Fight Rages Over Landfill in South
- The historic Selma-to-Montgomery voting
rights trail, U.S. Highway 80, runs through rural Lowndes County,
meandering past tracts of dusty farmland, boarded-up
gas stations and sacred civil rights-era ground. Now plans are under way for a solid-waste landfill near the
highway where civil rights marchers demanded black suffrage and
where Detroit housewife Viola Liuzzo was slain by Ku Klux Klansmen
after the 1965 march...
Study Hopes To Help Endangered Deer
- Many of the diminutive deer roaming this island are so brazen they'll walk right up to people expecting
a handout. That can be a problem, particularly since only about 600 to 800
key deer exist and about 1 million people drive through here on
their way to Key West each year. Of the 114 deer that died last
year, about half were hit by cars...
Smart Growth - Some solutions to Urban Sprawl
- In communities across the
nation, there is a growing concern that current development patterns-- dominated
by what some call "sprawl"--are no longer in the long-term interest of
our cities, existing suburbs, small towns, rural communities, or wilderness
areas. Though supportive of growth, communities are questioning the economic
costs of abandoning infrastructure in the city, only to rebuild it further out.
They are questioning the social costs of the mismatch between new employment
locations in the suburbs and the available work-force in the city. They are
questioning the wisdom of abandoning "brownfields" in older
communities, eating up the open space and prime agricultural lands at the
suburban fringe, and polluting the air of an entire region by driving farther to
get places. Spurring the smart growth movement are demographic shifts, a strong
environmental ethic, increased fiscal concerns, and more nuanced views of
growth. The result is both a new demand and a new opportunity for smart
growth...
Note: This is a series
of articles
on
the
problem
and
solutions
of
Urban
Sprawl
Water Resource Issues in Northwest Florida
Annual Report 1999 - While formed along
hydrologic boundaries, Florida's water
management districts were established as
regional entities by the Florida
Legislature so that water resource
issues could be addressed more
effectively. Regional approaches to
water management require looking beyond
city limits, county lines and even state
borders. The Northwest Florida Water
Management District, in turn, focuses on
smaller areas or sub-regions within its
16-county area of responsibility to
identify regional solutions...
Sewer/Water
Market To Remain Active, Say
Contractors/Utilities - The
first years of the 21st Century should
be a good time to be in the water and
sanitary sewer construction and
rehabilitation business. Although it
isn’t likely that the U.S. economy can
continue to grow at the pace of the
’90s, there is no reason to anticipate
a deep recession. Construction is
expected to remain strong. And every new
housing development, retail complex,
corporate facility and manufacturing
plan must be connected to water and
sewer services...
Town
torn over Perot Jr.'s development plans
- "A rich developer arrives in a
small town in Texas. In a sense, his
real estate company tries to destroy the
town in order to save it. One man leads
the charge against him..." - Ross
Perot Jr.'s 2,600-acre ranch near Dallas
boasts rolling pastures, ponds, an
old-fashioned ranch house and bison
grazing in the warm Texas sunshine. This
picture of peaceful gentility is at the
center of a vicious battle involving
former Congressman Pete Geren and nearly
everyone in Westlake, including Mrs.
Terry Bradshaw...
Everything's
functioning in Westlake - Ross
Perot Jr.'s characterization last week
of the town of Westlake as
"dysfunctional" was
surprising. As Perot should know better
than anyone, the town of 250 residents
is quite the opposite. The town appears
united behind Mayor Scott Bradley and
the Board of Aldermen in its opposition
to what many believe would be Perot's
takeover of the city. Rebellious? Yes.
Westlake doesn't want to become a
nation-state of Perotville...
Drought
Bakes Much of South, Periling Crops
- The pond on Dave Barry's farm, once
six feet deep, has dried to a mud
puddle, and the purple flowers on the
surrounding alfalfa are an ominous sign.
The alfalfa "should reach two feet
before it blooms, but it's only four
inches," Mr. Barry said today as a
hot, dry wind ruffled the stumpy plants.
"It's fit for a lawn mower. It's
done." Here in eastern Nebraska, in
a swath of the Gulf Coast from Florida
to New Orleans, in the hills of West
Texas and in Georgia and Alabama,
pockets of extraordinary drought, by
some measures the worst in a century,
are baking farms and homes...
