Sightline Daily top picks 04/27/2009

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Sightline Daily | Northwest News That Matters

Top Picks of the Day

1. BC on ‘high alert’ after confirming swine flu

Two people in Metro Vancouver have the same swine flu virus that has killed dozens in Mexico, according to Canada health authorities. Both young adults who had recently traveled to Mexico had only mild symptoms, and health officials stressed that “this influenza virus does not automatically mean hospitalization and death. This is not necessarily scary monsters.” Vancouver Sun 04/27/2009

2. Military embraces green energy

A Mojave Desert Army base is full of plug-in cars, solar panels and new experiments. Liberal agenda? Nah, it’s about saving money, even lives. But the Defense Department could cement a national trend. Los Angeles Times 04/26/2009

3. Absent Superfund tax, stimulus aids cleanups

The Superfund program to clean up the nation’s most contaminated industrial sites was established nearly 30 years ago on the principle that those responsible for toxic pollution should pay for it. So why is the government spending $600 million in stimulus money to do the job? New York Times 04/26/2009

4. Strange bedfellows unite to cut emissions

After fighting each other for decades, environmentalists and industrial businesses are working together in Congress to clear the air – literally – through a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. A partnership which has put rivals General Electric and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) on the same page is having more influence than most. USA Today 04/26/2009

5. ‘Vampire’ appliances bite your wallet

Are vampires sucking the life out of your household energy budget? Electronic devices and appliances that use electricity even when they’re idle may be costing you hundreds of dollars a year. Home energy audits can root them out. Los Angeles Times 04/26/2009

6. Oregon’s water issues run deep

In a state that boasts about webbed feet, access to Oregon’s water is increasingly contested. The state estimates that in the coming years, demand will grow by 1.2 million acre-feet; we use about 9 million acre-feet now. Whoever controls the limited supply will control new housing and industry and how farming expands. Oregonian 04/26/2009

7. Puget Sound foreclosures soar

In King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, nearly 6,300 homes received a foreclosure notice in the last three months – a threefold increase from just two years ago. While the problem reaches across all types of neighborhoods, newer developments built on the edges of metropolitan Seattle and Tacoma are among the hardest hit. Seattle Times 04/26/2009

8. Plug-in cars create challenges

President Barack Obama and others are calling for a boom in electric vehicle production, which seems simple enough: Build the cars and plug them in. If only it were that easy. Most people are already familiar with what can happen when thousands of air conditioners are plugged in and running at the same time during the summer – brownouts. Olympian 04/26/2009

9. Pedometers to study lazy, happy cows

Oregon State University researchers are using pedometers to study whether cows — which prefer to lie down when they aren’t being milked or eating — are happy, with an eye towards increasing milk production and farmers’ bottom lines. Corvallis Gazette Times 04/27/2009

10. Views: Viaduct tunnel’s cost may fool us all
A professor at Oxford University in England has done a compelling series of studies trying to get at why big public-works projects such as bridges, tunnels and light-rail systems almost always turn out to be far more costly than estimated. The simple answer: officials lie. Seattle Times 04/26/2009