Mayor Patrick Madden was looking to cut the proposed 28.2 percent property tax increase as the City Council reviewed the proposed 2017 budgets for the fire and police departments Tuesday night. The two departments account for nearly half of the city's tentative $72.3 million budget, drawing the council's attention particularly on overtime costs.
- PUB DATE: 10/26/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Times Union

VIDEO - An Albany Firefighter earned the department's highest honor after saving a fellow worker's life. Tawanna Maples was honored as the Albany Firefighter of the Year at Tuesday night's city commission meeting. In June, she quickly administered the Heimlich maneuver when another firefighter began chocking at a firehouse.
- PUB DATE: 10/26/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTOC-TV CBS 11 Savannah

Two Contra Costa firefighters and their companions were arrested early Sunday morning in a hotel room after a drunken attack that injured two Walnut Creek police officers, police said Tuesday. The melee happened around 5 a.m., just hours after the Second Annual Firefighters Ball at the Marriott Walnut Creek hotel had ended.
- PUB DATE: 10/26/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times

Switzerland is easing an alcohol ban for volunteer firefighters and other emergency workers using heavy vehicles, saying it had led to staffing shortages when crises demanded quick action, especially in smaller towns lacking professional personnel. Starting on Jan. 1, slightly tipsy volunteer firefighters and off-duty members of so-called professional "blue light" organizations responding to urgent situations will be no longer face punishment - provided their blood-alcohol level does not exceed 0.
- PUB DATE: 10/26/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Reuters.com

New disciplinary actions issued at the Austin Fire Department last week have brought the total of fire personnel who were suspended over traffic incidents this month to 16, a number the union president described as part of an “over-punishing environment” at the department. Each suspension has been for only a matter of hours.
- PUB DATE: 10/26/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Austin American-Statesman