Mar 18, 2013

The National Congress Buildings in Brasília. James Harrison / Shutterstock.com Later this afternoon, Mayor Vince Gray will be joined by Agnelo Queiroz, the governor of the Federal District of Brazil—i.e., the mayor of Brasília—to sign a Sister City Agreement with the Brazilian capital city. Currently D.C. has 12 Sister City Agreements with cities across...

Mar 17, 2013

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — I have long been a fan of wines made from grapes grown in the Sierra foothills of California, particularly bottles produced from vineyards in Amador County. The Sierra Foothills American Viticultural Area is made up of five counties in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada Mountains between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe and about two hours east...

Mar 14, 2013

Ben Haggerty (born June 19, 1983), known by his stage name Macklemore and formerly Professor Macklemore, is an American rapper and musician. He began independently releasing music since 2000 and now collaborates with producer Ryan Lewis, violinist Andrew Joslyn, and trumpeteer Owuor Arunga. He has gained a significant online fanbase. He has released one...

Mar 2, 2013

from Wildlife Promise It takes a strong and innovative leader to look into a tangled web of challenges and see where intersections offer opportunity.  The National Wildlife Federation congratulates Senators Tom Carper (D-DE) and Susan Collins (R-ME), and Representatives Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and Frank LoBiondo (D-NJ) for modeling bipartisan leadership to...

Nov 16, 2012

from Wildlife Promise 11/16/2012 / Photo credit: flickr / thepugfather Two and a half years after BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sent more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf, dolphins across the northern Gulf of Mexico are still dying in high numbers. Yesterday, BP agreed to pay a record criminal fine for the Gulf oil spill, but vowed to...

Nov 12, 2012

“Did I ever tell you the one about …” (DreamWorks) “No! He’s going to tell another story!” A distraught character in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln cries out as the avuncular emancipator draws back his folksy bow to aim a mildly ribald anecdote at the heart of America. Daniel Day-Lewis is guaranteed to earn an Oscar nomination for...

Nov 11, 2012

Dear Mr. President: Congratulations!  The people spoke.  You are our president for the next four years.  So, what should your agenda be now?  Here’s my take (in no particular order): 1.  Strengthen Obamacare by working out the kinks. 2.  Reject the Keystone pipeline. 3.   Decriminalize marijuana.  Or legalize it and then tax it (we need more...