Between 4 and 6 this morning, the DHL air park held its last shift of package-sorting in Wilmington, Ohio. It represents the conclusion of the largest single layoff in Ohio history. I covered it with two colleagues from the News Journal, as well as reporters from 60 Minutes, Dayton Daily News, and channels 7 and … Continue reading DHL’s last sorting shift
Author: paladin1787
Wind farm stories
It occurs to me I never linked to two stories I wrote about possible wind farms in Clinton County. My friends who head up the local green energy/green jobs advocacy group would be appalled. Here's the first, about the drive to get people interested in a possible wind farm. Here's the second, about the very … Continue reading Wind farm stories
Applied Sciences slideshow back online
I was able to work out the bugs in the Flash embed code, so you can now, once again, view my slideshow about Applied Sciences. This company, near distressed Dayton, Ohio, invented the tech to double the capacity of any lithium-ion battery. Here's the link.
Story-version mixup and a possible exclusive
Because of a few mixups and misunderstandings by more than one person (not necessarily including myself), a prior-to-final version of my story headlined Tuesday's Wilmington News Journal. Needless to say, I like the final version much better (thanks to my editor's good suggestions), so I'm not even going to link to the printed version. Right … Continue reading Story-version mixup and a possible exclusive
Proud to be burning coal
Just thought I'd share. A friend of mine noticed this today and I had to shoot the pic with my cell phone. It's the coal hopper for a historic train engine in a Washington Court House, Ohio park.
Published!
The Lammers site pollution investigation has finally seen the light of day. Beavercreek is running it as a 3-part series on Thursdays, starting yesterday. Xenia, Fairborn and Bellbrook are running it as a 3-part series on Fridays starting today. Wilmington is running it as a 2-part series, today and Saturday. (Since this post was first … Continue reading Published!
Creative nonfiction: Jet fuel and backwards math
I call this, "Jet fuel and backwards math." I have a female friend who took a trip to a Honduras, presumably to work at food distribution centers and halfway houses and free clinics, as many of our acquaintances often do. Until just now I didn't know what that jet fuel meant. In January 2009 Yan … Continue reading Creative nonfiction: Jet fuel and backwards math
Best of Twitter 6: Links to others’ green stuff part II
RT @Greenmoms In bad economies businesses need work and people need services, but both are short. Enter bartering. http://tinyurl.com/cd6hl0 12:36 PM Apr 14th If we could suffice with 1948 levels of consumerism, 40hr workweeks could be 13.5hrs. Fascinating. @Orion_Magazine http://tinyurl.com/dnl28y 1:21 PM Apr 14th And is your college ranked on http://greenreportcard.org/? A thoroughly researched project, … Continue reading Best of Twitter 6: Links to others’ green stuff part II
Best of Twitter 5: Links to others’ green stuff part I
Contest: What's the "greenest" concept you can think of? Mine is the "100 Thing Challenge." Only 100 personal possessions. Could you do it? 2:11 PM Feb 20th And visit betterworldshopper.com— a site (and book) that ranks companies for responsibility. Almost all products have a better option. 11:01 AM Feb 25th Cell phone radiation harmful? Who … Continue reading Best of Twitter 5: Links to others’ green stuff part I
Best of Twitter 4: My own green thoughts
Blogging about Applied Sciences, Inc, the world's third largest producer of carbon nanotubes - tech that could double the Volt car's milage. 4:32 PM Feb 12th If it's true that the first passive solar building stateside will be in Yellow Springs (near here), I'm on it like weatherstripping. 8:51 AM Feb 19th If we kept … Continue reading Best of Twitter 4: My own green thoughts
Best of Twitter 3: My thoughts (non-green)
Google's advanced search: limit the domain and the file type, and find every spreadsheet an org has posted to the net. 12:03 PM Mar 7th $10,000: The usual DAILY fine, legally-mandated, for a nonprofit withholding its IRS-990 tax form from a reporter. 12:06 PM Mar 7th Just about every city pays a flat fee per … Continue reading Best of Twitter 3: My thoughts (non-green)
Best of Twitter 2: Links to others’ non-green stuff
101cookbooks.com is genius. It seems like the healthiest, tastiest recipes end up on here... And the author goes fresh and local as a rule. 12:15 PM Feb 26th Sandwich: Emmentaler and white cheddar, cucumber, red onion, sprouts, sunflower seeds, homemade slaw and mayo on whole wheat. windscafe.com 10:06 PM Feb 28th Groups now help move … Continue reading Best of Twitter 2: Links to others’ non-green stuff
Best of Twitter series 1: Personal
I tweet a lot more than I write on here, and I hate to leave you as-yet-Twitter-shunners hanging. So much that I share in Twitter might be useful to you, and I can't stand that you'll never see it. The Twitter broadcast on the left sidebar is only so useful, because inevitably you miss 80-90 … Continue reading Best of Twitter series 1: Personal
Local orgs pay for laid-off worker health care
The quasi-public hospital in Wilmington is picking up the brunt of the cost to care for the health of laid-off air park workers — soon to be, possibly, all 8-10,000 of them. The other part of the funding came from DHL itself via the Clinton County Foundation, itself a 501c3 staffed by prominent public figures. … Continue reading Local orgs pay for laid-off worker health care
Ohio libraries in danger
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland recently announced a proposal to cut state library funding by 30 percent, on top of a 20 percent cut already this year. (Yes, that would total a 50 percent budget cut. And 70 percent of Ohio public libraries use the state as their sole funding source.) I wrote a story about … Continue reading Ohio libraries in danger
Toxics now, IRE conference later
Since right now I'm technically still on vacation, I'll delay my stories about the IRE conference until Thursday or Friday when I get back to Ohio. Right now I'm in Boston seeing what there is to see, eating and drinking what there is to eat and drink, with a friend who just graduated from MIT. … Continue reading Toxics now, IRE conference later
Recent work
Been awhile since I've posted; about the same time I stopped posting, school let out for the summer. Since then I must have been preoccupied by work at News Journal... but also with personal stuff. My reporting gig is only 20 hours a week. It's a good thing I don't have many expenses. I've been … Continue reading Recent work
CU/Green on the PR benefits of itself
CU/Green: Things Cedarville University should consider doing in order to be good stewards of the Earth. PR Blitz First and foremost we should remember we toil to take care of the environment, not to promote ourselves. But the PR department should also know their promotion could be as much a public service to the non-CU-population … Continue reading CU/Green on the PR benefits of itself
CU/Green on everyday stuff
CU/Green: Things Cedarville University should consider doing in order to be good stewards of the Earth. Healthy personal choices get rid of the rat poison around the buildings, maybe replacing it with natural alternatives Replace all cleaners and solvents with environmentally-friendly ones. Maybe contract with Seventh Generation or Biokleen. Make sure we're not using products … Continue reading CU/Green on everyday stuff
CU/Green on our refuse
CU/Green: Things Cedarville University should consider doing in order to be good stewards of the Earth. Recycling mandate recycling of all recyclables, in all buildings. Why make it a hard rule? First, rules aren't resented here as much as it may seem. Lots of people didn't mind the dress code. (And this rule actually caters … Continue reading CU/Green on our refuse
Brandon Smith 