Black Immigrant Daily News

La presidenta ejecutiva de la Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AAA), Doriel Pagán Crespo, hizo entrega el jueves, de la tercera ronda de flota vehicular a distribuirse entre las 5 regiones operacionales de la corporación pública.

“Estas nuevas unidades se integran hoy como parte de las nuevas herramientas de trabajo que ponemos a disposición de nuestra gente con miras a seguir ofreciendo cada día una mejor respuesta en nuestras operaciones”, expresó Pagán Crespo en declaraciones escritas.

Esta tercera ronda de 13 vehículos forma parte de una inversión de 10,945,947 dólares en una nueva y moderna flota. La inversión de estas 13 nuevas unidades es de unos 515,616 dólares en fondos propios de la AAA. Estas se dividen en 11 “pickups” y 2 tuberas que salen hoy al servicio del país.

La funcionaria añadió que, “la entrega de nuevos vehículos no termina aquí, se han entregado 45 unidades y hoy otras 13 adicionales. Aún nos restan unas 83 unidades y equipos que se estima sean entregados para diciembre del año en curso. Pickups, tuberas, camiones tumba y grúas para mantenimiento preventivo, forman parte de las nuevas herramientas de trabajo que entregaremos a nuestros compañeros dentro de la AAA”.

La corporación pública continúa identificando necesidades para seguir actualizando los procesos en todas sus áreas de trabajo. La meta es seguir impactando positivamente toda la infraestructura y operación de la AAA.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

James Caan — the curly-haired tough guy known to movie fans as the hotheaded Sonny Corleone of ‘The Godfather’ and to television audiences as both the dying football player in the classic weeper ‘Brian’s Song’ and the casino boss in ‘Las Vegas’ — has died. He was 82.

His manager Matt DelPiano said he died on Wednesday. No cause was given and Caan’s family, who requests privacy, said that no further details would be released at this time.

Many of his collaborators wrote condolences on Twitter Thursday.

Adam Sandler, who acted with him in ‘Bulletproof’ and ‘That’s My Boy’ wrote that he, “Loved him very much. Always wanted to be like him. So happy I got to know him. Never ever stopped laughing when I was around that man. His movies were best of the best.”

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, left and James Caan as Sonny Corleone in a scene from “The Godfather.” Caan, whose roles included ‘The Godfather,’ ‘Brian’s Song’ and ‘Misery,’ died Wednesday, July 6, 2022, at age 82. (Paramount Pictures via AP)

A football player at Michigan State University and a practical joker on production sets, Caan was a grinning, handsome performer with an athlete’s swagger and muscular build. He managed a long career despite drug problems, outbursts of temper and minor brushes with the law.

Caan had been a favourite of Francis Ford Coppola since the 1960s when Coppola cast him for the lead in ‘Rain People’. He was primed for a featured role in ‘The Godfather’ as Sonny, the No 1 enforcer and eldest son of Mafia boss Vito Corleone.

Sonny Corleone, a violent and reckless man who conducted many killings, met his own end in one of the most jarring movie scenes in history. Racing to find his sister’s husband, Corleone stops at a toll booth that he discovers is unnervingly empty of customers. Before he can escape he is cut down by a seemingly endless fusillade of machine-gun fire. For decades after, he once said, strangers would approach him on the street and jokingly warn him to stay clear of toll roads.

Caan bonded with Brando, Robert Duvall and other cast members and made it a point to get everyone laughing during an otherwise tense production, sometimes dropping his pants and “mooning” a fellow actor or crew member. Despite Coppola’s fears he had made a flop, the 1972 release was an enormous critical and commercial success and brought supporting actor Oscar nominations for Caan, Duvall and Al Pacino.

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows, from left, James Caan as Sonny Corleone, Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone, Al Pacino as Michael Corleone and John Cazale as Fredo Corleone from the 1972 film ‘The Godfather.” Caan, whose roles also included ‘Brian’s Song’ and ‘Misery,’ died Wednesday, July 6, 2022, at age 82. (Paramount Pictures via AP)

Caan was already a star on television, breaking through in the 1971 TV movie ‘Brian’s Song’, an emotional drama about Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo, who had died of cancer the year before at age 26. It was among the most popular and wrenching TV movies in history and Caan and co-star Billy Dee Williams, who played Piccolo’s teammate and best friend Gale Sayers, were nominated for best actor Emmys.

After ‘Brian’s Song’ and ‘The Godfather’, he was one of Hollywood’s busiest actors, appearing in ‘Hide in Plain Sight’ (which he also directed), ‘Funny Lady’ (opposite Barbra Streisand), ‘The Killer Elite’ and Neil Simon’s ‘Chapter Two’, among others. He also made a brief appearance in a flashback sequence in ‘The Godfather, Part II’.

But by the early 1980s he began to sour on films, though Michael Mann’s 1981 neo-noir heist film ‘Thief’, in which he played a professional safecracker looking for a way out, is among his most admired films.

“The fun of it was taken away,” he told an interviewer in 1981. “I’ve done pictures where I’d rather do time. I just walked out of a picture at Paramount. I said you haven’t got enough money to make me go to work every day with a director I don’t like.”

He had begun to struggle with drug use and was devastated by the 1981 leukaemia death of his sister, Barbara, who until then had been a guiding force in his career. For much of the 1980s he made no films, telling people he preferred to coach his son Scott’s Little League games.

Short on cash, Caan was hired by Coppola for the leading role in the 1987 film ‘Gardens of Stone’. The movie, about life at Arlington National Cemetery, proved too grim for most audiences, but it renewed Caan’s acting career.

He returned to full-fledged stardom opposite Kathy Bates in ‘Misery’ in 1990. In the film, based on Stephen King’s novel, Caan is an author taken captive by an obsessed fan who breaks his ankles to keep him from leaving. Bates won an Oscar for the role.

Once again in demand, Caan starred in ‘For the Boys’ with Bette Midler in 1991 as part of a song-and-dance team entertaining US soldiers during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. The following year he played a tongue-in-cheek version of Sonny Corleone in the comedy ‘Honeymoon in Vegas’, tricking Nicolas Cage into betting his girlfriend, Sarah Jessica Parker, in a high-stakes poker game so he can spirit her away and try to persuade her to marry him.

Other later films included ‘Flesh and Bone’, ‘Bottle Rocket’ and ‘Mickey Blue Eyes’. He introduced himself to a new generation playing Walter, the workaholic, stone-faced father of Buddy’s Will Ferrell in ‘Elf’.

Caan didn’t take a starring role in a TV series until 2003 but his first effort, ‘Las Vegas’, was an immediate hit. When the series debuted, he was a casino surveillance chief dealing with cheaters and competitors of the fictional Montecito Resort and Casino.

His character rose to become boss of the Montecito but remained the tough guy who had learned judo in an undercover division of the US government. Caan left the show during the fourth season and it was later cancelled.

Born March 26, 1939, in New York City, Caan was the son of a kosher meat wholesaler. He was a star athlete and class president at Rhodes High School and, after attending Michigan State and Hofstra University, he studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater under Sanford Meisner.

Following a brief stage career, he moved to Hollywood. He made his movie debut in a brief uncredited role in 1963 in Billy Wilder’s ‘Irma La Douce’, then landed a role as a young thug who terrorises Olivia de Havilland in ‘Lady in a Cage’. He also appeared opposite John Wayne and Robert Mitchum in the 1966 Western ‘El Dorado’ and Harrison Ford in the 1968 Western ‘Journey to Shiloh’.

Married and divorced four times, Caan had a daughter, Tara, and sons Scott, Alexander, James and Jacob.

_____

LINDSEY BAHR, Associated Press

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Black Immigrant Daily News

For the first time, driving instructors in Jamaica will have to be certified and their driving schools licensed in order for them to operate on the island.

This is a new activity that will be undertaken by the Island Traffic Authority (ITA) and is contained in the regulations that will govern the new Road Traffic Act.

Transport Minister Audley Shaw outlined the provisions during a debate on the regulations in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Shaw noted that “All the provisions in this part are new, setting out what is required for permission to be granted to provide such services”.

The regulations state that a register of certified instructors and licensed schools will be kept by the Authority.

Exceptions are made for certain circumstances under which certification is not required. Specifically, the requirement for a driving instructor certificate does not apply to a family member or friend teaching an individual to drive free of charge.

The prerequisites for a person who wishes to be certified as a driving instructor include:

-being at least 24 years-old;

-having not less than two years’ licensed driving experience; and

-successful completion of a driving instructor training programme approved by the Authority.

Other considerations include character references, criminal record check and any other security vetting, and medical fitness.

“The Authority has the discretion to certify an applicant or not, based on the information presented and obtained. In the case of refusal, the Authority should advise the applicant of same in writing with reason and notify the applicant of his right under section 44 of the Act to appeal to the Tribunal”.

The certificate is to be valid for five years, but may be suspended or revoked under certain circumstances.

In respect of the licensing of driving schools, a driving school requires:

-a certified driving instructor as an owner, director, or partner;

-adequately equipped building(s) to be used for classrooms; and

-an instructional programme that meets or exceeds the standards established by the ITA.

Additionally, driving instructors and driving schools are required to operate within the stated guidelines, and to keep records as set out in the regulations.

Other requirements include the maintenance of adequate insurance and the operation of safe vehicles. A certificate of completion is to be issued to students, which, under certain circumstances, may qualify the applicant for exemption from aspects of testing by the ITA.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

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The body of a 52-year-old taxi driver was found one day after his birthday at his Cocorite home early on Thursday morning.

Police said relatives of Barry Brent James tried contacting him several times on Wednesday but were unsuccessful and visited his Pitilal Hill, Water Hole, home at around 6.45 am on Thursday.

The relatives noticed the door was open.

On checking, they saw James’ body with gunshot wounds.

St James police went there with a district medical officer who declared him dead.

Newsday visited the Forensic Science Centre, St James, on Thursday and attempted to speak with James’ relatives but they declined.

On Sunday two men Geovani Jones Lashley, 30 and Shemuel Robenson, 21, were also murdered at Pitilal Hill, Cocorite.

Police said they were unclear whether James’ murder was related to that incident.

No motive has been established for the killing.

Homicide Bureau of Investigations Region I police are continuing enquiries.

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