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State Says 'Serious' Safety Violations Led To Worker's Fatal Fall

The North Carolina Department of Labor has cited the city of Greensboro and its water resources department for “serious” safety violations after a city employee fell to her death last November at a water tower in McLeansville.

The News and Record reports the department also levied a fine of $26,000 against the city.

Twenty-eight-year-old Sheria Stringer died November 1st when she fell 80 feet while descending a ladder inside the tower.

The four citations fault deficient training and equipment procedures.

A labor department spokeswoman says that while the penalties won't make up for loss of life, they're designed in part “to get the attention of other employers with similar work environments.”

The city has 15 days to appeal the citations, which were issued April 18th.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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