Governing
1:39 am
Wed January 18, 2012

Secretaries Of State At Center Of Election Battles

Originally published on Thu January 19, 2012 10:30 am

In his first year as Colorado's secretary of state, Republican Scott Gessler has been sued eight times.

He has outraged Democrats by rewriting the state's campaign finance rules, tangled with counties over which voters they can send mail-in ballots to, and attracted national attention for participating in a fundraiser to pay off a campaign finance fine levied by his office.

"We've definitely shaken up the status quo, and I think that's happened a bit in some other states, too," he says.

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Land Lines
12:40 am
Wed January 18, 2012

Smoky Mountain--The Kaiparowits Plateau

Don't try the Kelly Grade in a rainstorm. When this steep stretch of the Smoky Mountain Road is wet, its mud surface is impossibly slick. Stay in granny gear, keep a tight grip on the wheel, and hope that nobody else is coming the other way. There's no guardrail and that cliff next to your tires drops hundreds of feet straight down.  The shale gives way to sandstone when the road straightens out on top of the Kaiparowits Plateau.

 

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Earth Notes
12:00 am
Wed January 18, 2012

Earth Notes: In Albuquerque, a New Refuge

Credit Don Usner/The Trust for Public Land
Price's Dairy, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Fewer than five percent of the more than 550 U.S. wildlife refuges are located in urban areas. In New Mexico, another is joining the list as the former Price’s Dairy near downtown Albuquerque is slated to become the Middle Rio Grande Wildlife Refuge. At almost 600 acres and only five miles from downtown, it is the largest farm left in a metropolitan area now home to nearly one million people.

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Environment
10:01 pm
Tue January 17, 2012

Cleaner Air In L.A. Ports Comes At A Cost To Truckers

The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the busiest in the nation. They also have some of the dirtiest air, thanks to thousands of cargo trucks that pass through each day.

But this month marks the beginning of a new era, as tighter emissions standards go into effect.

'100 Percent Clean Energy'

A common trope in environmental stories is to put things in terms of jobs vs. the environment. But that's not what happened in the case of the ports.

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Europe
10:01 pm
Tue January 17, 2012

In Hungary, Fears Government 'Limiting Democracy'

Credit Ferenenc Isza / AFP/Getty Images
People gather to protest against Hungary's new constitution outside the Opera House in Budapest on Jan. 2. Critics say the document curbs democracy.

Veteran Hungarian broadcaster Gyorgy Bolgar, who hosts a popular daily news-talk call in show on Klubradio, gets a daily earful from ordinary Hungarians upset with Prime Minister Victor Orban.

Many here fear Orban, a dissident during the communist era, and his conservative Fidesz party are pushing the country backward.

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Europe
10:01 pm
Tue January 17, 2012

French Dilemma: How To Burn Off All That Overtime?

Credit Anne-Christine Poujoulat / AFP/Getty Images
France's 35-hour work week has resulted in some workers accumulating vast amounts of overtime that they are required to use this year. The problem is particularly acute at some hospitals. Here a woman speaks with a doctor at the Conception Hospital in Marseille on Tuesday.

Originally published on Wed January 18, 2012 6:32 am

France's 35-hour work week has plenty of critics who say it has sapped the country of its competitiveness and is tying companies in knots. And to make their case, a leading example is the current state of overtime at French hospitals.

Along with five weeks of annual leave, French employees get time off if they work more than 35 hours in a week. At the Hopital Vaugirard, a public hospital in central Paris, employees have accumulated more than 2 million days off in the past decade.

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Around the Nation
10:01 pm
Tue January 17, 2012

Cruise Ship Disaster Puts Focus On Safety Concerns

The dramatic Costa Concordia accident off the coast of Italy is calling attention to the regulation of the cruise line industry. Experts say there are plenty of rules, but enforcement can be spotty.

Some of the survivors of last week's disaster described the rescue effort as chaotic and disorganized. The crew had not yet conducted a required emergency drill during the cruise.

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Energy
10:01 pm
Tue January 17, 2012

Blocking Keystone Won't Stop Oil Sands Production

Credit Andy Clark / Reuters/Landov
Oil storage tanks at the Chevron Burnaby Oil Refinery on the shores of Burrard Inlet, east of Vancouver, B.C.

President Obama is feeling election-year pressure on the pending decision over the Keystone XL pipeline. Republicans say the Canadian project would provide the U.S. with oil and new jobs, but environmentalists want him to block it. They say Alberta's oil sands generate more greenhouse gases than other kinds of oil, and Americans must not become dependent on such a dirty source of energy. But it may already be too late to change that.

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Around the Nation
10:01 pm
Tue January 17, 2012

New Recycling Company Springs From Old Mattresses

Originally published on Wed February 1, 2012 9:23 am

Old mattresses are among the worst kinds of household waste: Most recycling companies won't touch them, and landfills would rather not. But a new business in Nashville that started as a college project hopes to move mattress recycling into the mainstream — and employ former convicts in the process.

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