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The week had been difficult enough for the Weinberger family after a rare derecho storm knocked out power to their Bethesda home for four nights and an enormous oak tree had been toppled by the wind into their roof. And that was before a heavy duty crane tipped over in their yard. “We had a lovely driveway, a beautiful lawn you could host Wimbledon on,” said Lauren Weinberger with a laugh, as she chatted by phone on Sunday.

Climategate, the 2009 exposure of misconduct at the University of East Anglia, was a terrible blow to the reputation of climatology, and indeed to that of British and American science. Although that story hasn’t been in the news in recent months, new evidence of similar scientific wrongdoing continues to emerge, with a new scandal hitting the climate blogosphere just a few days ago.And central to the newest story is one of the Climategate scientists: Keith Briffa, an expert in reconstructing historical temperature records from tree rings. More particularly, the recent scandal involves a tree-ring record Briffa prepared for a...

National Christmas Tree has died near White House Published May 05, 2012 FoxNews.com Federal officials say the National Christmas Tree planted near the White House a year ago has died and is being removed. The National Park Service says the Colorado blue spruce died of "transplant shock." It came from a tree farm in New Jersey last year and was planted on the Ellipse just south of the White House in March 2011. The tree replaced one that had stood on the Ellipse since 1978 but was destroyed by high winds in February 2011. Workers were removing the dead tree...

<p>Federal officials say the National Christmas Tree planted near the White House a year ago has died and is being removed.</p> <p>The National Park Service says the Colorado blue spruce died of "transplant shock." It came from a tree farm in New Jersey last year and was planted on the Ellipse just south of the White House in March 2011.</p>

The Henry County Sheriff's Office has released the names of the four people killed in a crash that followed a shooting in Collinsville Saturday. The victims have been identified as 24-year-old Manesha Ward, 21-year-old Takea Turner, 19-year-old Lamar Ward, and 6-month old Lazarius Woods.

A tree-removal worker was killed yesterday when a 40 pound, four foot long branch fell on him at a New Jersey nudist colony. The Tamke Tree Experts staffer had been working with a crew to remove a large tree at the Sky Farm Nudist Club when the limb fell 70 feet to land on top of him.

YouTube footage has emerged of an amateur lumberjack attempting to chop down a huge evergreen tree just a few feet away from his house - with disastrous consequences. In the amusing video the sound of four large wedges being driven into the trunk echo out as a man takes to the tree armed with only an axe. Seconds later the creaking and groaning of timber can be heard as the giant conifer slowly crashes down directly onto the one story house beside it. The axeman, realising that he has felled the tree onto the roof of his own home seems...

<p>LONGWOOD, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a central Florida woman is in jail, charged with setting a fire that burned one of the world's oldest cypress trees.</p>

(CNSNews.com) - The 63-foot Sierra White Fir lighted at the U.S. Capitol Grounds on Dec. 6 as the official 2011 Capitol Christmas Tree includes a prominently displayed ornament paying homage to President Barack Obama, but includes no ornament readily visible to a person standing near the tree's base that uses the word “Christmas,” or includes an image of the Nativity, or bears the name or image of Jesus Christ. On the north side of the tree--at a height of about 4 feet and easily visible to people standing near it---there is an ornament that says: “I ♥ President Obama.”

There....my lights are hung Now to come up with some Christmas Tree ideas:   Two Idiotic Reactions to Freezing Weather: [Don't try these at home] 1) This is a true story about John Porter, from New York State, USA, whose pipes in his home froze one winter.  Anxious to unfreeze them, Mr Porter backed his car up to an open window so that the exhaust would warm up the house.A little while later and Porter, his wife and their three children had to be rushed to hospital suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning.2) George Gibbs, from Columbus, Ohio, suffered second-degree...

The Tea Party Was Born Under This Flag America's First Flag… The Liberty Tree Flag

I’m not sure why ex-Senator and current Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee keeps getting elected, but I’m quite sure he offends me. I truly can’t stand seeing his face, and you don’t have to ask why. You see, that’s the way offensiveness is: It’s completely subjective and not constrained by rhyme or reason. Along with a lot of other people, however, I now certainly have one very logical reason to chafe at Chafee: His decision to call the 17-foot-tall blue spruce Christmas tree in his state capitol’s rotunda a “holiday tree” despite opposition from residents and lawmakers. This, mind you,...

Ohio Occupy group asked to move for tree-lightingUpdated: Nov 11, 2011 6:29 AM EST DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - An Occupy protest group in Ohio is holding off on a saying yes to a request that it move out of the way of a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. **SNIP** The protest is going on in downtown Dayton's Courthouse Square, where the ceremony called the Grande Illumination is planned for Nov. 25.

In the face of a national outcry, the Obama administration has decided to delay its Christmas Tree Tax—first reported here on the Foundry—though they haven’t said till when (presumably until the criticism blows over). ABC’s Jake Tapper reports: The U.S. Department of Agriculture is going to delay implementation a revisit a proposed new 15 cent fee on fresh-cut Christmas trees, sources tell ABC News. The fee, requested by the National Christmas Tree Association in 2009, was first announced in the Federal Registry yesterday, and has generated criticism of President Obama from conservative media outlets. The program, which would have levied...

Walker said Monday that the evergreen decorated with ornaments and adorned with a star in the center of Wisconsin's Capitol Rotunda is a Christmas tree, not a holiday tree as it's been called for the past 25 years. The roughly 30-foot-tall tree was called a Christmas tree from the first display in 1916 until 1985. That's when politicians bowed to concerns about government endorsing religion and started referring to it as a holiday tree. The Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation has opposed the term Christmas tree, saying it offends nonreligious people and amounts to a government endorsement of Christianity. The...

A group of men in Brooklyn apparently decided the fastest way to steal a bike chained to a tree was to cut down the tree. A video on YouTube shows the men early yesterday morning looking at the bike before finally chopping down the tree. One then rides the bike a bit, only to leave it right where the group found it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PcV4LVhSRLg

Greg Mortenson's best-selling memoir, Three Cups of Tea, is being 'reviewed' by his publisher following claims part of it was fabricated. The book, which follows Mortenson's mission to build schools across Central Asia, is filled with inaccuracies, US news programme 60 Minutes said. The report disputed his claims that he stumbled upon a mountain village during a failed attempt to climb K2. Mortenson has denied the allegations, saying he stands by the book. The book's publisher, Viking, has said it will investigate the claims made by the programme. "Greg Mortenson's work as a humanitarian in Afghanistan and Pakistan has provided...

The Northwest Report March 8, 2011 By Art Robinson © 2011 In an effort to do my part in rescuing our country from the out-of-control Obama administration, last year I ran for Congress in Oregon’s 4th District against 12-term incumbent, far-left Democrat Peter DeFazio, co-founder of the House Progressive Caucus. Although I won the nominations of the Republican, Independent and Constitution Parties and the endorsement of the Libertarian Party, a massive media smear campaign by DeFazio, paid for with money raised by MoveOn.org and from special interests favored by DeFazio in Washington, resulted in a 54.5 percent to 43.6 percent...

The 42-foot tall Colorado blue spruce snapped at its base during high winds Saturday morning in Washington. The spruce had been in its current location for more than 32 years. It came from the Myers family farm outside of York, Pennsylvania, the Park Service said.

In the hollow of a maple tree not far from the road, Ron Venden has made a cozy dwelling for the 7-month-old cat he swears has never left its tree home. "It was a little feisty at first," said Venden, 66, a retired carpenter, of the cat, which a neighbor has named Almond. "(But) now it's a pretty big cat and it's just loving to see me." How is Venden certain the cat never leaves? Mostly because there are never any paw prints around the tree when it snows, Venden explains — something a State Journal reporter confirmed Wednesday. Relatives...