Not So Hot If a scientific paper appeared in a major journal saying that the planet has warmed twice as much as previously thought, that would be front-page news in every major paper around the planet. But what would happen if a paper was published demonstrating that the planet may have warmed up only half as much as previously thought? Nothing. Earlier this month, Ross McKitrick from Canada's University of Guelph and I published a manuscript in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres saying precisely that. Scientists have known for years that temperature records can be contaminated by so-called "urban warming," which results from the fact that long-term temperature histories tend to have originated at points of commerce. The bricks, buildings, and pavement of cities retain the heat of the day and impede the flow of ventilating winds. For example, downtown Washington is warmer than nearby (and more rural) Dulles Airport. As government and services expand down the Dulles Access road, it, too, is beginning to warm compared to more rural sites to the west. Adjusting data for this effect, or using only rural stations, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states with confidence that less than 10% of the observed warming in long-term climate histories is due to urbanization. That's a wonderful hypothesis, and Ross and I decided to test it....
Lawsuit alleges countywide conspiracy The owners of Lauxmont Farms in Lower Windsor Township filed a lawsuit against York County Monday, claiming that the county commissioners' efforts to take their land by eminent domain for a park caused them financial problems. But the lawsuit goes beyond that, alleging the existence of a wide-ranging conspiracy by public officials in York County. According to the allegations, the members of the conspiracy wanted to get the Kohrs' land for considerably less-than-market value, motivated in part by personal dislike, and conducted a prolonged harassment campaign against the family that eventually drove their mother to suicide. "They're out millions of dollars," the Kohrs' lawyer, John Snyder, said in a phone interview. "They have lost a mother in this process, which they believe, and I concur with them, was a result of this process. They've lost time and opportunity and buyers, and they've had their civil rights trampled on."....