The Gulf Oil Spill: A Virginia Perspective
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
There’s only a “slim chance” that oil from the BP oil spill off the coast of Louisiana will end up washing ashore on beaches in Virginia, according to a James Madison University professor who is a Gulf Stream expert.
“The Gulf Stream, as it travels eastward, reaches its closest proximity to the coast in South Florida. As it flows northward from there, it starts to flow eastward. So by the time you get to, let’s say, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, it’s about 40 miles from the coast. When you get to Virginia Beach, it’s about 70 miles from the coast. So there’s only a slim chance that it would reach the beaches of Virginia, unless a storm were to come in and blow it toward the coast,” said Stan Ulanski, professor of meteorology in the department of geography and environmental sciences at JMU and author of The Gulf Stream: Tiny Plankton, Giant Bluefin, and the Amazing Story of the Powerful River in the Atlantic. Read more
UVa. files papers opposing Cuccinelli climate-change review
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
The University of Virginia today filed papers with the Albemarle County Circuit Court opposing attempts by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to obtain documents related to the research of former UVa. professor Michael Mann, a global warming expert once employed by the school.
Cuccinelli is seeking a wide range of detailed records – including emails that Mann sent to and received from colleagues while at UVa. – through a criminal investigative demand under the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act. Mann, who is now employed by Penn State University, received funding from the state of Virginia for some of his global warming research. Under Virginia law, the University must accede to Cuccinelli’s demand or ask a circuit court judge to determine if it is in accordance with the law. Read more
Wilson Library to participate in Blue Star program
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum will participate in the Blue Star Museum program and offer free admission to all active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day, May 31, through Labor Day, September 6, 2010.
The Blue Star Museum program is a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, and more than 600 museums in all 50 states across America. The free admission program is available to active duty military and their immediate family members (military ID holder and five immediate family members), which includes active duty Reserve and active duty National Guard. Read more
Dennis Markatos-Soriano: Gulf disaster calls for sustainable transportation revolution
Column by Dennis Markatos-Soriano
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The oil drilling explosion that killed 11 people on April 20th and the spill now killing massive amounts of wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico is a sign. It’s a sign of how bad our nation’s oil addiction has gotten and of how much we need to launch a sustainable energy revolution.
Eisenhower 2.0: Eisenhower built our interstate highway system in the 1950s, before we fully understood that burning oil for everyday transport would be so harmful. Spills kill wildlife in places like Valdez and now the Gulf, an inordinate reliance on driving increases asthma rates in our cities from Los Angeles to Charlotte, N.C., and even our Earth is heated by combustion’s greenhouse gas emissions. But now we know. Read more
Pat Byington: Protect the Land Water and Conservation Fund
Column by Pat Byington
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Just a month ago, my 6-year-old daughter Whitney and I traveled to a nearby state park, where we learned from a nature educator how to build fairy houses.
That’s right – fairy houses.
Using fallen leaves, branches, acorns (picking live plants are not allowed), and a heavy dose of imagination, my daughter, who is a city girl at heart, surprised her parents, becoming a fairy house architect in a matter of hours. And ever since that wonderful day she has loved forests and nature. Read more
Jim Bishop: Dave Fisher rows his boat ashore
Column by Jim Bishop
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“The river’s deep and the river is wide
Hallelujah
Milk and honey on the other side
Hallelujah.”
- “Michael,” The Highwaymen (1961)
A voice from my past is silenced, but the melody lives on.
Dave Fisher. The name may not strike a responsive chord – unless you know someone with that name – but without him, a music group may not have formed in the late 1950s who gave us one of the most memorable songs – and unlikely hits – of the early 1960s. Read more
Host an exchange student
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Temporary and permanent families are sought by the Scottsdale, Ariz.,-based STS Foundation to host students coming to Virginia in the fall.
Families are responsible for providing a nurturing and safe environment. All family types are welcome to apply including traditional families, empty nesters, older couples, younger couples and single parents.
STS Foundation has been placing students in Virginia since 1986.
Interested? Call Mary at 480.970.6337 or 800.522.4678 or e-mail info@stsfoundation.org.
Sanford D. Horn: Obama in Chicago on Memorial Day? Really?
Column by Sanford D. Horn
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Does Barack Obama have no sense of history? Does he have no sense of respect for the fallen who gave their all? Does he have no sense of decorum? Does he have no sense of right and wrong? Does he have no sense?
Just when I thought I could not be embarrassed of this so-called leader any further, he makes the woebegotten decision to spend Memorial Day weekend in Chicago, instead of where he belongs – doing his duty as Commander in Chief – speaking and laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Read more
Attorney to initiate new action over county reassessments
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Churchville attorney Francis Chester announced today that he will hold a press conference on Thursday at 2 p.m. in front of the Augusta County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office related to a new action involving the 2009 county reassessments. Read more
Happy Birthday, Watchdog!
Posted by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
The Weekend Watchdog blog, a weekly roundup of TV sports seen in Central Virginia, celebrates its first anniversary this weekend.
The Watchdog brings readers the information on what professional and college sports will be seen, both on cable and on the air during prime viewing times. With the blog format, hyperlinks allow the reader to quickly learn more about the event or the network calling the action if they wish. Read more
#1 UVa. rallies for win in ACC Tourney opener
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Jarrett Parker (Jr., Stafford, Va.) hit a two-out, two-run single in the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie and lift the top-seeded Virginia baseball team to a 6-4 victory over No. 8 seed Boston College Wednesday in the opening game of the 2010 ACC Baseball Championship at NewBridge Bank Park in Greensboro, N.C. Read more
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Ken Plum: Lessons from tragedies
Posted on May 27, 2010 · Leave a Comment
www.kenplum.com
There was undoubtedly a feeling of elation among the 2,228 passengers and crew members as they boarded the Titanic ocean liner for her maiden voyage April 10, 1912. There was no way to know that by April 15 only 705 of them would survive her sinking. After all, the Titanic had been described as a first class ocean liner that was the largest luxury liner on the open seas with a special construction of water-tight compartments that made her invincible and in the word of an official of White Star Line that owned her, “unsinkable.” Ironically, his comment was made the day after the Titanic sank. Read more
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