Bush Proposes Goals on Greenhouse Gas Emissions – New York Times

Some critics accused Mr. Bush of trying to hijack continuing environmental talks like those under the Kyoto treaty by substituting his own program, which even if successful would not bear fruit until he is about to leave office in 2009. And, they said, the president delivered no clear statement on what steps the United States would take to limit emissions over the next 10 to 20 years, while he was working on long-term goals for the next 50 years and beyond.

Source: Bush Proposes Goals on Greenhouse Gas Emissions – New York Times

Florida Budget Focuses on Environmental Protection

The 2007-08 budget expands funding for the restoration and protection of the River of Grass to $200 million, providing $100 million for Everglades restoration, $60 million for the restoration of Lake Okeechobee, as well as $40 million to protect the health of the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers and estuaries and $16.1 million for the St. Johns River. In addition, the budget includes $5.2 million to preserve our marine resources, $2.5 million to protect Florida’s freshwater springs and $300 million to fund the state’s land conservation program, Florida Forever.

http://community.emeraldcoast.com/onset?id=15953&template=article.html

All aboard for the Harry Potter rollercoaster

JK Rowling, who became the world’s first billion dollar author on the back of Harry Potter’s success, has given the go-ahead for the creation of a Florida theme park dedicated to the schoolboy wizard.

“The plans I have seen look incredibly exciting and I don’t think fans of the books or films will be disappointed,” Rowling said of the Orlando park that is scheduled to open in 2009.

Source: All aboard for the Harry Potter rollercoaster

Another New Orleans? Five Places History Could Repeat Itself This Hurricane Season

Just because Katrina was the perfect storm — a catastrophic combo of the wrong hurricane in the wrong place at the wrong time — doesn’t mean that history can’t repeat itself, leaving another city obliterated by another tempest. It can. And as we enter what weather prognosticators are euphemistically calling another “active season,” citizens and civil servants from Texas to New England are asking themselves: Where’s the next New Orleans?

Source: ABC News: Another New Orleans? Five Places History Could Repeat Itself This Hurricane Season