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Good Wednesday Morning,

Believe it or not there’s a Winter Storm Watch in effect for tomorrow through Friday. Six to twelve inches of new snow, rain, and radiation fallout.

Today Mostly Sunny Hi 49 °F

Tonight Slight Chc Rain/Snow Lo 31 °F

Thursday Chance Rain/Snow Hi 45 °F

Thursday Night Rain/Snow  Lo 29 °F

Friday Rain/Snow  Hi 39 °F

Friday Night Rain/Snow Likely Lo 28 °F

Saturday Mostly Sunny Hi 43 °F

Two facts you didn’t know about your domestic pet:

The average canine can hear the sound of an opening refrigerator door from 1.2 miles away.
The average feline can hear you reaching for the refrigerator door from 3.6 miles away.

Corrections and Apologies:

To the single Serbo-Croation living in Putnam County, I apologize publicly for not having made an ethnic joke about you but to be honest I can’t think of one. But if you’re willing to send one along I promise to work it into a future column the very next time I discuss using šljivovica as a massage lotion.

Not Fit For Prime Browsing:

Is it just me, or do multi-page articles at the newly designed NYJN website not work if you’re using Firefox as your browser? Let’s do a test! If you use Firefox, head on over to this link, scroll down the page and try to select the next page in the article. If it works, let me know. If it doesn’t work, let me know. If, on the other hand you’re using Internet Explorer the spam, trojan and virus industry owes you a debt of gratitude.

Rand Paul. Bright, articulate, handsome, dumb as a bag of rusty nails.

Putnam Consumer Expo! (but you really can’t attend)

Once again this year the Mahopac Chamber of Commerce is hosting their Consumer Expo on a weekday when people – including potential exhibitors – are at work thus severely limiting the number of actual consumers who might attend if it were held on a weekend Saturday/Sunday.

I wrote about this last year and I’ll write about it again this year and I’ll continue to write about it as often as necessary until someone at the Chamber sends me an explanation of why. Until then, it’s a mystery, as most things in Putnam County are.

Uncle Vinnie Buys More Time:

As reported to the website yesterday evening, the sentencing for Senator Leibell has been moved back again, this time until May 13. No explanation was given.

I Saw The Light!

New stadium lights came on the ballfield’s at Mamaroneck’s high school back on March 11th and its neighbors are now well illuminated about light pollution and bad planning. The school board says they went through a “thorough process” and that the installation well advertised. The municipality says their outdoor lighting ordinances don’t count because the school is under the State Department of Education.

Somewhere along the line there should have been a SEQRA process which required neighbors be notified and consulted at a public hearing unless the school district itself was the lead agency and determined that a trillion watts of light would have no negative effect on its neighbors.

And though neighbors are complaining, the district is aloof, the town claims its hands are tied and that nothing is more important than baseball at 10PM. There are solutions though they require either an axe, a .22 and the dark of night – or a good lawyer.

There are also plans afoot to plant this kind of lighting at the soccer fields along Peekskill Hollow Road and there was a plan to place them at Farmer’s Mills Park in the Free State. But for the latter, now that Kent Recreation is under new management we can only hope that saner heads will prevail.

Bring Back the Energy Commission

This Letter to the Editor first appeared in the PCNR:

Reprinted at the Author’s Request

To Legislator Tamagna:

I am very concerned to learn that the County Legislature failed to continue
the Commission on Alternative Energy and Green Energy Initiatives (“the
Energy Commission”) as a standing commission in January of this year, and
that, to date, it is not on any publicly available agenda.

This makes no sense, given the high cost of the county’s lighting, heating
and cooling needs. The Commission was in the process of gathering
information about ways to lower those costs. Their work could also help
reduce those costs for our local businesses and for our homes.

It is my understanding that, while the Commission was active, the County
commissioned an energy audit but has yet to provide a copy to members of the
Energy Commission.

So, at the same time the Putnam Legislature is turning its back on even
considering alternatives, the counties around us are saving significant
amounts of money by pursuing these alternatives and reaping thousands in
grant funds while Putnam looks the other way.

None of this makes any sense if, in fact, the Legislature was serious about
reducing our energy costs when it first authorized the Energy Commission
back in 2009.

The Putnam County legislature seems focused on only two things: increasing
our taxes and providing corporate welfare to non-local companies (neither of
which benefits the residents of Putnam County). How do you justify turning
your back on providing the ordinary residents of Putnam County with at least
some benefit?

Margaret Yonco-Haines

Garrison

The Right To Die:

Some 20-something kid offed himself down in Irvington the other day using a mix of household chemicals to create a lethal gas, either hydrogen cyanide or hydrogen sulfide. Police are “concerned” that this new form of suicide will spread and are alert to boards on the ‘net that discuss suicide and other relevant issues.

I’m willing to bet – right now – that within the next few weeks some Congressman will demand that any talk of suicide on the ‘net be treated as a crime and whoever posts a method that is then used be prosecuted.

In another news story, the editor of the Kingston Freeman‘s Spanish daily, Antonio Flores-Lobos, “rescued” a woman ready to leap off the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge last Friday.

“She said her husband had died and she had nothing to live for,” said Flores-Lobos. “She looked kind of lost, like she had given up.”
…
“‘It’s a beautiful day, a beautiful day. You don’t want to do this,’” I told her,” Flores-Lobos recalled. “Life, living, is beautiful. It’s everything.”

Who are we to decide for others who have their own personal hells to live with?

Well, here’s the deal with suicide: It’s a personal choice and should remain a personal choice.

If someone decides that life – for whatever reason – is too hard to live they must be given the personal freedom to end their own lives. And if society decides it’s going to intervene then society has an obligation to resolve the problem that led to the now thwarted suicide attempt.

We’re seeing an increasing number of people kill themselves because of financial problems. What happens if authorities intervene and “save” that life? Well, the dude or dudette had a solution to those financial problems yet now when they wake up in the hospital or arrive at a police station not only are their problems still in place but they now may be facing tens of thousands of dollars of additional debt in hospital bills and you can be sure certain police departments will be sending them a bill for their “rescue”.

Rather, if authorities decide to intervene they need to take on the responsibility of, in the former case, solving those financial problems otherwise their “feel good” exercise is a cruel act. If that means a huge cash infusion then that’s what it is. If it means supporting that person for the rest of their lives, well, that’s the chance we take when we place our own personal moralities on others.

To tell someone who is contemplating suicide that ‘life is worth living’ is a selfish act, To interfere in their suicide is even crueler. People have a personal right to end their lives when they want to, our personal feelings matter not.

Our Love Affair With Syria:

The Syrians have their hands full these days as protests erupt across the nation. And if anyone in the middle east is brave it’s a Syrian standing up to his own government.

A reporter carrying both Egyptian and American papers was arrested in Syria and charged with traveling secretly to Israel. In a televised ‘confession’, Muhammad Bakr Radwan of Austin, Texas, said he had traveled to West Jerusalem and back to Syria through Jordan and at some point agreed to sell photographs and video to a Colombian national. Sounds confusing, right? That’s daily life in Syria.

In the meantime, another American, Pathik Root, 21 of Vermont, went missing on March 18th and has turned up in Syrian custody. The circumstances of his arrest are at this time unknown.

Syria has a history of brutally repressing dissent. In 1982, Syrian forces destroyed the town of Hama slaughtering 30,000 – 40,000 people to put down protests against the totalitarian government of Hafez al-Assad. Torture, mass arrests and killings are the methods used by the government there as well as destabilizing the region by acting as an agent for Iran in dealings with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. And can we forget the Israeli strike on the Syrian nuclear arms program? Can you imagine if Syria got the bomb?

Yet the Syrians are lauded by the US government for their assistance in fighting the false ‘war on terror’ by allowing their prisons to be used for the torture of prisoners we could not adequately torture at Guantanamo Bay ourselves. And so the United States finds itself, once again, in a complex situation where our polices and our actions conflict one with the other, the main and justifiable cause of distrust against us the world over.

On the one hand, American history over the last 100 years clearly shows that we support and endorse totalitarian regimes while on the other we talk about democracy and freedom. We have to make a choice which one it’s going to be as we can no longer play both sides of the same coin and expect anyone, anywhere to trust us.

And now, The News:

1. Tax Day Rally: Cut Our Taxes
2. United States slipped to third in clean energy race
3. Over 500,000 acres of developable land identified in the Catskills
4. State Parks Taconic Region Headquarters Awarded Highest-Level LEED Green Building Certification
5. A New Way to Churn Out Cheap LED Lighting
6. Walmart ‘sexism’ case before US Supreme Court

Tax Day Rally: Cut Our Taxes

Monday April 18 · 4 pm

In front of Bank of America 45 Market Street Poughkeepsie, NY

In front of Bank of America at 45 Market Street in Poughkeepsie … [just a stone's throw away from County Office Building-- where our county's Human Rights Commission, Consumer Affairs Commission, our county Youth Bureau's Project Return program, and countless other crucial county services have recently been cut by GOP- while corporate welfare for Bank of America continues]

Fact: Bank of America recently got $45 billion from the federal bailout– but hasn’t paid any federal income taxes in years– while Dutchess County still deposits funds there (Dutchess County Finance Commissioner Pamela Barrack recently confirmed this with us personally!). [see http://www.USUncut.org/ -- protests in front of branches across U.S.]

Read More

United States slipped to third in clean energy race

China and Germany take lead as global investment reaches record $243 Billion in 2010
March 29, 2011

The U.S. competitive position in the clean energy sector is deteriorating, as the country slipped to third place in terms of the amount of private investment directed to the G-20 economies, according to a new report released today by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Until 2008, the U.S. had held the top spot, which is now firmly held by China. Globally, 2010 clean energy finance and investments grew by 30 percent to a record $243 billion.

That’s from the news release for new research released by The Pew Charitable Trusts.  The report, Who’s Winning the Clean Energy Race? 2010 Edition, uses data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Here’s more:

The United States received $34 billion in equity last year, a 51 percent increase from 2009. However, the gap with China, which attracted a record $54.4 billion, continues to widen. Germany also attracted more money than the U.S. with $41.2 billion, claiming the number two spot, up from third the previous year.

“The United States’ position as a leading destination for clean energy investment is declining because its policy framework is weak and uncertain,” said Phyllis Cuttino, director of Pew’s Clean Energy Program. “We are at risk of losing even more financing to countries like China, Germany and India, which have adopted strong policies such as renewable energy standards, carbon reduction targets and/or incentives for investment and production. In today’s global economic race, the United States can’t afford to be to be a follower in this sector.”

Read More

Over 500,000 acres of developable land identified in the Catskills

CATSKILLS REGION – The Catskills region contains 10 times the land needed to support population expectations through 2035, meaning growth can occur there without negatively affecting open space resources, a new Open Space Institute study finds.

The study identifies more than 520,000 of private land that could be developed that is more than would be needed to accommodate population growth estimates of about four percent over the next 25 years.

The report looks at land in Sullivan, Ulster, Greene and Delaware counties.

“This report presents an analysis that can help balanced and sustainable development in our region become a reality,” said Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress President Jonathan Drapkin. “OSI’s study identifies areas where there is a potential for a ‘win-win’ between conservation and development. That synergy is critical to assuring development can occur in a timely and efficient manner while serving the greatest long-term interests of Catskill residents and businesspeople.”

Read More

State Parks Taconic Region Headquarters Awarded Highest-Level LEED Green Building Certification

Transformation of historic school outside Poughkeepsie was made possible by $3 million gift from
Dr. Lucy R. Waletzky

First LEED Platinum award for a public building in New York State

New York State Parks announced today that its Taconic Regional Headquarters has been awarded Platinum-level LEED® certification by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). The adapted school building is the first public building in New York State to win LEED Platinum for new construction or major renovation projects – the highest level of certification for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

The renovation of the school house was a good example of a public private partnership and now that State Parks are in such hard financial times I’m hoping other private individuals will help financially support their park friends groups and larger park infrastructure,” said Lucy R. Waletzky, Chair of the New York State Council of Parks.

“Buildings are a prime example of how human systems integrate with natural systems,” said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. “The State Parks Taconic Regional Headquarters project efficiently uses our natural resources and makes an immediate, positive impact on our planet, which will tremendously benefit future generations to come.”

“Investments in energy efficiency and sustainable building materials are the most cost-effective measures state agencies and local governments can make to control costs, reduce energy consumption, and cut greenhouse gas emissions,” said Francis J. Murray Jr., President and CEO of NYSERDA. “I commend State Parks for the high priority it has placed on conserving energy, protecting our natural resources, and preserving our environment. The project is emblematic of Governor Cuomo’s commitment to expand opportunities for energy efficiency, which will help reduce the cost of government and for doing business in New York.”

The transformation of the former Staatsburg School into a highly energy efficient and sustainable building was made possible by a $3 million gift from Dr. Waletzky toward the $7.9 million project. Reuse of an existing building, the 1930 Staatsburg School in Mills-Norrie State Park, was a significant factor in reaching the platinum level certification. Other factors included:

Read More

A New Way to Churn Out Cheap LED Lighting

Making LEDs with microchip manufacturing methods could slash the cost of lighting.

By Prachi Patel

A startup in California has developed a manufacturing technique that could substantially cut the cost of LED lightbulbs—a more energy-efficient type of lighting.

LEDs are conventionally made on a relatively costly substrate of silicon carbide or sapphire. Bridgelux has come up a new process takes advantage of existing fabrication machines used to make silicon computer chips, potentially cutting LED production costs by 75 percent, according to the company.

Despite their higher efficiencies and longer life, few homes and businesses use LED lighting—largely because of the initial cost. An LED chip makes up 30 to 60 percent of a commercial LED lightbulb. Electronic control circuits and heat management components take up the rest. So for a 60-watt equivalent bulb that costs $40, Bridgelux’s technology could bring the cost down by $9 to $18. Integrating the light chip with the electronics might further reduce costs.

LEDs made with the new technique produce 135 lumens for each watt of power. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Lighting Technology Roadmap calls for an efficiency of 150 lumens per watt by 2012. Some LED makers, such as Cree, in Durham, North Carolina, already sell LED lamps with efficiencies in that range. In contrast, incandescent bulbs emit around 15 lumens per watt, and fluorescent lightbulbs emit 50 to 100 lumens per watt.

Read More

Walmart ‘sexism’ case before US Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court is set to begin hearing evidence on whether the largest sex discrimination lawsuit in American history should go ahead.

A group of women is suing the world’s biggest retailer, Walmart, claiming they were held back because of their gender.

They want to bring a class action suit on behalf of more than a million women.

Walmart denies the allegations, saying it has a long history of promoting women and paying them well.

Christine Kwapnowski, one of six women named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, claims she was passed over for pay and promotion in favour of male colleagues.

“I asked what I needed to do to get promoted and my manager said I should ‘doll up and blow the cobwebs off my make-up’,” she told the BBC.

The group bringing the lawsuit believes Walmart systematically discriminated against women in stores across America.

The six are making their claim under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, arguing “the policies and practices underlying this discriminatory treatment are consistent throughout Walmart”.

The women, who are seeking lost pay and damages, want the US Supreme Court to allow the case to proceed a class action lawsuit against Walmart.

A class action would cover any woman who has worked for, or works for, the store.

Read More

Good Wednesday Morning,

To Be Or Not To Be?

As you all know, Garrison resident Roger Ailes has not been indicted as expected and news reports point to the entire thing being a rumor started by “some guy in an airport”. Okay, fine. I’m sure he’s equally hoping I’ll be indicted for something and so it’s fair. But why has there not been an official word from News Corp or even coverage by FOX News? Are they preparing to Martyr Mr. Ailes, making him bigger than life and continue to blame Bill Clinton and the “mainstream liberal media” (as if there were such a thing!) for all of life’s problems? Anyone want to take bets?

Taking the Sheen Off

As most of you know I have been broadcast television free for the last 15 years or so and have missed the latest in popular excitement: the Charlie Sheen saga. Lacking the drama of a helicopter chase or armed thugs firing into crowds, it just hasn’t made my radar screen. Could someone give me a quick synopsis of just what’s going on?

Energy Conservation. Not.

I’ve been covering stories on energy conservation for the past ten years and during the past two covering what little we were doing in Putnam County along those lines. There has been a commission, once headed by Vinnie Tamagna where nothing got done other than to play politics, and then by Tony Fusco where a great deal was accomplished, gathering the information the county would need in order to move forward with energy – and money-saving conservation practices and programs.

However, the commission was never allowed to implement ideas nor even to see information allegedly gathered by the county on energy use. We were told the county had an energy audit performed but was forbidden from viewing that information. Why?

The Commission was populated by knowledgeable individuals from all walks of life including construction, alternative energy, citizen activists and actual, real scientists.

But the County Legislature has decided to allow the commission to die a quiet death. Energy conservation and alternatives to fossil fuels are purely socialist endeavors and so do not jibe with modern-day Republican thinking. (see below on welfare to oil companies).

In the meantime, counties all around us are using hundreds of thousands of dollars in Federal grants to save millions in municipal costs while Putnam County, which was already lagging behind, has now moved back to the age of torches and stone implements on the alternative energy front. Just think of how much of that sales tax increase could have been avoided!

If you think this is wrong, and that the commission should be reconstituted with its former members allowed to continue their work, write the County Legislature and tell them so. Or, you can just sit under an Edison bulb and toss your tax dollars out the window.

Shooting Birds. Healing Birds.

If you qualify and write to the State DEC they will send you a bunch of day old pheasant chicks. You raise them until they’re 8-weeks old, set them loose, and then a bunch of guys with guns hunt them down and shoot them. There must be logic in there somewhere but I don’t see it.

If, on the other hand, you’d like to help animals and birds, (perhaps the ones shot and only injured), the DEC is offering an exam for Wildlife Rehabilitator and Falconry Apprentice. See the article below for more information.

This situation is ideal for those who want to raise, shoot, and repair their own pheasants!

But then, if you weren’t shooting them and they lived long enough to breed on their own the state wouldn’t have to, heck…. that’s just too logical.

Where’s Nan?

On Monday, February 28th, Congressional Republicans, true to form, ordered that all recyclable containers in the House cafeteria be switched back to Styrofoam. Styrofoam as you know, takes thousands of years to degrade in landfills and if burned puts out toxic smoke and causes significant pollution and waste problems throughout its entire manufacturing process. (It is made out of oil!) Why switch back? It was a money saving effort on their part. You know, penny wise and pound foolish.

But that’s not all! House Republicans (joined by 12 Democrats) also voted to (drum roll please….!) continue subsidies to Big Oil including one which is costing taxpayers $53 BILLION a year by allowing oil companies to drill for free on Federal lands. Federal lands, by the way, are lands that you own outright. $53 BILLION a year!

And how do you think Nan Hayworth voted? Did she vote for the environment? Did she vote to end corporate welfare? Did she vote to recoup $53 BILLION a year from the oil companies? Of course not! 

Where’s Nan on common sense representation of her constituents, on cutting taxes and smaller government? Where? She’s not even on the radar.

Flagged!

So, you go to Craigslist and you post an advertisement to sell some old furniture you’ve got and you’re wondering why the only responses you’re getting are automated SPAM messages. You go to the ad and find that it’s not there, that it’s been flagged and removed. Why? There’s no saying or telling. It’s an anonymous thing. So you post the ad again and the same thing happens. Why is the ad being removed? You check the terms of service and your ad is kosher and you want an explanation but there is none. None at all.

Craigslist, for reasons I cannot understand, allows readers to “flag” any advertisement they don’t like and if enough people flag your advert it’s pulled. There is no explanation, it’s just the way it is.

Tax Returns:

Tax returns are beginning to flow from Washington, DC to America wallets just in time for cleaning up your place for spring and repairing the damage done by this horrific winter. Among those repairs will be repainting interior walls damaged by water from the ice dams that built up on so many roofs. But you also just may want to spruce things up a bit and now is the time.

The sale prices Taconicarts was heralding last week are coming close to their end but there’s still a little time left. Write/call them now and secure an estimate from a licensed and insured Putnam County based contractor and News That Matters’ largest and most steadfast contributor.

And now The News:

1. The most anti-environmental piece of legislation in history
2. Connecticut Governor Wants Coupon Users To Pay Tax On Full Price Of Purchase
3. Good Neighbors: Cold Spring, Garrison, and Putnam County
4. Exams for Wildlife Rehabilitator and Falconry Apprentice
5. Finland’s New Sustainable Underground City
6. Will Palestinians Revolt Against Their Two Governments?

The most anti-environmental piece of legislation in history

Statement of Rebecca Wodder, President of American Rivers

February 24, 2011

Just after 4:30 a.m. this past Saturday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed arguably the most anti-environmental piece of legislation in history.  H.R. 1, which would fund the government through the rest of federal Fiscal Year 2011, eviscerates programs that protect our drinking water, clean up polluted rivers, and safeguard land and wildlife for future generations.

Not only does the bill slash funding for priorities that are vital to our health and safety, but it also contains dozens of extraneous “riders,” like a provision blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from protecting small streams, from which 117 million Americans get their drinking water.  There’s also the section of the bill that gives corporate polluters a free pass by waiving the Endangered Species Act in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta, one of America’s Most Endangered RiversTM.  And there’s the amendment that blows up the Klamath Settlement Agreement, a deal struck between American Rivers and Indian tribes, farmers, fishermen, and conservation groups to solve the decades long crisis on the Klamath River.  And of course there is the rider that prevents the EPA from addressing climate change.

Read More

Connecticut Governor Wants Coupon Users To Pay Tax On Full Price Of Purchase

by Chris Morran

Read More

Good Neighbors: Cold Spring, Garrison, and Putnam County

by Max Watman for Chronogram

Before we moved to Cold Spring, my wife and I lived in Brooklyn. (This is actually a joke in Cold Spring, because if you moved here in the last seven years, there’s an 80 percent chance you moved from Brooklyn.) We had a beater car, an old Mercedes diesel that looked as if it had driven through a roadblock to get out of a city under siege—holes in the grill, the hood ornament gone, streaks of grime—and on the weekends we’d cruise two-lane roads, looking at the scenery and stopping for lunch. One day we found Route 9D, which hugs the river south of Beacon and heads through Cold Spring and Garrison. We must have had a moment of confusion as we drove past the gravel parking lots just north of Breakneck Ridge, where a throng of hikers walked along the shoulder to the trailhead to climb the steepest terrain in the Hudson Highlands. The dramatic rocky cliff is pierced by a narrow strip of asphalt, the tunnel itself so short as to give the impression that the ridge above it must be a veritable knife-edge of granite. I remember clearing the tunnel, and hitting the flat stretch of byway that hugs the shore of the Hudson and grants a view of Storm King and Crow’s Nest mountains across the water. It took our breath away.

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Exams for Wildlife Rehabilitator and Falconry Apprentice

The deadline for applying for both the Wildlife Rehabilitator and Falconry Apprentice exams is April 1, 2011. Written exams for both will be held on April 22 from 10 AM until noon at DEC Regional offices across the state. At Region 8′s Avon office, exams will be held from 1 PM until 3 PM.

Additional information about both exams and materials for the wildlife rehabilitator exam (described below) are available by contacting the Special License Unit at 518-402-8985.

Wildlife Rehabilitator

Prospective wildlife rehabilitators are encouraged to gain experience by assisting an already-licensed rehabilitator.

Wildlife rehabilitators provide the selfless service of caring for injured, sick and orphaned wild animals, with the ultimate goal of preparing these animals for their return to the wild.

Applicants should understand that a degree of technical skill and a significant commitment in time, money and effort are required to be a wildlife rehabilitator. Prospective applicants are encouraged to gain experience by serving as an assistant to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

A wildlife rehabilitator study guide and examination manual are available for $15 a set, which includes a registration form. Applicants must be at least 16 years of age, submit two character references along with their registration, have no convictions for violations of the state Environmental Conservation Law and be interviewed by a DEC regional wildlife staff person.

Falconry Apprentice

Falconry is the sport of hunting game with trained birds of prey (raptors). Falcons, hawks, eagles and owls have evolved to select certain prey species when hunting for food in the wild. The practice of falconry applies the natural predatory behavior of these birds in taking a wide variety of quarry as part of a cooperative hunting effort with the falconer. Falconry is a demanding sport which requires a significant commitment in time and effort.

Applicants for the Falconry Apprentice License, which costs $20 for two years, must be at least 14 years of age, possess a valid New York small-game hunting license and maintain DEC-approved facilities for housing raptors. Apprentices are limited to possessing one bird, either an American kestrel (a falcon also known as a “sparrow hawk”) or a red-tailed hawk. After two years as an apprentice, a falconer may qualify for a general license.

To apply for the Falconry Apprentice exam, contact the Special Licenses Unit by calling the number above, or e-mail them.

Finland’s New Sustainable Underground City

In the beautiful city of Helsinki, Finland, there lies a hidden secret that is buried beneath the city. In order to become more sustainable, the city has decided to go underground to solve some of its big problems in an eco-friendly way.

The City Plan

The bedrock under Finland’s capital city accommodates a vast network of more than 400 tunnels and underground structures. These include everything from utility, water and metro tunnels, to underground shopping malls, swimming pools, parking and storage facilities, leisure complexes and of course Helsinki’s famous Temppeliaukio Church.

With an increasing demand for sustainable development and sound planning of land use within the area’s red and black granite, the city of Helsinki has decided to capitalize on future construction opportunities by formulating a strategic “Underground City Plan”.

This plan is being used to manage the construction of  200 underground structures in forthcoming years, including new metro lines and an road tunnel project, which will connect existing access roads leading into the city.

The first stage of the City’s long-term strategy is to extend the pedestrian surface area in the center of the capital, by effectively removing all commercial supply traffic from the streets.

Read More

Will Palestinians Revolt Against Their Two Governments?

by Khaled Abu Toameh1
March 1, 2011 at 5:00 am

Many people have been wondering when and if the popular uprisings currently sweeping the Arab world will also reach the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

When and if the wave of protests do reach the Palestinian territories, it will be directed against the two governments – Hamas and Fatah. Even though the Palestinians need seriously to start thinking of a better alternative to both parties, for this to happen, the pro-democracy movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip needs the support of the international community, specifically the Americans and Europeans.

The power struggle between Hamas and Fatah is not one between good guys and bad guys: It is a power struggle between bad guys and bad guys. Hamas is bad; but who said that Fatah is any better? Hamas is in power mainly thanks to Fatah’s corruption and bad governance.

Almost every day, Palestinians are arrested by Hamas or Fatah and held without trial. The two governments have also been apprehending journalists and political opponents, who complain about torture and intimidation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip prisons.

Read More

If you’re not yet registered to vote or you know someone who is not, you have until Friday to do so. If you’re not registered, what are you doing reading News That Matters in the first place?

Imagine if all the rain we’ve had in the past ten days fell evenly during the summer? The unofficial measure here at News That Matters in the Free State of Western Kent is just shy of 10 inches since it started raining last week.

Future of the Hudson River Watershed – 6:30-9pm tonight in Newburgh. Sandy Galef will be joining NYS Assemblyman Frank Skartados at the Newburgh Free Library, 124 Grand Street, Newburgh, for a community forum on the Future of the Hudson River and its Watershed.  The Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda provides crucial planning to protect one of our greatest local and state resources. Fran Dunwell, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Hudson River Estuary Coordinator will be on hand to discuss and answer questions about the Action Agenda. It is critical that we are all aware of the issues that threaten our environment and the plans to protect it so we can work together to ensure a successful future.

It’s a rather political Wednesday:

Considering that Jean Noel is not running for office next year and her son, Billy insists that he isn’t running either, both seem to be positioning themselves for a race they’ve said they’re not interested in. Billy recently joined the Kent Fire Department’s police unit and Jean continues to appear at town board meetings, of late, criticizing the town’s website for not getting data she wants posted as quickly as she’d like. She may have a point. Maybe not. It’s hard to say.

But the real question in Kent is this: why does the board vote on the Town’s budget the week *after* the election and not before? There’s plenty of time to move the vote before the election so we have a better idea of who is voting for tax hikes and who is not. But the board won’t even talk about it.

If you live in Kent write the board and ask them to move their budget vote. If the county Legislature can vote on their budget before the election there’s no reason the town cannot do the same.

If you are a Southeast resident, move. I mean, really now… that’s about the only way you’re going to escape the nightmare that pervades meetings of that town’s government.

If the battle for County Executive was being played out on social networking sites, Maryellen Odell would be the hands-down winner. According to their Facebook pages, MEO has 1,355 friends while the Senator has 470. Mike Kaplowitz has a mere 819 compared to Greg Ball’s 4,111.

In a recent Iona College poll commissioned by the right-leaning Westchester County Association, 78% of Republicans (vs 50% of Democrats) said that Albany was so dysfunctional that all incumbents should be voted out of office. Yet, nearly half of the same voters said they were favoring Greg Ball in the upcoming election. Of course, none of that makes sense so I’m asking my Republican readers, if you’re so dead-set against Albany incumbents, why are you supporting one? Write and tell us why. We really need to figure this out.

Many of us received a robo call from the Ball campaign yesterday that was scandalous at best. It came from an unknown private number and never identified the caller nor the organization it was from. In other words, it didn’t say, “I’m Greg Ball and I approve this message,” or whatever thing that’s supposed to be there. We don’t know if the call came from the Ball campaign or from some Saudi sheik or from the ghost of Dick Cheney. And though it may not be illegal to place unidentified campaign calls to your home it should be.

If you get one of these calls, pick up your phone and dial (845) 582-0548 and tell the Ball campaign to take your number off their list. You have a right to do that especially if the caller refuses to tell you who they are or who they are calling for.

A group chaired by Garrison resident George Pataki, Revere America, has spent just shy of $50,000 opposing congressman John Hall’s re-election bid. As a 501(c)(4), it is free to accept corporate donations and is not required to disclose donors. But Hall should be pleased that the group has spent more than $700,000 opposing New Hampshire’s Carol Shea-Porter.

The organization’s primary concern is repeal of the health care bill and replacing it with provisions to make the rich richer and the insurance companies fatter. I’m guessing we can figure out who is funding this organization and Nan Hayworth’s campaign.

A few weeks ago the Pew Forum released a poll that showed most Americans know nothing much about religion in general nor about their own in particular. Jews and atheists scored the highest while Black Protestants and Hispanic Catholics scored the lowest. Evangelicals scored 30% less than the top.

How much do you know about religion in general? Take the test here and let us know how you faired. It’ll take you less than 5 minutes.

The Hudson Valley Patriots, the bagger group who has given Greg Ball, Steven Katz and Maryellen Odell so much of their attention, is reporting the latest government scandal at their website. No, it’s not graft and corruption. No, it’s not the FBI raiding anti-war and environmental organizations. No, it’s not warrant-less wiretaps nor home searches. And no, it’s not being stopped by border patrol agents 100 miles away from the border. None of those issues have made their radar.

But what has is that the EPA wants the shower head industry to build flow restrictors into their product so that they cannot be taken out with a pair of needle-nosed pliers. Some of the newer models, they report, use as much as 12 gallons per minute and Americans, especially those using public water supplies, should have the right to pour hundreds of gallons of water on their bodies whenever they want regardless of the impact of using so much water on their neighbors. Patriots? I question that.

What are they fighting over? Mostly the supply of marijuana destined for the United States. How can we end that war, save near $100 billion a year in US tax dollars, restore constitutional integrity and free up prison space for actual criminals? Legalize marijuana. It’s really that simple.

So, the great state of Texas murdered a guy for allegedly setting fire to his house and killing three people but the evidence is now under serious question as that collected by investigators has been found to be, well, not that all that expert and it is now generally agreed that their testimony is suspect.

If you want to be killed by the government then Texas is the place to go. It leads the nation in summary executions based on faulty evidence so you can imagine the noise being generated by local police and DA’s who are now being threatened with losing their #1 status (463) to second ranked Virginia (108).

Let’s try something different and lighten your mood a bit. Everyone loves cats, right? Okay, mostly everyone. Personally, I think that cats were left here by alien civilizations to keep an eye on us and report back their findings. What do you think your cat is doing when it sits there staring off into space for hours on end? Yes, it’s telepathically communicating back to the home planet and boy, are they ever laughing out there in the Andromeda galaxy!

But we also know how hard it is sometimes to corral your alien cat or to get it to do what you want and there’s a game online that underscores that complexity. Circle the cat. It’s office safe, assuming you have nothing more important to do.

• It’s a rather political Wednesday:
• Officials: Moose remains elusive
• Those who sprawled may be in trouble
• SUNY New Paltz benefits from federal grant for solar research
• Portable Wind Turbines Can Follow the Wind
• 11 Patriotic Lessons from the Tea Party Guide to American History
• GOP pledges to continue being the ‘party of no’

Officials: Moose remains elusive

The Poughkeepsiejournal.com

BEACON — The moose that was spotted in southern Dutchess County this weekend is still on the loose, officials said.

Wendy Rosenbach, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation said as of Tuesday morning there were no reports that the young bull moose had been captured.

Rosenbach said while moose are quite large, “they can be very elusive.”

“We’re not sure where it is right now,” she said.

The moose may have migrated northeast from the City of Beacon toward the Town of East Fishkill, officials said Monday.

“He was last seen at the Fairview Cemetery, near the Beacon-Fishkill line at about 10 p.m. last night,” said Detective Sgt. Louis Lucato.

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Those who sprawled may be in trouble

BY ROBIN ERB
FREE PRESS MEDICAL WRITER

They fanned out to the suburbs a half century ago — young families drawn by open land and new neighborhoods that were separated from the congestion of the city.

They built stretches of homes, erected schools and separated their living spaces from the factories and office buildings and retail centers.

That suburban layout has been popular for decades, but aging Michiganders might find that the same sprawl will make them homebound once they can no longer drive, experts say.

“Southeast Michigan is auto-dependent. It’s in our DNA,” said Robin Boyle, chairman of Wayne State University’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. “People are aging in place in this model of the suburban home that’s dependent on the Buick leaving the house every morning.”

But older adults may face “a whole list of reasons why you won’t be able to move that Buick,” Boyle said.

And that means reshaping the way cities and villages and counties think about their communities.

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SUNY New Paltz benefits from federal grant for solar research

Midhudsonnews.com

NEW PALTZ – SUNY New Paltz will $5 million for solar energy research.  The funding comes after Rep. Maurice Hinchey was able to amend a defense bill earlier this year in which the Department of Defense must purchase solar panels with at least 50 percent of American made materials.  Hinchey is a member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

“The provision of this funding is going to generate a greater stimulation, a greater insight, and more creativity in this critically important issue, which is designed to make this nation energy independent; make us able to generate more and more energy directly from the sun and use it in very solid and secure ways and ways that are going to be less and less expensive and more and more effective”, said Congressman Maurice Hinchey, who announced the funding Tuesday

SUNY New Paltz will work with The Solar Energy Consortium to develop solar technology, and the facilities to be used to conduct the research are expected in place within the next 18 months.

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Portable Wind Turbines Can Follow the Wind

Before a wind farm is built, a long time – often years – goes into figuring out exactly where to place the turbines so that they harness an optimal amount of wind energy.  But what if you had the ability to move a wind turbine to a different spot whenever the wind changes?

That’s the idea behind the Mobile Wind Turbine concept designed by Pope Design.  The turbine is mounted to hybrid truck that runs off energy supplied by the turbine or a diesel generator when the batteries completely drain.  When the truck is parked, the turbine can be erected and start producing electricity.

It’s unlikely that an entire wind farm would be made up of these, but for places like military bases, schools or businesses where only one or a few would be used, they might be ideal for maximizing the amount of clean energy that’s generated.  Also, a mobile wind energy generator would be a perfect solution for emergency disaster relief operations.

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11 Patriotic Lessons from the Tea Party Guide to American History

History is too important to be left to people who’ve actually read history books.

Hi Patriots:

Tired of textbooks written by liberals who wipe their muddy feet on the American flag and won’t be happy until all of our children are vegetarian, atheist, and gay? Then order the new ‘Tea Party Guide to American History,” and save your child from the siren call of socialist homosexuality.

This book will teach your children no more or less than what they need to know to be able to have a defiant, admirably unreflective perspective on their country’s history. Things like this:

1. American Prehistory:

In 6,000 BC, the land containing the present-day United States was created, by God. Large masses of land surrounding the current Unites States were also created, for purposes known only in heaven.

The land containing the United States was designated for a special purpose by God – a future safe haven for the teachings of Jesus, and a place where women shouldn’t be able to get abortions and men should never use condoms. However, God’s plan is marred when pockets of original sin develop in parts of the northeastern and Midwestern states and in present-day California – these will later become “blue” states.

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GOP pledges to continue being the ‘party of no’

A NYJN Editorial

The House Republicans’ recently unveiled “Pledge to America” must count on Americans having uncommonly short, even failing memories.

The pledge is a collection of campaign promises from the GOP — their road map on where they would take the nation if entrusted by voters once again with control of the House of Representatives.

The 21-page pledge does not address, at least not in a serious way, the problems plaguing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, under-funded retirements, borrowed-for wars, the federal budget deficit, the widening income gap between rich and poor, or tax fairness. It does, however, give Republicans some familiar campaign talking points. Their operating manifesto these past 21 months — “the party of no” — does not engender much confidence or read well on a bumper sticker. But it is, the thinking must be, better than nothing.

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