For the first time in its history the canton’s governing council has voted two women in, one of which is a member of the socialist party. Ylfete Fanaj also has the particularity of not having been born here. She is Albanian but moved to Switzerland when she was 9 years old. The five councillors are hailing from the whole political palette, from socialist to right win with 2 members of the “middle party” and a member of the FDP party. Also new is that 4 of the 5 councillors are all under 50 years of age. They will begin to serve in their new roles as of July 1st.
The village of Brienz was evacuated on the weekend because of the very serious threat of a huge land and rock slide in the coming weeks. In Arth Goldau a landslide of 500 tonnes of rock has caused train line between Zug and Arth-Goldau to be paused whilst engineers are figuring out how best to secure the mountain side. And a bit further down the road in Oberwil close to Zug another landslide has cause another neighbourhood to be evacuated.
A governmental study has once again proven that women receive less salary for the exact same work as men. This discrimination continues in practically all branches.
Anyone living in the city of Lucerne will receive a one off payment of 173.- from the city to help compensate the rising cost of living. This is due to a motion by the Socialist Party last year which was narrowly voted in by the local parliament.
A wolf was found run over by a train in Sarnen. This is showing that wolves are spreading in the country since they were reintroduced in Italy and are coming closer to cities.
So far in May the rain has fallen 12% more than usual in central Switzerland, but unfortunately this doesn’t mean that we will not suffer from a lack of water in the summer. In Lugano the rain fall is still 20% below the norm and all eyes are on the jet stream to see where it will position itself in June. If it shifts further north then we will have a hot and dry summer, should it stay in its current position then we can expect a cooler and wetter summer.
