Sightline Daily top picks 04/01/2009

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Sightline Daily | Northwest News That Matters

Top Picks of the Day

1. Four Oregon, Washington Schools on EPA Air Toxics List

The Environmental Protection Agency said today it will monitor for air toxics around 62 US schools, including two schools each in Oregon and Washington. The EPA said it focused on schools in urban areas and schools close to industry. The agency will analyze results for long-term health concerns, including risk for cancer and other chronic conditions. Oregonian 04/01/2009

2. Hanford Nuclear Site Cleanup Gets $2B of Stimulus

The Department of Energy will spend about $2 billion of stimulus money to speed some of the cleanup at the Hanford nuclear reservation, the nation’s most contaminated site. Seattle Times 03/31/2009

3. Study: High Coastal Levels of Flame-Retardant Chemicals

Flame-retardant chemicals that have been linked to reproductive and neurological problems in animals and humans have seeped into coastal environments even in remote regions and have been found in high concentrations off populated areas such as Chicago and Southern California, a federal study revealed Tuesday. Los Angeles Times 04/01/2009

4. House Leaders Introduce Serious Energy and Climate Plan

House Democratic leaders on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping plan to boost renewable energy and fight climate change, including mandates for renewable electricity nationwide and a market-based system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Los Angeles Times 04/01/2009

5. Obesity Increasing At ‘Alarming Rates’ In Oregon

Oregonians are eating more and exercising less. The percentage of the population that is obese is the highest it has ever been. And children are gaining weight faster than adults. The report shows the proportion of obese children in Oregon has tripled in the past 20 years. This trend threatens long-term consequences for the health care system. Oregon Public Broadcasting 04/01/2009

6. Washington Tries to Boost Sage Grouse Population

Washington wildlife officials have released more than two dozen sage grouse in Lincoln County in an attempt to establish a third population of the threatened birds in the state. Greater sage grouse have declined in Eastern Washington due to a loss of sagebrush grasslands. There are about 640 of the birds in the state. Oregonian 04/01/2009

7. Anti-Abortion Bills Defeated in Montana — For Now

Democrats voted against bills that would license abortion clinics in Montana, make harming an unborn child a criminal offense, revise parental notification for minors getting an abortion, and amend the state constitution in ways that could ban abortion. Missoulian 04/01/2009

8. UO, OSU Land Major Solar Research Investment

The University of Oregon and Oregon State University will receive a total of $1.34 million for solar energy research, according to an announcement Tuesday by the Oregon Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies Center, or Oregon BEST. Officials hope the investment builds Oregon’s reputation as a solar manufacturing center and helps create jobs and attract companies. Business Journal 04/01/2009

9. Puget Sound: One oil spill away from disaster?

Despite spending tens of millions of dollars each year preparing for oil spills and cleaning them up — and despite having some of the nation’s toughest oil-spill standards — some experts warn Washington is not as ready for a big accident as we think we are. Seattle Times 04/01/2009

10. David Suzuki: Can Clean Energy and Biodiversity Get Along?
It’s in our best interests to act quickly to get as much renewable energy into play as possible. As well as getting us off fossil fuels and combating global warming, renewable energy is also one way to dig ourselves out of the economic mess we’re facing. It’s good for business. But that doesn’t mean environmental safeguards should be relaxed in the name of green energy. Georgia Straight 04/01/2009

Sightline Daily top picks 10/20/2008

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Sightline Daily | Northwest News That Matters

Top Picks of the Day

1. Portland’s Bus, MAX Ridership Growing Strong

MAX light rail and bus systems both showed strong growth in September, compared with the same month a year ago, even as gas prices have fallen from mid-summer records, the mass transit agency said today. Oregonian 10/17/2008

2. Making Western States Bicycle-Friendly

What makes a state bicycle friendly? That’s a question just taken up in earnest by a Beltway-based bicycle advocacy group called the League of American Bicyclists. Crosscut 10/18/2008

3. Smart Growth BC Sees Green Space as Games Legacy

The way Ione Smith and her colleagues at Smart Growth BC see it, a big new highway and a string of sprawling housing developments are not a fitting legacy for the 2010 Olympic Games. Toronto Globe and Mail 10/19/2008

4. Company Floats Idea of Pacific Ocean Wind Power

Oregonians everywhere are likely to soon face the promise and challenge of ocean wind power as the Pacific shows its potential as an ideal wind farm setting. Garibaldi is merely the first site on the West Coast where a green, renewable generating source — the kind now dotting eastern Oregon’s open spaces — tries to set anchor. Oregonian 10/20/2008

5. FEMA Becomes a Partner in the Effort to Save Salmon

Entering uncertain waters, the Federal Emergency Management Agency must now protect salmon as well as human life and property. FEMA joins numerous federal, state and local agencies required to protect threatened and endangered species as part of their mission. Kitsap Sun 10/19/2008

6. Oregon Farmers Are Loving Biosolids

Spraying recycled human waste on farmland once sounded like a bad idea to Howard DeLano. Now the cattle rancher east of Oregon City is among a growing number of Oregon farmers who can’t get enough of the black slop. Oregonian 10/20/2008

7. Puget Sounders Want to Save Their Homes

It’s like a chain-reaction pileup. Thousands of desperate homeowners – people like David Hall and Cheryl Miller – have fallen behind on their house payments and face foreclosure. They’ve turned to their lenders and local housing-counseling agencies for help, quickly overwhelming both. Seattle Times 10/20/2008

8. 33 Oregon Counties to Share Rural Funds

Under the renewal of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000, counties will see their annual allotments phased out over four years, an extension to timber payments packaged in with the latest federal bailout. The Oregon counties plan to put the money into their contingency funds to prepare for the day that the money won’t be there at all. Oregonian 10/19/2008

9. Views: Yes to More Transit in Puget Sound

Sound Transit is a critical public works project. A one-half cent boost in the sales tax seems a reasonable price to pay for so many new jobs. Seattle Post-Intelligencer 10/17/2008

10. The Secret’s Out: Tons of Water in Oregon’s Cascades
The most valuable resource in the national forests atop the Oregon Cascades may not be the timber and recreation spots they’re known for, but something else that’s largely invisible: water. Scientists from the U.S. Forest Service and Oregon State University have in recent years quietly realized that the high Cascades in Oregon and far Northern California contain an immense subterranean reservoir about as large as the biggest man-made reservoirs in the country. Oregonian 10/20/2008