Free Republic

A lawsuit against the city of Newport has caused a ripple affect across Oregon that has municipalities checking their hole card to decide whether they want to heed the advice of their insurer and close public trails or gamble on a legislative fix before their hand is called. “On July 6, the Oregon Court of Appeals issued an opinion affectively ending recreational immunity for improved trails,” according to an assessment by CIS Oregon, the insurance provider for the majority of cities in Oregon. Based on the court’s ruling, CIS advised cities in early November to close improved trails that provide...

San Jose Creek Trail south of Carmel, which connects Palo Corona Regional Park to Ixchenta State Park, will open to the public Saturday after being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The trail was made possible through coordinated land acquisitions and public access planning through the Lobos-Corona Parklands Partnership consisting of the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District, Big Sur Land Trust, California State Parks, and Point Lobos Foundation. San Jose Creek Trail was previously set to open in March 2020. Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District resumed scheduled docent-led hikes on the trail in February and the Lobos-Corona Parklands Partnership resumed...

Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County is partially reopening later this month—with reservations accepted starting Friday for limited day-use access—for the first time since the CZU Lightning Complex Fire destroyed much of the park in August 2020. The fire burned more than 97 percent of the park, destroying its headquarters, campgrounds, employee housing and nearly every other structure, and the park is still without electricity, running water or phone service, California State Parks officials said. Big Basin will partially reopen starting July 22 to allow visitors to explore the Redwood Loop and about 18 miles of fire...

TORONTO (AP) — Ontario’s premier is keeping outdoor recreational activities like golf courses closed for at least two more weeks despite calls by health officials and mayors to resume them for physical and mental health. Premier Doug Ford on Thursday extended what he calls a “stay-at-home” order for Canada’s largest province until at least June 2. Retail stores are open for curbside pickup and highways and roads are busy, but restaurants — including outdoor patios — are closed, as are in-class schooling and gyms. Most nonessential workers are working from home amid a third wave of coronavirus infections fueled by...

Lego larceny may be on the rise. French police have been investigating an international ring of toy thieves with a particular affinity for the colorful, interlocking bricks, according to a recent report from The Guardian. In this case, three suspects were caught taking boxes of Legos from a toy shop near Paris, with the goal of selling them in Poland, according to Le Parisien. And it's not just Europe. Lego robberies have happened in the United States as well. Last month, a man in Oregon was arrested after local police suspected he stole $7,500 worth of Lego toy sets.

Country music artist Kenny Chesney crooned in his 2008 song “Boats” that watercraft are vessels of freedom and harbors of healing.  Last June, I had the opportunity to learn about boating and its innumerable benefits during a Yamaha Outboards media event. It perfectly coincided with National Fishing and Boating Week.The charming town of St. Michael’s on Maryland’s Eastern Shore served as the backdrop. Deemed “the town that fooled the British,” this hidden gem was a one-time hub of shipbuilding, maritime activity, and commerce. Today, it attracts DC-area locals and tourists alike. Yamaha generously put us up at the Inn at Perry Cabins, one...

Researchers tracking smartphone data say they recently made a disturbing discovery: For the first time since states began implementing stay-at-home orders in mid-March to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, Americans are staying home less. The nationwide shift during the week of April 13 was relatively slight. However, any loss of momentum, particularly when stay-in-place orders remain in effect across most of the country, has some public health experts worried about "quarantine fatigue." Any increase in travel, they say, is premature when staying home remains the most effective way to limit the spread of the virus until widespread testing...

In the latest step toward the rebirth of San Francisco’s Presidio from an aging former Army base to a bright light of America’s national park system, crews are set to break ground Thursday on a project to build a new 14-acre public park on top of two freeway tunnels near the Golden Gate Bridge. When finished in 2021, the unusual project, called Tunnel Tops, will link Crissy Field, on San Francisco’s waterfront, to the Presidio’s Main Post, parade grounds and visitor’s center. That connection was severed more than 80 years ago when the road to and from the Golden Gate...

A high-speed transit system through the mountain corridor could serve as a major economic boon to communities on the Western Slope, according to a new study recently published by Development Research Partners. A high-speed transit system — likely in the form of a train that would carry passengers and light freight between Denver International Airport and Eagle County Regional Airport — was listed in the 2011 Record of Decision issued by the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Federal Highways Administration as a potential long-term solution to dealing with congestion on Interstate 70. Late last year, stakeholders — including the...

It was a glorious week, at least for me. For the first time in a long time, I unplugged. I loaded up the family truckster (a rented minivan) and drove back to Michigan to visit family for a week, and I barely checked social media. And, even more rare these days, I mostly used my phone as a device to call people and speak with them. I’m tired from having driven about 2000 miles over that week, and 10 hours back home today (with 2 kids, the oldest of which just turned 2, you tend to have to make a...

COBURG — After surviving the Great Recession by downsizing from 400 employees to fewer than 100, Marathon Coach is firmly back in growth mode. The Coburg-based luxury RV manufacturer plans to build at least 20 new RVs this year, nearly twice as many as it made four years ago and after a few years in the depths of the Great Recession when it built just three or four a year. Even 20 vehicles might seem a low volume. But given that these are ultra-luxury items that retail for up to $2 million apiece, each unit takes months to produce. Marathon...

Plenty of Upset among#Seneca7 runners about political jab in race t-shirt. Running should not become another hotbed of progressive intolerance. Leave the politics at home. Race co-director Jackie Augustine, Keuka professor and former Geneva Democrat politician, is suspected.

The DUI arrests,increase in college users, youth consumption, marijuana-related hospitalizations, and increasing emergency room visits of Washington and Colorado will only be amplified in California. Voters legalized pot several years ago in Colorado and Washington State. They were promised increased tax revenue increases and better-educated children for their vote. For the love of money and claims of liberty, disasters are now unfolding in both states. Now California is embarking on likely the same disastrous path, if not worse, despite copious amounts of destructive evidence.

ELKHART — Goshen Coach, a commercial bus manufacturer, announced it will close its Elkhart facility on Oct. 31 and expects to lay off 159 employees. The company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification on Wednesday with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development to announce the plan to close the facility at 25161 Leer Drive. It plans to offer "severance benefits and transition programs to affected employees," according to the notice, which does not explain why the plant will be shut down. Company officials could not be reached Wednesday for comment. Goshen Coach, which has manufactured specialty vehicles since 1985,...

Five harrowing days after becoming stuck on a remote backcountry road in Death Valley National Park in August 2009, Alicia Sanchez lay down next to her Jeep Cherokee and prepared to die. Then she heard a voice. "I called as I approached, asking if she was okay," wrote Ranger Amber Nattrass in a park report. "She was waving frantically and screaming, 'My baby is dead, my baby is dead.' " In the SUV, Nattrass found Sanchez's lifeless 6-year-old son Carlos on the front seat. "She told me they walked 10 miles but couldn't find any help (and) had run out...

Officials are expecting up to 350,000 people at the African American Festival this weekend in Baltimore. The festival is taking place Saturday and Sunday at the Camden Yards Sports Complex. The free event will include music, cultural exhibits, contests, health screenings and children's activities....

Rep. Rob Bishop has a radical plan for changing public land policy, and it starts with an experiment in his home state of Utah. The Republican is known for shaking things up with his dry sense of humor and occasional belligerence toward Obama administration officials. Easily identified by his three-piece suits and coiffed white hair, the new House Natural Resources Committee chairman is trying to turn his panel from a legislative backwater into a driver of reform. Washington Examiner: With the Land and Water Conservation Fund, I hear a lot about how the states need more control. But how can...

Two environmentalist groups filed suit Tuesday seeking stronger protection for a bird found only in Colorado and Utah ... The Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Watersheds Project said in court papers that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should go back and produce an “adequate finding” on the status of the Gunnison sage grouse ... The threatened designation could result in restrictions on oil and gas drilling, agriculture, recreational and other land uses. ... both camps will be watching litigation closely, in part to see how it might influence policy on the more common greater sage grouse. The...

Lucas St. Clair pulled up to an overlook in Maine’s North Woods to a stunning vista of Mount Katahdin, the state’s highest peak and the endpoint of the Appalachian Trail. Stretched out below was a vast green carpet of pine and spruce flecked with golden aspens and blazing red maples; Millinocket Lake glistened in the distance.“I think it’s national-park worthy,” he said.This was not an idle observation. Mr. St. Clair and his mother, Roxanne Quimby, who owns the land, have been trying for years to turn these woods into a national park. But ferocious opposition has stalled their plan, partly...

A travel trailer and camper manufacturer announced Friday that it will lay off 163 workers and close its Clackamas plant. Dutchmen Manufacturing Inc., a Goshen, Ind.-based company, said in a notice to workers that layoffs will begin Nov. 15. The plant is at 12618 S.E. Jennifer St. "This action will affect the entire facility and is expected to be permanent," the company wrote in a Tuesday letter to Clackamas County and state labor officials. A separate notice to employees dated Friday suggested that those laid off in Clackamas will not have the right to bump employees elsewhere. "As you may...