Posted on December 3, 2008 by brandibratrude
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Sightline Daily | Northwest News That Matters
Top Picks of the Day
1. Obama Promises Governors Federal Help Is on the Way
With the economic crisis tearing holes in most state budgets, President-elect Barack Obama promised the nation’s governors on Tuesday that he would come to their aid with an ambitious program to build or repair roads, bridges, schools and other public projects. New York Times 12/03/2008
2. High-wire Health Care
Washington State’s children’s insurance plan is a federal-state program for working-class families that can’t find — or can’t afford — private insurance for their kids but aren’t poor enough for Medicaid. Gov. Chris Gregoire pushed the legislation two years ago and an estimated 2,600 children in Yakima, Benton and Franklin counties will be eligible for coverage. But the state’s budget crisis could affect future funding. Yakima Herald 12/03/2008
3. Recession in Oregon from A to Z
The debate going on now is, how bad is the recession already, and how bad is it going to be? We have no idea. So we turned to the experts: fortunetellers, bartenders, cab drivers, comedians, yoga teachers, shopkeepers, theater owners, rabbis, ministers, divorce lawyers, book sellers, architects and, for good measure, a few economists. Here’s a different look at our financial fix–from A to Z. Willamette Week 12/03/2008
4. Oregon Coastal Salmon at Center of Forest Debate
The salmon rivers of northwest Oregon are at a crucial crossroads. On one hand, the state is counting on them to nurture troubled species such as coho toward recovery. On the other, the state is looking to cut trees that could in time remove ingredients of good fish habitat. Oregonian 12/03/2008
5. Overfishing Pushing BC Salmon Stocks Near Collapse
Salmon stocks in British Columbia are on the brink of collapse largely because the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has consistently allowed too many fish to be killed in fisheries, according to a new research paper. The high exploitation of stocks may be more to blame for the decline of Pacific salmon than global warming or poor ocean conditions. Toronto Globe and Mail 12/03/2008
6. Seattle Panel Passes $600 million Streetcar Proposal
Seattle’s proposed streetcar network is on the fast track, too fast for some — and not speedy enough for others. The City Council’s transportation committee voted 4-2 Tuesday to support development of a streetcar system connecting neighborhoods to downtown and to other transportation options, including buses, ferries and trains. The proposal could go to the full council for a final vote as early as Monday. Seattle Post-Intelligencer 12/03/2008
7. Transit Use Stays High as Gas Prices Fall
Most of the people who jumped aboard the mass transit bandwagon last summer to escape rising gas prices appear to be staying there. In fact, in some cases, more are hopping aboard. Community Transit, the largest transit agency in Snohomish County, had its best-ever month in October. Why? Everett Herald 12/03/2008
8. “Next Generation” Biofuel Institute Dedicated
The new Emeryville facility, funded for five years with $135 million from the Department of Energy, has recruited renowned scientists, as well as graduate and postdoctoral students, to take on the toughest obstacles in creating new biofuels by using modern genomics and molecular biology, robotics and mass spectrometry, chemistry and materials analysis. San Francisco Chronicle 12/03/2008
9. Big 3 Automakers Agree to Tester’s CEO Pay Plan
As chiefs for the nation’s top automakers made a second appeal to lawmakers Tuesday for $25 billion in federal help, their plans included an element first suggested by Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester last month: Slash chief executive pay to a buck a year. Reached on Tuesday at his office in Washington, Tester said he was pleased the top brass had got the message, but said much more is needed from Detroit’s Big Three. Missoulian 12/03/2008
10. David Suzuki: Better Ways to Spend $4.1 Trillion
Just think what we could do with $4.1 trillion! Instead of giving companies these huge sums of money so they can continue business as usual, buying and selling, merging, and paying their executives obscene salaries and bonuses, we could put it toward renewable energy, sustainable urban planning, and research into ways to lessen the impact of climate change–things that really would stimulate economies. Georgia Straight 12/03/2008
Filed under: Community News, National and World News | Tagged: alternative transportation, bailout, Barack Obama, Big 3 automakers, biofuel, climate change, climate policy, David Suzuki, Department of Energy, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, economics, Emeryville, environmental, gas prices, green, health care, recession, salmon, Seattle, Seattle Streetcar Proposal, seattleDIRT, Sightline Daily, Sightline Institute, sustainability, transit
