Amid falling stock prices, outgoing chairwoman and CEO of DuPont Ellen Kullman says it’s time for a new leader. Richard Drew/APhide caption
itoggle caption Richard Drew/AP
Ellen Kullman, the CEO of the chemical company DuPont, said Monday that she will retire on Oct. 16. The announcement follows falling stock prices as the company struggles in the global economy.
Edward Breen, a DuPont board member, will serve as Kullman’s interim replacement.
NPR’s Chris Arnold reports on the leadership change.
“As the CEO of DuPont, Ellen Kullman ranked as No. 26 on the Forbes list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. But recently, DuPont’s run into trouble. Brazil, for example, is a big customer and with it’s weakening currency, it’s not buying as many agricultural chemicals. DuPont’s stock was recently down nearly 40 percent from a peak in March. The falling stock value led to calls from powerful investors to break up the 200-year-old company. Ellen Kullman has so far resisted that pressure for a breakup. But she said in a statement it’s time for a new leader. DuPont’s board thanked Kullman for her ‘highest standard for integrity and commitment’ during her her 27 years with the company.”
“The company again slashed its projection for operating profit for the year to $2.75 a share, down from its prior projection of $3.10 a share, which had already been cut in July.”
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Wing Gourds: Phil Rupp of Rupp Seeds says that, many years ago, an Amish woman from Pennsylvania sent Phil’s father, Roger Rupp, photos of an interesting gourd she’d developed. Roger hadn’t seen anything like it, so he agreed to market the variety. The woman sent in some seeds, and from there, Rupp’s popular line of wing gourds was born.
Galeux D’ Eysines: The commonly used name is likely a shortened version of Borde Galeux d’Eysines, which means “embroidered with scabs from Eysines,” a small city in southern France. It’s a great cooking pumpkin, perfect for pies and soups. According to professor of plant biology Brent Loy, Americans were introduced to the French heirloom in 1986 after it was seen at a pumpkin fair in France.
Turk’s Turbin, or Clown’s Crown: Sometimes called the Turk’s Cap or French Turbin, this pretty little squash originated in Europe in the early 19th century.
Blue Hubbard: This huge blue-gray squash was introduced in 1909 by Massachusetts seed entrepreneur James J.H. Gregory, who was also behind the cherry tomato.
One Too Many: So named because it looks like a bloodshot eye, this hybrid was developed by plant breeder Duane Bell of Rupp Seeds in the early 2000s. Bell crossed two orange pumpkin species, Maxima and Moschata, in an effort to develop a hearty, deep red variety. “I had no idea I’d get stripes,” he says. But he knew a good seller when he saw it.
Warty Goblin: This hybrid was developed by plant breeders in the late 2000s by transferring the genetic traits for wartiness from small gourds into big jack-o-lantern-style pumpkins. The warts stay green for a few weeks after harvest, but they’ll eventually turn orange.
When Virginia farmer Charles Martin first got into the pumpkin game a decade ago, he started small, with a half-acre plot of traditional round, orange jack-o-lanterns. Today he grows 55 varieties of gourds, squash and pumpkins, and he’s always looking for something new.
As he walks through his half-harvested patch, Martin points out an orange pumpkin covered in green bumps — the Warty Goblin. A few feet away there’s a white-and-red-striped pumpkin called One Too Many. “It’s supposed to resemble a bloodshot eye,” Martin says, laughing. Then he spots a striped gray squash. It’s a new variety a seed company is toying with, and it doesn’t have a name yet — it’s Experimental 133.
These colorful gourds aren’t just a hobby for Martin: They’re big business. In the last 30 years the amount of American farmland devoted to pumpkins has tripled, and most of those big fruits aren’t filling pies. As the weather turns, the Pinterest-loving sorts among us increasingly look for odd, eye-catching pumpkins, gourds and squash to decorate homes and offices.
“Everyone wants to have the new, really cool gourd that everyone wants to buy, that Martha Stewart posts on her blog,” says Adam Pyle, a horticulturalist at the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. “You have a huge demand for squash and gourds that are aesthetically interesting and different from each other. That’s been popular for a while, and it’s been really trendy the last few years.”
Charles Martin and his wife, Rosa, stand amidst some of their favorite gourds and squash from this year’s harvest. Vanessa Rancano/NPRhide caption
itoggle caption Vanessa Rancano/NPR
These interesting new gourds, they don’t just exist — people make them. And there’s nothing new about that: We’ve been manipulating squash and gourds to suit our various needs for around 8,000 years, when Pyle says people first started breeding them. They’re among the earliest plants that humans domesticated. For millennia farmers created new varieties that tasted better, or had tougher skins that enabled them to last through the winter, or resisted disease. And now we’re making them as pretty — or ugly — as possible, depending on whom you ask.
“That’s the goal: to get something stranger and stranger, because that’s what people want,” says Bill Holdsworth, a breeder for the major seed company Rupp Seeds. That’s what sells. “If they see something they’ve never seen before, they’re more likely to buy it.”
There’s a reason these plants have so much decorative potential: They’re super diverse genetically, and particularly ostentatious in displaying those differences, Pyle says. And that’s something we don’t see very often in our fruits and vegetables. We want consistency when it comes to food, but because we choose to decorate with squash and gourds, we let them show us everything they’ve got.
Larry Eckler, a decorative gourd breeder in Niles, Mich., has been doing this for 40 years. When he first started, he says, his gourds were pretty plain, just like everyone else’s. But he’s had to keep pace with demand. “You’ve got to move on to better and brighter and unique things,” Eckler says. “That’s what the consumer looks for, because they like to really decorate.” His most popular variety, the trademarked Daisy gourd, is a colorful, flower-shaped little thing that took him close to 30 years to perfect. Now he has a giant version in the works.
(These words, by the way — pumpkin, squash, gourd — Pyle says they don’t actually mean anything, botanically speaking. Colloquially, gourd usually refers to inedible varieties, squash to edible ones, and pumpkin is just what we’ve decided to call some rounded squash.)
At a produce auction near Martin’s farm, truck after truck is loaded with colorful pumpkins and gourds for sale. The auction floor is crowded with competition. Buyers have come from as far as North Carolina and Pennsylvania; There are restaurant owners here, grocers and farmers market vendors, all looking for something to give their customers the look of the season.
Gourds, squash and pumpkins galore are for sale at the Shenandoah Valley Auction in rural Virginia. Vanessa Rancano/NPRhide caption
itoggle caption Vanessa Rancano/NPR
Virginia Davis is here to stock her roadside produce stand in Stuarts Draft, Va. She sells 85 different kinds of squash and gourds, and today she spends $1,800 to help her maintain that variety. She’ll sell them at a 25 percent markup.
They’ll end up in homes like Karen Alston’s in Washington, D.C. She’s a marketing executive who entertains at home a lot, and she recently paid a decorator to festoon her house with pumpkins and flowers. She says a colorful display like this is a conversation starter. “When you think of fall, you think of pumpkin, gourds and all these beautiful colors. I think it adds to the beauty of the season,” Alston says. “People will be talking about this.”
And farmers, like Charles Martin in Virginia, are happy to keep the variety coming. He says they give him a rare opportunity. “If you’re gathering tomatoes, you want them all uniform,” he says. But with these, “You want each item to have its own character. As a farmer, it’s glorious fun.”
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Amy and Dave Freeman paddle into the Boundary Waters, starting their 365 days in the wilderness to raise awareness of mining plans in the region. Alex Chocholousekhide caption
itoggle caption Alex Chocholousek
Amy and Dave Freeman are willing to risk brutal winters, thin ice and hordes of hungry mosquitoes to raise awareness about impending mining operations on the border of public lands in northern Minnesota.
A year without a shower takes a tremendous amount of dedication and passion. Why do the Freemans believe the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is worth the sacrifice?
“The Boundary Waters belong to all of us. It’s a national forest, it’s federal lands. It’s like a Yellowstone or a Yosemite,” Dave says. “There’s no other place like it on Earth.”
Amy, 33, and Dave, 39, are no strangers to strenuous outdoor adventures. Last year, they paddled and sailed from Ely, Minn., to Washington, D.C., a grand total of 101 days and 2,000 miles on the water, to raise awareness for the Boundary Waters. Their boat acted as a petition, garnering the signatures of thousands of people who oppose sulfide mining in northeastern Minnesota.
The Freemans will live in 120 campsites and travel about 3,000 miles by canoe, dog team, foot, skis and snowshoes during their year in the Boundary Waters wilderness area. Alex Chocholousekhide caption
itoggle caption Alex Chocholousek
They’ve already traveled more than 30,000 miles by kayak, canoe and dogsled through places such as the Amazon and the Arctic, earning them National GeographicAdventurers of the Year status in 2014.
Now, they’re back again to raise awareness about how mining might affect the Boundary Waters and are encouraging others to speak out.
“We really need to step back and look at this and say wait a second, do we want to have a whole mining development running along the southern border of the wilderness zone?” Dave says.
An Underground City
The Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area attracts more than a quarter-million visitors each year, making it the nation’s most visited wilderness area. It’s the largest wilderness area east of the Rockies and north of the Everglades, consisting of 1,200 miles of interconnected waterways and a million acres of wilderness area within the Superior National Forest.
Source: U.S. Forest Service, Minnesota Geospatial Commons
Credit: Alyson Hurt/NPR
The Freemans describe it as a maze of lakes and rivers, chock-full of timber wolves, moose, loons, eagles and more. They’re disturbed that Twin Metals, a Minnesota mining company, proposed a sulfide mine between two and three miles from the Boundary Waters. They say that two of the ore bodies come right up to the surface and are a threat to the region.
Sulfide mines can produce acid, a dangerous contaminant for lakes and rivers when exposed to air or water. If there was a spill, potential water pollution would flow downstream through White Iron Lake and into the lakes and rivers of the Boundary Waters.
“You’ve got roads, lights, plumbing, electricity, air circulation — all those types of things that support an operation of 1,300 employees working underground in shifts, and moving a lot of material,” McFarlin said.
Twin Metals is not a new presence in the area. The company has drilled holes beneath the Superior National Forest for almost 10 years in hopes of finding copper and other metals.
“We don’t feel that the edge of our nations’ most popular wilderness area is an appropriate place for such a development, partially underground or not,” Dave says.
Twin Metals officials said in 2014 that the mine could cost upwards of $2.5 billion to build but that the more expensive underground design would limit damage to the surface compared to an open pit mine.
“We’re estimating right now about 55 percent of the material that is commonly stored on the surface in mining operations across Minnesota, we’ll be able to put that material underground,” McFarlin said at the time.
The Freemans aren’t satisfied by the claim that the underground design will help minimize the environmental impact.
“Any pollution from the mine sites will end up flowing directly into the Boundary Waters,” Dave says. “It will also be a big industrial zone. We’re talking about massive amounts of waste rock, processing facilities, things like 24-hour rock crushers.”
Frank Ongaro, executive director of Mining Minnesota, the copper-nickel industry trade association in Minnesota, disagrees. He would not speak specifically about the Twin Metals plan but did address mining in Minnesota as a whole.
“Around any variety of sensitive water areas, there is a buffer zone. Those have been identified,” he says. “In the rest of the Superior National Forest, mining and mineral development is not only acceptable, but is a desired use of the multiple use forest plan.”
‘All Of Us Are Environmentalists’
This summer’s wastewater spill into the Animas River near Durango, Colo., shows what can go wrong in the hard rock mining industry. Images of the mustard-yellow waters reinforced the impacts toxic mine sludge, accidentally released by the EPA, has on an ecosystem, community and economy.
Some Minnesotans say they’re well aware of the risk and only support mining projects that meet the stringent requirements and safeguards.
“Everyone in Minnesota, all of us are environmentalists,” Mining Minnesota’s Ongaro says. “We believe that jobs and the environment have and can and will exist side by side.”
“We’re a mining state. We’ve been mining in Minnesota for 130 years. We have strong regulations, second to none. We’ve got a system in place that requires environmental review and permitting. It’s up to any company to demonstrate that they can meet the minimum requirements. And if they do, they should be advanced. And if they don’t, they shouldn’t move forward,” he says.
Ongaro says that the state of Minnesota has a global responsibility to show the world how responsible development is done.
“Wind turbines, electric cars, you name it, they all take metals and we are import dependent on these metals from countries that have little or no environmental standards, don’t have safety requirements, have child labor violations. We need to hold up a model to the world on how to do it right,” Ongaro says.
Some locals are torn. The proposal offers tempting economic benefits for the area, like more than 1,000 permanent jobs and the creation of 3,500 jobs during the construction process. They say that mining, if done responsibly, is essential for the area and reiterate that they too care about clean water.
“Nobody on the Iron Range doesn’t believe in meeting the state and federal standards,” says Dave Lislegard, a third-generation miner and member of the Aurora, Minn., city council.
“We believe in doing the right thing in the right way, that is what allows us the opportunity to provide for our families. Nobody advocates not meeting the standards. It’s hard to watch people who are so adamant about pushing against our way of life. We are very proud of what we are,” he says.
Lislegard says he, and other “Iron Range” residents — an area in northeastern Minnesota with small communities built around the industry resulting from long swaths of iron ore — do not advocate a “rubber stamp” approach.
Amy and Dave Freeman’s friends, family and supporters gather at River Point Resort and Outfitting Company in Ely, Minn., across from the proposed Twin Metals mine site, in preparation for the couple’s launch on Sept. 23. Ellie M. Bayrdhide caption
itoggle caption Ellie M. Bayrd
“I, and all of us Ely folk, love the outdoors. And love Ely. We want nothing more than to preserve our home, but we also support responsible mining,” 29-year-old Natalie Tiffner said in a post on Instagram. Originally from Ely, Tiffner wishes she could raise her twin daughters there. But the lack of job opportunities for both her and her husband in Ely force her to work in Minneapolis.
“Mining is a way of life on the Iron Range,” Lislegard says. “It’s really hard for many of us who are trying to provide for our families to understand how individuals can stop working for a year and go camp.”
Bottom line? Mining is essential for many in the region where the Freemans are trying to stop it.
“Mining is the meat and potatoes,” Lislegard says. “Tourism is the dessert. It looks good, it tastes good, it smells good — but you can’t live on it.”
Into The Wilderness
On Sep. 23, Amy and Dave launched from the River Point Resort and Outfitting Company, within eyesight of the proposed mine location. Accompanied by around 40 friends, family and supporters, the flotilla made their way up the Kawishiwi River into the wilderness area.
Then the Freemans were on their own.
“We’re relieved,” Dave says. “We’ve been working so hard to get everything ready. When we crossed under that bridge we were mostly excited to be finally entering the wilderness.”
“I had to consciously tell myself that this is really a year. It could’ve been just a weekend trip, because we’re already so used to just that. Off you go! All of that,” Amy says.
This year will not be without its challenges.
“A year is a long time, mentally and physically,” Dave says. “If we’re being honest, it will probably wear on us. Winter is going to be really hard. It takes a lot of energy to stay warm and healthy when it’s well below zero.”
The couple, who also spend time as canoe guides, say they’re looking forward to helping people understand why they care so much.
“We’ve guided people from all over the country and all over the world,” Dave says. “This summer, I led trips with people from 15 different states. People come back every year, every other year. It really is a place that people travel long distances to come to. It’s hard to explain until you’ve been there, but it’s so unique and special.”
“It just draws you back over and over again,” Amy says.
Twin Metals officials said that while they wish the Freemans a safe journey, they have no further comment on their activities.
You can track the Freemans’ progress on social media (#WildernessYear) and through the organization Save The Boundary Waters.
Kylie Mohr is a digital news intern at NPR.org.
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FIFA President Sepp Blatter is being investigated by both U.S. and Swiss authorities for alleged corruption. Michael Probst/APhide caption
itoggle caption Michael Probst/AP
Following last week’s announcement that FIFA President Sepp Blatter is facing criminal proceedings in Switzerland for alleged corruption, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, two major FIFA World Cup Sponsors, called for his immediate resignation.
The company released a statement, saying:
“Every day that passes, the image and reputation of FIFA continues to tarnish. FIFA needs comprehensive and urgent reform, and that can only be accomplished through a truly independent approach.”
Joining Coca-Cola in calling for Blatter’s resignation is another high-profile FIFA sponsor: McDonald’s. The company released a statement:
“The events of recent weeks have continued to diminish the reputation of FIFA and public confidence in its leadership. We believe it would be in the best interest of the game for FIFA President Sepp Blatter to step down immediately so that the reform process can proceed with the credibility that is needed.”
Budweiser owner Anheuser-Busch and Visa also added their calls for Blatter to step down, Reuters reports.
Blatter responded to the pressure almost immediately, but he reiterated that he would not give up his post. Blatter said through his U.S. lawyer, Richard Cullen, that he would not resign and that his leaving office would not be in FIFA’s best interest or advance the reform process, Reuters reports.
When Blatter announced in June that he was going to resign, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Visa praised the news and called for reform. Coca-Cola called it “a positive step for the good of sport, football and its fans.” Blatter, however, then said that his resignation would not take immediate affect and that he would step down in 2016.
Today’s calls for his resignation are the strongest indications yet that big name sponsors that have long been associated with FIFA are serious about reform.
While neither Coca-Cola nor McDonald’s has gone so far as to threaten to stop sponsoring the World Cup, it would be a significant blow if FIFA were to lose the support of high-profile, long-time sponsors.
On it’s website, FIFA says that Coca-Cola is “one of the longest-standing corporate partners of FIFA, with a formal association since 1974 and an official sponsorship of FIFA World Cup that began in 1978.”
It adds that “Coca-Cola has had stadium advertising at every FIFA World Cup since 1950.”
The latest allegations of wrongdoing surrounding Blatter have to do with questionable payments to two FIFA officials. As we previously reported:
“Blatter is primarily being investigated for a financial transaction involving UEFA (Europe’s soccer governing body) President Michele Platini and another linked to indicted former FIFA official Jack Warner, according to the statement.
“Blatter is accused of making a ‘disloyal payment’ of 2 million Swiss francs to Platini in 2011 for work Platini performed between 1999 and 2002. The New York Times notes that the payment was made” three months before Mr. Blatter won a fourth term as FIFA president” in June 2011.
“The statement from Swiss authorities also alleges that Blatter signed a contract with the Caribbean Football Union, of which Jack Warner was president at the time, that ‘violated his fiduciary duties and acted against the interest of FIFA.'”
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A new rule from the Obama Administration aims to further reduce the main ingredient in smog. That might sound like good news if you live in a city where smog is a problem. But after the rule was announced, there were plenty of complaints about it.
Technically, the Environmental Protection Agency is reducing the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone limits from the current level of 75 parts per billion (ppb) down to 70 ppb.
Ground-level ozone is linked to respiratory illnesses and it can worsen diseases like emphysema and asthma. It’s created when pollution from cars, factories, power plants and other sources chemically react with sunlight. It’s primarily a problem during the warmer months of the year.
“Put simply — ozone pollution means it hurts to breathe for those most vulnerable: our kids, our elderly and those suffering from heart and lung ailments,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.
The EPA was under a court-ordered deadline to issue a rule today. A year ago, a scientific advisory committee suggested the agency set the standard between 60 and 70 ppb. Environmental groups are critical of the EPA for setting the new limit at the upper end of that spectrum.
While acknowledging the tighter standard will provide health benefits, John Walke, senior attorney and director of the Clean Air Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, says the EPA missed an opportunity to set an even lower level, closer to the 60 ppb.
“Setting the safest recommended standard would have saved almost 6,500 lives and avoided nearly 1.5 million more asthma attacks per year than the smog pollution level the administration has chosen,” said Walke.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has been a vocal opponent of tightening the current standard. NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said that while “a worst-case scenario was avoided” the new rule is “overly burdensome, costly and misguided.”
“The new ozone standard will inflict pain on companies that build things in America—and destroy job opportunities for American workers,” said Timmons.
The EPA’s stricter limits on ground-level ozone also set a new standard that communities around the country will have to try and meet. Some will have a more difficult time than others. The EPA projects that with existing programs to reduce pollution already in place, the vast majority of counties will be able to meet the new standard by 2025.
In responding to criticisms in the wake of her agency’s new rule, McCarthy told reporters she didn’t base her decision on a popularity contest. “What the Clean Air Act tells me to do is make my best judgement on the basis of the science,” said McCarthy.
While her predecessor, Lisa Jackson, had considered an even stricter standard — 65 ppb — McCarthy said now there’s more scientific research available that casts uncertainty over the benefits of setting the standard lower than 70 ppm.
Even though the new standard is now an EPA rule, it may not be the end of the debate. Some advocates for manufacturers and the oil industry are asking Congress to step in and block the new rule.
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Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy, a Colorado goat cheese producer, says it will begin to source its milk from dairies that don’t rely on inmate labor — so that they can continue to sell some cheeses to Whole Foods. ilovebutter/Flickrhide caption
Whole Foods Market has announced that by April of next year it will stop sourcing foods that are produced using prison labor.
The move comes on the heels of a demonstration in Houston where the company was chastised for employing inmates through prison-work programs.
Michael Allen, founder of End Mass Incarceration Houston, organized the protest. He says Whole Foods was engaging in exploitation since inmates are typically paid very low wages.
“People are incarcerated and then forced to work for pennies on the dollar — compare that to what the products are sold for,” Allen tells The Salt.
Currently, Whole Foods sells a goat cheese produced by Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy in Longmont, Colo., and a tilapia from Quixotic Farming, which bills itself as a family-owned sustainable seafood company.
These companies partner with Colorado Correctional Industries, a division of the Colorado Department of Corrections, to employ prisoners to milk goats and raise the fish.
CCI’s mission is to provide inmates with employment and training. The intent is to give them skills that could help them find employment once they’re released. CCI employs about 1,600 inmates, according to a report by the Colorado state auditor.
In an email, Whole Food’s spokesperson Michael Silverman tells The Salt that the company liked the idea of employing inmates. “We felt that supporting supplier partners who found a way to be part of paid, rehabilitative work being done by inmates would help people get back on their feet,” he writes.
But Silverman says, “we have heard from some shoppers and members of the community that they were uncomfortable with Whole Foods Market’s sourcing products produced with inmate labor.”
And in order to stay “in-tune” with customers’ wishes, the company came to its decision to stop selling the goat cheese and tilapia.
As reporter Graeme Wood wrote in Pacific Standard, these in-state prison-work systems face no federal regulation.
And there are also questions about the justness of prison-work programs. Allen and other protesters in Houston hung signs that said: “End Whole Foods Market’s Profiting From Prison Slave Labor.”
By some accounts, though, they’re progressive. For instance, CCI supporters point to a lower recidivism rate among inmates who are employed while they’re incarcerated.
Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy’s John Scaggs says the farm will begin to source their milk from dairies that don’t rely on inmate labor — so that it can continue to sell some cheeses to Whole Foods.
But Scaggs says he’s still a supporter of the prison labor program that CCI has created in Colorado.
“This is a model example of a prison-work program,” Scaggs says. “By purchasing goat’s milk from the facility [that uses prison labor], we’re supporting … rehabilitative incarceration.” He says prisoners are taught teamwork and getting job training.
Scaggs says the inmates make about $1,500 to $2,500 a year, but he isn’t sure what the hourly rate of pay is.
“If an inmate is serving a sentence for a few years, they can come out with a few thousand bucks [in savings] and a whole new skill set,” he says.
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A Volkswagen Passat is tested for exhaust emissions, at a Ministry of Transport testing station in London. In the U.S., a 1998 copyright law prevents safety researchers from accessing the software that runs cars. John Stillwell/PA Photos/Landovhide caption
itoggle caption John Stillwell/PA Photos/Landov
The revelation that Volkswagen rigged software to cheat on emissions tests got us wondering: What else is the software in your car doing that you don’t know about?
Well, that answer, for the time being, will remain a mystery.
That’s because there’s a little-known law in the U.S. that bars car owners — and researchers — from accessing the software inside vehicles.
There are as many as 100 million lines of computer code in some new cars. They help control the steering, cruise control, air bags, entertainment and anti-skid systems.
The technology is amazing, but Zeynep Tufekci, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, points out there is a cost.
“The computers in our cars help us brake better when it’s raining. But we have to realize it doesn’t come without issues; it means that you have an intelligent object that is serving its corporate owner at all times because we don’t have … independent access to the code,” she says.
Most of us are blissfully unaware of what goes on under the hood of our car. But some people, be they tinkerers, geeks or perhaps, most important, safety researchers, would like to access the software.
But under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, now they can’t do that legally. Congress passed it in 1998 in part to protect DVDs from being pirated. But courts have also interpreted the law to keep people from accessing the computer code in cars, homes, even tractors.
Kit Walsh, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, thinks this is wrong. “Think of crash test dummies,” he says. “Those safety tests are relied on by a majority of Americans in deciding what vehicles to trust and to rely upon. And the same kind of analysis should be possible with computers, given the crucial role that they play in controlling safety-critical systems as well as emissions systems.”
Walsh says if independent researchers had access to the code in VWs, for instance, they might have detected the cheating software much sooner and revealed that the clean diesel the company touted in a recent TV ad wasn’t so clean.
An exemption to the law that would allow researchers and owners to access car software has been fought by the auto industry. And, Walsh says, the industry had an unexpected ally. “We were surprised to see that the EPA wrote in against the exemption, particularly given that the investigation against Volkswagen must have been underway at that point,” he says.
In a July letter to the U.S. Copyright Office, the EPA argued that allowing owners to access the software could result in tampering in a way that could increase emissions. Ironically, that’s what VW itself did.
The EPA did not respond to a request for a comment. Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut says researchers should be able to get into the software. “There should be access to the source code, that is to the software, so that consumers and researchers are able to protect the public against this kind of deceptive action,” he says.
The Copyright Office could act as soon as next month on such an exemption for researchers and others.
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Dry conditions in California have limited the amount of pollen and nectar bees can collect. Ezra Romero/Valley Public Radiohide caption
itoggle caption Ezra Romero/Valley Public Radio
The drought in California over the past four years has hit the agriculture industry hard, especially one of the smallest farm creatures: honeybees. A lack of crops for bees to pollinate has California’s beekeeping industry on edge.
Gene Brandi is one of those beekeepers. He has a colony of bees near a field of blooming alfalfa just outside the Central California town of Los Banos. He uses smoke from a canister of burning burlap to calm the bees.
“It evokes a natural reaction, as if there were really a fire. And smoke helps to mask the pheromones that they communicate with,” Brandi explains.
Brandi has worked with bees since the early ’70s. He has more than 2,000 hives across the state, with around 30,000 bees in each one.
“I’m going to pull out this next frame here,” says Brandi, showing me some of his hives. “Looking for the queen again — there she is. She’s still laying eggs.”
The lack of rain and snow has reduced the amount of plants the bees feed on, which in turn limits the amount of pollen and nectar that bees collect. Normally, there are crops and wildflowers blooming here at any given time. This year in the state, there are just not enough plants and trees in bloom to keep many commercial beekeepers profitable.
Gene Brandi uses smoke to calm the bees he works with. Ezra Romero/Valley Public Radiohide caption
itoggle caption Ezra Romero/Valley Public Radio
But Brandi is managing to keep his head above water by strategically placing his bees in the few spots where there are both crops and water.
A well pumps water into a canal on this farm. Thistle blooms on the banks. Nearby, cotton and alfalfa crops are growing. It’s enough to keep his bees happy. But fallow farmland surrounds the area.
“In the drought years we just don’t make as much honey,” says Brandi. “I mean, we’re very thankful that we have places like this, where the bees have made some honey this summer.”
Brandi says because of the lack of natural food for the honeybees, many beekeepers have to feed their colonies processed bee food, which is a mixture of pollen and oil. They’re also feeding the bees a honey substitute made of sugar syrup.
“If there’s not adequate feed, we need to supply it. Otherwise, they’re not going to make it, they’re going to die,” Brandi says.
The quality of these meal substitutes isn’t as good as the real deal. They’re expensive, and it’s like eating fresh versus canned vegetables. Beekeepers are also supplying bees with water.
Tim Tucker, president of the American Beekeeping Federation, says the expense in providing food and drink to the bees is causing more beekeepers to take their bees out of California and into other states.
“Commercial beekeepers are having difficult times keeping bees alive, and they’re kind of spread out,” Tucker says. “They’re going to Montana and they’re going to North Dakota.”
That raises concerns among farmers who rely on those bees to pollinate the 400-plus crops grown in California’s Central Valley. It’s especially important to have them here in the spring, when the region’s 900,000-plus acres of almonds bloom.
“They’re scrambling, trying to figure out as many options as possible to make sure their bees stay healthy and are prepared for next year,” says Ryan Jacobsen, CEO of the Fresno County Farm Bureau. “That includes trying to move to newer areas and trying to plant new feed sources.”
Jacobsen also notes that this drought is really the second punch to the beekeeping industry in the past 10 years. Each winter, as much as 40 percent of the honey bees in the West disappear due to the unexplained colony collapse disorder.
The expense of moving bees and the fear of weakening colonies are why beekeepers like Gene Brandi have taken the risk of not sending their bees out of state.
“Bees are like cattle, in the sense that the pasture can be overcrowded. And even though we have less forage then normal, it’s still more forage then other parts of the state,” says Brandi.
And just like every other farmer in the region, Brandi and his beekeeping counterparts say rain and snow are the only true answer to reviving the California beekeeping industry.
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Don Muller says his favorite jukebox is his 1948 Seeburg M100A, which he keeps in the corner of his living room. Carla Javier/NPRhide caption
itoggle caption Carla Javier/NPR
Don Muller has so many jukeboxes in his house, he doesn’t even know how many there are.
“I’ve never done this, walk around and count them,” Muller says, as he begins counting a row of jukeboxes tucked under a shelf of records.
He walks through the add-on garage, porch, living room and foyer. So far, he’s counted 62 jukeboxes, just in his own house — plus 40 in stock at his store, and plenty more in storage elsewhere.
“I’ve been telling people we have over a hundred,” Muller says. “Now, I know it’s even way more than that.”
Most of these jukeboxes are part of his company, Jukeboxes Unlimited, which he’s owned since 1971. He guts many of them to salvage their parts for assisting with repairs. Others, he fixes up to sell, while still others — the nicer looking ones, especially those that light up — he rents for parties and dances.
And some, Muller simply falls in love with and keeps for himself, like his 1948 Seeburg M100A. It sits in the corner of his living room at home.
“This machine is 100 percent original, every single aspect of it: the original cartridge, the original needle and original old 78 rpm records,” he says before playing Frankie Lymon’s “Goody Goody.”
Muller’s Jukeboxes Unlimited buys, repairs, rents and sells jukeboxes. He’s owned it since 1971. Carla Javier/NPRhide caption
itoggle caption Carla Javier/NPR
Back when he got his start in the 1970s in Los Angeles, there were a lot of guys like him in the jukebox business — but he set himself apart by selling to the stars. His famous clients include Steve Martin and Mick Fleetwood, and their notes and copies of checks still fill books and albums of his. He even used to go to the Playboy Mansion to repair a jukebox owned by Hugh Hefner.
Muller, now 72, has seen many of his competitors go away. The business has gotten less glamorous, but he keeps busy through his online store.
“I get so many emails. I get ’em from all over the world, and it’s the same thing. It’s like, ‘Can you tell me what gear goes with this gear?’ And you know, for me to just get back to them and say, ‘What jukebox are you even talking about?’ I just don’t have time,” he explains.
He drives 50 miles to visit one of those people who contacted him online — Aline DeGroote, in Anaheim, Calif. She has promised to give him some records if he can take her jukebox off her hands.
Muller doesn’t need more records. The add-on to his house is full of them; he has hundreds and thousands already. Many are duplicates, and most aren’t worth that much — but he’s excited about the records DeGroote is offering anyway.
“I don’t collect records: I amass records,” he explains as he drives to DeGroote’s home. “I don’t even know what we’re getting today. I’m sure I already have 20 copies of what she’s got, but it’s an addiction.”
DeGroote’s jukebox is from the early ’60s, and she’s had some trouble selling it. She tried Craigslist and thrift stores.
“When I first tried to sell the jukebox, people were like, ‘Well, does it play CDs?'” DeGroote says.
Muller keeps his collection of records in what he calls “banana boxes.” He says each box holds 400 45-rpm records. Carla Javier/NPRhide caption
itoggle caption Carla Javier/NPR
Her dad, who died five years ago, used to keep the jukebox in the pool room. She grew up listening to it. But now it’s broken, and she’s selling it to Muller for $75.
“I wanted it to go to someone who would appreciate it for what it is,” she explains. “It’s a jukebox that plays old music.”
When she pulls out seven boxes of records, Muller’s face lights up. There are at least 2,000. He sorts through the records, putting them in other boxes he brought himself — “banana boxes,” he calls them, since he picked them up at the local grocery store.
“A packed banana box is 400 records,” he explains. “Four hundred 45s in a banana box.”
As he sorts through them, he gets excited when he sees a record by The Fleetwoods. He begins to sing “Come Softly To Me,” and DeGroote joins in.
Muller says he could make decent money if he sold his collection of over 400,000 records. But he doesn’t plan to unless someone comes along with a huge offer, because the records aren’t for his business.
They’re for his collection. And eventually, he’ll give them to his son.
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New Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller poses with Berthold Huber (third from right) acting head of the Supervisory board of Volkswagen, Stephan Weil (second from right) Prime Minister of Lower Saxony and member of the Supervisory board, Wolfgang Porsche (right) member of Supervisory board and Bernd Osterloh (left) head of Volkwagen’s works council, at VW’s headquarters in Germany on Friday. Fabian Bimmer/Reuters/Landovhide caption
itoggle caption Fabian Bimmer/Reuters/Landov
Switzerland has announced that it will temporarily halt the sale of Volkswagen diesel-engine vehicles after it was revealed earlier this month that the automaker cheated on emissions tests.
Thomas Rohrbach, spokesman for the Swiss federal office of roadways, is quoted by The Associated Press as saying that “the ban is on all cars with diesel engines in the ‘euro 5’ emissions category. It includes all VW models — as well as Seat, Skodas and others in the VW group.”
The BBC says that could affect 180,000 unsold cars in the country that have 1.2-liter, 1.6-liter and 2-liter diesel engines.
The news follows developments on Friday that included the appointment of a new CEO, Matthias Mueller, and announcements in Germany that emissions tests on 2.8 million VWs in the country had been rigged. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also said it was tightening its testing procedures.
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