Articles by David Roberts

It could get ugly.

The L.A. Times story starts off tauntingly:

In a case that echoes the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, two Northern California Republican congressmen used their official positions to try to stop a federal investigation of a wealthy Texas businessman who provided them with political contributions.

Could it be?

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus:

Reps. John T. Doolittle and Richard W. Pombo joined forces with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas to oppose an investigation by federal banking regulators into the affairs of Houston millionaire Charles Hurwitz, documents recently obtained by The Times show. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was seeking $300 million from Hurwitz for his role in the collapse of a Texas savings and loan that cost taxpayers $1.6 billion.

Hee hee! Looks like the seemingly quixotic quest to bring Pombo down might not be quite so quixotic after all.

Mark Schmitt puts the story in context:

Mmm … prefab

Man do I love me some prefab. Over at Worldchanging, Jill Fehrenbacher and Sarah Rich have a great roundup of some new prefab projects in Australia. I particularly dig the deck_house.

Mike Millikin's Week in Sustainable Transportation is worth reading too, as always.

LEED condos

Speaking of condos receiving LEED certification, I just found out about a week ago that literally right across the street from me, they're in the process of building what is to be Seattle's first LEED Silver Certified condo building: the Hjarta. Seems I bought too soon.

Then again, prices will probably be through the roof.

Kolbert report

This week's New Yorker has another fantastic piece from Elizabeth Kolbert on global warming: "Butterfly Lessons." It's a fairly detailed look at the effect of climate change on a range of butterfly and frog species.

It's not online (yet?), but Kolbert is rapidly becoming reason enough to subscribe to the magazine. I can't wait for her book.