SACRAMENTO ? A judge here Friday stopped the state from assigning the order in which propositions will appear on the November ballot while he considers a lawsuit filed by the proponent of one such measure.
Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley issued the temporary restraining order against Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who determines the proposition numbers, after hearing from attorneys representing initiative proponent Molly Munger. Munger is backing a November tax measure that competes with Gov. Jerry Brown's tax measure.
She alleges that Democratic lawmakers and county election officials violated state law in efforts to boost Brown's proposal. With her lawsuit, Munger sought to prevent Bowen from placing the governor's initiative above hers on the ballot, and her attorneys argued that the judge's order was necessary to prevent "irreparable harm" to her measure.
The judge agreed and scheduled a hearing to evaluate the merits of her case July 9.
Brown's campaign downplayed the judge's action.
"We're pleased the court put this on a fast-track and confident it will be resolved quickly so we can move forward," Dan Newman, a spokesman for the governor's initiative campaign, said in a statement.
The stakes were made clear Friday by courtroom attendance. The audience included a top aide to Assembly Speaker John A. P?rez (D-Los Angeles), Brown's campaign operatives and opponents of both tax measures.
Munger's legal team maintains that Democrats in the Legislature acted illegally to move Brown's measure toward the top of the fall ballot this week by changing state election law. The legislation, introduced Monday, passed without a committee hearing and signed by Brown on Wednesday, states that constitutional amendments ? like the governor's tax proposal ? should appear ahead of other initiatives on the ballot.
"The Legislature and the governor took extraordinary steps to change the rules in the middle of the game," said Grant Davis-Denny, Munger's attorney.
Democrats, who hold wide majorities in both houses of the Legislature, passed the measure as part of the package of budget bills approved this week, which allows the law to take effect immediately. Most bills do not become law until the January following their signature by the governor.
"This bill ? was in no way, shape or form related to the budget," Munger's complaint states. The lawmakers' move was an "abuse of the political process and legislative power."
Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said the bill was simply a "clarification" of existing law, and Brown's measure deserved to be at the top of the ballot because its fate would have important consequences for the state.
The lawsuit also alleges that election workers in Los Angeles and Alameda counties "failed to comply with their statutory duties" by tallying petitions for Brown's campaign before Munger's, even though the governor's petitions were submitted after hers.
Frawley's order granted Munger's attorneys permission to depose election officials in the two counties.
Deputy Atty. Gen. Ross C. Moody, representing the secretary of state, argued that delaying the numbering of the initiatives would wreak havoc on ballot printing, which involves translating election information into various languages.
"The more you slow it down and the more you tinker with it," he said, the more there was "the possibility of errors in the process."
Munger's attorneys used a series of charts and graphs to argue that the legal proceedings would not jeopardize the state's traditional election calendar.
A secretary of state spokeswoman, Nicole Winger, said Bowen would follow whatever the court ultimately decides, asking only "that the judge issue a ruling as soon as possible so that our staff can continue with the many preelection duties that are dependent on the decision."
In the last few weeks,?the tech industry's?biggest players have shown off their newest software and hardware, all aiming to make big moves before the end of the year. Apple has iOS 6 and the new MacBook Pros, Microsoft unveiled the new Surface and is preparing Windows 8 for launch, and Google has shown off the new version of Android and entered the tablet game.
It should be much more exciting than last year. What did 2011 have? A spec bump on the iPhone and iPad, a slow warming to the Windows Phone ecosystem, and the?lackluster launches of a social network and (failed)?desktop platform?by Google. By comparison, 2012 should be a battle royale.
(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal, but that doesn't grant reporters privileged access to Microsoft products and services, nor does it influence their opinion of them.)
Let's look at what each company has in store:
Apple Big changes are afoot this year: a truly new iPhone is expected, sure, but June's announcements already telegraphed their intentions: a return to the high end, and freezing out Google.
After aggressively pricing almost all their hardware via partnerships and ruthless negotiation with manufacturers, Apple has managed to push its products down from luxury to the mainstream. The iPhone is now considered a standard device, and the MacBook Air, once incredibly overpriced, is now setting the bar for PC laptops.
This has given Apple the market share to start selling extremely expensive things again, starting with the Retina?MacBook Pro. Soon there will likely be a 13-inch version as well, and they will both sell like hotcakes?? even at around $2,000 per unit. The cheapest new iPhone will probably still cost $200 to consumers, but only because Verizon and AT&T will have no choice but to subsidize it.
iOS 6 is on its way as well, and it's evident that Apple is using its mobile platform as both carrot and stick. Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and more are getting the red carpet treatment, integrated right into the OS. But Google is getting the cold shoulder as Apple moves to its own maps and tries to get users to ask Siri instead of Google.
What could go wrong? If Google's?Android OS?was more mature and more evenly upgraded (that is, less "fragmented"), it?could pose a threat to Apple's near-monopoly in the hugely profitable paid-apps ecosystem. And Apple is still lagging behind in cloud services, losing out on many fronts ? including?file sharing and storage, streaming media,?email and Web apps ??to Google, Microsoft, and smaller companies. Apple can only keep you attached to their services if those services are competitive, and the competition is moving faster than they are. And be honest: iOS and OS X are both starting to look a bit old.
Microsoft The year?2012 will be looked on as a watershed moment in the company's history: Windows 8 is the biggest change ever made to the world's most popular OS, and opinions are in no way unanimous on the new look and feel. But Microsoft hopes to build on their success in the living room and make Windows and Xbox an ecosystem families and friends can live in, not just a set of isolated products.
The Surface tablet is Microsoft's way of telling the world that it's ready to move on from the?desktops and laptops that put the company where it is today. And Windows Phone 8 is Microsoft learning from its mobile OS?mistakes and saying "this time for real." The next Xbox isn't ready, but you'd better believe it's being conceived as the third piece in this puzzle.
Connecting the TV, PC and mobile (the so-called "three screens" strategy) has ever been a hope of Microsoft's, but it's not until now that the company's had the presence on the TV, the credibility on mobile, and the audacity to actually change what constitutes a PC. This year and the next will be a crucible for the company as it is forced to abandon traditions and partners, but if it's going to remain a force in consumer tech, these are necessary steps.
Plenty could go awry, though, and if one piece fails, the others are weakened. Windows 8 could fail to gain traction as a replacement for Windows 7, to which many millions of people and companies have only recently switched. Leaving behind 10 or 20 years of applications and hardware isn't something small businesses and casual computer users are likely to do.
Similarly, Windows Phone 8 will have a lot to prove when it debuts, first because the platform may have lost the support of many early adopters by not fully?upgrading devices currently running Windows Phone 7 and 7.5, and second because Microsoft may simply not have the superstar hardware that will be needed to take consumers' eyes off the next iPhone.
Google The challenge Google will be facing is presenting a single aspect to the consumer. There are 10 different versions of Android out there by 10 different manufacturers, all getting updates at the whim of the carriers.?Meanwhile, the?Chrome browser?is coming out for iPad, and yet Google is making its own laptop OS and its own?Android tablets, and trying to one-up Facebook with a proprietary social network,?too? Every corner of the tech world seems to have a different Google, focused on a different task. Android 4.1 is the company's way of roping everything back together.
With one OS for tablets and phones, a plea to developers and partners to get on board, and a new tablet that sets a high bar for a budget product, Google is trying to unify a core brand after its initial meteoric rise and sprawl.
Another goal seems to be having one big Google that looks more or less the same wherever you go, and from whichever device you use. Chrome syncs tabs between devices, sure, but ultimately what Google wants is for you to think of Google as a place, not a set of services and websites. One place that you can view from multiple windows?? your phone, your TV, your PC and, at some point, your vision overlay device, such as Google Glass.
In order for that to happen, though, Google has to make its world look, act and respond in a similar way no matter where you are. No small task when there are huge differences in interface, connectivity and screen size. Not to mention hardware partners like Samsung and HTC putting custom interfaces all over the place. (Those overlays are probably not going to survive for much longer, by the way.)
Unfortunately for Google, too much of this is out of the company's control. The very nature of open systems like Android prevents Google from yielding to this kind of unifying influence, and companies may (as Amazon did) simply take what they want and tell Google to go fly a kite. So Google needs cooperation from its friends in turning its patchwork systems and platforms into a single powerful, useful and affordable one.
What will happen? How it will likely play out is this: Google and Microsoft will both take a hit as they regroup and put their weight behind their new unifying efforts. This will be because they have to build up brand and trust over again.
Meanwhile Apple will continue to dominate in hardware, selling iOS and OS X devices by the million, but even its most dedicated customers must acknowledge that both operating systems aren't as fresh as they used to be.
So while it'll be another year of big sales for Apple, you'll see a creeping discontent with its software offerings. A full overhaul will be due ? maybe even overdue ? by June of next year, when Apple again gathers its global cadre of developers. But by that time, who knows? Maybe Google and Microsoft will have gotten their acts together, and the sparks of their own reinventions will be catching fire.
DALLAS (AP) ? The sun was setting when Jerry Abel's cattle began to bellow on his Central Texas ranch. They were convulsing by the time he rushed to the pasture. Within hours, Abel had lost almost all his herd.
The culprit: toxic grass.
Abel's 15 dead cattle represent the first documented case of cyanide deaths being linked to a common Bermuda grass hybrid found in grazing lands across the Southeast. Although the incident in late May initially sparked concern from other ranchers who use the same grass, state agriculture experts say they believe the problem is isolated and there's no cause for alarm.
"If cattle are already on pasture, don't worry about it," said Larry Redmon, a specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, which worked with state and federal agencies to investigate the deaths. "Chances are it's not going to be an issue." But, he said, "I would never say never."
Preliminary results from the investigation show Abel's Tifton 85 grass contained cyanide, or prussic acid, though Redmond said what caused the poison to build up remains unclear and under investigation.
The grass, a warm-weather perennial grown south of the Red River, was released to ranchers in 1992 for its drought resistance and nutritive value and is perhaps the most commonly used Bermuda grass variety in Texas, the nation's leading cattle state.
Since other grasses such as sorghums or Sudan can pose cyanide danger, most ranchers know to wait seven to 10 days after new growth before sending cattle to graze, Redmon said. That allows the grass time to release the cyanide into the atmosphere.
But because this is the first reported case of deadly levels of prussic acid in Bermuda grass, the 69-year-old Abel had no idea his cattle were in danger. He's been a rancher since 1977 and growing Tifton 85 on his pasture northeast of Austin for 15 years.
"I was totally, completely surprised," he said from his Elgin ranch, which contains about 30 acres of Tifton 85. "I never expected anything like this."
At about 8 or 9 in the evening on May 24, Abel let his 18 head of Corriente cattle into the pasture. His trainer heard the first bellows, and when they returned to the pasture, they saw many of the cattle convulsing, some already dead. Just three cattle survived.
Abel called his veterinarian, who came to the ranch the next morning to begin autopsies on the animals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Texas Department of Agriculture are working closely with the extension office on the investigation.
The extension service will attempt to recreate in a greenhouse all the factors that may have caused the prussic acid release, Redmon said.
He called the cyanide deaths a "perfect storm" of conditions that remain under investigation. The grass, which had been stressed by drought, soaked up spring rains that prompted lush growth. Prussic acid levels are highest in new growth, which is the layer eaten first by cattle. Grasshoppers, which had reportedly infested the area, may have damaged the grass tissue, causing a release of prussic acid. The cattle were eager to munch on fresh grass.
State and federal agriculture officials could not provide a tally of how many cattle die from eating toxic grass. Redmon said he has heard of other large numbers of cattle dying at once from lightning, nitrates or algae poisoning. Strange toxins also have been known to kill cattle in states such as Illinois and Nebraska, though experts and ranchers agree those kinds of deaths are rarer.
Redmon stressed that thousands of ranchers across the southeastern United States continue to graze their cattle on Tifton 85 and have reported no issues. He said ranchers expect about a 2 percent loss each year "as part of doing business."
A few ranchers have called Abel to get his advice, but he said he's pointed them to the extension service and its recommendations. Other area ranchers said they will do more research on the incident, but aren't concerned with their own fields.
Jim McAdams, former president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and long-time Texas rancher, said he always gets concerned when extreme weather causes rapid growth of hay or grass.
"Weird things happen," said McAdams, 62, who has about 40 acres of Tifton 85 near Huntsville. "It's just something that we ranchers have lived with for a long time."
Jim Russell, a grass grower and distributer in Sulphur Springs, questioned whether cyanide was the main culprit in the deaths of Abel's cattle.
"Anytime you put real hungry stomachs on a pasture you're going to have problems," said Russell, 74, who has been in the hay business since 1979 and isn't worried about his grasses. "Their bodies can't handle it."
Abel, who does not remember who he purchased the Tifton 85 sprigs from nearly 15 years ago, said the cattle were given hay and water in their pens before being turned out into the field. He added that anytime cattle are set loose to graze in a new pasture, even if they have been fed hay first, "they're going to go after it."
Abel said he has replaced the dead cattle and is keeping all his livestock in pens and feeding them hay. He said the Tifton 85 grass can still be used as hay because the prussic acid eventually dissipates.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) ? From sites on the fringes of wildfires burning around the West, incident commanders spend nearly every waking hour huddled around maps, looking at computer screens or glued to the radio, trying to plot their next move.
Their decisions come after pouring over intelligence that's flooding in from crew leaders, weather forecasters and fuels analysts.
Elsewhere, teams of specialists smooth out the logistics of shuffling firefighters and equipment around the country.
Tom Harbour is the director of fire and aviation management for the U.S. Forest Service.
He says that the characterization that fire is war is probably a fitting one.
But he expresses cautious confidence that the Forest Service has adequate resources to do the job.
Contact: Jose Fragoso fragoso@stanford.edu 415-810-1887 Stanford University
Scientists convening at the largest-ever meeting of tropical biologists congratulated Brazil for its global leadership on environment and science, but warned that recent developments could jeopardize that position, undermining progress on reducing deforestation, protecting indigenous lands, and safeguarding ecosystems outside the Amazon rainforest.
Forgoing the Rio+20 Earth Summit, some 1200 tropical biologists and conservationists met in Bonito, Brazil at the 49th annual meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) to present and discuss topics ranging from ecology to sustainable use of tropical biology. More than half the participants were Brazilian.
At the conclusion of the meetings, ATBC issued a declaration urging the Brazil government maintain its leadership position on environmental conservation and sustainable development, by continuing to utilize scientific input and invest in science and education.
"Brazil's success in advancing science and conservation, while achieving impressive economic growth and significant improvements in human welfare are being watched by the world as a potential model for environmentally sustainable development," said John Kress, a botanist at the Smithsonian Institution who serves as ATBC Executive Director. "But recent developments raise concerns."
"Brazil was on a good track on environmental issues over past 10-20 years," said Carlos Fonseca, a botanist at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. "We saw real changes in how society perceives and values the environment. Recently this changed drastically mostly due to Congress, which is changing the laws to go against popular opinion and the advice of scientists. This is threatening a lot of the achievements we've had in the past two decades."
The declaration cited several issues including the recent push to weaken the country's Forest Code, which stipulates how much forest a landowner must preserve on their property, and proposed infrastructure projects, which could worsen deforestation and degrade important ecosystem functions.
"Changes to the Forest Code are short-sighted and largely ignored input from biologists and conservation scientists," said Fonseca. "The new Forest Code could reverse Brazil's progress in reducing deforestation."
The scientists also noted possible changes in how indigenous lands and protected areas are designated. The proposal would give more power to Brazilian Congress, which passed the revised forest code, and industrial development agencies in determining what lands are set aside as indigenous territories and parks.
"We are concerned about a push in Congress to start reviewing the tenure of the indigenous lands, which is something that is unique to Brazil," said Jos Manuel Fragoso, an ecologist at Stanford University. "Indigenous peoples depend on these lands for their livelihoods and are also very important partners for biodiversity conservation."
"We feel that Brazil has been in a leadership position with regard to the environment so we're disappointed to see the government failing to address concerns raised by the scientific community on some of these large-scale industrial development projects like the Belo Monte dam and the proposed project on the Tapajs River," said Fragoso.
"Brazil is planning 30 new dams in the legal Amazon region by 2020," said Philip Fearnside of the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amaznia in Manaus, Brazil. "These dams will block key fish migration routes, flood tens of thousands of hectares of rainforest, inundate indigenous communities, and unleash vast amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Amazon dams are not a source of clean energy."
The declaration urged the government rigorously and transparently consider and utilize scientific information in the planning all dam projects. It noted the need to investigate less damaging forms of technology to meet growing energy needs.
ATBC further highlighted Brazil's lesser-known, but highly important ecosystems, which in some cases haven't experienced the progress seen in the Amazon. The deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen by nearly 80 percent since 2004.
"Brazil must be commended for the drop in Amazon deforestation," said Kirsten Silvius of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. "But other important ecosystems -- the Atlantic forest, cerrado, caatinga, pantanal, and pampas grasslands -- have not received the same level of attention. Indeed, the cerrado is being converted at a more than twice the rate of the Amazon and is at extreme risk from synergistic interactions between fragmentation, climate change and fire."
"The world is still losing forests at a rapid pace, which as a tropical biologist, is a huge concern to me," said Susan Laurance. "Brazil can offer a positive model for other tropical countries but also for its other ecosystems."
The declaration notes Brazil has shown both vision and leadership in investing in higher education and research, and now boasts world-class institutes and scientists in many areas of scientific endeavor. Its development of satellite technology for monitoring the Amazon has been central to setting and meeting of targets for reducing deforestation.
"We urge that the same vision is extended to other ecosystems to ensure long-term environmentally sustainable stewardship," stated the declaration. "New mechanisms are needed to ensure that vital scientific information is incorporated into decision-making processes from the start."
"Brazil has the once in a lifetime opportunity to lead the world on the environment. It has a wealth of scientific capacity and resources available to develop evidence-based policy," said Toby Gardner. "It shouldn't pass up this opportunity."
###
The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation is the world's largest scientific organization devoted to the study and protection of tropical ecosystems, with members in over 70 countries.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Jose Fragoso fragoso@stanford.edu 415-810-1887 Stanford University
Scientists convening at the largest-ever meeting of tropical biologists congratulated Brazil for its global leadership on environment and science, but warned that recent developments could jeopardize that position, undermining progress on reducing deforestation, protecting indigenous lands, and safeguarding ecosystems outside the Amazon rainforest.
Forgoing the Rio+20 Earth Summit, some 1200 tropical biologists and conservationists met in Bonito, Brazil at the 49th annual meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) to present and discuss topics ranging from ecology to sustainable use of tropical biology. More than half the participants were Brazilian.
At the conclusion of the meetings, ATBC issued a declaration urging the Brazil government maintain its leadership position on environmental conservation and sustainable development, by continuing to utilize scientific input and invest in science and education.
"Brazil's success in advancing science and conservation, while achieving impressive economic growth and significant improvements in human welfare are being watched by the world as a potential model for environmentally sustainable development," said John Kress, a botanist at the Smithsonian Institution who serves as ATBC Executive Director. "But recent developments raise concerns."
"Brazil was on a good track on environmental issues over past 10-20 years," said Carlos Fonseca, a botanist at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. "We saw real changes in how society perceives and values the environment. Recently this changed drastically mostly due to Congress, which is changing the laws to go against popular opinion and the advice of scientists. This is threatening a lot of the achievements we've had in the past two decades."
The declaration cited several issues including the recent push to weaken the country's Forest Code, which stipulates how much forest a landowner must preserve on their property, and proposed infrastructure projects, which could worsen deforestation and degrade important ecosystem functions.
"Changes to the Forest Code are short-sighted and largely ignored input from biologists and conservation scientists," said Fonseca. "The new Forest Code could reverse Brazil's progress in reducing deforestation."
The scientists also noted possible changes in how indigenous lands and protected areas are designated. The proposal would give more power to Brazilian Congress, which passed the revised forest code, and industrial development agencies in determining what lands are set aside as indigenous territories and parks.
"We are concerned about a push in Congress to start reviewing the tenure of the indigenous lands, which is something that is unique to Brazil," said Jos Manuel Fragoso, an ecologist at Stanford University. "Indigenous peoples depend on these lands for their livelihoods and are also very important partners for biodiversity conservation."
"We feel that Brazil has been in a leadership position with regard to the environment so we're disappointed to see the government failing to address concerns raised by the scientific community on some of these large-scale industrial development projects like the Belo Monte dam and the proposed project on the Tapajs River," said Fragoso.
"Brazil is planning 30 new dams in the legal Amazon region by 2020," said Philip Fearnside of the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amaznia in Manaus, Brazil. "These dams will block key fish migration routes, flood tens of thousands of hectares of rainforest, inundate indigenous communities, and unleash vast amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Amazon dams are not a source of clean energy."
The declaration urged the government rigorously and transparently consider and utilize scientific information in the planning all dam projects. It noted the need to investigate less damaging forms of technology to meet growing energy needs.
ATBC further highlighted Brazil's lesser-known, but highly important ecosystems, which in some cases haven't experienced the progress seen in the Amazon. The deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen by nearly 80 percent since 2004.
"Brazil must be commended for the drop in Amazon deforestation," said Kirsten Silvius of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. "But other important ecosystems -- the Atlantic forest, cerrado, caatinga, pantanal, and pampas grasslands -- have not received the same level of attention. Indeed, the cerrado is being converted at a more than twice the rate of the Amazon and is at extreme risk from synergistic interactions between fragmentation, climate change and fire."
"The world is still losing forests at a rapid pace, which as a tropical biologist, is a huge concern to me," said Susan Laurance. "Brazil can offer a positive model for other tropical countries but also for its other ecosystems."
The declaration notes Brazil has shown both vision and leadership in investing in higher education and research, and now boasts world-class institutes and scientists in many areas of scientific endeavor. Its development of satellite technology for monitoring the Amazon has been central to setting and meeting of targets for reducing deforestation.
"We urge that the same vision is extended to other ecosystems to ensure long-term environmentally sustainable stewardship," stated the declaration. "New mechanisms are needed to ensure that vital scientific information is incorporated into decision-making processes from the start."
"Brazil has the once in a lifetime opportunity to lead the world on the environment. It has a wealth of scientific capacity and resources available to develop evidence-based policy," said Toby Gardner. "It shouldn't pass up this opportunity."
###
The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation is the world's largest scientific organization devoted to the study and protection of tropical ecosystems, with members in over 70 countries.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 28-Jun-2012
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