New York (dailygazette) – A State Street business owner and his son were accused Wednesday of running a food stamp fraud racket that bilked the programme out of an estimated $500,000 over three years.Vishnunarine SinghVishnunarine Singh and his son, Elvin, were among 23 people arrested in a sweep that included 21 food stamp recipients,Cheap NFL Jerseys 2018, all connected to Cheese Bakery and Grocery at 1007 State St. Cheese Bakery and Grocery, is named for Vishnunarine Singh, and nicknamed Cheese.The elder Singh, of Ozone Park, Queens, faces felony counts of second-degree grand larceny, misuse of food stamps and first-degree falsifying business records. Elvin Singh, of Schenectady, faces three felony counts of first-degree falsifying business records and three misdemeanor counts of misuse of food stamps. Both men were to be held overnight and appear in City Court this morning.Schenectady County District Attorney, Robert Carney, on Wednesday described as staggering, the volume of fraudulent business being done by the small store.“We hope that we can make an example of them so that we can deter this conduct,” Carney said. “There are people who need food, need these benefits. When this kind of fraud occurs, it damages the entire programme. It hurts the ability to help the truly needy.”So many recipients were involved, prosecutors said,Wholesale Jerseys China, those arrests were limited to people with three or more fraudulent transactions of more than $100 each. The rest of the recipients implicated have been referred for programme sanctions that could include the loss of their food stamp privileges,Cheap NFL Jerseys, officials said. More arrests are possible.Authorities said that the scam involved food stamp recipients presenting their Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, with the owner or his son debiting it for an amount,Cheap Adidas Hockey Jerseys, usually $100 or more,Cheap NFL Jerseys, then giving the recipient half the amount in cash and the store keeping the other half. Little or no goods would actually be purchased in the transactions, authorities said.Despite the arrests, the business remained open late Wednesday afternoon. Employees declined comment, however, referring questions to the owner.The arrests were the result of a six-month investigation by the Schenectady Police Department, Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office, Schenectady County Department of Social Services and United States Department of Agriculture.The programme allegedly defrauded was the USDA’s Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Programme. City Police Chief Brian Kilcullen noted the purpose of the programme is to help the needy purchase food.“Instead,” Kilcullen said, “cash was obtained and potentially used for purposes entirely contrary to the purpose of the programme. The cost of the abuse is staggering.”Elvin SinghAssistant Schenectady County District Attorney Katie McCutcheon estimated that in recent months the store rang up between $50,000 and $75,000 each month in food stamp transactions. By comparison, other stores of similar size in the area usually do between $5,000 and $8,000 per month in such sales.Food stamp records, as well as information from community sources, helped alert investigators to the scam, McCutcheon said.“It was a high, high volume of transactions, well exceeding anything we would expect for the area,” McCutcheon said.Also assisting in the operation was the Schenectady County Probation Department and Child Protective Services and the state Division of Parole,Cheap NFL Jerseys 2016, Department of Taxation and Finance, Department of Financial Services and Office of Temporary Disability Assistance.Authorities specifically cited work done by social services investigator Keith Feldman and city police Detectives Jeffrey Pardi and Paul Steele.

…One fewer than previous yearBy Jeanna PearsonWith one case short of 2014’s maternal mortality rate, it looks like Guyana might have missed its goal to reduce maternal deaths by three-quarters between the years 1990 and 2015.As of December 30, Guyana had recorded 17 maternal deaths, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Shamdeo Persaud revealed.He said that the Public Health Ministry was still gathering data and as such a few cases were still under investigation by a committee to determine whether they were either a direct or indirect pregnancy-related cause.In 2000, a total of 189 world leaders met at the United Nations (UN) Millennium Summit and accepted the Millennium Declaration. It was there they agreed to the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are intended to overcome poverty and other related targets. One of those goals was to improve maternal health and reduce it by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015.So far,Wholesale NFL Jerseys China, the maternal mortality ratio has decreased from 270 per cent in 1990 to 86 per cent in 2012. Therefore, in order to achieve its target,Cheap Jerseys 2018, Guyana would have had to reduce its maternal mortality rate to 67.5 percent by the end of 2015.Public Health Minister, George Norton, stated that while he is saddened that Guyana was unable to meet the millennium goal, the Ministry will still continue to tackle the issue and bring it down to the lowest in the Caribbean.“We made a commitment in our campaign trail to have maternity mortality rates reduced and we uphold that,” he said, adding that the majority of maternal death cases were pointing directly to the negligence of health care professionals.“We have recognized that we have a real problem on our hands and we have decided to tackle it by taking a multi-sectoral approach,” he said, noting that the ministry plans to improve the physical conditions of maternity facilities, especially at the Georgetown Public Hospital.He stated that he was not satisfied with the response of the health care practitioners,Soccer Jerseys Cheap, highlighting that it was brought to his attention that some doctors were more “concerned about changing over shift than tending to mothers”.‘I want the doctors to be more involved. They are negligent and I will not hide that fact. I’m hearing talks that I’m micro-managing everything, but if that’s what it will take to stop mothers from dying and dropping the maternal mortality rate, so be it,Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys China,” he added.He said that he is aiming to have doctors in the delivery room at all times, instead of just the midwives and nurses. He noted further that he will hold every nurse or doctor accountable once they are found being slack.“They will be investigated and sanctioned. I’m not satisfied with them being sent on leave or six months suspension. That is not enough for the life of a mother and her child…instead of me sending back the report to the medical council for a lesser sanction, like it was done in the past, I will do the contrary and send it to the medical council for a higher sanction.”Persaud stated that the major causes of maternal deaths this year were haemorrhaging and shock, pregnancy-induced hypertension and septic abortion.Last January, 19 year-old Marina Persaud, of Golden Grove, died of an intestinal rupture after delivering her baby on Christmas Day. It was her first child. Three months later a 22-year-old woman died on Good Friday during a botched abortion at a bottom house clinic.A month later, another young woman died after delivering her first child by caesarean-section at the Suddie Hospital.? This was 20 year-old Yonette Williams-Grey.? She died after undergoing an emergency C-section. She was 38 weeks pregnant when she was rushed to the hospital. She was suffering from Eclampsia, which was pregnancy induced hypertension.Her family had recalled her complaining of severe abdominal pains before she started vomiting. On her way to the hospital she went into a seizure.Her family claimed that there was no first aid treatment or oxygen administered to Grey. She was sent immediately for the emergency c-section. After the surgery she was placed on life-support and her baby was saved.Akeisa Richardson was another young mother who died several days after giving birth. She died at the Georgetown Public Hospital where she was patient in the intensive care unit. The hospital had stated that she had begun experiencing seizures shortly after labour.Recently, a United Nations (UN) report revealed that Guyana was among five countries in the region with the highest Maternal Mortality Rate and among six nations where the incidence had amplified notably between 1990 and 2013.Seventeen-year-old Nikacia Allen died in October at the Ge

A deafening silence has greeted enquiries about the vicious assault on a senior Guyana Power and Light official outside the power company’s Head Office on Main Street on Tuesday night.This newspaper was reliably informed that the company’s Finance Director, Aeshwar Deonarine,Cheap NFL Jerseys, was attacked and beaten by two cutlass-wielding men as he was about to enter his car which was parked about 50 metres from the GPL Main Street entrance.The official sustained injuries to his hand which was in a sling yesterday.Aeshwar DeonarineWhile no motive for the assault has been clearly established,China NBA Jerseys, one report is that it was an attempted robbery. Another theory suggests that the attack may be linked to the recent award of a multi-million dollar contract for the provision of the pre-paid meters for the power company.Kaieteur News understands that Deonarine left the compound just around 20:00 hours and made his way to his Toyota Mark 2 which was parked about 50 yards from the GPL gate.As he approached the vehicle two men appeared and started to beat him about his body with cutlasses.The official reportedly shouted for help,Cheap Soccer Jerseys, hoping that the security guards in the GPL compound would respond.But the guards reportedly claimed that they did not hear the alarm. It was only the approaching presidential convoy,Cheap NFL Jerseys, which had just left State House that forced the attackers to flee.Nothing was reportedly stolen from Deonarine.However, the official did not return to the GPL guard hut to report the incident nor has he reported it to the police.This newspaper contacted the power company and no one could confirm or deny the attack.Staff members who spoke to this newspaper said that they were only hearing whispers about the incident although,Sale NFL Jerseys, they had seen the official wearing a sling across his shoulder.

Government has started discussions on a National Housing Policy which will, among other things, seek to regulate the way contractors operate,Wholesale China Jerseys, and the quality of building materials.On Friday, a draft document of the proposed guidelines was the centre of discussions? during a session at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC), Liliendaal, which saw representatives of Government Ministries, agencies, and the private and banking sectors among others, putting forward suggestions and ideas.Chief Executive Officer of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) Myrna Pitt and Dr. Coby Frimpong,China Adidas Hockey Jerseys, had assisted with drafting the policy.A new housing policy is in the worksHousing Minister Irfaan Ali noted that the policy is not an assessment that will be done but an implementation tool that will overtime be monitored.The intention, he said, is to “implement the policy and all its recommendations so that the housing sector can be protected and sustained and continue to grow.”A copy was presented to the stakeholders a few weeks prior to the hosting of the session to ensure their full appraisal and participation. Minister Ali explained that this was in line with the CPHA principle of allowing for “transparency, openness and consultative mechanism through which to advance the housing programme in Guyana.”The draft document contains proposals for application for areas of constraints in the housing development in Guyana.“Macro economics and housing, demographic and housing trends,Wholesale Jerseys From China, land management and marketing in Guyana, housing subsidies and the construction sector with emphasis on standards, building codes and quality of building materials are central among the issues the document seeks to provide guidelines for addressing.”According to Ali, housing has a significant impact on the economy.He alluded to the US situation. As the most powerful economy in the world,Wholesale NFL Jerseys China, the US economy was driven by the housing sector and was destroyed by the housing sector. That is an important lesson for developing countries like Guyana, Ali said.Guyana’s housing programme has been having much success and more and more investors are seeking to get involved in the programme. He cautioned, however, “We have to be very guarded, as to how we continue the growth and development of this sector, the areas in which we focus and the various macro economics and fiscal policies that govern the development of this sector.”The CHPA has over the years, in a major way,Wholesale Jerseys China, pushed Guyana’s housing programmes with unprecedented successes. The National Housing Policy is part of the CHPA’s aim of giving clear policy directions to future development of the housing in Guyana, Government has said.In recent years, housing has been playing a major role with large swaths of land becoming available on the coastlands and even in the hinterlands.There has been an adjustment for lower mortgage rates which has also allowed to hundreds thousands of new home owners to benefit. Spinoffs like hardware supplies,Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping, transportation and a demand for contractors and labourers have been but a part of the benefits. (Leonard Gildarie)