February 16, 2010

Correctional facilities in the Basel area are overflowing. Newly convicted criminals wait three months on average before being transferred to prison. Convicts do not walk free during that time. They stay in temporary holding cells at police stations. Time served in these cells counts toward the total prison sentence to be served.

Prisoners sentenced for institutionalization for psychiatric problems or drug addiction therapy wait up to a year for a prison cell. Temporary cells are poorly equipped for the special needs of these convicted criminals.

Source: Blick am Abend
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Out of 3000 muslim children in city schools, only one to three children per year are exempted from swimming lessons for religious reasons according to a government report. All of the exemptions were at secondary schools, none at the primary level. The report was in response to questions about how well muslims are integrated into Swiss society.

Basel city guidelines allow exemptions only if instruction is mixed and then require that the child take swimming lessons privately. Basel schools have separate swimming instruction for boys and girls starting in the sixth grade.

Source: bazonline
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Basel police are taking advantage of empty schools during the winter holidays to train for a potential school shooting. The four day training takes place in a Kleinbasel schoolhouse. Police want to be prepared in the event that local kids try to emulate the much publicized massacres in other countries.

A school shooting calls for a different police reaction than usual. First the shooter must be neutralized and only then are the injured attended to. Basel's director of education says there is no acute threat for a school shooting in Basel and only five threats were ever reported but never materialized.

Source: bazonline
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Two young men, aged 17 and 18, were robbed early Sunday morning on Steinentorstrasse across from the Radisson Hotel. The victims said two men appeared suddenly and threatened them with knives. The two robbers fled with 50 Francs and the watch of one of the victims.

Nearby, just a few hours earlier, a man was assaulted and pushed into the Birsig river by a group of 10 to 12 youths. The police are asking witnesses of either incident to please come forward.

Source: bazonline
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The ten day Muba exhibition came to a close on Sunday. The Muba has been held in basel for nearly a hundred years and showcases trends in living, fashion, gardening, building, sports, and travel. Over three hundred visitors took in the offerings, slightly less than last year.

Organizers checked quality using so-called mystery shoppers for the first time this year. The undercover staff discovered three violations of exhibition code, including price gouging and aggressive sales tactics. The offending vendors were put on probation for next year.

Source: 20 Minuten
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Police arrested a 23 and a 22 year-old while spraying graffitti on a supporting wall along the H18 highway in Reinach on Saturday. The two men were under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Police also caught five local boys responsible for 42 cases of graffitti around Muttenz. The 15 and 14 year olds defaced school and office buildings between February and November last year. Police say the boys will have to cover the cleanup costs of 115'000 francs.

Source: bazonline
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The seventh Basel Tower Running was held last Saturday on the exhibition square. The race is a mad dash up the thirty one stories of the Messeturm.

Five new records were set at this year's race. The fastest man ever ran the steps in just two minutes and thirty seven seconds. Best times were run in two other categories. The race also reported the most participants ever and the most fire brigade teams. Eighty different fire brigades ran the race in full gear. The fastest made it up the steps in under five minutes.

Source: 20 Minuten
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Münchenstein's electric company, the EBM, announced that it is selling its shares in a coal-fired power plant being built in Germany. The 20 million franc investment had been heavily critized. All of Münchenstein's political parties praised the decision on environmental grounds, but were divided on its effects.

The greens hope the focus will shift to conservation and decentralized energy production. Other parties are skeptical those measures will be enough, but would rather the EBM invest in large projects in Switzerland.
Source: bazonline
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