Hot off the Press: Rockin' the Casbah edition

The BBC is looking for a hard working Iowa farm family to take in a few British teenagers and work them hard: http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090617/NEWS/706179922/1001/NEWS. I was actually thinking about the Midwestern work ethic this morning. Don't ask me why.

Expat Californians who moved to Oregon are damaging the beaver state's economy: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/us/18oregon.html?_r=1&hp. I love this line:

“We wanted to lose the commute, to lose the smog,” Mrs. Telford said. “We wanted to lose California.”

South Africans of all races are getting together to support their team at the Confederations Cup: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-south-africa-soccer18-2009jun18,0,2354755.story. Of course, there's still a lot of tension nonetheless.

Oriental bittersweet is climbing the list of Iowa's most damaging invasive (and foreign) plant species: http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090618/NEWS/706189956/1001/NEWS.

Iowa senator Tom Harkin is co-sponsor of a bill that will apologize for slavery: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090618/NEWS/90618029.

Apparently, teenagers are using copious amounts of poppy seeds to brew tea that will get them high; poppy seeds contain small traces of morphine. Some grocery stores in Iowa have placed poppy seed behind the counter to prevent theft, much like they did with some cold medicines years ago to prevent people from making meth: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090618/NEWS03/906180352&theme=HANSEN.

California's unemployment was 11.5 percent in May: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-california-jobless20-2009jun20,0,3863292.story.

Colleges around the country are finding unique ways to save money: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/education/19college.html?_r=1&ref=us.

The Cuyahoga River has made a drastic recovery since the famous fire 40 years ago: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/us/21river.html?_r=1&ref=us. The disturbing thing about this article is:

“In the 1930s, when most people in Cleveland worked in factories, a fire on the river was considered just a nuisance,” he said.

The Missouri DOT is naming a stretch of road adopted for clean-up by neo-Nazis after a rabbi: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/us/21highway.html?ref=us.

Here's a follow-up article. The rabbi's daughter is against naming the highway after her father: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/us/23heschel.html?ref=us.

Ray Bradbury loves Bo Derek, and libraries: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/us/20ventura.html?em. I didn't even know he was still alive, and the sad thing is most people would think the same about libraries. Love libraries.

LAT Column One piece about grape picking in the Coachella Valley: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-grapes23-2009jun23,0,6892712.story.

The Supreme Court ruled the Army Corp of Engineers was within its right to grant a permit for a mining company to dump toxic slurry into an Alaskan lake: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/us/23alaska.html?_r=1&ref=us. Here's a good line:

The corps permit, issued in 2005, said that 4.5 million tons of waste from the Kensington mine could be dumped into the lake even though it would obliterate life in its waters. The corps found that disposing of it there was less environmentally damaging than other options.

Cedar Rapids fire fighters are using homes bought back by the city after last year's flood to practice: http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090623/NEWS/706239936/1002/NEWS.