Coronado Beach area, Panamá UPCOMING EVENTS:

Coronado Beach, Panamá UPCOMING EVENTS:

Friday September 21
Gringos Go Green at Locos Backyard Grill
The Gorgons with a Latin twist are at Picasso

Saturday September 22
The Coronado Road improvements meeting is taking place in the Alcazar
Live Salsa at Paraiso  On the El Valle road, 3 Ks north of the PanAmerican Highway.

Wednesday September 26
The Playacommunity Mixer will be at Picasso

Story of a Panama Canal hero, Cecil Haynes, R.I.P.

Story of a Panama Canal hero:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOroM9mWycU

Cecil F. Haynes (1913-2012)

Cecil Fitzroy Haynes, 99, uncle of CyberNews Subscribers Eddie and Felicia Myers (Panama), passed away on Sunday, September 16, 2012 at Santa Fe Hospital in Panama City.  Cecil is recorded as the longest working U.S. Federal employee worldwide, having worked for 72 years for the Panama Canal, a former agency of the U.S. Government. He retired on December 31, 2000.  He was a member of Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, a member of the Society of Friends of the West Indian Museum (SAMAAP) and a member of the Masonic Lodge St. Andrew No. 1140, S.C.  Cecil has received several awards, honors by several community and civic organizations and he has been recognized by several Governors of the former Canal Zone, Administrators of the Panama Canal, Presidents of Panama and the United States, Prime Minister of Barbados (2003), the King and Queen of Spain and other international heads of state.  The Panama Canal bestowed one of its highest honors naming a tugboat after him. A celebration of the life of Cecil F. Haynes will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 22 at the Cathedral of Luke in Ancon, Panama City.  Interment will follow in Jardin de Paz Cemetery.  Among survivors are his wife Margarita Haynes (to whom he was married for 72 years); niece Lilia Myers Garcia; nephews Sidney Myers (spouse Carmelita), Franklin Haynes (spouse Ada), Eddie Myers (spouse Felicia) and Rolando Haynes (Aminta); several grand nieces and nephews; and caregivers Carolina Alvarado and Miledis Luciano. 

  

Noticias en TVN-Canal 2

http://www.tvn-2.com/noticias/noticias_detalle.asp?id=88144

Video interview with Cecil Haynes by Voices from our America: http://voicesamerica.library.vanderbilt.edu/VfOA/voices_CHaynes.php

Written interview with Cecil Haynes by Ifeoma NWankwo, Voices from our America:

http://voicesamerica.library.vanderbilt.edu/diglib.php?record=4

The Panama Canal Alumni Association salutes Cecil Haynes:

http://pancanalalumni.com/uploads/NoteworthyPeople-Cecil_F_Haynes.pdf

El Faro, Autoridad del Canal de Panamá:

Cecil Haynes se jubila el 31 de diciembre de 2000, luego de 72 años de servicio al Canal:

http://micanaldepanama.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/elfaro-20010112.pdf

Biografía de Cecil Haynes, Diario La Crítica:

http://www.critica.com.pa/archivo/121799/relatos.html

Diario Día a Día: http://www.diaadia.com.pa/edicion/actual/impacto-interna.php?story_id=40859&edition_id=20120918

http://www.diaadia.com.pa/edicion/actual/ultimas-interna.php?story_id=40802&edition_id=20120917

Diario El Siglo: http://www.elsiglo.com/mensual/2012/09/17/contenido/561463.asp

Diario La Crítica:

 http://www.critica.com.pa/hoy/hoy-interna.php?edition_id=20120917&external_link=muere_trabajador_mas_antiguo_del_canal_de_panama

Panama Canal Tugboat Cecil F. Haynes:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/striderv/4656238524/

Cecil Haynes on You Tube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOroM9mWycU

Nations's (USA) Ports get ready for boost from Panama Canal

Nation's ports get ready for boost from Panama Canal

Published: Sunday, September 16, 2012, 6:30 AM

 By Richard Thompson, The Times-Picayune 
Nearly $14 billion is expected to be spent maintaining and upgrading the nation's ports and inland waterways in the next eight years, but that won't be enough to take full advantage of the soon-to-be-completed widening of the Panama Canal, according to a report released Thursday by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Port officials and others in the shipping industry hope the multibillion dollar project will flood large, coastal ports with containers from ships that are now too large to fit through the waterway, and many have scrambled to raise money for infrastructure improvements.

Ted Jackson / The Times-PicayuneThe new cranes at the Port of New Orleans operate on a 100 foot gauge track, double the older cranes'€™ gauge of 50 feet.

Here in New Orleans, port president and chief executive Gary LaGrange has said that he expects his facilities to see an "incremental growth" from its two new container cranes, and has looked for new public-private partnerships to help raise capital in anticipation of the project.

But between now and 2020, that $14 billion that's slated for investmentneeds to be closer to $30 billion, according to the report. Otherwise, it predicts bad times ahead for consumers, contending that the price of goods will rise, job growth in the port sector will fall and the U.S. will become less competitive in the global market.

The report is part of the society's Failure to Act report, which examines the economic consequences if current investment trends in infrastructure continue.

With the scheduled widening of the Panama Canal expected to be completed by 2015, the average size of container ships is expected to increase, which will require infrastructure upgrades at major U.S. ports and dredging harbors and channels to authorized depths.

The report stresses the role that the ports play in the U.S. economy, estimating that the facilities support about $270 billion in annual U.S. exports and 738,000 jobs.

In a conference call with reporters on Thursday, Andy Herrmann, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, said making up the investment gap would help maintain "a critical link to make international commerce possible," and suggested that the nation's cargo facilities would benefit from a unified investment policy on infrastructure improvements.

He also suggested that money could come from the multibillion-dollar Harbor Maintenance TrustFund, a decades-old cache created by Congress to pay for maintenance work at U.S. ports and harbors.

Jerry Bridges, chairman of the American Association of Ports Authorities and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, said commerce at the ports supports the jobs of more than 13.3 million U.S. workers.

"Those are huge numbers, and we need to prepare," Bridges said. "This is the critical time for port planning and forethought, to make sure that we're compeititive in the world going forward."

Richard Thompson can be reached at rthompson@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3496.

The Panama Canal has sufficient capacity to continue their wor

Panama America News:

The Panama Canal has sufficient capacity to continue their work

16 | 09 | 2012 By Editor / Web

Meanwhile, the ACP said exadministrador be available for this entity needs that requires your help.

Alberto Alemán Zubieta, administrator of the Panama Canal Authority. Photo / Erick Barrios

The exadministrador of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), Alberto Aleman Zubieta, made ​​clear today, Sunday September 16, that the channel is ready to continue with the work taking place and that this entity is planning programs to be extended beyond the period of the ACP administrator now, Jorge Quijano. program in Dialogue Channel 2 , Channel Zubieta said that "we must look at it as a business," and that when he was manager asked who were under his command, to be told who was preparing to take his position. "No one is indispensable in life," said Alemán Zubieta, reiterating that the Channel has "sufficient capacity and quality people", which can lead thework forward "without any problem", for example the expansion project. Meanwhile, the ACP said exadministrador be available for this entity needs that requires your help, however, in their projects is to create a specialized consulting. "I give myself time to think about what I want to do after 16 years of intense work," said Zubieta. 

Weekly Tuesday Smithsonian Seminar Sept 18

Tuesday seminar September 18, 2012 at the Earl S. Tupper Conference Center, Ancon, Panama site of the old Tivoli Guest House.  Announcing the STRI Tuesday afternoon seminar for September 18, 2012 at 4:00 pm in the Earl S. Tupper auditorium:  

Speaker: Jordan Mayor, STRI and NSF International Postdoctoral Fellow

Title:  Using natural abundance stable isotope ratios to understand ecosystem nitrogen cycling in boreal and tropical forests

Abstract:  Plant and ecosystem ecologists are increasingly interested in using stable isotopes as nondestructive tracers that integrate how plants today and in the past have interacted with and responded to their abiotic and biotic environments. Nitrogen isotopes are informative because biological and physical processes alter the ratio of heavy to light nitrogen isotopes (15N:14N) and these effects can be traced along the soil-fungal-plant continuum. A major limitation to many studies using these metrics has been the inability to differentiate underlying causes of 15N variability. My approach has overcome this limitation through the detailed isotopic analysis of individual forms of soil N.

Studying the nitrogen cycle is particularly important as humans have doubled the amount of N in the biosphere and it is limiting net primary productivity and associated carbon balance in many ecosystems. The main themes in ecosystem 15N research will be presented and addressed in four case-studies the author has worked in. These will include highlights from: 1) an Alaskan black spruce forest reliant on ectomycorrhizal fungi for their N sources, 2) a global meta-analysis of fungal isotope patterns to elucidate trophic dynamics, 3) the patterns and processes following 13 years of N and phosphorus treatments in the Gigante Fertilization Experiment, and 4) an isotopic labeling experiment conducted in montane rainforests in western Panama.

Upcoming seminars:  

September 25:  Taegan McMahon, STRI and USF

Disease and amphibian declines:  alternative hosts and possible solutions

October 2:  Egbert Leigh, STRI

The intellectual history of STRI

October 9:  Dave Marvin, University of Michigan

Is elevated CO2 a cause of increasing tropical lianas?

Ministry of Housing and Land Management (Miviot) has disbursed $1,063,707 to Panamanian families

Panama America News:

Miviot loaned more than $1 million

10 | 09 | 2012

To date, the Ministry of Housing and Land Management (Miviot) has disbursed $1,063,707, through the Materials Loan Program, to Panamanian families for construction

Help. The Miviot expects to deliver $ 200 billion in loans. (Archive)

Edith Erika Quiñones (erika.quinones @ epasa.com) / PANAMA AMERICA

To date, the Ministry of Housing and Land Management (Miviot) has disbursed $ 1,063,707, through the Materials Loan Program, to Panamanian families to build their homes.

After five years of being suspended and that in 2009 the project was reactivated in the Ministry has received about 4,000 applications for loans, of which 577 have been granted and left about 116 for delivery in the remainder of 2012.

Roberto Rivera, director of the program, revealed that it would not generate numbers for bestowing this year are about $200,000.

Rivera explained that before approving each loan is made a home visit, both social and technical, to corroborate the information provided by applicants and nationwide annually given track to learn the use of the materials provided.

The requirements to be benefited by this program are: to have a wage income between $300 and $1,000 to the person to work in the public sector, private or informal.

Teachers strike dialogue in Panama

Panama America News:

Meduca resumed dialogue with teachers 

08 | 09 | 2012

With discrepancies in the way they should catch up but the strike continues today the fifth round of dialogue between authorities of the Ministry

Negotiations. (Archive)

Carlos Patterson (carlos.patterson @ epasa.com) / PANAMA AMERICA

With discrepancies in the way they should catch up but the strike continues today with the fifth round of dialogue between authorities of the Ministry of Education and teachers unions.

Andres Rodriguez said today they have several proposals to resolve the issue of payment of lost hours, but it is questionable whether education authorities just keep the concept of using the holiday week for students to recover those hours.

Reported that in some cases had already reached agreements with some schools to increase class time and in other cases teach on Saturdays, but now wants to impose its will Meduca. "We hope to reach an agreement on this issue and respect the provisions agreed upon at the beginning of these talks."

For its part, the Ministry of Education said that it will continue with the talks.