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LSA ADDER — The U.S. military continued progress in a program to provide generators at pump stations along the Euphrates River to irrigate water to local farmlands in southern Iraq Tuesday. The 134th Brigade Support Battalion along with local contractors dredged existing irrigation canals to local farms up to 15 kilometers away from the Euphrates River. The generators will greatly improve agriculture in the area, said Sheikh Mohammed Tayeh, a representative of the council of Batha, Iraq. “It was really barren,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Todd M. Engebreston , a vehicle commander of the134th BSB. “When we first got here,...

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Reviving a dam project in the Sierra foothills that was halted three decades ago would cost up to $10 billion, more than 10 times the original price tag, according to a federal report released Tuesday. Skyrocketing land values and increased environmental restrictions will complicate any efforts to restart construction on the dam, which drew strenuous objections from environmentalists when it was proposed in a scenic canyon of the American River about 40 miles northeast of Sacramento. The report by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation provides a mixed assessment of the Auburn Dam. It underscored increased benefits for flood control, cheap...

When it comes to planning a $2 billion, once-a-century bridge, armchair quarterbacks are a dime a dozen. So don't be surprised by the gaggle of "experts" who are promoting bridge "solutions" that have been rejected by the legitimate experts at the Columbia River Crossing project. Grassroots gurus are plentiful, but let's respect the side that relies on expertise, hard work and due diligence. On the third floor of the downtown Vancouvercenter, about 60 full-time engineers, planners and other specialists are creating a better river crossing. They're working with many other part-time consultants, even some of national stature, who regularly visit...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2006 -- An America Supports You corporate team member is coordinating creation of what it calls the world’s largest scrapbook as a way for the nation’s students to show their support for America’s servicemembers. Students in Marion Fegley's fifth-grade classroom at White Oaks Elementary School in Burke, Va., work on scrapbook pages Dec. 4. The pages will be included in the "World's Largest, Now Greatest, Scrapbook." Connect and Join, an organization that works to keep families connected via electronic communication, is compiling the book, which will officially be presented to the military during the Armed Forces...

Harvard University is launching a broad initiative to discover how life began, joining an ambitious scientific assault on age-old questions that are central to the debate over the theory of evolution. The Harvard project, which is likely to start with about $1 million annually from the university, will bring together scientists from fields as disparate as astronomy and biology, to understand how life emerged from the chemical soup of early Earth, and how this might have happened on distant planets. Known as the ''Origins of Life in the Universe Initiative," the project is still in its early stages, and fund-raising...

JACKSON'S GAP, Ala. — Army Pfc. Joshua Stein grew up in the water, swimming, diving and spearfishing at his native island of Saipan in the Pacific Ocean. Now, however, Stein is learning to water-ski without his legs, which were blown off when a roadside bomb hit the Bradley fighting vehicle he was driving. With help, Stein straps his scarred body into a cradle fitted on a single, wide ski. Then, he grasps the tow rope with a right arm covered with skin grafts and rises out of the water, grinning and giving a thumbs-up with his mangled left arm, as...

America Supports You: ‘Project Ark’ Sets Sail in HawaiiBy Monique ReubenAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2006 -- As Cheryl Janus reflected on Project Ark, a program for military teens she helped organize this summer, she realized the “ark” did in fact float. Project Ark participants and chaperones take time for a group photo on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri. Project Ark brought teenage children of deployed servicemembers to Hawaii in July to interact and develop skills for coping with their parents’ deployment. Courtesy photo   '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The “ark” in Project...

FORT HUACHUCA — This year’s gala fund-raiser dinner for the Mountain View Colored Officers’ Club Rehabilitation Project is expected to lead into a major effort to obtain donations to restore the World War II facility. Just recently, the association received an artist’s rendering of what the building looked like when it was constructed in 1952. The fort was the major Army post training colored soldiers, as black soldiers were called in that era, for combat during the war. Two divisions, the 92nd and 93rd trained on the post, with one being sent to fight in Europe and the other in...

8/17/2006 - KIRKUK AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- A project team working on Iraqi Air Force Comp Air 7SLX aircraft have completed their mission in record time -- doing a complete overhaul of four aircraft in 41 days instead of the planned 130. The aircraft, designed to be unarmed, is used to patrol oil pipelines and other infrastructure targeted by insurgents. Several of the aircraft were presented to the Iraqi Air Force by the United Arab Emirates in 2004. A crash in May 2005 which killed one Iraqi and four Airmen prompted the Iraqi government to ask for help in...

U.S. Army Maj. Jeremy Beauchamp, battalion surgeon, 1st Battalion 68th Civil Affairs Regiment, holds up an x-ray of an Iraqi boy's head that shows a bullet lodged in his brain during a Medical Civil Action Project in Tahrir, Iraq, Aug. 16, 2006. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Paul J. Harris Winning Hearts, Minds With a Medical Project U.S. and Iraqi soldiers conduct a Medical Civil Action Project in the town of Tahrir, Iraq. By U.S. Army Pfc. Paul J. Harris TAHRIR, Iraq, Aug. 17, 2006 -- With tears welling up, a little Iraqi girl reacts to receiving a shot...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A federal judge halted a $320 million irrigation project Thursday for fear it could disturb the habitat of a woodpecker that may or may not be extinct. The dispute involves the ivory-billed woodpecker. The last confirmed sighting of the bird in North America was in 1944, and scientists had thought the species was extinct until 2004, when a kayaker claimed to have spotted one in the area. But scientists have been unable to confirm the sighting. Still, U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson said that for purposes of the lawsuit brought by environmental groups, he had...

Project Coordination Cell Opens in Multaka New office speeds up processing of project requests in Hawija district. By U.S. Army Spc. Cassandra Groce 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment HAWIJA, Iraq, July 11, 2006 -- A Project Coordination Cell, an outlying branch of the Kirkuk Regional Government’s engineer board, recently opened in Multaka, Iraq. It will handle all project concerns for the citizens living in the Hawija region. “It’s a substantial step for the Sunni Arabs in this country,” said Maj. Kelly Kendrick, the operations manager for 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. Prior...

Did residents of this idyllic wine country town illegally plant an endangered flower to sabotage a proposed housing development? That's the question at the heart of a quarrel folks here have dubbed "Foamgate." Bob Evans, a 72-year-old retired elementary school principal, says he was walking with his dog last year when he came upon the tiny white flowers of Sebastopol meadowfoam poking from shallow pools of water in a grassy field. The former bean farm happens to be the chosen site of the 20-acre Laguna Vista housing development. Evans and other opponents seized on the discovery of the federally protected...

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2006 – The first shovels have cut into the land that eventually will hold Marine Sgt. Jared Luce's new home -- one specially adapted to accommodate his disabilities. Members of the area Home Builders Association, Marine Sgt. Jared and Melanie Luce (fourth and fifth from left), and Kirt Rebello (far right) and John Gonsalves (back) of America Supports You organization Homes for Our Troops, break ground July 6 on the Luce's future home in Coventry, Conn. The home will be built to accommodate Luce's disabilities resulting from being wounded in Iraq. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution...

Dueling protests reflect immigration divideBy SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Writer May 12. 2006 10:41PM Reflecting the American divide over immigration, protesters on both sides stood a few feet from each other near the Capitol shouting chants and exchanging accusations of racism. The protesters were kept apart Friday by helmeted police officers who stood inside a ring of yellow police tape. A Minuteman Project rally marked the end of a cross-country caravan by the anti-immigration group, whose members patrol the U.S.-Mexican border in search of illegal border crossers. The caravan began in Los Angeles. Minuteman demonstrators, who numbered less than 100,...

When Michael Ward of Troop 406 in Phoenix, Ariz., learned that Hurricane Katrina had destroyed all 9,612 books in the Anniston Elementary School library in Gulfport, Miss., he resolved to dedicate his Eagle Scout project to collecting enough books to restock the library. After getting approval from his local school board, Michael sent fliers about the book drive to the 32 schools in his district. Students were eager to help, collecting books and donating school supplies, while the school district agreed to deliver the books to a central location. When Michael invited local businesses to participate, a bookstore chain set...

Iran claims nuclear project breakthrough By Philip Sherwell in New York (Filed: 30/04/2006) Iran is developing an advanced centrifuge that would allow it to accelerate its controversial uranium enrichment programme, a senior official told state television yesterday. Mohammad Saidi, the vice-president of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, made the claim a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that Iran had ignored a United Nations ultimatum to end enrichment work. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Iran will never renounce its nuclear programme A more sophisticated breed of centrifuge would allow scientists to speed up purification of uranium towards the 90 per...

4/20/2006 - MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AFPN) -- Almost nothing changed on the outside of the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing headquarters here until the final week of the renovation. There was always something indicating work -- trenches, heavy machinery, dusty workers taking a quick break at the gazebo. But the metal exterior itself didn’t give any indication of the work going on inside until the end. “You couldn’t see any difference on the outside,” said Staff Sgt. Scott Williams. “People were probably watching this whole time thinking -- what have those guys been doing all day?” What they’ve been doing...

OBOCK, Djibouti, April 20, 2006 – A pier construction project sponsored by the United States will help bring income to this impoverished village and make access to the area easier for U.S. Navy ships fighting the war on terrorism. (From right) Navy Rear Adm. Richard Hunt, who commands Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa; U.S. Ambassador to Djibouti Marguerita Ragsdale; and Navy Secretary Donald Winter listen as Djiboutian officials speak at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new pier in Obock, Djibouti, April 20. Photo by Jim Garamone  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The first thing you notice...