July 6, 2010

Baselstadt is planning a pilot project in 2011 where newly arrived foreign nationals will be interviewed to discuss how they will integrate into Swiss society. In Basel, these interviews are currently voluntary but some cantons such as Zurich are considering making them mandatory.

Elisa Streuli, head of Basel's equality and integration department, says the interviews are useful, but cites the cost of making them mandatory. Interviewing the 2300 new arrivals last year would have required the city to create 2 or 3 full time positions.

Source: Basler Zeitung

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Several Swiss cantons including Basel are facing a shortage of schoolteachers. Last year Immigration and the number of schoolchildren has been underestimated, according to a report in the Basler Zeitung. The shortage will worsen over then next decade as around thirty thousand current teachers will retire.

Now the northwestern region wants to quickly train new teachers from other professions with a nine to eighteen month crash course. Experienced professionals and college graduates over the age of thirty are encouraged to apply.

Source: Basler Zeitung

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Members of Basel's government presented a 20-year plan to redevelop the Rhine port in Kleinhüningen with a third dock and a new container terminal. The plan also makes room for a new residential community along the banks of the Rhine.

Hans-Peter Hadorn, director of the Rhine port, said the port's infrastructure is 80 years-old and needs to be renewed, and created the opportunity for the new development. The redevelopment will be coordinated with the German and Swiss railroads as well surrounding communities.

Source: Basler Zeitung

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The warm summer weather has Basel residents flocking to city parks for picnics, sunbathing and sports. The result is a sharp rise in illegal garbage dumping and littering in city parks, according to the department of parks and recreation.

People not only litter but also dump furniture, compost and old electronics in public parks. The city hopes that those enjoying the parks will act as good Samaritans if illegal dumping is observed and is putting up more signs to remind people of the law.

Source: Basler Zeitung

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High temperatures over the weekend took their toll on the elderly and the young. Basel's university hospital had several cases of older people who had collapsed from the heat. A spokesperson for the hospital said that in most cases the victims were dehydrated and reminded everyone to drink more water on hot days.

The hospital also had more cases of young people passing out or getting sick after drinking too much alcohol. The heat intensifies the effects of alcohol, which can lead to circulation problems and even unconsciousness.

Source: Basler Zeitung

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An unidentified person appears to have drowned in the Rhine river in Basel on Sunday afternoon. The swimmer shouted for help near the Klingental ferry near the Kleinbasel river bank, then sunk below the surface and did not reappear.

Several passersby called the police just after 5pm and reported the drowning swimmer. Eighty persons from Basel’s emergency services scoured the river and the banks but gave up the unsuccessful search after an hour.

Source: Basler Zeitung

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The regional cherry harvest will begin next monday on July 12th and it is expected to be a good harvest. The president of the Fruit Center Basel, Hansruedi Wirz, said that too much rain in May and June had delayed the beginning of the harvest by almost two weeks compared to last year's.

Farmers expect almost 1800 tons of cherries to be gathered. Slightly less than half the harvest will be canned and for the first time, producers will offer dried cherries in stores.

Source: Basler Zeitung

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A couple in Niederdorf Baselland returned home Friday evening to find their back yard and swimming pool full of haybales. A farmer in a neighboring feels had improperly secured the bales during transport, which fell of the tractor and rolled into the couple’s yard.

The haybales weight up to four hundred kilograms each and luckily no one was injured. Thousands of francs of damage were caused to the patio and house. The farmer will be charged with endangerment.

Source: 20 minuten

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