In the latest installment of Ask Ray, Paulick Report publisher Ray Paulick answers questions from readers on several topics, and it's apparent from his responses that he's a little edgy after being in isolation since mid-March. A question about why California workouts are almost all designated as “handily” while the rest of the country's workouts […]

The post Ask Ray: Workout Designations, DRF Mystery, Arizona ADW And Edgar Prado appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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At approximately 6:00 a.m. this morning, the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center received multiple reports that a car had driven over the edge near the El Tovar Hotel in Grand Canyon National Park. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/news-2009-07-13-car-over-edge.htm

The body of a man who drove his car over the edge of the Grand Canyon earlier this week has been identified as that of Gheorghe Chiriac of Apple Valley, California. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/news-2009-07-17_ident.htm

  https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/2010-05-21_over_edge.htm

At approximately 2:45 p.m., the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center received a report that a man had fallen over the edge near Mather Point on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/5aug10-3_news.htm

Grand Canyon National Park’s Division of Science and Resource Management will host a public open house on July 25 in the Grand Canyon Lodge Auditorium on the North Rim from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/behind-the-scenes-science-and-resource-management-staff-to-host-public-open-house-in-the-grand-canyon-lodge-on-the-north-rim-of-grand-canyon-national-park.htm

https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/2011-11-1_body.htm

A body found below Navajo Bridge on November 17,2011 has been identified. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/2011-12-12_ident.htm

Grand Canyon National Park's Division of Science and Resource Management will once again be presenting monthly community lectures in Flagstaff, Arizona in collaboration with the Grand Canyon Association and Northern Arizona University's Cline Library. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/2012-01-26_conversations.htm

Grand Canyon National Park’s Trail Crew will soon begin repairs to the bridge across Bright Angel Creek on the Ribbon Falls spur trail in the Inner Canyon. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/2012-01-31_bridge.htm

At approximately, 1:20 p.m. on Thursday, July 19, the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center received a report that an older woman had fallen over the edge at Grandview Point, located on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, and that she was not responding to people calling down to her. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/2012-07-19_over-edge.htm

On Wednesday, June 11 at approximately 2:00 p.m. the National Park Service received a call reporting an unconscious male kayaker at Badger Rapids, river mile 8 on the Colorado River within Grand Canyon National Park. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/kayaker-fatality-badger-rapids.htm

On Thursday, April 30 at approximately 4:20 p.m. the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center received a report of a man who had fallen from the edge of the rim trail east of Mather Point. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/over-edge.htm

The National Park Service is able to confirm that yesterday’s over the edge incident resulted in a fatality. Earlier today the body of the victim was recovered by short haul operation utilizing the park helicopter. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/over-edge-fatality.htm

On Monday, June 27 at approximately 4:45 pm, the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center received a call reporting a visitor over the edge at Mather Point. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/mather-point-over-the-edge.htm

Beginning in mid-February the National Park Service will rehabilitate the pump houses at Indian Garden and the Black Bridge near Phantom Ranch. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/pumphouse-and-black-bridge-repairs.htm

On Wednesday afternoon search and rescue crews located a body believed to be Sarah Beadle of Fort Worth, TX. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/body-located-near-black-bridge.htm

The Kaibab Suspension Bridge, also called the Black Bridge, will close to foot traffic while trail crews replace wood decking and tread boards. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/repairs-close-black-bridge.htm

The National Park Service (NPS) is seeking public comment on a proposal to demolish and rebuild the Maswik South lodging complex (Maswik South), and to construct two new sections of road to improve traffic flow in the vicinity of Maswik South. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/maswik-south.htm

Starting on approximately April 8, 2019 Xanterra South Rim, L.L.C., a concessionaire within Grand Canyon National Park, will be fulfilling a contractual obligation to rebuild the Maswik South lodging complex and construct new roads near Maswik South. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/grand-canyon-rebuilding-maswik-south-lodge.htm

One of my passions as a councillor and a key commitment to my community was to simplify local government processes and clarify what as unnecessarily complex. Break the obfuscation nexus, you may say.

This guidebook describes Horse Ridge Research Natural Area, a 243-ha (600-ac) tract established to represent an example of the western juniper/big sagebrush/ threadleaf sedge (Juniperus occidentalis/Artemisia tridentata/Carex filifolia) plant association.

Many of America's national forests and grasslands—collectively called the National Forest System—face increased risks and alterations from escalating housing development on private rural lands along their boundaries. National forests and grasslands provide critical social, ecological, and economic benefits to the American public. This study projects future housing density increases on private rural lands at three distances—2, 3, and 10 miles—from the external boundaries of all national forests and grasslands across the conterminous United States. Some 21.7 million acres of rural private lands (about 8 percent of all private lands) located within 10 miles of the National Forest System boundaries are projected to undergo increases in housing density by 2030. Nine national forests are projected to experience increased housing density on at least 25 percent of adjacent private lands at one or more of the distances considered. Thirteen national forests and grasslands are each projected to have more than a half-million acres of adjacent private rural lands experience increased housing density. Such development and accompanying landscape fragmentation pose substantial challenges for the management and conservation of the ecosystem services and amenity resources of National Forest System lands, including access by the public. Research such as this can help planners, managers, and communities consider the impacts of local land use decisions.

The original Forests on the Edge report (FOTE 1) indicated that 44.2 million acres of private forest land was projected to experience substantial increases in residential development in the coming decades.

Edge-glued panels could become a natural extension for the birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.) lumber industry in Alaska, resulting in greater utilization of the birch resource while allowing producers to explore a wider variety of products and markets.

Conservation measures for aquatic species throughout the Pacific Northwest rely heavily on maintaining forested riparian zones. A key rationale for this strategy is that the presence of standing and downed trees next to streams will provide a continuous source of wood, which is an important structural component of aquatic habitat.

The importance to society of environmental services, provided by forest ecosystems, has significantly increased during the last few decades. A growing global concern with the deterioration of forests, beginning perhaps most noticeably in the 1980s, has led to an increasing public awareness of the environmental, cultural, economic, and social values that forests provide. Around the world, ideas of sustainable, close-to-nature, and multi-functional forestry have progressively replaced the older perception of forests as only a source for timber. The international impetus to protect and sustainably manage forests has come from global initiatives at management, conservation, and sustainable development related to all types of forests and forestry. A few of the more notable initiatives include: the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, UNCED); regional follow-ups to the Earth Summit such as the Montreal Process and Helsinki Accords; the forest elements of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); and the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC).

This proceedings compiles papers presented by extensionists, natural resource specialists, scientists, technology transfer specialists, and others at an international conference that examined knowledge and technology transfer theories, methods, and case studies. Theory topics included adult education, applied science, extension, diffusion of innovations, social marketing, technology transfer, and others. Descriptions of methods and case studies collectively covered a wide range of current approaches that include combined digital media, engagement of users and communication specialists in the full cycle of research, integrated forestry applications, Internet-based systems, science writing, training, video conferencing, Web-based encyclopedias, and others. Innovations transferred were best management practices for water quality, forest reforestation practices, a land management system, portable timber bridges, reducedimpact logging, silvicultural practices, urban forestry, and many others. Innovation users included forest-land owners; land managers; logging industry; natural resource professionals; policymakers; public; rural and urban communities-and those in the interface between these two; and others. Technology transfer and related efforts took place in countries throughout the world.

Many of America's national forests and grasslands--collectively called the National Forest System--face increased risks and alterations from escalating housing development on private rural lands along their boundaries. National forests and grasslands provide critical social, ecological, and economic benefits to the American public. This study projects future housing density increases on private rural lands at three distances--2, 3, and 10 miles--from the external boundaries of all national forests and grasslands across the conterminous United States. Some 21.7 million acres of rural private lands (about 8 percent of all private lands) located within 10 miles of the National Forest System boundaries are projected to undergo increases in housing density by 2030. Nine national forests are projected to experience increased housing density on at least 25 percent of adjacent private lands at one or more of the distances considered. Thirteen national forests and grasslands are each projected to have more than a half-million acres of adjacent private rural lands experience increased housing density. Such development and accompanying landscape fragmentation pose substantial challenges for the management and conservation of the ecosystem services and amenity resources of National Forest System lands, including access by the public. Research such as this can help planners, managers, and communities consider the impacts of local land use decisions.

This paper synthesizes the existing literature about traditional and local ecological knowledge relating to biodiversity in Pacific Northwest forests in order to assess what is needed to apply this knowledge to forest biodiversity conservation efforts. We address four topics: (1) views and values people have relating to biodiversity, (2) the resource use and management practices of local forest users and their effects on biodiversity, (3) methods and models for integrating traditional and local ecological knowledge into biodiversity conservation on public and private lands, and (4) challenges to applying traditional and local ecological knowledge for biodiversity conservation. We focus on the ecological knowledge of three groups who inhabit the region: American Indians, family forest owners, and commercial nontimber forest product (NTFP) harvesters.

Privately owned forests provide many public benefits, including clean water and air, wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities. By 2030, 44.2 million acres of rural private forest land across the conterminous United States are projected to experience substantial increases in residential development. As housing density increases, the public benefits provided by private forests can be permanently altered. We examine factors behind projected patterns of residential development and conversion of private forest land by 2030 in northwestern Washington, southern Maine, and northwestern Georgia. Some key factors affecting the extent of future residential housing include (1) population growth from migration into an area; (2) historical settlement patterns, topography, and land ownership; and (3) land use planning and zoning.

Scientists have had little information about how prescribed fire and cattle grazing—common practices in many Western ponderosa pine forests—affect plant abundance and reproduction in the forest understory. Pacific Northwest Research Station scientists began to explore how these practices affect vegetation in a five-year study of postfire vegetation in eastern Oregon ponderosa pine forests where cattle have been routinely pastured from late June or early July through early to mid August. For this area of eastern Oregon, they found that excluding cattle grazing during peak growing season increased native plant cover and grass flowering capability in ungrazed areas compared to grazed areas. Because vegetation was measured prior to releasing cattle on the land, the study's results tend to reflect lasting grazing impacts rather than simple consumption.

Indigenous populations are projected to face disproportionate impacts as a result of climate change in comparison to nonindigenous populations. For this reason, many American Indian and Alaska Native tribes are identifying and implementing culturally appropriate strategies to assess climate impacts and adapt to projected changes. Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), as the indigenous knowledge system is called, has the potential to play a central role in both indigenous and nonindigenous climate change initiatives. The detection of environmental changes, the development of strategies to adapt to these changes, and the implementation of sustainable land-management principles are all important climate action items that can be informed by TEK. Although there is a significant body of literature on traditional knowledge, this synthesis examines literature that specifically explores the relationship between TEK and climate change. The synthesis describes the potential role of TEK in climate change assessment and adaptation efforts. It also identifies some of the challenges and benefits associated with merging TEK with Western science, and reviews the way in which federal policies and administrative practices facilitate or challenge the incorporation of TEK in climate change initiatives. The synthesis highlights examples of how tribes and others are including TEK into climate research, education, and resource planning and explores strategies to incorporate TEK into climate change policy, assessments, and adaptation efforts at national, regional, and local levels.​

Sustaining the health, diversity, and productivity of national forests and grasslands is the mission of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service.

In March 23-25, 2005, an international symposium on red alder was held at the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle, WA. The symposium was entitled “Red Alder: A State of Knowledge” and brought together regional experts to critically examine the economic, ecological and social values of red alder. The primary goal of the symposium was to discuss new advances in the understanding of red alder biology and silviculture, changing market and nonmarket values, and the current regulatory climate for management of alder. This proceedings includes 14 papers based on oral presentations given at the symposium. These papers highlight some of the key findings from the history, ecology, biology, silviculture and economics sessions presented at the red alder symposium.

In March 23-25, 2005, an international symposium on red alder was held at the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle, WA. The symposium was entitled “Red Alder: A State of Knowledge” and brought together regional experts to critically examine the economic, ecological and social values of red alder. The primary goal of the symposium was to discuss new advances in the understanding of red alder biology and silviculture, changing market and nonmarket values, and the current regulatory climate for management of alder. This proceedings includes 14 papers based on oral presentations given at the symposium. These papers highlight some of the key findings from the history, ecology, biology, silviculture and economics sessions presented at the red alder symposium.

iHEARTMEDIA Urban WRDG (96.7 THE BEAT)/ATLANTA has made a move up the dial to the 105.3 signal of WBZY. 105.3 THE BEAT replaces the temporary simulcast of Regional Mexican WRDA  … more

The CALIFORNIA COURT OF APPEALS has reversed a $9.4 million court judgement in favor of music producer QUINCY JONES. JONES and the estate of MICHAEL JACKSON had been battling over royalties … more

Hodge Bank is a well-established UK savings and commercial lending bank, who run a number of websites on WordPress. The main bank website, produced by Illustrate Digital, is a security-conscious tool to help customers explore financial products and provide access...

An Iowa judge has ruled unconstitutional a state law that would have blocked Planned Parenthood of the Heartland from receiving federal money to provide sex education programs to Iowa youth. Fifth...

Today let’s learn a simple quick trick on how to create a custom widget. For my example I will show you how I created my Showcase widget located in the middle, to the right of the posts. First under your functions.php file type in the following: <?php // Custom Widget function MyCustomWidget() { ?> <li […]

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An Iowa judge has ruled unconstitutional a state law that would have blocked Planned Parenthood of the Heartland from receiving federal money to provide sex education programs to Iowa youth.

Fifth Judicial District Judge Paul Scott on Wednesday ruled the law “has no valid, ‘realistically conceivable’ purpose that serves a legitimate government interest as it is both irrationally overinclusive and under-inclusive.”

“The act violates (Planned Parenthood of the Heartland’s) right to equal protection under the law and is therefore unconstitutional,” Scott ruled in issuing a permanent injunction to prevent the law’s implementation.

House File 766, passed in 2019 by the Republican-controlled Iowa House and Senate, excluded any Iowa organization that “provides or promotes abortion” from receiving federal dollars that support sex education and related services to Iowa youth.

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and ACLU of Iowa challenged the law, filing a lawsuit shortly after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the bill into law.

Polk County District Court issued a temporary injunction blocking the law, which was to go into effect July 1, allowing Planned Parenthood to continue providing sex education programming throughout the past year.

The governor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling.

In its lawsuit, Planned Parenthood and ACLU argued that by blocking the abortion provider from the two federal grants — the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) and the Community Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (CAPP) — the law violated protections of free speech, due process and equal protection.

“The decision recognizes that the law blocking Planned Parenthood from receiving grants to provide this programming violated the constitutional requirement of equal protection,” ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen said in a statement Thursday.

Though Planned Parenthood would be excluded, the law did allow “nonprofit health care delivery systems” to remain eligible for the federal funding, even if they are contracted with or are affiliated with an entity that performs abortions or maintains a facility where abortions are performed.

By doing so, the law effectively singles out Planned Parenthood, but allows other possible grant recipients to provide an array of abortion-related services, according to the court documents.

“The carved-out exception for the ‘nonprofit health care delivery system’ facilities undermines any rationale the State produces of not wanting to be affiliated with or provide funds to organizations that partake in any abortion-related activity,” Scott ruled. .

In fiscal year 2019, Planned Parenthood received about $265,000 through the federal grants, including $85,000 to offer PREP curriculum in Polk, Pottawattamie and Woodbury counties.

It was awarded $182,000 this year to offer CAPP curriculum in Linn County, as well as in Dallas, Des Moines, Jasper, Lee, Polk, Plymouth and Woodbury counties.

The grants are administered by the Iowa Department of Human Services and the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Planned Parenthood has provided sex education to students in 31 schools and 12 community-based youth organizations in Iowa using state-approved curriculum since 2005, according to a new release.

The focus has remained “on areas with the highest rates of unintended pregnancies and sexually-transmitted infections,” the news release said.

“Today’s decision ensures that teens and young adults across Iowa will continue to have access to medically accurate sex education programs, despite the narrow and reckless policies of anti-abortion lawmakers,” said Erin Davison-Rippey, executive director of Planned Parenthood North Central States.

Comments: (319) 368-8536; michaela.ramm@thegazette.com

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In Spring 2016 after a meeting in Fort Myers, Florida, we were selected by the Judges’ group representing all County...continue reading

The news is true, we completely redesigned the best blog in the world, Web Design Ledger! Okay, maybe we’re a little bit biased, but there’s no denying that the new web design layout is amazing. We are so excited to show you guys the finished product. Let me just hit you with the most satisfying […]

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Today, the Game of Thrones star announced that 12 random people will get to win a virtual dinner with her. She’s asking people to donate money to her charity SameYou, which helps people heal from brain injuries and strokes. Pledges will be used to assist brain injury survivors in recuperating at home, who have been asked to leave hospitals to make room for coronavirus patients.

By Julia Conley Common Dreams “Nature is not a ‘nice to have’—it is our life-support system.” Scientists from around the world issued a stark warning to humanity Tuesday in a semi-annual report on the Earth’s declining biodiversity, which shows that … Continue reading →

Andrew Rickmann posted a photo:

The Grand Bridge at Blenheim Palace