Cross Country
Snowmobiles and Yellowstone
For years, snowmobilers have called for a permanent home where the buffalo roam (and where the deer and the antelope play). Last week, they may have gotten it. The National Park Service announced a plan that would allow as many as 720 snowmobiles a day in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park, making permanent a contentious interim policy from 2004. Seven former National Park Service directors promptly responded with a letter asking Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to overturn the plan, saying the volume of snowmobiles "would undercut the park's resurgent natural conditions."
Park officials disagree, noting that part of the Park Service's mission is public access and adding that the vehicles must meet tough, new noise and air-pollution standards that effectively reduce the number of snowmobiles per day to about 250. And, snowmobilers must travel with a guide. For those eager to roam on the range, that proved to be a discouraging word.
Sacking Plastic Bags Out West
The plastic bag, in its epic battle against paper, was dealt a nasty blow by San Francisco's Board of Supervisors. The board banned traditional, petroleum-based plastic bags from about 100 large grocery stores and pharmacies in a move designed to help the environment.
Local grocers have begun looking into biodegradable plastic alternatives. Critics, such as the California Grocers Association, say the ban could actually complicate recycling efforts by adding other kinds of bag materials into the mix, and they claim the ban will increase expenses. Traditional plastic costs 1 cent a bag, while biodegradable plastic can run to 12 cents. Paper bags with handles can cost around 10 cents.
Such bans very likely won't proliferate-they fit best in cities like San Francisco that have advanced composting facilities-but similar initiatives to reduce usage may be coming. "One day," says Ross Mirkarimi, the measure's author, "the plastic bag will be in the Smithsonian."
Tough Sell for Tallest Tower
Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's swooping structures, like the dramatic expansion of the Milwaukee Art Museum, often seem to defy gravity. But now Calatrava must contend with an even more unyielding force—concerned residents of Chicago—if he hopes to get his proposed 150-story Chicago Spire off the ground.
Last week saw the unveiling of the newest design for the condominium tower, which would corkscrew up 2,000 feet to become the tallest building in North America. A previous revision of the design had been criticized, and concerns about traffic persist, but reaction at the unveiling was largely positive. "To have Calatrava ... build something that is ... really sculpture-esque is really what that site deserves," says Gail Spreen of the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents, a neighborhood group. Calatrava must now hope the city plan commission feels the same way.
A Touching Gift From Abroad
Since Hurricane Katrina laid waste to their city 18 months ago, the children of New Orleans have faced lives turned upside down: ruined homes and closed schools, rampaging crime, and, in some families, sickness and death.
The destruction in the Crescent City, and its emotional effect on the youngsters, resonated with residents of Kobe, Japan, where in 1995 upwards of 6,500 people were killed by a massive earthquake. In a gesture of care and thanks for emergency aid it received from the United States, the Hyogo region where Kobe is located donated $200,000 to the New Orleans Museum of Art for special programs for the city's children and their families.
During a ceremony that featured Japanese street performers, Masaru Sakato, Japan's consul general in New Orleans, said: "It is art, among other things, missed and needed by children in devastated areas who have sustained deep psychological wounds."
And a Gyroball for Beantown
The city of Boston could also be on the receiving end of some Japanese largess, in the form of Daisuke Matsuzaka, a star pitcher from the Seibu Lions.
Matsuzaka, nicknamed Dice-K, came to the Boston Red Sox in the off-season for $102 million and makes his debut as the season opens this week. That's a lot of money for a pitcher, even if he does deal a one-of-a-kind pitch called a gyroball.
Adding Dice-K to the team will pump an estimated $14 million into the city's economy, officials say; some 10,000 additional Japanese tourists are expected. Wait staff and tour guides in Boston are learning Japanese phrases, vendors are stocking up on Dice-K jerseys, and T-shirts are being printed that say "Red Sox" in Japanese. The Ritz-Carlton Boston Common is selling a Dice-K-Tini-3 parts vodka, 1 part sake, and 1 part passion fruit puree.
Is he worth all the passion? Skeptics and supporters got a preview during a recent preseason game. Matsuzaka pitched five shutout innings and didn't allow a single hit.
With Bret Schulte, Alison Go, Will Sullivan, Liz Halloran, Alex Kingsbury and Associated Press
This story appears in the April 9, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.