| Perchlorate pact at hand - at last
Rialto and San Bernardino are finally on the cusp of settling their portion of the perchlorate-cleanup lawsuit Rialto filed in 2004. That suit named not just San Bernardino, but the U.S. Department of Defense and some 40 companies that Rialto wants to hold responsible for the perchlorate contamination in its groundwater. The federal lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in October, but if county supervisors approve the settlement that Rialto City Council signed onto last week, the county will no longer be among the defendants. That's good. We hate to see local governments suing each other, pitting one set of taxpayers' money against another in legal fees, instead of working out a suitable accommodation. In this case, far better to spend money on cleaning up the contamination than on dueling lawyers.
Brown sublet may have breached expenses rules
PRIME MINISTER Gordon Brown is facing accusations he has breached Westminster expenses rules after subletting his constituency office to party colleagues. The Scottish MP signed a £1600 "sub-under-lease", which allows Labour activists to use part of his taxpayer-funded office in Kirkcaldy. But Commons rules state MPs "may not sublet accommodation which you lease and pay for out of the allowances". .
Woman's stolen identity not easily restored
Her alleged copycat was finally apprehended in Riverside and brought to Mendocino County this week, but the woman was arrested and booked under Stornetta's maiden name, Siragusa, leaving Stornetta now with a criminal record to undo.
After she was booked, Elvia Avila Gomez admitted she's not really Theresa Siragusa, but it will take a judge's order to clear Stornetta's name from the jail's database.
Gomez, 61, remained in jail on $50,000 bail, listed as Siragusa. The district attorney has charged her with identity theft-related charges and a charge of illegally entering the United States.
Since 2004, Gomez allegedly used Stornetta's identity to obtain credit cards, buy a car, furniture and get $20,000 in medical care following a car accident. She also used it to get a job, leaving Stornetta to deal with the IRS, which sought back taxes from her.
Comparison of linear actuators with pneumatics and hydraulics
Over the past few years the development of electric linear actuators has led to their increasing use in linear motion systems that would formerly have used hydraulics. When deciding whether to use hydraulic or electro-mechanical actuators in a particular application the sole deciding factor is: which best meets the technical and economic demands of the application. Although the features of each application need to be examined individually, the table provided with this article makes clear the several variables that will influence the basic decision and need to be considered when designing a linear motion system. A system for a fully electric powered fork-lift truck is taken as an example. In a growing number of instances, the basic question to be answered when designing a linear motion system is whether to use electro-mechanical actuators or hydraulic.
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