New West recreationists increasingly come into conflict over the highest and best use of public lands. Affluent vacationers seeking packaged adventures rely on businesses offering guided raft and Jeep excursions. Meanwhile, other visitors look to the public lands for non-commercialized encounters with nature. But even those visitors have vastly varied notions of what they want a quiet hike in search of birds, a sweat-soaked scramble up a peak, an adrenaline-charged ride on an ATV.

Accommodating all these forms of recreation is a quandary for federal land managers. Any land-management decision perceived as limiting access is guaranteed to draw fire from all sides. The federal agencies are now wrangling with the question of how to curb ATVs, which clearly cause more damage than other recreational users.

Georgia: Thousands suffering in silence: Violence against women in the ...

For reasons of personal safety the names of all women mentioned in this report who have experienced violence in the family have been changed and any case details that may make them identifiable have been altered. The only exception is the case of a woman whose husband has died. Including due to lack of available safe and affordable housing and access to independent means to support themselves, several women whose cases are mentioned in the report continue to live with their violent partner and risk reprisals if they are identified. The case examples included in this document were either obtained through interviews conducted by Amnesty International during a fact-finding visit to Georgia in April 2006 or provided by the following Georgian NGOs: Advice Centre for Women "Sakhli"(7), Anti-Violence Network of Georgia, the Centre for Protection of Constitutional Rights, the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, and Saphari(8).

McCain 40%, Romney 32%, Huckabee 22%

Given that these states leaned blue, what is clear that Mitt Romney battled to within a single digit deficit nationally of the frontrunner, making this the closest nomination contest since 1976. For a campaign that started at 3% in the polls, it came a long way. But it's confronting a harsh reality tonight, with an inability to break out of the low thirties in any primary state Mitt Romney has not called home. The "big winner" of the night finished third, racking up delegates thanks to his concentrated strength in the South. On the Democratic side, Clinton and Obama were within 25,000 votes of one another by my count. The NBC delegate tracker had it at 841 for Obama, 837 for Clinton. We now move on to the Maryland and DC contests, which lean Obama, and the Virginia primary, which is open to Republicans and independents.

SIPS make new rooms more efficient

I want to add an efficient apartment to my house for my elderly mother. Can SIPS be used for large room additions or are they only for new construction? -- Betsy K.

SIPS panels are made with either Earth-friendly polystyrene or polyurethane foam between the skins.

Inhofe: EPA to fund buyout

This is more good news for the people in the Picher and Cardin areas," Henry said. "We know we still have a long road ahead, but this certainly makes the light at the end of the tunnel significantly brighter."

Calling the process up to this point "long and difficult," the governor also warned of future challenges.

"But we are doing the right thing in delivering relief to the families in the Tar Creek area," he said.

Richard Greene, EPA's regional administrator, said he was pleased to be part of this "monumental occasion."

"This master plan will ensure a coordinated commitment to permanently clean up the Tar Creek Superfund site," Greene said.

"This announcement reaffirms years of hard work by local, tribal, state and federal partners."

He called Inhofe a longtime champion for the communities and said the senator was instrumental in bringing about what he called "this final cleanup plan."

Inhofe in turn shared the credit with Greene, the governor and U.S.

Groepper killed during attack near Baghdad

U.S. Army infantryman Chad Groepper, standing with his wife Stephanie, held his baby daughter Clarissa Renee for the first time when he came home on leave from Iraq in late 2007. Groepper was killed in action Sunday in a province near Baghdad.
[Click to enlarge] .

Radio controlled male contraceptive developed

AUSSIE boffins have developed a radio controlled contraceptive implant which can switch a cobber's flow of sperm on and off with the flick of a button.

We would have thought this would mean that anyone within a 10 metre radius of a doctor's surgery, including the doctor, in they were male, might suddenly find themselves fertile.