SCOTTS VALLEY - The Scotts Valley High School gymnasium was packed with about 800 people Monday paying tribute to Daniel Garcia, the popular custodian who died from injuries he suffered in a motorcycle accident near his Watsonville home.

The crash happened Nov. 1, and he died Nov. 11 at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center at age 51.

Students, teachers, parents, school district officials and many former students, athletes and school leaders who have left the district attended the ceremony that honored Garcia's life with songs, a slide show and several funny anecdotes from his 14 years with the Scotts Valley Unified School District.

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DALLAS - A Texas exterminator thinks he mnight have an explanation for recent bedbug infestations.

Alex Contaboni with Safe Pro Pest Control investigates hundreds of homes every year.

"I will go to million dollar homes that have cleaning people or nannies, and they're immaculate."

The exterminator, coming over to take care of an unwanted infestation.

"They're like, 'I'm not dirty, I'm not dirty, I swear'."

People who do not have pets find themselves with fleas.

"And a big problem nowadays is bedbugs as well."

Yes, even bedbugs in homes where no one has recently taken a vacation or gone on a business trip.

"They bring vacuums from customer to customer."

Now, Contaboni believes has has solved the mystery.

"As the maid is cleaning the rest of the house, maybe something jumped on there and you didn't notice it, and she puts it in the bucket and takes it to the next house."

He believes cleaning services are cross-contaminating homes, from vacuuming up roach, flea, and bedbug eggs in one home and unknowingly bringing them into another.

"And as they're vacuuming, they're vacuuming up the eggs of the fleas. Well, fleas spread through the eggs."

B&B Maid Service makes sure it changes out its rags, brooms and mops before entering a home, if the clients don't want him to use their own cleaning gear and supplies.

"We provide new and clean rags for every cleaning."

Contaboni recommends anyone entering your house use protective shoe covers as well.

"Bed bugs aren't gonna attach to the booty, but they love the cracks of the shoe."

Cleaning services unaware their gear could actually be bug taxis, spreading unwanted pests from one home to another

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Indianapolis -- Simon Property Group has sued UGL Unicco of Auburndale, Mass., in a contract dispute over janitorial services it provides at 11 Simon malls, including one in Bloomington. The Indianapolis mall developer's suit, filed locally in U.S. District Court, says UGL Unicco failed to comply with contracts and overbilled Simon. UGL said in a statement it disagrees with Simon's allegations and plans to countersue.

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LOS ANGELES -- It's almost unthinkable now that environmentalists and manufacturers once stood together as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill making California the first state to regulate toxic chemicals in consumer products.

Mold Aid has been providing mold testing and inspection, mold remediation and home inspections for over 10 years in Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C. Although many of the company's clients are individual homeowners, it also works with hospitals, schools, large buildings, airports, and many other industries that require quality indoor air.

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Is your mobile phone bad for your health? No, we're not talking about radiation here. We're talking germs. Because a recent study found the average cell phone can harbour 18 times more germs than a toilet handle in a public washroom. That's according to a UK study published by the Journal of Applied Microbiology

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Who knew the cleaning supplies game could be such a dirty business?

Customs officials in Seattle have launched an investigation related to the purported importation of thousands of boxes of counterfeit laundry detergent, according to filings made to the U.S. District Court by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

Applying for a search warrant for a SeaTac residence, the agent asserted several Seattle-area men have been importing Chinese-made laundry detergent by the cargo container.

One container seized earlier this year in Seattle was found to contain 52,080 bags of laundry detergent marked as though they were Tide or Ariel-brand products, the agent noted.

The move followed raids late last year in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the agent continued.

 

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LONG BEACH - Housekeepers from area Hyatt hotels protested working conditions Thursday at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach, demanding less rigorous cleaning schedules for workers there.

The protest at the hotel at the south end of Pine Avenue came one week after housekeepers at 12 Hyatt properties in eight cities across the United States, including Long Beach, filed injury complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The massive OSHA filing, which organizers said is the first of its kind in the private sector, claims that housekeepers are required to clean as many as 30 rooms a day, which leads to more injuries

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SMITHTOWN, New York (WABC) -- Workers at a Long Island nursing home say a bed bug problem is so bad, they keep moving patients room to room to escape the bugs.

"They're horrible.

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Herrera has been a custodian with the Omaha Public Schools for more than 15 years. He worked at Marrs Magnet Center for several years before moving to Gomez shortly after it opened in August 2004. He knows several of the parents by their first names. He remembers when they were students.

“He teaches the kids manners and respect,” Campin said. “He teaches them life skills. He speaks to them in both Spanish and English and listens to them.”

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