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Hispanics are the country's fastest growing minority group. The study reported here surveyed and assessed Extension agents from two demographically different regions in Florida on perceptions and attitudes about the need, quality, and dissemination of Spanish Extension materials. Results showed Extension programs are important sources of information for Spanish-speakers from a region with a high population of Hispanics. However, Extension agents do not feel adequately prepared to reach this audience, and resources are insufficient, especially on critical environmental topics relevant to the audience. The study demonstrates the need to develop regionally and culturally relevant Spanish Extension materials for urban Spanish-speakers. (Contains 2 figures and 5 tables.)

Objectives. This study measured the extent to which land use, design, and engineering practices could reduce contamination of major public water supplies. Methods. Key parcels of land were identified in New Jersey, and the potential uncontrolled loading of contaminants was estimated with the US Environmental Protection Agency's Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment model for a variety of land use, design, and engineering scenarios. Results. High-density per-acre development and engineering controls, along with housing and light commercial activity near main railroads, would substantially reduce runoff. Conclusions. In New Jersey, government and purveyor action is being taken as a result of, and in support of, these findings.

An analysis is presented on possible effects of further reductions in the nuclear arms industry, focusing on the Dept. of Energy facilities in Hanford, WA and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. Also included are potential solutions to economic declines, such as the development of agricultural and retail industries and federal economic assistance.

When marketable property is not sold or redeveloped because the owner is trying to avoid environmental cleanup costs, that owner is said to be 'mothballing' the property. Is mothballing a [...]

Over $500 billion has gone toward cleanup of large contaminated sites owned and/or operated by the U.S. Federal Government over the past 30 years. Nevertheless, some stakeholders worry about the risks associated with what they perceive as a slow process of cleanup, as well as the positive and negative impacts of the cleanup activities themselves. Therefore, it is important for both the U.S. taxpayer and workers and residents living near the sites that are impacted by site conditions and activities, to clearly understand the progress that is being made toward achieving published cleanup goals, and a timeline for completion. This manuscript asks how lessons drawn from risk communication literature can inform practices for communicating metrics related to cleanup progress at U.S Department of Energy former nuclear weapon sites to different audiences. Following the review of literature, we present a case study that explores metrics being used and communicated on the websites of DOE and its largest sites, and discuss the consistency of these metrics and implications for public understanding and trust of progress being made. We finish the manuscript by applying the principles from the literature to the findings from the case study to suggest how the DOE could consider improvements in the format, content or delivery of cleanup progress metrics to its various audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A research on geographically and economically diverse group of small- and medium-size communities that experienced long periods of economic prosperity built around a major industry or company but then suffered economic declines when those industries substantially reduced their staffing and in some instances closed are examined. This research focus was in determining how local community leaders reacted to these adverse developments

This article comments on the findings of the report released by Murray Latimer and colleagues on guaranteed wages in the U.S. in 1947. The report, which proposes the extension of the wage plan, does not consider guaranteed wages as a solution to unemployment. The report also recommends that a maximum work week be established through collective bargaining. Included in the discussion was the relationship of guaranteed wages to unemployment compensation. In concluding this aspect of the report, it was said that the adoption of wage plans would be ineffective in case of the adoption of supplementation.