Wednesday, March 29, 2023

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Banking woes send consumers looking for safer alternatives, some Indiana communities resist a dollar chain store "invasion," and a permit to build an oil pipeline tunnel under the Great Lakes is postponed.

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Republicans say it is premature to consider gun legislation after the Nashville shooting, federal officials are unsure it was a hate crime, and regulators say Silicon Valley Bank was aware of its financial risks.

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Finding childcare is a struggle everywhere, prompting North Carolina's Transylvania County to try a new approach. Maine is slowly building-out broadband access, but disagreements remain over whether local versus national companies should get the contracts, and specialty apps like "Farmers Dating" help those in small communities connect online.

Some in GOP Push for Conservation Causes

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Monday, April 2, 2012   

SEATTLE - Support for many environmental causes seems to run strictly along party lines, but a group of Republicans is trying to change that in Congress. They are asking House Speaker John Boehner to help push 19 bills through the House to designate new wilderness areas, conserve wetlands and fight invasive species in 14 states.

In Washington state, the list includes expanding the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area, which has long been stalled. Jim DiPeso, spokesman for Republicans for Environmental Protection, acknowledges Congress has been swamped, but he sees no good reason to delay bills that lawmakers actually agree on.

"One of the issues we keep hearing about wilderness legislation is 'You need to have local support.' The Alpine Lakes wilderness bill has local support - from Republicans, from Democrats, from business, from all walks of life. So, what's the holdup? Let's pass it, let's get it done."

The Alpine Lakes bill (HR 608) had its last subcommittee hearing in October. The group is urging Speaker Boehner to take up the package of conservation bills as quickly as possible.

The group's mission, says DiPeso, is to move the GOP more to the ideological center when it comes to conservation. He points out that some of the nation's major environmental decisions were made by Republican presidents, from Teddy Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan, and says current efforts do not have to be so contentious.

"As former Gov. Dan Evans liked to say, there are no Republican rivers and there are no Democratic mountains. All these lands are for all Americans, for all time."

In a recent hearing, House Natural Resources Subcommittee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) said designating more wilderness could restrict access for job-creating activities like logging and mining. But DiPeso's group points out that plenty of public land exists for multiple use, and wilderness also brings economic benefits to an area.

More information is available at www.rep.org.




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