| Silvio Berlusconi, the 'Great Seducer', set to charm his way back into ...
If he cracks sexist jokes about women secretaries, it does him little harm. When he was forced to apologise publicly to Veronica Lario, his long-suffering wife and a former actress, for his excessive attentions to other attractive women he probably gained votes rather than lost them. There is a similar sneaking admiration for his defiance in the face of corruption charges, and many right-wing voters agree with him that he is persecuted by left-wing magistrates. Attempts to prove that he had Mafia ties or to investigate the origins of the money with which he made his initial fortune as a Milan property developer have all run into the sand. Last weekend, comparing himself to Tony Blair, Mr Berlusconi said that he would serve for only three years of his next five-year term, and would then hand over to "an Italian Gordon Brown".
Outdoors calendar
Meandering Mondays, social pace, 25 to 40 miles or more, all include food or snack stop; 425-743-7593.
Everett Station rides, 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays, corner of Smith Avenue and 33rd Street, Everett; 18 to 28 miles, moderate to brisk pace, headlight and taillight required; 206-795-1363.
Birds and biking, 9:30 a.m. Feb. 9, start at Conway School, look for snow geese, trumpeter swans and more; food stop in Mount Vernon; 30 to 35 miles; 425-743-7593.
Soup ride, 9:30 a.m. Feb. 9, start at Allen Creek Elementary, 6505 60th Drive NE, Marysville; 30 to 40 miles, rain or snow cancels; soup lunch afterward; 360-653-2384.
Snohomish to Sultan and back, 10 a.m. Feb. 9, start at Centennial Trail head at Maple in Snohomish; 45 miles; 425-349-5065.
Alan Bergeron Loop, 10 a.m.
Crowd hits the Skywalk for annual golf outing
More than 1,700 golfers teed off in the middle of downtown Des Moines this morning as part of the 23rd annual Skywalk Open Golf Tournament.
The miniature golf event, totaling 54 holes spread over three courses and 3.2 miles of downtown walkways, drew competitors ranging from new Tiger Woods-wannabees to entire families whove made a habit of mid-winter togetherness. .
KRIEGER: Forsberg worth the risk
Forsberg's homecoming may produce a similar result. But the joy of his return for hockey fans will be in the discovery. It doesn't have to be the same as it was. It only has to be better than it is. Joel Quenneville suggested he will skate on a line with Sakic or Paul Stastny once he is ready. Is there a hockey fan in Denver who would not pay to watch that? Peter Forsberg is a special hockey player who has a special relationship with this town. Sport may be a business, but it can also be a bond, a sentiment. We are allowed to celebrate the return of a favorite son and to let everything else take care of itself. Bringing back Forsberg is not a forlorn attempt to recapture the past. It is the hard-headed addition of a unique hockey asset with all the upside in the world and no downside at all.
Carbondale council to discuss goals for new year
CARBONDALE — In their first meeting of 2008, members of the Carbondale City Council will be discussing what they hope to achieve with the budget in the coming fiscal year.A seven-page brief drafted by city staff entitled, "Review of Community Goals for the Fiscal Year 2009 Budget" will frame the council’s discussion.Items mentioned in the review range from the abstract, such as promoting "a sense of community pride for accomplishments and progress during the year," to the specific, in fixing crumbling sidewalks and water lines.The total city budget for fiscal year 2008 was about $42.9 million, an increase of $880,000 over the year before.Councilman Chris Wissmann, who has warned in the past that increasing costs might mean the city will have to abandon its zero-dollar property tax assessment, said Saturday he was unsure of what to expect as far as what can be accomplished in the FY 2009 budget."There are some water line replacements on Pecan Street, where the water mains have broken on a regular basis … sidewalks are ongoing, and bicycle paths," he said, highlighting a few bricks-and-mortar projects.
The Lowdown on Topsoil: It’s Disappearing
While many worry about the potential consequences of atmospheric warming, a few experts are trying to call attention to another global crisis quietly taking place under our feet. Call it the thin brown line. Dirt. On average, the planet is covered with little more than 3 feet of topsoil — the shallow skin of nutrient-rich matter that sustains most of our food and appears to play a critical role in supporting life on Earth. "We're losing more and more of it every day," said David Montgomery, a geologist at the University of Washington. "The estimate is that we are now losing about 1 percent of our topsoil every year to erosion, most of this caused by agriculture." "It's just crazy," fumed John Aeschliman, a fifth-generation farmer who grows wheat and other grains on the Palouse near the tiny town of Almota, just west of Pullman.
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