The proposal came less than two months after once-puritanical Massachusetts passed a law allowing up to three resort casinos.
Could volcanos make electricity?
Geothermal energy developers plan to pump 24 million gallons of water into the side of a dormant volcano in Central Oregon this summer to demonstrate new technology they hope will give a boost to a green energy sector that has yet to live up to its promise.
They hope the water comes back to the surface fast enough and hot enough to create cheap, clean electricity that isn’t dependent on sunny skies or stiff breezes — without shaking the earth and rattling the nerves of nearby residents.
Renewable energy has been held back by cheap natural gas, weak demand for power and waning political concern over global warming. Efforts to use the earth’s heat to generate power, known as geothermal energy, have been further hampered by technical problems and worries that tapping it can cause earthquakes.
Even so, the federal government, Google and other investors are interested enough to bet $43 million on the Oregon project. They are helping AltaRock Energy, Inc. of Seattle and Davenport Newberry Holdings LLC of Stamford, Conn., demonstrate whether the next level in geothermal power development can work.
Sheriff booked for domestic battery
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Ross Mirkarimi, San Francisco’s first new sheriff in more than three decades, called his swearing in last Sunday “one of the happiest days of my life.”
Not a week later, the popular progressive politician undoubtedly had one of his worst, ending with a mug shot.
Mirkarimi was charged Friday with battering his wife, booked by the very sheriff’s deputies he now commands. And if convicted on the misdemeanor charges, he faces the distinction of becoming the only sheriff in California prohibited from carrying a gun. He also would be required to attend domestic violence classes, pay a $400 fine and could be put on probation for up to three years or sent to jail for up to a year
The district attorney’s office charged him with domestic battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness — charges he disputes.
Crews ready fuel for iced-in village
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Crews of a Russian tanker readied on Saturday a segmented hose to transfer from ashore critical fuel to an iced-in Alaskan town.
Sitnasuak Native Corp. board chairman Jason Evans said the 370-foot tanker Renda was aiming Saturday to moor at about 500 yards from the village of Nome, whose harbor had too much ice for the vessel to reach.
Instead, the crew will move 1.3 million gallons of fuel through a hose set up over sea ice.
Personnel will walk the entire length of the hose every 30 minutes to check it for leaks. Each segment will have its own spill containment area, and extra absorbent boom will be on hand in case of a spill.
Evans said he hopes the crew will begin unloading the fuel by Sunday.
Senator promotes Keystone pipeline
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A proposed pipeline to carry oil from Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries is the “largest shovel-ready project in the country” with the potential to create thousands of jobs and reduce American dependence on oil from the Middle East, North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven said Saturday.
President Barack Obama faces a Feb. 21 deadline to decide whether the $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline expansion is in the national interest.
The U.S. State Department delayed a decision on granting a permit in November, largely because of worries about the pipeline’s environmental impact, especially in the Nebraska Sandhills, a region of porous hills that includes wetlands and a key aquifer.
States looking to casinos for cash
NEW YORK (AP) — A Malaysian company’s plan to build a $4 billion convention center and big-time casino on the outskirts of New York City could be the biggest shot fired yet in a tourism arms race that has seen a growing number of Eastern states embrace gambling as a way to lure visitors and drum up revenue.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced he would work with the Genting Group, one of the world’s largest and most successful gambling companies, to transform the storied, but sleepy, Aqueduct horse track into a megaplex that would eventually include the nation’s largest convention center, 3,000 hotel rooms, and a major expansion of a casino that began operating at the site in October.
The proposal came less than two months after once-puritanical Massachusetts passed a law allowing up to three resort casinos.