David Rosenfeld…
David Rosenfeld
News Reporter
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Wind Turbine Noise Sowing Discontent in Rural Oregon
November 11, 2010 — Mike Eaton and his wife, Sherry, live in northeastern Oregon for the peace and quiet. But ever since wind turbines arrived on the ridge above their home two years ago, the Eaton’s slice of heaven has been a nightmare.
“It makes me seasick and nauseous,” said Eaton, who carries a cane. “I take medication for it, but it just keeps it slightly balanced so I’m not vomiting all the time, to be honest with you.”
Full story at Miller-McCune.com
Audio version aired on KBOO 90.7 FM in Portland
Veteran Hanford Engineer Punished for Raising Safety Concerns
October 12, 2010 — A lead engineer at the $12.3 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation says the Department of Energy – along with lead contractor Bechtel National, Inc. – cannot assure the public that the plant will work properly and safely when it is completed about a decade from now despite public statements to the contrary and $5 billion spent so far.
Radio version aired Nov. 16 on Free Speech Radio News
Dirty Waters: Cashing in on Ocean Pollution
DIRTY WATERS exposes how even the newest cruise ships lack state-of-the-art environmental mitigation systems. The two-part series exposes a cruise industry dependent on lax federal oversight and more interested in putting profits into PR and lobbying and campaign contributions instead of installing new technologies that could mitigate some of its negative environmental impact.DCBureau reporter David Rosenfeld reveals that the cruise industry touts untouched ocean scenery while beneath the surface cruise ships leave a wake of toxic sewage and other harmful pollutants that threaten marine life and human health. The cost-effective and preferred method of discharging sewage into the ocean requires a high-grade retrofit that costs $10 million. Yet the largest cruise companies choose not to spend the money to equip dozens of ships with the latest technology even as they make huge profits. Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise company, in the down 2009 economy made $1.3 billion in one quarter alone.
Shadow Market Delays Recovery, Helps Defiant Homeowners
In a follow-up to a story we published in March, our featured homeowner still lives defiantly without payments or eviction for more than a year.
Published at Miller-McCune.com
It’s been almost a year since Horatio Bernard effectively lost his Baltimore row house to foreclosure and roughly 15 months since he last made a payment on his primary mortgage.
And yet to his amazement and those following his story, Bernard continues living in the home with his ailing mother without any sign of an eviction notice or word from his lender, in this case JP Morgan Chase and then US Bank.
“I haven’t paid a dime,” Bernard told me, sounding gleeful over the phone.
Police Arrest 12 at Health Insurance Office
Police arrested 12 people today for trespassing outside the Portland headquarters for Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oregon. The acts of civil disobedience were met by similar direct actions in nine cities across the country organized by Healthcare Now and the Center for the Working Poor.
Including the 12 in Portland, 54 people were arrested nationwide.
Read More at TheLundReport.org
Audio below aired on KBOO 90.7 FM
Aggression at Oregon Town Hall Mirrors National Debate
Representative David Wu held a town hall meeting yesterday in McMinnville where the debate over healthcare got up close and personal. More than 100 people packed the meeting room to pepper Wu with questions, but the action outside – where several hundred gathered – revealed far more about the debate swirling across the country. KBOO Reporter David Rosenfeld reports.
Health Care Charges Under the Knife
Originally at Miller-McCune.com
By David Rosenfeld
If you paid sticker price on the last new car you bought, you might expect to pay about 15 percent more than you would with some negotiating.
If you paid full price on a recent knee surgery, you could pay 500 percent more than market rate. And who knew you could even negotiate?
Such is the nature of health care pricing where charges are determined by hidden costs and who’s paying.
What would Horatio Alger do?
Thousands of Americans are defying eviction notices and exercising civil disobedience.
BY DAVID ROSENFELD
Horatio Bernard came to the United States from Liberia in 1982 and followed the story of American promise. He went to school for civil engineering, worked hard to support his family and sent his kids to college. His most recent experiences now mirror the American tragedy.
Like millions of others, he took out a subprime mortgage and then lost his home to foreclosure. The bank, he said, refused to reasonably modify his loan despite a federal bailout. And so now, like a growing number of Americans, Horatio Bernard isn’t going anywhere.
“I don’t understand,” Bernard said. “The house will be sitting here for six months or a year. For what? I’m willing to pay for the house. Just adjust the rate. Why can’t they do that? And they got bailed out.”
For the past four months he’s been living — legally speaking — as a squatter in his own home. He doesn’t technically own it anymore, but the keys still unlock the deadbolt and he still pays the utilities. He doesn’t know when, but any day now sheriff’s deputies might arrive to escort him and his ailing mother from the premises.
There’s a lot about Bernard’s story, and the housing crisis in general, that defies logic. Why would the bank rather evict him and take a substantial loss than draw down the principal of the loan? Answers don’t come easy.
Green Recovery: Welcome to SolarWorld
In a nondescript industrial park near Portland, Ore., lies a solar gem that just might save the American Dream.
Posted by Miller-McCune.com
BY DAVID ROSENFELD
It was a typically cloudy day last October when Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, Rep. David Wu and Sen. Ron Wyden came out to cut the ribbon for the grand opening of the largest solar panel manufacturing plant in North America. Above them, at this 480,000-square-foot facility in Hillsboro — about 20 miles west of Portland — bright yellow-and-blue lettering towered against an overcast sky. “SolarWorld: The sunpowered company.”
The governor has staked much of his legacy in recent years on attracting to Oregon such companies as German-based SolarWorld AG. So far, it’s working. Despite a deepening recession, solar panel makers and other renewable energy businesses are among the few companies expanding right now in a state with some of the highest unemployment in the nation.
In the past two years, seven solar panel manufacturers have launched in Oregon, with at least six more planned for this year. Meanwhile, a Portland-based electricians’ union leads classes on installing solar panels, and more than 200 Oregon companies are involved in some aspect of the solar panel supply chain — all in a state not exactly known for its abundant sunshine.
