The Supreme Court kicks off the new year Monday seemingly poised to deal a major blow to the nation's public employee unions by wiping out, or at least weakening, a legal precedent that dates back nearly four decades. If the justices' recent rulings against organized labor are any guide, a deeply divided court is likely to make it harder for unions representing teachers, police and firefighters, and other government workers to collect fees from non-members.
- PUB DATE: 1/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: usa today

One San Diego firefighter was paid $210,500 in overtime alone in 2014, according to newly released figures about local government payrolls. That‘s more than the annual salary of the FBI director, at $178,700, and the U.S. Attorney General, at $199,000. Kyle Kutzke, 34, who’s listed as a firefighter 2 for San Diego, was paid that amount on top of $26,700 in base pay, according to data the city comptroller submitted to the open government group Transparent California and the State Controller’s Office.
- PUB DATE: 1/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the san diego union-tribune

PHOTO - A firefighter was reprimanded and two superiors reassigned after a depiction of a Jacksonville firefighter as a terrorist was posted on a fire station computer and left there for a week. The image, though described as a joke between two firefighters, was deemed offensive and insensitive and should never have been posted, let alone left for a week in December, said Fire Chief Kurtis Wilson.
- PUB DATE: 1/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the Florida times-union

A Detroit firefighter is in stable but serious condition at Detroit Receiving Hospital after he was overcome by smoke while responding to a commercial building fire on the west side Saturday night. Firefighters were called to the three-alarm fire at the building on Michigan Avenue and Martin Street just before 7:30 p.
- PUB DATE: 1/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WXYZ-TV ABC Detroit

A municipal court judge ordered a Margate firefighter to surrender his public employment following his conviction last month for shoplifting $7.98 in items, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office announced Friday. The prosecutor's office handled the conviction of Ashton Funk, 34, and was also pushing for the forfeiture of his job as a firefighter and as a lifeguard, also for the city of Margate.
- PUB DATE: 1/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Newark Star-Ledger/NJ.com