|
(Continued from page 23)
rapid pace.
• Professor Carol Johnston compared Department of Agriculture crop maps with wetland maps from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey to determine the wetland loss of the Prairie Pothole Region in the eastern Dakotas.
• Her study was published in Wetlands, the Journal of the Society of Wetland Scientists.
• Johnston says nearly 13,000 acres of wetlands have been lost each year over the past 30 years.
• She says the rate the wetlands are shrinking each year keeps going up.
• She says the changes in wetlands affect not only wildlife but human beings.
•
Judge declares mistrial in SD figure skating case
• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- A judge has declared a mistrial in the lawsuit a Rapid City man launched against his daughters' figure skating coach.
• The Rapid City Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1ajb9yb ) that after deliberating for almost seven hours on Thursday, the jury returned to work Friday morning for two hours only to tell Circuit Judge Robert Mandel they could not agree on a verdict.
• Brett Widvey sued Lisa Hakimi for defamation after Hakimi sought a protection order against him in September 2010. A judge rejected Hakimi's bid for a permanent protection order six weeks after she asked for the order.
• Widvey filed his lawsuit in December 2010, claiming Hakimi had labeled him a stalker. He sought $155,000 in damages.
• Mandel says it could be next fall before he can schedule a new trial.
•
AP News in Brief
Thousands of bridges similar to I-5 span at risk of freak accident due to outdated designs
• SEATTLE (AP) -- Thousands of bridges around the U.S. may be one freak accident or mistake away from collapse, even if the spans are deemed structurally sound.
• The crossings are kept standing by engineering design, not supported with brute strength or redundant protections like their more modern counterparts. Bridge regulators call the more risky spans "fracture critical," meaning that if a single, vital component of the bridge is compromised, it can crumple.
(Continued on page 25)
|
|
