Aug. 01--The Santa Fe City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved, with little discussion, a pair of public transportation-related measures that should make getting around Santa Fe a little more convenient.

Councilors unanimously agreed to move forward with a plan to build a public transit center on city property in south Santa Fe.

The city had initially hoped to construct a hub in the parking lot of Santa Fe Place Mall, where south Santa Fe bus service is currently based.

Aug. 01--CENTERVILLE -- Developers of the mixed-use development between I-675 and Wilmington Pike are close to an agreement with a major anchor tenant that would be "a game changer" for the complex.

And depending on planning commission and council approvals, construction could start on Cornerstone at Centerville by spring 2014 with an opening in the fall.

The "big box retailer" is a world-wide company with no current facilities in or close to the Dayton area, Oberer Companies project manager Robert Hall told the Centerville Planning Commission Tuesday.

July 30--Although a Laketran trustee voted against placing a renewal levy on the November ballot, she said without a levy passing Lake County's regional public transit agency will cease to exist.

Although the measure was passed at Monday's meeting in Painesville, 12-year board member Donna P. McNamee said she used a "no" vote to symbolically voice the frustration of the disabled community with the rise in fares and the cutting of services such as Saturday busing.

"There is quite an uproar in the disability community at the moment," McNamee said.

Saying the nation has a moral obligation to act, President Barack Obama on Tuesday outlined his plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare the nation for a future of stronger weather stirred by warming temperatures.

The state's leading scientist on climate change lauded the news, as did environmental groups that have long awaited action from Congress.

PPL Montana said it also was pleased with portions of Obama's address as they relate to hydroelectric generation.

Washington: Office of the Federal Register has issued the following notice:

A large portion of the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests (GMUG) has experienced mortality from insects and diseases over the past decade.

The approach is to actively manage vegetation consistent with the goals outlined in the Western Bark Beetle Strategy (July 2011) including: Promoting recovery from the insect outbreak, improving the resiliency of green stands to future disturbances and providing for human safety.

Priddy could see the construction of hunt kennels and stables.

An application has been submitted to Mendip District Council for a conversion, extensions and change of use of a building to provide these facilities.

The formation of a car park has been applied for by Priddy Parish Council on land adjoining the Village Hall, Priddy.

Aug. 01--Residents of unincorporated Santa Susana Knolls packed a Ventura County Planning Commission hearing Thursday to oppose a planned development of up to 60 homes in their rustic neighborhood outside Simi Valley.

Commission staff members are recommending approval, and the supervisors have the final say.

Opponents argue the development would degrade the quality of life in the Knolls, home to more than 500 houses near the Los Angeles County border, said Sandy Capaldi, president of the Santa Susana Knolls Homeowners Association.

Aug. 01--For Don Taniguchi, nostalgia seeps from every crack in the Publix Hotel.

As he moves from room to room, he points at the air, conjuring people who once lived here and the objects they owned.

For three generations, Taniguchi's family managed the building, which was home to mostly working-class men living in single rooms with shared facilities down the hall.

Aug. 01--FARMINGTON -- Lagoon Amusement Park staff inspect each ride three times daily before opening the park.

The park has self-imposed inspections to meet American Society for Testing and Materials standards; independent inspections performed by an out-of-state ride inspector; inspections performed by the park's insurance carrier; the Davis County Health Department's oversight of the park's water park; and the Utah Department of Transportation's oversight of the park's Sky Ride attraction -- similar to the inspections UDOT performs on Utah ski resort lifts.

Still, Leishman said he is not surprised the topic of amusement park safety has been raised as a result of a recent Texas amusement park fatality.

Aug. 01--A nonprofit homeless veterans advocacy group opened its first Pennsylvania chapter Wednesday on Lower Main Street in Stroudsburg.

The Homeless Initiative, organized earlier this year to help the homeless population in the Poconos, is partnering with Operation Chillout to focus specifically on veterans, according to Homeless Initiative coordinators Ray and Barbara Perkowski.

Operation Chillout volunteers provide "rapid response" to homeless veterans they come across or hear about, said Ray Chimileski, the group's executive director and national coordinator.

Aug. 01--BISMARCK, N.D. -- The director of the state Department of Transportation told lawmakers work is progressing on the largest annual construction program in state history but planning is still needed in order to maintain the road system long term.

DOT Director Grant Levi told the interim Economic Impact Committee on Wednesday that as state investments reach record highs, maintaining federal funding will be an issue in the future as well.

Levi said federal funding once had been "the backbone" of North Dakota's highway funding.

July 31--A CSX official says it may take weeks to determine what caused a freight train to jump the tracks Saturday afternoon along Russell Street in downtown Fayetteville.

CSX spokeswoman Carla Groleau said maintenance had already been scheduled along CSX's Fayetteville rail lines.

Groleau declined to comment on what that maintenance entailed or whether it included the tracks that run between the northbound and southbound lanes of Russell Street.

July 31--A site along the Whitefish River scarred from intense use during the recent river cleanup effort is being rehabilitated into a public park and non-motorized boat launch.

Completion of the new park signals the official end to five years of work by BNSF Railway to remove contaminated soils from the river.

The railway company approached the city this year about creating the Whitefish Landing below the roundhouse along the bike and pedestrian path near Miles Avenue and First Street.

Aug. 01--In what officials are calling a historic day for offshore renewable energy, the federal government on Wednesday auctioned off more than 164,000 acres of ocean southwest of Martha's Vineyard to a wind energy developer.

Winning the auction gives Deepwater Wind the right to develop wind energy projects in the lease area.

Deepwater Wind plans to build a 200-turbine wind farm on the parcels as well as a transmission system from Long Island to Southeastern New England, company CEO Jeffrey Grybowski said.

Aug. 01--Long before scientists began to study global warming, author Raymond Chandler described the violent effects of dry, "oven-hot" Santa Ana winds gusting through the city of Los Angeles.

Using examples as disparate as road rage, ancient wars and Major League Baseball, scientists have taken early steps to quantify the potential influence of climate warming on human conflict.

Now, three UC Berkeley researchers have pulled together data from these and other studies and concluded that the incidence of war and civil unrest may increase by as much as 56% between now and 2050, due to warmer temperature and extreme rainfall patterns predicted by climate change scientists.

Those solar panels or radiant-heated stone floors could help snag a larger home loan under legislation now pending in the U.S. Senate.

The SAVE Act would require Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration _ about 90 percent of the mortgage market _ to add energy efficiency to their underwriting policies.

Mortgage lenders and appraisers do not systematically consider the value of a home's energy-efficient technology, said Robert Sahadi, director of energy efficiency finance policy at the Institute for Market Transformation, a nonprofit Washington D.C. group promoting green building.

TEMPE, Ariz. - Tens of thousands of bus riders in Phoenix's sprawling eastern suburbs were left without rides to work Thursday after drivers went on strike in a dispute with the company that just took over operations for the area's regional transit system.

The area served by the striking drivers covers hundreds of square miles.

Riders like landscaper Jesse Garcia, 23, who was sitting at a Tempe light rail station and getting ready to walk several miles home to Mesa, was upset but supportive of the drivers.

MADRID - The driver of the train that derailed and killed 79 people in Spain was on the phone and traveling at 95 mph - almost twice the speed limit - when the crash happened last week, according to a preliminary investigation released Tuesday.

The train had been going as fast as 119 mph shortly before the derailment, and the driver activated the brakes "seconds before the crash," according to a written statement from the court in Santiago de Compostela, whose investigators gleaned the information from two "black box" data recorders recovered from the train.

The speed limit on the section of track was 50 mph.

Remember all the fun we had in June with a contest to name the new Amtrak passenger train that could be running to Roanoke as soon as 2016?

Meanwhile, a total of 891 votes came in our online reader poll.

As he views it, a glamorous name for that train would be a great marketing tool for Amtrak, his favorite - though cash-strapped - government agency.

Aug. 01--After years of going around and around with the idea, the N.C. Department of Transportation in 2010 installed roundabouts in Middle Sound and Porters Neck.

The move came after officials weighed the economic and traffic benefits against the potential driver confusion from coming across a traffic design that's still relatively rare on this side of the Atlantic.

But today, as another roundabout is on the drawing board for northern New Hanover County to replace the confusing and sometimes dangerous junction of North College and Castle Hayne roads, officials and residents are singing the praises of the traffic-calming devices.

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco Bay-area commuters braced for the possibility of another train strike as the transit agency and its workers approached a deadline to reach a new contract deal.

Unions submitted their last financial proposal on July 17 and were awaiting a counter-offer from the Bay Area Rapid Transit Agency, said Josie Mooney, chief negotiator for the local Service Employees International Union, one of two unions in the talks.

She told the San Jose Mercury News (http://bit.ly/19zLzJL) if there is no change in BART's position by Friday morning, unions will likely issue a 72-hour strike notice.

Aug. 01--Upset over four rate hikes in five years, the largest customer of We Energies has signed on with a new electricity provider to power two iron ore mines in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., which operates two iron ore mines in Michigan, has notified We Energies that it will begin buying electricity from Integrys Energy Services, a retail electricity provider that sells electricity in states that have opened up their power markets to competition, Cliffs spokesman Dale Hemmila said.

Cliffs spent $120 million with We Energies last year, according to a filing with the Michigan Public Service Commission.

Pittsburgh residents' annual sewage bills could more than double during the next 15 years as municipal and county authorities work to drastically reduce the amount of raw sewage flowing into waterways during heavy rain.

City residents pay an average of $816 annually to PWSA and the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority for water and sewer service.

Alcosan announced in January it would spend $2 billion on improvements that include increasing capacity at its Woods Run treatment plant from 250 million gallons per day to 480 million gallons and bigger sewage pipes under the rivers.

Aug. 01--PORTSMOUTH -- The opening ceremony for the new Memorial Bridge remains scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 8, as crews continued work Wednesday to replace four transformers that caused safety rails to malfunction over the weekend.

According to Bill Boynton, public information officer for the state Department of Transportation, workers from the company responsible for the rails arrived late in the day on Tuesday and determined that two transformers on the Kittery side of the bridge had malfunctioned.

He said though officials had hoped to better firm up a date for the ceremony should it need to be rescheduled, information was inconclusive as of Wednesday afternoon.

July 30--STARKS -- A group of residents are asking selectmen for a moratorium on telecommunications towers, following an application by a Massachusetts-based company to build a cellphone tower on Abijah Hill Road.

It is not clear whether the moratorium would prevent the tower from being built, but if passed it could allow additional time for the town to develop a telecommunications ordinance.

According to the petition, the moratorium would apply retroactively to all applications the town received in the last 180 days, including the June 6 application for a cellphone tower submitted by Bay Communications II LLC.

July 31--BAY VIEW -- Dozens of area residents filled Bay View Elementary School's cafeteria Tuesday night to hear more about a proposed development near the Skagit Regional Airport.

Skagit County and property owners have been working on a plan for the Bayview Ridge development since 1997.

Some said the development will conflict with airport operations, increase the tax burden and require the Burlington-Edison School District to build another elementary school at taxpayer expense.

Sgt. Beads of the Maryland State Police JFK Memorial Highway Barrack, which is responsible for I-95 between the Baltimore City/County line and Maryland/Delaware state line, said no one was injured in the crash, which occurred around 2:30 a.m.

Beads said the raised bed of the dump truck hit the overpass and was knocked off.

The overpass was closed to traffic on Old Joppa, a county road, and bridge inspectors with the Maryland Transportation Authority surveyed the structure.

Aug. 01--EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a corrected version of the article that first appeared July 29.

MANATEE -- A long-awaited environmental study for another north-south Manatee River crossing near Parrish recommends a new two-lane fixed bridge at Fort Hamer Road.

The draft study released by the U.S. Coast Guard concludes a new bridge would provide improved traffic mobility and a better north-south route linking high-growth areas east of Interstate 75.

July 31--FORT WORTH -- A proposal to build a TEX Rail commuter line to Fort Worth's medical district and Texas Christian University is being placed on the back burner -- possibly for many years -- so planners can instead focus on building the northern half of the line from downtown to Grapevine and DFW Airport.

Officials at the authority, also known as the T, also announced Wednesday that even the first phase of TEX Rail from T&P Station downtown to Grapevine and DFW will now open no sooner than late-2017, one year later than previously planned.

They gave no timetable for development of the second, southern phase to the medical district, TCU and deep into southwest Fort Worth, where land owners are making plans to eventually incorporate rail service into mixed-use developments.

Database: Proposed funds for the Community Development Block Grant across the U.S.

Community nonprofits and local cities are sweating over a proposed bill by the House of Representatives that would slash Community Development Block Grants by nearly half for many cities in the state.

As proposed, the package would severely cut funding to cities throughout the Southland; Pasadena's CDBG allocation, for instance, would be reduced from $1.7 million to under $1 million, and Alhambra's would be reduced from more than $800,000 to $430,000.

July 31--In the face of ever-increasing expenditures, the City of Laredo is proposing a budget that raises bridge fees but leaves property tax rates untouched for the 10th year going.

Even though property owners remain unscathed, City Manager Carlos Villarreal said they will be affected eventually at the rate the budget continues to expand.

Of the approximately $14.7 million deficit, $9.2 million in expenditures are necessary for growth, Villarreal said Tuesday in a special-called City Council meeting.

July 31--PORTLAND -- The latest science and ways for fisheries to adapt to rapid environmental change will be the focus of a two-day symposium, "A Climate of Change," in Portland this week.

The nonprofit Island Institute, based in Rockland, will host the event Wednesday and Thursday to focus on issues facing fishermen and their communities, as well as scientists' findings about affected marine ecosystems.

Reports from fishermen of warming waters and lower stocks over the last several months prompted the symposium, said Susie Arnold, a marine scientist with the Island Institute.

JACKSON The Mississippi Department of Transportation is dealing with its maintenance crisis the only way it can shifting money away from new construction to the upkeep of more than 27,000 lane-miles.

The dilemmas facing MDOT and the three-member elected Transportation Commission are that the cost of asphalt has tripled over recent years and fuel taxes haven't produced enough money for new construction and maintenance needs.

A task force of lawmakers, business leaders and others was created by the state Senate to look at highway needs.

July 31--The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing the private Kazakh rail company JSC Olzha with a $24.8 million ( 19.2 million equivalent) loan to support the development and growth of the company, the bank reported.

Olzha has been active in the market for the last 18 years.

This will be fuelled further by an increase in oil and gas production in Kazakhstan in the years ahead.

July 31--After earlier approving stricter rules for abortion clinics, a divided Texas Legislature adjourned Tuesday without approving its remaining agenda item: legislation to provide as much as $850 million in new road funding.

Just as he promised, Gov. Rick Perry immediately ordered lawmakers back for a third, 30-day special session to approve the road funding plan -- a move that drew criticism from opponents of the legislation and quick action by the state Senate.

Within an hour of Perry's call Tuesday for another session, the upper chamber approved the same transportation funding plan that the House had failed to pass Monday.

July 31--In just five years, Minnesota has lost 312 square miles of valuable wetlands and the natural vegetation that surrounds them -- an area about 5.7 times the size of Minneapolis -- reducing a resource that provides vital habitat for waterfowl, minimizes floods and keeps agricultural chemicals out of rivers and streams.

Between 2008 and 2012, rural landowners nationwide plowed up 11,300 square miles of wetlands and highly erodible land, most likely because of the high payouts that come with federally subsidized crop insurance, according to an analysis of land use trends released Tuesday.

The loss of wetlands was by far the greatest in the Dakotas and Minnesota -- a total of 1,142 square miles -- according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a national watchdog group that uses data to sway federal policy.

July 31--In the short term, the sale of the Morgan Street parking garage to the state looks like a good deal for Hartford.

Though the deal is still being negotiated, details reported thus far indicate the city will receive a total of $26.2 million for an asset that is barely in the black.

In March, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced that the state intended to buy Connecticut River Plaza for $34.5 million and the 12-story tower at 55 Farmington Ave. for $18 million, and bring as many as 3,300 state employees to the properties in the next two years.

July 30--Emergency responders gathered at the BNSF Railway Vancouver terminal on Tuesday to train for a situation they hope never to face: responding to a release of hazardous materials from a freight train.

About 50 people from both Washington and Oregon received hazmat training over the course of the day from BNSF Railroad personnel and hazmat experts.

It's offered by BNSF in coordination with the Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response program, a national voluntary outreach program.

July 30--To the relief of a number of area farmers, the Reno County Commission expressed support Tuesday for a compromise plan that will close only two township road railroad crossings instead of the five proposed by the Union Pacific Railroad.

In addition, they will consider closing Sylvia Road where the tracks cross the road parallel to K-61 Highway, just northeast of Turon.

The Sylvia Road crossing was not on the railroad's list but was suggested by Miami township officials who said closing that crossing would be less inconvenient than closing Raymond Road two miles to the west.

MADRID - The driver was on the phone with a colleague and apparently looking at a document as his train barreled ahead at 95 mph (153 kph) - almost twice the speed limit.

He hit the brakes too late.

On Tuesday, investigators looking into the crash announced their preliminary findings from analysis of the train's data-recording "black boxes," suggesting that human error appears to be the cause of Spain's worst railway disaster in decades.

BLOOMINGTON - McLean County farmers are fortunate to have high quality soils but their success - and ultimately the economic success of the broader community - relies on a favorable and stable climate.

That was the message McLean County Board member Carlo Robustelli offered as he joined several local and state leaders at the DoubleTree by Hilton on Monday to urge the acceptance of the scientific consensus that human activity is causing climate change that, unmitigated, will have devastating effects.

He spoke during an "I Will Act on Climate" press conference alongside McLean County Board member Victoria Harris, Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner, Illinois State University Professor Rob Rhykerd, State Climatologist Jim Angel and Sen. Michael Frerichs, D- Champaign, and University of Illinois research engineer and organic farmer Eric Thorsland.

Part 3 of Chicago allergist, Dr. Brian Rotskoff's Climate Change Series: Year-round Allergies Chicago, IL, July 30, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- We don't often stop to consider the "whys" of itchy spring eyes, hot summer days, and sneezy autumn mornings.

Chicago's Dr. Brian Rotskoff of Clarity Allergy Center is among the many breathing experts across the country with schedules packed full of children and adults desperate for relief from debilitating allergy and asthma symptoms.

Dr. Rotskoff custom blends each patient's immunotherapy based on the results of their in-office allergy tests.

July 30--Lured by high grain prices, Minnesota farmers since 2008 have plowed up some 200,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land adjacent to lakes and wetlands, a new study found.

The study by the Environmental Working Group says that Minnesotans have converted more wetlands and adjacent buffer strips to cropland than farmers in all but two states: South Dakota and North Dakota.

While some wetlands also were drained and planted, "most of the conversion was in the land cover around the wetlands," said Craig Cox, senior vice president of the group, who works in Ames, Iowa.

July 30--A woman died after stepping in front of a freight train early Sunday in rural Wilson County, sheriff's deputies said.

Wilson County Sheriff's Office Chief of Staff Wanda Samuel said investigators have ruled her death a suicide.

The crash happened just after 1:30 a.m. near Upper Black Creek Road east of Kenly, according to CSX railroad spokeswoman Carla Groleaul.

Drilling for natural gas caused "significant damage" to drinking-water aquifers in a Pennsylvania town at the center of a fight over the safety of hydraulic fracturing, according to a report prepared by a federal official.

The previously unreleased document from an employee at the Environmental Protection Agency's regional office found that drilling or fracking, in which water, sand and chemicals are shot underground to free trapped gas, caused methane to leak into domestic water wells in Dimock, Pa. The findings contradict Cabot Oil and Gas Corp., which drilled in the town and said the explosive methane gas was naturally occurring.

"Methane is released during the drilling and perhaps during the fracking process and other gas well work," according to the undated slide show prepared by the EPA coordinator in Dimock, who is not identified, for other agency officials.

July 30--CHEYENNE -- Standing in front the city's central public transportation hub, Joe Dougherty greets passengers by name as they get on and off the buses.

"Hi, Mr. Joe," a bus rider says as he steps onto the sidewalk.

Dougherty, the director of the Cheyenne Transit Program, responds with a smile and a wave.

July 30--Kansas City, Mo., officials are considering a push to make the rail corridor from their city to Oklahoma City -- including Wichita -- a federal corridor, opening up more federal funding for the area's return to passenger rail.

Wichita Vice Mayor Pete Meitzner, who has led local efforts to put passenger rail service back at Union Station, hailed the proposal as another example of cooperation between the three cities.

In May, Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer joined Kansas City Mayor Sly James and Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett in a letter supporting passenger rail expansion through Kansas into Oklahoma.

July 30--The Legislature's stop-and-start effort to increase Texas highway spending coughed and sputtered to what appeared to be a final end Monday when sponsors in the Texas House fell short of the 100 votes needed to send a proposed constitutional amendment to voters.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said the Senate would try again Tuesday and predicted a passage that, given the legislation's moribund status in the House, would be purely symbolic -- and political -- in nature.

He also said House Speaker Joe Straus had told him and senators that if the transportation funding issue is not resolved now, it will be "more of a crisis in 2015" with "more pressure on the Legislature to raise taxes" to fund new transportation projects.

BERLIN - Rescue workers on Tuesday recovered the body of the driver of one of two regional trains that collided head-on in western Switzerland.

Officials said it appeared likely that one of the trains ignored a signal.

The body of the 24-year-old driver was recovered from the mangled wreckage in the early morning, hours after the collision near the station at Granges-pres-Marnand, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of the capital, Bern.

751 South, private water utilities and landfills

No sooner did Durham City Council vote against annexing and extending water and sewer to the controversial 751 SOUTH development last month than SENATE BILL 315 started rolling off the copier at the Legislature.

The bill originally dealt with design of a new Durham police station.