Pool access for the disabled sparks controversy

(AP) ? The Obama administration is sidestepping an election-year confrontation with the hotel industry and other pool owners to give them more time to comply with access rules for the disabled.

The rules have been in the works since the early 1990s, but the Justice Department created an uproar among hotels, waterparks, health clubs and the like earlier this year when it said it will require many such facilities to install fixed, permanent lifts to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

After initially setting a March 15 deadline ? and telling the industry it wouldn't budge ? the department has granted two extensions. After first saying it might grant a reprieve until September, Justice announced last week that pool owners won't have to comply with the new requirements until early next year, a move that gets the controversy safely past the election.

At issue is whether hotels and other facilities will have to install fixed, permanent lifts to assist disabled people getting in and out of their pools, a move that requires hiring a contractor and tearing up the pool deck at a cost of as much as $6,000.

Many pool owners were hoping to comply with the rules by purchasing less costly portable lifts that could be wheeled out to poolside as needed. Hotel owners who already have lifts say few of their customers ever ask for them.

Advocates for the disabled are frustrated by the delay, saying it means another summer swim season without lifts at most pools. They accused the hotel industry of creating an 11th hour tempest to undo rules that have been in the making since the Clinton administration.

"It's a little disingenuous to say that came out of nowhere," said Heather Ansley, a lawyer with United Spinal Association.

But they're pleased that Justice isn't caving to demands that everybody be allowed to get by with portable lifts.

"They've been trying to duck it for 10 years, and the agency keeps putting it off, putting it off," said Rep. Jerold Nadler, D-N.Y. "Enough already."

Disabled people complain that in cities where lifts are already required, portable lifts are often stowed away and that not all employees know how to operate them. And they say that the hotel and motel industry has a long record of trying to evade access rules for the disabled, sometimes waiting to be sued before complying.

The issue gets even trickier. There's a longstanding exemption in the law which says existing facilities can avoid an ADA requirement if they determine compliance is not "readily achievable." That's pretty ambiguous, but as defined in the law it basically means you're eligible for the exemption if you determine that it's too difficult or expensive. Figuring out whether one qualifies for the exemption can be difficult.

The rules always had been going to require that newly constructed pools be required to have built-in lifts. But in January, Justice issued technical guidance that for the first time required fixed pool lifts at existing pools, said Minh Vu, a Washington lawyer representing the hotel industry. That took many pool owners by surprise, upending their plans.

The guidance created a new set of potential problems and concerns. Among them was that children might climb on the lifts ? which would be built at the shallow end of the pool ? and potentially hurt themselves by falling or diving off.

The January directive put hotel owners in a real bind. Over the horizon they saw themselves being hit with government penalties and private lawsuits for failing to comply with the rules. Some hotels announced they would have to close their pools. Community and municipal pools risked being out of compliance as well.

The uproar quickly made its way to Capitol Hill. Several members of Congress prepared legislation to roll back the fixed lift requirement. At the same time, hotels flooded the Justice Department with complaints about being unable to meet the deadline.

A week ago, Justice announced that pool owners now have until Jan. 31, 2013, to comply with the rules.

"We got such an overwhelming response indicating the widespread misunderstanding of the law and indicating that the pool lift manufacturers are having trouble meeting the demand, so we wanted to make sure people had enough time," Eve Hill, a senior attorney in the Justice Department's civil rights division, said.

On Thursday, Justice said pool owners who bought a portable lift before the original March 15 deadline two months ago would be considered in compliance as long as the lift is in place whenever the pool is open.

The department also hopes to clear up confusion among hotel operators about whether their circumstances qualify them to get by with a somewhat less expensive portable lift or win exemption from the requirement altogether.

Hotel industry lobbyists, meanwhile, succeeded in getting the House to block the Justice Department from implementing the new regulation requiring permanent pool lifts as part of a spending bill for next year. The idea could get a Senate vote next month.

Associated Press

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NJ Muslims angry over NYPD surveillance findings

Imam Mustafa El-Amin holds a Quran that he plans to give to New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa at a meeting with religious leaders in Trenton, N.J., Thursday, May 24, 2012. Following a three-month review, Gov. Chris Christie's administration said Thursday that New York City police did not violate New Jersey laws when they conducted surveillance of Muslim businesses, mosques and student groups, rejecting demands by Muslim leaders for a formal investigation and a clampdown on cross-border police operations. (AP Photo/Mel?Evans)

Imam Mustafa El-Amin holds a Quran that he plans to give to New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa at a meeting with religious leaders in Trenton, N.J., Thursday, May 24, 2012. Following a three-month review, Gov. Chris Christie's administration said Thursday that New York City police did not violate New Jersey laws when they conducted surveillance of Muslim businesses, mosques and student groups, rejecting demands by Muslim leaders for a formal investigation and a clampdown on cross-border police operations. (AP Photo/Mel?Evans)

Mohamed El-Filali, left, of Paterson, N.J. hurries in the rain with Nadia Kahf, attorney with the Council on American-Islamic Relations in New Jersey as they head to a meeting with New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa and Muslim leaders in Trenton, N.J., Thursday, May 24, 2012 . Following a three-month review, Gov. Chris Christie's administration said Thursday that New York City police did not violate New Jersey laws when they conducted surveillance of Muslim businesses, mosques and student groups, rejecting demands by Muslim leaders for a formal investigation and a clampdown on cross-border police operations. (AP Photo/Mel?Evans)s

Mohamed El-Filali, left, of Paterson, N.J. hurries in the rain with Nadia Kahf, attorney with the Council on American-Islamic Relations in New Jersey as they head to a meeting with New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa and Muslim leaders in Trenton, N.J., Thursday, May 24, 2012 . Following a three-month review, Gov. Chris Christie's administration said Thursday that New York City police did not violate New Jersey laws when they conducted surveillance of Muslim businesses, mosques and student groups, rejecting demands by Muslim leaders for a formal investigation and a clampdown on cross-border police operations. (AP Photo/Mel?Evans)s

Imam Mustafa El-Amin, left, listens with Nadia Kahf, second right, attorney with the Council on American-Islamic Relations in New Jersey, as Mohamed Younes, right, of Passaic, answers a question in Trenton, N.J., Thursday, May 24, 2012, after a meeting between New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa and Muslim leaders. At rear, Mohamed El-Filali, right, of Paterson, and Imam Wahy-ud Deen Shareef, of Irvington, talk. Following a three-month review, Gov. Chris Christie's administration said Thursday that New York City police did not violate New Jersey laws when they conducted surveillance of Muslim businesses, mosques and student groups, rejecting demands by Muslim leaders for a formal investigation and a clampdown on cross-border police operations. (AP Photo/Mel?Evans)

Imam Mustafa El-Amin, center, answers a question as he stands with Nadia Kahf, second right, attorney with the Council on American-Islamic Relations in New Jersey, and Mohamed Younes, right, of Passaic, in Trenton, N.J., Thursday, May 24, 2012, after a meeting between New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa and Muslim leaders. Mohamed El-Filali, left, of Paterson, and Imam Wahy-ud Deen Shareef, second left, of Irvington talk aside. Following a three-month review, Gov. Chris Christie's administration said Thursday that New York City police did not violate New Jersey laws when they conducted surveillance of Muslim businesses, mosques and student groups, rejecting demands by Muslim leaders for a formal investigation and a clampdown on cross-border police operations. Attorney General Chiesa, a Christie appointee, was meeting with Muslim leaders to discuss the findings. He said state officials and the New York Police Department have a new agreement to meet regularly to exchange information, and a new directive strengthens notification rules when New Jersey law enforcement learn of operations by outside agencies. (AP Photo/Mel?Evans)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) ? Muslim leaders in New Jersey say they are angry but uncertain what their next step will be after the state's attorney general found that New York City police did not violate any laws in its surveillance of Muslim businesses, mosques and student groups in New Jersey.

Several mosque leaders who attended a meeting Thursday with Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa said they were shocked he found no violation of state criminal or civil laws by the NYPD in operations that many Muslims considered unjustified surveillance based solely on religion.

"This is a big violation of our civil rights, and we need to go to our communities and explain it?" Imam Mohammad Qatanani, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Passaic County said Thursday as he left the meeting. Qatanani said he would not tell his congregants to stop collaborating with law enforcement, but added, "We need from them to show us the same seriousness and honesty in building bridges with the Muslim community."

Chiesa had been asked by Gov. Chris Christie, who appointed him, to look into operations in New Jersey that were part of a widespread NYPD program to collect intelligence on Muslim communities both inside New York and beyond. Undercover officers and informants eavesdropped in Muslim cafes and monitored sermons, even when there was no evidence of a crime. They infiltrated Muslim student groups, videotaped mosque-goers or collected their license plate numbers as they prayed.

The result was that many innocent business owners, students and others were cataloged in police files.

The interstate surveillance efforts, revealed by The Associated Press earlier this year, angered many Muslims and New Jersey officials. Some, like Newark Mayor Cory Booker and the state's top FBI official, criticized the tactics. Others, like Christie, focused more on the fact that the NYPD didn't tell New Jersey exactly what it was up to.

In response, Chiesa launched what he described as a fact-finding review. Further, authorities found that New Jersey has no laws barring outside law enforcement agencies from secretly conducting operations in the state, representatives of the attorney general's office told the AP. However, New York police have agreed to meet with New Jersey law enforcement regularly to discuss counterterrorism intelligence and operations, the attorney general said.

"We remain committed to striking the appropriate balance of ensuring the safety of our citizens through vigilance in fighting terrorism, while not undermining the public's confidence in how we approach that mission," Chiesa said in a written statement.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who had been out of the country earlier Thursday, said he hadn't seen the report. But he said the NYPD had recently held a law enforcement conference at police headquarters and many New Jersey agencies attended it, a testament to the department's overall commitment of working with agencies in other cities.

Muslim leaders said they were told that every instance of NYPD activity in New Jersey had been justified by a lead, but that the attorney general would not provide any details on the nature of any of those leads, saying the fact-finding was ongoing.

Imam Mustafa El-Amin of the Newark-based Masjid Ibrahim said he was concerned that Chiesa refused to explain what leads had been received. With the NYPD compiling a map of every mosque in Newark ? including his ? he said he wanted to know about any problems or potential dangers in his mosque he might be unaware of.

"We understand the need for surveillance and security," said El-Amin, "We just don't appreciate how this was done. We as Muslims feel we were violated, simply because we are Muslims."

Several Muslim leaders at Thursday's meeting said that they did not find the assertion that the NYPD had leads for all their operations in New Jersey credible, adding that efforts to maintain communication between the community and law enforcement would be hurt by the findings that the NYPD had done nothing wrong ? and could keep doing what they have been doing.

"It was basically an, 'FYI, good Thursday afternoon, let it die in the media before the Memorial Day weekend,'" said Mohamed El-Filali, executive director of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, across the Hudson River from New York. If the surveillance of every mosque, burger joint and barbershop targeted was justified, he asked, why were no arrests made?

Aref Assaf of the American Arab Forum said the attorney general made them feel like second-class citizens.

"I said to him it's not only insulting, it's offensive to our sense of justice, that you bring us to Trenton to tell us that you accept as legal and valid the actions of the NYPD, and I will not be surprised if you're issuing an order informing your law enforcement officials that they too can spy on American Muslisms because if it's legal for NYPD, than it must be legal for NJ to do the same."

The Muslim leaders said they would consider all legal options, including renewed appeals for action by the U.S. Justice Department. A federal civil rights lawsuit has also been considered.

The governor was not at the meetings. He was on a visit at the same time to Atlantic City. Asked about the findings, he said: "I have every confidence in Attorney General Chiesa. If that's what he determined, it's good enough for me."

The NYPD has long maintained that its operations were lawful and necessary to keep the city safe. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the NYPD can gather intelligence anywhere in the country it wants and is not required to tell local authorities. NYPD lawyers say they are not bound by jurisdictional lines because they are just collecting intelligence, not making arrests or otherwise acting as police.

Told of New Jersey's findings, Bloomberg's spokesman, Marc La Vorgna, said in a statement: "We've said it time and again, NYPD has kept the city safe and they conduct their work legally."

The attorney general said a directive he issued requires all New Jersey law enforcement agencies to notify the New Jersey State Police Counter-Terrorism Bureau and the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness if they hear of outside departments working in New Jersey. The state agencies will then coordinate with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, of which the NYPD is a member.

Chiesa said he is also establishing a Muslim outreach committee.

Christie, who was the U.S. attorney for the state at the time of the New Jersey surveillance, has said he didn't recall ever being briefed on the NYPD operations. He was one of several state and federal officials who had earlier criticized the NYPD's conduct in New Jersey, accusing the agency of acting like "masters of the universe" by sending agents into his state.

New Jersey's FBI chief, Michael Ward, also has been critical of the NYPD for not conducting the operations within the umbrella of the Joint Terrorism Task Force. He said the actions undermined the bureau's own efforts by sowing distrust of authorities among Muslims and weakened national security.

___

Associated Press writers Matt Apuzzo in Washington and Wayne Parry in Atlantic City contributed to this report.

___

Follow Samantha Henry at http://www.twitter.com/SamanthaHenry

Associated Press

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SB Nation Memorial Day sports memories

We?ve developed a unique email newsletter that delivers the five most interesting Dolphins stories fans are talking about every week. Each email is curated by an SB Nation editor who follows the Dolphins the way you do: as a fan. Catch up and stay on top with one email containing stories worth your time.

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Hardware Startups: Join Us In Hardware Alley At TechCrunch Disrupt NY

tcdisrupt_web-001-5TechCrunch Disrupt is all about shining the spotlight on exciting start-ups. But starting at this year's New York show, we're including hardware startup in the mix. After an initial call over the weekend, spots are filling up quickly, but there is still room for several more. Hardware Alley will run alongside Start-Up Alley on the last day of Disrupt, May 23rd. We're looking for promising hardware startups. Got a disruptive Kickstarter project? An innovative take on beer kegs? Perhaps a modern-day ornithopter. Whatever it is, we want to give you a chance to show it off to the best and brightest in the tech world.

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Twitter app update brings improved discover, search and notifications to iOS and Android

twitter app

It's not like there's any shortage of alternatives, but those sticking with the ooh-ficial Twitter app on iOS and Android woke up to a rather pleasant update today. Briefly, the company's promising improvements to discover, search and notifications, with the new build allowing users to view "Activity" -- described as a "stream of updates that shows which tweets are favorited or retweeted by the people you follow and which accounts those people follow or add to lists." Search has also been made simpler in both programs, with the Connect tab allowing you to start typing the first or last name or username of the person you're looking for and watching autocomplete handle the rest. Finally (and perhaps most importantly), notifications for Interactions are in place, enabling busybodies to know right away when a tweet has been retweeted or favorited. Hit up your market of choice to get the new bytes, or just visit one of the source links below. Your call -- no pressure.

Twitter app update brings improved discover, search and notifications to iOS and Android originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PhoneScoop  |  sourceTwitter, App Store (iTunes), Google Play  | Email this | Comments

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Socialcam Just Added Millions Of New Users, So It Tweaked Its App To Make Them Stick Around

socialcamlogoappSocialcam, the "Instagram for video" iPhone app that spun out of user generated video sharing pioneer Justin.tv last year, has had a pretty crazy past week. A Hacker News post aimed at recruiting engineers for the company said that the app added four million new users over the past weekend alone -- I'm hearing word that Socialcam's total user count has pushed past 10 million -- and the company is part of the most hotly pursued YC classes from an investor standpoint. You'd think that Socialcam's three-person team would be totally overwhelmed. Well, they probably are -- but they're still apparently shipping lots of app updates.

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The Millennium Falcon: Not Just A Piece Of Junk

Quick ? name the coolest spaceships ever to fly across a movie screen. Never mind, I?ll do it: Discovery One. Enterprise. Serenity. But the one that tops the list, the coolest spacecraft by far, is the Millennium Falcon. And because of that, the students of Parkland High School in eastern Pennsylvania are the coolest kids [...]

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Marketing a Business Through Online Advertising - Internet Based ...

Advertising is very important for the smooth running of a business and signage is one form of online advertising. When you start a business or release a new product into the market, no one would know that you are running so and so business or that you are selling so and so product unless if you take them to the public. Therefore you have to count on various advertising strategies for the enhancement of your business, such as web marketing. Some of the methods of advertising are television ads, paper and journal ads, online ads and signage.

Advertisements play a huge part of our lives. As more and more advertisements are coming each day, business people are looking for a individual and effective method of advertisement, such as online advertising, that will reach people fast. In this race, the signage has gained much importance. They are placed on the highways, airport, railway stations, and shopping malls and in most of the public places. The places in which you can see crowd, you can see signage also.

There are three factors of signage: lightless signage, backlit signage and front lit signage and each one can be detailed through web marketing. When you drive in highways or go jogging or walking you can find them shown in different places. This will get into the minds of people and convince them to purchase the product. The backlit signage is a form of advertisement in which the lights are placed at the back. The lights are secured on them so that they are visible even during the dark times of the night. When you place the lights behind them they will look bright and visible. The invisible signage is not visible in the dark and you can see them only during the day time.

The front lit signage is deemed to be the best of all because they light the boards more brightly. The lights are placed either on the top or in the bottom or in both directions. This will make them look as clear as possible even during the night time. As some people go out in the streets after the fall of the day, it is very important to have the signage visible when it?s dark.

The front lit signage is less pricey than back lit signage. If the lights have to be placed on the back, the printing must be done on thin materials. By doing this, the material would permit light to pass through. This material is quite expensive and so front lit signage is more affordable and best of its kind.

fishbat is an online marketing firm that can help you with marketing and social media management. Visit fishbat.com today for more information!

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Country Star Jason Aldean Tweets Video to 7-Year-Old Fan With Brain Cancer

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