North Carolina
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Why the heck are there pig farms in the path of hurricanes?
Hurricane Matthew is the third hurricane in two decades to wash animal feces all over North Carolina.
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N.C. chief epidemiologist resigns over water safety squabble
Megan Davies has accused the governor's administration of misleading the public about water quality near coal ash sites.
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North Carolina elephant might be getting contact lenses
C’sar, a 38-year-old bull elephant living in North Carolina, could become the first pachyderm to wear contact lenses. Because nothing looks nerdier than an elephant in glasses. “An elephant has never been fitted with corrective lenses,” the Associated Press reports. (One elephant once had a contact put in his eye, but it was just to […]
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North Carolina tries to outlaw sea-level rise
North Carolina is no stranger to the "if you dislike it then you should have made a law against it" model of legislation, but this is extreme: A new bill would rule that scientists are not allowed to accurately predict sea-level rise.
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Put it in your pipe and grow it: Former tobacco farms evolve
The 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement didn't just pay for health damages and counter-marketing, it's also been quietly helping farmers in North Carolina rebuild their local food system.
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Google gets carbon offsets from hog poo
In its recent report on the company's carbon footprint, Google said that it offsets its emissions with high-quality offsets. We are happy as a pig in shit about that. Which is appropriate, because here's one example of what that means: energy powered by pig poop.
The company has invested in a North Carolina project which collects the methane from the waste of 9,000 hogs. A power plant burns the methane to create power for 35 homes a year. -
There's a Foxx guarding the ag-policy henhouse
Rep. Virginia Foxx recently sponsored an amendment to shut down the USDA's Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative.
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Ohio Gov. Kasich wants state to be ‘cool,’ fails to get what that means
Is there anything more uncool than a 50-something politician in a suit talking about wanting his state to be “cool”? Nah. Probably not. Witness Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a newly elected Republican whose union-busting policies have made him pretty unpopular, as he delivers one of the more delicious soundbites in recent memory. The video moment […]
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If Watson can win Jeopardy, can IBM make cities smarter?
Photo: Rodrigo SennaIBM has generated a lot of buzz lately for Watson, its game-show-playing supercomputer that recently bested a couple of skin jobs on “Jeopardy.” Less high profile is the expansion of Big Blue’s computer and software systems designed to monitor and control municipal water, energy, and transportation systems. Developed under the umbrella of IBM’s […]