Jim Schwab, manager of the American Planning Association’s Hazards Planning Research Center, writes in Part 1 of a two-part series about the dynamics of recovery, silver linings, and post-disaster journalism.
"Gov. Joe Manchin has scheduled a press conference Wednesday morning where he is expected to announce that the state is filing suit against the federal government over the Obama administration's crackdown on mountaintop removal coal mining." Democrat Manchin, once considered a shoo-in for Robert Byrd's Senate seat, is now struggling to keep up with Republican candidate John Raese.
Sam Zell's takeover of the Tribune Company was built on the debt that drove it to bankruptcy. The monetization of one of the great American media companies also turned a temple of journalism into a frat house.
"The solar panels are coming back! A month after environmentalist Bill McKibben brought one of the original Carter-era solar panels to Washington, the White House said it is putting new panels on the White House residence."
"Even as they cheer U.S. EPA's first steps toward a drinking water standard for perchlorate, environmental and public health groups are warily predicting Pentagon and industry resistance to proposed limits on the rocket fuel chemical during a behind-the-scenes federal review process."
"The University of Virginia and an embattled climate scientist said Monday that it would continue to fight state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II's efforts to obtain documents related to a climate scientist's work, just hours after Cuccinelli reissued a civil subpoena for the papers."
"A lethal torrent of toxic red sludge from a metal refinery engulfed towns in Hungary, burning villagers through their clothes and threatening an ecological disaster Tuesday as it swept toward the Danube River."
"For more than six years, a power plant that towers over Chicago's Southeast Side repeatedly has belched out smoke so thick it violates air pollution laws and aggravates respiratory illnesses for residents nearby."
"Congress Friday unanimously passed and sent to the President the first authorization bill the U.S. Coast Guard has had since 2006. The measure strengthens oil spill protections, saves taxpayer dollars by overhauling a failed Coast Guard acquisitions program and sets new fishing vessel safety standards."
"Achieving greater efficiency and control requires hooking almost every aspect of the electricity grid up to the Internet, making it more vulnerable to cyber attacks."
