My Page: Joan McCarter
Conference Coverage
Planning in the West: Morning Sessions, Key Word “Sustainability”
The morning sessions at New West's Planning in the West Conference has been devoted to the key issues facing planners today: the challenges faced in an economic downturn; how to turn the buzzword of "sustainability" to actual, on the ground planning; moving beyond planning to sustainable design; and the granddaddy of all issues--the massive growth facing the region. [more]
Commentary: Joan McCarter
Baucus and Grassley’s Health Care Reform Dance
You don't need Grassley's tweets to understand that he isn't approaching health care reform in good faith or what his vision on bipartisanship is when it comes to health care reform. Bipartisanship in his mind means what it usually means to Republicans--Dems capitulating on a public option. He makes it absolutely clear in a letter he sent to President Obama, along with a handful of his Republican colleagues.
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Political Commentary: Joan McCarter
Terrorism in KansasDr. George Tiller was a husband, father, grandfather, friend, valued and respected member of his community and his church. And he was a doctor. An important doctor, who provided a difficult but extremely critical service to thousands of women. He was one of just three doctors in this nation who provided that service, and because he did so, he became a terrorist's target.
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Political Commentary: Joan McCarter
Roadless Rule “Timeout” Will Make Room for Reason
Perhaps the biggest legal and environmental football of the past eight years has been sidelined, at least for a while. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has issued a yearlong order, shifting the decision-making on new projects in roadless areas from USFS officials to himself. [more]
Political Commentary: Joan McCarter
The Cynical Gun Debate
You know what we really need in these tough economic times (besides guaranteed, affordable health care, affordable housing, jobs)? How about rational credit card policies that would make it harder for the banks to gouge their customers? Is that what we're getting in the new legislation passed by the Senate last week? Not so fast. [more]
Commentary: Joan McCarter
Who Failed Libby?
At High Country News, Ray Ring writes about the W.R. Grace decision, and takes environmental groups to task for "mostly continu[ing] to ignore this environmental crime because the victims are people, instead of ecosystems." [more]
Commentary: Joan McCarter
BLM Defies Congress, Authorizes Grand Canyon Uranium Exploration
A key environmental battle left over from the Bush administration heated up again today, when the Center for Biological Diversity, Grand Canyon Trust, and Sierra Club announced that they will amend their pending lawsuit, CBD v. Kempthorne filed last fall against uranium exploration in a million acres of public land abutting Grand Canyon National Park. [more]
Opinion
Another Bite at Real ID
A little over a year after what was the deadline for states to implement Real ID, Janet Napolitano has cried "uncle," abandoning the Bush administration plan on Real ID. [more]
Commentary: Joan McCarter
Wireless in the Wilderness
There's a cell tower at Old Faithful that lots of people hate, a mess on Bunsen Peak, and "extensive communications facilities atop Mount Washburn." These visual blights are going to be modified under the new plan, announced Monday.
(This could make the whole loaded, concealed weapons in the park just a little dicier. Hopefully, heat-packing visitors won't become enforcers of cell phone etiquette.)
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Opinion: Joan McCarter
The Long Arm of the NRA: Guns in ParksThe NRA has gotten pretty much everything it's wanted in the past decade, and has to figure out how to maintain the membership rolls--and keep those all important dues flowing in. Too many successes, and it ceases to really need to exist, but it's got staff to maintain and offices to keep and Congresspeople to intimidate. So it has to manufacturer a new issue, by recycling an old one. [more]
