Cross Country
Farming the Wind in the Mid-Atlantic
Offshore wind farms are enjoying a power surge. Delaware officials have given the green light to a proposed project to plant wind turbines in ocean waters, likely near Rehoboth Beach, a popular resort for Washingtonians.
The proposal became a microcosm of a national energy debate, pitting clean but erratic wind power against another proposal for a gas or coal plant.
Wind power is the country's fastest growing energy source, but offshore farms have faltered under heavy fire from politicians and citizens worried about air traffic interference, impacts on fishing, and fear of blighted vistas (and property values).
To date, three other offshore wind farms have been proposed: off the coasts of New York, Massachusetts, and Texas. Opposition has hampered them all. Cape Cod and Texas are vying to be the nation's first, but neither farm is expected to be finished before 2009 or 2010.
The fledgling Delaware farm is still on the drawing board, with officials already warning it may be smaller than projected.
Calling All Muggles to a Potter Park
For the millions of kids—and adults—who would like nothing better than to be a classmate of Harry Potter's at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, this is probably as close as they're going to get: a massive theme park in Orlando, Fla., devoted to the fictional boy wizard.
Universal Orlando snagged the rights to build the attraction last week, and it's expected to devote at least $230 million to the project. "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" will take in 20 acres of Universal's 85-acre Islands of Adventure park. The Forbidden Forest, Hogsmeade Village—they will all be here, promoters say, along with shops and restaurants based on the famed fictional world.
Harry Potter fans, who number in the tens of millions, are already buzzing in anticipation of the seventh and final book in the series and the movie version of the fifth book, both due out in July. In the United States alone, the first four movies grossed over a billion dollars, making the Potter franchise one of the most successful of all time.
With Chris Wilson, Nikki Schwab and Bret Schulte
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