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Take a walk in the park
Yreka, Calif., last month celebrated the completion of a new pedestrian bridge in its largest park. The bridge was installed as part of the city’s Greenhorn Creek Floodplain Restoration and Trails Project, which also included widening the creek’s floodplain and repairing another bridge over the creek. The project was funded by four different organizations/agencies and contributions from a number of other groups. Benjamin Matts, project assistant for the city, submitted this photograph.
Published May 21, 2012
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Ride for those who died
On May 9, more than 200 bicycling police officers participating in the 16th annual Police Unity Tour visited the Newark, N.J., Police Memorial on their way from Ground Zero in New York to Washington, D.C. The officers came from across the nation, the United Kingdom, Israel, Canada, and Australia to raise awareness of and funds for the National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial and Museum. Here, bikers head out from Newark after visiting the memorial. This week, May 13-19, 2012, is National Police Week, a collaborative effort of many organizations dedicated to honoring America's law enforcement community. In 1962, President Kennedy proclaimed May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day.
Published May 14, 2012
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A real Texas party
Mesquite, Texas, hosted the 6th annual "Real. Texas. Festival." April 27-28 with headline entertainment by country music artist Pat Green. At one point during the concert, the crowd showered the stage with green glow necklaces. The festival, which attracted 30,000 attendees, also included a car show, a barbecue cook-off, indoor rodeo, eating contests and a midway.
Published May 4, 2012
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Now it's our turn to care for the trees
Tigard, Ore., Mayor Craig Dirksen visited with students at a middle school to celebrate Arbor Day. The students are holding paper mustaches to resemble the main character in Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax." Photo sent by Kent Wyatt, senior management analyst for Tigard.
Published April 27, 2012
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Celebrating Earth Day
Winter Park, Fla., and Rollins College presented Earth Day in the Park on Saturday, April 21, in the city's Central Park. The event showcased how the city and the college are making the community more sustainable. It included educational workshops focused on recycling, native landscaping, growing organic food and awareness of endangered species. Music was provided by the Rollins College Music Department and WPRK, the college radio station. The city’s Forestry Division demonstrated how to plant a tree with a 25-foot tall Live Oak, and it gave away trees for residents to plant at home. The photo shows Heather Henson's Ibex Puppetry Parade entertaining attendees.
Published April 23, 2012
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Halloween night on the Metro
To complement the National Building Museum's exhibit "LEGO® Architecture: Towering Ambition," ZGF Architects recreated a section of Washington's Metro transit system in miniature. The designers not only displayed the versatility of the toy bricks in their creation, they exhibited their creativity by depicting "a typical Halloween night on the Metro, when a rider experiences all sorts of scary characters and situations from the train platform up the escalator and to the street beyond." The National Building Museum's LEGO® exhibit, which also includes models of 15 of the world’s most iconic buildings, is on view through Labor Day, Sept. 3, 2012.
Published April 16, 2012
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Simple wonders
Erick Gill, public information officer for St. Lucie County, Fla., captured a shot of this rainbow over the Fort Pierce Inlet in between afternoon thunderstorms blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean.
Published April 5, 2012
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Up on the roof
In February, Minneapolis completed installation of 429 solar panels on the roof of its Royalston Maintenance Facility, located near Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins (shown in background). The project is one of six new solar installations on publicly owned Minneapolis buildings that either produce electricity or provide hot water. They are all located in the Energy Innovation Corridor, which showcases energy efficiency, renewable energy, transportation and smart technology along the new Central Corridor light rail line. The solar projects were funded by Department of Energy grants – from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – and Xcel Energy rebates. Photo submitted by the Minneapolis Communications Department.
Published April 2, 2012
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Heroes being heroes
On March 11, firefighters from across the country, Canada and Germany participated in the 2012 Scott Firefighter Stairclimb at Columbia Center in Seattle. More than 1,500 firefighters representing 291 departments climbed 69 flights of stairs to the top of the Columbia Center wearing 60 to 80 pounds of gear. Everett, Wash., firefighters donated their time, and as a team raised $17,729.64 for charity to fight blood cancers. Photo by: Everett Fire Fighters, City of Everett.
Published March 23, 2012
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International relations
On March 15, 2012, Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker hosted a visit by British Prime Minister David Cameron at City Hall. The mayor and the prime minister discussed Newark’s economic development, public safety programs, and prisoner reentry initiatives. In addition, the leaders discussed public safety and education. After the meeting, the two leaders took a walking tour of the downtown area, visiting local businesses. In this photo by Newark City Photographer Anthony Alvarez, Police Director Samuel DeMaio and Police Chief Sheilah Coley share information about crime-fighting strategies and technologies with the British Prime Minister and the mayor. The four discussed the Newark Police Department’s community roll calls, police clergy-alliances, prisoner reentry initiatives, youth truancy, and innovative community/youth court programs.
Published March 16, 2012
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Golden justice
The Rockingham County, N.C., Justice Center received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification in January from the U.S. Green Building Council. The 175,400-square-foot building contains court facilities, accommodations for the county’s law enforcement departments, and a 300-bed detention facility for minimum- and maximum-security detainees. Richmond, Va.-based Moseley Architects designed the building, and Roanoke, Va.-based Branch & Associates served as general contractor.
Published March 9, 2012
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Mayor flips for kids
On Tuesday, Feb. 28, Mesquite, Texas, Mayor John Monaco helped cook pancakes at a local IHOP as part of the restaurant's National Pancake Day Celebration. The event aimed to raise $4,000 for the local Shriners Hospitals for Children. The mayor also met with the restaurant's General Manager Julio Dominguez and other members of the management group that oversees many IHOPs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. They presented the mayor with a framed letter of thanks for his assistance over the last year.
Published March 2, 2012
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The Great Hall of Everett Station
This month, Everett, Wash., celebrated the 10th anniversary of its multi-modal, multi-use Everett Station. The 64,000-square-foot building is home to Amtrak, Greyhound, Sound Transit (buses serving the Puget Sound region), Community Transit, Everett Transit and The Sounder Train (commuter train). The building also includes bike lockers and racks, a community room available for rentals of all types (weddings, funerals, celebrations) as well as a job resource center. At the time of the opening, Everett Station also was home to a four-year university consortium that included the major public universities in Washington. For more history about the station, visit HistoryLink. Photo of the station's Great Hall by Kate Reardon, Everett public information director.
Published Feb. 24, 2012
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Helping those in need
Rancho Cordova, Calif., employees regularly participate in fundraising, and their most recent efforts focus on helping Customer Service Specialist Evelyn Richardson's 3-year-old granddaughter Bevin. Bevin was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, which affects her hips, knees, and left ankle, causing her to walk with a limp, and requiring daily medication and weekly injections. City employees are collecting recyclable plastic bottles and soda cans to raise money for the family's team in the Arthritis Foundation's Arthritis Walk in Sacramento in May. Money raised for the walk goes toward finding a cure for the disease. To date, the family's team has raised $1,260, $255.42 of which is from recycling. To learn more about Bevin, visit the family's blog, and for more about the city's fundraising efforts, visit the city's website. Photo by Ashley Downton, Rancho Cordova administrative secretary.
Published Feb. 21, 2012
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Lighting the way to the Capitol
In January, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, the National Park Service and the Trust for the National Mall hosted a lighting ceremony for 174 LED lights on the National Mall in Washington. The bulbs and the retrofit kits needed to install them in the historic bronze streetlamps replaced high intensity discharge and compact fluorescent lighting with solid-state lighting. The lights, donated by OSRAM SYLVANIA and installed pro bono by Pepco, the electric utility that serves the city, will reduce energy use for the streetlamps by up to 65 percent and are expected to last 25 years. For more information about efforts to restore the National Mall, visit the Trust for the National Mall website.
Published Feb. 7, 2012
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'Yankee' library returns book to its 'Confederate' home
Cathy Vollbrecht, public information administrator for Stafford County, Va., sent in this photo of a 220-year-old court ledger that was returned to the county in December 2011 after it had been missing for 150 years. The ledger — an "order book" transcribed in 1791 that describes the activities of the Stafford County Court from 1749 through 1758 — was removed from the Stafford Courthouse by a Union soldier during the Civil War, according to a hand-written note on the inside cover of the ledger. It eventually made its way to the Jersey City Free Public Library's New Jersey Room, where the room's assistant manager recognized that the book was inconsistent with the library's collection policy and contacted the Library of Virginia to arrange for its return. The volume is being scanned, microfilmed and conserved by archivists at the Library of Virginia, where it will remain.
Published Jan. 30, 2012
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Designed for action
The East Oakland Sports Center in Oakland, Calif., opened last summer, replacing an outdated facility in an existing park. The 25,000-square-foot facility includes a natatorium, a dance and aerobics studio, a fitness center, locker rooms, and a learning/media center. The building was designed by Berkeley, Calif.-based ELS Architecture and Urban Design to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Silver specifications. Photo by David Wakely.
Published Jan. 20, 2012
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