| Biking becoming big in Blacksburg
It's OK to use this as an excuse to snuggle up to strangers on the Blacksburg Transit and blast the car heat on the commute to campus and around town. However, with spring in the near future, some are embracing the thriving biking scene in Blacksburg. "People don't realize how easy it is to get on a bike," said Yusef Messallam, senior electrical engineering major and founder of the Blacksburg Bicycle Cooperative. "You can do your grocery shopping, commute to work or to school, anything really." A recent push for Americans to reduce their ecological footprint has led many to pull out their bikes and commute. According to the Energy Information Administration, about 28 percent of energy Americans use goes into transportation, and biking instead of commuting is a step toward going green.
Hope you enjoy the show
Late February means early spring in western Colorado, in spite of the calendar lagging a couple weeks behind. Spring brings Spring Break (breakaway?) for many valley residents but even more important for those of who watch the skies, it’s migration. In particular, we’re keyed to the passing of sandhill cranes on their way north to summer nesting and breeding grounds. While there’s hardly an easier way than to simply stake out a seat in the backyard and look up, two festivals offer up-close and personal looks at sandhill cranes and bits of education as well. The most local of the festivals is the Eckert Crane Festival, this year scheduled for two Saturdays, March 15 and 22. The event is co-sponsored by Surface Creek Winery and Gallery in Eckert and the Black Canyon Chapter of the Audubon Society.
Time to stop insulting Iran
Lee Bollinger's decision to denounce Ahmadinejad does not amount in any way shaper or form to a condemnation of Iranian culture and society. It was an appropriate and eloquent rebuke that spoke to Amadinejad's numerous, disgraceful and morally abhorrent denials of the Holocaust. If the Muslim world interprets Mr. Bollinger's rebuke as something other than the above, and as motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment as opposed to by rational, then it does so in error; finally, Iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons because its government is led by fanatics and its most prominent leaders have advocated using them against Israel. Iran is a theocracy; it is not a democracy in the sense in which we understand the term today. And as to your weak argument that Ahmadinejad has been crusading on the international stage to remove the Zionist regime in Israel - and not to destroy the state itself - I will venture so far as to call you an anti-Semite.
OC Council in huff over grant center
The panel winds up giving the project less money for a shorter time than requested. Oil City Council got its collective dander up about a proposed grant resource center pegged for the Franklin Library at a work session Monday and voted to provide less money for a shorter time than what the center organizers had envisioned. "My concern was that Oil City was not brought in at the very beginning and we were informed pretty much after everything was decided," sniffed Mayor Sonja Hawkins. Her comments related to a request for $2,000 each year for five years to help fund the newly established Venango County Grant Resource Center. The group, which will be headquartered at the Franklin Library, aims to assist non-profit agencies and municipalities in applying for federal, state and charitable trust monies.
Counties draft plan on bike accident liability
Bicycle riders would be unable to collect damages from a county or city for most accidents under legislation that the Iowa State Association of Counties has drafted for state lawmakers' consideration.
Counties or cities would not be liable for injuries or damages resulting from bike accidents on their roads unless it was shown that government officials were notified of a road deficiency before an accident and that road crews neglected to take action, according to the legislative proposal. .
Vancouver's latest homicide a targeted shooting: police
Vancouver's fourth homicide this year — a 19-year-old man killed Saturday night in the city's south side — was likely a targeted shooting, say police. Vancouver Police Const. Tim Fanning said city's fourth homicide of 2008 is likely a 'targeted shooting.'(CBC) Const. Tim Fanning of Vancouver police said a passerby saw the victim — identified as Pritpal Singh Virk of Richmond, B.C. — lying on the street around 11 p.m. local time. The man was rushed to hospital, but died a short time later of gunshot wounds. "This is targeted because of the style of the attack,'' said Fanning. "We will be looking into whether this shooting is connected to any other shootings in the Lower Mainland over the last several months.'' Fanning said it appears Virk was visiting friends at a nearby house and was shot after he stepped outside.
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