June 18--A planning document intended to resolve decades of water conflict in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta was instead greeted by a flood of lawsuits on Monday.

At least seven lawsuits were filed in three counties against what is known as the Delta Plan.

That law also created the Delta Stewardship Council, a seven-member appointed commission charged with crafting the vision.

June 18--Baltimore residents will pay less in property taxes but more in stormwater and taxi fees under a $2.4 billion budget approved by the City Council on Monday.

The cost of living in Baltimore could go up for many people.

The budget includes a 2 percent raise for city workers, but they will see cuts in their health and pension benefits, and civilian employees will start contributing 1 percent of their salaries to their pensions.

BLOOMBERG -- Detroit (9845MF) is suspending payments on $2 billion of unsecured debt, marketing parking garages and telling retirees to rely on President Barack Obama's health-care law to avoid a record municipal bankruptcy.

Those are among proposed changes in a 128-page restructuring plan Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr offered yesterday at a meeting of creditors in Detroit.

"We have to strike a balance between the legacy obligations to our creditors and our employees and retirees and the duty as a city to 700,000 residents for lights, police, fire, emergency management, cleaning the streets," Orr told reporters after the meeting.

As the General Assembly grapples with how to fund Pennsylvania's deteriorating transportation assets, the Westmoreland County business community would like to weigh in.

Facilitating the free flow of goods to the marketplace along with citizens' mobility for business and recreational activities is a core function of government.

Keeping up with routine maintenance of existing infrastructure and targeted expansion -- most notably, projects like the Laurel Valley Improvement Project at Route 981 -- will require a massive shift of spending priorities for existing revenue or altogether new funding.

June 19--ROCKLAND, Maine -- The future of the Brunswick to Rockland railroad line will be decided over the next 18 months.

Maine Eastern Railroad has operated the 56-mile-long rail line for the past 10 years.

Its contract with the state was to expire in October 2013, but the company agreed to continue running through December 2014, according to Nate Moulton, director of rail programs for the Maine Department of Transportation, which owns the line.

June 19--WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government has agreed to change the terms of a $1.2 million federal grant to allow the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority to speed up its study of building a mass transit link between downtown Buffalo and Amherst.

The Federal Transit Administration agreed to the change at the request of Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., who announced the move on Tuesday.

"This simple rule change will save an estimated $1 million and one year in the project's development," Schumer said.

June 18--Yuma County's public transit system, commonly known as YCAT, will be the subject of the next Know Yuma: Inside and Out to be held this week.

Guest speaker will be John Andoh, transit director for the Yuma County Intergovernmental Public Transportation Authority, which has assumed the ownership, administration and operations of YCAT.

The organization is comprised of Yuma County and the municipalities of Yuma, San Luis, Somerton and Wellton.

June 18--When Metro Transit officials cut back public bus service to the west metro community of Mound in 2010, it didn't sit well with Mike Skinner.

"We're pretty much stranded out here on the weekends," Skinner said.

To help those in need, Skinner and several community leaders created WeCAB --www.wecab.org --a grass-roots ride system that pairs riders with volunteer drivers in five adjoining west metro communities.

The Obama administration is considering a plan that would address climate change and limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, sources said.

Officials have not yet decided on specific measures, but sources told the Los Angeles Times an announcement could come by mid-July.

Power plants account for about a third of the country's greenhouse gas emissions, the Times said, and proposing to curtail the plants' pollution would likely begin a battle in Washington.

June 18--EDWARDSVILLE -- The Edwardsville City Council tonight will consider a preliminary plat for a controversial subdivision.

Residents of Willow Creek subdivision have protested the preliminary plat for Governor's Way, a new 72-home subdivision planned for 39 acres next to them.

Currently the only way in or out of Willow Creek is a single entrance on Gerber Road.

June 18--RoadwaysThough traffic congestion is a frequent gripe for motorists in Central Virginia, two big road projects have started moving toward completion, though both have sparked major controversy.

In January, Albemarle County opened up its portion of the Meadow Creek Parkway, offering drivers a quicker route between downtown Charlottesville and northern Albemarle.

Last summer, Albemarle officials revived an old plan to build a Western Bypass of U.S. 29, which some believe will better separate highway traffic from local traffic.

June 18--The Orland Park Village Board approved a new 10-year waste removal contract Monday, doubling the number of recycling pickups from two to four times a month.

Houston-based Waste Management will continue providing its take-all collection program, which includes refuse, yard waste and recycling.

Village spokesman Joe La Margo said doubling the number of recycling days was an important goal for the village in negotiating the new agreement.

WASHINGTON - Republicans controlling the House unveiled slashing cuts Tuesday to a program that helps localities build community development projects, while their rivals in the Democratic-led Senate proposed to restore GOP cuts to international food aid and nutrition help for pregnant women.

An Energy Department spending bill that would cut President Barack Obama's requests for renewable energy programs, meanwhile, began its advance through the House Appropriations Committee as the battling chambers continued to proceed down wildly divergent budget tracks.

At issue was Congress' nuts and bolts budget work - the annual spending bills funding day-to-day agency operations - but it was taking on the appearance of a slow-motion train wreck with the most likely result being even larger across-the-board cuts than were imposed earlier this year.

June 18--A Vernon battery recycler shut by the state in April as a health risk to thousands of nearby residents will be allowed to reopen pending a court hearing next month, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled Monday.

The state Department of Toxic Substances Control ordered Exide Technologies, one of the world's largest makers and recyclers of lead acid batteries, to suspend operations April 24, saying the facility's arsenic emissions posed "an unacceptable risk to public health."

The state also said the plant had been continuously leaking hazardous waste into the ground through faulty pipes.

June 18--The state's three major natural gas companies have filed expansion plans to provide gas heating to 280,000 new customers in the next decade, increasing their number of customers by more than half.

If implemented, the plans could mean major savings to state residents.

Katie Dykes, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, called the state's move toward natural gas a "medium-term" solution that reduces its dependence on home heating oil as well as provides an economic benefit to residents and businesses.

June 18--CHARLOTTE -- Duke Energy is ranked eighth in the country among holding companies for total solar capacity, as measured by Solar Electric Power Association.

Among individual utilities, Duke Energy Progress in the Carolinas was ranked eighth nationally for its annual increase in solar.

The association reported Duke Energy's regulated utilities have 183 megawatts of capacity available for its customers.

Boise: Department of Transportation, The State of Idaho has issued the following press release:

Idaho's highway agency will be in the spotlight of transportation activists next week when members of its board of directors meet about new rules meant to allow bigger trucks on the state's roads.

The Idaho Transportation Board holds a subcommittee on Monday about how to implement legislation that could allow 129,000 pound trucks on designated state and local highways.

June 18--CHESAW -- Despite efforts to work closely over the last five years, the company extracting gold from the Buckhorn Mine near Chesaw and an environmental group that monitors it are likely headed to court, representatives from both groups say.

David Kliegman, executive director of the Okanogan Highlands Alliance, said the Buckhorn Mine has failed to establish a working system to collect groundwater, and continues to discharge pollutants that exceed water quality limits.

The state Department of Ecology has twice fined Crown Resources, and its parent company, Kinross Gold Corp., for exceeding water quality standards.

June 18--The majority of Frederick County's watershed areas are suffering from poor biological health and moderate to severe bank erosion, according to a sweeping water quality report released Monday.

Human activities such as farming and development are largely responsible for the wide-ranging symptoms of damaged waterways detailed in the four-year assessment, said Shannon Moore, who manages the county's office of sustainability and environmental resources.

The study commissioned by the county is the first of its kind and takes stock of bug populations, the amount of food and shelter available for stream life, erosion, and water pollutants.

June 18--Seattle City Council leaders Monday dealt Mayor Mike McGinn an election-year rebuff, saying they would not recommend funding for one of his signature issues -- studies of a light-rail crossing of the Ship Canal.

The council members also modified McGinn's request to speed up a study of light rail from Eastlake to the University District, saying they will instead focus on more immediate bus improvements there.

Rasmussen cited deteriorating roads and the need to improve existing bus service, as well as the possible 2016 date for a Sound Transit ballot measure.

June 18--NEWARK -- Want to know where your NJ Transit bus is?

Smart phones and computers will be able to answer that question using My Bus Now, a real-time information feature.

My Bus Now went live Monday for all intrastate bus routes, including eight routes in Monmouth, 14 in Middlesex, six in Morris and three routes in Somerset counties.

June 18--Virginia's State Water Control Board voted 5-1 Monday to approve Henrico County's mitigation plan for the Cobbs Creek Reservoir, despite lingering opposition to the idea of using a state forest to offset the large water project's environmental impact on streams and wetlands.

With little discussion, the board approved the plan to allow Henrico to rely heavily on state-owned land in mitigating the impact of the 1,100-acre reservoir planned for northern Cumberland County.

The reservoir, which is designed to provide for Henrico's water needs for the next 50 years, will affect about 31 acres of wetlands and flood roughly 15 miles of streams.

June 18--Less than a month after a fiery train derailment in Rosedale, the Federal Railroad Administration Tuesday launched a smartphone mobile application to provide safety information about more than 200,000 highway-rail grade crossings.

It also allows users to report information about grade crossings to the FRA.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the Rail Crossing Locator will allow users "to improve neighborhood safety and make better personal travel choices."

June 18--The Philadelphia region can expect less than half of the $120 billion it needs for transportation over the next 27 years, according to a new long-range plan by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

A draft version of the plan says the nine-county region in Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey will be short $68 billion to maintain and slightly expand its network of highways, bridges, public transit, and airports between now and 2040.

Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties will have $33 billion for $95 billion in needs, while Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Mercer Counties will have $19 billion for $25 billion in needs, according to projections by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

When deciding if a development should be blocked, Arizona water regulators lack the power to consider whether groundwater pumping for the project could lower the neighboring San Pedro River.

That's the new ruling by an administrative law judge, who upheld a decision by the Arizona Department of Water Resources that a proposed 7,000-home project in Sierra Vista has enough water for 100 years as required.

Norm Fain, a Phoenix water consultant representing Pueblo del Sol, the water company for the Tribute development, said the ruling was appropriate because analyses showed the utility has enough water for 100 years without damaging other groundwater uses.

WORCESTER - The historic, 19th-century former Odd Fellows Home building that overlooks the north end of the city may soon become a memory.

A developer wants to raze the long-vacant, 3-1/2-story brick-and-stone building at 102 Randolph Road and construct in its place a $14.6 million, 61,920-square-foot state-of-the-art rest home residence for 82 elderly persons.

Meanwhile, City Manager Michael V. O'Brien is asking the City Council to designate the property as a Site Specific Economic Opportunity Area and as a Certified Project.

June 17--In his lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Hongrui Jiang has designed a new kind of solar panel that incorporates energy storage right in the panel.

The idea is to combine two technologies -- production of energy from sunlight and energy storage -- into one.

"Most of the approaches are taking these two solutions into different routes; they solve either the harvesting or the storage problem separately.

June 17--Review a copy of a brochure Galichia Hospital Group, LLC gave to city officials.

Review a copy of the agenda for the June 25 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.

LAS CRUCES -- Efforts will continue by some Las Crucens to obtain a legal opinion about a planned hospital on a portion of the 110-acre former Las Cruces Country Club, despite comments last week from a Las Cruces developer who said the facility would not be physician-owned.

June 17--YOUNGSTOWN -- Strollo Architects is ready to start a $4 million- plus rehabilitation project of the long-vacant Wells Building to turn it into the company's new headquarters with 12 apartments on its upper three floors.

But the work won't happen unless the company gets a "reasonable" appraisal on the downtown property at 201 W. Federal St.; obtains financing for the project, which largely rests with the appraisal; and is able to meet and afford the requirements of state and federal agencies, which will provide $1.8 million in tax credits once the project is completed, said Gregg Strollo, the company's president and principal.

"We're looking at what we can afford and finance," he said.

Workers at a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant were forced to evacuate a part of the plant due to a carbon dioxide leak, federal regulators said Monday.

A second alarm sounded shortly after signaling a CO2 discharge, prompting the evacuation, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.

The plant's fire brigade responded in accordance with federal regulations and cleared the scene about 9:55 a.m. Monday, a little more than an hour after the alarms went off.

June 18--ST. JOSEPH -- The St. Joseph City Council on Monday directed staff to develop plans to replace the government center with a new structure on its current downtown site, costing between $4 million to $4.6 million.

At one point, they even considered remodeling the old Kennedy school location.

Officials had decided to separate any discussion about city staff and police department space needs from community center discussions.

June 17--A new 10-year county-wide waste disposal plan will save haulers more than one-third on their disposal costs, a savings that could trickle down to residential customers.

The Monroe County Municipal Waste Management Authority will soon release its state-mandated plan to manage trash disposal for the next 10 years.

Monroe County garbage haulers now dispose of trash at a landfill or transfer station of their choice, as long as the ultimate waste disposal site is designated in the county's plan and maintains a current agreement with the authority.

They're on the cutting edge of trends, but when it comes to one of their major roadways for bypassing the Barclays Center, Park Slope residents like things just the way they are.

Denizens of the politically correct neighborhood are rebelling against plans by the Transportation Department to eliminate some left-turn lanes on Fourth Avenue between 15th Street and Atlantic Avenue and cause traffic to merge into two lanes.

The grimy thoroughfare is a prime route for motorists trying to avoid traffic jams around the popular new Barclays Center.

June 17--Perrysburg Township is going to accept electric waste on top of its regular recycling starting July 20.

The new recycling service is a free and available for Perrysburg Township residents.

Township Recreation Director Bob Warnimont said township officials want to watch how things go in July, but if all is well then it may set up the service for year round.

June 16--Build it, and the people will come.

That was the hope of local, county, regional, state and federal leaders who teamed up in 2009 to build a public transit system for Orangeburg and Calhoun counties.

And the riders have indeed come -- making more than 132,000 trips on the Cross County Connection buses that circulate through downtown Orangeburg and three college campuses, out to Walmart and the Prince of Orange Mall in one direction, as far as the Greyhound bus station in another direction and up to the Hillcrest recreation area.

June 17--Rain or shine, 25 volunteers will be at 2318 Camphausen Ave. today by 7:30 a.m.

By 8 a.m., the second week of construction will be underway on the House That Grace Built.

"It's hard work, but it's fun work, too," Elaine Braughler, 70, a volunteer from Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in Millcreek Township, said.

The federal lawsuit over radioactive emissions from a former nuclear fuel plant in Apollo has reached the mediation stage.

Mediation provides an important opportunity to settle the lawsuit before it reaches trial, said Steven Baicker-McKee, an assistant professor of law at Duquesne University who has 25 years in private practice handling toxic tort, environmental and energy-related litigation.

The 2010 lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh by about 75 Apollo-area residents, claims radioactive emissions from the former nuclear fuels plant in Apollo caused cancer and other illnesses, killing some people.

June 17--BRIDGEPORT -- Luis Rullan's fingers worked the knobs on either side of his seat as he stared intently at two 50-foot mountains of garbage on either side of his glassed-in room on the Wheelabrator Bridgeport plant's fifth floor.

With another twist, Rullan dumped them into the feeder hopper, a vent leading to the combustion grater where the garbage is burned at 2,250 degrees Farenheit.

"It's a good place to work," said Rullan, who has been employed at the plant for 25 years.

June 17--As some U.S. utilities are abandoning old nuclear power plants, Xcel Energy says it's investing $1.8 billion to extend the life of its 40-year-old Minnesota reactors.

At the company's Prairie Island nuclear plant in Red Wing, Minn., 1,550 contract workers this fall will replace two massive steam generators -- at $280 million, its single most costly improvement project.

"What we are facing here is a lot of spending to extend life another 20 years," Laura McCarten, Xcel's regional vice president, said last Thursday as she invited community members to see the new seven-story-tall steam generators to be installed at Prairie Island Unit 2.

June 17--HIGH POINT -- It was supposed to be the proverbial win-win deal -- corporate utilities and cities and towns providing power in North Carolina would go in together to build nuclear power plants and supply cheaper energy to their customers.

A year later, the corporate utilities, cities and towns went in on a deal to build the Catawba Nuclear Station.

But the win-win proposition began to erode in the last week of March 1979 when an accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania riveted the nation and shifted the direction of the nuclear industry.

As a homeowner with solar panels who has used zero kilowatts off the grid during the last two months, I found the June 10 news article "When the sun doesn't shine, who pays?"

If I understand correctly, the power industry says I should pay an additional fee because I need the industry less than others do.

So should my utility then be allowed to charge me additional fees for those decisions, too?

They range from John Tierney's influential 1996 article, "Recycling is garbage," in the The New York Times magazine, to and beyond "Recycling Reconsidered," the 2012 book by Samantha MacBride, an assistant professor of public policy at Baruch College in New York City.

A reviewer sums up one of MacBride's conclusions this way: "She argues that recycling and economic development and zero waste activists are wasting their time.

The movement really has not made a significant impact."

June 17--When the old Montex Textiles plant burned in 2005, it was no ordinary fire.

Federal officials ordered an immediate clean-up on the industrial site at Sixth and Cumberland streets in south Allentown, and the owners of the property were charged and fined for illegally storing toxins in the building.

Last week, that developer stepped forward, unveiling preliminary plans for a 48-unit residential community, featuring cottage-style housing, a lush green commons and a community garden.

June 17--The Ohio Department of Transportation, the city of Columbus and Franklin County have been talking to one another about their West Side projects -- they promise.

On Friday, ODOT distributed a document outlining some of the measures public officials have taken to curb problems in construction zones in a tight area on the city's West Side.

State, county and city projects on I-270, Roberts Road, Trabue Road and others are slowing drivers.

June 16--OAK RIDGE -- Alex and Elaine Papp lived on Barden Drive for almost 15 years before they learned the inconvenient truth about the street in front of their home.

"And we're paying taxes for what?"

Barden Drive ranks among dozens of predominantly rural, subdivision roads across the Triad that never made it onto the N.C. Department of Transportation's list of state-maintained roadways.

Residents near a fire at a recycling warehouse in Indianapolis were told they could return home Sunday after officials said smoke no longer posed a threat.

Health and environmental officials gave the all-clear for residents to return Sunday morning after air-quality tests showed the smoke no longer presented a threat.

Residents were told to keep their windows shut though, especially those who have respiratory problems, the Indianapolis Star reported.

June 16--The long-awaited Cedar Avenue rapid busway, the first of its kind in the Twin Cities, will start all-day, every-day shuttle service between Apple Valley and the Mall of America on Saturday, linking Dakota County into the metro area's growing light rail network.

Employing the newest transit technology, the bus rapid transit (BRT) buses will offer level boarding similar to that of light-rail trains, use beams of light to count passengers as they get on, and communicate with traffic signals to stay on schedule.

Dakota County Commissioner Nancy Schouweiller, a key supporter of the project, expects Cedar ridership to take off.

June 16--Editor's note: This is the first installment in a five-part series.

Coming Monday: How the falling groundwater levels have affected four North County homeowners and businesses.

Deep beneath the peaceful countryside, the North County's primary water source is facing an unprecedented crisis.

June 16--HAVERHILL -- The Boston Archdiocese has purchased a large building on Merrimack Street and is in talks with the city for a major downtown project that could also involve the long-vacant F.W. Woolworth building.

The Planning Office for Urban Affairs, an arm of the archdiocese dedicated to building affordable housing, has bought the multi-story Newman's Furniture building at 32 Merrimack St. from longtime owner Norman Newman for $667,000, according to paperwork on file with the Southern Essex County Registry of Deeds.

The property was bought by a corporation called Merrimack Street Owner, LLC. That corporation was formed by the Planning Office of Urban Affairs in Boston, according to the Secretary of State's office.

June 16--KITTY HAWK N.C.

Most Outer Banks visitors know a trip to the beach is sure to include one constant: wind, and lots of it.

No wonder, then, that the U.S. government has chosen a huge swath of water just off the Outer Banks as a potential home for an offshore wind farm in the near future.