News Digest:
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 10:10 AM PDT
Good Afternoon
Oregon
State says recycling rate slipped in 2007
PORTLAND (AP) — The efficiency rate for recycling, composting or burning off garbage to generate energy slipped a little statewide last year. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality calls it the ‘‘recovery rate’’ for garbage, otherwise known as solid waste.
The agency said Monday the rate fell to 46.7 percent in 2007, marking a steady decline over the past three years.
The goal is 50 percent for the state recovery rate next year. But the closest Oregon has gotten so far is 49.2 percent in 2005. The state generated a total of 5.72 million tons of solid waste last year, or about a ton and a half per person.
IDAHO
Boise group calls for ban on plastic bags
BOISE (AP) — San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban plastic grocery bags last year, and now an Idaho group wants Boise to do the same. A small grassroots group, Bring Your Own Bags Boise, held its first meeting on Sunday.
Volunteer Corey Godfrey says carrying your own reusable bag can take some adjusting, but it can also turn into a habit, like ‘‘putting on your seat belt.’’
The group is working on a plan to encourage Boise schools and businesses to ditch disposable shopping bags for a week.
Expert: N. Idaho has new form of bigotry
COEUR D’ALENE, (AP) — A human rights activist in northern Idaho says mistreatment of Native Americans shows how the region still struggles to deal with bigotry and prejudice.
Tony Stewart, co-founder of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, says ill feelings toward tribal members has intensified since the U.S. Supreme Court awarded control of a portion of Lake Coeur d’Alene to the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.
Stewart says the tribal racism has replaced the bigotry of the past spearheaded by the region’s relationship with white supremacist groups like the Aryan Nations.
But not everyone agrees. Some tribal leaders attribute evidence of prejudice toward the tribe as part of anti-government or private property rights agenda.
