about whether the government can make the savings it has promised - or deliver the services it is committed to - just by using charities and mutuals.

The change will also raise questions about whether the Conservatives are bowing to Liberal Democrat pressure to focus more on delivering public services locally rather than privately.

The government's plans will be unveiled in the long-delayed Open Public Services White Paper which is expected to be published later this month.

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The government was not prepared to run the political risk of fully transferring services to the private sector”

End Quote Note of a meeting between Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude and CBI director John Cridland The aim of the reform is to find new ways of delivering national public services, such as benefit payments, tax collection, services within the NHS, civil service administration, justice services like prisons and probation, and even the provision of things like driving licences.

The change in the government's thinking is revealed in the note of a meeting in recent weeks between Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude and the director general of the CBI, John Cridland.

The note, obtained by the BBC, is marked "strictly private and confidential" and was drawn up by the CBI as a record of the meeting.

It says: "The minister's messages were clear cut... the government is committed to transforming services, but this would not be a return to the 1990s with wholesale outsourcing to the private sector - this would be unpalatable to the present administration.

"The government was not prepared to run the political risk of fully transferring services to the private sector with the result that they could be accused of being naive or allowing excess profit making by private sector firms."

Private sector involvement would be limited to joint ventures with not-for-profit groups.

The note adds: "Government is very open to ideas for services currently provided within the public sector to be delivered under a private/government joint venture. Government is committed to new models of partnership, and private sector organisations need to offer joint ventures - joint ventures between a new mutualised public sector organisation and a 'for profit' organisation would be very attractive.

"Government... was very interested in turning existing services into government companies. These would avoid the downsides of 'hassle' and adverse political reaction."

'Independent provision'

One source in the outsourcing industry said: "This is a bit surprising. Francis Maude gave the impression when we got called in last year that we would be very much needed.

"There was every expectation that the private sector would be needed to help get the deficit down. This goes the other way. It seems to be different to what the government was committed to a year ago."

The government began consulting on public service reform in November 2010.

In the accompanying Green Paper, entitled Modernising Commissioning, the government said it wanted to "promote independent provision in key public services". It defined independent providers as "voluntary and community organisations, social and private enterprises".

It emphasised how it wanted to save money: "Increasing the diversity of provision can drive innovation and efficiency by increasing competition and consumer choice and can deliver improvements in value for money and outcomes."

In a second consultation document, published at the same time, the government asked: "Can you identify specific opportunities for bringing private sector investment and expertise into the delivery of public services?"

On 17 January this year, the prime minister said in a speech: "We are injecting competition, saying to the private sector, community organisations, social enterprises and charities: come in and deliver great public services."

On 20 February this year, David Cameron wrote in the Daily Telegraph that the government would create a new presumption that all "public services should be open to a range of providers competing to offer a better service" - the only exceptions being national security and the judiciary.

Big Society

Supporters of outsourcing claim that it improves the quality and reduces the cost of public services. Opponents deny this and fear that workers' conditions, pay and pensions would be hit if public services are outsourced.

Mr Cridland told the BBC: "The taxpayer gets the best deal if government is prepared to be radical in remodelling public services in looking at a better way of delivering those services with less money to spend.

"I have every confidence in our conversations with government that that's exactly what government will do."

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: "Too often there has been a binary choice between the government providing a service itself or outsourcing it to the private sector. This has been driven by a belief that services have to be controlled centrally, a one size fits all approach which has left little room for innovation.

"We want to change this. As part of building the Big Society, we want to open public services up to SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises], employee co-operatives, voluntary sector organisations and social enterprises, who may often partner with the private sector. We believe that this will create more innovative and localised services, while also decreasing costs and increasing efficiency.

"Sandwell Community Caring Trust is just one example where since the staff have taken over, back-office costs have halved meaning more money is spent where it matters. We need all parts of society including businesses, social enterprises and charities to play a part in this radical reform and there's no reason the state shouldn't keep a stake so that taxpayers benefit from the increased value of improved services."

Central Oregon Coast Plans 17-Mile Tsunami Drill

Central Oregon Coast Plans 17-Mile Tsunami Drill

Published 09/27/2010

(Lincoln City, Oregon) - A variety of government emergency agencies are banding together in a variety of Lincoln County towns to test the area's tsunami warning systems on Wednesday, September 29 at 11 a.m. It will be the largest tsunami drill ever conducted on the Oregon coast, covering some 17 miles and including the towns of Seal Rock, Waldport and Yachats.

Officials are urging both tourists and locals to participate, as they test the NOAA alert system in each of these of these villages and the beaches in between.

The drill is held in conjunction with Oregon State Police, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Lincoln County School District, Oregon Department of Transportation, Tsunami Outreach, Oregon Emergency Management and the Oregon Department Of Geology And Mineral Industries.

The entire west coast is susceptible to a massive tsunami, the kind that has hit the region many times over thousands of years. There is considerable evidence of this, sometimes a mile or more inland, hidden in coastal marshes, forests, farmlands and underneath the sands themselves.

The last such massive tsunami is known to have hit the coast about 1700. These occur about once every 300 to 500 years because of a series of underwater faults off the coast of Oregon, where the Juan de Fuca and the North American tectonic plates meet. This subduction zone is about 75 miles offshore. The two plates are usually locked together, but periodically this stress is released in a massive motion that results in an earthquake and sometimes can trigger a tsunami.

Scientists say the region may be overdue for such a catastrophic event.

Officials said anything west of Highway 101 is in the possible wake of a tsunami, but most tsunami evacuation routes on the coast indicate to get to higher ground well beyond Highway 101.

There are numerous geological and tsunami maps at this link.

For further information on the tsunami drill, call the Yachats Fire Department at 541-547-3266.

Cape Perpetua, Near Yachats

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