News That Matters
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Good Tuesday Morning,

Today is Harland Sander's birthday. Now you know why the chicken crossed the road.

It's also primary day in some places and if it is in yours, don't be a dolt - get out and vote!

Late last evening I broke a story about a man caught in Carmel defacing John Degnan signs. A correction is noted for that rushed report. The man arrested was Matt Slater, not Nat Slater. I apologize to whomever Nat Slater might be. You're cool here, man.

Mr. Slater was caught by a passerby, Robert Buckley, at approximately 8:15 pm on route 6 in Mahopac, just east of the Villa Barone. Mr. Buckley observed someone defacing Degnan signs which he had placed there about 45 minutes prior. Stopping the alleged offender, Mr. Buckley questioned the man who admitted to Mr. Buckley, (and later to the arresting officer,) that since he didn't like the signs he was placing "stickers" over them to cover their message. Mr. Buckley then called Carmel police who arrived shortly afterwards and made the arrest. As reported last evening, Matt Neuringer and Assemblyman Greg Ball both came to Carmel to post bond and seek the release of Mr. Slater.

As of this post, the NY Journal News has not picked up on this story.

A house fire in Put Lake the other night has devastated the lives of long-time News That Matters readers Chris and Lisette Kubie. They've lost pretty much everything they had. If you would care to help them get back on their feet, please write to Barbara See or call 845-661-8370 to find out how.

Scientists in Europe will begin testing the Large Hadron Collider today. This machine, the largest scientific engineering project ever undertaken, hopes to create conditions akin to just a few nano-seconds after the Big Bang and explore the particles that created everything we know and are.

There have been fears that once the LHC begins actual work in October it will accidentally generate a black hole which swallow the planet and everything on it, but scientists say that's not going to be a problem.

Scientists at the Fermi Lab outside Chicago which also hosts a collider, a much smaller one, claim that an earthly black hole does in fact exist, centered on Washington DC, and the world as we know it has not yet ended.

Just when you thought you no longer had to drive your kids all over town, an auto-insurance group is now pressuring lawmakers to raise the legal driving age to 18 - and you know they will eventually get what they want. So, prepare yourself for another two years of daily insanity and the further loss of independence for our children.

See, they think that because drivers aged 16-18 are 10 times more likely to die in an automobile crash than in the 30-59 group, that raising the driving age to 18 will have some magical effect on new drivers, that age - not driving experience - is the key. It's not rocket science to figure out that the difference is not the age of drivers but experience that lowers the fatality rates. Nevertheless, it cuts into their profits and so they will lobby hard, spend freely and further their cause. Next up, raising the driving age to 25, just in case.

Is it normal for your internal electrical junction box to spit out sparks when lightning hits the line out on the street? Mine does. It's cool - and scary at the same time. Anyone?

And now, the news:

Bondi proposes $136.3M budget, 6.9% tax hike for Putnam
Rights accused of violating plea deal
4 Reasons Congress Should Extend Renewable Energy Tax Credits
Rainwater harvesting for everyone
Building Is 100% Sewer-Free
Silence of the Lambs (that's you!)
Palin billed Alaska for nights in own home

Bondi proposes $136.3M budget, 6.9% tax hike for Putnam

Susan Elan
The Journal News

CARMEL - Putnam property owners would pay a 6.9 percent tax-rate increase next year under the $136.3 million county budget proposed yesterday by County Executive Robert Bondi.

But Bondi kept a promise he made in March to restrict the increase in the tax levy - the total amount of taxes raised - to under 5 percent. The levy for 2009 would come in at 4.6 percent.

The average homeowner would pay $2.92 per $1,000 of assessed value in 2009, up from $2.73 this year, under Bondi's tentative budget. The average tax bill would rise to $898 from $879.

"We believe this increase is reasonable considering the mandated programs that must be funded and the quality-of-life services that our residents have told us that they want to continue to receive," Bondi told legislators and residents during a budget presentation last night at the historic County Courthouse in Carmel.

Only $17.6 million of Putnam's proposed total budget can be decided by county officials, Bondi said. The remaining expenditures are mandated by the federal and state governments or required under Putnam's charter, he said.

Putnam's current budget is $130.1 million. County taxes account for about 8 percent of a property owner's total tax bill.

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Rights accused of violating plea deal

Marcela Rojas
The Journal News

The Putnam County District Attorney's Office wants the court to resentence Southeast Supervisor Michael Rights, claiming he violated the conditions of his plea agreement from his July drunken-driving arrest, his second in little more than a year.

The District Attorney's Office filed a Declaration of Delinquency on Thursday, alleging Rights rejected the recommendations of an intensive alcohol-treatment program and that he "shopped around" until he found a less restrictive one.

"The people find it incredulous that two well-respected treatment facilities could have a vastly different treatment plan regarding the same person, Assistant District Attorney Robert Noah said in court papers.

Rights pleaded guilty in Southeast Town Court on July 24 to one count of driving while intoxicated. In addition to paying a $1,000 fine and having his license revoked for six months, he was ordered to enroll in an alcohol-treatment program and successfully complete it and to sign authorizations allowing the court and the District Attorney's Office to review his treatment records.

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4 Reasons Congress Should Extend Renewable Energy Tax Credits

The Nexus of Peak Oil, Unemployment, Global Warming and "Petrodictatorships"

Congress is stalling on a small bill of huge importance, the World Resources Institute reminds us: The bill would extend two renewable energy tax credits, the Production Tax Credit and the Investment Tax Credit.

The tax breaks help prop up the wind, solar and other renewable energy industries. The idea is that the handouts from the government help foster competition, innovation and research that the free market wouldn't otherwise undertake because the cost would be too high.

There's ample evidence to show that's the case, as the World Resources Institute chart at right demonstrates.

Congress reconvenes today to discuss, among other things, energy policy. All they'll really be doing is posturing for their respective candidates, however, and that means that the renewable energy tax credits -- which both parties and their candidates support -- may well be held hostage to this battle: Republicans entrenched in support of offshore drilling, and Democrats entrenched in support of taxing oil company profits to fund more renewable energy projects.

Here are four reasons, ripped from recent headlines, that demonstrate why the tax credits should be passed, and passed soon.

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Rainwater harvesting for everyone

By Fannin County Master Gardener, Ron Kyle

Rainwater harvesting is an ancient method of obtaining water that has drawn renewed interest in recent years as a viable water supply practice for many regions of the world. For over 4,000 years, people in various parts of the world have diverted and captured rainfall to use for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and irrigation.

With a population that is predicted to double from year 2000 to year 2050 and a limited amount of readily available water, Texas faces a growing problem. Metropolitan areas are looking farther and farther abroad for potential water sources to meet their ever increasing demand. It is estimated that 30 to 50 percent of the total water used is used for landscape irrigation.

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Building Is 100% Sewer-Free

The sewer systems we use today are entirely ineffectual and unnecessary. The primary flaw in our design is that we use freshwater to dispose of feces. This is perhaps the most ineffectual thing to do with human manure — it pollutes fresh water, and it requires municipalities to maintain extremely costly sewage treatment infrastructures. Even after treatment, sewage can still wreck havoc on rivers and groundwater.

The most effective and straightforward thing to do with sewage is to compost it (or use it to produce fuel). It’s a valuable resource.

The C. K. Choi Building is a 30,000-square-foot building that is part of the University of British Columbia. The building has no connection to the sewage system. Instead it has composting toilets and waterless urinals installed.

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Silence of the Lambs (that's you!)

The 2008 election has many unusual aspects, but none is more bizarre than the sorry spectacle of the bailout for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

American voters are like the lambs being led to slaughter and at the very height of the presidential campaign. Yet not a peep of protest from John McCain and Barack Obama, not even a hint of the righteous anger injured taxpayers will rightly feel as they figure out the deal for themselves. The rescue of the two giant mortgage firms is another huge expenditure of the public's money--one or two hundred billion dollars this time--to reassure bankers and financiers the government stands by them in their troubles, whatever the costs.

Think about it. Candidates Obama and McCain are wagging their fingers at the governing system in Washington, both warning they intend to make big changes if elected. Meanwhile, business-as-usual doesn't wait for the next president. The financial system needs the capital right now, and so Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has opened up the spigot. Obama and McCain meekly bless the deal. This sequence of events makes them look look the political goats, their grand talk of change pushed aside by what Wall Street demands. The 2008 election may be close, but it looks like the status quo has already won.

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Palin billed Alaska for nights in own home

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin billed the state for per diem allowances for 312 nights spent in her home, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Palin, who is paid $125,000 a year, collected allowances intended to pay for meals and incidental expenses incurred during travel on state business, the newspaper said, citing an analysis of her travel documents. She billed taxpayers for travel expenses involved in taking her children on official missions and her husband, Todd Palin, billed the state for expenses for travel on official business with the governor.

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