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Good Wednesday Morning,Friday's Things To Do Edition is going to be pretty slim unless you send your events in. New York City is serious about obesity and their latest attempt to slim down the population takes places in this video, now on you-tube, which has gone viral on the 'net. It's office safe but will upset your stomach. From the Kent Public Library: After 15 years of service, library clerk Helene Bennett will be retiring on December 31. We wish her all the best as she moves on and we will miss her very much. Please stop by the Library to say good bye to her and to say thanks! You're not quite done with your holiday shopping. You've gotten your daughter her first bicycle and now you're thinking about putting a safety bell on it. Why not the Barbie All Star Bell?! Well, maybe not. Healthystuff.org has tested hundreds and hundreds of children's toys and apparel for hazardous chemicals and while lead is down, pretty much everything else bad is still in there. Oh, that bell? 174 ppm of mercury and 11 ppm of arsenic. You can learn more here.I was driving in Patterson yesterday afternoon and passed by two developments, Cornwall Meadows and the cluster zoning development on Route 292 just west of the village. Both these developments are on cul de sacs, meaning there is only one way in and one way out. At the turn-off for each, cars were parked filled with parents waiting for the school bus to arrive so that the kids coming off could be driven back to their homes. For reasons too numerous to write out here this disturbs me to no end - and should you, too. From third grade on I was walking almost a mile to and from school each day, crossing Union Turnpike on the way. So, someone please tell me: When are you going to allow your children to earn a sense of independence by doing something as simple as walking home alone a few hundred feet from the bus? Blue Horse Repertory will be hosting a reading of "A Christmas Carol" this Friday evening at 8 PM at the Cultural Center on Lake Carmel (The old firehouse on Route 52, just south of the Route 311 causeway). The reading will feature live music from The Kitchen Table Band and will star Brian Keeler*, Stu Hample, Paul Coleman*, Ryan Katzer*, James Shearwood*, Joseph Capone*, Nancy Johnston*, Lanie Durkee, Porter Durkee, Peggity Price* and Lora Lee Ecobelli* (* Appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Assoc.) Tickets are $12 ($10 AotL members).Since one trillion of your tax dollars go each year to the Department of Defense or defense related activities each year, and the military hasn't much to do these days, NORAD, the joint US-Canadian project of secretive mountain hideouts is once again on Full Alert. In just a few days time Santa Claus will be making his way over the north pole and to ensure that he doesn't set off WWIII accidentally, NORAD will be earning their money tracking his every move. On Christmas eve, grab your kids and go here to witness the event.From the Poughkeepsie Journal: Workshop to lay out open space options: Hopewell Junction - A public workshop on preserving open space will be held at 7 p.m. Jan. 11 at the East Fishkill Town Hall. Presentations will be given at the meeting about the benefits of preserving some of the remaining farmlands and open space, as well as how it can be accomplished. Options, such as purchasing development rights through the issuance of bonds, will be discussed. Attendees will be invited to complete a short survey that will help the Town Board know residents' attitudes about preserving open space. People will also be asked to suggest areas of the town that they would like to see preserved. Light refreshments will be served. Town Hall is at 330 Route 376. Call 845-221-9191 The 2009 PlanPutnam Annual Fund Drive Is Coming To A Close Have you helped keep this newsletter coming? If not, please click here today. Your Support Is What Keeps Us Growing! And now, The News:
DEC proposes bans to save shadJon Campbell • Journal Albany bureau • December 14, 2009ALBANY — New York's population of American shad, a saltwater fish known by anglers for putting up a fight, is in a losing battle for its existence, but the state hopes newly proposed restrictions can help save the once-popular fish. The state Department of Environmental Conservation's draft regulations, which are currently open for public comment, would ban recreational and commercial fishing for shad in the Hudson River and all saltwater bodies downstate. Now, recreational fishermen are allowed to keep one shad per day regardless of size from those areas, while commercial fishermen are allowed to deploy nets three days a week from March 15 until June 15, when shad are known to make their way up the Hudson River from the Atlantic Ocean. Delaware River anglers would be limited to keeping three shad per day, down from the current limit of six. If approved, the new shad regulations would be in place by the beginning of March. The American shad population in the Hudson River is at an all-time low, according to a DEC report, due to overfishing. Read More Child diabetes blamed on food sweetenerFructose syrup is increasingly being used as a substitute for more expensive types of sugarLois Rogers Scientists have proved for the first time that a cheap form of sugar used in thousands of food products and soft drinks can damage human metabolism and is fuelling the obesity crisis. Fructose, a sweetener derived from corn, can cause dangerous growths of fat cells around vital organs and is able to trigger the early stages of diabetes and heart disease. It has increasingly been used as a substitute for more expensive types of sugar in yoghurts, cakes, salad dressing and cereals. Even some fruit drinks that sound healthy contain fructose. Experts believe that the sweetener — which is found naturally in small quantities in fruit — could be a factor in the emergence of diabetes among children. This week, a new report is expected to claim that about one in 10 children in England will be obese by 2015. Read More Health Care Overhaul Bills Would Benefit Small Businessesby: Bobby Caina Calvan | The Sacramento Bee / McClatchy NewspapersL.D. Schmidt is a working man who arrives, in sickness and in health, at his small midtown Sacramento electronics shop to repair audio equipment. Schmidt lacks health insurance, and hopes that the health care overhaul being debated in Congress will get him affordable coverage without driving up his costs of doing business. Schmidt's shop is among the tens of thousands of mom-and-pop firms scattered across America, enterprises whose proprietors often can't even afford health insurance for themselves, let alone their workers. "I just have to keep coming back to work, unless I get so sick and just can't get out of bed," said Schmidt, who operates Ray's Auto Stereo. His only employee, a 20-year-old who was kicked off his parents' health plan last year, is paid minimum wage and can't afford to buy his own health coverage. About three in 10 of the state's self-employed don't have health insurance, and nearly 43 percent of those working in the state's smallest firms – those that employ fewer than 10 people – are uninsured, according to the annual Health Care Almanac produced by the California HealthCare Foundation. Read More Colorado Towns Take Extra Measures to Protect Their Water From Gas Drillingby Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublicaIn 2005 the U.S. Bureau of Land Management offered up thousands of acres of federal land in Colorado to drilling. Because the land was in the heart of an area that supplies drinking water to 55,000 people in the western part of the state, the plan drew stong opposition from local communities. The concerns they raised -- that the disruption and chemicals used in drilling might ruin their water [1] -- foreshadowed similar concerns that have since rippled across the country as drilling operations expand from Wyoming to New York [2]. And their solution may be a lesson that ripples to those communities as well. The communities -- the city of Grand Junction and the neighboring town of Palisades -- began by making their concerns clear: drilling is important, but protecting the water supply is paramount. Read More In Hudson Valley, Local GOP Revolt Against Washington-Blessed CandidateCounty chairs seek alternative to Nan Hayworth for run against Hudson Valley DemBy Selena Ross When Assemblyman Greg Ball dropped out of the race to unseat Democratic Congressman John Hall last month, most political observers assumed that the path was clear for Nan Hayworth, a wealthy ophthalmologist who had the backing of the National Republican Congressional Committee. But in the past few weeks, Republican officials in the 19th Congressional District, which covers suburban counties north of New York City, have revolted from the directives from Washington and begun hunting for an alternative. Several names have emerged as potential Hayworth challengers, among them David McFadden, a former mayor of Tuxedo Park, a wealthy village near Poughkeepsie, and Neil Di Carlo, a chief compliance officer on Wall Street who lives in Putnam County. While both are coming late to a race where Hayworth has already reported $318,000 in funding, the county chairs say they are strong options. “He’s got a ton of money, he’s got experience. 'I know the guy,” said William DeProspo, GOP chair of Orange County, about McFadden. Read More NJ lawmakers to consider 'Do-Not-Solicit' registryBy BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI (AP)TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey residents tired of being pestered by companies seeking to issue them credit cards may soon be able to block such solicitations. The Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee recently released a bill which would create a "Do-Not-Solicit" list that residents could sign up for, similar to the "Do-Not-Call" lists that bar most telemarketers from calling them. It will now be considered by the Assembly Appropriations Committee, but that panel has not scheduled a hearing date. Under the proposal, credit card companies would be prohibited from soliciting registered individuals by mail, e-mail or telephone. They also could not issue a credit card in the name of a person on the do-not-solicit list. Violators would be prosecuted under the state's Consumer Fraud Act and could face fines of up to $10,000 for a first offense. Registered consumers also would not be held liable for any debt resulting from the use of an unsolicited card. Read More Gravestones Talking Through TimeScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2009) — A visit to your local graveyard can provide not only a history lesson, but a science lesson as well. Historians have long scoured old burial sites to piece together the stories of those who rest there, but scientists are now learning much more from those letters carved in stone. Gravestones are telling the story of changes in Earth's atmospheric chemistry and rainfall. Moreover, scientists are asking for your help to read the stones.The iconic white marble headstones found in most graveyards around the world are wonderful diaries of changes in the atmosphere. Chemical interactions occur between the marble and the atmosphere over time. Little by little, atmospheric gases dissolved in rain drops cause the marble to erode. Changes in atmospheric chemistry also change the rate at which the marble weathers. Read More Is Santa buried in this Irish grave?By Tom Prendeville; Dominic Utton 14/12/2009Santa's Grave (Pic:Dylan Vaughan) The ruins of Jerpoint Abbey do not look like the final resting place of the world's best-loved man (at this time of year at least). But it is here in County Kilkenny, Ireland, amid fallen stones, scrubby bushes and beneath a well-worn slab, that the bones of the real Father Christmas are said to lie. "It is an amazing story and yet very few people know about St Nicholas's connection to this country," says local historian Philip Lynch. "Every year now we get visitors to the site, but still not that many. "There is a great story about a notorious old miser. He never gave the children any Christmas presents, instead he delighted in bringing them to Jerpoint and showing them Father Christmas's grave." The legend of Santa Claus - who magically leaves presents in stockings at Christmas as children sleep - has its roots in a real man. St Nicholas of Myra, the 4th-century Bishop of Lycia in modern-day Turkey, was renowned for his extraordinary generosity and was venerated as a living saint. Born into a wealthy family, his parents died when he was young and Nicholas dedicated his life to serving God. Following Jesus's instruction to "Sell what you own and give the money to the poor," he spent all his inheritance helping the needy, sick and suffering. He soon became famous for his generosity and, thanks to countless anonymous gifts to the poor, was known as a miracle worker, giving presents every year to those who lived a devout and Christian life. Read More The 2009 PlanPutnam Annual Fund Drive Is Coming To A Close Have you helped keep this newsletter coming? If not, please click here today. Your Support Is What Keeps Us Growing! |
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Wednesday, December 16, 2009
News That Matters - December 16, 2009
