“Rayo Vallecano upset Athletic Bilbao in Copa del Rey - TSN” plus 4 more

Rayo Vallecano upset Athletic Bilbao in Copa del Rey - TSN
Obama unhappy with criticism of his NYC date night - Fresno Bee
Comments (pop-up) (80) - RealClimate
Meeting House 'phantom' comes alive in local church - Gloucester Daily Times
Vote on Newport Depot reuse plan set Nov. 19 - Tribune-Star

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Rayo Vallecano upset Athletic Bilbao in Copa del Rey - TSN

Posted: 28 Oct 2009 02:52 PM PDT

MADRID, Spain -- Topflight clubs Athletic Bilbao, Almeria and Tenerife all lost to lower-tier opposition to start the fourth round of the Copa del Rey, while defending champion Barcelona began with a 2-0 win over Cultural Leonesa on Wednesday.

Pedro Rodriguez scored twice as Barcelona beat its third-division opponent a day after fellow minnow Alcorcon stunned Real Madrid 2-0.

Rayo Vallecano beat Athletic 2-0, Hercules was a 2-1 winner over Almeria and Celta Vigo held on for a 2-1 victory over Tenerife as the second-division clubs gained inspiration from Alcorcon.

Joaquin Sanchez's ninth-minute goal ensured Valencia didn't start with a loss as the 2008 champion won 1-0 at third-division Alcoyano, while Antonio Lopo's goal in the 77th led Deportivo La Coruna to a 1-0 win at second-division Murcia.

In matchups between topflight clubs, Osasuna won 2-1 at Xerez, Antonio "Apono" Galdeano's 76th-minute penalty rallied Malaga to a 1-1 draw against Zaragoza, while Juan Angel Albin's and Jaime Gavilan's second-half scores paced Getafe over Espanyol 2-0.

The first leg matches wrap up on Thursday when Valladolid plays Mallorca, third-division side Puertollano meets Villarreal and Salamanca faces Racing Santander.

Cultural, which played one season in topflight football over 50 years ago, started well against the Spanish leaders with Chema Sato side-footing wide from the front of Barcelona's goal in the 36th. Five minutes later, Pedro lashed Bojan Krkic's skipped pass into the top of goal.

Resting Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thierry Henry, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta, coach Pep Guardiola used a lineup drawn from the club's youth system with 19-year-old Jonathan Dos Santos -- brother of Giovanni -- eventually making his debut in the 81st.

Barcelona goalkeeper Manuel Pinto saved from Juan Jose Silvestre in the 58th before Pedro doubled the lead in the 63rd by volleying Jeffren Suarez's crossfield pass back across goal for the score. Krkic's poor touch cost him a goal in injury time as the Barcelona striker was saved.

At Teresa Rivero Stadium, Nestor Susaeta curled in a free kick in the sixth minute to give Rayo the lead.

Goalkeeper Dani Jimenez dove across goal to stop Inigo Perez's point-blank shot in the 18th -- two minutes before Sergio Pachon slotted home the second.

Gimenez preserved the Rayo's first leg result with several saves, including point-blank on Joseba Etxeberria in the 56th.

Athletic 'keeper Armando Ribeiro made two big stops in the closing moments, including Susaeta's header deep into injury time.

Madrid was humiliated at Alcorcon -- whose payroll is 400 times smaller than the Spanish powerhouse -- on Tuesday, when Atletico Madrid beat Marbella 2-0, Sevilla trounced Atletico Ciudad 4-2 and Sporting Gijon rallied for a 1-1 draw against Recreativo Huelva.

Return legs will be played in two weeks.

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Obama unhappy with criticism of his NYC date night - Fresno Bee

Posted: 28 Oct 2009 03:42 PM PDT

Presidents, however, don't travel by any means other than secure government aircraft or vehicles.

Obama added: "The notion that I just couldn't take my wife out on a date without it being a political issue was not something I was happy with."

The article explores the effects of the presidency on the couple's 17-year union, and revisits well-documented tension between them in earlier years as Obama pursued his political career in Illinois, leaving Mrs. Obama largely home alone in Chicago with their daughters.

It also delves into her roles in the presidential campaign and in the White House.

Mrs. Obama, who sat with her husband for the interview in the Oval Office, said marriage doesn't necessarily become easier just because a couple moves into a big white house with servants and security at every turn.

"The strengths and challenges of our marriage don't change because we move to a different address," she said. Mrs. Obama said "the bumps" happen to everybody all the time "and they are continuous."

"The last thing we want to project," she said, is the image of a flawless relationship.

"It's unfair to the institution of marriage, and it's unfair for young people who are trying to build something, to project this perfection that doesn't exist," Mrs. Obama said.

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Comments (pop-up) (80) - RealClimate

Posted: 28 Oct 2009 08:36 PM PDT

"The rising level of atmospheric CO2 is a universally free premium, gaining in magnitude with time, on which we all can reckon for the foreseeable future. Direct effects of increasing CO2 on food production and the output of rangelands and forests may be more important than the effects on climate."

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Meeting House 'phantom' comes alive in local church - Gloucester Daily Times

Posted: 28 Oct 2009 08:43 PM PDT

In addition to going door-to-door on Halloween, residents of all ages are invited to a special "house" with a free Halloween Happening at the historic Meeting House on Middle Street, in the heart of Gloucester.

The musical and theatrical event takes place on Halloween, at the Unitarian Universalist Independent Christian¬ Church of Gloucester, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The formal production is short, lasting about 30 minutes, though residents are free to look around and hang out, take in the ambiance before and after the program.

Although the Halloween party at City Hall no longer takes place, a group of interested residents have taken the community gathering idea to a new level in a program that is designed to blur the line between theater and church with spooky and happy music, as well as ghost stories.

Gloucester's oldest standing church building dating back to 1806 is on the National Register of Historic places. The concert-hall is known for its acoustics.

Residents are encouraged to take a half-hour break from trick-or-treating or stop in on the way out for Saturday evening to be part of the event.

The entertainment features the talents of organist David Bergeron, actor Gordon Baird as the Phantom and GHS's Patrice Kelly as Christine from Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera." Baird and Kelly will sing a selection from "Phantom of the Opera."¬

Gloucester pediatrician Dr. Jeffrey Stockman, playing the role of Albus Dumbledore, will tell ghost stories.

The spirits of Gloucester's famous couple, the Rev. John Murray (1741-1850), the first minister of Universalism in a young United States, and his wife Judith Sargent Murray (1751-1820), one of the nation's first noted women's advocate, writer, poet and playwright.

"This Halloween event will give trick-or-treaters of all ages a thoroughly fun secular experience with a metaphor of how the better angels of our nature can change our world for the good," said Bergeron, one of the organizers. "It will be a cultural encounter with candy. It will be the best trick-or-treat house in town."

Kelly, a sophomore at Gloucester High School, is a member of the church choir. She studied voice with Kathleen Adams and is active in the high school drama club and chorus.¬ She formerly studied voice with Nina Bergeron.

Bergeron will play the ever popular Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor on the organ. Those attending can venture upstairs to the loft to watch the organist at work with his hands and feet flying over the keyboards and foot pedals.

Ruth Maassen and Shepp Abbott will help hand out candy to visitors as they depart the clapboard building with its 100-foot spire that makes it part of the city's landscape.

Gail McCarthy can be reached at gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com

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Vote on Newport Depot reuse plan set Nov. 19 - Tribune-Star

Posted: 28 Oct 2009 08:15 PM PDT

Published: October 28, 2009 09:44 pm

Vote on Newport Depot reuse plan set Nov. 19

By Howard Greninger
The Tribune-Star

NEWPORT — Tallgrass prairie is a part of Indiana's natural history and some groups are hoping to retain several hundred acres of restored prairie as part of a master reuse plan for the Newport Chemical Depot.

The Newport Chemical Depot Reuse Authority expects to vote Nov. 19 on a plan that will be sent to the U.S. Army on how best to use 11 square miles at the former U.S. Army weapons facility that once produced and stored VX nerve agent in Vermillion County. The Army is to shut down the depot by 2011.

The Reuse Authority's responsibility is to create a plan and implement a strategy to convert the depot to civilian use. The five-member authority, appointed by Vermillion County Commissioners, this year conducted three public meetings as well as stakeholder meetings, which include local and state officials, and focus groups, such as land use attended by farmers and soil conservation experts.

Three plans were reviewed and a draft final preferred use plan was posted last week by the Reuse Authority. That plan can be viewed at www.necdra.com.

However, the final draft makes no provision for preserving all of a restored tallgrass prairie, which could be plowed for industrial development or agricultural use.

David E. Burns, president of Ouabache Land Conservancy and former president of the nonprofit Sycamore Trails Resource Conservation & Development Council, said the land conservancy group sent the Reuse Authority an e-mail this week stating its preference to place more than 300 acres of tallgrass prairie under a protected area that excludes industrial or commercial development.

"We have lost tens of thousands of acres of tallgrass prairie and now are down to just remnants of the prairie in Indiana," Burns said. "We need to preserve the biodiversity we have up there. It is a huge opportunity or it can be a great loss if that land is converted to row crops."

Prior to the settlement of the United States by western Europeans, tallgrass prairies extended from Iowa and Missouri to central Ohio. In Indiana, prairies made up about 15 percent of the area in the state, largely in the northwest and west-central portions of the state, according to the Indiana Division of Nature Preserves, part of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

Most of that tallgrass prairie was plowed under after the introduction of the steel plow.

Army restores grassland

The U.S. Army in 1994 contracted to have small portions of agricultural fields at the Newport Depot annually restored to tallgrass prairies. These reconstructed prairies have grown to 461 acres, according to a preferred plan of the Reuse Authority.

"We are trying to emphasize the preservation of the prairie," Burns said. "The temptation could be there in the future to turn this area into more [agricultural] rental property. It would be a shame to destroy more than 300 acres when we have over 3,000 acres there in row crop now."

The Army has crop leases on about 3,300 acres, earning more than $460,000 a year. That lease money can be used to help develop the site under the reuse plan, said Bill Laubernds, executive director of Newport Chemical Depot Reuse Authority.

Other groups also have sent notices to the Reuse Authority, such as TREES Inc. The group this week urged its members to write the authority in support of tallgrass prairie areas.

"We think this has merit. I think the value of land with prairie grass is very valuable," said Trish Eccles, president of TREES Inc.

TREES member Mary Beth Eberwein, who served as a naturalist at Dobbs Park in Terre Haute from 1978 to 1994, said restored tallgrass prairie areas often use seeds native to Indiana, with some grasses growing more than 6 feet tall and containing wildflowers that bloom all summer.

"It is very important for grassland birds. We don't have many grasslands left anymore," she said. "It is great for insects, butterflies" and even snakes. Also, prairies are home to mice, which are food for foxes, coyotes and hawks. One hawk, the rough-legged hawk," is a big, spectacular bird, which has been seen around the Terre Haute airport during winter bird counts."

"Also important is tallgrass prairies make very rich soil, with a lot of legumes that fix nitrogen," she said.

The Vermillion County Soil & Water Conservation District earlier this month sent a letter, signed by a five-member board of supervisors, to the Reuse Authority saying the prairie is a unique habitat.

"We recognize the 300-plus-acre tallgrass prairie on the Newport Chemical Depot as a unique and irreplaceable resource that should be preserved in its entirety. The conservation benefits of maintaining the prairie include specific diversity, habitat and breeding areas for many species of wildlife (including rare and endangered), soil and water quality and carbon sequestration," the letter stated.

"Cultural and community benefits include recreational, educational and research opportunities that exist particularly with the trail system that is envisioned. We urge the reuse authority to place the prairie off-limits to so-called 'other agricultural uses,' and to include it in natural resource areas and open space," the letter states.

The Vermillion conservation district would work with the Reuse Authority to develop a management plan for the prairie. The Wabash Valley Audubon Society also supports preserving the restored prairie.

Plan to balance business growth/natural areas

Laubernds said input from some "visioning surveys" showed most people wanted a balanced reuse plan, one that supports both industrial and business growth and preserves natural areas.

"When we asked the population regarding the existing prairie restoration area, how should it be used, 47 percent of survey respondents said maintain it as a prairie restoration area and 53 percent said the prairie restoration areas could be used for agricultural, business or other types of development," Laubernds said.

In the final draft reuse plan, "in terms of total land area, 49 percent would be a built environment and 51 percent would be a natural environment. So we have 3,645 acres being used as natural areas and open space, agricultural and forestry and park land. Then we have 3,485 acres being used for business and technology, conference, share and support facilities and some highway-orientated commercial areas," Laubernds said.

On the prairie restoration area, "we have total acreage of 461 acres. Of that, 69 acres would remain as natural areas and open space. Two acres would be part of an adjacent park land, which is 90 acres. Then 137 acres [of tallgrass prairie] would be used for business and technology and 253 acres [of tallgrass prairie] for agricultural," he said.

"This doesn't prevent tallgrass prairie from being established on other parts of the depot. There are areas that have constraints to them, such as buried footings or buried pipes, and while the depot will be cleaned up, there are some areas that these prairie restoration areas can be established," Laubernds said.

The plan includes a parkway that connects Indiana 63 with Indiana 71, near a prairie restoration area. "There is no reason that the land between the parkways couldn't be established as a prairie restoration area," he added.

"Our hope is that people view this as a balanced reuse plan … that provides jobs and tax base as well as preserves the environment. My goal is to see this develop as a business and industry campus, using the forested areas and prairie restoration areas and park areas to add value to the business and industry areas," Laubernds said.

"The challenge wasn't taken lightly and I think what we tried to do is come up with a plan that is doable and that we have the resources to accomplish it. We want to improve infrastructure and job opportunities and tax base as well as preserve the environment and I really believe this plan does that," Laubernds said.

Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com

Check it out

• A draft final preferred use plan was posted last week by the Reuse Authority. That plan can be viewed at www.necdra.com.