Passed in the 1992, the law requires public employers to negotiate contracts with workers who are legally unionized. The statute contains a sunset provision of July 1, 1999. The recent session of the legislature twice voted to extend the law until 2005 but Governor Johnson vetoed the proposals. When the legislature met in special session, the lawmakers once again included the extension in the proposed state budget. Johnson vetoed the extension.

The lawsuit is based on a claim by state employees that they were at impasse in negotiations

Prior to the law's enactment, New Mexico operated under a system of permissive bargaining. Labor contracts existed in a half-dozen cities and a few counties. Other local governmental entities simply refused to bargain with employee unions. If the litigation fails, presumably contracts currently in force would remain valid but state and local governments would no longer be obligated to negotiate future contracts.

"There has been great progress in reducing the number of U.S. on-duty fire fighter fatalities, but that progress isn't always steady," says Rita Fahy, NFPA manager of fire databases and systems and a co-author of the report. "We've seen the number of

NFPA's report shows that the annual number of fatal on-duty heart attacks has dropped by more than a third since 1977 (when NFPA began tracking on-duty fire fighter fatalities), but heart attacks still account for 40 to 50 percent of the deaths each year.

Vehicle crashes comprise the other major category of fire fighter fatalities, with 17 deaths in 1998. The report says that vehicle crashes have accounted for 13 percent of all fire fighter deaths over the past 10 years. "Unlike heart attacks, vehicle crashes have not shown any significant decrease in fatalities over the last ten years, and yet so often these deaths are preventable," says Dr. John Hall, NFPA's assistant vice president of fire analysis and research. Some of the most commonly reported factors in the fatal vehicle crashes cited in the report are exceeding the speed limit, driving too fast for

Of the 35 deaths not involving heart attacks or vehicle crashes, 22 fire fighters were fatally injured at the scene of fires, and 16 of those 22 deaths occurred inside or on the roofs of burning buildings. The causes of death in those cases included asphyxiation, burns, and crushing injuries. NFPA has tracked and analyzed U.S. on-duty fire fighter fatalities for more than 20 years. The report is updated annually, and will appear in its entirety in the July/August issue of NFPA's member magazine, NFPA Journal.

The first ambulance was dispatched to the wrong location and ten minutes passed before dispatchers discovered the error. When police called a second time, the dispatcher missed the correct address, failed to verbally repeat it, and did not order a change in the ambulance's destination. Medical personnel subsequently concluded that a more rapid response would not have saved the life of officer Troy Blando.

The dispatcher who handled the original call for assistance, Fire Captain Donald Clark, claimed

Clark told city investigators that he and Tyra had been on opposite sides of union issues in the past. He said he believed the Fire Chief was trying to punish him when he was originally transferred to dispatch.

In suspending Chief Tyra, Mayor Lee P. Brown said the chief violated no department policies in the actions involving Clark's condition but exercised poor judgment in allowing an individual with a possible hearing impairment to remain assigned to dispatch. Brown said that Tyra's job performance to date kept him from receiving a stiffer

Clark and the second dispatcher, David Whittington, were found to have violated department procedures in not verifying the location where the ambulance was to be sent. Clark has received a 15-

Tyra served several terms as president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, IAFF, AFL-CIO, prior to being named Fire Chief just over a year ago.

A special review conducted by outside counsel hired by the union's executive committee found that Santangelo, without authorization, had applied for a business credit card which he used for his own expenses. Additionally, the veteran union

In a written statement to investigators, Santangelo contended that at the time he completed the application he had a personal need for a line of credit and that he paid the monthly bill with his own money.

"I want to emphasize to you, that in neither case described above, was there any use of union funds or payment made out of the union treasury," Santangelo told the Boston Globe newspaper. "Anyone who states or insinuates otherwise is either mistaken or lying."

Fans of Springsteen had lined up in front of a Ticketmaster outlet, hoping for a chance to purchase tickets for one of the New Jersey native's 15 shows to be held this summer. More than 300,000 tickets to the various concerts were subsequently sold within hours of being put on sale, a concert industry record. 

Reportedly, minutes before the tickets went on sale a fire engine pulled up and D'Alise and three other fire fighters went inside the building.

D'Alise reportedly told investigators that he was the only one to purchase tickets, at a cost of $67.50 each. The other crew members received no disciplinary action. An officer of the local fire fighters' union suggested that D'Alise's punishment was excessive and not in the best interest of the department because the rescue unit was reduced to only two captains by the action. 

By the way, D'Alise was required to give the tickets to the city, which will probably donate them to charity.

Cases of interest

HELD: Before a governmental agency deprives an individual of liberty or property, it must provide that individual with the procedural due process guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. A person has a property interest in his job if he has a legitimate expectation of continued employment. To show that he has a legitimate expectation of continued employment, an individual must point to a specific ordinance, state law, contract, or understanding limiting the ability of the employer to discharge him. Illinois statute provides fire fighters with a property interest in their job. However, the statute does not apply to probationary employees. Ertl admits that he was a probationary employee, and therefore, the statute does not afford him protection. However, a municipality may afford greater protection to probationary employees than is required by state law. Ertl asserts that he has a property interest in his job based on the collective bargaining agreement between the city and the fire fighters' union. He specifically points to two provisions of the contract. One states that new

HELD: Under Iowa law, an accidental disability benefit is greater in amount paid than an award of ordinary disability. To receive an accidental disability benefit, however, a fire fighter must be permanently incapacitated for duty as a result of an injury that occurred "by the actual performance of duty at some definite time and place." The question presented in this case is whether a cumulative, progressing injury or an aggravation of a condition not caused by some specific incident entitles a disabled fire fighter to accidental disability retirement benefits. While the general rule is that laws creating pension rights are to be liberally construed to promote their legislative purpose and objective, a court is not free to ignore the plain language of a statute or consider what should be provided. A review of the relevant law shows it to be clear and unambiguous. The statute plainly requires that a member's incapacitating disability be attributable to a specific event or incident in order to qualify for accidental disability retirement. The court must enforce the language of the statute as written. Branson's disability is not attributable to any specific incident or event. The legislature has chosen to make the requirements for accidental disability retirement benefits more stringent than those required for ordinary disability benefits. The most obvious rationale is that the legislature recognizes that fire fighters endure an extraordinary amount of stress upon their body, which accumulates as they age. The accident requirement is an effort by the legislature to distinguish between those public servants whose careers are cut short due to an event