It would be much fairer to bill 830 thousand euros to Aldis Adamovičs a Member of the Saeima accused of defrauding 83 euros as liability for OIK payments to a cogeneration power plant in Preiļi Adamovičs was the chairman of Preiļi Municipality Council Adamovičs applies to practically everyone who ran a local government in Latvia between 2008 and 2013 Any of them can become a scapegoat in connection with the 14th Saeima elections To be elected to the 13th Saeima and join the ruling coalition it was enough for parties and politicians to promise to abolish the mandatory procurement component (OIK) It is a really scandalous increase in the price of all the electricity available in Latvia to cover the losses caused by the fact that part of the electricity is produced by the wrong methods The term of office of the 13th Saeima is coming to an end but the abolition of the OIK has neither taken place nor is expected the politicians of the 13th Saeima need a way to rehabilitate themselves for not abolishing the OIK despite such an obvious breaking of their promises to enter the 14th Saeima Chairman of the Board of SIA Preiļu siltums posed at the start and end events of cogeneration plant construction in 2012 and 2013 / Publicitātes foto / Preiļu novada dome Three precedents point out that punishing local government leaders for participating in the implementation of the OIK is a possible pre-election attraction the local government reform shows that it is still possible to fulfill the promise to reduce the state administration apparatus at the expense of local governments Even if there are no guarantees that the number of civil servants in the country will decrease at the expense of local governments at least such an impression has been created the conviction of Aivars Lembergs and the publication of legally binding indictments against Andris Šķēle and Ainārs Šlesers relate to events earlier than the introduction of the OIK So no one has any hope of statute of limitations if there is the political will to convict the former chairman of the Preiļi Municipality Council and the current deputy of the Saeima a member of the ruling coalition party New Unity (Jaunā Vienotība) So the state trough really is empty if there is not enough space at it for members of the ruling coalition and the police are hired to remove them a criminal case concerning the fraud of transport compensations intended for the deputies of the Saeima in the amount of 83 euros has been started and is being considered in court in all seriousness local government leaders are indeed to blame His name in this publication came about by accident the bank that financed the construction of the Preiļi cogeneration plant organized a trip to the opening event of this plant 2013 publication "Preiļi will be heated by SIA Seces Koks." The title corresponds to the official version which had to be supplemented already on May 7 with facts about how "Preiļi is fighting for the right to stoke." Namely in Preiļi there were too few residential and public buildings connected to the central heating supply to have enough work and money for six boiler houses even in winter The description of the competition peripeteia of heat producers was followed by the question of what they all will do when idle between heating seasons the answer was evident in the huge fans whose job it was to cool the plant simply blow the heat produced out in the air At the same time - the answer on who will maintain the station If the chips were burned to heat outdoor air only in Preiļi the whole of Latvia would pay for it without it being noticed the same stations were built in practically all Latvian municipalities or small towns without any industry that would need the heat produced there made the price of electricity in Latvia at odds with the existence of a competitive industry The issuance of new OIK permits was suspended invoking the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations It was only very gradually that the public authorities began to acknowledge that they had wrongly relied on the use of cogeneration heat as something so self-evident that it was not discussed and verified How much did heating the air in Preiļi cost Annual revenue of cogeneration plant Preiļu siltums for electricity production in thousands of euros Checks on OIK beneficiaries gradually began with cases where the OIK was only a pretext for getting even between politicians and business groups the inspections have gradually picked up the pace and have reached Preiļi The State Construction Control Bureau is now authorized to carry out inspections It assured Neatkarīgā that "an inspection report of the Office has been prepared which indicates the discrepancies found during the inspection (the most significant ones are related to improper accounting of useful heat energy and non-compliance of meters of produced/useful heat energy)." Further decisions on the exclusion of the cogeneration plant from the OIK scheme are possible it would also be possible to recover money unduly paid The operation of the Preiļi cogeneration plant has so far been financed by the state with 4.5 million euros for heating the air not counting how much has been paid for the produced electricity according to its market price and how much the company has received for heat supplied to real consumers has applied to the Register of Enterprises as a beneficiary of the operation of the cogeneration plant There are dozens of people in the register data with exactly this name and surname combination Bērziņš that "I have never met him and I don't know him." There is no obvious evidence against what A Adamovičs posed together with the then co-owner and chairman of the board of Preiļu siltums Ēriks Fricsons in both the foundation stone laying and start of operations events of the cogeneration station because the company Preiļu siltums was taken over by U Fricsons in 2012 - just when the OIK project started Bērziņš has been a member of the board of Preiļu siltums whose non-appearance in Preiļi Municipality Council during the construction of the cogeneration plant is unlikely Bērziņš became the sole owner and manager of Preiļu siltums Fricsons had found an opportunity to receive even more generous funding for the venture capital fund from the state financial institution Altum Adamovičs responsible for the operation of Preiļu siltums is his reluctance to answer the question “were the rules for cogeneration that is eligible for OIK in 2010-2013 really such that they did not require the use of heat?” Instead of such an answer Adamovičs confirms that "neither I nor the future management of Preiļi municipality or the management of SIA Preiļu saimnieks have anything to do with the internal processes of Preiļu siltums or Preiļu enerģētika related to OIK or electricity generation." Such ignorance does not absolve from liability as the name of the cogeneration plant already includes both electricity and heat production Perhaps the concept of cogeneration has a longer history in Latvian but the word for its current use came from "combined heat and power" in English Adamovičs remembers that in order to receive a license for a cogeneration plant an agreement on the sale of heat might have been necessary At the time of concluding such an agreement it would have been impossible not to be interested in the scope of the offer of Preiļu siltums and its suitability for consumption in cold winter and hot summer It was by no means mandatory for cogeneration heat to be purchased only by the municipality but the municipality needed to know if anyone else was applying for that heat therefore a brass plate company Preiļu energētika owned by the same U which bought excess heat from Preiļu siltums to let it dissipate in the air Last summer was the first since the start of the cogeneration plant when it was shut down at least in the summer so that practically all the heat produced would not have to be released into the air Such downtime is reflected in the decrease in OIK payments received by Preiļu siltums Bērziņš's attempt not to challenge fate by demonstratively turning the fans of his power plant at full power These fans revealed the "internal processes" of cogeneration to any passer-by in the city center The difference between the OIK's revenues during the heyday of the scheme and in 2020 shows quantitatively how much energy was previously wasted and how much scammed money has to be recovered from the culprits for operating a plant that does not comply with the meaning of cogeneration Be the first to read interesting news from Latvia and the world by joining our Telegram and Signal channels ka nav mazsvarīgu lietu – lasītājs ir ne vien jāinformē bet arī jādod brīdis atelpai no dienas saspringtajiem darbiem More The basement at the Jānis Eglītis Preiļi State Gymnasium is one of only four facilities in the Preiļi Region that fully comply with shelter requirements Such places are currently being identified throughout the country so that in the event of a crisis there is somewhere to shelter for up to 72 hours The premises have so far also been used by pupils as a place for active and creative leisure time They are already equipped with a ventilation system Of the 61 state and municipal facilities in the Preili Region and at least two exits," explained Aigars Zīmelis Executive Director of the Preili Municipality "13 shelters partly meet these requirements The VUGD will inspect around 4,500 objects in state and municipal buildings across Latvia until November about 56% of basements fully or partially meet shelter requirements and can accommodate 373,000 people 550 basements have so far been surveyed and only 100 of them could be immediately used as shelters Deputy Head of the Latgale Regional Department of the State Fire Service said that of the 90 objects surveyed in Daugavpils 40 objects partially meet the shelter needs Some of the buildings are located in flooding areas or have no basements at all both the State and the municipalities need to find additional funds to clean up at least the partially compliant basements and cellars I think this is one of the most important tasks all of this has to be addressed," said Zīmelis I'm afraid the solutions are not that simple." an interactive map with the location and capacity of each shelter will be published on the VUGD website and the "112 Latvija" app The basements will also be marked in the open but the shelters may not be available on a daily basis if there is no risk Select text and press Ctrl+Enter to send a suggested correction to the editor Select text and press Report a mistake to send a suggested correction to the editor the government approved the Environmental Protection and Regional Development Ministry's plan for the growth of the region of Latgale in eastern Latvia which runs along the country's eastern border with Russia and Belarus is the poorest of Latvia's four regions and one of the poorest areas anywhere in the EU The Plan of Action for the Development of Latgale/2015-2017 says that the majority of financing for the plan - EUR 52.24 million will go into revitalization of degraded land The money will be allocated from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 818 new jobs will be created and private investment is expected to reach 52.18 million euros the total amount of degraded land will be reduced by 124.6 hectares Taking into consideration that Latgale's population decreased by 25.7 percent between 2000 to 2014 special support measures are considered necessary in order to boost economic activity in Latgale The Environmental Protection and Regional Development Ministry notes that preconditions have to be created for the establishment of new companies and expansion of existing ones The ministry hopes that prudent and economically- justified investments in the business environment will make Latgale a more attractive region for business ventures thus triggering more private investment in Latgale The ERDF financing will be distributed among several local governments The two largest cities of Daugavpils and Rezekne and the surrounding regions will receive 17.35 million euros; while Balvi Preili and Aluksne regions will get a total of 11.89 million euros and other regions of Latgale will receive 23 million euros local governments will have the opportunity to apply for European Union funds for other objectives through the "Growth and Employment" programme The plan also proposes other measures to make Latgale a more attractive place for conducting business; for instance an expansion of the Rezekne Special Economic Zone The ministry adds that state institutions should consider implementing pilot projects in Latgale before introducing new reforms on a nationwide level This would mean that if new policies are successful Latgale would be the first to benefit from them The previous Latgale development plan by the Environmental Protection and Regional Development Ministry was implemented in 2012-2013 investments in Latgale totaled 98.8 million euros; the Latgale Entrepreneurship Center was established various projects aimed at improving business environment were carried out and two films popularising Latgale were produced The ministry has concluded that the first plan contributed greatly to the development of Latgale A subscription to The Baltic Times is a cost-effective way of staying in touch with the latest Baltic news and views enabling you full access from anywhere with an Internet connection. Subscribe Now! 2025 © The Baltic Times /Cookies Policy Privacy Policy Provisional turnover of Maxima Latvia was 442 million LVL (no VAT) in 2012 This shows a 10.2% increase in provisional trade turnover Last year’s results are evaluated positively by the manager of Maxima Latvia Gintaras Jasinskas: “As it was a year before the bulk of our turnover’s increase was due to the expansion of the retail chain of Maxima stores reconstruction and assortment expansion were the innovation we employed in 39 supermarkets Maxima X We can see that this is widely accepted by our clients – we see this in the increased sales figures.” There are currently 141 supermarkets in the Maxima Latvia retail chain The general turnover of MAXIMA GRUPE in Baltic States Poland and Bulgaria increased by 5.8% (1.66 billion LVL) in 2012 Maxima group manages a total of 500 stores in five countries as well as internet-shops in Latvia and Lithuania By submitting the above I agree to the privacy policy and terms of use of JTA.org Students share their experiences in classrooms where states require teaching about the genocide This article was produced as part of JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellowship a program that works with Jewish teens around the world to report on issues that affect their lives I knew of the inherited trauma shared among Jewish people A Holocaust memorial sits on one corner of the campus surrounded by people lacking the generational memory of the Holocaust reflected the absence of Jewish representation: I was required a friend accosted me for “only ever talking about being Jewish.” Education focused on the Holocaust was largely absent a partnership that supports Holocaust education I spoke to a few students who live in one of these 40 states with Holocaust education mandates In schools that seriously prioritize abiding by such mandates and including diverse perspectives in their curriculum students feel their peers are less likely to speak insensitively about the Holocaust and Jewish people where schools largely ignore the states’ Holocaust education suggestions students observed peers speaking and acting more often from ignorance or bias Gavin Newsom announces the formation of a Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles For as long as he can remember, Jonathan Primus, 13, has attended the Beth Israel Congregation, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where a group of anti-Israel protestors demonstrate on the sidewalk every Shabbat condemning Zionism and supporting antisemitic conspiracy theories Primus understood from a very young age that antisemitism is pervasive He has Holocaust survivors in his own family learned about Jews’ history of facing persecution from his parents and discovered his Jewish identity at his elementary Jewish day school the Holocaust education he and his non-Jewish peers received was largely limited to memorizing names and dates Primus says that if people knew more about this historical event which “had a really terrible impact on humanity and society they’d probably be less likely to engage with the kind of” antisemitic rhetoric that his synagogue confronts each week Reports of persistent and growing anti-semitism in the U.S. and beyond have led Primus to believe that Holocaust education should be included in schools’ curriculum along with coverage of current events He says that educators need to show that “these things are still happening in the world,” that the messages from back then are still spreading Avi Greene, 17, lives in Richmond, Virginia, where a 2009 law required that the all schools be provided with a teacher’s manual on Holocaust education his high school had minimal Holocaust instruction built into the curriculum In his English class they discussed the literary aspects of Elie Wiesel’s “Night,” but ignored the history and current relevance of its themes Greene wishes the Holocaust and antisemitism were addressed with as much care as other social issues His school hosts a guest speaker monthly to discuss topics relevant to students like racial inequity and the importance of representation in government Greene said the program has had a real impact but that it is critical for all injustices to be understood He’d like his school to shed light on Holocaust denial and misinformation as well is an ideal way of “helping another people to feel heard Mahboubi says it’s important to provide people with information about the Holocaust but that it needs to come from “reliable sources and reliable people” in order to convey the emotion that accompanies the facts The Holocaust memorial at the Levey Day School in Portland Even in an area with a considerably smaller Jewish population than Beverly Hills a freshman at Holland Hall High School in Tulsa learned about the Holocaust from a young age through Hebrew school and her family Her eighth-grade curriculum included an in-depth unit on the Holocaust people made fewer jokes and addressed the subject more respectfully Oklahoma’s law went into effect last school year The Jewish population of Oklahoma makes up just 0.1% of the state’s residents the bill mandates the inclusion of Holocaust education in Maine’s learning standards The Department of Education conducted a review of these standards in the summer of 2023 all responsibility for incorporating new curriculum fell independently to schools Maine’s constitution guarantees various municipalities the right to manage curriculum on a local level actually “don’t have any legislative authority at the Department of Education level.” enforcement is up to local school boards and Because several curriculum-related laws were passed in recent years teachers and school boards may have had to make sacrifices overlooking some standards in favor of others Holocaust education can be easily neglected Eli Tuchinsky’s experience suggests why Maine’s schools could benefit from a Holocaust mandate with real teeth Tuchinsky witnessed two of his peers making a Heil Hitler salute They assured him that they didn’t mean it “in that way.” Eli blames the lack of education a social studies teacher at Portland’s Casco Bay High School the “true absence of knowing,” leads students to make comments or scribble a swastika on their papers “I think that’s where education becomes so powerful,” he said you see this symbol and don’t know what it really means or connects to.”  The work of educators who have prioritized teaching the Holocaust shows that the most impactful lessons come from those with direct connections to the history Maine comes from a family of refugees similar to my own Wrobel took lessons in combating antisemitism from her immigrant parents Jewish history and the Holocaust into the classroom with her They say that learning about the Holocaust with her was one of “the most important steps in their educational careers.” It taught them “what it meant to be a human being,” she said As the stories of survivors retreat further into the past, preservation of the lessons they convey becomes the responsibility of a new, young generation. When schools prioritize giving students direct and tactile connection to the tragedies of the Holocaust, they preserve the dignity of victims. As one student noted in her testimony in support of Maine’s Holocaust education bill “It is our job to continue to better the world and to do this we must be educated about the horrors the world has created and will continue to create if we don’t stop it.” JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent I accept the Privacy Policy.