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Its been many years now. Time has flown by. Ive been retired some 20 years, but sometimes I awake in a sweat. My wife seems to understand, b

ST. PAUL Two bills have been brought before the House and Senate in a bipartisan effort to restore Local Government Aid to 2003 levels, and another would have a portion of these funds going towards improving water treatment facilities in rural areas.

ST. PAUL Five DFL Senate leaders have introduced a package of bills addressing Greater Minnesotas economic needs by requesting major funding for public infrastructure, housing, broadband access, and career counseling.

With a renewed focus on Greater Minnesota already emerging as one of the themes of the 2015 legislative session, leaders of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities (CGMC) and the Greater Minnesota Partnership (GMNP) held a press conference to discuss what needs to happen for the session to be considered a success for Greater Minnesota.

The City of Grand Rapids now has a lobbyist.

With the development of the internet, government information has become much easier for the public to access. This is a wonderful tool for people when they are doing research on their city, county, state, or federal government. However, it is important when attempting to compare one unit of government to another that the researcher fully understands the data.

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February 20, 2015

The following Speak Out! messages appear in February 18-23, 2015 editions of the Journal & Topics Newspapers.

Randhurst tougher to travel than Circle?

I disagree with the Speak Out message last week that downplayed the hazard of trying to drive through Randhurst Village and stated that it is not a corn maze. Since the redevelopment of the mall, I have personally observed a few car accidents there and some near-accidents. In my opinion, trying to drive through the circuitous traffic patterns at Randhurst Village is every bit the hazard as trying to drive though Cumberland Circle, and possibly even more so given the added element of pedestrian traffic at the mall.

Appreciates aldermans efforts

Thank you Alderman Sayad for your financial help at Brentwood School. It is really appreciated.

Wants to know more about candidate

Who is this gentleman running for alderman in the 4th ward? A person came to my door and handed me his flyer, what is his political experience?How can I vote for him?

(Ed. Note: Well, theres two gentlemen. Mark Setzer, the challenger, and Dick Sayad, the 4th wards current alderman.)

No degree? So what?

I see the liberal news media is whining that Scott Walker has no college degree. Who cares? Both G.W. Bush and B.H. Obama have degrees but no common sense and both arent too smart. Thumbs up to Scott Walker.

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Speak Out! February 18-23, 2015

Tait Moring hillside garden of artistic levels |Central Texas Gardener
Landscape Architect Tait Moring is into recycling. From native stones to ashe juniper branches, he frames his rocky hilltop home with respect for the earth. ...

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Tait Moring hillside garden of artistic levels |Central Texas Gardener - Video

Jens Jensen: The Living Green - Trailer
http://www.thevideoproject.com/jensjensen.html Jens Jensen: The Living Green profiles the unsung pioneer landscape architect who became one of the nation #39;s most influential urban designers...

By: The Video Project

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Jens Jensen: The Living Green - Trailer - Video

FIRST COAST Sierra Club Northeast Group hosts master gardener

Lassie Lee, master gardener, will be the guest speaker at the Sierra Club Northeast Group meeting 7 p.m. Monday, March 9, at Lakewood Presbyterian Church, 2001 University Boulevard West. For more, (904) 247-1876.

ORANGE PARK Lillian Kiernan Brown Womans History Month speaker

Recognizing Womens History Month in March, The Orange Park Womans Club presents Lillian Kiernan Brown, author of Banned in Boston: Memoirs of a Stripper, as guest speaker 11 a.m. Thursday, March 5th, at the Womans Club, 130 Kingsley Avenue. The meeting will be followed by lunch. For more, (904) 215-3730.

CLAY Kitten foster parent training

Clay County Animal Care and Control will hold a kitten foster parent training session 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, at its Fleming Island center, 1809-4 Town Center Blvd, Fleming Island. This session will help prepare interested foster parents for kitten season in the summer, when the center receives an increase of kittens to shelter for adoption.

ERNANDINA BEACH Florida Forest Service summer opportunity for teacher held in June

The Florida Forestry Teachers Tour will bring 45 teachers from across the state to Fernandina Beach on June 23-26 to learn how forestry works in Florida. Participating teachers will experience the planting and growing processes as well as the mills and learn about environmental issues and how foresters work to meet Floridas needs and the environment. Applications are accepted through March 9. To submit an application, visit floridastateforests.org/teacherstour.

NASSAU Council on Aging welcomes two new board of directors members

Rick Keffer, local automobile dealer, and Barry Holloway, former Nassau County commissioner, are the Nassau County Council on Agings two new members of its board of directors. Both were inducted and began their tenature at the annual meeting in January.

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Around the Region: Make a Bluebird house with Nassau County Extension Office and more

A NEW farmer led forum focusing on hill farming and the benefits it can provide is a step nearer.

Upland farmers from across the north of England met last week to discuss setting up a hill farming forum that would provide a stronger voice for upland farming, showcase its benefits to society, and influence Government support.

The two-day meeting at Redworth Hall Hotel in County Durham was organised by the Northern Upland Chain Local Nature Partnership and sponsored by Natural England.

A common theme was the distinct benefits of working within a farmer group, from improving farm business performance to having direct contact and influence with government.

Farmers agreed to begin the process of setting up a Northern Upland Chain hill farming forum, which would seek to bring together existing farmer networks and interested farmers to champion the wider benefits of hill farming.

The LNP was set up in 2012, and now includes more than 50 organisations. It covers five nationally-designated landscapes the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Northumberland National Park and the North Pennines, Nidderdale and Forest of Bowland Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The Partnership is working to promote High Nature Value (HNV) farming looking at ways in which traditional farming systems can deliver environmental benefits more effectively, at the same time as making the farm business more economically viable.

Helen Keep, Senior Farm Conservation Officer at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority said: The idea for the forum developed from work the LNP has undertaken with four groups of farmers looking at the opportunities and costs of being a High Nature Value farmer within the uplands. There was a real desire from the farmers to work together to showcase the benefits that hill farming can bring to society and the environment.

Richard Betton, a farmer from Upper Teesdale and an LNP Board Member, said: High Nature Value farming remains the best and only realistic way of maintaining some of this countrys most valuable landscapes but things could be so much better. This event was about real sustainability farmers getting their act together, and then collaborating in ways that will secure a more robust economic future for the low intensity, upland farming systems that are particularly valuable for wildlife, the environment and people.

James Farrar, Chief Operating Officer of the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership, said: High Nature Value farming is an essential part of the distinctive economy of places like the Dales. We are committed to finding ways to help make these small businesses more profitable, while boosting the unique landscape and wildlife on which a multi-million pound tourism industry depends.

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Hill farm forum is a step closer

Families took advantage of a sunny, if cold and a bit windy, day on Tuesday, Feb. 17, to try out the snow tubing hill at Adventure Point at Keystone Resort. The spinning colored rings whizzed down the mountain as solitary missiles or tethered teams, riding the waves of snow to the finish line and a conveyor-lift ride back to the top.

Snow tubing at Adventure Point is open daily through Sunday, April 12. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The price is $32 per person for one hour, and reservations are required.

Call (970) 496-4386 for reservations, or visit http://www.keystoneresort.com for information on tubing and other activities.

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Social Summit: Cold day for tubing at Keystones Adventure Point

The structures would be almost 400ft to blade tip, twice the height of Edinburgh's Scott Monument.

Planning officials are recommending approval, but have attached a long list of conditions that must be met.

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However the Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) says these safeguards are not enough to protect the acclaimed glen which lies in the middle of the large tract of land between Loch Ness in the east and Loch Duich on the west coast.

On Monday members of the Highland Council's South Planning Applications Committee will visit the site on the slopes of Beinn Mhor, near Tomich, just to the south of the glen. The following day they will consider the application from the German developers 'the wpd.group.'

MCofS's Chief Officer David Gibson said: "This site cannot support a wind energy development of the scale proposed without causing an unacceptable and intrusive impact on the important and iconic landscape of the Glen Affric area, with consequent impacts on tourism.

"The planning officer's report is disappointingly empty of original content and repeats much of the developer's own information. It is alarming that it recommends consent but makes no attempt to rebut the 1,019 objections from the public and two community councils, whereas there were only 179 responses in support. On tourism it contradicts itself, stating that the impact would be negligible and the development won't put hill users off climbing the mountains of this area yet also saying it may discourage repeat visits. "

He said there were existing and proposed wind farms in the vicinity at Bhlaraidh and Corrimony and to consent to this development, which would be closer to Glen Affric, would facilitate "the steady march of turbines to the west."

He said "The area has high scenic value which is of international repute and popular with a wide range of visitors, not just mountaineers. If consented, the development could turn a landscape which is outstanding into something which is plain ordinary."

But wpd rejects the idea the development would have such an impact on the landscape. It insists: "The project area was chosen because of its close proximity to other man-made structures, including overhead power lines, existing roads and communication masts. The wind power project could thus be built with only short sections of new access track required, minimising any impact on the environment. The surrounding hills and plateaus would shield the project area almost completely from the main travel routes, the town of Tomich and preserve the amenity of the area for local residents and visitors."

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Councillors urged to block wind farm plan for Glen Affric

EQC between a rock and a hard place

Liquefaction in an Avondale street after the December 23, 2011, quakes.

EQC is arousing suspicion again with its manoeuvring on the coming payouts for flood and liquefaction land damage. But is it just doing the right thing in a somewhat impossible situation? JOHN McCRONE reports.

So it was an "Oh, shoot!" kind of moment for you then? A few sheepish grins break out around the table. Officially they can't say that. But yes, pretty clearly it was.

The Earthquake Commission (EQC) has been taking a fair old battering for how it has been handling the Christchurch recovery. And it is no surprise that people are already suspicious about how it will deal with the next phase of its land damage payments.

EQC has now paid out on much of the city's visible land damage, what it calls the category 1 to 7 claims which are to do with mending cracks in lawns or digging out silt from under floorboards.

And while some of the compensation amounts have seemed derisory - cheques for $10, the price of a few shovels of fill, which some home owners have posted back or framed to hang in the toilet - when spread across the whole of greater Christchurch, it is still costing EQC around $1 billion.

But this year EQC needs to sort out its category 8 and 9 claims, or what it calls the hidden land damage in the form of increased liquefaction vulnerability (ILV) and increased flooding vulnerability (IFV).

It has already mailed out notices to some 14,000 home owners advising them they may qualify. The wash-up is expected to be around 6000 with liquefaction risk, 6000 with flood risk, a further 2000 with both. And the sums involved could be generally more serious.

EQC is keeping the figures close to its chest but a 2014 budgeting document flushed out under the Official Information Act suggests well over half a billion dollars has been set aside for these land settlements. Divided up, the average would be $36,000 a property.

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Land settlements put EQC between a rock and a hard place

Grand Hyatt New York: Interview with Premier Suites Interior Designer, George Wong
Book your stay @ Grand Hyatt New York: http://bit.ly/1CmgAdx George Wong discusses his design concepts and inspiration for Grand Hyatt New York #39;s Premier Sui...

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Grand Hyatt New York: Interview with Premier Suites Interior Designer, George Wong - Video