Elevator to space? They're really trying Nov 4, 2009
The so-called space elevator is the future goal of this week's $2 million Space Elevator Games in the Mojave Desert. In a major test of the concept, robotic machines powered by laser beams will try to climb a cable suspended from a helicopter hovering more than a half-mile (one kilometer) high at Edwards Air Force Base. (Anchorage Daily News)
Snake Eyes for Hard-Hit Las VegasThe land of glitz and luxury is still reeling from the financial crisis. Nov 3, 2009
But now, the recession has blasted open one of its deepest craters here in this city surrounded by the Mojave Desert. Las Vegas now has the country's highest rate of home foreclosures, and more than 70 percent of homeowners here owe more on their mortgages than their houses or condos are worth. (ABC News)
'Highway robbery' Nov 3, 2009
An unmanned private rocket attempting to win a $1 million X Prize in a simulated moon landing competition has failed to lift off in the Mojave Desert. Masten Space Systems' Xoie (ZOH-ee) rocket had two launch aborts Wednesday at Mojave Air and Space Port. (Fresno Bee -- Opinion)
Success, failure in latest X Prize rocket contest Oct 31, 2009
An unusual amount of private rocketry has been taking place in California's Mojave Desert as teams compete for prizes up to $1 million in a NASA-backed simulated lunar landing competition ... (AP) -- An unusual amount of private rocketry has been taking place in California's Mojave Desert as teams compete for prizes up to $1 million in a NASA-backed simulated lunar landing. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Science)
Fire thwarts rocket in lunar lander competition Oct 30, 2009
An unmanned private rocket attempting to win a $1 million X Prize in a simulated moon landing competition has failed to lift off in the Mojave Desert ... LOS ANGELES -- A rocket flew halfway through a simulated lunar landing mission in the Mojave Desert on Thursday before a fire thwarted the attempt to win a $1 million prize. (Fresno Bee -- State)
How to lure pilots back into our world Oct 30, 2009
The Mojave Desert crept by almost imperceptibly, too remote to be interesting except to geologists. This was what it was be a jet pilot. (Albany Times Union)
New-look Stryker team trains to help finish mission in Iraq Oct 27, 2009
At the Mojave Desert training center, Frost hopes to employ scenarios based on the economics, ethnic composition and conditions of the towns and villages in his area of operation ... At the Mojave Desert training center, Frost hopes to employ scenarios based on the economics, ethnic composition and conditions of the towns and villages in his area of operation. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
Pitts: Law, common sense cross paths in court Oct 26, 2009
No, I'm only trying to tease out an opinion I can live with in a case the court heard recently, about a cross in the Mojave Desert. The original cross (it has been replaced a number of times over the years) was erected in 1934 as a tribute to the dead of World War I and sits in a remote corner of what now is the Mojave National Preserve. (Athens Banner-Herald)
US service member killed in Afghanistan bomb Oct 25, 2009
The former San Bernardino chapter president of the Vagos motorcycle gang has been arrested in Georgia for the 2003 killing of a club prospect whose body was found in the Mojave Desert. Sheriff's investigators say 46-year-old Keith Silva was arrested Wednesday in Covington, Ga. (Fresno Bee -- Local)
It's Official: The ATF and the FBI Don't Get Along Oct 25, 2009
In June 2007, agents fought in front of state and local bomb squad personnel at a blast site in the Mojave Desert. The ATF claimed it was notified too late for agents to work the scene, while the FBI claimed that ATF responded late, then wanted to take over the scene. (Time.com)
One special homecoming Oct 21, 2009
The temperature changes from 12 degrees in recent days to 125 degrees while cycling through the Mojave Desert struggles and unexpected events have all contributed to the ups and downs of this journey. In the early on, the men lost a member of their group the 1986 Winnabago Lasharo, labeled The Gary, which came to its final resting place in New Mexico. (Milton Standard Journal, PA)
Non-Christians May Find This Cross Hard to Bear Oct 14, 2009
Why get so worked up over a cross in the Mojave Desert or school-sponsored prayer in classrooms. Most Americans are Christians, after all, and the rest of us should simply get used to it. (Bloomberg -- Columnists)
Legal argument v. common sense Oct 13, 2009
No, I'm only trying to tease out an opinion I can live with in a case the court heard last week, about a cross in the Mojave Desert. The original cross (it has been replaced a number of times over the years) was erected in 1934 as a tribute to the dead of World War I and sits in a remote corner of what is now the Mojave National Preserve. (Montana Standard, MT)
Breakfast With ... Linda Greenhouse Oct 12, 2009
That case that was argued [recently, Mojave Desert Cross as World War I war memorial,] isn't necessarily the most fruitful framework -- they got kind of way off the point. It is not a clean church-state case. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
A father's battle experience unearthed Oct 11, 2009
and trained with their unit in California's Mojave Desert and Louisiana's swamps. They traveled to Great Britain aboard the Queen Mary. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
- From the Left: Correct is not the same as right 0 Oct 10, 2009
No, I m only trying to tease out an opinion I can live with in a case the court heard last week, about a cross in the Mojave Desert. The original cross (it has been replaced a number of times over the years) was erected in 1934 as a tribute to the dead of World War I and sits in a remote corner of what is now the Mojave National Preserve. (El Centro Imperial Valley Press, CA)
Signs point toward possible fight if lawsuit comes over Zunker memorial Oct 10, 2009
Until the Mojave Desert case is decided, the county has taken a wait-and-see approach, she said. A lawsuit remains just a potential action. (Chippewa Falls Chippewa Herald, WI)
Schofield Stryker brigade will return to Iraq Oct 9, 2009
Col. Malcolm Frost, commander of the 25th Infantry Division's 2nd Stryker Brigade, said to prepare for the year-long tour his unit will go to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in Southern California's Mojave Desert in February ... Col. Malcolm Frost, commander of the 25th Infantry Division's 2nd Stryker Brigade, said to prepare for the year-long tour his unit will go to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in Southern California's Mojave Desert in February. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
ACLU Pushes High Court to Destroy Cross Memorial Oct 8, 2009
In 1934, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) erected a cross on Sunrise Rock in the Mojave Desert as a memorial to all those who served in World War I, along with a plaque dedicating it to those servicemen. This cross in the middle of the desert also happens to be in the middle of a national park. (Townhall.com)
Desert cross before US Supreme Court Oct 8, 2009
A long legal fight involving a cross in California's Mojave desert is being considered by the US Supreme Court. The cross, put up 75 years ago as a World War I memorial, has been covered up since lower courts ruled that it was illegal because it was on public land. (BBC News -- Americas)
Supreme Court weighs arguments over Mojave cross Oct 8, 2009
On Tuesday, a sharply-divided high court plunged into a controversy over a five-foot-tall white cross in a Mojave Desert preserve owned by the federal government ... Kagan told the justices that the federal preserve in the Mojave Desert is riddled with about a thousand private land owners. (Christian Science Monitor -- USA)
Supreme Court takes up case of cross on federal land Oct 7, 2009
But what happens when the cross in question has been on the same remote hilltop in a federal preserve in the Mojave Desert since 1934. On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court takes up a case involving not just a cross in the desert, but a host of thorny issues that could significantly change the national debate over religious symbols and monuments erected on government property. (Christian Science Monitor -- USA)
EXCLUSIVE: In Afghanistan With Air Force 911 Oct 7, 2009
Stegall notes that he met with the same division this past summer during a major training mission in the middle of the Mojave Desert in California. Oddly enough, in Afghanistan the surroundings are very similar. (Fox News)
Introduction to Historical Markers ... Oct 6, 2009
One example is the thematic designation for the detention camps where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II; another is the folk art series, which includes the junk-yard house of Nitt Witt Ridge in Cambria and the Desert View Tower in the middle of the Mojave Desert. There are more. (Suite101.com)
Now in session Oct 6, 2009
Cases involving US gun laws, videos depicting dog-fighting and the presence of a cross in the Mojave desert are among those expected to dominate a fresh session of the US Supreme Court which opens on Monday. Justice Sonia Sotomayor is a new addition to the nine-member panel, replacing liberal Justice David Souter, who retired. (BBC News -- Americas)
Voters Seeing Red Over ACLU Attack Oct 5, 2009
The object at the center of the case is a small, unadorned cross sitting in a remote part of the Mojave Desert Preserve in Southeast California. A veterans' group erected this memorial cross on private land in 1934 to honor the dead of all wars. (Townhall.com)
Roberts, Alito poised to make mark on Supreme Court Oct 4, 2009
That will be at issue when the court next week considers the case of a war memorial cross that stands on government land in the Mojave Desert. Roberts will also be key in both cases, especially the one regarding campaign finance. (Boston Globe)
5 Arizona ghost towns Oct 1, 2009
After the town's last major mine, the Tom Reed, shut down in the 1930s, Oatman became simply the last stop of note for motorists before they passed into California and crossed the Mojave Desert. But when the highway was rerouted in the 1950s, the town shrank to just a handful of stalwarts. (AZCentral -- Travel)
Biologist Eric Hansen carries on his father's legacy of preserving a threatened Central Valley snake (686) Sep 30, 2009
edumacation wrote on Sep 27, 2009 12:40 AM:" jbhiker---I agree, but remember the Lodi Unified Shool District has two megabucks educrats who get paid to COUNT TEXTBOOKS. And they don't even do that. Instead they "supervise" retired principals who volunteer to count books. All that edumacation to literally count books. Thes job are required by the Williams act and is one more number found in each schools SARC report card.The Fish and Wildlife Service have a GS-13 job to count tortoises in the... (Lodi News Sentinel, CA)
References To Salvador Dali Make Me Hot Sep 30, 2009
A FULL moon rises over the Mojave Desert and the town of Barstow, California. Gabriela (Olivia Stambouliah) is awaiting the return of her soldier husband Benito in something like emotional and sexual suspended animation. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Editorial: ACLU runs amok in crusade against cross Sep 26, 2009
On Oct. 7, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case the culmination of a 10-year battle by the American Civil Liberties Union to determine whether a 5-foot cross erected as a war memorial by veterans on a rock in California's Mojave Desert 75 years ago must be torn down. Unless the Supreme Court overturns the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the cross now shamefully covered with a plywood box be toppled, say goodbye to religious symbols or symbols of sacrifice in the form of a cross... (Sacramento Bee -- Opinion)
Fire breaks out in LA County's desert hills Sep 26, 2009
Investigators say a drunken felon fired bullets into the ceiling during his teenage daughter's birthday party, sending Mojave Desert house guests scampering for cover. The San Bernardino County sheriff's office says 43-year-old Glenn Robert Nottle had been quarreling with his wife during Sunday's birthday party when he suddenly pulled a. (Fresno Bee -- State)
Greens Vs. Solar Sep 24, 2009
Anyone who has set foot on a dry lake bed in California's Mojave Desert knows the meaning of barren. There's not much growing or moving there just hot sun beating down on parched earth. (Investors Business Daily)
Space shuttle returns to Florida ... on a jet Sep 22, 2009
The touchdown at the shuttle fleet's home base came at the end of a two-day, cross-country flight from Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert. Discovery had to land at the Edwards backup site when it returned from the international space station on Sept. 11, due to stormy weather at the Kennedy Space Center's runway. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Huge solar farms proposed in Valley Sep 22, 2009
That means the solar potential of the two sites is about 90% of what it is in the scorching Mojave Desert, Peterson said. Other factors are existing Pacific Gas ric Co. high-power transmission lines that cross overhead, offering a ready connection to the power grid; and the relative isolation of the two sites. (Fresno Bee -- Local)
Renewable power decisions create a tangled web Sep 22, 2009
(09-20) 19:25 PDT -- More big solar power plants in the Mojave Desert. Fewer solar panels on homes and businesses. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Space shuttle Discovery stays overnight in Louisiana Sep 21, 2009
The US space shuttle Discovery touches down in the Mojave Desert on September 11, at Edwards Air Force Base near Rosamond, California, ending a 13 day-mission to the ISS. The successful landing came after the Discovery was twice on September 11 and twice on September 10 unable to land at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida because of poor weather conditions. (Xinhua/Reuters File Photo). (Xinhuanet, China)
Renewable power play Sep 21, 2009
(09-20) 19:25 PDT -- More big solar power plants in the Mojave Desert ... Renewable power decisions create a tangled web Articles More big solar power plants in the Mojave Desert. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Business)
Mining of boron can be done responsibly Sep 21, 2009
It also usually consumes large amounts of water, which can be taxing in already arid regions, such as the Mojave Desert, one of two regions of the world (along with parts of Turkey) with large boron deposits. Typically, boron is extracted in open-pit mines by drilling, blasting, crushing and hauling all activities fueled by petrochemicals. (Westerly Sun, RI)
Yes, zombie snacks will be served Sep 20, 2009
Music performers include J Parson, a cowboy from Bakersfield who actually worked on a ranch running cattle to the Mojave Desert. (He also has a really fantastic cowboy mustache. (Boston Globe)
Privately Built Rockets Compete for Top Prize Sep 18, 2009
LOS ANGELES A privately built rocket vying for NASA prize money lifted off in the Mojave Desert and flew half of a simulated lunar lander mission Wednesday before an engine problem forced its developers to call off the attempt until next month. The flight of Masten Space Systems' unmanned "Xombie" at Mojave Air and Space Port comes just days after another competitor, Armadillo Aerospace, qualified for the $1 million top prize with two flights in Texas. (Fox News)
War-tested soldiers on a holy mission Sep 17, 2009
SIERRA VISTA Six soldiers dedicated to the preservation of a cross erected atop a hill in the Mojave Desert as a war memorial passed through Sierra Vista on Tuesday on their way to visit the controversial site ... on Monday and will arrive Thursday at the Mojave Desert Memorial ... The group of six GIs from Fort Polk, who all served recently in Iraq, plan to attend a rally in California to support the Mojave Desert War Memorial, a cross atop a hill. (Sierra Vista Herald, AZ)
Discovery's return to KSC may start Friday Sep 17, 2009
It was the 54th time in 128 missions that a shuttle landed at the Mojave Desert base. Roughly 200 technicians, mostly United Space Alliance employees from KSC, have been working around the clock since Sunday to prepare the shuttle orbiter for its ferry flight atop a modified Boeing 747. (Florida Today)
Lodi-area astronaut Jose Hernandez full of stories about space (454) Sep 15, 2009
Hernandez, 47, who landed safely with six other astronauts Friday night at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, spent the weekend relaxing with his parents and a brother at his home in Houston. He's getting reaccustomed to the Earth's gravity, which caused him to have poor balance for four to five hours after landing. (Lodi News Sentinel, CA)
More Pets Found On Convicted Animal Abuser's Property Sep 15, 2009
Bemis's property in the Mojave Desert has seen new life in the form of week-old puppies, but it's also seen plenty of death over the years. What was formerly the home of both Bemis and her roommate Cynthia Trapani has transformed into a desolate landscape, with empty broken dog houses and open gated kennels. (KERO 23, CA)
Shuttle astronauts prepare for Texas homecoming Sep 14, 2009
Discovery took a cross-country detour to the Mojave Desert on Friday after bad weather scuttled a return to its Florida home port. The crew will attend a welcome ceremony in their honor at Ellington Field in Houston. (WCAX.com, VT)
Soldiers fight for desert cross (20) Sep 14, 2009
But for Sgt. Zachary Thomson, a cross on a hill in California s Mojave Desert has a different meaning ... The problem began when a former National Park Service employee, who now lives 900 miles from the Mojave Desert filed a complaint a few years ago saying he was offended by a religious icon being on federal land ... Also sitting in the courtroom will be representatives of the Liberty Legal Institute, one of the organizations that has taken up the campaign to save the Mojave Desert Memorial... (Sierra Vista Herald, AZ)
Discovery Prepares for Another Landing Try Sep 12, 2009
So flight director Richard Jones opted for the sunny skies of the Mojave Desert ... The two chances for landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert, are at 8:53 p.m. and 10:28 p.m., reports CBS News space analyst Bill Harwood. (CBS News)
Space Shuttle Lands Safely in California Sep 12, 2009
So flight director Richard Jones opted for the sunny skies of the Mojave Desert. Landing time was 5:53 p.m. PDT, well before sunset. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Bad Weather Sends Shuttle to California Sep 12, 2009
So flight director Richard Jones opted for the sunny skies of the Mojave Desert. The delivery trip to the international space station has spanned 14 days and 5. (13WMAZ.com, GA)
Shuttle Discovery home safely after 14-day mission Sep 12, 2009
NASA diverted the spaceship to Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert after waiting in vain for two days for rain and clouds to clear over the shuttle's home port in Florida, the originally scheduled landing location. Under partly cloudy desert skies, the shuttle landed at 8:53 p.m. EDT on Friday (0053 GMT on Saturday). (The Star Online, Malaysia)
Discovery lands in California Sep 12, 2009
The space shuttle Discovery glided to a day-late Mojave Desert touchdown on Friday, leaving a fresh crew member and nine tons of equipment and supplies behind aboard the International Space Station ... Approaching from the southwest, Sturckow monitored a steep computer-controlled descent across the Los Angeles Basin before taking manual control 50,000 feet above the Mojave Desert and guiding the shuttle to a crisp landing at 8:53 pm. (India Times, India)
Weather may mean landing at Edwards Sep 11, 2009
An Edwards landing would result in 100 KSC employees flying to the Mojave Desert base to join a 50-person "A Team" already there. They would help prepare the shuttle for its cross-country flight home. (Florida Today)
Discovery due home at dinnertime Sep 10, 2009
If landings are waved off today, NASA would consider activating its back-up landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert as early as Friday. But with the forecast at Edwards looking excellent there through the weekend, that decision could wait until Saturday. (Florida Today)
The U.S. Must Prioritize Its Carbon Strategy [Extended version] Sep 10, 2009
The Mojave Desert alone could provide up to half of electricity needs in the U.S. if a high-voltage direct current transmission grid were available to carry the power to major population centers, and if the remaining technological obstacles and cost factors can be resolved. If ever there were a case of learning-by-doing, it s this one. (Scientific American)
Bechtel to build solar plants for BrightSource Sep 9, 2009
Bechtel Corp., a San Francisco engineering company long associated with nuclear power and fossil fuels, will build big solar plants in the Mojave Desert for BrightSource Energy, one of the renewable-power industry's rising stars. Images. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Business)
Renewable Energy Plan Divides Environmentalists Sep 9, 2009
He wants to put these new utilities on federally owned lands like this stretch of the Mojave Desert, one of the sunniest places on Earth. Related. (ABC News)
Renewable energy plan creates rift Sep 8, 2009
Nearly half the solar proposals are in the Mojave Desert, home to the threatened desert tortoise, Indian petroglyphs and an intact stretch of Route 66, the historic highway dotted with vintage diners and derelict gas stations. Not far from the iconic Roy's Motel and Diner, PG&E consultant Scott Galati tells environmentalists that surveys reveal no rare plants or threatened species on a planned solar site. (USA Today -- Money)
Can Budget-Strapped California Afford More Wildfires? Sep 7, 2009
The advancing fire has cut a moonscape swath through the middle of the mountain range that forms a barrier between the greater Los Angeles area and the Mojave Desert. Related. (Time.com)
1 dead, others injured in Miss. prisoner van crash Sep 7, 2009
Two French teenagers and their driver remained hospitalized Monday after a weekend crash that claimed two lives when the driver fell asleep on a tour through the Mojave Desert, officials said ... Two French teenagers and their driver remained hospitalized Monday after a weekend crash that claimed two lives when the driver fell asleep on a tour through the Mojave Desert, officials said. (Fresno Bee -- Nation)
Getting ready for the real Iraq Sep 2, 2009
At the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, in the vastness of the Mojave Desert, fiction has a way of blurring into reality. When the Muslim call to prayer sounds across the sandy wilderness, villages fill with sights and sounds of distant lands. (Boston Globe)
Virgin Founder Richard Branson Sep 1, 2009
The first spaceship will be unveiled in the Mojave Desert in December. You've developed a reputation for the outlandish stunt. (Time.com)
Recession grinds at an iconic Western hotel Aug 30, 2009
Local laws have banned casinos, curbed the number of bars, and slowed growth to the pace of a Mojave Desert tortoise. In fact, Boulder City s wariness of development - it allows 120 building permits a year - has mostly shielded it from the recession. (Boston Globe)
Kidnap Suspect Linked to Prostitute Slays? Aug 29, 2009
Or if we feel like we don't trust the death penalty for s 0000003B ome reason, we need to have compounds in the Mojave Desert 00004000 for these freaks. We put them out there. (CBS News)
Las Vegas in 5... Aug 27, 2009
Less than an hour from the strip you can immerse yourself in the beauty of the Mojave Desert at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The brightly colored rocks, true in color to their name, are strewn with more than 30 miles of hiking trails, guided horseback riding, rock climbing and a 13-mile scenic drive with lookout points offering amazing views of the desert and plenty of Kodak moments. (Fox News)
