Heating bill help diverted to Dixie

WATERLOO - As a record number of Iowans seek help paying heating bills during a brutal winter, the state's latest round of emergency energy assistance funds has been significantly slashed in favor of warm-weather states like Florida.

Ed Miliband declares war on climate change sceptics | Environment | The Observer

Climate secretary Ed Miliband warns against listening to 'siren voices', in an interview with the Observer
...
The danger of climate scepticism was that it would undermine public support for unpopular decisions needed to curb carbon emissions, including the likelihood of higher energy bills for households, and issues such as the visual impact of wind turbines, said Miliband, who is also energy secretary.

The Big Issue | Sceptics fiddle while the planet burns | From the Observer | The Observer

It must be remembered that global warming is not an issue of opinion. It is solely about the quantum mechanical interactions between radiation and molecules in the atmosphere and the knock-on effects this has. Unlike questions such as the best policy for dealing with the recession, where two sides could in theory ague for all eternity, with climate change only one side can be correct. We just don't yet know which side is correct. As climate change deniers have failed to produce a peer-reviewed body of evidence pointing to a mechanism that would negate the impact of our emissions, caution would seem to be sensible.

David Coley
Senior research fellow

Elderly couple freeze to death | cincinnati.com | Cincinnati.Com

FRANKLIN TWP. – An elderly couple, who police say suffered from Alzheimer's disease, was found dead outside their home Saturday afternoon after apparently freezing to death.

Recent sea trout deaths alarm angler | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY

Tom Woodward takes pride in the fact he's been fishing the shallows of Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River in the Titusville-
Oak Hill-New Smyrna area for 35 years.

So it's understandable that the 48-year-old New Smyrna Beach angler is concerned by the numbers of large spotted sea trout he has witnessed the past two weeks floating belly-up. They, too, were the victims of the record freeze.

"For me, the sight is as heartbreaking as it is unprecedented. I've never seen anything like it," said Woodward, adding that the majority of the dead trout have been large females in the 6- to 8-pound range.