YELLVILLE — The sponsor of a northern Arkansas festival during which live turkeys are dropped from an airplane says it will no longer promote the event. The Yellville Chamber of Commerce said Friday that while its goal is to promote local businesses, the Turkey Trot festival has become detrimental to them. It's not yet known whether the event will continue under a different sponsor. Yellville has held the festival for 72 years, billing the second weekend of October as a homecoming event for the town. The tradition of a "Phantom Pilot" dropping live birds to crowds below began 50 years ago. Complaints that the turkey drop amounts to animal abuse have grown in recent years. The Federal Aviation Administration has investigated but says it has found no reason to intervene. … [Read more...] about Arkansas festival in which live turkeys tossed out of plane no longer has sponsor
Turkey
NRC to issue license for two new reactors at Turkey Point
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said yes to two new nuclear reactors for Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point site near Homestead. Since 2009, Juno Beach-based FPL has sought an operating license from the NRC for the proposed 2,200-megawatt Turkey Point 6 and 7 reactors which could cost as much as $21.8 billion. If the reactors are built, it would be no sooner than 2031, at the same facility where FPL already has two operating reactors overlooking Biscayne Bay south of Miami. REACTORS RECEIVED ENVIRONMENTAL OKAY IN 2016 The NRC said Thursday it has authorized its staff to issue Combined Licenses for the reactors which would be the first built in Florida in decades. The licenses grant FPL permission to build and operate two AP1000 reactors at the site. FPL spokesman Peter Robbins said the actual license is anticipated this month. “It has been nine years. We are very pleased,” Robbins said. “We felt this was an important thing for our … [Read more...] about NRC to issue license for two new reactors at Turkey Point
Expert: FPL’s Turkey Point pollution fix will take 60 years
Florida Power & Light’s cleanup of polluted water seeping from its Turkey Point nuclear plant’s cooling canals will take more than 60 years, not five or 10 years as the company has stated, a hydrologist said Thursday. Customers of Juno Beach-based FPL are paying $200 million to draw back a plume that is saltier than seawater that is contaminating the Biscayne Aquifer. The aquifer is the sole source of drinking water for 3 million people, including Palm Beach County Utilities’ customers. LEARN MORE ABOUT THE COOLING CANALS HERE The underground plume has spread 5 miles west of the two-reactor plant that overlooks Biscayne Bay about 25 miles south of Miami and also is contaminating Biscayne National Park. William Nuttle, a consultant for advocacy group The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said that FPL is pumping 14 million gallons a day from beneath the cooling canals, but that 9 million gallons a day continues leaking from the canals. The net recovery is … [Read more...] about Expert: FPL’s Turkey Point pollution fix will take 60 years
Turkey backtracks on terror financing charge against German companies
As relations between Berlin and Ankara plumbed new depths, a spokesman for the German interior ministry said his Turkish counterpart had contacted him about the allegations levelled against nearly 700 German firms including giants Daimler and BASF. The spokesman, Tobias Plate, said Berlin had been told that the list of companies with Turkish operations being investigated for "financing of terrorism" lodged with Interpol in May had been withdrawn, saying the suspicion had been based on a "communication problem". The Turkish interior minister "assured us that the Turkish authorities were not investigating companies on the list in Turkey or in Germany," he said. German newspaper Die Zeit reported last week that Turkey had handed Germany a list of 68 companies and individuals suspected of links to terror due to alleged contacts with the group of the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed for Turkey's failed coup last year. Gulen denies the charge. Die Zeit said the companies … [Read more...] about Turkey backtracks on terror financing charge against German companies
Novartis drug firm faces Turkey bribe probe
A building at Novartis's campus in Basel, Switzerland. Photo: Novartis Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into alleged corruption by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, the Anatolia news agency said on Friday. The probe follows reports in the Turkish press which alleged Novartis paid bribes of $85 million (75 million euros) via a consulting company to representatives of the Turkish health ministry in order to "unfairly acquire a market share". Contacted by AFP, Novartis said it had no comment on the report. But it said a previous probe into Novartis in Turkey, sparked by a complaint by a whistleblower, was dropped by Turkish authorities after Novartis's own internal investigation in 2014 found no wrongdoing. The drugmaker said last week it had reached a deal with US authorities to pay $25 million (22.4 million euros) to settle claims that its Chinese units bribed healthcare professionals to boost sales. And the US last year fined the group $390 million for … [Read more...] about Novartis drug firm faces Turkey bribe probe