Editor's Take: April 17, 2008
Credit: Sightline Institute
Pump Down the Volume
Remember when the water-cooler talk was “$3 a gallon?” Now gas-price sticker-shock is routine. But habits are changing -- and it’s paying off. A new report by my colleagues at Sightline Institute found that northwesterners are leading the nation in declining gas consumption. “[It’s] like every driver taking an annual, five-week holiday from their cars," Sightline’s Clark Williams-Derry told King 5.
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Northwesterners Cut Back on Gas Use
King 5 TV
04/18/2008
On the day that Washington state's attorney general is set to announce the findings of a year-long investigation into high gas prices, a Seattle-based think tank says people in the Northwest are leading the nation in cutting back on gas consumption -- nearly a gallon a week on average.
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Climate Change Alters Bay Area Growth
San Francisco Chronicle
04/18/2008
Some bayside areas may need to be abandoned in light of studies that indicate San Francisco Bay could rise several feet.
And the call to reduce carbon emissions -- a factor in global warming -- is being used to argue for dense new development in the region's urban core, rather than on the outskirts of auto-reliant suburbs.
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The Death of a Montana Dam: A Slideshow
Slate
04/18/2008
On March 28 in Milltown, Mont., the waters of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers breached a coffer dam to flow freely through their confluence for the first time in a century. The moment came at the midpoint of a $100 million Superfund cleanup of contaminated sediments at the Milltown Reservoir -- perhaps the most ambitious environmental remediation project ever attempted in the country.
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Study: Poverty is Health Hazard
San Francisco Chronicle
04/18/2008
A black child in West Oakland is much more likely to be born prematurely and into poverty than a white child in the Oakland hills. In school, he's less likely to read at grade level and more likely to drop out.
As an adult, he's more prone to diabetes, heart disease, cancer or stroke. And he can expect to die nearly 15 years earlier.
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A New Generation of Homeless Vets
KPLU
04/18/2008
More help is on the way for homeless veterans, including those just back from Iraq and Afghanistan. Next month, the federal government will disperse $75-million to public housing agencies across the country. The money will pay for rental vouchers.
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Neighborhood Planning 101
Crosscut
04/18/2008
It's been almost a decade since 38 neighborhood plans were adopted by the Seattle City Council. The process is about to begin anew. Today Crosscut begins a series of articles looking at the bureaucracy and the process. Consider it a primer for you and your neighbors -- and a call to action.
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Hot Air and Cold Cash for BC Liberals
24 Hours
04/18/2008
Companies owning facilities that emitted 100,000 tonnes or more of greenhouse gas emissions in 2006 donated $1.6 million to the provincial Liberals between 2005 and 2007.
This, according to a 24 hours analysis of Elections British Columbia filings and data compiled by Environment Canada.
Duke Energy Corp. -- whose facilities emitted the most greenhouse gases at more than 4.1 million tonnes -- donated $49,520 to the Liberals.
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Tlingit-Haida Remember and Recover
Alaska Public Radio Network
04/18/2008
Two very different ceremonies marked the opening day of the Tlingit-Haida Central Council's general assembly in Juneau. Delegates to Southeast Alaska's largest tribal organization danced their way into the assembly in full regalia. Last night, the U.S. Forest Service officially acknowledged that it destroyed native fish camps and smokehouses on Prince of Wales Island and elsewhere in Southeast Alaska.
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Sticker Shock in the Organic Aisles
New York Times
04/18/2008
Rising prices for organic groceries are prompting some consumers to question their devotion to food produced without pesticides, chemical fertilizers or antibiotics. In some parts of the country, a loaf of organic bread can cost $4.50, a pound of pasta has hit $3, and organic milk is closing in on $7 a gallon.
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Commentary: Oregon Health Plan Fallacies
Oregonian
04/18/2008
Last year on this page we told the story of a 12-year-old Portland boy, Keith Tupper, who almost died after his low-income family was bumped off the Oregon Health Plan.
Today that shameful story is reflected in the findings of a new study reported in a respected medical journal. The study supported precisely the point we made about the Tupper boy: Cutting the health plan may save money in one pot, the state budget, but it drains money from another pot, the state's health care system, while it makes people sicker.
Go to article.
