Editor's Take: March 01, 2009
Credit: Michelle Ihlan
A Chicken in Every Yard?
Economic times are dark, but stimulus funds may give
green energy a boost -- and help homeowners decrease their energy bills.
Don't miss this story about an Oregon tribe that's based its land management strategy on protecting culturally important "first foods." And should cities allow "victory" chicken coops to help us get through hard times?
Plus: Obama gears up for a health reform fight.
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Your editor today is Elisa Murray | View All Today's News
Local Green Energy Projects Get Stimulus Boost
Contra Costa Times
03/01/2009
President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus package could help California counties and cities comply with pending mandates to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
A handful of programs in the federal spending plan set aside money for green energy development and retrofit, expanded public transit and energy efficiency initiatives.
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Cloudy Economic Times -- Time to 'Go Solar'
Kitsap Sun
03/02/2009
Jim Goodwin is among a growing number solar converts taking advantage of expanded tax credits offered by federal economic stimulus legislation. Goodwin doesn't consider his solar panel purchase a true financial investment. Rather, power-generating equipment just seems tangible and solid, compared with the out-of-control economy, he said.
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Agent Goes Undercover to Nab a Gang of Poachers
Seattle Times
03/01/2009
Rumors of a poaching ring had been circulating in Southwest Washington when Fish and Wildlife got a phone call with a tip in late 2006. Mick Gordon was trying to sell a hunting dog, and he was boasting about his poaching prowess.
The tipster offered a tantalizing possibility. Could a wildlife cop posing as someone interested in buying the dog get inside this group of hunters?
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Oregon Tribe Bases Land-Management Strategy on Preserving Foods
Oregonian
03/01/2009
Traditional foods are so important to the Umatilla, Walla Walla and Cayuse tribes that they've centered their entire land-management strategy on protecting them.
The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation have adopted what they say is a one-of-a-kind plan for their rugged 178,000 acres that aims to save the "first foods" -- salmon, wild game, roots, berries and clear, pure water.
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Lead Levels Plummet in Young Children
Los Angeles Times
03/02/2009
In a stunning improvement in children's health, far fewer kids have high lead levels than 20 years ago, government research shows -- a testament to aggressive efforts to get lead out of paint, water and soil.
Federal researchers found that just 1.4% of young children had elevated lead levels in their blood in 2004, the latest data available. That compares with almost 9% in 1988.
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Oregon Log Prices Hit Rock Bottom
USA Today
03/01/2009
The timber market on the North Coast has deteriorated to the point where industry experts say they don't even know how much a log is worth anymore.
How can you put a price on something nobody wants? But aside from some hope for construction triggered by federal stimulus funds, there's no reprieve in sight.
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Obama's Backing Raises Hopes for Climate Pact
New York Times
03/01/2009
Within weeks of taking office, President Obama has radically shifted the global equation, placing the United States at the forefront of the international climate effort and raising hopes that an effective international accord might be possible. Mr. Obama’s chief climate negotiator, Todd Stern, said last week that the United States would be involved in the negotiation of a new treaty "in a robust way."
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Redesigning First Nations Schools
The Tyee
03/01/2009
It's been 20 years since an architect and civil servant named Marie-Odile Marceau challenged the way First Nations schools were designed and delivered in this province.
As a new hire of the provincial government, Marceau rejected the cookie-cutter schools trucked in from afar, and brought in the best B.C. architects to work with local bands. The thesis: aboriginal kids and kin would find inspiration and empowerment in the architecture informed by their own culture and input. Has it worked?
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Salem Chicken Ban Ruffles Feathers
Salem Statesman Journal
03/02/2009
A ban against chickens in residential zones has ruffled some feathers with a determined group of Salem city dwellers. Last week, some members took their case before the council, saying that allowing residents to keep chickens would give them a chance to raise their own food during difficult economic times.
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Views: Timing the Health Care Fight
San Francisco Chronicle
03/02/2009
There's been no 1,000-page document released and no blue-ribbon task force assembled, but President Obama is moving swiftly and stealthily to change the nature of health care in America.
If all goes well, the American health care system will slowly transfer into something more universal and less costly for its patients -- slowly so that no one has a chance to panic, and so the Obama administration has enough time to smooth over any bumps in the road.
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