Volunteers fished more than 22,000 pounds of trash, including 56 tires, two toilets and a boat trailer from the first 50 miles of the Upper Neuse River near Raleigh last month, but the greatest threat to the waterway is what no one sees. Growth throughout the river basinfrom its headwaters near Falls Lake in Durham […]
Lisa Sorg
Bio: Lisa Sorg is the editor of INDY Week.Email: [email protected]: http://twitter.com/lisasorg
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Duke Energy discovers efficiency
Although Duke Energy Carolinas’ Janice Hager previously said it wasn’t possible, the utility has unveiled an energy efficiency plan that, over four years, could generate 1,700 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to two large coal-fired power plants. Save-a-Watt includes energy audits, customer incentives for energy efficient products, and credits for reducing electricity use during peak times. […]
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Green Home Tour this weekend
Compressed wheat doors, bamboo countertops and recycled building materials: These and dozens of green-building techniques will be displayed at nearly 20 houses on the Green Home Tour. Sponsored by the Homebuilders Association of Durham, Orange and Chatham counties, it begins May 19 at 9 a.m. at the Carrboro Century Center, 100 N. Greensboro St., followed […]
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Hog merger OK’d
The Department of Justice last week approved a proposal by Smithfield Packing, the world’s largest hog processor, to buy its closest competitor, Premium Standard Farms. (See “Big pig,” April 4.) The department’s anti-trust division concluded that the “merged firm is not likely to harm competition, consumers or farmers” because it would still face competition from […]
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Something in the air
There’s more to summer than vacations and siestas: ozone. A greenhouse gas and an air pollutant, ozone is created when sunlight reacts with air containing hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxidesexhaust from your car or emissions from a power plant. By late April, ozone levels in the Triangle already had hit the moderate range, which means people […]
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Help for veteran
David Best, the Vietnam veteran we profiled in March, received some hopeful news. (See “The VA is waiting for us to die,” March 14.) His benefits claim has left limbo and is en route to Washington, D.C., where the Board of Veterans Appeals is scheduled to re-examine his case. The BVA will decide whether to […]
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$1 million in state funds for hoops?
Charlotte got its piece of the pie. Now Raleigh wants a slice, too. Legislation introduced last week would appropriate $500,000 from the state’s general fund to the City of Raleigh for the struggling MEAC basketball tournament. Last year, Charlotte received that amount for its rival CIAA tournament and is asking for another half-million dollars for […]
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GOP leaders looking to rebound before 2008
Among the gaudy elephant jewelry, Jesse Helms key chains and other GOP tchotchkes displayed on exhibitors’ tables at the North Carolina Conservative Leadership Conference sat a basketful of pins that read “W: Still the President.” For some conservatives, that’s precisely the problem. Despite an appearance by presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani and an upbeat tenor that […]
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Contamination cleanup planned
Compass/CCI won the contract to clean up PCB and dioxin contamination at Ward Transformer, an 11-acre Superfund site near the Raleigh-Durham airport and Brier Creek Commons Shopping Center. (See “Incinerator likely for Ward PCB site in Wake,” Dec. 26, 2006.) Cleanup costs aren’t being disclosed until after a contract is signed, but are estimated to […]
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Organic trash, garden treasure
Leaves, grass clippings and banana peels: Yard and kitchen waste is responsible for about one-third of landfill space. Instead of tossing those tough asparagus stems or the seemingly endless mounds of pine straw, consider composting. Organic material makes great mulch, which helps protect your garden from drought and adds nutrients to the soil. However, composting […]