Its Art Basel Time;Basel Traffic Control Reopens HeadQuarters;Buses Narrowly Avert Accident;Ueli Celebrates 40 Years Of Brewing In Basel;Reports of Abuse at Basel Old Age Home

The 45th annual Art Basel Art Exposition opens its doors to the public this Thursday at the MesseHalle in Basel.  Despite expansion of the fair into Miami and Hong Kong, the Basel expo remains the largest and longest, drawing on all of the cultural attractions of the city.   Over 300 of the most exclusive galleries of the world will be in attendance this year at the conference center.  The city has already begun festivities, seeing public art installations on display throughout.   Commercial Gallerists won't be the only ones displaying works of art, many emerging and new artists work with Restauranteurs and events locations to enhance the atmosphere of a city-wide art event.   Art Basel will run until Sunday the 22nd, and will open this thursday to the public after the VIP events which start today.  ================================================================

On Saturday, Basel Reopened its highway police headquarters on Wettsteinallee.  

The newly reopened facility will house 80 traffic engineers and their support staff that monitor the nearly 300 cameras placed along the 18km of motorways that network the city roads.

New systems were also installed that help the traffic monitors be alert to emergencies and threats According to Rolf Thommen the head of the Basel traffic police.  

Basel typically experiences 1000 traffic incidents to which the headquarters responds by dispatching police patrol cars.

Although Basel's highway system is tiny even by European Standards it is highly complex to accommodate the tunnels and bridges traversing the Rhine, and traffic bound and originating in three different countries. 

To deal with this, the Highway Police has its own dedicated unit of 24 vehicles including ten motorcycles and three cars equipped with radar, as well as the ability to call on the local police force for assistance.

As part of Saturday's reopening the facility was open to the public, and the employees provided demonstrations of highway safety rules, speed control radar and alcohol breath testing.

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A public service bus operated by the BLT veered off the highway Thursday evening on a stretch of road between Fluh and Leymen.  

The bus lost control and slid into an empty field of grass, when it tried to continue on a narrow part of the two way road where another bus was also going in the on coming direction. 

The driver, realizing the road was too narrow to accommodate the two buses at the same time, swerved in the last moment and landed in the adjacent field.  

The transport company confirmed the accident after a passerby took photos.  BLT also warns that until road construction designed to widen the rural roads connecting Baselland are complete drivers be aware of narrow thoroughfares especially when the oncoming vehicle is a bus or commercial lorry.

Fortunately, no one was injured, and the bus suffered only minor damage and no property was destroyed.

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A new website has been established to catalog and document the rock music scene in Basel.  

Previously, a myspace page existed that sought to have similar information, however it has been frozen and without updates for over a year According to Chrigel Fisch, spokesman for the new website RFV Basel.  Mr. Fisch also pointed out that myspace is dramatically losing users and hence interest in its content.  

The new website dubbed Bands of Basel has its own proprietary database covering information about Bands in and around the region, and has over 800 links to musicians and bands direct websites and contact information.  

In addition, the site carries digital music samples so that surfers can explore for new and upcoming bands.

All genres of popular contemporary music are covered by the site, and is aimed at not only the consuming audience, but at promoters and organizers too looking for bands to perform.

The website, also has direct links to youtube videos of its catalogued artists so users can easily navigate and search.

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Three healthcare assistants from Alterszentrum Weiherweg were accused of abusing the elderly in their care. They were summarily dismissed.

Back in May, two young men and a woman in training at the facility were arrested according to the "Basler Zeitung". The trio was taken into custody by police officers at work and led away in handcuffs. A criminal case for violation of privacy and assault are sought against the assailants. 

the "Basler Zeitung" report continues that two daughters of residents at the Alterszentrum reported that their parents were pelted with objects, and that the filmed attacks were posted on the Internet.

According to the facility director Fritz Jenny, the families and relatives of affected residents were immediately notified once they became aware of the abuse, in addition to the actions taken against the abusers.