ALBANY, N.Y. General Electric Co.'s massive campaign against dredging...

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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) General Electric Co.'s massive campaign against dredging... By Associated Press, 3/25/2001 17:36 ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) General Electric Co.'s massive campaign against dredging PCBs from the upper Hudson River is a far cry from its advertising jingle about bringing ''good things to life.''

It is an approach that departs not only from GE's traditional way of projecting its public image, but also from that of other companies that faced costly environmental problems.

''I always think of General Electric as the good guy 'we bring good things to life,''' said Marcia Christ, a Marist College advertising instructor. In the dredging ads, she said, ''It doesn't seem they're taking the high ground.''

GE has for years put money into advertising that makes people feel good about the company, stressing how its products improve quality of life. Now it is creating ''crisis management'' ads, said John Allen, senior partner at Lippincott & Marguiles, New York City-based corporate image and brand consultants.

GE has used everything from political campaign-style yard signs to half-hour prime-time infomercials on the three major networks' Albany-area affiliates to stop the federal proposal for removing PCBs that could cost the company $460 million.

''NO swimming, NO canoeing, NO diving, NO kayaking, NO water-skiing,'' reads one full page newspaper advertisement. ''If you don't want to see these signs along the Hudson for the next ten to twenty years, say no to dredging.''

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) The latest effort to close the huge gap in classroom performance between the neediest schools and the more successful ones has nothing to do with tests, standards or studying.

Instead of looking at the child as a student, a new effort by education, health, welfare and alcohol and drug addiction agencies in New York is looking at a student as a child.

''We're not going to close the gap without working with other agencies,'' state Regent Robert Bennett of Buffalo told the commissioners and top deputies of the state's health, child and family services departments and the state Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services.

The effort is the first of its kind to attack the gap in school performance. It matches the state Board of Regents, which is chosen by the full Legislature in a process that gives Democrats control and the heads of state agencies who were appointed by Republican Gov. George Pataki.

They are lobbying to expand existing programs and create new ones to address the most pressing concern of the state: Improving education at the neediest schools, in so-called ''high-needs'' districts. A landmark court order in January, now being appealed by Pataki, added urgency to the issue by finding state education aid formulas unconstitutional as they apply to New York City.

The state Regents' Task Force on Closing the Performance Gap began integrating what have been separate efforts by the state agencies to address the problems of poor students in poorly performing schools. The effort, discussed during two days of meetings by the Board of Regents last week, comes after the state's latest ''school report cards'' showed a continued lag in student performance by high-needs schools years after extraordinary efforts and record-funding increases.

WASHINGTON (AP) Cuts in power plant emissions have not done enough to reduce damage from acid rain in the Northeast, according to a scientific study out Monday.

The report, ''Acid Rain Revisited'' found that the lakes, streams, soil and trees continue to suffer from acid damage despite the emissions cuts mandated by the 1990 Clean Air Act. Only deeper cuts to nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions the pollutants which cause acid rain are likely to help the Northeast recover, the study found.

The study was produced by the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, a nonprofit environmental research group based in New Hampshire. Some of the scientists who participated in the study are to unveil it Monday at a news conference in Washington.

Many of the reports findings on acid rain damage to soil and waterways echo those of earlier studies. The new report provides particularly strong evidence, however, about the harm being done to red spruce and sugar maple trees.

The new report says acid rain has contributed to a decline in red spruce trees all across the eastern U.S. and to sugar maples in central and western Pennsylvania. Earlier reports had blamed acid rain for damage only to red spruce trees at high elevations, saying its effect on other trees was inconclusive.

Since the 1960s, more than half the canopy of red spruce trees in New York's Adirondack Mountains and Vermont's Green Mountains and one-quarter of those in New Hampshire's White Mountains have died.

The report suggested white ash and basswood trees may also be susceptible.

URBANA, Md. (AP) The suburbs are not where they used to be.

In the unending quest to find an affordable home, Americans who work in big cities are moving even farther out and redefining the suburban boundaries.

This trend has turned once tranquil towns like Urbana, about 40 miles northwest of downtown Washington, D.C., and 50 miles west of Baltimore, into pit stops for harried commuters from those cities.

For communities from New York to Colorado, that means coping with big-city problems traffic, sprawl and crime. But the boom does have its benefits, especially for service-oriented businesses such as gas stations, restaurants and dry cleaners.

''We sell a lot of coffee. Sometimes it's hard to keep up. They start coming in here at 4:30 in the morning,'' Jeff Jernigan said as he surveyed the new park-and-ride lots across the street from the gas station he works at off Interstate 270. During the morning rush, it can take more than an hour to get from Urbana to Washington or Baltimore.

Demographers long predicted the 2000 census would show the country was on its way to becoming more suburbanized. But for suburbanites there before the new crush, the statistics gave them concrete evidence of bulging big-city commuter belts since 1990.

INLET, N.Y. (AP) To develop or not to develop. That's still the question haunting the Adirondack Park, one of the country's great wilderness areas.

And the portrait of the park, a unique mix of public and private land, painted by Census 2000 suggests that the battle over development is far from over. The numbers show surprising, sometimes dramatic growth as retirees escape the sprawl of the cities in favor of the North Country's peace and tranquility.

Population increased in some towns inside the park's borders 20 percent, 30 percent, even 40 percent. While the numbers may be relatively small mostly a difference of only a few dozen people it comes as cities and villages just outside the six-million acre park are shrinking.

And as the numbers continue to rise, the line between those in favor of more economic development and environmentalists who urge caution sharpens.

''You have to protect the environment or you're going to lose the largest asset of the area,'' said Cheryl Gerrish of Old Forge, an employee at Tim's Super Duper in Eagle Bay. ''It's nice to see growth, but there's really been a lot of industrial growth.''

Some people, however, are benefiting from the growth.

''We're growing leaps and bounds,'' Gary Burrell, a bartender at Drake's Inn in Inlet, told the Observer-Dispatch of Utica. ''It's great more people and more money in my pocket just as long as they drink and smoke.'' http://www.boston.com/dailynews/084/region/ALBANY_N_Y_AP_General_Electric:.shtml

-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), March 26, 2001


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