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#5 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:13 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.5 194705.1 ]

    Efficiency of Ceiling Fans Under Debate

APO 12/04/2005 11:48

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press.
   By H. JOSEF HEBERT
Associated Press Writer
   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The efficiency of ceiling fans may not be at the center of the country's energy debate, given record high gasoline prices. Yet the issue has become a focus of critics, including congressional Democrats, who complain Congress is not doing enough to address conservation as part of a broad energy bill.
   When the House recently began writing a revised package of energy proposals, Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga., wasted no time offering an amendment -- the first out of the block -- that would call for the Energy Department to establish a federal efficiency standard for home ceiling fans.
   But Democrats and outside energy efficiency advocates said Deal's measure would pre-empt stronger fan efficiency requirements already approved or being considered in more than half dozen states, calling it a step backward in efforts to curb energy use.
   Congress not only "is doing far too little to improve energy efficiency," but also "will pre-empt stronger state standards," said Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, arguing against Deal's measure.
   Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., also expressed misgivings over Deal's amendment, but it was quickly approved, 29-17, by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
   The committee plans to resume action on the bill Tuesday, and other committees were scheduled to take up other parts of the legislation later this week. The Senate has yet to take up the energy matter, but House leaders hope to pass a bill, possibly as early as next week.
   A key debate on energy always has been how much emphasis should be placed on promoting energy production as opposed to energy conservation. Critics of the Republican-crafted House bill say it leans too heavily toward production, giving scant emphasis to improving efficiency.
   Deal's home state is the headquarters of Home Depot, the country's second-largest retailer and merchant of half the ceiling fans sold. The company, which has been concerned about states' efforts to impose ceiling fan efficiency standards, lobbied the congressman for federal legislation, pre-empting the states.
   Deal said action by individual states will result "in a warehouse full of fans" that can't be sold -- and higher fan prices. He contended the Energy Department still would be free to develop stronger requirements.
   Todd Smith, a spokesman for Deal, said the congressman had been contacted by Home Depot and by several ceiling fan manufacturers seeking federal legislation that would preclude the states' actions.
   "The consumers are the ones that will benefit from this," Smith said.
   Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, said Home Depot had agreed in discussions with energy efficiency advocates for stronger ceiling fan standards -- reflecting what states are considering -- but then backed off.
   Kent Knutson, vice president for government relations at Home Depot, denied that the company backed away, saying there had been a one-year agreement that expired at the end of 2004. Knutson acknowledged lobbying Deal and other lawmakers for a federal standard that would override state action.
   "A federal standard is much better than state-by-state standards," Knutson said in an interview.
   Ceiling fans, when their generally inefficient lights are included, use about as much or more energy each year as refrigerators, dishwashers and window air conditioners, deLaski said.
   Maryland has passed a standard that would reduce ceiling fan energy use by about a third. Among the states considering similar legislation are Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont. California is considering a fan efficiency labeling law, which also would be pre-empted, said deLaski.
   Deal's amendment does not require specific efficiency improvements, leaving any future standard up to the Energy Department. Manufacturers would not have to comply with a standard until 2009 or later if the DOE does not issue a standard by then.
   Efficiency advocates said there's no assurance the department will enact a standard anytime soon, although the amendment would prevent states from issuing their own standard. There are some appliance standards required by Congress in 1992 that have yet to be issued, they said.
   Because of budget pressures the House bill may have fewer energy efficiency measures than the legislation that came close to being approved by Congress two years ago, energy efficiency advocates said. That bill was estimated to cut energy consumption by 1 percent, according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, a private group.
   ------
   On the Net:
   Energy Department: http://www.energy.gov

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#6 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:13 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.6 194705.1 ]

   U.N. Meeting Tackles Water, Sanitation

APO 12/04/2005 11:41

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press.
   By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer
   UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- A high-level U.N. meeting is trying to tackle what a senior U.N. official called the world's "silent humanitarian crisis" -- dirty water, poor sanitation and slums.
   Jose Antonio Ocampo, undersecretary-general for economic and social affairs, told the 53-member Commission on Sustainable Development at the opening of a two-week meeting on Monday that providing safe drinking water and basic sanitation to the world's slum dwellers is an achievable goal.
   "These three issues encapsulate the silent humanitarian crisis in the world today, where roughly 4,000 children die each day of diarrheal diseases caused by poor sanitation and contaminated drinking water, and where the living conditions in crowded slums are exacerbating public health issues such as communicable diseases," he said.
   U.N. goals call for cutting in half the proportion of people without access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015 and significantly improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.
   Since 1990, Ocampo said, more than one billion people have gained access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities, which he called "genuine and impressive progress."
   "Still, if we are to meet the water and sanitation targets, we will need to ensure over the next decade that safe drinking water reaches an additional 1.5 billion people, and basic sanitation becomes available to an additional 1.9 billion people," he said.
   Meeting the targets will require strong political resolve and a sizeable increase in resources to poor countries as well as the mobilization of domestic capital, Ocampo said.
   The estimated cost of meeting the water, sanitation and slum targets is $30 billion to $40 billion a year -- which is achievable, he said.
   "Clean water and latrines is something we can achieve for the world," he said.
   But with the number of slum dwellers at one billion and growing, Ocampo said, the target of significantly improving the lives of 100 million "is not nearly ambitious enough."
   The challenge is even more daunting because over the next 25 years, all population growth will be in cities and there is already a huge backlog of unmet demand for decent housing, services, roads, infrastructure and jobs, he said.
   The commission is the key U.N. forum bringing together countries to consider ways to integrate the three dimensions of sustainable development -- economic growth, social development and environmental protection. It was created in December 1992, after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro earlier that year to follow up on its environment and development program.
   This year's focus on water, sanitation and human settlements will be followed in 2006 with talks on energy, industrial development, air pollution and climate change.
   John Ashe of Antigua, the commission's chairman, urged delegates to agree on perhaps just a few practical measures "with real commitments of resources to implement them" to reach the U.N. goals for water, sanitation and slums.
   The commission's two-week meeting includes a three-day ministerial session starting April 20 where ministers from more than 75 countries are expected to speak. Keynote speakers include Crown Prince Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who chairs Green Cross International.

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#7 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:13 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.7 194705.1 ]

    Study: Cloned Meat, Milk Nearly the Same

APO 12/04/2005 11:33

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press.
   By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
Associated Press Writer
   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Meat and milk from cloned animals is essentially identical to that from animals that reproduced normally, a new study says.
   The findings should ease safety concerns by both the public and regulators about eating cloned animals, said researcher Xiangzhong Yang of the Center for Regenerative Biology at the University of Connecticut. The study was published in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
   The Food and Drug Administration has asked the food industry to keep products from cloned animals out of the food chain while it considers their safety.
   Cloning, the creation of an animal from the DNA of a single parent, should produce an animal identical to that parent. But as the technology has developed, many cloning attempts have ended in birth defects.
   "All parameters examined for the clones in this study were within the normal range of beef and dairy products approved for human consumption," Yang said in a telephone interview.
   Two beef clones were studied that had been produced in Japan from a famous Japanese Black breeding bull with superior meat marbling traits.
   The 10 dairy clones were produced at the University of Connecticut from a Holstein cow that produced a lot of milk.
   The researchers from Connecticut and the Kagoshima Prefectural Cattle Breeding Institute in Japan analyzed milk for a variety of factors including protein, fat, lactose and solids and studied more than 100 components in the beef, concluding that both were within the range of standards for milk and meat now consumed.
   The FDA declined to comment on the findings but said it will include the report in the material it is reviewing on food from cloned animals. The agency said it expects its own safety assessment of these products to be released soon.
   Asked for comment, Carole Tucker Foreman, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America, questioned whether the researchers had looked at the problem of stress in the animals.
   Stressed animals are known to produce pathogens, she said, and there has been evidence that the offspring of cloned animals suffer increased stress. She said this study seems to avoid that question.
   She also questioned whether the researchers, who specialize in reproductive biology, were a truly disinterested source of information, and suggested that the small number of animals in the study might not be enough to produce definitive data.
   The study compared meat from two bulls and milk from four cows with the products from similar animals that had been produced by normal methods and raised in similar conditions to the clones.
   The meat from the clones had a slightly higher marbling content than that of the comparison animals but that was the only significant difference, the researchers said.
   Increased marbling is considered a benefit in beef and the researchers noted that the clones were produced from an animal renowned for its quality. The comparison animals were produced by inseminating cows with semen from the son of that bull, meaning that the offspring had only one-fourth the genes of their champion, while the clones had all of them.
   No other significant differences were found in the meat or the milk.
   The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Kagoshima Prefecture and the National Institute of Agrobiological Research of Japan.
   ------
   On the Net:
   Proceedings of the National Academy of Science: http://www.pnas.org
   Public Citizen: http://www.publiccitizen.org

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#8 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:14 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.8 194705.1 ]

   Energy, Farms, Water Seen Aided by Nanotechnology

RTos 12/04/2005 10:58

Copyright 2005 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.

    OSLO (Reuters) - Futuristic microscopic devices could store energy, raise farm output and purify water to help the world reach 2015 goals of curbing poverty, according to a report on Tuesday.
     A poll of experts by the University of Toronto Joint Center for Bioethics (JBC), said nanotechnology -- the design and use of molecule-sized devices -- was also likely to have wide uses in diagnosing disease and cutting air pollution.
     "This is the most educated of educated guesses," JCB director Peter Singer said of the most likely applications for nanotechnology in 10 years predicted in the JCB poll of 63 experts from around the world.
     "If even half of those applications come to pass it would be a huge boon for the developing world," he told Reuters.
     The experts reckoned that energy storage, production and conversion would be the top use of nanotechnology in a decade, including more efficient solar cells, hydrogen fuel cells and new hydrogen storage.
     Second was farming, where nanotech devices could increase soil fertility and crop production. Tiny devices could, for instance, be made to release fertilizers at a strictly controlled rate.
     Third came water treatment -- nano-membranes and clays could purify or desalinate water more efficiently than conventional filters and are a fraction the size.
     Singer said the study might give clues to investing in nanotechnology and contribute to U.N. goals set in 2000 of halving poverty and hunger by 2015.

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#9 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:14 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.9 194705.1 ]

    10 States to Sue EPA Over Mercury Rules

APO 12/04/2005 10:55

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press.
   By JULIET WILLIAMS
Associated Press Writer
   MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Wisconsin has joined a list of states suing the federal government's environmental policies, challenging new regulations they say fail to protect children and expectant mothers from dangers posed by mercury emissions.
   In announcing his approval of the lawsuit, Gov. Jim Doyle said Monday the Bush administration has cowed to big business with new guidelines for power plant emissions that could allow 19 states to increase mercury emissions in the next five years by setting caps that are higher than current levels.
   The New Jersey attorney general's office is taking the lead on the lawsuit. The eight other states involved are California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York and Vermont.
   The Sierra Club applauded Wisconsin for being the first Midwest state to sue. "We hope Governor Doyle takes this opportunity to help call on other Great Lakes and Midwest states to join Wisconsin," said Eric Uram, the club's regional representative.
   Mercury settles in waterways and accumulates in fish. In people who eat those fish, the toxic metal can cause neurological and developmental problems, particularly in fetuses and children.
   The suit criticizes the EPA for exempting power plants from having to install the strictest emissions control technology available. That technology would cut mercury pollution by 90 percent, according to the New Jersey attorney general's office.
   The EPA issued a brief statement saying it "is confident in the legal foundation of the rule-making and plans to vigorously defend the rule." When the bulk of the states sued last month EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said the government has already taken steps to control mercury emissions from other sources and that the rules represent a new set of controls on "our last significant source of mercury."
   Wisconsin has some of the toughest mercury laws in the country, requiring all power plants to cut emissions by 40 percent by 2010 and by 75 percent by 2015. The Environmental Protection Agency rules aim to cut mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants by nearly half within 15 years.
   "We're showing that we can have high environmental standards while using progressive, economically viable technology," Doyle, a Democrat, said at a news conference along the shore of Lake Michigan.
   He was flanked by several environmentalists holding signs, including one that said "No more mercury in my lake."
   In Wisconsin, 90 percent of the lakes and streams have high levels of the toxin and every lake and stream in the state is under a fish consumption advisory. Still, people eat more fish than the national average.
   The governor said mercury pollution seriously threatens Wisconsin's sport fishing industry, which employs 30,000 people, as well as women of childbearing age, pregnant women and young children.
   ------
   On the Net:
   Governor Doyle: http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/
   EPA: http://www.epa.gov/mercury

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#10 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:14 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.10 194705.1 ]

    Russia, France Sign Launch Pad Agreement

APO 12/04/2005 11:07

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press.

   MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian and French space officials signed a $448 million deal Monday to build a new South American launch pad for sending Russian rockets into space.
   The deal includes terms for cooperation in planned launches of Russian Soyuz rockets from France's Kourou launch pad in French Guyana, on the northeastern tip of South America, starting in 2008.
   Russia has pushed for access to Kourou because its proximity to the equator would allow Russian rockets to carry heavier cargoes to higher orbits. Russia currently launches manned rockets from a launch pad in the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan.
   The equator is the line at which the Earth moves the fastest, helping propel rockets into space while using less fuel, which allows them to carry heavier payloads.
   Arianespace said it had already signed its first contracts for Soyuz launches with government and commercial customers.
   Russia's cash-strapped space program has worked closely with the European Space Agency in recent years, launching ESA satellites and carrying ESA astronauts on research missions to the International Space Station.

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#11 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:15 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.11 194705.1 ]

   Researchers Study Toxic Newts, Snakes

APO 12/04/2005 10:53

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press.

   SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah State University reachers who've been following the evolutionary battle between toxic newts and the garter snakes that prey upon them have discovered the molecular basis of the snake's defense against the poison.
   As the garter snakes have raised their chemical defenses, the newts have become more deadly. The USU researchers found one newt carries enough neurotoxins of the same type found in Japanese puffer fish to kill 50,000 mice or 10 people.
   Shana L. Geffeney, a graduate student at the Logan university, is the lead author of the study published in the most recent edition of the journal "Nature." Her co-authors are Esther Fujimoto, Edmund D. Brodie Jr. and Peter C. Ruben of USU and Edmund D. Brodie III of Indiana University. Fujimoto is now at the University of Utah.
   Their study examined the way genes regulating the cell's sodium channels changed in response to the neurotoxins in the newts' skin. Sodium channels are openings that let sodium move in and out of muscle cells, allowing the muscle to contract.
   When the toxin attaches to a protein, sodium can't move in and out and the muscle is paralyzed.
   The latest research found that the snakes' genetic makeup mutated so that the protein was shaped differently and the poison could not bind onto the new shape.
   Snake muscles with the modified proteins were able to function even with high doses of the poison, the researchers found.
   Geffeney told the Deseret Morning News that surprising to see changes in such an important part of the protein.
   Another discovery was that separated populations of garter snakes differ in their amino acid sequences. In their separate habitats, at least two populations of garter snakes apparently evolved the defenses on their own.
   One question the team would like to answer, she said, is "How many times has this elevated level of resistance evolved--"
   The elder Brodie, father of the Edmund Brodie III, said that possibly other populations of garter snakes would show additional changes. "We know that the changes have evolved at least twice independently," he said.
   As to which of the animals is winning the contest, Brodie said, "The snakes may be ahead for the moment, but it's variable, area to area."
   ------
   Information from: The Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com

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#12 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:16 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.12 194705.1 ] (Unread)

       Study to See if Fish Farms Attrack Sharks

APO 12/04/2005 10:25

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press.
   By TARA GODVIN
Associated Press Writer
   HONOLULU (AP) -- Thanks to the movie monsters, every swimmer is keenly aware that the ocean is filled with more than harmless little fish. And Leeward Oahu residents say they have seen more sharks since a fish farm took up residence about two miles offshore at Ewa Beach almost six years ago, said William Aila, a resident and fisherman.
   Since companies have approached the Waianae community during the last year with plans for new aquaculture farms off their coast, residents want to find out if they should be concerned, he said.
   "We know that any structure attracts predators. ... I want to know, where do the predators go once they are attracted to this area?" Aila said.
   On Friday, state lawmakers approved a state-funded study of sharks off Oahu's Leeward Coast to learn if the fish farm is bringing them closer to shore.
   Similar farms are being considered for other parts of the islands, bringing the potential of more jobs and investment in Hawaii, Aila said. Another deep-sea fish farm just opened last month a half mile off Keahole Point on the Big Island's Kona Coast.
   And more could be in store for the rest of the nation and beyond.
   Offshore fish farming, in which submerged pens containing thousands of fish are tended by scuba divers, is limited commercially to waters within state jurisdiction, where permits have been easier to get. But in December, President Bush proposed making it easier to put fish farms off the nation's coasts.
   Sharks have been spotted around the Ewa Beach farm's four pens, which are each about the size of a small house and anchored in 150 feet of water.
   But the sharks have never caused trouble for workers at the facility, are seen only occasionally, and are exclusively of a species not known to be aggressive to humans -- the sandbar shark, said Randy Cates, owner of the company that runs the cages, Cates International Inc.
   There are about 40 varieties of sharks swimming about the islands, ranging from the inches-long pygmy shark to the resident bad guy -- the tiger shark -- held responsible for most attacks on humans.
   Cates said the presence of sharks around his fish cages shouldn't be surprising. The cages function as an artificial reef and create a reef ecosystem, which naturally includes the predators.
   "Will they attract sharks? Yes, they will. But so will everything else that you put in the ocean that's an artificial reef," said Cates, who said he would assist the state on any study.
   The managers of the nation's two other longtime deep-sea fish farms, one in New Hampshire and another in Puerto Rico, also have reported sharks are attracted to their cages, said Kate Naughten of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's aquaculture program. Neither have reported any problems.
   A modest study of the sort proposed by the Legislature could address some small questions, such as whether the sharks stay in the area of the cages, said Kim Holland, a shark researcher at Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, which would conduct the study with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
   It also could help residents feel more comfortable with offshore farms, said Clyde Tamaru, aquaculture specialist with the University of Hawaii Seagrant College Program. However, there's also the concern that the results could be misunderstood and create a backlash against the industry, which carries significant potential for Hawaii, he said.
   "For us the challenge is to maintain an economy that's not going to be solely dependent on tourism," Tamaru said. "And the one resource that we have -- and we can compete with the rest of the world -- is the ocean."
   ----------
   On the Net:
   U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: http://www.noaa.gov/
   Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, Shark Research Group: http://www.hawaii.edu/HIMB/sharklab/

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#13 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:18 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.13 194705.1 ] (Unread)

   University to Research Global Warming

APO 12/04/2005 10:24

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press.
   By JOHN HANNA
Associated Press Writer
   LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- A new federally funded center will give the University of Kansas a prominent role in researching global warming, the melting of polar ice caps and their effects on the world's climate.
   The National Science Foundation has awarded the university almost $19 million to finance operations at the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets over the next five years. Announced Monday, it is the largest federal grant any Kansas university has ever received.
   The research will involve NASA and more than 40 scientists from 10 universities. The center hopes to help scientists better understand climate change, how melting ice caps affect sea levels and how changing sea levels will affect nations' populations and economies.
   "The bottom line is, this is a very important problem," said Scott Borg, director of the National Science Foundation's Antarctic sciences. "It's immensely important to understand what's happening with the ice sheets."
   Officials said the center will create new technology for studying polar ice caps, then develop new ways to interpret data. The grant comes as some scientists worry about the thinning of polar ice caps and the potential for higher sea levels around the world.
   Prasad Gogineni, a University of Kansas professor of electrical engineering and computer science who will serve as the new center's director, said research on climate changes is important because, like natural disasters, it is likely to hit poor nations the hardest.
   Last year, a NASA research team found that glaciers in Antarctica are thinning faster than they did in the 1990s and the ice cap may be less stable than previously thought.
   ------
   On the Net:
   University of Kansas: http://www.ku.edu
   National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov

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#14 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:19 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.14 194705.1 ] (Unread)

       Mo. Pups Could Boost Gray Wolf Population

APO 12/04/2005 10:23

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press.
   By BETSY TAYLOR
Associated Press Writer
   ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The endangered Mexican gray wolf population could swell by 10 percent this spring, after two wolves in captivity gave birth this weekend, and three more are expecting.
   The potential for 26 new pups is a welcome development for those working to preserve the rare wolves at the Wild Canid Survival and Research Center in suburban St. Louis. It's not such good news for opponents in a long-running fight against the wolves' reintroduction into the wild.
   In the 1970s, the wolves disappeared completely from the United States, canid center director Susan Lyndaker Lindsey said. Beginning in 1998, Mexican gray wolves were reintroduced in the Southwest. There are currently about 60 in Arizona and New Mexico, another 200 or so in captivity, Lyndaker Lindsey said.
   The research center was founded in 1971 by the late Marlin Perkins, the renowned naturalist and St. Louis native, and has programs to protect other canids, like the endangered red wolf.
   The target of a federal program is to get about 200 Mexican gray wolves back in the wild. But there is strong opposition in the current recovery area, 4.4 million acres of Gila and Apache Sitgreaves national forests and the 1.6 million-acre White Mountain Apache reservation.
   The New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau hears weekly from farmers and ranchers with concerns and complaints about the wolves. "As far as we can see, the wolf reintroduction program has been an abject failure," spokesman Erik Ness said.
   --------
   On the Net:
   Wild Canid Center: http://www.wolfsanctuary.org/
   ------
   CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- Sunshine and temperatures in the 70s and 80s helped farmers get an early start on spring planting last week, the Illinois Agriculture Statistics Service said.
   Corn planting was 14 percent complete as of Sunday, the service reported. That compares with just 4 percent at the same time a year ago and a 5-year average of only 3 percent.
   "I've been doing field work for a week or more, planting for the last three days," said Joe Thoele, who farms about 800 acres of corn and soybeans near Teutopolis. "I'm planting probably a week sooner than last year."
   Most of the planting activity has been in the western portion of the state. Topsoil moisture is generally adequate across the state, but there are shortages reported in the middle part of the state, the statistics service said.
   Soybean planting won't begin in earnest until late April or early May, but farmers who plant oats say they are 73 percent finished, according to the report. That's well ahead of the 5-year average of 59 percent.

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#15 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:19 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.15 194705.1 ] (Unread)

           Army Town Struggles to Save Abandoned Pets

APO 12/04/2005 10:16

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press.
   By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press Writer
   HINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) -- The 32 dogs look up with sad eyes or wag their tails as animal control officer Linda Cordry walks the row of chain-link cages toward a door concealing a gas chamber. "These guys are mine," Cordry says with weary resignation. "These are basically on Death Row."
   Liberty County Animal Control and the humane shelter that shares its small cinderblock building have been crammed to capacity with dogs and cats since Army troops from neighboring Fort Stewart deployed to Iraq. Both agencies say it's no coincidence.
   "I would say 95 percent of these animals come from military homes," says Beate Hall, who runs the humane shelter where dozens of soldiers and Army spouses began dumping pets during the holidays.
   The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have prompted national efforts to alert deploying soldiers to alternatives to abandoning animals when they leave for war. But the hundreds of unwanted pets turning up in this southeast Georgia military town indicate many aren't getting the message.
   Since the Fort Stewart-based 3rd Infantry Division deployed 19,000 troops to Iraq in January, animal control officers took in 321 abandoned dogs and cats. Of those, 119 have been euthanized.
   Smells of dank fur, urine and bleach linger inside the Animal Control offices, where donated food in dented cans and torn bags are stacked in a corner. Dogs are doubled up in several of the 4-by-10-feet cages. Two of the 14 cat cages hold mothers with litters of nursing kittens.
   Cordry says she's found an abundance of dogs in military neighborhoods -- from emaciated dogs in back yards of vacated homes to puppies left in Dumpsters.
   Many of the abandoned pets are wearing collars, but with their tags removed. Animals with collars get up to 10 days before they're euthanized. Those without collars are spared for only three.
   "We get in so many with personalities, we know they had to belong to somebody," Cordry says. "It's hard to say, `Today's euthanasia day -- let's load them up and go for it.'"
   In Hall's case, soldiers and their families have come to the humane shelter in person to leave their dogs and cats. In some cases, single soldiers leave their pets because they have no one to keep them at home. Many animals are given up by spouses planning to stay with family while their soldiers are deployed.
   Those pets won't be put down, but Hall only has room to keep 45 animals at a time. Though Hall has found homes for 118 pets since January, the shelter remains full.
   "We didn't realize how bad it was going to be," says Hall, whose husband is retired from the Army. "I didn't think this many military families would just dispose of their animals because of the deployment."
   Animal rescue groups say they've put a serious dent in wartime pet dumping, largely by using the Internet to find foster homes to care for soldiers' animals until they return home.
   Steve Albin, president of the nonprofit NetPets, says he's found temporary homes for 8,000 military pets nationwide since starting his Military Pets Foster Program after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
   "Even though this is available, there's still the 5 percent of the military, they say, `Nah, we'll get another pet when we get back,'" says Albin, a retired dog breeder in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.
   In the Fort Stewart area, a small number of pet lovers have stepped up to foster dogs and cats that otherwise would have been euthanized by animal control.
   Terry Wolf of nearby Savannah has taken in 85 abandoned dogs from Liberty County since January through her shelter, Southern Comfort Animal Rescue. She's found permanent homes for about 40, and foster homes for 25.
   Wolf says she's looking for people who truly want a pet, rather than those seeking to make a patriotic gesture.
   "I had one lady, she was very interested in a dog, say to me, `I want a soldier's dog.' And that made me question her commitment," Wolf says. "We're not putting yellow ribbons around their necks here. They're all dogs of war to me."
   ------
   On the Net:
   Liberty Humane Shelter: http://www.petfinder.org/shelters/GA21.html
   Southern Comfort Animal Rescue: http://www.southerncomfort.petfinder.com
   Military Pets Foster Project: http://www.netpets.org/militarypet/foster.php

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#16 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:20 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.16 194705.1 ] (Unread)

    Apple to Release 'Tiger' System in April

APO 12/04/2005 10:09

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press.

   CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) -- Apple Computer Inc. on Tuesday said the latest version of its Mac OS X operating system will go on sale at the end of this month. Its shares rose in early trading.
   The highly anticipated upgrade, code-named "Tiger," will hit shelves at Apple's retail stores and authorized resellers on April 29. An individual user license will sell for $129, while a five-user pack will be available for $199.
   The server version of Tiger will also be released at the same time, Apple said. The software will retail at $499 for a 10-user license, or $999 for an unlimited-client edition.
   Apple has said that Tiger will include an improved desktop search that can find anything from documents, e-mail, contacts and images, as well as a dashboard tool that provides easy access to information and applications such as weather forecasts and stock quotes.
   Tiger also supports the next-generation video-compression standard H.264 and allows multiple users on the video-conferencing program iChat. Other features include a program that automates repetitive tasks and an RSS reader that merges information from the Web into a single interface, Apple said.
   In December, Apple sued a North Carolina man who leaked an advanced copy of Tiger on a file-swapping Web site. The man's lawyers said he will pay Apple a monetary fine. The company is pursuing suits against two others involved in the leak.
   Apple shares rose 76 cents to $42.68 in early trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

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#17 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:22 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.17 194705.1 ] (Unread)

   Wis. Considers Legalizing Cat Hunting

APO 12/04/2005 08:12

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press.
   By The Associated Press
   MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Feline lovers holding pictures of cats, clutching stuffed animals and wearing whiskers faced-off against hundreds of hunters at meetings around Wisconsin to voice their opinion on whether to legalize cat hunting.
   Residents in 72 counties were asked whether free-roaming cats -- including any domestic cat that isn't under the owner's direct control or any cat without a collar -- should be listed as an unprotected species. If listed as so, the cats could be hunted.
   The proposal was one of several dozen included in a spring vote on hunting and fishing issues held by the Wisconsin Conservation Congress. The results, only advisory, get forwarded to the state Natural Resources Board.
   Statewide results were expected Tuesday.
   La Crosse firefighter Mark Smith, 48, helped spearhead the cat-hunting proposal. He wants Wisconsin to declare free-roaming wild cats an unprotected species, just like skunks or gophers. Anyone with a small-game license could shoot the cats at will.
   At least two other upper Midwestern states, South Dakota and Minnesota, allow wild cats to be shot -- and have for decades. Minnesota defines a wild, or feral, cat as one with no collar that does not show friendly behavior, said Kevin Kyle with that state's Department of Natural Resources.
   Every year in Wisconsin alone, an estimated 2 million wild cats kill 47 million to 139 million songbirds, according to state officials. Despite the astounding numbers, Smith's plan has been met with fierce opposition from cat lovers.
   Critics of Smith's idea organized Wisconsin Cat-Action Team and developed a Web site -- dontshootthecat.com. Some argue it is better to trap wild cats, spay or neuter them, before releasing them.
   In Madison, about 1,200 people attended the Monday evening meeting at the Alliant Center -- more than the 250 or so in a typical year, but less than the 3,000 or so who took part in a debate in 2000 over whether to allow hunters to shoot mourning doves.
   One of the attendees was Katy Francis, who wore cat ears, whiskers, a cat nose and a sign that read, "Too Cute to Kill." For Francis, "The cat hunting thing brought me out because it was very extreme."
   ------
   On the Net:
   Conservation Congress: http://dnr.wi.gov/org/nrboard/congress/
   Wisconsin Cat-Action Team: http://www.dontshootthecat.com

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#18 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:22 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.18 194705.1 ] (Unread)

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#19 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:29 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.19 194705.1 ] (Unread)

    Scientists Work on Shuttle Wing Sensors

APO 12/04/2005 08:00

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press.

   ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories are helping NASA ensure the safety of the space shuttle Discovery. The scientists are preparing a new network of sensors embedded in the shuttle's wing. They will detect anything the strikes the wing and let astronauts know the severity of the damage, said Sandia engineer Ken Gwinn.
   "If they detect a significant hit they could take safe haven at the International Space Station and figure out what to do and how to fix the damage," Gwinn said.
   If astronauts on the space shuttle Columbia had known that a piece of foam had damaged their wing, they might have been able to prevent the re-entry explosion that killed the entire crew on Feb. 1, 2003, Gwinn said.
   After that crash, Sandia developed computer models and structural analyses to help determine the cause. Now officials are using those models to make other shuttles safer.
   "These sensors and the information we get from them will give everyone a much better understanding of what's happening with the whole system," Gwinn said. "I think this is a big advance in their safety and knowledge of what's going on."
   Each of the Discovery's wings has 88 sensors embedded under its tiles.
   NASA has also added a network of cameras and improved the tiles and foam so nothing that big can break off again, Gwinn said.
   Sandia is working on a bigger plan to create software that ties all the vibration sensors into a network that will tell astronauts and NASA agents on the ground if something is amiss.
   Models have taken about a year and a half to develop. Scientists have run hundreds of calculations to calibrate the new sensor network.
   "The final thing we'll give them is a software package that lets NASA put in all the conditions of what they think the material was that hit and where," said Sandia scientist David Crawford. "They can then take that and superimpose it on a model of the shuttle to see what happened."

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#20 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:30 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.20 194705.1 ] (Unread)

   Low-Cost Satellite Boosted Into Orbit

APO 12/04/2005 07:59

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press.

   VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) -- A low-cost U.S. Air Force research satellite was boosted into orbit Monday by a rocket built from the engines of a decommissioned missile and Pegasus boosters.
   The latest launch was the third success for the Minotaur rocket program. Two more launches are scheduled for July and December from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
   The rocket carrying the 319-pound satellite, built by Lockheed Martin Astronautics Operations for the Air Force Research Laboratory, lifted off at 6:35 a.m. PST without incident, said Lt. Lucas Ritter, a Vandenberg spokesman.
   The $80 million satellite, XSS-11, will orbit for about a year and will rendezvous with several targets. The mission is similar to Friday's scheduled launch of NASA's DART spacecraft, the first robotic spacecraft designed to rendezvous in orbit with other satellites without any human intervention.
   Minotaur, developed by Orbital Science Corp., was made by combining parts from Minuteman II missiles retired under a 1991 arms control treaty and from Orbital's Pegasus rocket. Minotaur's previous flights were in January and July 2000, delivering a total of five satellites into orbit.
   ------
   On the Net:
   Vandenberg Air Force Base: http://www.vafb.af.mil

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#21 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:30 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.21 194705.1 ] (Unread)

        Wanted: Adventurous Women to Work in Antarctica

RTos 12/04/2005 06:16

Copyright 2005 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.

    LONDON (Reuters) - Fancy something different? The British Antarctic Survey may have just the job.
     The scientific research organization has launched a recruitment drive to attract tradeswomen.
     The organization is looking for female electricians, plumbers, carpenters, steel erectors, chefs and boat handlers to work for six to 18 months at its five research stations on and around the Antarctic.
     "Where else can you work in an environment surrounded by penguins, seals and icebergs and climb down a crevasse during your lunch hour?" said Jill Thomson, head of building services at the BAS.
     The starting salary is 18,338 pounds ($34,640) plus an Antarctic allowance. All food, accommodation and travel are paid for.
     More women are going into the trades and the BAS said it wants to tap into that market.
     "This is a tremendous chance for women with a sense of adventure to try something completely different," Thomson added in a statement. "While the salaries are not as high as you can earn in the UK, there is an Antarctic allowance and with no outgoing costs on accommodation or food it's a good way to save money."
     Temperatures on the continent range from 5 degrees Centigrade during the summer to minus 40 C in winter.
     Nearly 30 percent of the 400 staff employed by BAS are women. Information on www.antarctica.ac.uk/employment.

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#22 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:33 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.22 194705.1 ] (Unread)

    University Gets $19M to Study Polar Ice

APO 12/04/2005 07:59

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press.
   By JOHN HANNA
Associated Press Writer
   LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- The University of Kansas will be home to a center studying the melting of polar ice caps, financed by the largest federal grant a Kansas university has ever received, officials said Monday.
   The National Science Foundation has awarded the university almost $19 million to finance operations at the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets over the next five years. Its research will involve NASA and more than 40 scientists from 10 universities.
   The center hopes to help scientists better understand climate change, how melting ice caps affect sea levels and how changing sea levels will affect nations' populations and economies.
   "We need to understand what's happening with polar ice because it affects climate, sea levels and food supplies worldwide," Chancellor Robert Hemenway said during a news conference discussing the grant.
   The center's work also could aid research into how global warming, rising sea levels and other climate changes that could affect Kansas and other Great Plains states, said David Braaten, a University of Kansas geography professor who will serve as the center's assistant director.
   "The rising sea levels will have a ripple effect," he said. "If we get the same amount of precipitation, but it's all in March, that doesn't help the farmers much."
   Previously, the largest grant awarded to a Kansas university was $18 million, which the University of Kansas received last year from the National Institutes of Health.
   James Roberts, vice provost of research at the University of Kansas, says receiving two such large grants is akin to back-to-back victories in professional football's Super Bowl.
   "The fact that it will put KU even further on the radar screen across the country is enormously helpful," Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said. "There is no question that universities themselves generate a huge economic impact -- a positive impact -- on the state."
   About 25 scientists and researchers will work in new offices on the Kansas campus. The other scientists involved with the center's research will do their work at nine other institutions -- Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina, Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Pennsylvania State University, Ohio State University, University of Maine, University College of London, Denmark Technical Institute, the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and the University of Tasmania.
   Officials said the center will create new technology for studying polar ice caps, then develop new ways to interpret data.
   "The bottom line is, this is a very important problem," said Scott Borg, director of the National Science Foundation's Antarctic sciences. "It's immensely important to understand what's happening with the ice sheets."
   The center will be among 13 financed by the National Science Foundation. The grant comes as some scientists worry about the thinning of polar ice caps and the potential for higher sea levels around the world.
   The foundation awards large grants every few years. In the latest round, the Kansas proposal was chosen from among 168, with the only other award going to the University of California at Berkeley for a computer security project.
   Last year, a NASA research team found that glaciers in Antarctica are thinning faster than they did in the 1990s and the ice cap may be less stable than previously thought.
   Earlier this month, a Rhode Island-sized iceberg, the world's largest, began floating again, three months after running aground near Antarctica, causing problems for wildlife and research stations. That iceberg was part of an ice shelf that fractured five years ago.
   Prasad Gogineni, a University of Kansas professor of electrical engineering and computer science who will serve as the new center's director, said research on climate changes is important because, like natural disasters, it is likely to hit poor nations the hardest.
   "The U.S. has the responsibility to help the underdeveloped countries," he said.
   --------
   On the Net:
   University of Kansas: http://www.ku.edu
   National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov

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#23 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:34 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.23 194705.1 ] (Unread)

Reports: Japan to Expand Whale Hunt to 2 New Species

RTos 12/04/2005 04:40

Copyright 2005 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.

    By Elaine Lies
     TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is set to expand its annual whale hunt to take two new species as well as nearly doubling its planned catch of minke whales, media reports said Tuesday, a move virtually certain to spark global fury if true.
     Under a new plan for what Tokyo calls its research whaling program, Japan would take humpback whales and fin whales in addition to the four whale species it currently hunts, sources close to the situation were quoted as telling Kyodo news agency.
     Japan, where whale meat is regarded as a delicacy, abandoned commercial whaling in 1986 in line with an international ban, but began a program to hunt whales in what it calls scientific research whaling the following year. The meat ends up on store shelves and on the tables of gourmet restaurants.
     Japan maintains that eating whale is an important part of its cultural heritage despite the protests of environmentalists determined to prevent the killing of the marine mammals, some species of which are endangered.
     The plan is to be submitted to the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) this summer.
     It calls for Japan initially to hunt around 10 humpbacks and 10 fin whales per year, Kyodo said, and to sharply increase the number of minkes it takes each year from the 440 it took in the Antarctic in the past whaling season.
     Japan last expanded its hunt in 2002, when it added sei whales to the list, setting off an international furor. It also takes sperm whales and Bryde's whales in addition to minkes.
     It says it supports protection of endangered species but argues that others, such as the minke, are numerous enough to be hunted within limits.
     Japanese Fisheries Agency official Takatori Nagatomo declined to comment on the report, saying that under IWC rules no details of the plan can be revealed until it has been submitted.
     "Over the last 18 years we've found out many things about the situation of whales in the Antarctic, and there's a need to investigate the entire ecosystem," he added.
     "It would be meaningless to continue our research program in exactly the same way."
     A different Fisheries Agency official said: "It has been recorded that the populations of the humpback and fin whales in the Antarctic are increasing. Nobody disputes this."
     Japanese officials had said before details of the new plan emerged that Japan would continue whaling even if the plan was rejected at the IWC meeting in South Korea this summer.
     "We always maintain that we will discuss these things scientifically," the official said. "But with whales, it quickly grows emotional."
     Japan blames whales for declining fish catches, saying the mammoth mammals consume such vast quantities of fish that they have contributed to a huge drop in fish landings.
     Japan and other pro-whaling nations have become increasingly frustrated by what they see as a growing anti-whaling slant to the IWC's annual meetings, especially after the 2004 meeting ended with a small but significant victory for countries that want to maintain the whaling ban.

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#24 of 28 Posted 4/12/05 2:34 PM

From Gerard <Sysop> Posts 82654 Last 3/19/09
To Gerard <Sysop> [Msg # 194705.24 194705.1 ] (Unread)