THIS Week in YOUR Region: Lokalo’s Top Articles in ENGLISH

Humanitarian Help in the Bitburg-Prüm County – 40 Refugees Arrived in Bitburg

BITBURG. Last Saturday evening, March 5th, at about 11:15 p.m., a bus with roughly 40 Ukrainian refugees, including twelve children, two babies, three dogs and a cat, arrived in Bitburg.

A total of 74 volunteers, including 17 doctors form the German Red Cross in Bitburg-Prüm, welcomed the exhausted refugees and, after a medical examination, brought them to shelters.

They were first registered and tested for Covid-19 at the vaccination center in Bitburg. Afterwards they received a hot meal and hot drinks, as Heike Haas, deputy head of the Bitburg-Prüm Red Cross explained.

Following registration and refreshments, the refugees were brought to volunteer families in and around the county, with whom they will be staying. More refugees from Ukraine are expected to arrive in the coming days.

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TUESDAY, March 8th: Truck Loses Beer Crates, Floods Federal Road

Trier: Truck Loses Hundreds of Beer Crates – Beer Flooding Leads to Difficult Clean-Up

TRIERWEILER. On Tuesday, March 8th, a trailer truck was travelling on Federal Road 51 from Bitburg to Trier at 2:25 p.m. At the Trier junction, the truck, fully loaded with beer crates, headed towards the on-ramp of Autobahn 64.

As the truck was passing through the left turn of the on-ramp, the trailer suddenly opened for unknown reasons, causing hundreds of crates to fall on the road, shattering the bottles in the process.
Since cleaning up the enormous mess proved difficult and time-consuming, the on-ramp had to stay closed until late in the evening.

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WEDNESDAY, March 9th: Higher Gas Prices Are Looming

++ Breaking: DIESEL-SHOCK in Luxemburg – That’s how high prices are going to be on Thursday ++

LUXEMBURG. Is another price hike at the pump looming in the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg tomorrow? After the last, massive increase of gas prices last Saturday night, the next increase might be just as heavy!

Will the price of diesel fuel rise above two Euros a liter on Thursday, March 10th? Images of an Excel sheet with fuel prices at a large gas station circulating on social media are are fuelling anxieties.
In the Facebook-Group „Lëtzebuerg Memes“ (Luxemburg Memes), a photo is circulating which seems to confirm the speculations.

The information cannot be verified – but much seems to indicate that drivers will again have to pay more!

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THURSDAY, March 10th: Scandal Involving Former Minister of the Environment, Anne Spiegel, Emerges

Leaked Chat Logs: „Callous, undignified and embarrassing!“ People Appalled by Anne Spiegel (Greens)

MAINZ. „Anne needs a role“ – Text messages by the former Minister of the Environment of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, Anne Spiegel, sent during the night of the deadly flooding in the summer of 2021 and first reported on by the news magazine Focus, are causing anger and bewilderment. Not only the opposition in the state legislature is abhorred by the questionable behavior of the present Federal Family Minister – many ordinary people in our region are demanding consequences for the politician of the Green Party.

While people in the Ahr valley stood before the shattered ruins of their existence on the morning of July 15th, 2021, the day after the horrible flood, cut off from the rest of the world and morning their dead – the Spiegel was mainly concerned with her political image, as the report by Focus suggests.

In a text message, Spiegel talks about anticipating accusations by her own coalition partner, the Social Democrats („The blame game could start immediately“), and that „a wording“ had to be found „that we warned in time, I myself in the cabinet“, as „Focus“ quotes.

„Anne needs a credible role“

The callousness of the minister and her staff is especially obvious in the messages by her Press Chief Dietmar Brück the morning after the flood – „The heavy rain catastrophe is going to be the dominant issue in this week and the next. Anne needs a credible role,“ Focus quotes Brück’s message.

While on that morning the scale of the terrible catastrophe was slowly becoming more clear, with many people cut off from the outside world and desperately waiting for government help to arrive, Press Chief Brück was already thinking ahead, planing photo ops on the ground: „Anne helping with the repairs, visiting flood control projects, where new threats are looming, a visit at a flood report center, accompanied by journalists,“ Focus quotes the Press Chief.

Some reactions by readers:

„The chat logs published are a slap in the face for all the victims and show how politicians today are acting – this callousness disgusts me,“ a reader from the Ahr valley writes.

„That the Green Party speaks of a ‚malicious campaign‘ makes a mockery of all the victims of this natural disaster – what is wrong with these people and where did all the donations go?“ writes one flood victim from the Eifel.

„The published chat logs, especially the ’non-reaction‘ by the people involved, mirrors the character of our present-day political elite. Nobody wants to take responsibility for their actions, there are no consequences any more – a resignation and an apology would be the least she could do!“ writes an appalled reader from the Mosel valley.

„Anything but a resignation is unacceptable. Why doesn’t Spiegel own up to her actions and draws the consequences? It is hardly surprising that more and more people are turning away from politics and the people in charge. Ms. Spiegel is a perfect example of why this is so – undignified and embarrassing!“ writes a reader from Trier.

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FRIDAY, March 11th: Allegations Against Trier Police

Trier: Two Police Officers and a City Employee Face Allegations of False Statements in Court – This is How Authorities React

TRIER. Defendants originally tried for resisting arrest were acquitted yesterday by a local court in Trier. The Trier Police Department said that they learned about this from a report on the court proceedings.
At the same time, the officers involved came under allegations of the use of disproportionate measures and making false statements in court.

Trier Police Chief Friedel Durben said that the allegations were deeply troubling and emphasized the importance of maintaining trust in the moral integrity of the police force. He demanded a thorough investigation. The officers involved will not be on active duty for the time being.

The Public Porsecutor’s Department of Trier will investigate criminal charges.

The City of Trier issued a statement in the afternoon, expressing deep concern about the allegations against a former member of local law enforcement.

It wasn’t until the media covered the trial at the local court on March 10th that the city’s authorities came to learn of the fact that the defendants tried for resisting arrest had been acquitted. In the same proceeding, a member of the city’s local law enforcement came under allegations of the use of disproportionate measures and false statements in court.

„The employee in question hasn’t been in the service of the City of Trier in several months; the city government has confidence in the public prosecutors to carry out a thorough investigation,“ the press release said.

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SATURDAY, MARCH 12th: Relief at the Pump?

Explosion of Energy Prices: Hans Wants to Lower the Price of Gas by Roughly 50 Cents

SAARBRÜCKEN. The Mistier-president of the State of Saarland, Tobias Hans (CDU/Christian Democrats), wants to lower the price of gas by roughly 50 cents, after prices have skyrocketed lately, partly as a consequence of the war in Ukraine. The Christian Democrat, who is running for reelection in the election on March 27th, told the Newspaper „Rheinische Post“ from Düsseldorf on Saturday: „Starting from 2.15 Euros per liter at this point, a gas price break could lower the price to 1.63 Euros per liter, i.e. 53 cents cheaper than now.“

This would be made possible by lowering the sales tax on gas temporarily to a rate of at least seven percent. „We were able to do it during the pandemic, now it must be passed swiftly by both houses of the Federal Parliament as well,“ Hans emphasized. As a second step, taxes on energy consumption needed to be lowered to the lowest rates possible under EU law. „That way we can achieve a price significantly lower than the two Euros ore more per liter we have today,“ the Minister-president of the Saarland said. It was important „to send a signal that we’re acting. Prices cannot continue to rise like this.“

The Saarland CDU intended to support private households with a climate bonus, Hans said. The CDU intended to help people replace their old oil heating by heating based on renewable energies. „In this way, we will become more independent from Russian gas and oil,“ he added. Only by going down that path, Germany wouldn’t be susceptible to blackmail by Russia: „We mustn’t fuel the war by our energy consumption. How fast we can get there remains to be seen. The Federal Government needs to step forward.“

On the question if Germany should continue to use its remaining nuclear power plants despite decisions to the contrary, the Minster-president said: „We should study the issue open-mindedly and without taboos. I cannot say for sure if it’s possible that easily to continue using the nuclear power plants.“

Wanna read it in German? Click here.