| Normally Obscure Panel Pushed Into the Limelight
Attorney Michele Rosenfeld had just finished arguing the value of a back yard that lies in the path of the future intercounty connector when the 83-year-old man asked her to speak up. "Your voice is beautiful, but it's too low," Robert Hanson told her during the recent hearing at the Rockville courthouse. "We all have hearing aids, and they're turned up to the max, but I've heard about half of what you've said." .
Volcanic gas crimps Crater Rim Drive
HILO » Dangerously high levels of sulfur dioxide gas in a small but popular area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park have officials warning visitors to stay in their cars with their air conditioner on re-circulation and to just drive through that area. The main area affected is a 5-mile stretch of Crater Rim Drive on the downwind, south side of Kilauea caldera. That means no stopping at a popular parking area at the beginning of a short path to Halemaumau Crater overlook. "Area closed due to dangerous volcanic gas. Stay in your car!" yellow-and-black warning signs say. The greatest danger is to babies and children, pregnant women and people with asthma or heart conditions, said spokeswoman Mardie Lane. FULL STORY » .
Homeowners' big question: How low will prices go?
Southern California home prices have fallen for five straight months, according to data released this month, and are now down 12% from their peak last spring and summer.
For most of this decade, skyrocketing home values were a frequent topic whenever people gathered along soccer sidelines or at backyard barbecues. But the conversation has taken an about-face, noted Jeff Vendley, a Ventura mortgage broker who is trying to sell two Oxnard town houses he bought in 2004 and 2005.
Now, he said, people are wondering, "How low we can go?"
No one knows how severe the slump will be, but economists and real estate experts interviewed by The Times, and who were willing to make predictions, said prices could fall 15% to 25% before turning back up.
Most said values would continue falling through at least next year, and some thought the market wouldn't reverse course until 2010.
Sam Springer from GTA, Canada writes: McGuinty has lots of vision;
Gail, did you even read the article? The whole point is that FLAHERTY is BLAMING Ontario for its financial woes after FLAHERTY left a deficit of $6 Billion and has NEVER taken responsibilty for this action.
What are you smoking? Posted 20/02/08 at 9:43 AM EST | Link to Comment .
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