Editor's Take: May 26, 2009
djwudi, flickr
Marriage, redefined
The California Supreme Court's decision to largely uphold a gay marriage ban sparked tears and protest across the country, including in Seattle. But couples are redefining their own marriages too -- in a tough economy more spouses find themselves living apart to find work. With unemployment and debt plaguing Cascadia, maybe more money for green jobs will lead to happier families too.
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CA gay marriage ruling perplexes couples
Los Angeles Times
05/26/2009
The couple woke up in the Hollywood Hills not knowing whether they'd still be married when the sun plunged into the Pacific. Stuart went to work, Jamie had a doctor's appointment. With their fate in the hands of the Supreme Court, what they got at 10 a.m. was a partial victory that felt more like a punch in the gut.
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Billions slated for energy-efficiency jobs
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
05/26/2009
Obama administration officials unveiled a national program Tuesday to train workers for "green jobs." Some of the $4 billion from the federal $787 billion economic stimulus plan that was budgeted to renovate public housing will be spent to create jobs for making the dwellings more energy efficient.
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Portland unemployment exceeds OR average
Oregonian
05/26/2009
For the first time since the tech bust, the Portland area's unemployment rate exceeded that of Oregon as a whole, albeit by a hair at 12.1 percent in April. The development flies in the face of conventional economics, which suggests that urban areas outperform rural regions during recessions.
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Life of a salmon, in 3-D
KUOW
05/26/2009
3-D is making a comeback in the movies. Now Northwest scientists hope to use it on salmon. Just as scientists use radio collars to track wolves, now they are using Cherrio-sized sonic tags to monitor tiny juvenile salmon, which help researchers develop three-dimensional animations of a fish's movements.
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BC leads Canada in household debt
CBC BC
05/26/2009
British Columbians are running up debt to pay for their lifestyle faster than other Canadians, according to a study released Tuesday. The province's pricey real estate market is partly to blame, but so is what one economist calls the normalization of living on borrowed money.
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Tight economy forces couples to live apart
NPR
05/26/2009
Many couples are struggling with job loss or lower wages, and it's not easy to find better prospects close to home. In some families, husbands and wives have to look for jobs in different states. That's pushing them into commuter marriages.
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Groups: OR transportation bill not green enough
Eugene Register Guard
05/27/2009
Conservation organizations came out Tuesday against the Oregon Legislature's transportation funding package, calling it "a blast from the past: a bill full of highway expansions" and saying it leans too much in favor of building new roads for cars and trucks that emit global-warming pollution.
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Ta-da! A self-balancing unicycle
Oregonian
05/26/2009
You might think of Vancouver, WA as more of a meat, potatoes and bicycles-only kind of town. Now, it can call itself the birthplace of the electric, gyroscope-packed, one-wheeled cycle -- the Self-Balancing Unicycle -- which offers the promise of taking some of the circus-stunt nature of the unicycle to the masses.
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Downtown Boise streetcar plan on track
Boise Idaho Statesman
05/27/2009
Boise's hopes to have streetcars rolling downtown within three years is about to get a boost from Sen. Mike Crapo. Next week, he will send a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asking him to designate $300 million in federal stimulus money for streetcar projects like Boise's.
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Views: Decoding the green jobs 'buzz'
BC Local News
05/26/2009
Green jobs have been increasingly described as a silver bullet: a way to raise employment, cure economic recession and save the environment. But not all green jobs are created equal.
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