By Kathryn Reed Technology has almost rendered fire lookouts obsolete. Still, there is one from the 1930s that is going to get a new lease on life in the Lake Tahoe Basin. The U.S. Forest Service wants to move the Zephyr Point lookout to White Hill, which is above the agency’s firehouse at Spooner Summit. […]
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By Sophia Pearson and Bob Van Voris, Bloomberg Google Inc.’s project to digitally copy millions of books for online searches doesn’t violate copyright law, a federal judge ruled, dismissing an eight-year-old lawsuit against the largest search-engine company. Google Books provides a public benefit and is a fair use of copyrighted material, Judge Denny Chin in […]
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By Kathleen Kingsbury, Reuters Employers tried the carrot, then a small stick. Now they are turning to bigger cudgels. For years they encouraged workers to improve their health and productivity with free screenings, discounted gym memberships and gift cards to lose weight. More recently, a small number charged smokers slightly higher premiums to get them […]
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By Albertina Torsoli, Bloomberg Diabetes kills one person every six seconds and afflicts 382 million people worldwide, according to the International Diabetes Federation, which has been canvassing the help of people ranging from celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to Bob Marley’s nephew to raise awareness about the problem. The number of diabetes cases has climbed 4.4 […]
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By George Warren, News 10 A prominent environmental scientist is suing to stop the U.S. Forest Service from cutting trees around Echo Lakes because he says it’s unnecessary and destructive. “There is essentially no wildfire risk in the Echo Lakes Basin,” insists Dennis Murphy, a UNR research professor who helped draft the Lake Tahoe Watershed […]
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By Meredith Clark, MSNBC Thousands of people convicted of non-violent crimes are serving life sentences, according to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union. There are currently 3,278 people who have been sentenced to life without parole for crimes as small as selling less than $10 worth of marijuana and shoplifting. The report also […]
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By Chris Burritt, Bloomberg When John Castellano feels like a smoke, he simply heads to the break room at Kraft Foods Group Inc.’s Garland, Texas, factory. The 39-year-old technician has been able to indulge his habit in common areas at work since he started using electronic cigarettes, which emit vapor rather than smoke. E-cigs are […]
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By Kathryn Reed Regulating the size of a burn pile and testing the moisture content of soil are some of the rules that are proposed to go by the wayside when Lahontan Regional Water Quality Board revises the timber waiver in 2014. The board on Nov. 14 heard an update from Doug Cushman, senior engineer, […]
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By Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News Twenty of the nation’s top climate scientists have sent a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown, telling him that his plans supporting increased use of the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” will increase pollution and run counter to his efforts to cut California’s global warming emissions. The […]
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Updated: Nov. 15 10:25am By Kathryn Reed All Lukins Brothers Water Company customers are on a “boil water” order because coliform was discovered at one of the test sites. Coliform is found naturally in the environment. According to the EPA, “Total coliforms are a group of closely related, mostly harmless bacteria that live in soil […]
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