Feb. 10--OGDENSBURG -- It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark, but when the rain came he was ready.

As the city's waterfront steering committee returns to the long work of planning the future development of Ogdensburg, it doesn't want people to be discouraged by the lack of busy cranes and excavators in the city.

Jane E. Rice, a project manager with edr Companies, a Syracuse consulting firm hired to help the city with its Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan, told the steering committee that much of the plan won't necessarily lead to construction.

Feb. 10--Two local forests could receive more than $90 million over the next decade for projects that would create jobs in the woods, reduce the risk of catastrophic forest fires and improve wildlife habitat and water quality.

The Colville and Idaho Panhandle national forests were among 13 national forests chosen for millions of dollars worth of restoration projects.

On the Colville, the money will be used to create open, parklike stands of ponderosa and lodgepole pine in dry areas of the forest through thinning and small, controlled fires.

Feb. 10--When people hear the word "green" used to talk about sewers, they likely imagine the source of a foul stench -- perhaps one toxic enough to bestow superpowers on cartoon turtles.

A new plan from the city hopes to use green ideas to turn an underutilized wetland into an environmentally friendly, park-like asset to the city's sewer system.

Assistant Public Works Director Andy Clements told the City Council on Thursday about a project that would install retention basins along Northeast Parkway, north of Corby Pond.

Feb. 10--WATERFORD -- Two scientists and the town's environmental planner argued Thursday night that several aspects of a proposal that would create a gravel pit and rock-crushing plant on Industrial Drive need more evaluation before the project moves forward.

Both scientists and Environmental Planner Maureen FitzGerald gave presentations at a public hearing of the Conservation Commission that centered on the Kobyluck Brothers LLC proposal.

FitzGerald argued Thursday that the proposal should fall in line with the rules set forth in the Jordan Brook Watershed Management Study, a plan she said Waterford Commons and Target, among other businesses, followed during construction.

WASHINGTON - A long-sought safety feature that Congress required after a deadly 2008 rail crash would be delayed for five years under legislation that the House is expected to take up next week.

Shortly after a train collision near Chatsworth, Calif., Congress required rail operators transporting passengers or toxic materials to install equipment by the end of 2015 that would automatically stop a train that is in danger of an accident.

Federal investigators cited the lack of such a safety system, referred to as positive train control, as a contributing factor in the Chatsworth crash that killed 25 people and injured more than 100.