By Chad Love

Fishing hurts, and PETA wants you to know about it by sponsoring a roadside rest stop in Virginia right outside the city of...Troutville.

From the story in the Roanoke Times:

Gov. Bob McDonnell announced an initiative last week that would allow for sponsorships at Virginia's highway rest areas to help offset the cost of operating the facilities. And now the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants in on the action. PETA has sent a letter to the Virginia Department of Transportation expressing its interest in sponsoring the Interstate 81 rest stop at mile marker 158 near Troutville and renaming it the "Fishing Hurts" rest area. It also would like to get a reduced sponsorship rate as a nonprofit. And forget about that junk food in the vending machines. The "Fishing Hurts" rest area would have "delicious vegan faux-fish sticks" and other fish-free snacks, according to PETA's letter.

By Chad Love

An interesting dynamic is playing out in a small Arkansas town torn between preservation for the benefit of a few wealthy duck hunters versus jobs for the many, but jobs in an industry under fire for pollution.

From this AP story in the Washington Post:
The barbed-wire fence surrounding the Hempstead County Hunting Club divides more than property lines. It separates rich from poor. On one side: wealthy duck hunters who have preserved a private forested paradise largely untouched by chain saws. On the other: the people of this struggling Arkansas town where jobs are scarce and families live in run-down trailers. The hunters are now waging a bitter legal battle over construction of a coal-fired power plant, and the dispute has laid bare the class tensions that have long beset this rural area. Townspeople welcome the new facility because it will bring jobs and valuable tax revenue. But club members fear the plant will spew pollutants that cause acid rain, threatening the pristine hunting grounds they have protected for more than a century.

By Chad Love

Impatient duffers on this Arizona golf course are well-advised to not play through this particular party...

From this story on ArizonaCentral.com:
A north Scottsdale couple feel lucky to have made a rare sighting of three mountain lions this week on the fourth hole of Desert Mountain Golf Club's Cochise Course. Desert Mountain resident Linda Borman said she quickly snapped a few photographs on Monday afternoon after her husband, Ty, saw the mother and her two cubs lounging on the fairway of the 546-yard, par-5 hole.

By Chad Love

Right now the impacts of natural gas exploration in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale is a hot environmental issue. But can gas drilling and Pennsylvania wildlife co-exist? A qualified yes, according to researchers at Penn State University.

From this story in the Altoona Mirror:
The location of a Marcellus Shale drilling pad site could mean the difference between life or extinction for some of Pennsylvania's unique wildlife, Penn State officials said Thursday. But if planned properly, there's room in the state's woodlands for it to thrive alongside responsible drilling, Penn State wildlife resources professor Margaret C. Brittingham said. "Natural gas drilling and protecting our natural resource base don't have to be incompatible," she said. "But it requires forethought, planning and trade-offs." Such measures are the only logical step here, considering Marcellus drilling will become a part of western Pennsylvania's industry and landscape for decades to come, Penn State researchers told about 20 people who attended a Cambria County Conservation District's Marcellus Shale forum.