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Philadelphia, Pa

Troubleshooters investigate why some Philadelphia homeowners are getting water shut off

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PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Philadelphia owners are getting notices to interchange their water meters.

Residents say that even after responding and doing every little thing proper, their water is getting turned off.

Three-quarters of the water meters within the metropolis nonetheless should be changed, however the Philadelphia Water Division is already shutting off service for alleged non-compliance with the necessary upgrades. And on the present fee, practically 10,000 owners may get reduce off.

Keiran Rump of Fairmount stated she acted quick when she obtained a discover to interchange her water meter.

“I name them, scheduled, they usually got here out to interchange the meter however had been unable to take action,” she stated.

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Rump stated the technician claimed the area was too small and she or he needed to rent a contractor to chop a gap in her wall.

“And that there was no deadline, particularly given the truth that we had been in a pandemic,” Rump stated.

So she was shocked when her water was shut off a few months later.

“I actually thought I used to be doing every little thing I used to be presupposed to. I obtained the notices within the mail. I made the appointment,” stated Bernadette Pitts of Level Breeze.

Pitts stated nobody confirmed up and when she referred to as. She was instructed her water meter had already been changed.

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“So I took their phrase for it and regarded the matter closed,” she stated.

So she was surprised when her water was shut off a couple of weeks later.

As a result of pandemic, the Philadelphia Water Division (PWD) just isn’t shutting off service for unpaid payments, however they’re turning off plenty of clients for failing to schedule the necessary improve. Up to now about 2%. It could not sound like lots however that equals 2,400 houses to date.

The Troubleshooters requested PWD if they might examine such a customer support.

“Yeah, completely. If somebody calls our customer support line and lets us know that occurs, it is one thing that we examine,” stated spokesman Brian Rademaekers. “The very last thing we ever need to do is shut somebody off. It prices us a whole lot of time. It prices us cash. We need to hold your water flowing.”

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PWD claims buyer satisfaction is definitely very excessive.

“Our meter program has been extraordinarily, extraordinarily in style. We now have 99% of people that have participated, say that they had a wonderful expertise with it,” he stated.

PWD stated usually shut off happens solely after a number of notifications have been despatched out by way of mail, by cellphone, in your invoice and in individual. And on the day of shut-off, you may anticipate to see somebody.

“We’ll truly knock in your door the day that the shutoff is happening and attempt to improve your meter proper then in there,” he stated.

However the Troubleshooters obtained surveillance video from the house of an Motion Information worker. The water is turned off earlier than the technician knocks. And it seems he is on the flawed deal with. PWD stated that’s an uncommon and remoted incident.

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Rump stated town instructed her due to low employees, it might be some time earlier than her water was restored. Then she contacted the Troubleshooters.

“Lo and behold he did have anyone who was on their solution to my home momentarily,” she stated. “He modified the water meter straight away with no drawback, after which turned my water again on.”

In case your water is wrongfully shut off, let the Troubleshooters know and we’ll attempt that will help you.

The Philadelphia Water Division launched this assertion concerning the mistaken shut off on an Motion Information worker:

“This unintended shutoff was the results of human error and we deeply remorse any inconvenience to the client. Water was restored inside about half-hour of our employees being alerted to the error. Unintentional shutoffs are extraordinarily uncommon and never consultant of the expertise for the greater than 120,000 clients upgraded up to now. Any buyer who believes they had been shutoff in error ought to name (215) 685-6300 instantly so the Water Division can examine.

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Shutoffs are at all times the final enforcement possibility used in spite of everything different makes an attempt to resolve points are exhausted. When clients are shutoff for failing to improve their meter, water is restored in lower than 24 hours in roughly 90 p.c of the instances.”

Listing of communications the water division will ship earlier than a shut off:

  • Three messages that can seem in your water invoice
  • 4 letters despatched to your deal with
  • Quite a few cellphone calls to the quantity linked to your account
  • Doorhanger leave-behinds
  • Contractors educated to knock on doorways whereas in your space doing meter upgrades
  • Employees educated to name and knock on doorways on day of shutoff

Copyright © 2022 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.

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Philadelphia, Pa

FDA authorizes first COVID-19 vaccines for preschoolers, infants; CDC review is next

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FDA authorizes first COVID-19 vaccines for preschoolers, infants; CDC review is next
U.S. regulators on Friday licensed the primary COVID-19 pictures for infants and preschoolers, paving the best way for vaccinations to start subsequent week.

The Meals and Drug Administration’s motion follows its advisory panel’s unanimous suggestion for the pictures from Moderna and Pfizer. Which means U.S. children below 5 — roughly 18 million kids — are eligible for the pictures, about 1 1/2 years after the vaccines first grew to become out there within the U.S. for adults, who’ve been hit the toughest in the course of the pandemic.

The FDA additionally licensed Moderna’s vaccine for school-aged youngsters and youths. Pfizer’s pictures had beforehand been the one ones out there for these ages.

There’s one step left: The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention recommends how you can use vaccines and its vaccine advisers are set to debate the pictures for the youngest children Friday and vote on Saturday. A ultimate signoff would come from CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

At a Senate listening to Thursday, Walensky stated her employees was working over the Juneteenth federal vacation weekend “as a result of we perceive the urgency of this for American dad and mom.”

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She stated pediatric deaths from COVID-19 have been larger than what is mostly seen from the flu annually.

“So I really assume we have to shield younger youngsters, in addition to shield everybody with the vaccine and particularly shield elders,” she stated.

For weeks, the Biden administration has been getting ready to roll out the vaccines. States, tribes, group well being facilities and pharmacies preordered tens of millions of doses. FDA’s emergency use authorization permits producers to start transport vaccine throughout the nation. Vaccinations may start as early as Monday or Tuesday.

Some dad and mom have been anxiously awaiting the prospect to guard their little ones.

Whereas younger youngsters usually do not get as sick from COVID-19 as older children and adults, their hospitalizations surged in the course of the omicron wave and FDA’s advisers decided that advantages from vaccination outweighed the minimal dangers. Research from Moderna and Pfizer confirmed unintended effects, together with fever and fatigue, have been largely minor.

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MORE: FDA committee clears the best way for youths 6-17 to get one other COVID vaccine choice in Moderna

The 2 manufacturers use the identical know-how however there are variations.

Pfizer’s vaccine for youths youthful than 5 is one-tenth of the grownup dose. Three pictures are wanted: the primary two given three weeks aside and the final no less than two months later.

Moderna’s is 2 pictures, every 1 / 4 of its grownup dose, given about 4 weeks aside for youths below 6.

The vaccines are for kids as younger as 6 months. Moderna subsequent plans to check its pictures for infants as younger as 3-months-old. Pfizer has not finalized plans for pictures in youthful infants. A dozen nations, together with China, already vaccinate children below 5.

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Dr. Beth Ebel, professor of pediatrics at College of Washington in Seattle, stated the tot-sized vaccines can be particularly welcomed by U.S. dad and mom with youngsters in daycare the place outbreaks can sideline dad and mom from jobs, including to monetary pressure.

“Lots of people are going to be glad and quite a lot of grandparents are going to be glad, too, as a result of we have missed these infants who grew up while you weren’t capable of see them,” Ebel stated.

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AP Medical Writers Laura Ungar and Carla Okay. Johnson contributed.

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The Related Press Well being and Science Division receives assist from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Division of Science Training. The AP is solely liable for all content material.

Copyright © 2022 by The Related Press. All Rights Reserved.

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Philadelphia, Pa

Amazon Prime announces 2022 Prime Day dates

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Amazon Prime announces 2022 Prime Day dates
Amazon’s Prime Day income event will be presented on July 12 plus 13, the company claimed Thursday.

Last year’s income spectacular, which returned to be able to its usual summer set, was the biggest two-day sales period for thirdparty sellers in the carrier’s history.

Online spending over the event surpassed $11 thousand, a 6.1% raise compared to Prime Moment 2020, which was presented in October, as outlined by Flag Analytics.

The event commences at 3 am OU on July 12 plus continues for 48 a long time spanning several countries, which includes for the first time frame Poland and Sweden.

Discounts are offered on electronic devices, toys, home goods plus clothing among other things.

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“With the small corporations and national brands all of our members love and have confidence in, we’re excited to present a few of our best Leading Day deals yet to be able to even more customers all around the world,” Jamil Ghani, vice president connected with Amazon Prime, said throughout a press release.

Amazon holds the event every year to construct loyalty having its Prime subscribers plus hook new shoppers straight into the program.

Prime Moment, which has taken position since 2015, accounts with regard to roughly 1% to 2% of Amazon’s annual income, analysts say.

Sales throughout the Prime Day celebration expand beyond Amazon likewise. Rivals including Walmart, Concentrate on, Best Buy and Macy’s also hold sales connected with their own to utilize on the surge throughout online traffic driven by simply Prime Day shoppers.

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Philadelphia, Pa

Revlon files for bankruptcy protection amid heavy debt load

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Revlon files for bankruptcy protection amid heavy debt load
NEW YORK — Revlon, a cosmetics maker that broke racial limitations and dictated magnificence tendencies for a lot of the final century, has filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety.

The corporate has been a mainstay on retailer cabinets since its founding 90 years in the past in New York Metropolis because it oversaw a steady of family names, from Almay to Elizabeth Arden.

Revlon did not hold tempo with altering tastes, nevertheless, gradual to comply with ladies as they traded flashy purple lipstick for extra muted tones within the Nineties.

Along with shedding market share to massive rivals like Procter & Gamble, newcomer beauty traces from Kylie Jenner and different celebrities efficiently capitalized on the large social media following of the well-known faces that fronted the merchandise.

Already weighed down by rising debt, Revlon’s issues solely intensified with the pandemic as lipstick gave option to a brand new period in style, this one that includes medical-grade masks.

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Gross sales dropped 21% in 2020, the primary 12 months of the pandemic, although these gross sales rebounded 9.2% in its most up-to-date reporting 12 months with vaccines widespread. Within the newest quarter that led to March, gross sales rose practically 8%, however nonetheless lag pre-pandemic ranges in extra of $2.4 billion a 12 months.

The worldwide provide chain disruptions which are hobbling a whole bunch of worldwide corporations in current months had been an excessive amount of for Revlon, which barely escaped chapter in late 2020 by persuading bondholders to increase its maturing debt.

There could also be extra company restructurings within the client merchandise sector forward with the specter of an financial recession and the rising prices of borrowing cash.

Revlon mentioned Thursday that upon courtroom approval, it expects to obtain $575 million in financing from its present lenders, which is able to enable it to maintain its day-to-day operations operating.

“Right now’s submitting will enable Revlon to supply our customers the long-lasting merchandise now we have delivered for many years, whereas offering a clearer path for our future progress,” mentioned Debra Perelman, who was named Revlon president and CEO in 2018.

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Her father, billionaire Ron Perelman, backs the corporate by means of MacAndrews & Forbes, which acquired the enterprise by means of a hostile takeover within the late Nineteen Eighties. Revlon went public in 1996.

Perelman mentioned that demand for its merchandise stay robust, however its “difficult capital construction” provided restricted capacity to navigate.

Throughout its heyday within the twentieth century, Revlon trailed solely Avon in gross sales. It now holds the twenty second spot amongst cosmetics makers, in keeping with a current rating by style commerce journal WWD.

Revlon grew to become the primary magnificence firm to characteristic a Black mannequin in 1970, Naomi Sims. Within the Nineteen Eighties, the corporate energized the cosmetics business by placing each well-known and yet-to-be-discovered fashions like Iman, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington entrance and middle, promising to make all ladies “unforgettable.”

Perelman, in an interview with The Related Press late final 12 months earlier than international provide chains locked up, mentioned she was optimistic in regards to the future. The corporate doubled-down in the course of the pandemic to get extra on-line with companies like one-on-one digital consultations by means of its Elizabeth Arden line, she mentioned.

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Perelman additionally mentioned that the corporate was studying from superstar launches to be extra nimble and that Revlon had regained market share.

None of Revlon’s worldwide working subsidiaries are included within the proceedings, apart from Canada and the UK. The submitting was made within the U.S. Chapter Court docket for the Southern District of New York,

The corporate listed property and liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion, in keeping with its chapter submitting.

Copyright © 2022 by The Related Press. All Rights Reserved.

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