NEW ALBANY — Due to the expected heavy rainfall this weekend, tonight’s [Saturday] double movie feature at the New Albany Riverfront Amphitheater has been canceled.
The movies “Jurassic Park” and “Despicable Me” were slated to be shown in concordance with Labor Day weekend, and the city is exploring opportunities to reschedule the event. For more information, visit the website newsandtribune.com
Slam dunk? Mayor Fischer’s Vision Louisville 25-year plan apparently includes an NBA team, by Terry Boyd (Insider Louisville)
Which got us thinking, “What is Mayor Fischer really trying to say, here?”
- Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up.”
- Professional basketball star as the headline speaker.
- Big discussion about a downtown arena.
- Fischer’s first huge initiative devoted to asking Louisvillians for ideas about how to improve the city as the set-up.
We couldn’t help but think the whole event was about three little letters: N. B. A.
Here’s the overall statement about Vision Louisville:Yep, by the year 2040, we'll have embraced "change head on", and presumably will do so by driving our Hummers to the NBA game on a tragically expanded, Eisenhower-era, private-auto-clogged, tolled, regional expressway and bridges system (which Greg Fischer supports), sans mass transit or any other form of environmentally friendly transportation infrastructure.
A 25-YEAR VISION FOR LOUISVILLE
We are ready to harness our collective energy and chart our path to the future, to decide how we want Louisville to look, feel, and flow in 2040 ... Why now? Change is upon us – from the economy to the environment, the pace of change in cities world-wide is both rapid and far reaching. Meeting change head on and being proactive about our community’s future is not just about being competitive. Although being competitive is important, we also need to be about city-building — shaping our environment, building a beautiful and attractive city, and establishing a positive future.
ON THE AVENUES: Thoughts about independence.From Bible-Belt Pastor to Atheist Leader, by Robert F. Worth (New York Times Magazine)
On Dec. 1, his boss asked to meet him at a diner in town. Sitting at the table, the man took out two printouts from secular Web sites with DeWitt’s name on it. “He told me: ‘The Pentecostals who run the parish are not happy, and something’s got to be done,’ ”DeWitt recalled. “Half an hour later I was out of a job.” (His former boss did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.)
33.145 - Public policy and purpose.
It is the policy of the city that it does not discriminate in the provision or implementation of its programs and services on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. It is the public policy of the city to provide all citizens equal opportunity for education, employment, access to public accommodations and acquisition through purchase or rental of real property, including, but not limited to housing, and to eliminate segregation or separation based on race, religion, color, sex, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability, since an equal access to and use of public accommodations and equal opportunity for acquisition of real property are hereby declared to be civil rights.
Frank Rich on the National Circus: Chris Christie, New Jersey Sun King
... This is the same patrician stance that both Romneys always take: That we, the little folk, should just “trust” them — and not worry ourselves about the fine details, whether those details pertain to their unreleased tax returns or the specifics of his policy initiatives should he be elected president. No reason to believe that this noblesse oblige tactic will fly any better today than it has so far. And as for this notion that Ann Romney can fix Mitt’s “likability” gap by giving him a transfusion of humanity, that’s a fool’s errand. Indeed, the Romney gurus seemed to have embraced a Wizard of Oz strategy for filling in the blanks of Mitt’s public persona — Ann Romney was to give her brainy hubby a heart and Chris Christie was to imbue Mr. Etch A Sketch with courage. Don’t they realize that this makes Mitt the Tin Man?
Bill Nye Isn't Dead, He's Gone Viral (bigthink.com)
In the video, Nye says that while everybody is entitled to his/her own opinion, creationism is unequivocally wrong, and that people who still believe it -- or more importantly, insist it is taught to their children -- hold society back for everybody. Nye argues we need a scientifically literate and educated population.
In his words: "I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world, in your world that's completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that's fine, but don't make your kids do it because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need people that can—we need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems."
New Albany bicentennial park builder to be selected today; Council waiting on funding events planned for 2013 celebration, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)
... As for the park, the commission received two bids earlier this month, the lowest of which was $537,000 as submitted by MAC Construction and Excavating. The second bid for the park — which will be built at the corner of Spring and Pearl streets downtown — was for $548,076 and was received from EZ Construction.
Those bids were taken under advisement for staff review, and while the Gahan administration wouldn’t confirm which company will be suggested to receive the contract, the money appropriated for the project indicates it will be MAC.
Along with the $312,000 approved by the council, the city also garnered a $225,000 grant from the Horseshoe Foundation of Floyd County for the park. Those amounts add up to $537,000, which was the sum of the MAC bid.
America has more craft beer breweries today than at any other point since 1887. Merriam-Webster added the term to their dictionary this year. Even President Obama has his own brew.
The number of breweries is increasing dramatically, according to the Brewers Association, a trade organization — just take a glance at this nifty chart on their website — and 350 more were added between June and the same time last year. Among these breweries, 97 percent are "craft brewers" — meaning they are relatively low-production, independently owned, and "interpret historic styles with unique twists and develop new styles that have no precedent."
With the help of my colleague Charlotta Mellander, I took a quick look at how the concentration of craft breweries per capita correlates with key state demographic and economic characteristics. As usual, I point out that correlation points only to associations between variables and does not imply causation. Other factors may come into play. Still, this analysis points to a number of interesting patterns.
Plan to walk, bike, run, but not skate over Louisville's Big Four Bridge, by Sheldon S. Shafer (Courier-Journal)
Runners and walkers are welcome; cyclists, too. You can even bring your dog, as long as you use a leash.
But if you’re a skateboarder or rollerblader, don’t plan on using the Big Four Bridge cross-river skywalk once it opens in December — the rules likely won’t allow it.
Constructing a Facade Both Rugged and Rusty ... The new Barclays Center uses 12,000 separate pieces of what is called weathering steel, deliberately covered by a layer of rust, by Elizabeth A. Harris (New York Times)
At the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues in Brooklyn, dozens of men and women in hardhats are scurrying about each day, hanging this and attaching that, preparing the Barclays Center for its opening, which is now just a few weeks away. The lights have come on inside, some treetops are visible along the arena’s edge, and some bright blue signage has gone up along the building’s facade, an undulating shell of brownish steel.
After years of building, and even more years of bickering, the arena is almost finished — but this is not immediately obvious to all those who wander by.
“Is it meant to be that way, with the rust?” one woman asked, squinting at the steel.
“I thought they were going to paint it,” said a man who stopped to stare.
No, they are not.
Lance Armstrong doping campaign exposes USADA’s hypocrisy
... Quite independently of Lance, with whom I wrote two books, for a long, long time I’ve had serious doubts about the motives, efficiency and wisdom of these “doping” investigations. In the Balco affair, all the wrong people were prosecuted. It’s the only so-called drug investigation in which the manufacturers and the distributors were given plea deals in order to throw the book at the users. What that told us was that it was big-game hunting, not justice. It was careerist investigators trying to put athletes’ antlers on their walls. Meanwhile, the Fourth Amendment became a muddy, stomped-on, kicked-aside doormat.
Food shortages could force world into vegetarianism, warn scientists ... Water scarcity's effect on food production means radical steps will be needed to feed population expected to reach 9bn by 2050, by John Vidal (guardian.co.uk)
Leading water scientists have issued one of the sternest warnings yet about global food supplies, saying that the world's population may have to switch almost completely to a vegetarian diet over the next 40 years to avoid catastrophic shortages.
Humans derive about 20% of their protein from animal-based products now, but this may need to drop to just 5% to feed the extra 2 billion people expected to be alive by 2050, according to research by some of the world's leading water scientists.
The benefits of hindsight: The need for more monitoring of domestic terrorism, in The Economist
... since coming under Republican control in 2010, the House Homeland Security Committee has held five hearings on Muslim radicalisation, and none on right-wing threats. Yet America’s right-wing extremists commit a vastly greater number of murderous attacks (though leading to fewer deaths) than Muslims do.
ON THE AVENUES: My Three Step Therapy for the Tolling Blues.New Albany anti-discrimination law draws raves from Kentucky, by Grace Schneider (C-J)
... New Albany’s new law bans discrimination in employment, education, housing and public accommodations based on an individual’s actual or perceived race, religion, color, sex, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran or military status, or disability.
As newly appointed members of the commission prepare to meet for a formative meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the city-county building, groups in Kentucky have praised the city for passing the law.
In the year 1852 Mr. John Crawford built and sold to Mr. Silas Day the large brick house on the west side of Bank Street now owned by the W.C.T.U. This was an example of a New Albany home of the better class in the 1850s and 1860s, and Mrs. Bowman, a daughter of Mr. Day, gives us a glimpse of the family life. She says, "I have a vivid memory of a morning when the family gathered in the back parlor for prayers, a daily institution in our home. I can see the large room, the light filtering through the shutters upon the white and gold walls, the green velvet carpet, the black haircloth furniture, and the tamboured muslin curtains, and I can see the form of my sister, a bride, lately returned from her wedding journey, sitting at the melodeon, leading us in our usual morning hymns. I remember her morning robe of buff pique, form-fitting, and opening all down the front over an under robe of white embroidery. She looked beautiful to my admiring eyes. The melodeon was always used at prayers and to accompany hymn singing on Sunday evenings.
No requirements that tolling decisions will include Louisville-area residents
The power to set and adjust tolls on new Ohio River bridges will fall to a yet-to-be formed “tolling body” that will draw on two boards with few residents of Louisville and Southern Indiana ...
... A recent analysis by two local economists found that the bulk of the tolls would be paid by Indiana drivers, who would be the heaviest bridge users. Kentucky residents would pay $3.6 million annually based on a $1, one-way toll, while $8.6 million would be charged to Hoosier commuters.
That’s why any tolling body should include some representatives from Jeffersonville, said Dennis Julius, a Jeffersonville City Council member who has raised concerns about the impact of tolls and construction on the I-65 bridges.
“I think we ought to have some kind of representation, because we’re going to be probably the most affected of anybody, in my opinion,” he said.
CLARKSVILLE — A married couple was arrested Monday after the Clarksville police removed 45 marijuana plants with an estimated value of $100,000 from their home.
'Legitimate rape' – a medieval medical concept; The idea that rape victims cannot get pregnant is a very old medical theory, by Vanessa Heggie (Guardian)
... The idea that rape victims cannot get pregnant has long roots. The legal position that pregnancy disproved a claim of rape appears to have been instituted in the UK sometime in the 13th century.
Redistricting likely to soon see New Albany council vote; Public hearing slated for Sept. 20, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)
NEW ALBANY — After months of committee meetings, the New Albany City Council has slated a public hearing in September over a new redistricting plan.
Required to redraw the voting maps following a U.S. Census, the council must approve a redistricting ordinance by the end of the year. The topic has caused a mix of emotions in recent years, as a lawsuit was filed by residents against a prior council to lawfully redistrict, and the mere mention of redrawing the boundaries has sparked arguments and accusations.
Much of the debate centered around a 2008 redistricting committee that included plaintiffs in the case against the council. In part, the lawsuit was dropped due to the formation of the committee, though its redistricting plan was ultimately rejected by the council.
When ignorance becomes a movement: Meet ‘Frank’ from Louisville, a ‘Tea Party guy’, by Brian Tucker (Insider Louisville)
... Although my work will likely never be completed, I have arrived at a milepost of sorts and am now able to begin filing my report that shall ultimately be my life’s work – defining and debunking Teabaggery.
At first I thought it would be an easy venture -and it has been in some ways- because people love to tell you everything they know about politics.
Especially when they are dead wrong.
Meet “Frank.”
