WASHINGTON — New satellite imaging has revealed that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita produced the largest single forestry disaster on record in the nation – an essentially unreported ecological catastrophe that killed or severely damaged about 320 million trees in Mississippi and Louisiana.
The die-off, caused initially by wind and later by weeks- long pooling of stagnant water, was so massive that researchers say it will add significantly to the global greenhouse-gas buildup – ultimately putting as much carbon from dying vegetation into the air as the rest of the nation’s forest takes out in a year of photosynthesis.
In addition, the downing of so many trees has opened vast and sometimes fragile tracts to several aggressive and fast-growing exotic species that are already squeezing out far more environmentally productive native species.
The new assessment comes from a study being published today in the journal Science.
CBS says newsman’s suit rather late
NEW YORK — CBS asked a judge Thursday to dismiss a $70 million defamation lawsuit that veteran television newsman Dan Rather filed against the network and its parent company, arguing that he waited too long to take legal action.
Rather’s suit claims his bosses made him a “scapegoat” for the controversy that arose over a disputed story about President Bush’s military service.
CBS’s motion argues the lawsuit should be dismissed because it was filed in September, more than two years after he was removed from his “CBS Evening News” post.
Bodies left along bike path
LEMONT, ILL. — Bodies of two men wrapped in plastic, bedsheets and packing tape were found Thursday by construction crews working to pave a bike path, authorities said.
The bodies probably were left late Wednesday or early Thursday because crews hadn’t seen them at the site Wednesday, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said.
A preliminary investigation indicated the men were about 6 feet tall, appear to be Latino and were apparently beaten, authorities said. The men have yet to be identified.
Cleaning up at office, cleaning less a home
AMHERST, MASS. — Money may not buy love, but it might get some working wives a reprieve from the vacuum or overflowing laundry baskets. A University of Massachusetts Amherst study finds married women do about one less hour of housework per week for every $7,500 they earn as full-time workers outside the home, regardless of the husband’s income.
