Daily Planning News

May 24--Participants across the country in the Better Buildings Challenge reduced their energy intensity by 2.5% last year, achieving about $58 million in annual energy savings.

Those results are contained in a progress report published by the Department of Energy.

New Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz announced the results at an energy efficiency conference this week.

May 24--The region's public transit authority says a private proposal to extend light rail to Virginia Beach contains "as many questions as answers," doesn't address the regulatory complications it could trigger, and features a questionable choice for its lead design firm.

The comments by Hampton Roads Transit staff, released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, also challenge the completeness of cost estimates and say the proposal's financing structure may not relieve the city of as much risk as it purports to.

HRT, which operates The Tide and would run the Virginia Beach extension, submitted its comments to Beach officials after reviewing the unsolicited proposal that Shucet's team submitted to the city in early April.

May 22--GLADES COUNTY -- Jeff Allen calls himself a private citizen who loves to fish on Lake Okeechobee, but he's also the chairman of a broad-based group that's trying to improve the lake and add recreational opportunities.

When Charlie Crist was governor, the state signed an agreement with the Lake Okeechobee Habitat Alliance Inc. to lease and manage more than 2,700 acres of land located at Curry Island, where Fisheating Creek joins Lake Okeechobee.

The group's volunteer cadre helped clean up Curry Island of old tires and dumped construction materials and set up wood duck boxes, but to reduce the high nutrient level of creek water before it reaches the lake, they needed a treatment system to suck out the phosphorus and nitrogen.

State leaders are committing $3.8 million a year to save a passenger rail route that Amtrak acknowledges is "not as efficient or as useful as it might be."

Supporters of Amtrak's Pennsylvanian, which provides the only passenger rail service between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, say the daily round trip is vital to communities and outperforms most routes in the railroad's system.

Gov. Tom Corbett said in March the state would pay $3.8 million a year to subsidize the Pennsylvanian with money from a proposed increase in state transportation funding, which state lawmakers have yet to approve.

Drivers and mechanics for the Westmoreland County Transit Authority could take a strike vote in the summer if negotiations for a new labor contract produce no results, union officials said Thursday night.

More than two dozen members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1738 gathered for a meeting of the transit authority board to complain about the pace of negotiations and safety and maintenance concerns with the bus fleet.

Rank-and-file members are employees of National Express Transit, the private company that holds the contract to operate the authority's bus fleet.

AUBURN -- City councilors are picking sides on the issue of whether Lewiston-Auburn rail service, if built, should go downtown or stop at the Auburn Lewiston Municipal Airport.

Councilors last week added an amendment to the city budget saying a downtown location is the favorite spot for new rail service and directing staff and regional boards and business development groups to treat downtown train service as a priority.

One plan, promoted by the Maine Rail Transit Coalition, would send passenger rail from Portland to the Auburn airport before continuing north, to Bethel and on to Montreal.

May 25--A Mystic woman injured in last week's train crash in Bridgeport filed suit Friday against the Metro-North Railroad.

The lawsuit, filed by Stratton and Faxon of New Haven, does not provide specific allegations.

On May 17, the eastbound 4:41 p.m. train out of Grand Central Terminal in New York derailed just east of the Fairfield station.

More than 111,000 cubic yards of sediment will be dredged from the bottom of a local spreading ground and a county park, twin operations that will involve a parade of dump trucks for at least three months heading to the Manning gravel pit in Irwindale.

Both the Walnut Creek Spreading Basin in Covina and the Peck Road Water Conservation Park in Arcadia surrounding El Monte will be the focus of major improvements as early as next year if the county is awarded grant money raised through 2006's Proposition 84, passed to support clean water projects.

At Peck Park, 5401 N. Peck Road, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, in conjunction with the county Flood Control District, plan on removing 101,000 cubic yards of sediment from the park's lake that will require trucks two to three months to transport the soupy material to the pit in Irwindale, said project manager Ken Zimmer.

A consultation is being launched over plans to axe free school transport for some pupils in a bid to save Pounds 1.3 million a year.

Leicestershire County Council proposes to axe travel subsidies for pupils aged 16 and over and withdraw transport or charge the full cost.

Proposals to withdraw concessionary free travel for disabled people before 9.30am and after 11pm, Monday to Friday, and elderly passengers after 11pm on weekdays are also being considered, along with the removal of vouchers worth Pounds 33 per year for residents who live more than 800 metres from an hourly bus service, and half fare on community transport services.

May 23--The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted Thursday to pony up $1.7 million to reach the local match for a decades-old $4.3 million federal grant that will be used to enhance Bob Hope Airport's efforts to foster a "plane-to-train connection" to local transit.

The money will help accelerate construction of a Metrolink station along the Antelope Valley line, among other improvement projects, airport officials said.

The funds will come from Measure R, a half-cent sales tax that was approved by county voters in 2008 to pay for transportation projects.

May 24--The operators of Country Life Farm on Route 1 could have a number of new neighbors across the highway, if Harford County officials approve a plan to build a 258-unit apartment complex on a portion of the historic Mt. Soma Farm.

That session will start at 9 a.m. in the second floor conference room in the county office building at 220 S. Main St. in Bel Air.

The developer, Klein Enterprises of Owings Mills, plans to build in the 1200 block of Route 1 (Baltimore Pike) and the Bel Air Bypass.

Bismarck: North Dakota State University, The State of North Dakota has issued the following press release:

Nimish Dharmadhikan presented the paper "The Life Cycle Cost Analysis for a Rural Bridge Construction."

The objective of the research is the lifecycle cost benefit analysis of the bridge construction needed on rural roads due to the increase of traffic from the oil boom in western North Dakota.

Dover: Office of the Governor, The State of Delaware has issued the following press release:

As part of Delaware Gov. Jack Markell's National Governors Association (NGA) Chair's Initiative, A Better Bottom Line: Employing People with Disabilities, the governor and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett are co-hosting an institute for state policymakers today and tomorrow.

"This institute is designed to allow states the opportunity to discuss best practices for public and private employment of individuals with disabilities," said Gov. Markell.

May 24--MARIN SUPERVISOR KATE SEARS and the Marin Transit District have been working on starting a Tiburon Peninsula shuttle bus for more than a year.

The goal is to help relieve traffic on Tiburon Boulevard by providing a car-free alternative.

But plans hit a political pothole -- Belvedere Drive in Strawberry.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The engineer of the commuter train that derailed last week in Connecticut observed an "unusual condition" on the track before the wreck, federal officials said Friday without explaining what the condition was, though they did say repair work was done last month in the area of the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it has not yet determined a cause of the May 17 crash that injured more than 70 people and disrupted service for days on the railroad used by tens of thousands of commuters north of New York City.

But the NTSB did say that a joint bar, used to hold two sections of rail together, had been cracked and repaired last month and that rail sections in the area of the derailment have been shipped to Washington for further examination.

May 24--HYANNIS -- When the CapeFLYER officially kicks off Boston-to-Cape Cod rail service today, it is expected to draw a lot of attention.

And the overwhelming response to the new weekend service has been positive -- except in Middleboro, where the commuter line from Boston usually ends.

"We were all surprised," Middleboro Town Manager Charles Cristello said Thursday about the seasonal extension of service to Hyannis.

May 24--CLAREMORE -- It's just an empty field now, but community and industry leaders hope a new rail line and road will help make a section of Claremore an industrial hub for northeast Oklahoma.

Leaders on Thursday dedicated John Carle Boulevard and an industrial multimodal rail spur at the Claremore North Industrial and Distribution Center.

More than 600 acres with potential for manufacturing, warehouse and distribution facilities sit on the northern outskirts of Claremore near Lowry Road and U.S. 66.

May 24--COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A deal to spend up to $500 million to repair S.C. roads and bridges was approved Thursday by the state Senate.

The money would go to the State Infrastructure Bank, which would use it to borrow up to $500 million.

Instead, the state Department of Transportation would give the bank a list of suggested road and bridge projects to choose from.

May 24--Local public pools are preparing to open for the Memorial Day weekend, including painting, cleaning, filling the pools and most importantly -- testing the water.

A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 58 percent of pools have tested positive for E.coli bacteria.

Public pools are required to test the water's pH and chlorine to make sure the levels are the most effective for killing germs, said Dan Chatfield, director of environmental health at the Clark County Combined Health District.

Gallery: Burbank Recycle Center moving 80 tons of green waste to a fertilzier/recycling facility

This is true except for Los Angeles, Burbank and Santa Clarita, cities that repurpose green waste as compost and soil amendments.

One half of all the green waste in L.A. County won't be going to the gigantic Puente Hills Landfill near Hacienda Heights anymore but instead will be searching for a resting spot in a local material recovery facility or a composting farm in San Bernardino and Kern counties, experts say.

May 23--MADISON LAKE -- Standing on his property on the north shore of Ballantyne Lake holding aletter saying he had three days to report to the jail for fingerprinting anda mugshot, Jim Kimble said he wasn't sure why he is being treated like acriminal.

The letter from the Blue Earth County Sheriff's Department, saying a warrant would be issued for his arrest if he didn't show up for fingerprinting, was a bigge rsurprise, Kimble said.

The charges are related to five septic holding tanks installed on land heleases to seasonal users, including three cabins, a camping trailer and anempty site.

May 21--A second scheduled controlled explosion is planned Thursday at the construction site of the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority's Ute Water Project at Ute Lake near Logan.

Brumfield said the authority has been moving equipment and supplies into place to begin the foundation work of the intake structure, which is the first phase of its Ute Water Project.

While the first phase is under construction, the authority is coordinating engineering and design for the second phase of the project, an interim pipeline that will run west toward Portales, Cannon Air Force Base and Elida.

May 22--ALBANY, Ga. -- The Dougherty County School Board's Transportation Committee on Wednesday voted unanimously to move several items to the full school board for final approval.

This move comes on the heels of the School Board approving the purchase of five new buses with SPLOST money earlier this month, boosting the total of new buses to 12.

Williams presented the results of a one-day survey of illegal passing of stopped school buses in the county.

May 23--Starting in June, rural residents of Pueblo County with disabilities and medical issues will have fewer opportunities for public transportation.

Wednesday, Senior Resource Development Agency leaders said grant funding for that service won't be available next year, affecting Pueblo West, Blende and Vineland.

Director Steve Nawrocki told the county commissioners that the demand for free transportation has exceeded the cost of the grant.

May 23--PEABODY -- If you were planning to attend today's City Council subcommittee meeting at 6 p.m. about the plan to rezone the Pulaski Street industrial park, Mayor Ted Bettencourt is advising you to stay home.

"There won't be any discussion on this topic," Bettencourt said.

Instead, he plans to schedule a larger meeting involving all interested parties, including residents and business people.

May 23--Improvements to Washington state's rail system with the proposal to ship more coal to Asia may benefit Washington farmers, say local officials.

Franklin County potato farmer Randy Mullen said it could make transportation less expensive for some Washington crops, including grain, to be shipped overseas.

And anything that makes transportation more affordable helps increase the competitiveness of Washington's agricultural products, said Mullen, owner of Mullen Farms Inc.

May 23--When the Hutchinson City Council adopted the International Property Maintenance Code two years ago, it directed that enforcement be based solely on citizen complaints.

But the Hutchinson Housing Commission appears to be moving toward recommending that the council take the gloves off city inspectors and allow them to issue citations to correct deteriorating housing on their own.

"Complaint basis is not making a big enough impact to move the needle," Housing Commission Chairman Greg Binns said Wednesday.

May 22--DIXON -- Gone is the wind energy program at Sauk Valley Community College.

The college Board of Trustees on Monday voted to discontinue the program amid declining interest from students, which officials attribute to negative perceptions of wind energy in this area, among other factors.

Sauk has offered a wind energy program since 2009.

May 23--LEIPZIG, Germany -- Facing tight budgets and political pressure, the United States and many other countries are missing on a chance to invest in transportation, economists said Wednesday.

John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of The Economist, cited political pressures in many countries, where elected leaders are looking to tighten their belts, rather than invest in projects whose benefits won't be realized for years.

"If you look at the West in particular, you can make the case really rather strongly that we've not invested in this particular recession, in this time of need, in those projects as we expected to," Micklethwait said.

May 22--The Solar Impulse, an experimental, sun-powered airplane attempting a cross-country flight across America, is expected to take off early today from Phoenix for a record-breaking flight to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg is scheduled to land at DFW sometime after 1 a.m. Thursday, according to an email from the Solar Impulse team.

The single-seat solar plane, with a wingspan of a jumbo jet and the weight of a car, arrived in Phoenix on May 3 after Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard made a 650-mile, 19-hour flight from San Francisco.

May 22--New Jersey-based NRG Energy is deactivating its Norwalk Harbor generation station, one of the six power plants it operates in Connecticut.

The oil-fired power plant, which produces 340-megawatts of power and operates on a peaking basis, is scheduled to be deactivated June 1, said Dave Gaier, a company spokesman.

When asked why the plant was being deactivated so abruptly, Gaier said, "That's just the decision we've made operationally and financially."

May 23--RALEIGH -- State legislators are erasing a 2011 law that blocked progress on a toll-road project to extend the 540 Outer Loop across southern Wake County -- and they are killing a different part of the law that instructs the state Department of Transportation to actually build the road.

The outcome now expected by DOT engineers, legislators and Wake County leaders might seem contradictory, too.

The 2011 law had stopped DOT from considering the unpopular Red Route, which would take the six-lane expressway through the town of Garner, destroying homes, parks and churches.

May 22--WENDELL -- Mayor Tim Hinnant recently described himself as a road block to expanded transit across the Triangle.

The drafted plan he opposes would raise sales taxes by a half-cent to pay for expanded bus service to every Wake town and install a commuter rail between Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.

Nor does Morrisville Mayor Jackie Holcombe, who served as president of the association during the transit discussion.

May 22--A classic fight between environmentalists and developers came down on the side of developers Tuesday with Fresno County supervisors agreeing to explore the potential for new restaurants, hotels and golf courses just north of the city of Fresno.

The decision to look at opportunities for growth along the rural San Joaquin River -- between Fresno and Friant -- came with a caveat: County money will not be used to pay for the study, as was initially proposed.

Still, the dozen or so county residents who condemned the study at this week's Board of Supervisors meeting fell short of their goal of stopping the exploration of development in the area altogether.

May 22--Summerset at Frick Park, a luxury residential development that's successfully transformed a former slag heap into a neighborhood of high-priced homes, will need help from local taxpayers to finish its work.

With a two-thirds of the project completed, developers say state money has dried up for the final push, which will add 217 housing units to the development overlooking Parkway East by the Squirrel Hill Tunnel.

They're now seeking tax-increment financing, or TIF, to divert $24 million in property taxes from the neighborhood to pay for infrastructure improvements, including roads and a new bridge.

Preservationists this past week released a list of the city's 10 most endangered structures - a list most important to those who treasure our architectural heritage.

Evansville has a rich collection of well preserved historic old houses, especially those along First Street near the riverfront.

But some of the 10 buildings listed by the Preservation Alliance of Evansville on the most endangered roster have no measure of certainty that they will survive further deterioration.

Providence: Office of the Legislative, The State of Rhode Island has issued the following press release:

Rep. Jeremiah T. O'Grady has introduced legislation aimed at transitioning Rhode Island toward a more predictable and reliable source of funding for transportation costs, road and bridge maintenance, and public transit.

The legislation (2013-H 5073) aims to stabilize the funding stream of both the Department of Transportation and the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority by moving away from the current reliance on gasoline taxes, a revenue source that is steadily declining relative to inflation and in absolute terms as increased fuel efficiency leads to fewer gallons purchased at the pump.

May 21--Think Manhattan is a hot place to live?

As many as 1,000 extra weather-generated deaths a year may occur in the borough by the 2080s under the worst case global warming scenario, according to a new joint study by the Columbia University Earth Institute and the Mailman School of Public Health.

"The critical message is that no matter how you feel about global warming, we have a well established vulnerability to heat waves," which have already been proven to be highly lethal, especially to the elderly, the very young, and those with pre-existing health conditions, said Radley M. Horton, associate research scientist at The Earth Institute and a co-author of the paper.

WASHINGTON - Republicans controlling the House pressed ahead Tuesday with slashing cuts to domestic programs far deeper than the cuts departments like Education, Interior and State are facing under an already painful round of automatic austerity.

At issue are deep agency budget cuts required under automatic across-the-board reductions that are the result of Washington being unable to agree of alternative ways to curb the deficit.

This year, the cuts are being applied to domestic agencies and the Pentagon both; Tuesday's plan is for the 2014 budget year beginning Oct. 1 and restores cuts to the military while making cuts to domestic programs favored by Democrats even deeper.

May 21--WASHINGTON -- Global warming and clean energy should be priorities for Congress and the president, a majority of Americans said in a recent survey.

Six in 10 Americans want the U.S. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions regardless of other countries' emissions efforts, according to the survey.

The study also shows only half of Americans have heard of the Keystone XL pipeline.

May 21--Is it urban art or just a new gadget for collecting solar power?

Glenview officials recently got a look at a miniature version the "solar tree" that the Northeastern Illinois Public Safety Training Services Academy wants to erect in front of its building at 2300 Patriot Boulevard.

Michael Enz, co-owner of Tactical Design, said the solar tree will cost about $73,000.

May 21--North Carolina has sued Duke Energy for polluting Mountain Island Lake, Charlotte's major water source, with contaminants from its coal ash lagoons.

The N.C. Division of Water Quality added its claims about Mountain Island to an existing lawsuit filed in March.

That litigation asked for a court injunction against a Duke subsidiary over coal-ash pollution at an Asheville power plant.

May 22--DURHAM -- Budget writers in the N.C. Senate are tinkering with Gov. Pat McCrory's proposed shakeup of state transportation spending to make it even harder for local governments to obtain state aid for transit projects.

The draft Senate budget includes language that says transit projects of any sort -- including "intercity rail, commuter rail [and] light rail" -- can qualify only for the lowest-level allocations the governor has proposed.

That's the 30 percent of the money, statewide, that's destined for allocation on an equal-share basis to each of the N.C. Department of Transportation's 14 operating divisions.

WASHINGTON - Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Tuesday he will put on hold about 20 applications to export liquefied natural gas until he reviews studies by the Energy Department and others on what impact the exports would have on domestic natural gas supplies and prices.

Among the things Moniz said he wants to review is whether the data in the studies are outdated.

A study commissioned by the Energy Department concluded last year that exporting natural gas would benefit the U.S. economy even if it led to higher domestic prices for the fuel.

May 21--In a large country with myriad natural threats, some responders are more experienced than others in handling certain types of disasters.

Certain phenomena, such as earthquakes and hurricanes, typically don't happen in some areas of the country.

In 2011, tornado activity was observed in places that rarely see it, from Northern California to the East Coast and in between, leaving some residents in disbelief that the weather phenomena actually occurred there.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Oral health and politics collided Tuesday as Portlanders - proudly nonconformist and environmentally minded - decided whether their city remains the largest in the U.S. without public fluoridation.

But by Tuesday it was too late to rely on the postman, so drop boxes have been placed across the city to accommodate those who waited until the final day to make a decision, as well as people who didn't want to pay for postage.

If voters say no, Portland will remain the largest U.S. city without fluoride in the water or plans to add it to combat tooth decay.

Connecticut commuters who endured slow trips to work Monday because of last week's train collision may only suffer one more day of chaos.

Service west of New Haven was suspended after Friday's derailment that left 76 people injured.

The collision occurred about 6 p.m. after a train heading east from Grand Central Terminal derailed near Bridgeport and collided with a train heading west from New Haven.

May 21--Miami-Dade commissioners swallowed hard medicine Tuesday, approving an agreement with the federal and state governments to settle violations of environmental laws and committing $1.6 billion over the next 15 years to fix the county's antiquated water and sewer pipes.

"Without water, we can't live.

In addition to the $1.6 billion in repairs, the county will have to incur other expenses, including $15 million to cover maintenance and management costs, $2 million over five years from general-obligation bond funds to install sewers in an industrial and commercial area north of the Miami River to reduce water pollution, a one-time $978,100 civil fine and $825,000 to hire an outside monitor to oversee the decree's implementation.

TOKYO -- Hundreds of residents and evacuees from just outside Fukushima say they have been unfairly denied full compensation despite high radiation levels in their area caused by Japan's 2011 nuclear disaster.

Nearly 700 residents from the Hippo district of Miyagi prefecture, just north of Fukushima, are demanding equal compensation to the residents of Fukushima prefecture where the accident occurred.

They demanded Tuesday that the nuclear plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., pay them an additional 70 million yen ($690,000) in damages from the Fukushima Dai-ichi meltdowns and radiation fallout.

May 21--At least three Republican state lawmakers rallied Monday on the Capitol steps with backers of a gas tax and fee increase that would pay for roads, ferries, mass transit and other transportation improvements.

Democrats such as House Transportation Committee Chairwoman Judy Clibborn, Gov. Jay Inslee and U.S. Rep. Denny Heck want it approved in the Legislature this year.

Rep. Hans Zeiger and Sen. Bruce Dammeier, two GOP advocates of extending state Route 167 from their hometown of Puyallup to the Port of Tacoma, spoke to the crowd of a couple hundred people, many of them union workers.