Changes could add hundreds of millions of dollars to first 29 miles of bullet train

The California rail authority is facing hundreds of millions of dollars in potential change orders and other prospective cost increases on the first 29 miles of the bullet train system, state and private contractor documents show.   http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-bullet-change-orders-20160328-story.html
Article courtesy of The Los Angeles Times by Ralph Vartabedian

What it means for Apple if feds have found a way to crack shooter's iPhone

In its monthlong fight with the Department of Justice over digital privacy, Apple has insisted it would under no circumstances force its engineers to undermine the company's security measures.
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-apple-vulnerability-20160322-story.html
Article courtesy of The Los Angeles Times by David Pierson

An island of rattlesnakes may soon be a reality in Mass., and some residents aren’t happy

In January, Tom French, the Massachusetts Assistant Director of the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife proposed a plan to establish a Timber Rattlesnake colony on Zion Island in the Quabbin Reservoir. While the state plans to move forward with the plan, Massachusetts residents have had mixed reactions. http://www.boston.com/news/animals/2016/03/21/520039
Article courtesy of The Boston Globe by Perry Eaton

The world's poorest pay largest percentage of income for water, study says

Every 10 days or so Rajabhau Deshmukh buys enough water for his family of six to drink and to irrigate what farmland he can in the drought-stricken Beed district of southern Maharashtra state in India.
Seventy dollars gets him about 2,642 gallons, an allotment that falls so short of his farming needs that five acres of his arid land have grown useless. But for man who makes roughly $600 a year, it’s all Deshmukh can afford.  http://www.latimes.com/world/global-development/la-fg-global-world-water-story.html
Article courtesy of the Los Angeles Times by Ann M. Simmons

Cutting Edge Santa Monica firm says it has found a way to salt away electricity, literally

The Santa Monica company recently completed what it touts as a first-of-its-kind solar power plant that stores electricity using salt. The facility, in Nevada between Reno and Las Vegas, is 20 times larger than a SolarCity-Tesla solar and storage operation in Hawaii, which incorporates batteries.
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-cutting-edge-solar-salt-20160320-story.html
Article courtesy of the Los Angeles Times by Ivan Penn

Alzheimer’s discovery made by MIT student

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology neuroscientist has made a breakthrough discovery that researchers say will open countless doors for 
future Alzheimer’s treatments — memories obscured by the devastating 
illness have the potential to be restored.  http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2016/03/alzheimer_s_discovery_made_by_mit_student
Article courtesy of The Boston Herald by Lindsey Kalter

An area in the windy waters off Long Island has been designated as a possible site for a wind farm, the federal government announced on Wednesday.  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/17/science/wind-farm-may-be-built-off-long-island.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront
Article courtesy of The New York Times by TATIANA SCHLOSSBERG

Trees Deal With Climate Change Better Than Expected

The bend-don’t-break adaptability of trees extends to handling climate change, according to a new study that says forests may be able to deal with hotter temperatures and contribute less carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than scientists previously thought.  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/science/global-warming-climate-change-trees-carbon-dioxide.html?module=WatchingPortal&region=c-column-middle-span-region&pgType=Homepage&action=click&mediaId=thumb_square&state=standard&contentPlacement=10&version=internal&contentCollection=www.nytimes.com&contentId=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2016%2F03%2F16%2Fscience%2Fglobal-warming-climate-change-trees-carbon-dioxide.html&eventName=Watching-article-click
Article courtesy of The New York Times by TATIANA SCHLOSSBERG

When You Listen to Music, You’re Never Alone

On a late spring evening in 2015, at South Street Seaport, a square on the southern tip of Manhattan, hundreds of people slipped on headphones and slipped into their own worlds. It was a clear night, perfect for a stroll, but attendees weren’t interested in local shops and restaurants. They were too busy dancing silently to the music, tuning in—or tuning out—to a “silent disco.”
http://nautil.us/issue/34/adaptation/when-you-listen-to-music-youre-never-alone
Article courtesy of The New York Times by Daniel A Gross

Operator for New York’s Growing Ferry Service Is Picked

New York City is moving forward with plans to start three new ferry routes to Astoria and the Rockaways in Queens and South Brooklyn by summer 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday as he announced the operator of the expanded service.   http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/17/nyregion/operator-for-new-yorks-growing-ferry-service-is-picked.html?module=WatchingPortal&region=c-column-middle-span-region&pgType=Homepage&action=click&mediaId=thumb_square&state=standard&contentPlacement=5&version=internal&contentCollection=www.nytimes.com&contentId=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2016%2F03%2F17%2Fnyregion%2Foperator-for-new-yorks-growing-ferry-service-is-picked.html&eventName=Watching-article-click&_r=0
Article courtesy of The New York Times by Emma Fitzsimmons

New climate accord opens the door to further action

The world has declared its intention to replace fossil fuels with clean, renewable energy sources, while also better managing our forests and how food is produced and consumed. The Paris climate accord puts fossil fuel corporations on notice that they can't continue business as usual. It also sends a powerful signal that, as President Barack Obama put it, "has the potential to unleash investment and innovation in clean energy at a scale we have never seen before."   http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2016-2-march-april/coming-clean/word-paris
Article courtesy of Sierra Magazine by Michael Brune

Southern Florida's Black Line of Death

The black line of death is coming.
That’s the ominous warning that clean water activist John Heim has been shouting all over Washington, D.C., this past week. Heim is a Southwest Florida resident who is enraged by what he’s seeing on the beaches out his back door—and he’ll talk about it to anyone willing to listen.
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2016-2-march-april/green-life/southern-floridas-black-line-death?mostpopular=true
Courtesy of Sierraclub.com by Ac Shilton

13.1 million U.S. coastal residents could face flooding because of rising sea levels

The estimated number of coastal dwellers affected by rising sea level is three times higher than previously projected, according to a new study. As many as 1 million California residents could be affected.  http://www.latimes.com/world/global-development/la-na-global-sea-levels-story.html
Courtesy of The Los Angeles Times by Ann M. Simmons

N.J. Transit and New York Businesses Make Strike Contingency Plans

The worst-case situations are sounding dire.

Doctors sleeping on cots at their Manhattan hospitals because they cannot get home to New Jersey. A cost to New York City’s economy of nearly $6 million per hour of delays. Traffic jams in New Jersey up to 25 miles long.

But as a Sunday deadline approached for the first New Jersey Transit rail strike in 33 years, railroad and union officials tried to sound a positive note. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/10/nyregion/nj-transit-and-new-york-businesses-brace-for-looming-rail-strike.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fnyregion&action=click&contentCollection=nyregion&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

Article courtesy of The New York Times by Andy Newman and Emma G. Fitzsimmons

What to expect if trains stop running in New Jersey

(AP) -- As the deadline for what would be New Jersey Transit's first strike in more than 30 years looms next weekend, commuters are left to ponder the imponderables, such as traffic backups extending from the Holland Tunnel past Newark Liberty Airport.
Unions have set a strike deadline for just after midnight next Sunday, but the dispute has been percolating for nearly five years.   http://newjersey.news12.com/news/what-to-expect-if-trains-stop-running-in-new-jersey-1.11544866?pts=166862
Article courtesy of News 12 New Jersey by David Porter of the Associated Press

The DC Streetcar Starts Service on Saturday. It Took a Wild Ride to Get Here.

When DC’s H Street and Benning Road streetcar opens on February 27, it’ll run on rails that were first installed almost seven years earlier. We’ve been talking about this project since 2008, with hundreds of posts. The following is a little walk down memory lane to look at everything that’s happened.  http://smartgrowth.org/the-dc-streetcar-starts-service-on-saturday-it-took-a-wild-ride-to-get-here/?utm_source=SGN+2016-0307&utm_campaign=sgn-news-2016-0307&utm_medium=email
Article courtesy of Smart Growth  By David Alpert via Greater Greater Washington

Turning Oil Rigs Into Reefs

Environmentalists disagree over whether outdated oil rigs off the coast of Long Beach, Calif., can become an addition to the marine ecosystem.  http://www.nytimes.com/video/science/100000004154151/turning-oil-rigs-into-reefs.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront
Article courtesy of nytimes.com by Erik Olsen

Southern California air board moves to weaken pollution regulation

The South Coast Air Quality Management District board dismissed Barry Wallerstein in a 7-6 vote during a closed-door session, a month after Republicans took control of the panel vowing a friendlier approach to industry. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-southern-california-air-board-20160304-story.html
Article courtesy of Los Angeles Times by Tony Barboza

Why are so many sea lion pups starving? Scientists find the answer off the Central California coast

Government scientists say there’s a simple explanation for the surge in starving sea lion pups along the Southern California coast: Their mothers can’t find enough nutritious food. As their preferred sardines and anchovies became less plentiful, they’ve had to settle for rockfish and market squid instead. http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-starving-sea-lion-pups-20160301-story.html
Article courtesy of The Los Angeles Times by Karen Kaplan

Oklahoma takes action on fracking-related earthquakes — but too late, critics say

They feel them in the little city of Cushing, where a web of pipelines and giant oil storage tanks makes the area a crucial international hub — and vulnerable. They feel them in the time-capsule town of Guthrie, where plaster is cracking in storefronts built in the 19th century. And they feel them in rural Fairview, where cows get loud when pastures move beneath them.  http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-sej-oklahoma-quakes-fracking-20160302-story.html
Article courtesy of The Los Angeles Times by William Yardley

One of the state’s biggest and best tech employers is moving to Lowell

Kronos Incorporated, one of the state’s largest tech employers and one of The Boston Globe‘s “Top Places to Work 2015,” is moving its global headquarters from Chelmsford to Lowell.
The software company, which provides cloud-based workforce management platforms, announced this week that Kronos will relocate to Cross Point Towers, where it will occupy nearly 400,000 square feet of office space, by summer 2017. It will become one of the largest employers in Lowell with over 1,200 employees.  http://www.boston.com/jobs/jobs-news/2016/02/29/tech-employer-kronos-relocating-headquarters-to-lowell?p1=well_ICYMI_subheadline_hp
Article courtesy of The Boston Globe by Justine Hofherr

MBTA cancels late-night weekend service

T riders out late on weekend nights will need to find a new way home starting in mid-March.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s governing board voted Monday to cancel late-night service by March 18. Doing so will save the T about $9 million next year, according to Assistant General Manager Charles Planck.  http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2016/02/29/mbta-cancels-late-night-weekend-service/dUvNpu5XAMnc3I79CWLDZM/story.html?p1=well_ICYMI_subheadline_hp

Article courtesy of The Boston Globe by Adam Vaccaro

As T ends late-night service, Bridj makes pitch to take over

As the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s governing board planned to vote on whether to end late-night weekend service Monday, Boston-based private shuttle service Bridj launched a website in a push to replace the service on a contract basis with the agency.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2016/02/29/considers-ending-late-night-service-bridj-makes-pitch-take-over/v3ExR6UwVBPiD0nlLpq2zO/story.html?p1=well_ICYMI_subheadline_hp
Article courtesy of The Boston Globe by Adam Vaccaro