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From World Cup stadium to housing, 5 ways to repurpose shipping containers

November 18, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented shipping crunch with consumption off the charts. But now the industry is left with an excess of shipping containers as demand for goods falls. Container depots are filling with the empty vessels, raising questions about what to do with these giant steel boxes. Here are some creative ways shipping containers are being repurposed in this week’s Five for Friday.

5. Stadiums

The World Cup is kicking off in Qatar and they have gotten creative with venues. The 40,000 seat Stadium 974 is constructed out of 974 shipping containers. The stadium can be disassembled and moved to another World Cup location if needed. Global sporting events like the Olympic Games and World Cup have faced criticism for their massive cost, which often results in state-of-the-art facilities being abandoned. This new way of constructing a massive arena could solve that problem in the future. Shipping containers are also being used to create 30,000 rooms for fans making the journey at a price of $203 per night.

4. Border wall

At 40 feet long and weighing nearly 9,000 pounds, shipping containers could make effective barriers. Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey instructed the state to use containers to fill openings in the wall at the southern border after claiming the federal government wasn’t doing enough to stop an influx of migrants. So far, Arizona has filled four gaps in Yuma County. The federal government has told Gov. Ducey to remove the containers, but to date, he has defied that order.

3. High-priced housing

Living in shipping container homes isn’t a brand new idea and now Vincennes Village on the south side of Chicago is turning containers into luxury living. The two-story homes are completely customizable featuring terraces and 10-foot ceilings. The homes will start at $300,000 which is just under Chicago’s median selling price of $320,000, according to Realtor.com.

2. Homeless housing

The abundance of shipping containers is being used to solve another crisis in Los Angeles. The Hilda L. Solis Care First Village opened in 2021, offering 232 beds in shipping container-made units to shelter the city’s homeless population. The 60,000 square foot housing facility was constructed in five months to meet deadlines related to the CARES Act, where it procured $51 million of the $57 million needed for the project.

1. Retail space

Retail space can be costly depending on where you are trying to get started. That’s why shipping container markets have been popping up all over the world. Made of 120 repurposed containers, Toronto’s Stackt Market opened in 2019. It’s so modern, it won Fast Company’s 2021 Innovation By Design award for Retail. Las Vegas launched a similar project with the outdoor Downtown Container Park. Meanwhile, BOXPARKs can be found around England.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department recruits hit by SUV

November 16, 2022

More than 20 recruits of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were hit by a vehicle early Wednesday morning. CBS News Los Angeles said the recruit class was taking part in a training run when an SUV struck them.

Paramedics set up a triage site on scene to deal with all of the injuries. Officials on scene said 22 recruits were injured, at least five of them are in critical condition.

According to the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the 22-year-old SUV driver was going the wrong way down the road and crashed into the group. The driver of the SUV was also injured when the vehicle stuck a light pole.

It’s unclear why the driver hit the recruits, who the driver is, or if they have been arrested.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ahead of Halloween, fentanyl pills hidden in candy boxes seized at LAX

October 20, 2022

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported seizing “approximately 12,000 suspected fentanyl pills” hidden inside candy bags and boxes at the Los Angeles International Airport. The seizure happened Wednesday morning, according to the department.

“The suspect attempted to go through TSA screening with several bags of candy and miscellaneous snacks with the intent of boarding a plane,” the department said in a news release. “However, it was discovered that inside the ‘Sweetarts,’ ‘Skittles,’ and ‘Whoppers’ candy boxes were fentanyl pills and not candy.”

The department said the suspect got away before they could be taken into custody. Law enforcement was able to identify the suspect.

The seizure of fentanyl pills found inside candy boxes came less than two weeks ahead of Halloween. With the department’s report came a warning.

“With Halloween approaching, parents need to make sure they are checking their kids candy and not allowing them to eat anything until it has been inspected by them,” the department said. “If you find anything in candy boxes that you believe might be narcotics, do not touch it and immediately notify your local law enforcement agency.”

Authorities recently have warned that drug dealers have been disguising fentanyl in candy wrappers and manufacturing them in rainbow colors. Earlier this week, a California toddler was poisoned from ingesting fentanyl. The toddler’s parents were later arrested for child endangerment and possession of controlled substances charges.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
LA City Council’s Martinez taking leave of absence after audio leak

October 11, 2022

Demands for three Los Angeles City Council members to resign are intensifying after a leaked audio recording revealed racist remarks and disparaging comments. The political fallout was sparked by Sunday’s Los Angeles Times report. A leaked conversation involved Council President Nury Martinez and members Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo. Martinez was heard making racist statements, and the group disparaged other politicians.

In a statement on Monday, Martinez resigned her position as city council president and apologized saying she was “truly ashamed” and asked for “the opportunity to make amends.” De León and Cedillo have also apologized for their role in the controversial conversation. However, none of them have stepped down from the board.

Martinez announced today that she is taking a leave of absence. About an hour before the heated city council meeting Tuesday morning, Martinez issued a statement that said in part that she needs “to take some time to have an honest and heartfelt conversation with my family, my constituents, and community leaders.”
Russian cyberattacks target US airports by shutting down websites

October 10, 2022

After cyberattacks targeted over a dozen U.S. airports Monday morning. By Monday afternoon, their websites were back online.

Airports in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles were impacted by a denial-of-service attack, which overloads sites by jamming them with artificial users. It did not affect transportation security or air traffic control.

An intelligence official telling ABC News that “Killnet”, a pro-Russian hacker group, is believed to be behind the attack. But there is no evidence that the Russian government is involved.

The group “Killnet” has been active since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, targeting Ukrainian allies and recently claiming credit for taking down government websites in the U.S. They operate internationally and have been known to carry out attacks across Europe, according to cybersecurity experts.

Engineers and programmers are actively working to close backdoors that allowed the attacks and shoring up more critical computer infrastructure.
Elections software CEO arrested for allegedly stealing poll workers’ data

October 5, 2022

The founder and CEO of an elections software company is under arrest allegedly for stealing data on hundreds of Los Angeles County poll workers. The company Konnech won a contract with LA County for software to track election workers’ schedules, training, payroll and communications. Konnech was required to keep the data in the United States and only provide access to citizens and permanent residents.

They’re now accused of storing the data on Chinese servers.

The CEO Eugene Yu was arrested on suspicion of theft of personal identifying information, while computer hard drives and other “digital evidence” were seized by investigators from the county district attorney’s office, according to the office, Yu has repeatedly denied keeping data outside of the U.S.

In a statement response, the company said they are continuing to ascertain the details of what they believe to be Mr. Yu’s wrongful detention. Konnech said any LA County poll worker data that Konnech may have possessed was provided by LA county, and therefore could not have been stolen. Yu was arrested in Michigan, but local prosecutors will seek his extradition to California.

Two days before the elections software CEO’s arrest, the New York Times described the allegations against Konnech as “conspiracy theories.” The paper reported that Konnech and Yu became the target of claims by election conspiracy theorists that the company had secret ties to the Chinese Communist Party and had supplied information on 2 million poll workers.

True the Vote is a conservative vote-monitoring organization whose stated objective is stopping voter fraud. In their own investigation that played a role in the county’s investigation, True the Vote accused the elections software CEO of these allegations well before his arrest. Konnech sued True the Vote. True the Vote Founder Catherine Engelbrecht released a statement after the arrest of Yu.

“Konnech was assisted by many reporters who unblinkingly accepted their now discredited claims as fact, and simply repeated them,” Engelbrecht said. “Election integrity should not be a partisan issue, nor should media try to suppress all conversation about it in a way that benefits one party. We will continue to report evidence of threats to our election process and work with law enforcement to ensure our elections are a secure space for all American voters.”

From World Cup stadium to housing, 5 ways to repurpose shipping containers

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department recruits hit by SUV

Ahead of Halloween, fentanyl pills hidden in candy boxes seized at LAX

LA City Council’s Martinez taking leave of absence after audio leak

Russian cyberattacks target US airports by shutting down websites

Elections software CEO arrested for allegedly stealing poll workers’ data

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