Leifeld’s In!
With little pomp or circumstance the Catskill Watershed Corporations Board of Directors announced a new Ulster County delegate has been added to its ranks at the annual meeting of the board Tuesday in Margaretville. Olive’s own Bert Leifeld, longtime town Supervisor and watershed issue watcher, had a long stint on the Coalition of Watershed Towns, the advocacy group that regularly takes the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to task over myriad issues. He now sits at the table with DEP delegates as one who will break bread with his former enemies and try to reach compromise positions on the very issues he fought against the City about.
On Tuesday, Leifeld graciously took over for Edward Jennings, who was a member of the CWC for several years. Leifeld thanked Jennings for his service, as did CWC president Perry Shelton.
“He’s been with us from the beginning. Almost,” Shelton said of Jennings, a former member of the Ulster County legislature.
Ulster County has two members on the CWC Board. Leifeld joins Shandaken resident Ward Todd as the county’s representative. Todd, a former Chair of the Ulster County legislature, is no longer an elected official but is allowed to serve out his term.

Fish Scene
Ron Urban, the New York Council Chairman of Trout Unlimited, weighed in this week on the state of fishing in the wake of recent flooding.
He said this week that driving up the Route 28 corridor is a test of frustration not only from the reddish/brown waters but the fact that much of the Esopus is devastated, restructured and in need of a lot of remediation. “It is an adventure in observing the crews and trucks out there on county roads doing repairs and emergency work to bring back a sense of civilian life to the residents and communities. Certainly the fisheries and people have been put to the test. As for how the fishing goes, I certainly hope that by June or no later than July, there is some clearing of the streams to support some fishing adventures for us die fishermen. We love the stream and it's recreational abilities it presents to many that the sooner the cleansing the better,” he said.
Many anglers these days are fishing the headwaters, tributaries and other streams not usually fished and finding success on them, according to Urban, but how it all plays out with the next couple years for offspring of the famed rainbows of the Esopus Creek is what he and others will watch carefully.
“The habitat will come back and give us all the fishery we hope to have again and enjoy,” he said optimistically.

Flood News
The operative issue for the region in recent weeks has been flood aid and how to get it… but fast. State legislators recently introduced a bill that would allow people whose homes were ravaged by early April floods to get relief on their property taxes, while President Bush finally signed legislation declaring the Hudson Valley and Catskills a federal disaster area, thus freeing up Federeal Emergency Management Act (FEMA) aid for those in need, or having sustained any damage.
President Bush issued federal disaster declarations for Ulster, Greene, Delaware, Sullivan, Orange and eight other upstate counties on April 19, making grants and loans available to local victims of the April 2-3 “Cutoff Storm” floods. The declarations qualify Ulster, Delaware, Sullivan and Orange for both individual and public assistance.Public assistance comes in the form of federal reimbursements for counties and their municipalities to help cover the costs of debris removal, emergency response efforts and the restoration of public infrastructure. Individual assistance is a combination of grants and loans for citizens and businesses who suffered flood-related losses. The grants cover temporary housing and home repairs, while low-cost loans cover uninsured property losses. Applications for assistance, which will come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, can be made beginning by calling 1-800-621-FEMA.
The state measure, introduced in by state Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, and Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston takes into account that in New York state, property value assessments are made based on the property’s value as of March 1 each year. This means that homes damaged in the floods would be assessed at their preflood value, and taxes would be levied based on that assessment. The legislation would allow taxpayers whose property was seriously damaged to grieve their assessment to their local Board of Assessment Review, which could then revalue the property based on its post-flood value as of April 15, 2005, instead of March 1. It would also give local assessors the authority to request that assessments of seriously damaged homes be valued after the flood, so property owners would not have to file grievances.
The bill, known as the Flood Assessment Relief Act of 2005, began as an Ulster County Legislature resolution introduced by James Maloney, who is also the assessor for the town of Ulster. After County Attorney Frank Murray advised him the county did not have the authority to change the taxable status date on its own, Maloney reintroduced it as a resolution to pass to the state. The measure was passed unanimously by the county Legislature.
About 150 properties in Ulster County may qualify for the reassessment if the provision is adopted.
Trying to channel people’s emotional reactions to the floods, Bonacic also said he would try pressing for legislation that would require New York City reservoir operators to take an active role in preventing flooding, but the bill stalled after gaining no backers in the state Assembly.
Representatives of the city agency in charge of the Ashokan and other upstate reservoirs say that their facilities are designed for water supply, not flood control. According to Michael Principe, deputy commissioner for water supply at the city agency, legal and engineering reasons would prevent the reservoirs from playing any major role in flood control. In the city’s West-of-Hudson watershed, a court order requires any release of water into the Delaware River be approved unanimously by officials of New York City and the state, along with New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. At the Ashokan Reservoir, Principe said, there is no way to quickly release enough water to lower reservoir levels in anticipation of a major storm. Principe also rejected the idea of maintaining a year-round void in the reservoirs to ensure that they could absorb unexpected rain or snowmelt. Principe said the reservoirs must be at or near capacity by June 1 in anticipation of the summer dry season, during which water levels drop to 70 percent capacity. Creating permanent voids for flood control purposes could leave the reservoirs vulnerable to drought. But he added that the city agency will try to work more closely with local officials to warn of impending flood conditions and on flood controls.
Three people across New York died in the floods, including an Ellenville woman who was swept away by rushing water after being involved in a car accident on Nevele Road in the town of Wawarsing.
Gov. George Pataki formally requested the federal disaster declaration and accompanying aid, and U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, quickly endorsed the request. Hinchey has estimated the damage in Ulster County alone at $100 million. The American Red Cross has said 205 families in the county were forced out of their homes by flood waters.
As for the reservoir controversy, Ulster County and New York City officials said that the Ashokan Reservoir actually helped slow down the floodwaters which swamped areas of Ulster County along the lower Esopus Creek over the weekend of April 3, but concede that more could have been done had policies, procedures and equipment been in place to reduce water levels in the reservoir in advance of heavy rains. Water from the city’s watershed reaches the Esopus Creek above the Ashokan Reservoir in two ways, either as runoff from streams, or through the Shandaken tunnel, which is opened to transfer water from the Schoharie Reservoir into the upper Esopus Creek to raise water levels in the Ashokan as well as to maintain minimum flow levels needed to support the creek’s fishery. That tunnel was closed at the time of the flooding following heavy rains in late March. Water from the Ashokan reaches lower Esopus Creek when the reservoir is filled beyond it’s capacity and flows over a spillway on the dam. This overflow began on March 28, days before the major flooding of April 3. DEP staff contacted Ulster County’s Office of Emergency Management to inform them that heavy rains were causing the western basin of the Ashokan Reservoir to overflow into the Esopus Creek, Michaels said.
25.5 billion gallons of water passed over the spillway and into the lower Esopus Creek on April 3 when the worst of the flooding hit communities along the Esopus.
Art Snyder, Ulster County’s emergency management director, acknowledged that the “storm escalated” before evacuation information could reach everyone.
Ulster County Legislature Chairman Richard Gerentine last week made a public appeal for community groups, businesses and local residents to do whatever they can to help flood victims of the floods. He added that the county would pledge $25,000 to the cause and work with the United Way to “set something up” to help victims “until other financial aid comes forth.”
The United Way, at 450 Ulster Ave., Kingston, N.Y. 12401, is accepting flood relief checks, as is the Ulster County chapter of the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, 21 O’Neil St., Kingston, N.Y. 12401.
On Sunday May 15 several bands will perform at Grant Avery Park in Shokan with music ranging from oldies to rock and metal. Several local businesses contributed gift certificates to be raffled off and combining that with a $10 admission 100% will go to The American Red Cross, Ulster County Chapter for flood relief. The show will start at noon and end around 9pm. Guest speakers will include Ulster County legislator’s Robert Parete, Richard Parete and Peter Kraft. Contact Tony Amato at aamato@hvc.rr.com and Fred Gooderham at fgooderham@msn.com for advanced ticket sales and any other information. Bands set to play include The 52’s , The Famous Lee’s of Samsonville, Bone, Madd Dog, PILLOWFACE, Shift, Burning Cold, That New Sock Feeling and The Day after Never.

Un-cemented…
St. Lawrence Cement, the Canadian-based company that’s been seeking since 1998 to build a two-million ton cement plant outside of Hudson, NY, threw in the towel on its plans this week after the state Department of State ruled it was inconsistent with larger plans for the Hudson Valley, which have grown more tourist-oriented and less industrial in the last decade. The $353 million plant, designed to replace a similar operation in nearby Catskill, required a total of 17 federal, state and local permits and approvals before construction could begin. But the New York State Department of State (DOS) certification was key to qualify for other approvals. The DOS ruled that the proposed plant was inconsistent with the state’s Coastal Zone Policies. And following careful review of the impacts of the DOS decision, the Board of Directors of St. Lawrence Cement decided not to appeal the DOS decision and to withdraw the proposed replacement cement plant from the permitting process. Instead the company will make a new $10 million investment at its Catskill plant to improve its reliability and overall performance. Consequently, the company will record a write-off of approximately
$37 million after tax, which will be reported in the second quarter of 2005.
The 20-page ruling by NY Secretary of State Randy Daniels said the project violates eight of the state’s management policies, which cover areas such as visual impact, economic impact, noise levels and quality of life. It followed a ruling last year by the state Department of Environmental Conservation that at least a dozen issues involving the project’s environmental impact statement, which they claim cost $56 million and took five years to complete, would have to be adjudicated.
While Daniels’ decision after a six-month review was a technical blow to the
project, the Hudson Common Council Tuesday dealt a political punch, voting 7-3 to reject the proposal. In exchange for the council’s approval, St. Lawrence had offered to pay the city $200,000 for the first 20 years and $150,000 for the remainder of the life of the plant. That payment would have been in addition to property taxes.
All eyes now turn to Belleayre…

All Bets Off
Governor George Pataki recently announced he was abandoning his plan to exchange five Native American-owned casinos in the Catskills for settlement of historic land claims, a scheme whereby he hoped to clear the state’s lands from litigation and perhaps raise billions of dollars in gambling-related revenue for cash-strapped state coffers. Pataki’s announcement stemmed from a recent US Supreme Court decision that seems to have rendered the very precepts of placing any tribal casinos in New York state on illegal grounds.
Meanwhile, Saugerties town supervisor Greg Helsmoortel announced in recent weeks that he has held talks with representatives of the Seneca Cayuga tribe of Oklahoma regarding a “specific proposal for a casino, golf, entertainment, convention and hotel complex” at the 840-acre Winston Farm located at the southbound ramp for Thruway exit 20, best known as the site of the 1994 Woodstock Festival.
State Senator John Bonacic, who recently started a series of anti-New York City rallies in rural Delaware County as part of his re-election campaign, said recently that Pataki’s canceling of the proposed compacts to trade land for lawsuit settlements was forced on him in light of the March 29 decision by the federal Supreme Court, invalidating key aspects of Indian land claim settlements and thus raising serious questions about the viability of the five compacts and casino deals announced last fall.
Part of that ruling was a decision that tribal casinos not on reservation lands must pay all property taxes and must collect state sales tax on non-Natives using their facilities.
Ulster County Legislative Chairman Richard Gerentine has said he agreed that the county would have to be involved in decision-making related to a casino in Saugerties “because it does have impacts throughout the county.”
The county has already signed one contract for a casino - a controversial pact secretly negotiated with the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma in April 2002 for a casino on state Route 209 south of Ellenville. The $15 million contract, which prohibits the county from providing any financial support to any community that opposes gambling, among other measures, is still legally valid and could influence future contracts.
Meanwhile, a new lawsuit is about to be decided by New York State’s highest court to determine whether casinos are even legally allowed under New York State’s constitution, which specifically states: “No commercialized gambling is allowed in New York State” excepting horse racing, charitable gambling such church fund raisers, that are held intermittently, and state operated lotteries.
At the same time, the traditional chiefs of the six Iroquois nations have condemned Pataki’s proposed gambling compacts The Haudenosaunee leadership panel for the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora Iroquois Confederacy concluded at a recent meeting that the deals would not serve future generations. The council said traditional Iroquois oppose casino gambling and high stakes
bingo within tribal territories because gambling fosters “greed and unrealistic visions about striking it rich.”
Included in Pataki’s package are the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin, St. Regis
Mohawks, Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans of Wisconsin, Cayuga Nation of New York, and Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma.
Assembly Democrats have started asking the Attorney General to undertake investigations into just how the gaming debacle has gotten as far as it has, and whether any of the tribal representatives being negotiated with were official. Stay tuned…

The UCDC Flap...
The Ulster County Development Corporation (UCDC) last month quietly sent an official letter to Governor Pataki expressing “Strong and enthusiastic support for the proposed Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park, and [we] urge that the state Department of Environmental Conservation promptly complete its review of the project.” It is uncertain who approved the UCDC letter for forwarding to the Governor. Apparently, neither the 31 member board of directors nor the county legislative Economic Development committee that oversees UCDC ever saw it. The letter was apparently inspired by an earlier draft version written by UCDC executive secretary Ward Todd, who is also president of the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce. Todd owns an 11,5 acre parcel of land in Shandaken that is immediately adjacent the $300 million project site. According to draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) prepared by the developer, Crossroads Ventures, a roughly 500 foot segment of the main roadway access to the project would cross Todd’s property, And Todd’s property is also adjacent the right of way of the old Catskill Railroad, and would serve as the only railway access to the property if the rail service is ever upgraded.
Chester Straub, the president of the UCDC, denied a recent freedom of information act request filed by local reporters seeking to examine the minutes of all meetings in 2005 of the UCDC board of directors and the UCDC executive committee. Straub said that UCDC is a “private non-profit corporation” and therefore does not need to abide by the requirements of the FOIL law. UCDC receives about $260,000 in funding from Ulster County in 2005. The matter may exacerbate tension between the UCDC and many Democratic members of the county legislature who are seeking to reform the UCDC from a quasi-independent body and bring it under the aegis of the county planning department as a bureau specifically dedicated to economic development in Ulster County. A bill making that change will be introduced to the county legislature, perhaps as early as next month.
Todd’s original letter specifically opposes so-called adjudicatory hearings, which opponents of the project say are needed to examine issues related to the project. Such hearings, with sworn testimony and cross-examination of witnesses, are costly and time consuming and have been strenuously opposed by the project sponsors and their allies. The two page March 9 UCDC letter does not directly address the issue of adjudicatory hearings, but alludes to them throughout, such as in the first paragraph where it urges the DEC to “promptly complete” its environmental review of the project.
The roughly 2000 acre mountain resort and hotel complex, will build hundreds of hotel rooms in two separate luxury hotels, each with its own golf course and various out buildings.
“I’m not happy that he sent a letter out at all,” said UCDC member Tom Berardi. “The Democratic caucus [of the county legislature] had expressed to Mr. Straub very clearly that we thought this was something the UCDC should not get involved in. It was not a grant application or a study, it was purely a political letter.”
Asked why he had not recused himself from UCDC votes on the project to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, Todd said, “I’m trying to understand why in the world anyone would think I should recuse myself just because I own land near a project. I guess I just don’t see the connection. If I wanted to sell the land I could sell it, Mr. Gitter has offered to buy it and I could probably make more than I paid for it. But I don’t intend to sell it. We bought it for ourselves.”
Gitter recieved considerable aid from UCDC when he first started working on what was then his Catskill Corners complex back in 1997.

Ashokan Clean-up
The Catskill Heritage Alliance (CHA) will coordinate volunteer clean-ups at the Ashokan Reservoir Sunday May 1 and Saturday May 21 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., assuming a role formerly filled by the Catskill Watershed Corporation. The annual shoreline clean-up is a particularly crucial task in the wake of this spring’s flooding rains, which hit the Ashokan area very hard. CHA, the broad-based community organization focused on life “inside the Blue Line,” will work with NYC’s Department of Environmental Protection to coordinate volunteers and arrange logistics.
“All you need is a pair of gloves and a sense of humor,” said Phoenicia resident Jo-Anne Rowley, who is coordinating volunteer efforts for the CHA; all cleaning equipment and trash hauling will be supplied. “This is an opportunity to help keep our backyard clean and beautiful,” Rowley added, “so we welcome volunteers from throughout the area to join us for two hours of good work and a good time.”
Volunteers will gather at the “Frying Pan” public parking area off state route 28A in Olive at 8:45 a.m. T-shirts will be available for participants. To sign up and for driving directions “just give me a call at 688-2038,” says Rowley, visit the website www.catskillheritage.org or email info@catskillheritage.org. Pepacton Reservoir and stream clean-up days will also be scheduled.
The Catskill Heritage Alliance is a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving the harmony between the villages of the central Catskills and the surrounding wilderness through community revitalization and open space conservation.

Septic Classes
A two-hour class designed to help homeowners understand their septic systems and save money in repair costs will be offered at four locations in Sullivan, Ulster and Delaware Counties in May. “Essentials of Septic Maintenance for Homeowners” will be held Thursday, May 5 at 7 p.m. at the Neversink Town Hall on Main Street, Grahamsville; May 6 at 2:30 p.m. at the Olive Town Meeting Hall on Bostock Road off Route 28; May 12 at 7 p.m. at the Walton Town Hall on North Street, Walton, and May 13 at 2:30 p.m. at CWC offices, 905 Main St., Margaretville. The class, sponsored by the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) is free and open to all area residents. Advance registration is not necessary. A free Septic System Owner’s Guide will be given to all participants. For more information, call the CWC at 845-586-1400.

Tainted Fish
The state Health Department has warned women of childbearing age and children younger than 15 to avoid eating most species of fish caught anywhere in the Catskills and Adirondacks. The advisory is one of the most expansive ever in New York regarding mercury found in fish. The warning says the fish to be avoided include northern pike, pickerel, walleye, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and larger yellow perch. The advisory comes after years of restricting individual ponds, lakes and other waterways. In addition, the state Health Department issued 25 more advisories for water bodies statewide (http://www.health.state.ny.us). There are now 117 water advisories for specific water bodies statewide. A “meal” is defined by the Health Department as a half-pound of fish. Mercury can affect a developing nervous system as well as the development of organs in a fetus, infants and young children. Some of the contaminants also may build in women and may be passed on during breast feeding, according to the Health Department.

Want No Taxes?
A General Accounting Office report has found that between 1996 and 2000, 61 percent of all U.S. companies paid zero federal taxes. They accomplish this primarily through “profit laundering,” which involves offshore shell companies and bank accounts. In 1999, Merrill Lynch’s “World Wealth Report” estimated that one-third of the wealth of the world’s “high net worth individuals,” then $11 trillion, might be held offshore. In 2004, Merrill Lynch revised its wealth figure to $28.8 trillion. The International Monetary Fund estimates that assets held in tax havens equal about 50 percent of total cross-border assets.
During the 1950s, U.S. corporations accounted for 28 percent of federal revenues. Now, corporations represent just 11 percent. If big corporations paid taxes of 35 percent on their U.S. profits, as the law requires, corporate income taxes in 2002 would have been $308 billion instead of an estimated $136 billion.
The shelter system is based on seventy “offshore” centers/tax havens where secret shell companies and bank accounts are used to carry out transactions that create paper profits and losses, immune from the eyes of tax authorities and law enforcement. There are about three million shell companies. Offshore centers, with 1.2 percent of the world’s population, hold 31 percent of the assets and 26 percent of the stocks of American multinationals. More than half of world trade goes through offshore centers, as corporations shift profits to where they can avoid taxes. Companies using such methods may file tax returns that show they are operating at a loss. What does Wall Street think? No problem: the United States allows companies to keep two sets of books, one for the Internal Revenue Service, the other for the Securities and Exchange Commission. The IRS sees a company deep in the hole, while stock buyers are pleased by profits that soar.

Left Behind
The nation’s largest teachers union and school districts in three states sued the Bush administration this month over the No Child Left Behind law, aiming to free schools from complying with any part not paid for by the federal government. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for eastern Michigan, is the first major challenge to President Bush’s signature education policy. The outcome would apply directly to the districts in the case, but it could affect how the law is enforced in schools across the country. Leading the fight is the National Education Association, a union of 2.7 million members and a political adversary of the administration. The union mobilized its forces for Democrat John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race, and its objections to Bush’s law prompted former Education Secretary Rod Paige to call the NEA a “terrorist organization.” The other plaintiffs are nine school districts in Michigan, Vermont and Bush’s home state of Texas, plus 10 NEA chapters in those states and Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah. The NEA is paying for the lawsuit.
The No Child Left Behind bill is facing battles on other fronts, too. The Republican-led Utah Legislature voted in recent weeks to put its educational goals ahead of the federal law despite the possible loss of $76 million, Connecticut is planning its own lawsuit, and other states are balking
The lawsuits accuse the government of shortchanging schools by at least $27 billion, the difference between the amount Congress authorized and what it has spent. The plaintiffs want a judge to order that states and schools don’t have to spend their own money to pay for the law’s expenses - and order that the Education Department cannot yank federal money from a state or school that refuses to comply based on those grounds.
Bush defended the law Wednesday at a White House ceremony honoring the teacher of the year. “I love the spirit of the No Child Left Behind Act,” the president said.

Stern Warning
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev warned the United States recently “to cure itself” of hypocrisy over nuclear arms and be prepared to cut its atomic arsenal and take it off “hair-trigger” alert. Gorbachev said the United States should not suggest other nations disarm and make no move to do so itself.
“I think the United States is sick. It suffers from the sickness, the disease of being the victor and it needs to cure itself from this disease,” Gorbachev said. “I think Russia is ready to cooperate. Now the question is, is the United States — which is the only remaining superpower — is the United States ready to do this? I think not.”
There are an estimated 34,000 nuclear warheads in silos in Russia and the United States. About 5,000 are on hair-trigger alert, in which they could be fired on 15 minutes’ notice. The United Nations in May is holding a five-year review of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the cornerstone of atomic disarmament, which came into force in 1977. So far, a preparatory committee has failed to agree on an agenda because of divisions between the nuclear powers and those without atomic weapons.
“They (United States) say other people don’t need (nuclear weapons), but what kind of law is this that they are advocating?” Gorbachev asked. “It’s the law of the jungle… We need leadership through partnership, not by dominating and being a policeman.”

Fly Christian
Less than two years after it was plunged into a rape scandal, the Air Force Academy is scrambling to address complaints that evangelical Christians wield so much influence at the school that anti-Semitism and other forms of religious harassment have become pervasive. There have been 55 complaints of religious discrimination at the academy in the past four years, including cases in which a Jewish cadet was told the Holocaust was revenge for the death of Jesus and another was called a Christ killer by a fellow cadet. More than 90 percent of the cadets identify themselves as Christian. A cadet survey in 2003 found that half had heard religious slurs and jokes, and that many non-Christians believed Christians get special treatment. Of 4,300 students, 2,600 are Protestant, 1,300 are Roman Catholic, 120 are Mormon, and there are 44 Jews, 19 Buddhists and a few Muslims, Hindus and others. There are 15 chaplains and one rabbi. Critics of the academy say the sometimes-public endorsement of Christianity by high-ranking staff has contributed to a climate of fear and violates the constitutional separation of church and state at a taxpayer-supported school whose mission is to produce Air Force leaders. The school recently started requiring staff members and cadets to take a 50-minute religious-tolerance class. Two of the nation’s most influential evangelical Christian groups, Focus on the Family and New Life Church, are headquartered in nearby Colorado Springs. Tom Minnery, an official at Focus on the Family, disputed claims that evangelical Christians are pushing an agenda at the academy, and complained that “there is an anti-Christian bigotry developing” at the school.

Union Bashing
The Bush administration is rapidly expanding audits of the nation’s labor unions, citing a need to ferret out and deter corruption. But union leaders assert that those increased efforts are nothing more than crude political retaliation. Pointing to embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars by the presidents of the ironworkers union and Washington’s teachers union, Labor Department officials say the number of audits fell too far in the 1990’s and needs to be restored to previous levels. Labor leaders see the new effort as retaliation for their nearly unanimous support for Senator John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election. Since 2001, department officials say, more than 500 union officials have been indicted on charges including fraud and embezzlement.

Healthy?
A paltry number of Americans follow four basic rules of health living — don’t smoke, eat well, exercise regularly, and maintain a healthy weight, according to new study findings. After surveying more than 150,000 adults, Michigan researchers found that only three percent said they maintained these healthy habits. Doctors explained that there are probably a number of reasons why the vast majority of Americans don’t follow their doctors’ orders. People are busy, live in environments more conducive to driving everywhere than walking or biking, and may lack information about the dangers of unhealthy habits. But likely the biggest reason is the “current cultural norm” to live unhealthy lives, he said. “If most people around you are overweight, and don’t exercise and eat mostly fast food, then it’s very hard to see the need to change the way you are living,” the report noted.
To investigate how healthy Americans are, Michigan State University scientists reviewed data collected from 153,000 adults as part of a telephone survey. The researchers noted how many people didn’t smoke, ate at least five fruits and vegetables every day, exercised for at least 30 minutes five or more times per week, and had a healthy body mass index (BMI), defined as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters.

Overmedicated?
About 130 million Americans swallow, inject, inhale, infuse, spray and pat on prescribed medication every month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. Americans buy much more medicine per person than any other country. The number of prescriptions has swelled by two-thirds in the last decade to 3.5 billion yearly. Recently, safety questions have beset some depression and anti-inflammatory drugs, pushing pain relievers Vioxx and Bextra from the market. Rising ranks of doctors, researchers and public health experts are saying that America is overmedicating itself.
More than 125,000 Americans die from drug reactions and mistakes each year, according to Associated Press projections from studies of the 1990s. That could make pharmaceuticals the fourth-leading national cause of death after heart disease, cancer and stroke.

Sunsetting
A new proposal in President Bush’s budget proposal facing Congress, spelled out in three short sentences, would give the president the power to appoint an eight-member panel called the “Sunset Commission” which would systematically review federal programs every ten years and decide whether they should be eliminated. Any programs that are not “producing results,” in the eyes of the commission, would “automatically terminate unless the Congress took action to continue them.” The administration portrays the commission as a well-intentioned effort to make sure that federal agencies are actually doing their job. In practice, however, the commission would enable the Bush administration to terminate any program or agency it dislikes, with the aid of a secret five-person panel it will likely fill with lobbyists, according to critics.
The man behind the sunset commission is Clay Johnson, a former executive at Neiman Marcus and Frito-Lay and Bush’s roommate from Yale and, before that, the Andover prep school both Texans attended. The Sunset Commission he has proposed will likely be composed of “experts in management issues,” and be designed to “shift the burden of proof onto the regulations and require us to demonstrate that they’re still needed.”
Look for a big Congressional fight on this one, which would ostensibly shift power from them to the executive branch, always a touchy subject.

Zinc Teens
Zinc improves the memory of teenagers, a recent study has found. Students given 20 milligrams of zinc a day with a glass of orange juice perform better in recalling information than students who were given 10 milligrams or students given a placebo with no zinc. The study was launched to help the federal government determine recommended daily allowances for adolescents, most of which are based on research involving adults, and found that the risk of zinc deficiency is higher for adolescents because they are going through a time of rapid growth.

Still Missing
The U.S.-led group that scoured Iraq for weapons of mass destruction has found no evidence Iraq hid such weapons in Syria before the U.S. invasion in March 2003, according to a final report on the investigation. The 1,700-member Iraq Survey Team, responsible for the weapons hunt, also said it found no Iraqi officials with direct knowledge of a transfer of weapons of mass destruction developed by former President Saddam Hussein.
President Bush and other U.S. officials cited a grave threat posed by Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons and Baghdad’s efforts to acquire a nuclear arms capability as a justification for war. No such weapons were found but U.S. officials said it was possible Saddam sent them to Syria for safekeeping. The report is the final addendum to the investigators’ September report that concluded prewar Iraq had no WMD stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons and that its nuclear program had decayed before the U.S.-led invasion.

Unpopped? Scientists say they now know why some popcorn kernels resist popping. It’s long been known that popcorn kernels must have a precise moisture level in their starchy center - about 15 percent - to explode. But Purdue University researchers have found the key to a kernel’s explosive success lies in the composition of its hull. It turns out there is an optimal hull structure that allows kernels to explode, and leaky hulls prevent the moisture pressure buildup needed for kernels to pop. The researchers compared the microwave popping performance of 14 Indiana-grown popcorn varieties and examined the crystalline structure of the translucent hulls of both the popped kernels and the duds. In the varieties popped, the percentage of unpopped kernels ranged from 4 percent in premium brands to 47 percent in the cheaper ones.
Guns In Bars? Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoeda bill recently that would have let people bring their guns into bars and restaurants as long as they weren’t drinking alcohol, and the businesses didn’t prohibit firearms. Arizona law currently bans firearms in bars and restaurants that sell alcohol. Bill supporters said current law deprives citizens of protection - and subjects their guns to the risk of theft if they’re left in vehicles parked outside bars or restaurants. The new bill was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature. Critics said the measure would lead to confrontations in bars and hikes in insurance premiums for the businesses.