Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/486997
ByFeliciaFonsecaand David A. Lieb The Associated Press FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. When vandals sliced a fiber-optic cable in the Arizona desert last month, they did more than time-warp thousands of people back to an era be- fore computers, credit cards or even phones. They ex- posed a glaring vulnerabil- ity in the nation's Internet infrastructure: no backup systems in many places. Because Internet service is largely unregulated by the federal government and the states, decisions about network reliability are left to the service providers. Industry analysts say these companies generally do not build alternative routes, or redundancies, unless they believe it is worthwhile fi- nancially. The result: While most major metropolitan areas in the U.S. have backup systems, some smaller cit- ies and many rural areas do not. "The more rural the lo- cation, the more likely that there's only one road in and out of that location," said Sean Donelan, a former in- frastructure security man- ager in the U.S. Homeland Security Department who now works for a cybersecu- rity firm. "If someone man- ages to cut that fiber, you'll generally see a one- or two- or three-day outage." Despite its own warnings about such vulnerabilities two decades ago, the fed- eral government has taken no steps to require Internet companies to have backup systems, even as it has pro- vided billions of dollars in subsidies to expand broad- band Internet into un- served areas. "Our first responsibility is to make sure that people actually have service," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, co-chairman of President Barack Obama's newly created Broadband Opportunity Council. In northern Arizona last month, tens of thousands of residents were without In- ternet service — some for up to 15 hours — after van- dals cut through an under- ground bundle of fiber-op- tic cables owned by Centu- ryLink. ATMs went down, stores couldn't process credit cards, college stu- dents in Flagstaff had to put their research on hold, and even 911 emergency ser- vice was lost. Earlier this month, sev- eral thousand people lost Internet and phone service for half a day when an elec- tric company crew acciden- tally cut a fiber-optic line in northern New Mexico. When an underwater fi- ber-optic cable became wrapped around a big rock and broke in 2013, some res- idents of Washington state's San Juan Islands were with- out Internet and telephone service for 10 days. Among them was aero- space consultant Mike Loucks, who said he was shocked to find out his home phone, cellphone and Inter- net service did not work in- dependently of each other. All went down because they relied on the same cable. He ended up taking a ferry to the mainland to dial in to conference calls from his car outside a McDonald's. "When I figured out what all had been routed to this cable, it's a single-point fail- ure thing," he said. "That's pretty dumb. Why don't you guys have a backup cable?" He was so frustrated that he switched Internet pro- viders. CenturyLink, the broad- band provider in the Ari- zona and Washington out- ages, declined to make officials available for an in- terview about its Internet infrastructure. But spokes- woman Linda Johnson said in an email that the com- pany acts quickly to restore service and "is constantly investing in its local net- work and strives to deliver new services and build re- dundancy where possible." After the San Juan Is- lands outage, CenturyLink spent $500,000 to install a microwave system that now backs up the under- water cable. A microwave system is wireless technol- ogy that relies on a series of above-ground antennas or towers to transmit data. It's more often used in ru- ral areas. Companies have been deploying more than 10 million miles of fiber an- nually in the U.S., increas- ing the risk of damage from backhoes, trench- diggers and shovels, ac- cording to an analysis by a network reliability committee of the Alli- ance for Telecommunica- tions Industry Solutions. The number of outages on high-capacity fiber-optic lines in the U.S. more than doubled from 221 in 2010 to 487 last year, according to the Federal Communi- cations Commission. Fiber-optic cables form the spine of the Internet. A fiber bundle contains doz- ens of tiny glass fibers — each about the width of a human hair — that use light waves to transmit data. The fibers often are bur- ied along existing rights of way for highways, railroads or pipelines. It is common for a telecommunications company to install the ca- bles and then lease space on them to others. That saves money for ev- eryone involved. But it also means outages can affect a wide variety of services. VULNERABLE INTERNET We b ou ta ge s re ve al g ap s in US broadband infrastructure PHOTOSBYELAINETHOMPSON—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Mike Loucks sits in his office on Thursday in Friday Harbor, Washington. Loucks lost Internet and phone service during a 10-day outage on the island in 2013. NANCY BOROWIC — THE NEW YORK TIMES A New York City Police Dept. Arson Explosion detective looks at the site of a building explosion in the East Village neighborhood of New York on Friday. By Jonathan Lemire and Jennifer Peltz The Associated Press NEW YORK Someone may have improperly tapped a gas line before an ex- plosion that leveled three apartment buildings and injured nearly two dozen people, Mayor Bill de Bla- sio said Friday as firefight- ers soaked the still-smol- dering buildings and po- lice searched for at least two missing people. "There is a possibility here that the gas line was inappropriately accessed internally" by people in one of the destroyed build- ings, but officials need to get access to its basement to explore it further, said de Blasio, who wouldn't say more about why offi- cials believe that's a pos- sibility. The number of people injured in Thursday's blast rose from 19 to 22, with four critically injured. Po- lice were searching for at least two people: Nicholas Figueroa, a bowling alley worker who had been on a date at a sushi restaurant in the building where the destruction was centered, and Moises Lucon, a worker there. Authorities also were exploring whether a third person might be un- accounted for, Chief of De- tectives Robert Boyce said. Preliminary evidence suggests an explosion amid plumbing and gas work inside the building was to blame. Inspectors with utility Consolidated Edison had been to the East Village building to check on on- going work to upgrade gas service. The utility said the work didn't pass inspec- tion, so gas wasn't intro- duced to the line, and in- spectors gave instructions and left at around 2:45 p.m. Con Ed said inspec- tors didn't smell any gas. But at around 3 p.m., the sushi restaurant owner smelled gas and called the landlord, who then called a general contractor, Boyce said. No one called 911 or Con Ed, however, de Bla- sio said. The contractor, Dilber Kukic, and the owner's son went into the base- ment and opened a door, and then the explosion happened, burning their faces, Boyce said. The building had an ex- isting gas line intended to serve the sushi restaurant; the work underway was to put in a bigger line to serve the entire building, Con Ed President Craig Ivey said. As for whether the apartments were get- ting gas from the existing line, "That's a great ques- tion," he said. On Thursday night, Tyler Figueroa said his brother and his date were paying for their meal when the blast occurred. The date, who is in the hospi- tal, remembers only stum- bling outside before los- ing consciousness, Tyler Figueroa said. NYC mayor: So me one m ay h av e 'inappropriately' tapped gas line BUILDING COLLAPSE By Nedra Pickler The Associated Press WASHINGTON The White House on Friday announced a five-year plan to fight the threat posed by antibiotic- resistant bacteria amid fears that once-treatable germs could become deadly. Repeated exposure to antibiotics can lead germs to become resistant to the drugs, so that they are no longer effective. The Cen- ters for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that drug-resistant bacteria cause 23,000 deaths and 2 million illnesses each year in the United States. The World Health Orga- nization said last year that bacteria resistant to antibi- otics have spread to every part of the world and might lead to a future where mi- nor infections like strep throat could kill. Antibi- otic resistance also threat- ens animal health, agricul- ture and the economy. President Barack Obama, who ordered the plan, said drug-resistant bacteria are one of the most serious pub- lic health issues. "This is one of those prob- lems that doesn't always rise to the top of people's day-to- day concerns until some- body in the family is im- pacted," Obama told report- ers before meeting privately Friday with members of his advisory council on science and technology. "We take antibiotics for granted for a lot of illnesses that can be deadly or debilitating." "If we start seeing those medicines diminish in ef- fectiveness, we're going to have problems," he said. The White House's over- all goal is to prevent and contain outbreaks of infec- tions at home and abroad. It's aiming to maintain the ability of current antibiot- ics to fight illnesses and de- velop new treatments. The plan is the result of an order Obama signed in September forming a task force on the issue. Obama also has asked Congress to nearly double its funding to fight antibiotic resistance to $1.2 billion. Critics said the White House needs to go further, particularly in terms of the antibiotics used in animals processed for meat. The Food and Drug Adminis- tration has already suc- cessfully encouraged many drug companies to phase out the use of antibiotics used for animal growth promotion. But advocacy groups have called on the agency to limit other uses of animal antibiotics as well, such as for disease preven- tion when holding animals in crowded conditions. "Once again, the admin- istration has fallen woefully short of taking meaningful action to curb the overuse of antibioticsinhealthyfoodan- imals," said New York Demo- cratic Rep. Louise Slaughter. "With 80 percent of the antibiotics produced in the United States being used in agriculture mostly for prevention, any meaning- ful solution to the looming antibiotic resistance crisis must begin with limits on the farm — and trusting a voluntary policy that lets in- dustry police itself will not bring about real change," she said. HEALTH White House unveils plan to fight against antibiotic-resistant germs JACQUELYN MARTIN — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS President Barack Obama meets with members of his Council of Advisers on Science and Technology on Friday in the White House. Please help sponsor a classroom subscription Call Kathy at (530) 737-5047 to find out how. ThroughtheNewspapersinEducation program, area classrooms receive the Red Bluff Daily News every day thanks to the generosity of these local businesses & individuals. •DR.ASATO&DR.MARTIN • FIDELITY NATIONAL TITLE CO. • WI N G S OLA R & W OO D EN ERGY • DOLLING INSURANCE • GUMM'S OPTICAL SHOPPE • OLIVE CITY QUICK LUBE • WA LM AR T • TEHAMA CO. DEPT. OF ED. • JOHN WHEELER LOGGING, INC. • DUDLEY'S EXCAVATING, INC. • ETZ LE R FIN ANCI AL & I NSU RA NCE • OLIVE CITY TAX PROFESSIONALS • PLACER TITLE COMPANY • AIRPORT AUTO REPAIR • GR EENWASTE OF TEHAMA • NORTH MAIN AUTOMOTIVE • QRC • RED BLUFF VISION CENTER • STEVE'S BACKHOE SERVICE • SCHOOL HOUSE MARKET THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING N EWS D AILY REDBLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N TY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 NEWSPAPERS NIE | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 2015 6 B