WASHINGTON The morning after, at breakfast at the Republicans' Capitol Hill Club, Virginia Rep. Robert Goodlatte was, as befits one of Washington's grown-ups, measured in his reaction to what 36,120 Virginia voters did the day before. It would, he says, be wise "to take a step back and a deep breath until we find out how everyone" meaning, especially, House Republicans "reacts to this." By "this" he indicates, with a wave of a hand, the one-word headline on Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Congress: "Stunner."

Roll Call's online article added these four words: "Cantor Upset Changes Everything." Of course, nothing changes everything, but the resounding and unprecedented defeat in a Republican primary of the soon-to-be former House majority leader will send ripples radiating through the House and into the Republicans' 2016 presidential nomination contest.

It is often folly to try to tickle national portents from local events. But there are fewer purely local political events now that elections have become increasingly nationalized in this era of inter-party and intra-party ideological combat. So, consider how the unhorsing of Cantor may strike some other Republicans.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who embraces a more welcoming immigration policy than does much of the Republican nominating electorate, may construe Cantor's defeat as a discouraging augury concerning any presidential aspirations Bush might have. Cantor was damaged by the accusation that he favors "amnesty" for the more than 11 million illegal immigrants. Actually, he may have done more damage to himself by seeming to take multiple and contradictory positions on immigration.

Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan may be weighing a probable ascent in the House leadership against the uncertainties of seeking the Republican presidential nomination. The removal of Cantor, a formidable rival for the office of speaker once John Boehner relinquishes it, may give Ryan reason to remain in Congress.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who hardly has an insufficiency of audacity, will be further emboldened in his presidential ambitions because tea-party support helped to propel David Brat, a 49-year-old college professor, to victory over Cantor. Never mind that Brat, who speaks equably about making Washington work, seems to eschew Cruz's confrontational style.

Although the "amnesty" accusation hurt Cantor, so did his membership in Congress' leadership, and the perception that he had neglected his district. Also, he foolishly used his campaign millions to barrage Brat with absurd ads implying that because Brat is a professor, he must be a liberal.

Campaign reformers who believe money is the sovereign determinative in elections should consider the contrary evidence of Brat's $231,000 war chest. Big ideas can have bigger consequences than cash does, and Brat resonated with tea-party types primarily because his campaign vocabulary was that of constitutionally limited government 10th Amendment conservatism.

Goodlatte, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, which processes immigration legislation, may have set a 2014 record for understatement when he said Cantor's defeat will not improve the chances of immigration reform this year.

But the chances were, he says, slim anyway.

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The 'stunner' in Virginia changes political landscape

By Robert Hagstrom For Main Line Times

The Natures Sanctuary section of this cemetery in Bala Cynwyd is kept completely natural and aims to be highly sustainable to minimize detrimental environmental effects.

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In keeping with eco-friendly practices, we chose our furry friends to eliminate invasives, which can cause the natural site to be unsustainable, said Director of Sales, Marketing, and Family Services Deborah Cassidy in a press release.

Cassidy said that the idea of the Natures Sanctuary section of the cemetery started back in 2008 to offer a newer burial experience that will help preserve the environment.

Beginning June 9 and lasting for about a week there were between 30 to 40 goats eating away at intrusive plant species in this section to keep up the grounds without using any machinery. Any uneaten grass and shrubbery will be cut by hand, Cassidy added.

The Natures Sanctuary section of West Laurel Hill has turned into a weedy mess of invasive species, said landscape architect Adam Supplee of the KMS Design Group, which partnered with the cemetery last year to help finalize the green section.

When a person decides to be buried in the Natures Sanctuary, Supplee said, they are placed in the next available plot. The reason for this, he said, is because meadows, flowers, and grasses grow in the section first. Then shrubs and larger trees start to come in and make way for even bigger trees to grow throughout the area.

Supplee referred to this process as assisted ecological restoration or helping the green section of the graveyard sustain itself independently.

People in this section are either placed in a wooden box-like casket without any fabric or metal hinges or are wrapped in a biodegradable shroud material at least two feet underground. Continued...

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Eco-friendly graveyard a growing preference at West Laurel Hill Cemetery

CALGARY - Sears Canada Inc. announced Monday it has entered into a binding agreement with Concord Pacific Group of Companies to pursue the development of the 12-acre Sears site at the North Hill Shopping Centre in Calgary.

Closing under the agreement is conditional upon satisfaction of conditions such as site investigations and obtaining the approval from the City of Calgary for the project, which are expected to take some time, said Sears in a news release.

It said the vision of the redevelopment is an infill project consisting of residential highrises, with a potential retail component. Last year, Concord entered into a similar agreement with Sears regarding the retailers land adjacent to its store at Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby, B.C.

Sears has been part of the Calgary landscape since 1958 and we are excited about the possibilities for the North Hill site as conceptualized by Concord and Sears, said Doug Campbell, president and chief executive of Sears Canada, in a news release.

We plan to continue operating our store at North Hill as we have for almost six decades and seeing this new development adding positively to the landscape and economy of Calgary. We look forward to working together with Concord and moving the project forward.

Sears said the arrangement contemplates the sale of a 50 per cent interest in the site for a value of about $15 million, subject to adjustments, and the retention of Concord on customary terms to manage most facets of the development. Following the transfer of the 50 per cent interest, the parties would enter into a co-ownership joint arrangement. If third party debt financing cannot be obtained, Concord, and not Sears, will be responsible for providing debt financing to develop the project, it said.

Sears reminds the public that, given the very early stage the project is in today, there has been no determination as to capital or other expenditure required, if any. In addition, it is too early to tell whether or not the project will be completed given a multitude of potential factors, both internal and external, such as the economic value to the Company, obtaining approval of the project from the City of Calgary, shifts in the Canadian economy, and the condition of the real estate market now or in the future, during this multi-year endeavour, it said.

Sears Canada has 176 corporate stores, 229 Hometown stores, over 1,400 catalogue and online merchandise pick-up locations, 96 Sears Travel offices and a nationwide home maintenance, repair, and installation network.

The location (for the residential development) fits very well into the future demand curve in the city, said Don Campbell, senior analyst with the Real Estate Investment Network. As Calgary continues to grow and at the same time attract a younger than average cohort from across the country, the style and location of properties will continue to shift.

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Residential highrises planned for Sears site at North Hill mall

Standing before the gates of Tel Aviv is a 60-meter-tall (200-foot-tall), flat-topped hill with a churning, fermenting interior.

For decades, garbage from throughout Israel was piled here. Finally, the land could take no more: The smell became intolerable, and the risk too high that winter floods could sweep the poisonous brew into water supplies.

Hiryia, as the dump was called, was closed.

But the mountain of trash stayed behind - like a monument.

From toxic estate to tropical paradise

Now the smell is gone, and the trash heap is in the midst of a metamorphosis that will turn it into the brand-new Ariel Sharon nature park.

The view of Tel Aviv from "Belvedere" in the Ariel Sharon Park

Nearly a decade ago, Israel's government issued an international invitation to help revitalize the area. Landscape architect Peter Latz' vision impressed the jury: a Mediterranean landscape atop the plateau, a floral terrace cut into the hillside, all surrounded by a naturally untouched riverbed as well as orchards and fields.

Latz, a pioneer in the field, has been working since the 1980s to convert industrial wastelands into "new paradises," as he described it.

Citizens in the highly-populated area can use the roughly 800-hectare-square (3-mile-square) space to bicycle, walk, listen to concerts or play in the water. Species native to Israel - like palms, olives, oaks, carob trees, bushes and herbs like rosemary and thyme - will grow there.

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From landfill to landscape in Tel Aviv

A sign on Collins Hill Road in Lawrenceville informs drivers that a new bridge will open Friday to take traffic over Ga. Highway 316. (Staff photo: Camie Young)

Crews are expected to open the Collins Hill Road bridge over Ga. Highway 316 in Lawrenceville Friday, as part of a milestone in the Ga. 316/Ga. 20 interchange project. Georgia DOT spokeswoman Teri Pope explains the milestone.

Reaching a major milestone in the Ga. Highway 316/Ga. Highway 20 project, crews expect to open the Collins Hill Road bridge over Ga. 316 overnight Friday.

The commute to college will get a little smoother this weekend with a new bridge opening to carry Collins Hill Road traffic over Ga. Highway 316.

Construction crews will open the bridge overnight Friday, a milestone in the three-year construction program to unclog Ga. 316s busiest intersections, including Ga. Highway 20.

We built it one piece at a time and open each section as it is ready. As we finish a new piece of the interchange, we open it to traffic and then can work in the area traffic was previously using, said Harold Mull, a district construction engineer for the Georgia Department of Transportation. We are opening one lane of the new bridge in each direction this weekend so motorists can get accustomed to the change outside of the peak travel times.

The bridge which opens about six weeks after crews opened a bridge to take Ga. 20 traffic over Ga. 316 is 361 feet long and 94 feet wide with two lanes in each direction. As a major route to Georgia Gwinnett College, officials also designed the bridge with sidewalks and bike lanes to allow students to walk or bike to classes.

We appreciate the work of the Georgia Department of Transportation in making these transportation improvements, said Renee Byrd-Lewis, Georgia Gwinnett Colleges vice president for advancement. With the colleges continued growth, we are focused on ensuring better access to services and activities in the area. We look forward to the improved traffic flow around the campus.

While Ga. 316s exit ramps to Collins Hill will also open Friday, crews will have additional work to complete the entrance ramps, meaning drivers will have to take a detour to get on to Ga. 316 from that location.

See the article here:
Collins Hill bridge to open this weekend

PHOENIX -- In honor of the upcoming one-year anniversary of the deadly Yarnell Hill Fire, photos taken in the aftermath are on display at Burton Barr Central Library in Phoenix.

Photographer George Berke won a Pulitzer Prize chronicling neighborhoods devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Last year, he took hundreds of photos in Yarnell just days after the community returned to scorched earth where 19 firefighters were lost on June 30.

"I was there to follow five residents who had returned home," he said.

He was working for the Arizona Republic at the time when he said he took one of this favorite photos.

"[It] shows a completely scorched landscape, but a patch of green plants coming up through the scorched earth,"

Berke found it remarkable just 25 days after the fire.

"To me, it symbolizes some kind of hope," he said.

He captured many other remarkable images, and not necessarily what you might imagine.

"What struck me was just how fabulously beautiful Yarnell was," he recalled. "I'd never been there before and had no idea that it was this wonderful place."

Berke's exhibit, "The Yarnell Hill Fire: 25 Days Later," is on display through Aug. 12.

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Images of Yarnell Hill days after wildfire on display at Valley library

On the Hill Summer, brought to you by The Steadman Clinic and the Steadman Philippon Research Institute, brings you a video report about a different High Country adventure every weekday.

Today's activity: Mountain bike riding in the Vail Rec District town series

On the Hill is shot with a GoScope Extreme 2X Telescoping pole mount, get 30% off your order at Go-Scope.com by using the following promo code: goscopevaildaily

Report: Vail Daily reporter John LaConte gives the camera to Assistant Managing Editor Melanie Wong, who shows viewers part of the mountain biking course at Camp Hale. The Vail Rec District Mountain Bike Series runs every other Wednesday throughout the summer.

Today's forecast: Sunny, with a high near 65. South southwest wind 5 to 15 mph becoming west in the afternoon. National Weather Service

onthehill@vaildaily.com | "Like" us: facebook.com/onhillreport | twitter.com/onhillreport

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On the Hill: MTB riding at Camp Hale

Capitol Hills biggest soccer fans can be found in theCongressional Soccer Caucus, a group of 25 representatives spanning the political landscape but all dedicated to promoting the sport.

The Wall Street Journal caught up with one of the caucuss co-chairs, Rep. Dave Reichert(R., Wash.) to learn more about why the caucus was formed and to get a sense of how the self-proclaimed big fan was feeling just ahead of the U.S. opener.

Q: So, why the soccer caucus?

A: I wanted to help chair the soccer caucus because Ive seen the value of team sports in shaping young peoples lives. It teaches them so many things that you dont get in a traditional classroom or in individual events. You learn leadership and teamwork. You learn split-second decision making. You learn how to lose gracefully and you learn how to win gracefully. These things are all so important and set you up to be successful in adulthood.

Also, my daughter coaches high school soccer, my granddaughter plays soccer, and I kicked the ball around coaching my daughters when they were young and in my days in the King County Sheriffs Office.

Q: Do you do anything as a caucus, including but not limited to lawmaking and watching soccer together?

A: The Soccer Caucus doesnt generally have time to sit down and watch a full match together, but well all be keeping up with the World Cup. And of course, Go [Seattle] Sounders!

Q: Have you seen more Americans (or more of your constituents) express interest in soccer? What of the claims that soccer is un-American?

A. Well, I come from Washington State where soccer is extremely popular! I think we can look around at the MLS and seeing the new talent its attracting and the new teams that are being formed and its very evident that soccer is a growing sport in the United States. So the claims that it is uUn-American just dont make sense to me. As more and more Americans play the sport, the more well create an American style for the sport and our own ways of celebrating it. Its a sport that is very much like our nation diverse, multicultural, and made to last. Thats definitely American.

Q: How do you think the U.S. soccer team will perform against its first round of opponents, Ghana, Portugal and Germany? People are calling it the group of death.

See the article here:
Prediction From Capitol Hill: USA Survives Group Stage

BUTTE Congressional candidate John Lewis had some frank words for fellow Montana Democrats at this weekends party convention, saying they have a steep hill to climb if they hope to succeed in November elections.

This going to be a tough election; lets be honest, he said Friday night. John Walsh and I Were not well-known. Its going to take a lot of work to change that.

Lewis, the Democratic nominee for Montanas open U.S. House seat, then brought the partisan crowd to its feet with standard convention rhetoric, saying Democrats will outwork their Republican counterparts and win.

But in private conversations at the weekend platform convention, Democrats of all stripes acknowledged that what Lewis said out loud Friday night is true: Montana Democrats face a precarious political landscape in 2014.

President Barack Obama is unpopular in Montana, and Republicans hope to exploit that fact, tying him to Democrats running for Congress and the Legislature. A non-presidential election year also means lower voter turnout, hurting Democrats, as it did in 2010, when they lost 18 seats in the Montana House.

Democrats lack a well-known, charismatic candidate at the top of the ticket. Republicans, however, have U.S. Senate candidate Steve Daines, a better-known name who has shown he can raise big money, and whos been shown by most polls to have a double-digit lead over Democratic Sen. John Walsh as the general-election campaign begins.

It all adds up to what some consider a daunting road ahead for Democrats this election year in Montana but party officials, supporters and candidates say its far from over.

I think its difficult, but I dont think its undoable, said Eric Feaver, president of the MEA-MFT, the states largest labor union. I think this election has just begun.

Feaver and others said Lewis and Walsh need to come out swinging, punching hard against Daines and Republican U.S. House candidate Ryan Zinke, telling voters forcefully how the parties respective candidates differ on issues like abortion, health care, education, public lands and the role of government.

If hard-hitting attacks can soften up the GOP opposition, funders of outside-money groups will see that the races may be close, and start stepping in to provide some needed help, Democratic officials said.

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Democrats confront tough political landscape awaiting in November

Landscaping a hill need not be an expensive job requiring retaining walls, bulldozers and a crew of landscapers to perform. While a very steep hill presents certain challenges, a gradual slope or rounded hill can actually be a boon to the creative landscaper. Completely flat land is boring, but a hill puts vertical dimension into your landscape and creates a dramatic backdrop for plantings and garden features.

If you want to minimize your hill, but do not want to remove it physically, try this simple "fool the eye" trick to lower it visually. Instead of the usual method of planting shorter plants in front and taller in back, reverse the process. Put small trees or shrubs at the base of the hill. Place tall grasses or foundation plantings higher up the slope immediately behind those. Continue planting shorter plants as you work upward to the top of the hill, covering the summit with grass or low ground cover to diminish outlines that add height to the hill.

If you have a hill and want a water feature, consider yourself lucky indeed. Natural hills are the best place to site a cascading waterfall with small pools or a meandering stream. Form your falls, stream and pools with the aid of pond liners or concrete, adding large rocks and plantings where appropriate. Consult the library for books about artificial water features for specific construction methods, or check out the Clear Water Landscapes website photo essay on pond and waterfall construction.

If your house sits at the base of a hill, squeezing your lawn and garden between house and hill, consider creating a terrace to break up the space. Pave the area near the house with flagstone, leaving a strip of lawn beyond it on the side near the hill to avoid an abrupt stop that further emphasizes the closed-in effect. Build a curved path paralleling the hill's base, working gradually up and around the hill. If you own the whole hill, continue spiraling around it to the summit. If not, use switchbacks in the path to wind to the top. Plant shrubs on the uphill side of the path and lower plants down the slope so the path is visible and inviting from below. Create wider places along the path for a bench here and there, and use an occasional larger shrub or small tree to hide the path and add a touch of intrigue concerning its destination.

If your house sits atop your hill, you have a view of everything below it. That can be a good thing in some ways, but rather spoils attempts at creating little garden nooks or intimate corners. Adding short staircases to small paved terraces (backed by retaining walls on very steep slopes) will break up the view a bit and give a closer, cozier feel to the perspective. Plant a large shade tree or build a vine arbor at the back of terraced areas to cover the ground just beneath, block the view from above and create private sitting areas.

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Ideas for Landscaping a Hill | Garden Guides