Free Republic

The number of manatees in the waters around Florida have reached a new peak of at least 6,250, conservationists said Thursday, a record reflecting years of efforts to protect the marine mammals. The count is up slightly from the 6,063 spotted last year, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in a statement, citing results from surveys conducted by 11 organizations. Last month, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed downgrading the manatee's status from endangered, a designation given to species on the brink of extinction, to threatened. ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A record number of people, some 1.4 million, rushed to become naturalized US citizens in the 2007 fiscal year before a hike in fees was introduced. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said Wednesday that in 2006 some 730,000 people became naturalized citizens. The Immigration Policy center said the doubling of the figures was due to several reasons, but mostly because from August 2007 the cost of the application process rose some 80 percent to around 675 dollars. In July 2007, just a month before the new charges came into effect, there were some 450,000 applications compared...