News Briefs

Energy company faces backlash from community with environmental concerns

Quasar Energy Group's request to house and spread its chemical known as "equate" in Niagara County raised concerns of citizen in towns Lewiston and Wheatfield following a town board meeting on Monday, according to The Buffalo News.

Many protested the storage of the nitrogen-concentrated chemical and said it could damage the farming industry and water sources of the region.

Some citizens who are against the company's actions cited the infamous Love Canal environmental catastrophe that occurred in Niagara Falls in 1978. Others argued that without the storage unit, the business would leave the region.

Quasar Energy Group makes methane gas from sewage treatment and food waste and generates energy using an electricity turbine - called an anaerobic digester. The site is located in Wheatfield and debuted last year.

The Department of Environmental Conservation has already granted the company permission to inject in 10 Niagara County locations. Local municipalities, however, are still objecting to the storage of the material.

Although towns do not have jurisdiction over the farmers' use of materials - which the Department of Environmental Conservation has - planning boards are able to decide whether Quasar Energy Group can build the storage unit.

"I think it's fairly safe to say we're not going to allow a building that has any chance of leaking over the next 50 years," Supervisor Robert Cliffe told The News.

A group called "Lewiston Against Lagoons" came to the meeting to protest the waste product and vowed to continue. William Kraft, the spokesperson for the organization, said equate violated town waste law, according to The News.

"We do have laws in our town because we are environmentally sensitive in our town because of all the landfills we are dealing with," Kraft said.

Boston plans to increase security measures at April marathon

One year following the deadly attacks at the Boston Marathon, the city is heightening its security measures for its 118th race, according to The New York Times.

The race is estimated to bring in over 1 million spectators April 21 and close to 36,000 runners - hitting capacity for the running course. The influx of participants and viewers is partly a result of people going out in reverence of the victims of the last year's bombings, which killed three and injured 260 people.

More than 3,500 police officers will patrol the event, the majority located at Boylston Street at the finish line and where the two bombs went off last year. This is double the amount of officers than last year.

Attendees are being asked to carry few items with them and use transparent bags in order to increase surveillance speeds. Boston and other major cities, including New York City and London, discussed security measurers to create a decisive plan. Assistant Special Agent for the Boston FBI Kieran Ramsey said extra efforts must be made to plan for the event accordingly.

"We have to get this right 110 percent of the time; the bad guys only have to get lucky once," Ramsey said to The Times.

A memorial is scheduled for April 15 to honor the families and victims of the bombings.

Search for missing Malaysian jet continues

Global search efforts continue to search for the jet that disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China Saturday. The flight was carrying 239 people, according to NPR.

Officials say the cause for the disappearance is still unknown.Concerns for terrorism heightened after it was reported two male passengers had gotten on the plane with stolen passports. Both Iranian men are suspected to be European immigrants.

Countries around the world, including the United States, New Zealand and Vietnam, have been searching the surroundings of the Malaysian peninsula for the missing jet.

Malaysian police said the reasoning behind the plane's displacement could be "hijacking, sabotage, personal problems among the crew and passengers and psychological problems among the crew and passengers."

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