Page 19 - Demo

Slippery Rock Gazette
November 2023 | 19
Just Another News Day in Chicago
AChicago television news crew reporting on a string of robberies ended up robbed themselves after they were accosted at gun- point by three armed men wearing ski masks.
Spanish-language station Univision Chicago said a reporter and photographer were filming just before 5 a.m. one Monday in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood when three masked men brandishing firearms robbed them, taking their television camera and other items.
“They were approached with guns and robbed. Mainly it was personal items, and they took a camera,” Luis Godinez, vice president of news at Univision Chicago, told the Chicago Tribune.
Godinez said the news crew was filming a story about robberies in the West Town com- munity that was slated to run on the morning news. He said the footage they shot was in the stolen camera, and the story never made it on the air.
Chicago police identified the victims as a 28-year-old man and 42-year-old man. Police said the pair was outside when the three men drove up in a gray sedan and black SUV. After the armed robbers took items from the news crew they fled in their vehicles.
No injuries were reported and no one is in custody, police said.
Godinez said Univision Chicago, the local TV affiliate of international media com- pany TelevisaUnivision, is not disclosing the names of the reporter and photographer to protect their privacy.
“They’re OK, and we’re working on it together as a team,” he said.
The episode was the second robbery that month involving a Chicago news crew, after a WLS-TV photographer was assaulted and robbed on August 8 while preparing to cover a weekday afternoon news conference on Chicago’s West Side, the station reported.
The robberies prompted the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians Local 41, which represents TV photographers in Chicago, to warn about the growing safety threats to those who cover the news.
Local Union president Raza Siddiqui told the Chicago Sun-Times that some of the news stations affiliated with the union planned to take additional safety steps, including assign- ing security to some TV crews.
NTCA Five-Star Contractor Program Angles Up with Accreditation
Since 2008, the NTCA Five-Star Contractor Program has established high standards and requirements for
its elite members who demonstrate excep- tional craftsmanship and business practices for tile and stone installation contractors.
Over the last couple of years, NTCA has aimed to establish accreditation for these members, demonstrating their commitment to advancing the professionalism of the tile and stone industry, and providing third- party accreditation.
“This is very important if you want to be specified in labor qualifications, and neces- sary if we wish to have credibility with gen- eral contractors and project owners,” said Bart Bettiga, NTCA Executive Director. “It assures the qualification if anyone ques- tions the program, and also assures the pro- cess was fair and impartial in approval or denial.”
The very first company to go through the new NTCA Five-Star Accreditation process was Columbia River Tile & Stone, Inc. “We are very excited to be a part of this amazing program,” said Jeff Occhipinti, owner. Dirk Sullivan of NTCA Five-Star Contractor Hawthorne Tile in nearby Portland, Oregon, urged Occhipinti to join.
“For some time I have known about the Five-Star Contractor program and its rep- utation for representing the top tier of our trade,” Occhipinti said. “We have always strived to offer the best environment for our employees and deliver the highest qual- ity installations to our customers. The Five- Star Accreditation program is an important part of pursuing this goal.
“As a Five Star Accredited Company, we are proud to uphold the highest standards while working towards the advancement of our company and our trade. Being a part of this program represents our commitment to education, industry standards and best practices. Additionally, we are looking for- ward to learning from other members and continuing to grow as a business. We feel truly blessed to be a part of such an amaz- ing program.”
Re-upping for Accreditation
All companies seeking NTCA Five-Star Contractor membership—even existing NTCA Five-Star Members -- need to reap- ply and go through the accreditation process.
Why? By 2020 the NTCA was successful including NTCA Five-Star Member recog- nition as preferred contractors in common- ly-used architectural specification platforms. This made it apparent that the NTCA Five- Star program needed to transform from a “company recognition” program into an official “accreditation” program which now includes a third-party review process.
“Since we enhanced the application pro- cess to give a much bigger view of a com- pany overall, we only thought it fair that
The award-winning “Grotto” project, by Heritage Marble & Tile
everyone go through the application pro- cess, instead of grandfathering in compa- nies that had a much simpler application process,” said Becky Serbin, Education and Curriculum Director, NTCA. “Otherwise, it is still the same NTCA Five-Star Contractor program but with a new enhanced applica- tion process and third-party evaluation of the application.” Existing NTCA Five-Star Contractor members have through the end of 2024 to reapply.
The first two existing NTCA Five-Star Members to receive accreditation are Heritage Marble & Tile in Mill Valley, Calif., and D.W. Sanders Tile & Stone Contracting, Inc., in Marietta, Georgia.
“My previous NTCA Five-Star Contractor membership allowed me to promote my company in a category of excellence,” said Martin Brookes, president. “Not only work- manship, but business best practices,” he said.
He credits NTCA’s Amber Fox and Becky Serbin and other committee members for developing and fine-tuning the NTCA Five-Star Contractor Accreditation pro- cess. Proud to be in this best-in-class group, Brookes added, “I hope others will seek out the opportunity to up their game and be recognized for their commitment and hard work in also becoming best-in-class. I look forward to the benefits of being an NTCA Five-Star Contractor, and the rewards that manufacturers and distributors recog- nize within this elite group of accredited tile contractors.”
For more information on the NTCA Five- Star Contractor program, visit www.tile- assn.com/page/ntca-five-star-accreditation.
Martin Brookes, Heritage Marble & Tile
Jeff Occhipinti, Columbia River Tile & Stone