Kirtlands warbler

STACY SQUIRES What do the people of Christchurch want from life in their city in 2021? THE PRESS 160 YEARS is a series marking the launch of The Press newspaper in Christchurch on May 25, 1861. Between now and the anniversary, The Press will revisit stories from every year of publication. The Unemployment Board’s No. 5 Scheme put unemployed men to work during the Great Depression. As The Press found on April 10, 1931, part of the Summit Rd on the Port Hills was built under this scheme. “Great improvements to the roads and reserves under the control of the Summit Road Trust are being carried out by that body, men being employed under the Unemployment Board's No. 5 Scheme, and the principal results will be the completion of the Akaroa track on the Summit road, and the provision of a new and delightful walking track, zig-zagging over and around Coronation Hill, upon part of which the Sign of the Kiwi is built,” The Press reported. “In addition the work of … [Read more...] about 1931: Opening up the Port Hills

Solitude and solace: these two English words seem related, beginning the same way and looking similar on the page, but deceptively so. They are false cognates, though. Arising from different roots separated by a thousand miles and a thousand years, their senses diverge, the one leaning toward desolation, the other toward consolation. Occasionally the two move closer, convergence playing out in our solitary leisure. On an ideal Saturday the summer before last, I joined several thousand friends in a charity ride to raise money for research conducted at the local cancer research center. A frayed cable that proved too complicated to fix that morning, however, effectively left my bike with just three gears, not enough to comfortably complete the 100K course. I gritted my teeth. But a passing group came to the rescue. They pulled me along in their slipstream and in the process taught me to ride fast (faster than I had ever ridden) and wheel-to-wheel. That experience taught me a great … [Read more...] about 300 Days of Solitude

Senators from Colorado, California, New Mexico and Nebraska joined together to press Pentagon investigators to scrutinize key areas of a Trump administration decision to move U.S. Space Command headquarters across the country. In a letter to Defense Department acting Inspector General Sean O’Donnell, the lawmakers outlined questions they want included in the investigation, which launched last month, of the January decision to move the headquarters from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Ala. Specifically, the senators want to know how the Pentagon sidelined an earlier, 2019 competition to choose a location for the command and relied instead on a “new and untested process” for the subsequent evaluation in 2020. ADVERTISEMENT The senators “expressed concern that the Trump White House injected politics into the process,” Colorado Sens. John Hickenlooper John Hickenlooper On The Trail: How marijuana went mainstream Senators press for answers in Space Command move … [Read more...] about Senators press for answers in Space Command move decision

It's 10 years since Wellington lawyer, tree planter and environmental campaigner Robert Logan disappeared without a trace. Nikki Macdonald investigates his lifestory, and the circumstances leading up to his disappearance. April had been a triumph for lawyer and environmentalist Robert Logan. For years, Wellington City Council had been threatening to sell two sections at the entrance to the old Ōwhiro Bay quarry reserve. But conservationists discovered those empty lots – numbers 178 and 180 – were the daily commuting grounds of endangered little blue penguins. So in 2010, when the ‘’for sale’’ sign hovered over the properties, community groups Logan was involved with took the council to the Environment Court. The case was supposed to be run by eminent environmental barrister Graham Taylor, but he pulled out sick three weeks before the hearing. That left Logan – whose bread and butter was estate and immigration law – to take over the case. He pulled all-nighters with fellow … [Read more...] about The complicated life and legacy of lawyer and environmentalist Robert Logan

Animals at a nature reserve have been forced to flee for their lives after a devastating fire broke out, a witness said. A major gorse blaze at Bartinnery Nature Reserve, in Penzance, has seen firefighters battling flames which have ravaged the surrounding landscape on Monday. Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service has been inundated with calls, as the fire - believed to have started last night - can be seen across the Lands End vicinity. Many of the reserve's animals, meanwhile, are feared to have perished, reports Cornwall Live. Local resident Martin Cavell has captured the scene in a number of horrifying photos. Have you witnessed the fire? Send us pictures and video at [email protected] Mr Cavell said he saw hordes of wildlife "fleeing in terror" and said fire crews at the scene believe the fire had been slowly building overnight before being noticed. "I am disgusted by the whole thing," he said. "It is a nature reserve. I witnessed skylarks, linnets, … [Read more...] about Animals forced to ‘flee in terror’ as nature reserve engulfed by devastating fire