| China wants US satellite downing data
Unlike Beijing, which gave no notice before using a missile to pulverize a disabled weather satellite in January 2007, Washington discussed its plans at length and insisted it was not a test. Subsequent requests by U.S. officials for more information were ignored and none of Beijing's recent statements mentioned China's own satellite shootdown. China's anti-satellite test was also criticized for being more dangerous. The targeted satellite was located about 500 miles above the earth and the resulting debris threatened communication satellites and other orbiting space vehicles. Foreign space experts and governments labeled China a space litterbug. Still, the distinction between the two actions may be lost for many, said Denny Roy, an expert on the Chinese military at the East-West Center in Honolulu.
Talking cents into voters: Muscatine County educators hope they can ...
MUSCATINE, Iowa — A penny lying on the sidewalk is a common sight, as if the single cent is no longer worth the effort it would take to pick it up. But educators and administrators throughout Muscatine County have learned how far a penny can go over the past eight years. A drive past any of the county’s four school districts provides examples of the way pennies have become million-dollar projects in Muscatine County. n West Liberty has a new high schooln Wilton High School students are performing in a new auditoriumn Muscatine students attend a vastly improved high schooln Students at Louisa-Muscatine Junior Senior High School have a new Iowa Com-munications Network room, a weight room, wrestling room and four air-conditioned classrooms.School districts throughout the county have also undergone a number of projects that make schools safer, more comfortable, energy efficient and attractive.And every one of these projects began with a penny.That’s because in 1999, the residents of Muscatine County voted to give an extra penny in tax for the purchases they and other shoppers would make in the county from 2000-2010.Local option sales tax is imposed on sales and services except for food, prescription drugs, motor fuel, automobiles, farm equipment and rentals subject to an existing hotel/motel tax.The tax is given to the county and divided among the area school districts in proportion to their student population to use for school district building needs and improvements.Time to start anewThe resident-approved tax, or School Infrastructure Local Option sales and service tax, also called SILO, is nearing the end of that 10-year period, and educators are hoping the public will vote to renew it.
Police nab suspect in car theft from local dealership
Following a brief automobile and foot chase Thursday afternoon, Columbus Police Department officers apprehended a suspect who may have stolen a car from Carl Hogan Honda.A white 1998 Toyota Camry was reported missing Nov. 1 from Carl Hogan's Highway 45 North sales lot. A dealership employee gave police the vehicle's identification number and said the car had a discernible crack in its front bumper.Around 1:42 p.m. Thursday, a CPD officer spotted the missing Camry traveling west on Main Street and pulled the driver over.Once the officer had exited his vehicle to approach the Camry, the suspect drove off. .
Rural Bulletin Survey Results: Snapshot…
The other relates to controlling activities which could damage the national grid or put it at risk. Submissions close 30 November 2007. They go to: Ministry for the Environment, PO Box 10362, Wellington, email standards@mfe.govt.nz. More information is at http://www.mfe.govt.nz/laws/standards/electricity-transmission-public-notice.html Saving Seabirds The Ministry of Fisheries (MFish) has published proposals outlining best practices for lessening the likelihood of fishing-related seabird deaths. These would apply to all trawl and longline vessels. Seabird species globally are facing a number of threats, both at their breeding sites and when they forage at sea. One of the main threats is through fishing activity. In longline fisheries, the baited hooks float on, or just below, the surface for a short time before they start sinking.
Gazans Feeling Recoil of Attacks on Israel
When the fighters came one morning last month, the Wahdan family pleaded with them to think of the Israeli return fire that the rockets often drew. "There are women in the house, there are children," Wahdan recalled telling them. "You run away, but if the Israeli planes come, where do we go?" But the gunmen went on as planned, the Wahdan family said. When the fighters came back that afternoon to launch rockets that had failed to fire the first time, Khadra, Mohammed's 54-year-old mother, was rolling dough in the kitchen. She ran out to shout at the fighters. Khadra made it to the gate of the family courtyard when an Israeli shell hit. Shrapnel killed her and the family's 15-year-old hired farmhand. "Her last words were, 'Go away,' " Mohammed Wahdan said.
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