Fifteen years ago they toiled in the smoking pit of Ground Zero and other 9/11-sites — and now they have to prove it. Several hundred EMS workers who registered with the city as part of the WTC clean-up effort decades ago are now being told the FDNY can’t confirm their participation. In a letter dated May 12 from the NYC Employees Retirement System, workers were told they had 60 days to get their own proof, such as “log books.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: new york daily news

VIDEO - The Anchorage Police Department today released dashcam footage of a dramatic roadside rescue that took place Sunday on Middlerock Road in East Anchorage. “I thought I was literally going to die," the driver can be heard saying after police and passersby rally to free him from the flaming vehicle.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTUU-TV NBC 2 Anchorage

The Philadelphia Police Department's practice of "scoop-and-run" during last year's Amtrak crash - transporting injured victims to hospitals instead of waiting for ambulances - meant that the injured were unevenly distributed at area hospitals in the hours after the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Philly.com

Cancer is killing firefighters. While research over the past decade has shown that responders have a high risk for developing certain cancers, there’s still no database to determine just how widespread it may be. But that may soon change as members of Congress have introduced a measure to create a National Firefighter Cancer Registry.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firehouse

People who target police, firefighters and other first responders in Louisiana soon could face enhanced penalties when they commit crimes against them — just as they would for targeting someone based on their race, religion or gender. In a swift 33-3 vote, the state Senate on Tuesday gave final approval to a bill that would add cops, firemen and other first responders to the list of protected classes under the state’s hate crime law.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the advocate