** UK mother sentenced to jail time for throwing bottle at paramedic, urinating on public war memorial
** Chicago on hot seat after appeals court says physical fitness testing for female paramedics discriminatory
UNITED KINGDOM NEWS
** An Essex woman who tossed a bottle at a paramedic and urinated on a public war memorial has been handed 7 months in the clink. That is the word from Forces TV (September 20) which said Kelly Martin, 42, let loose with a profane diatribe Tuesday as a judge pronounced sentence. According to the news site, Martin urinated twice on the memorial, with one of the events being caught on video and circulated on the Internet. The first time was in April while Remembrance wreaths still decorated the site, while the second on June 30 was during the commemorations for the 100th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme. The incident with the paramedic occurred the same day and was witnessed by several mothers and young children. Court heard while Martin is a mother of five, she has no fixed address.
UNITED STATES NEWS
** Chicago’s fire department is on the hot seat after being found guilty of using a physical fitness test for hiring female paramedics that was unrelated to job duties. The Chicago Sun Times (Maudlyne Ihejirika/September 19) said that is the opinion handed down by the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals which said the exam was discriminatory against women applicants. According to the newspaper, the decision is in direct opposition to other verdicts in both 2014 and 2015 which said no discrimination took place. City Law Department spokesman Bill McCaffrey said the city stands behind its testing methods. He said lawyers for Chicago would be launching an appeal on the matter.
