Eeyores news and view

Your Guide to Avoiding a Terrorist Attack
NYPD publishes handbook for landlords, security personnel
Warning that New York's skyscrapers remain a top terrorist target, the NYPD released a detailed guide today to making them safer.
World Trade Center: Before & After 9/11
View SlideshowSee photos of the World Trade Center before the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and the pit known as Ground Zero in the aftermath.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly touted a 100-page report "Engineering Security" as an ideal safety roadmap for property owners.
"We have also provided in the publication and online the tools to calculate the risk to your building," Kelly told a group of owners gathered at One Police Plaza.
Police used the example of how a truck bomb filled with explosives can be loaded and driven to a target to illustrate the continuing terrorist threat. The report urged property owners to improve perimeter security, design buildings that can better withstand a blast, step up screening of visitors, design emergency evacuation plans and safeguard air systems in the event of a chemical attack.
These are not just lessons from 9-11, police said. The NYPD outlined more then 10 terrorist plots in past past years with the city in the cross-hairs of al Qaeda as well as homegrown groups. These included plans to attack the Citicorp Center and other landmarks, as well as plots on trains and transportation hubs.
"Terrorist intention to attack New York city's people, building or critical infrastructures is unambiguous," said David Cohen, Deputy Commissioner of the NYPD's Intelligence Division.
Officials said the report was designed to help existing buildings as well as future ones. The NYPD has given its opinion on plans for ground zero and the building of the New Yankee Stadium and Citifield. Real Estate Groups and the city's building commissioner welcomed the report.
"It will also act as an important tool for property owners to identify how to protect their buildings in the design phase," said Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri.
Other suggestions include using hard, fire-resistant substances to build walls and floors and posing glass facades "away from [higher-risk] buildings," and installing X-ray machines to scan packages.
"We understand that the threat of terrorism will remain a serious concern for the foreseeable future – and we continue to do everything possible to prevent another attack and mitigate the harmful effects one might cause," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "At the same time, we know that enhanced security does not need to come at the expense of aesthetic appeal, functionality, and environmental sustainability."
The FDNY, Department of Buildings and Department of City Planning and various professional organizations also lent insight into the final project.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Your-Guide-to-Avoiding-a-Terrorist-Attack-.html

Feds could seize Calif. parks if closed by budget
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The California governor's office says federal officials are threatening to seize six state parks if they are closed to help balance the state's budget.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed closing 220 state parks.
But the National Park Service warned in a letter to Schwarzenegger that six of those parks are on former federal land that could revert to the U.S. government if they are not kept open as parks.
State officials say they're trying to work with federal authorities to forestall a possible seizure. The state could also lose federal park funds.
The parks are Angel Island and Mount Diablo near San Francisco; Point Sur in Big Sur; and beaches at Fort Ord Dunes near Monterey, Point Mugu near Malibu; and Border Fields along the Mexican border.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D995Q9I00&show_article=1

Fuel tax could be replaced with by-the-mile road tax
The year is 2020 and the gasoline tax is history. In its place you get a monthly tax bill based on each mile you drove — tracked by a Global Positioning System device in your car and uploaded to a billing center.
What once was science fiction is being field-tested by the University of Iowa to iron out the wrinkles should a by-the-mile road tax ever be enacted.

Besides the technological advances making such a tax possible, the idea is getting a hard push from a growing number of transportation experts and officials. That is because the traditional by-the-gallon fuel tax, struggling to keep up with road building and maintenance demands, could fall even farther behind as vehicles' gas mileage rises and more alternative-fuel vehicles come on line.
The idea of shifting to a by-the-mile tax has been discussed for years, but it now appears to be getting more serious attention. A federal commission, after a two-year study, concluded earlier this year that the road tax was the "best path forward" to keep revenues flowing to highway and transportation projects, and could be an important new tool to help manage traffic and relieve congestion.
The decision by the 15-member National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission was unanimous, which surprised Robert Atkinson, the group's chairman. But he said it became clear as the commission's work progressed that a road tax on miles traveled was the best option.
"If you're committed to the system being improved then it was a no-brainer," he said.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/nation/story/71078.html

The Dog Flu Virus: Are You or Your Pet at Risk?
In today’s Science Times, health reporter Donald McNeil writes about a new flu virus circulating in dogs. Mr. McNeil writes:
While fears of a flu pandemic among humans have shifted from the lethal H5N1 avian flu to the relatively mild H1N1 swine flu, the H3N8 canine flu has been a quiet undercurrent in the United States, rarely discussed except among veterinarians and dog owners in the few areas where it has struck hard: Florida, New York City’s northern suburbs, Philadelphia and Denver.
Dr. Cynda Crawford, co-discoverer of the dog flu virus.This week, Dr. Cynda Crawford, one of the discoverers of the virus and a veterinarian at the University of Florida veterinary school, joins the Consults blog to answers readers’ questions about the dog flu and the first vaccine approved for it.
Do you have a question about canine flu? Post your questions for Dr. Crawford in the “Add your comments” box below. We will be posting Dr. Crawford’s responses in the coming week. Check back for regular updates.
http://consults.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/the-dog-flu-virus-are-you-or-your-pet-at-risk/?hp