Discovery ‘shipped’ to Asia:
‘Car-free city plan’:
Campaigners in Berlin are launching a drive to collect signatures for a vote on making the heart of the German capital largely car-free.
Backers of the plan said Wednesday that banning most cars from the city center would improve quality of life, improve road safety and help Germany achieve its climate goals. The measure would go hand-in-hand with greater investment in public transport, they said. Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel.
The group, which isn’t affiliated with any political party, wants to collect 20,000 signatures next year to force regional lawmakers to debate the idea.
If the Berlin state assembly doesn’t support the plan, campaigners say they will try to collect a further 170,000 signatures for a referendum, which could take place in 2023.
Several other European cities, including Paris and London, have introduced restrictions on cars in recent years, either by taxing heavily polluting vehicles or declaring ‘car-free days.’
The Berlin plan would go further, banning all private vehicles except those used by disabled residents or businesses from the area within the city’s railway ring.
Campaigners say this would reduce car traffic by two-thirds and free up large amounts of space currently used to park cars, which on average remain stationary for 23 hours a day.
The proposal is likely to become one of the main topics of debate ahead of regional elections in Berlin next fall, and could run into fierce resistance in Germany, home to major automakers.
Rent activists recently managed to force a proposal to expropriate large corporate landlords onto the state assembly’s agenda, fueling debate about affordable housing in the city. (AP)
Drone co gets grants:
A Lincoln company focused on fighting wildfires using drones has been awarded more than $1 million in federal and state grants, it announced.
Drone Amplified has been awarded a National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grant for $983,676 and a Nebraska Department of Economic Development matching grant for $100,000, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
The company said the funding will be used to help conduct research and development on improving the safety, decreasing the costs and increasing the effectiveness of firefighters battling wildfires.
“We have seen the horrible impact that wildfires have had this year throughout the country,” company CEO and cofounder said in a written release. The grants “will help us transform firefighting technology to enable faster containment of wildfires and a significant reduction of risk.” (AP)
Flying squirrels were being trapped in Florida, driven to Chicago and shipped to South Korea, Florida wildlife officials said Monday while announcing charges against seven people they say ran an illegal wildlife trafficking operation.
Poachers set as many as 10,000 squirrel traps in central Florida and captured as many as 3,600 flying squirrels over a three-year period. They sold the squirrels to a licensed wildlife dealer who claimed they were bred in captivity and not wild, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in a press release. Flying squirrels are a protected species.
“Buyers from South Korea would travel to the United States and purchase the flying squirrels from the wildlife dealer in Bushnell. The animals were then driven in rental cars to Chicago, where the source of the animals was further concealed, and the animals were exported to Asia by an unwitting international wildlife exporter,” the agency said.
The agency said the Florida dealer received more than $213,000 for the animals. The international retail value of the poached flying squirrels is estimated to be more than $1 million.
The agency began the investigation in January 2019 after receiving a complaint about illegally trapped squirrels.
As the operation expanded, a courier from Georgia began flying to Orlando to pick up the animals and drive them to Atlanta, where a second courier would then drive them to Chicago.
The seven people charged face a total of 25 felonies, including racketeering, money laundering and scheming to defraud. (AP)