Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The Composting Council of Canada issued a Call for Papers for its 17th Annual National Composting Conference in Moncton, New Brunswick, September 19-21, 2007. Papers on the following topics are encouraged: Compost marketing strategies (high volume markets vs. high value broker options); compost technology developments; operational issues including odor control; education and …
Sales of new homes in the United States plunged last month to their lowest level in more than 12 years, a grim testament to the problems plaguing the housing sector.
The Commerce Department reported Friday that new-home sales tumbled by 9 percent in November from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 647,000. That was the worst showing since April 1995, when the pace of sales was 621,000.
The sales pace for November was much weaker than economists were expecting. They were predicting sales in the weakest sector of the economy to drop by around 1.8 percent, to a pace of 715,000.
The median sales price of a new home dipped to $239,100 …
Yet today, President Obama is scheduled to make a foray into racial territory by speaking in New York at the Rev. Al Sharpton's national convention — an early step on the tricky path that Obama must navigate in order to engage black voters who are crucial to his re-election.
Obama remains highly popular among blacks. In 2008, 95 percent of blacks who voted chose Obama. In a Gallup poll last week, 84 percent of …
DC Circuits, an innovative simulation program from Physics Academic Software, includes over 70 activities and exercises designed to resolve common student misconceptions about the core concepts of electrical circuitry.
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Australia's new leader launched a plan Tuesday to stop an influx of asylum seeker boats by making East Timor a hub for processing U.N. refugee claims for people fleeing war and persecution across Asia.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she had discussed the idea with East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres _ though neither had signed on yet.
Gillard's announcement was a shift in policy that aims to defuse a politically and racially charged debate that has flared in Australia ahead of elections expected to be held within months.
Australia receives just a tiny proportion of the world's asylum seekers, but in the past three years has witnessed a surge of people arriving via Indonesia in rickety boats _ some 150 in the past three years carrying around 4,000 people.
Each new boat receives wide media coverage and stirs feelings among many Australians that the country is being forced to take them in.
The asylum seekers, mostly Afghans and Sri Lankans who have paid criminal syndicates to bring them to Australia, have overflowed a detention center at remote Christmas Island and many have been moved to the mainland while their applications are assessed.
In her first major speech touching on foreign policy, Gillard on Tuesday said Australia had an obligation to treat legitimate asylum seekers fairly while also ensuring its borders are secure.
She proposed the creation of a regional center for processing refugee claims under U.N. auspices, and that Ramos Horta had agreed to discuss the possibility. Gillard said she had proposed the idea to Guterres, though she did not say what his response was.
"A regional processing center removes the incentive, once and for all, for the people smugglers to send boats to Australia," Gillard said. "Why risk a dangerous journey if you will simply be returned to the regional processing center?"
She said New Zealand had been asked to support the plan _ a likely sign the country would be asked to resettle some people whose applications were approved for refugee status at the center.
She offered few other details _ such who would pay for the East Timor center _ but said she would pursue the idea "relentlessly."
Refugee advocates cautiously welcomed the plan, as long as applications were assessed under U.N. guidelines, applicants were treated humanely, and that other countries agreed to accept those who were judged to be legitimate asylum seekers.
"From our perspective this is a positive thing," said John Gibson, the president of the Refugee Council of Australia.
He said the plan appeared to be different from an earlier government's system of detaining asylum seekers in prison-like camps on the pacific island of Nauru because it would involve the United Nations. The former system, dismantled by Gillard's predecessor, was criticized by the U.N. refugee body and other groups as inhumane.
Australia grants nearly 14,000 places a year to migrants for humanitarian reasons, among nearly 190,000 total migrants a year, according to official figures. Fewer than 2 percent of humanitarian immigrants are asylum seekers who arrive by boat.
While migration is generally accepted as positive for the country _ Gillard herself is Welsh-born and emigrated as a toddler with her family _ Australians have long been divided on the issue of asylum seekers arriving by boat.
Many people want the government to take a tougher line, while others advocate a more open policy. The issue has helped decide elections in the past.
Gillard named the issue as a top priority soon after ousting Kevin Rudd in a June 24 revolt in their Labor Party. Gillard on Tuesday sought to appeal to both sides of the debate.
"It is wrong to label people who are concerned about unauthorized arrivals as rednecks," Gillard said.
She later added, "Australians' basic decency does not accept the idea of punishing women and children by locking them up behind razor wire, or ignoring people who are fleeing genocide, torture and persecution."
Gillard on Tuesday lifted an order suspending the processing of asylum seeker claims from Sri Lankans _ something Rudd imposed in April to try to slow the influx. She left in place an order suspending claims by Afghans.
The leader of the main conservative opposition party, Tony Abbot, also launched his policy on Tuesday with a promise to "turn back the boats" with tough measures against asylum seekers arriving by sea.
Two Harrisburg-area developers plan to build a total of about 500 residential units in Hampden Township, the most populous municipality in Cumberland County.
Yingst Homes Inc. intends to build approximately 300 townhouses and duplexes near the intersection of Good Hope Road and Interstate 81, said John Murphy, president of Alpha Consulting Engineers Inc. His Lower Allen Township, Cumberland County-based engineering firm is handling the project for Yingst of Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County.
Tom Gaughen Realty plans to develop a 206-unit apartment complex near the intersection of U.S. Route 11 and state Route 581, said company principal Tom Gaughen. The Camp Hill-based developer hopes to begin building in June and have the structure ready for occupancy in spring 2004, he said.
Hampden Township's population increased by 18.4 percent between 1990 and 2000, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. During that period, the township's population rose by 3,751, to 24,135. The township is one of Cumberland County's fastest-growing municipalities.
The township's access to much-traveled highways I-81 and Route 581, its relatively low taxes and the strength of its Cumberland Valley School District have fueled the municipality's growth, said township engineer Jerry Spease.
Yingst Homes' project
Yingst Homes intends to submit land development plans for its project in four to eight weeks, Murphy said. The houses would be built on 56 acres across from Cumberland Technology Park, he said.
Representatives of Yingst Homes did not return calls seeking comment.
Tom Gaughen Realty's project
Gaughen declined to disclose how much money his company's apartments would Tent for, saying that cannot be determined until his business secures financing for its project.
Construction would cost more than $5 million, said Donald B. Smith Jr., president of Conewago Enterprises Inc. His Hanover, York County-based general contracting firm is working on the project for Tom Gaughen Realty.
In November, the Hampden Township Board of Commissioners granted preliminary approval for Tom Gaughen Realty's building to have 228 residential units and five stories. Since then, the company has downsized to a lesscostly proposal. The revised drawings call for a structure that would have 206 units, four stories and about 130,000 square feet, Gaughen said.
The developer soon plans to submit his revised plans to the township, Gaughen said. The earliest the township could vote on those plans is in March, Spease said.
Tom Gaughen Realty has agreed to help pay for a traffic study at the intersection of Route 11, known as the Carlisle Pike, and Sporting Hill Road, Spease said. He said he does not know how much money the company pledged to contribute to the study.
