Evolution in Kansas

Evolution Opponents Lose Kansas Board Majority
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, The New York Times, August 2, 2006

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Conservative Republicans who approved new classroom standards that call evolution into question lost control of the State Board of Education in Tuesday's primary election.

A victory by pro-evolution Republican candidate Jana Shaver over conservative Republican Brad Patzer, who supported the standards treating evolution as a flawed theory, meant conservatives would at best have five of 10 seats on the board.

Five seats were up for election in the primary, the latest skirmish in a seesawing battle between faith and science that has opened Kansas up to international ridicule.
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Eva Green in The Golden Compass, Too
Source: Variety, August 2, 2006

Just a couple of days after Nicole Kidman was announced as the villain Mrs. Coulter in New Line's The Golden Compass, Eva Green has also come on board as the queen of witches. The project is the first installment of a potential trilogy based on Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials."

Green, who plays Vesper Lynd in the 21st James Bond movie Casino Royale, has signed a deal for one film, with an option for two more if the studio completes the trilogy.

Green will play Serafina Pekula, the witch who guides Lyra Belacqua (to be played by newcomer Dakota Blue Richards) on her journey to a parallel universe.

Chris Weitz is directing his adaptation of the novel; filming begins Sept. 4 at Shepperton Studios in London. New Line has set a November 16, 2007 release date for the film, which is produced by Deborah Forte and Bill Carraro.

Windmills!

Colorado Resort to Invest Heavily in Wind Power
By KIRK JOHNSON, The New York Times, August 2, 2006

DENVER, Aug. 1 — Vail Resorts, the big Colorado ski and recreation company, said Tuesday that it would make a huge investment in wind power, buying enough credits to offset all the power needed for its resorts, retail stores and office buildings.

The announcement makes Vail the second-largest corporate buyer of wind energy in the nation, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, after Whole Foods Market Inc., the big supermarket chain that went to all wind power earlier this year.

Buying wind, though, will not mean building mountain windmills. Rather, Vail officials said they would buy the equivalent amount of their energy needs in wind power credits from a Boulder company called Renewable Choice Energy. Renewable Choice will then buy wind power from producers — mainly in Minnesota, Kansas, North Dakota and South Dakota — and inject the amount of power Vail uses into the national electric grid.
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