http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-uranium21-2009jul21,0,5681114.story
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Monday called for a two-year "timeout" on new mining claims on nearly 1 million acres near Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona. The move reverses a decision by the George W. Bush administration to open the land flanking the park to hard-rock mining.
The Interior Department says it is placing a two-year hold on leasing of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land -- mostly on the north rim of the Grand Canyon and much of it within miles of the park -- while it studies the environmental effects of hard-rock exploration and mining.The department could extend the mining ban for up to 20 years.
Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who co-sponsored legislation that would permanently prohibit uranium mining on federal land around the Grand Canyon, said: "This is a treasure that we cannot risk contaminating."
The Grand Canyon is so widely known it’s not worth the contamination that mining could cause. Studying the environmental impacts before any mining or hard-rock exploration takes place, I think is a wise thing to do. It would be a better idea to make a decision on the extended amount time for the mining ban, after seeing what possible results of the environmental effects could be.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
International News
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/07/20/venezuela.drug.smuggling/index.html
New information in a U.S. Government report may present a new obstacle for the Obama administration’s attempt to thaw America’s relations with the influential South American Country.
Venezuela's role as a transit point for South American cocaine bound for the United States and Europe has significantly expanded in recent years, according to a U.S. government report released Monday. The Venezuelan government contributed to a more than fourfold increase in cocaine flow between 2004 and 2007. The total amount of cocaine shipped from Venezuela to the United States, Europe and West Africa jumped from roughly 60 to 260 metric tons over the four years, the report said. The report also said that the South American drug trade has been bolstered in recent years by the Venezuelan government's decision to assist several illegal armed groups.
Obama has been criticized for what conservative critics say is an overly friendly tone toward Chavez. After this report was released maybe more corrective actions will be enforced. This report was easy to read but at times difficult. I think there was a lot of information in this article I’m not very informed with and would have understood better if I would have known the entire background of this issue.
New information in a U.S. Government report may present a new obstacle for the Obama administration’s attempt to thaw America’s relations with the influential South American Country.
Venezuela's role as a transit point for South American cocaine bound for the United States and Europe has significantly expanded in recent years, according to a U.S. government report released Monday. The Venezuelan government contributed to a more than fourfold increase in cocaine flow between 2004 and 2007. The total amount of cocaine shipped from Venezuela to the United States, Europe and West Africa jumped from roughly 60 to 260 metric tons over the four years, the report said. The report also said that the South American drug trade has been bolstered in recent years by the Venezuelan government's decision to assist several illegal armed groups.
Obama has been criticized for what conservative critics say is an overly friendly tone toward Chavez. After this report was released maybe more corrective actions will be enforced. This report was easy to read but at times difficult. I think there was a lot of information in this article I’m not very informed with and would have understood better if I would have known the entire background of this issue.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Local News
http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-mother-who-put-stabbed-infant-in-trash-can-high-on-several-drugs-affidavit-says/article/3386689?custom_click=headlines_widget
A 24-year-old mom from Oklahoma City stabbed her baby son on Friday and then put the baby in a trash can. The woman was on several drugs when she stabbed her son. She told police she had smoked a marijuana blunt laced with PCP, ecstasy and ambient sleeping pills. She told police that she didn’t know it was her baby and didn’t mean to hurt him. Luckily, the baby survived.
This is really horrible but luckily the baby is okay. This story was rather short, and easy to read. It kept my attention because I wanted to know what happened to the baby and what she would be charged with.
A 24-year-old mom from Oklahoma City stabbed her baby son on Friday and then put the baby in a trash can. The woman was on several drugs when she stabbed her son. She told police she had smoked a marijuana blunt laced with PCP, ecstasy and ambient sleeping pills. She told police that she didn’t know it was her baby and didn’t mean to hurt him. Luckily, the baby survived.
This is really horrible but luckily the baby is okay. This story was rather short, and easy to read. It kept my attention because I wanted to know what happened to the baby and what she would be charged with.
40th Anniversary of Humanity's First Landing on The Moon
In a 1961 speech, President John F. Kennedy said he wanted to achieve a goal of a man landing on the moon and returning safely to earth before the decade was over.
By 1969 his goal was reached.
Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, were the Apollo 11 crew members who reached the moon 40 years ago and are celebrating their accomplishment today.
Aldrin and Armstrong were the first two men who reached the moon on the lunar module, "Eagle," while Collins orbited the moon in the command module, "Columbia."
Bob Jacob's from NASA got this interview with Collins about his Apollo 11 mission, and what he is doing now.
Pictured above is Buzz Aldrin climbing down the "Eagle's" ladder.
Since the Apollo 11, there have been five other Apollo missions that have reached the moon.
Neil Armstrong's famous quote:
"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for humanity," stays true today as we honor and celebrate their courageous mission.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
National News
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31914432/ns/us_news-washington_post/page/2/
Shark attack survivors from across the country have been pressing the senate to put new restriction on fishing for sharks. Thirty-two percent of the sharks and rays that live in the open ocean were classified as "threatened" this year by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Scientists fear that ocean ecosystems could be knocked out of whack by the loss of their "apex" predators. The trade in fins for shark-fin soup, a delicacy in Asia, has been blamed for heavy fishing of many species. Others are slaughtered for the rest of their meat or killed accidentally by fishermen setting out nets or hooks for tuna and marlin.
I found this article to be very surprising. Some people disagree with the efforts to save the sharks. Some people are seriously scarred and missing limbs and have every right to hate shark, which I completely understand why. If a shark would have bitten me I don’t think I would put forth any effort to try and save them.
Shark attack survivors from across the country have been pressing the senate to put new restriction on fishing for sharks. Thirty-two percent of the sharks and rays that live in the open ocean were classified as "threatened" this year by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Scientists fear that ocean ecosystems could be knocked out of whack by the loss of their "apex" predators. The trade in fins for shark-fin soup, a delicacy in Asia, has been blamed for heavy fishing of many species. Others are slaughtered for the rest of their meat or killed accidentally by fishermen setting out nets or hooks for tuna and marlin.
I found this article to be very surprising. Some people disagree with the efforts to save the sharks. Some people are seriously scarred and missing limbs and have every right to hate shark, which I completely understand why. If a shark would have bitten me I don’t think I would put forth any effort to try and save them.
International News
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-07-14-heart-transplant_N.htm
British doctors designed an amazing solution to save a girl with major heart problems in 1995: they implanted a donor heart directly onto her own failing heart. After 10 years with two blood pumping organs, Hannah Clark's weak heart did the impossible; it healed itself enough so that doctors could remove the donated heart.
“This shows that the heart can indeed repair itself if given the opportunity," said Dr. Douglas Zipes, a past president of the American College of Cardiology. Four and a half years after the heart was implanted, both hearts were working fine, so doctors decided not to take out the extra heart. However, the powerful drugs Clark was taking to prevent her from rejecting the donor heart then caused cancer, which led to chemotherapy. Even when doctors lowered the doses of drugs to suppress Clark's immune system, the cancer spread, and Clark's body eventually rejected the donor heart. Luckily, by that time, Clark's own heart seemed to have fully recovered. In February 2006, Dr. Victor Tsang of Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, and other doctors removed Clark's donor heart, and she recovered from the cancer.
I think that this story is absolutely miraculous. I have never heard of anything like it. I can’t believe that she had two hearts and was still living, it seems so complicated. After all of that happening it’s even more amazing that she survived after getting cancer. It was fourteen years ago that doctors decided to do that so I can only imagine what incredible things doctors do now that I have no idea about.
British doctors designed an amazing solution to save a girl with major heart problems in 1995: they implanted a donor heart directly onto her own failing heart. After 10 years with two blood pumping organs, Hannah Clark's weak heart did the impossible; it healed itself enough so that doctors could remove the donated heart.
“This shows that the heart can indeed repair itself if given the opportunity," said Dr. Douglas Zipes, a past president of the American College of Cardiology. Four and a half years after the heart was implanted, both hearts were working fine, so doctors decided not to take out the extra heart. However, the powerful drugs Clark was taking to prevent her from rejecting the donor heart then caused cancer, which led to chemotherapy. Even when doctors lowered the doses of drugs to suppress Clark's immune system, the cancer spread, and Clark's body eventually rejected the donor heart. Luckily, by that time, Clark's own heart seemed to have fully recovered. In February 2006, Dr. Victor Tsang of Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, and other doctors removed Clark's donor heart, and she recovered from the cancer.
I think that this story is absolutely miraculous. I have never heard of anything like it. I can’t believe that she had two hearts and was still living, it seems so complicated. After all of that happening it’s even more amazing that she survived after getting cancer. It was fourteen years ago that doctors decided to do that so I can only imagine what incredible things doctors do now that I have no idea about.
Local News
http://oudaily.com/news/2009/jul/08/campus-corner-construction-ahead-schedule/
The Campus Corner summer construction project is expected to be completed by Aug. 7, slightly ahead of schedule, City of Norman officials said.
“We haven’t run into any difficulties,” projects engineer John Clink said. “It’s gone quite well. I’m quite happy with this project.”
Norman street superintendent Greg Hall said White Street renovations are now complete with the exception of adding streetscape furniture. He said the old water lines have been replaced, and there is no danger of the new ones breaking down. Current construction efforts are focused on the intersection of Asp Avenue and Boyd Street, which Hall said was nearly complete.
“We should have Boyd opened up Friday,” Hall said. “On the corner itself, it will probably be the first of next week, and that’s when we’ll start on the east side of Asp.”
Hall said the next phase of construction will take crews up the east side of Asp Avenue, where they will work on curbs, gutters and parking areas. Helen Wolney, president of the Campus Corner Merchants Association, said it was hard to tell whether or not business has slowed as a result of the construction.
“This has been two years in the making, so we all knew that this was going to happen,” Wolney said. “All this is going to do is have a positive impact on Campus Corner when it’s done. I think it will just make the residents of Norman have a cleaner and nicer area to come to, not just a gameday place, but an every day place.”
I was happy to know that the construction on campus corner will be done by the beginning of August. It hasn’t really caused any problems for me for the past couple weeks, but at the beginning of summer the traffic on Boyd Street was pretty bad. Hopefully Campus Corner will look nice when it’s all finished.
The Campus Corner summer construction project is expected to be completed by Aug. 7, slightly ahead of schedule, City of Norman officials said.
“We haven’t run into any difficulties,” projects engineer John Clink said. “It’s gone quite well. I’m quite happy with this project.”
Norman street superintendent Greg Hall said White Street renovations are now complete with the exception of adding streetscape furniture. He said the old water lines have been replaced, and there is no danger of the new ones breaking down. Current construction efforts are focused on the intersection of Asp Avenue and Boyd Street, which Hall said was nearly complete.
“We should have Boyd opened up Friday,” Hall said. “On the corner itself, it will probably be the first of next week, and that’s when we’ll start on the east side of Asp.”
Hall said the next phase of construction will take crews up the east side of Asp Avenue, where they will work on curbs, gutters and parking areas. Helen Wolney, president of the Campus Corner Merchants Association, said it was hard to tell whether or not business has slowed as a result of the construction.
“This has been two years in the making, so we all knew that this was going to happen,” Wolney said. “All this is going to do is have a positive impact on Campus Corner when it’s done. I think it will just make the residents of Norman have a cleaner and nicer area to come to, not just a gameday place, but an every day place.”
I was happy to know that the construction on campus corner will be done by the beginning of August. It hasn’t really caused any problems for me for the past couple weeks, but at the beginning of summer the traffic on Boyd Street was pretty bad. Hopefully Campus Corner will look nice when it’s all finished.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Local News
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=12&articleid=20090707_16_A1_TlaMyr320582
Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor should be signing a jail agreement with the county within the next few days. The agreement, which sets a reimbursement schedule for municipal prisoners in the county jail, was approved 3-0 by the Tulsa County Commission on Monday morning. Commission Chairman John Smaligo said the county is satisfied with the agreement. The contract includes the terms both parties agreed upon on May 18, including a rate schedule for city prisoners. The city will pay $45 per prisoner per day for up to 35 prisoners per day and $54.13 for every inmate beyond 35. There are also a few other agreements in the contract.
Instead of choosing a local story from Norman, I decided to do one from my hometown this week. I dont think that this new agreement should be affecting the resdients of Tulsa County too much. I'm sure that the agreement has been well thought out and if the County is satisfied with it I'm sure it will be good.
Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor should be signing a jail agreement with the county within the next few days. The agreement, which sets a reimbursement schedule for municipal prisoners in the county jail, was approved 3-0 by the Tulsa County Commission on Monday morning. Commission Chairman John Smaligo said the county is satisfied with the agreement. The contract includes the terms both parties agreed upon on May 18, including a rate schedule for city prisoners. The city will pay $45 per prisoner per day for up to 35 prisoners per day and $54.13 for every inmate beyond 35. There are also a few other agreements in the contract.
Instead of choosing a local story from Norman, I decided to do one from my hometown this week. I dont think that this new agreement should be affecting the resdients of Tulsa County too much. I'm sure that the agreement has been well thought out and if the County is satisfied with it I'm sure it will be good.
National Story
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/07/national/main5139250.shtml?tag=cbsnewsLeadStoriesAreaMain;cbsnewsLeadStoriesHeadlines
Starting June 27th five people were killed in a small town in South Carolina. Partick Burris, 41, is the suspected killer and no one has any answers for why he went on this killing spree. He tortured the five people and then shot them to death. With Burris' death his motifs are still a mystery. He was shot to death by officers investigating a burglary complaint at a home in Gastonia, North Carolina, 30 miles (48 kilometres) from where the killing spree started. Burris had a long rap sheet filled with convictions for larceny, forgery and breaking and entering in states across the Southeast, including Florida, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. He had been paroled from a North Carolina prison in April after serving almost eight years.
This story really grabbed my attention. It really reminds me how crazy some people are. It's unfortunate though that we can't feel safe in our own neighborhoods. In the article South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd said Burris' criminal record was about 25 pages and wondered why he was out on the streets to begin with. It makes me wonder how many other people have been let out of jail with huge criminal records such as this.
Starting June 27th five people were killed in a small town in South Carolina. Partick Burris, 41, is the suspected killer and no one has any answers for why he went on this killing spree. He tortured the five people and then shot them to death. With Burris' death his motifs are still a mystery. He was shot to death by officers investigating a burglary complaint at a home in Gastonia, North Carolina, 30 miles (48 kilometres) from where the killing spree started. Burris had a long rap sheet filled with convictions for larceny, forgery and breaking and entering in states across the Southeast, including Florida, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. He had been paroled from a North Carolina prison in April after serving almost eight years.
This story really grabbed my attention. It really reminds me how crazy some people are. It's unfortunate though that we can't feel safe in our own neighborhoods. In the article South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd said Burris' criminal record was about 25 pages and wondered why he was out on the streets to begin with. It makes me wonder how many other people have been let out of jail with huge criminal records such as this.
International News
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106318388&ps=cprs
Yesterday China Police arrested 1,434 suspects in connection with the worst ethnic violence in decades in China's western Xinjiang region, which killed at least 156 people. The tensions between the minority Uighur people and the ethnic Han Chinese in Xinjiang is what caused this ethinc violence. "The Han Chinese say we all belong to the same country. We're all part of one big family," said Memet, a restaurant worker who like other Uighurs declined to give his full name because he feared the police. "But the Han always treat us separately." Chinese officials have singled out the leader of the U.S.-based Uyghur American Association — Rebiya Kadeer, a former prominent Xinjiang businesswoman now living in Washington — for inciting the violence. The government has accused Kadeer of having a hand in many of Xinjiang's problems since her release from prison into U.S. exile in 2005. The Foreign Ministry has publicly accused the 62-year-old of having links to the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, a group the U.S. put on its terrorist blacklist.
This article was interesting but somewhat difficult to read and keep up with expecially because of the foreign names. What suprised me the most about reading this article was that at the very end it talked about how the Chinese officials accused a 62-year-old woman of having a hand in many Xinjian's problems. I was not expecting that.
Yesterday China Police arrested 1,434 suspects in connection with the worst ethnic violence in decades in China's western Xinjiang region, which killed at least 156 people. The tensions between the minority Uighur people and the ethnic Han Chinese in Xinjiang is what caused this ethinc violence. "The Han Chinese say we all belong to the same country. We're all part of one big family," said Memet, a restaurant worker who like other Uighurs declined to give his full name because he feared the police. "But the Han always treat us separately." Chinese officials have singled out the leader of the U.S.-based Uyghur American Association — Rebiya Kadeer, a former prominent Xinjiang businesswoman now living in Washington — for inciting the violence. The government has accused Kadeer of having a hand in many of Xinjiang's problems since her release from prison into U.S. exile in 2005. The Foreign Ministry has publicly accused the 62-year-old of having links to the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, a group the U.S. put on its terrorist blacklist.
This article was interesting but somewhat difficult to read and keep up with expecially because of the foreign names. What suprised me the most about reading this article was that at the very end it talked about how the Chinese officials accused a 62-year-old woman of having a hand in many Xinjian's problems. I was not expecting that.
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