Current Stories
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Target, Kmart and Toys-R-Us settle lead claims
Los Angeles Times
11/06/2009
Three major retailers have agreed to pay nearly half a million dollars to settle a lawsuit stemming from the companies' sale of toys containing excessive amounts of lead, the California attorney general's office said Thursday.
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Views: A CA water deal at long last
San Francisco Chronicle
11/06/2009
For decades, California's water wars have flared unabated - cities versus farms, north against south - while half measures left the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta drained and decimated. A solution involving all sides was only a dream. Until now.
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California water overhaul caps use
New York Times
11/04/2009
Prompted by a protracted drought -- which has reduced water supply, harmed the fishing industry, and contributed to crop loss -- environmentalists and agricultural interests have agreed to broad concessions in a package of water legislation approved Wednesday.
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Bay Area has high housing burden
Contra Costa Times
11/03/2009
A research group that promotes affordable housing has unveiled a new way of calculating what many already know: Housing and transportation costs eat up nearly 60 percent of the median income of Bay Area families.
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Converting garbage to fuel for CA garbage trucks
Contra Costa Times
11/02/2009
A new plant, which is operated by Waste Management, will take landfill-generated methane gas and turn it into liquefied natural gas to fuel garbage collection trucks.
Statewide, 495 trucks now are being supplied with garbage fuel from the new facility, which has been up-and-running for about two weeks. Of those, 49 are in the Bay Area.
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Clorox to stop using, transporting chlorine in US
San Francisco Chronicle
11/02/2009
Laws already bar transporting toxic materials, including substances that can vaporize, such as chlorine, through large cities.
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San Fran may extend hours for paid parking
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
11/01/2009
San Francisco's transportation agency, anticipating a multi-million dollar deficit, is proposing a plan it says will help ease parking snafus. It wants to extend parking meter hours - up to midnight in the trendiest neighborhoods, and on Sundays everywhere.
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Crews work to save birds after San Fran oil spill
San Francisco Chronicle
11/02/2009
Efforts to limit the damage from Friday's fuel spill in the San Francisco Bay focused Sunday on the Alameda shoreline, where rescue workers tried to save oiled birds that had beached themselves and painstakingly removed balls of sticky tar.
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US lags with patchwork approach to e-waste
Scientific American
10/30/2009
One of the world's largest producers of electronic refuse, the US imposes no federal restrictions on what materials can be used to make electronic devices or how they can be discarded, leaving states to lead.
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Migration drops a crowd of pelicans
Coos Bay World
10/28/2009
Thousands of brown pelicans have converged on the south and central Oregon coast, with fall migration under way to Southern California and Mexico.
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Suddenly, America digs farming
Los Angeles Times
10/28/2009
Farming, which many city folk once associated primarily with children's books and distinctive if not entirely flattering tan lines, is suddenly in vogue.
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Western lawmakers collaborate on climate
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
10/27/2009
Lawmakers from many western states agreed Monday that they should consider collaborating on developing technology to capture and store the carbon gas that's generated from burning fossil fuels.
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CA's Trinity River salmon threatened
Eureka Times-Standard
10/27/2009
The US Bureau of Reclamation is asking for a decades-long extension of state water permits on the Trinity River to give it more time to find uses for the water -- a move river advocates say could threaten the water available for salmon and steelhead.
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Arcata Forest signs on to new carbon program
Eureka Times-Standard
10/25/2009
Arcata has committed just more than 20 percent of its community forest to grow trees and store carbon, part of a contract with the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. meant to reduce greenhouse gases.
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Delta water plan emerges for Californians to view
San Francisco Chronicle
10/27/2009
Strict conservation, new dams and a peripheral canal are all on the table after six weeks of closed-door negotiations to solve the state's water crisis and restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta ecosystem.
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California on right track to greener televisions
San Francisco Chronicle
10/27/2009
The California Energy Commission wants to rope in flat screens, following successful mandates that made refrigerators and washing machines far more efficient at no greater cost. It's a laudable goal but one that comes with a caveat: New rules shouldn't interfere with fast-changing TV technology and consumer tastes.
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In battle over gay marriage, timing may be key
New York Times
10/27/2009
In a San Francisco courtroom two weeks ago, a prominent lawyer opposed to same-sex marriage made a concession that could mark a turning point in the legal wars over the purpose and meaning of marriage.
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Food plants make comeback in Oakland
San Francisco Chronicle
10/25/2009
At a time when most industries in CA are suffering, Oakland's food business - including everything from tofu to doughnuts - appears to be expanding and hiring workers for living wage jobs.
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California's water wars
The Economist
10/25/2009
From Australia to Israel, parched places all over the world are now looking to California to see whether, and how, it solves one of the most intractable problems of thirsty civilisations in dry regions.
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Views: A Tale of Two Rivers
Seattle Times
10/26/2009
Call it a tale of two rivers. On the one hand, there is the Klamath, where after decades of battling over water, salmon, jobs and livelihoods, stakeholders have come to an agreement to put the river and its communities on a path to recovery and remove four outdated dams. On the other hand, there is the Northwest's Columbia-Snake River basin.
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High-speed rail advocates say $8 billion is just a start
Seattle Times
10/23/2009
Communities and companies seeking to build high-speed rail systems haven't yet received the $8 billion in stimulus money the Obama administration promised, and already they want more -- a lot more.
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CA's coastal waters a dump for fishing gear
New Scientist
10/22/2009
Scientists using a submersible to investigate the debris piling up in deep-water canyons off the coast of California were surprised to find that recreational fishing gear accounted for 93 percent of the trash.
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CA may push for energy-saving TVs
San Francisco Chronicle
10/22/2009
California regulators, concerned over the proliferation of flat-panel television sets that guzzle electricity, could soon impose first-in-the-nation laws that restrict how much power televisions can consume.
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When chicken problems come home roost
New York Times
10/22/2009
The Bay Area is unmatched in its embrace of the urban backyard chicken trend. But raising chickens, which promises delicious, untainted eggs and instant membership in the local food movement, isn't all it's cracked up to be.
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BC company delivering all-electric vehicles
Vancouver Sun
10/23/2009
A Vancouver, BC, company is delivering an all-electric vehicle to California that could shave thousands of dollars off the maintenance and fuel costs of running a car in a fleet.
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