Monthly Archives: January 2022

Guwahati: After several months, the governments of Assam and Meghalaya have come up with a draft resolution to resolve their border disputes in six of the 12 areas of difference along the 884-km boundary.

According to the proposed recommendations for the 36.79 square km of land, Assam will keep 18.51 square km and give the remaining 18.28 square km to Meghalaya.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma met Union Home Minister Amit Shah Thursday evening and submitted the proposed recommendations.

Meghalaya cabinet minister Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar told ThePrint that five principles including the will of the people living in the disputed areas had been considered to decide which area would fall in which state. Considering those, we have come to a conclusion, said Tongkhar, who is also chairman of the regional committee on the border issue for the West Khasi Hills.

Both the Assam and Meghalaya cabinets had approved the recommendations Wednesday.

Leaders of several Opposition parties in Assam objected to the recommendations, expressing worry that their state was giving up more than Meghalaya and saying that further consultations and discussions in the legislature were necessary.

Unlike in Assam, however, MLAs of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the main Opposition party in Meghalaya, werent consulted. George Lyngdoh of the TMC told ThePrint that he wasnt in the know about the contents of the proposal. He said, We are yet to be informed about the deliberations and the proposed agreement. We do expect this (for the government to consult us) but this is left to their discretion.

ThePrint contacted Assam cabinet ministers Pijush Hazarika and Atul Bora who also head regional committees via calls. Calls to Meghalaya CM Sangma went unanswered too. This report will be updated with their comments when they respond.

Also read: TMC has stormed into Meghalaya with a bang. But these 3 factors will decide its fate there

The long-standing land dispute was sparked in 1972 when Meghalaya was carved out of Assam. The border issues came about as a result of different readings of the demarcation of boundaries in the initial agreement for the new states creation.

A presentation prepared by the Assam government for a meeting Tuesday states that 12 areas of differences evolved over time since 1993. Over the years, at least 50 high-level meetings have been held to resolve these border issues.

In a meeting on 23 July, the two state governments decided to work towards the resolution of disputes in six sectors: Hahim, Gizang, Tarabari, Boklapara, Khanapara-Pilingkata and Ratacherra.

The Assam and Meghalaya governments then set up regional committees headed by cabinet ministers from the two states to study these areas.

The committees adopted a five-phase approach, which included the exchange of records, joint field visits, detailed deliberations, negotiations, and then the preparation of the final recommendations. In each of the areas, the committees would take into account the composition of the local population.

The recommendations for each of the six sectors are as follows:

Graphic: Ramandeep Kaur | ThePrint

Assam CM Sarma held a meeting Tuesday on the draft agreement with representatives of the Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF), and the United Peoples Party Liberal (UPPL).

During the meeting, Opposition parties in Assam raised concerns over the give-and-take policy that has been recommended.

Congress MLA Debabrata Saikia, Leader of the Opposition in the Assam legislative assembly, who was present at the meeting, was of the opinion that Assam had compromised more than Meghalaya had.

Speaking to ThePrint, he said, If we adopt this give-and-take policy, the other states (with which Assam has land disputes) will start demanding more.

Referring to the earlier committees and discussions on the issue, Saikia said he had witnessed a heated confrontation between the two states.

But such things were not reflected (in the resolution). Then how can we say that the resolution is impartial and it is not done under duress? It cant easily be done, thats what I have said, he said.

Aminul Islam of the AIUDF, who also participated in the meeting, said the matter should be discussed in Assams legislature. He welcomed the process to settle the issue, but raised concerns that people belonging to Assam might be evicted as a result of the give-and-take policy.

When other states occupy our land, the government is very soft, I cant understand this, he said, adding that the original constitutional boundary should be final for every state.

Meanwhile, Raijor Dal president and Sibsagar MLA Akhil Gogoi in a letter to the chief minister Thursday said that such resolutions cant come about without consulting the states people.

According to media reports, tension had prevailed during the recent minister-level meetings between Assam and Meghalaya. Media reports also stated that in some meetings, people of Meghalaya forcefully stopped the people of Assam from taking part in such meetings. In such a situation, any decision taken in a hurry would be disastrous to the interest of Assam, Gogoi wrote.

Sarma had also held interactions with representatives of students organisations including the All Assam Students Union (AASU), All Bodo Students Union (ABSU), All Rabha Students Union, All Assam Gorkha Students Union, and Garo Students Union.

ThePrint spoke to Samajjul Bhattacharya, chief adviser to AASU and adviser to the Northeast Students Organisation (NESO). He said, AASU and NESO want a permanent solution to the border issues of the seven states. We welcome the initiative taken by the Assam and Meghalaya governments, and this should continue.

He added, Regarding the six areas, we want to visit the places, and all the student bodies will discuss with the people and then give our opinion to the government.

(Edited by Rohan Manoj)

Also read: Judicial probe into brutal Assam eviction hasnt begun in 3 months, 1st staffer appointed now

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Give & take: How Assam & Meghalaya struck an agreement on a 50-year-old boundary dispute - ThePrint

The planning and development committee is the unsung hero of public engagement with Brampton City Hall.

Major hiring decisions, changes to transit service and even deliberations on how your tax dollars will be spent often sail through council meetings without the public blinking an eye.

But when it comes to new development proposals, residents have for years flooded City Halls council chamber with their pointed views.

Under the Planning Act, cities are required to hold public meetings before making decisions on how their neighbourhoods will be shaped. Folded into the general planning and development agenda, during any given meeting, residents are encouraged to express concerns and ask questions about proposed projects.

At Bramptons most recent planning and development committee, four applications came forward.

They revealed a clear example of the Citys failure to plan.

Brampton has, throughout its history, sprawled out across empty fields one development proposal at a time, as private builders dictated to elected officials how the city would be shaped, to fit their construction model and maximize their profits.

When Linda Jeffrey came to power in 2014, after easily defeating Susan Fennell, who had been mayor since 2000, and who had established a close relationship with the developers she called on each year to donate handsomely to her annual mayors gala and her annual mayors golf tournament, the former provincial Liberal cabinet minister vowed to sever the control builders had over City Hall.

The arrangement had left a city planned around low-cost, high-return cookie cutter subdivisions that forced residents to rely on their cars to navigate a maze of cul-de-sacs and far flung suburban planning.

But Jeffrey was defeated by Patrick Brown in 2018 before being able to establish any real mandate around growth.

Since his arrival, a lack of vision from the very top has allowed homebuilders to push whatever projects they like without a coherent plan for walkability, transit or density.

Story continues

Brown and others on council have shown they care little about establishing a progressive, cohesive vision that aligns transit goals, urban density, affordable housing and smart growth with the broader commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Council passed a climate emergency declaration, but its actions continue to reveal the hypocrisy of Bramptons local elected officials.

Across the four applications dealt with Monday that triggered public meetings, developers are asking permission to build almost 6,000 new units on undeveloped landknown as greenfields. They are not bringing much-needed infill (construction in already built spaces) to areas of the city well served by transit, nor are they intensifying areas identified by the Province and City Hall as future urban growth corridors. Instead, the applications suggest adding more subdivision-style housing to the fringes of the city least serviced by urban infrastructure.

Three applications ask to build along The Gore Road in northeast Brampton, and the fourth calls for a 1,550 unit subdivision in the northwestern Heritage Heights area. The latter request is subject to a request from Brampton City Council for a Ministers Zoning Order that, if granted, would allow the developer to skip consultations with the public that would otherwise be required.

It is a style of directionless growth Brampton was supposed to have left in the past.

Almost four years ago, the City published its 2040 Vision: Living the Mosaic. The guiding master plan document was penned by Larry Beasley, a progressive urban planner based with his team in Vancouver, with input from more than 13,000 local residents. It showed what Brampton could look like if it embraced 15-minute communities, density and abandoned the all encompassing reliance on the car.

The Vision called for an overarching and carefully coordinated approach to city building where each application was carefully considered in the context of how the city would look in 2040. It suggested deliberate planning for every inch of Brampton, the antithesis of developer-led sprawl.

It was embraced wholeheartedly by the incoming council in 2018. Brown called it a foundational document during the election campaign. If Im mayor, youre going to have a partner to make sure we can actually realize that vision, he claimed.

Since taking office, the positive platitudes have continued. Together, we are on a journey to Brampton 2040, he said in a January 2020 press release.

But land for future development had already been bought up by builders and they have always had their own plans to follow a business model and construction style that maximizes their returns.

Brown and others on council have failed to confront these developers with their own vision, unlike their neighbours to the south who continue to rapidly transform Mississauga into a dense, urban centre that will look nothing like its sprawling suburban past when a series of massive new projects are completed in the next decade.

Bramptons reliance on single family homes has slowly dwindled over the past 10 years, without a clear strategy from City Hall to move toward a greener, denser, more dynamic future.

Between 2006 and 2010, an average of 60 percent of all houses completed in Brampton were single family homes, according to data from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. That figure has come down slowly since, and between 2016 and 2021 an average of 45 percent of all homes completed in Brampton were single detached units.

At the same time, the rate of row houses has shot up. Between 2006 and 2010, just 12 percent of all homes completed were row houses, but that has climbed to an average of 31 percent across the past five years. Apartments have dropped from 14 percent of all housing completions down to an average of just 10 percent over the same period.

In 2020, no apartment units were completed in Brampton.

Brampton may be gently turning its nose to the future with these figures, but not through a particular strategy. The fact the drop in single family homes has been accompanied by a drop in the number of apartments being built suggests developer strategy and market forces at play, not municipal direction (high-rise construction was supposed to drive growth along the citys designated urban corridors).

Building permit data show the current council may even be moving in the wrong direction.

The number of permits granted to developers in 2019 and 2020, since Brown and his council took office, offer some insight. In 2018, under the past council, 684 building permits were issued for single family homes, rising to 893 in 2019 and then 827 in 2020. The latest number of single family home building permits represents a 21 percent increase over 2018, and this was partly during the pandemic when many builders slowed down their requests for permits.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) explicitly called on local governments to help fight against climate change by avoiding this type of planning. It noted sprawling developments built around the car were one of the biggest culprits of climate change and said it was down to local municipalities to plan density for a green future.

Some positive signs do also bubble under the surface in Brampton.

The number of building permits for townhouses has increased under the current council. Considered by many to represent the missing middle between high-density units and a spacious family house, townhomes can help to create walkable communities without moving to full condo towers and Manhattan-style hyper-density. Brampton issued 333 building permits for townhouses in 2018, jumping to 928 in 2019 and 508 in 2020.

The latest four greenfield development proposals show a meandering, unplanned approach continuing. Two (10263 and 10159 The Gore Road) include a significant number of medium and high density units amid single family houses, offering more density than the subdivisions built in the past. A third development proposal, at 10365 The Gore Road, is more of the same. It offers 118 low density homes, 177 medium density units and no high density development.

To achieve the 2040 Vision, council needs to carefully plan every acre of undeveloped land to ensure it meets targets for density and walkability, while leaving as much property as possible for greenspace and other non-residential, non-commercial uses. Two of the four applications Monday that involved public meetings require amendments to Bramptons Official Plan, meaning they do not fit the vision City Hall set for the area.

Brampton is currently in the midst of rewriting its official plan to incorporate the 2040 Vision. It remains unclear if the proposals fit into the approved master plan, and the final amendments to the citys urban boundary land use strategy will not be known until changes are finalized under the current review taking place.

One of the four applications will be of particular concern to those who hope to see the 2040 Vision realized. The proposal to build 1,550 new units in the Heritage Heights area flies in the face of the Vision.

The area was explicitly identified by Beasley and his team as a space to be carefully developed with more density and is subject to a master plan that council agreed upon more than a year ago.

Lets end the sprawl, Wards 1 and 5 Councillor Paul Vicente said in July 2020 when he voted in favour, along with the whole council, of a plan to develop Heritage Heights. The area was frozen for development until the beginning of that year for the City to decide how it wanted to plan one of its last greenfield areas. The ultimate decision was to aim for a dense, mixed-use community around a potential GO Transit stop.

An initial Heritage Heights plan, released in 2014, estimated 60,000 residents living in 16,000 houses with 18,000 jobs. The new plan has Heritage Heights hosting an estimated 36,000 houses and 43,000 residents. It is a radical change that requires radical leadership from councillors committed to a much more urban, transit-oriented future.

Council, contrary to its climate emergency declaration and commitment to the 2040 Vision master plan, is forging ahead with old habits. The request to build a standard subdivision in the area was wholeheartedly endorsed by Brampton City Council. Councillors even sent a letter to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing requesting a Ministers Zoning Order, used to fast track a development without the usual local planning authority or public consultations.

Details included in Mondays public meeting show the developer-led project will bring a mix of housing to the area. Argo, the builder behind the proposal, has suggested 169 low-density, 913 medium-density and 468 high-density units.

No final decision has been made on any of the four applications. Councillors will consider the projects when they return to the planning and development committee with staff recommendations.

What they decide will signal whether Bramptons local elected officials, who passed a climate emergency declaration and claim support for smart growth, can stand up to the demands of developers in an election year when campaigns are often heavily funded by builders.

Email: isaac.callan@thepointer.com

Twitter: @isaaccallan

Tel: 647 561-4879

COVID-19 is impacting all Canadians. At a time when vital public information is needed by everyone, The Pointer has taken down our paywall on all stories relating to the pandemic and those of public interest to ensure every resident of Brampton and Mississauga has access to the facts. For those who are able, we encourage you to consider a subscription. This will help us report on important public interest issues the community needs to know about now more than ever. You can register for a 30-day free trial HERE. Thereafter, The Pointer will charge $10 a month and you can cancel any time right on the website. Thank you

Isaac Callan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer

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Brampton cant shake its addiction to sprawl - Yahoo News Canada

Bula

Here are some headlines that made The Fiji Times edition for Tuesday, January 25.

Before that though, remember we have cash prizes up for grabs check out the newspaper for details!

HEADLINES

PAGE 1

Number one killer

NON-Communicable Diseases remains the number one killer in Fiji with 5700 related deaths recorded in 2020. According to a Ministry of Health statement, outpatient data recorded more than 176,000 patients treated for diabetes between 2013 to 2018.

Disloyal members

SOCIAL Democratic Liberal Party leader Viliame Gavoka says disloyal members are quitting the party on their own accord and they will be punished by the people during the upcoming election. He said party members allegedly working for another party were investigated and some had resigned.

PAGE 2

Prioritising education

PRIORITISING education is crucial especially after the substantial loss of hours of face to face learning, says Education Minister Premila Kumar.

E-learning

THE Ministry of Education will soon launch a survey on e-learning technologies available in schools.

ECE enrolment

Enrolments for Early Childhood Education, Year 1, and Year 9 for the 2022 academic year will be carried out as per the policy on school zoning in Fiji.

PAGE 3

NCD deaths

FIJI recorded 5700 deaths in 2020 that were due to complications related to Non-Communicable Diseases.

VMS

THE Fiji Revenue and Customs Service paid a company $849,738 for the supply of Vat Monitoring System (VMS) software, only to find out the software being developed did not have certain features.

PAGE 4

Wave buoys

ONLY one of three-wave buoys deployed in 2019 to gauge the height of surrounding water level, pressure and temperature is still operational, Minister for Meteorological Services Jone Usamate said.

Back to school

Students turn up in north schools on the first day,

Death toll in Tonga

DEATH toll in Tonga as a direct result of the volcanic eruptions from Hunga Haapai Hunga Tonga stands at three, reveals the New Zealand Government which is coordinating relief works in the Kingdom.

PAGE 5

TLTB

THE iTaukei Trust Fund Board will be engaging a project manager to oversee the rebuilding of the burnt down Great Council of Chiefs Building at Draiba, Suva, says board CEO Aisake Taito.

Single parents

MORE than 7000 single parents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic were referred to the Fiji National Philanthropic Trust Cash Assistance Program (FiNCap) under the Save the Children Fiji.

SODELPA members

SOCIAL Democratic Liberal Party members who are not loyal to the party are quitting the party on their own accord, party leader Viliame Gavoka said.

Mangroves

THE Ministry of Waterways says 8000 square meters of mangroves will be scrubbed during desilting works in the Nasivi river in Tavua to safeguard the town and its adjacent communities from flooding.

PAGE 7

Aggravated robbery

A 17-year-old who took part in a daylight aggravated robbery was handed a 2-year jail term suspended for three years.

Lautoka lawyer

Chief Justice Kamal Kumar has ruled Lautoka based Haroon Ali Shah cannot become a legal practitioner.

Driving license

A man who obtained a Group six drivers license without sitting the required tests at Land Transport Authority has been jailed for months.

FRCS staff case

THE case of Mohammed Asif Hanif and 41 other former Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) employees was called in the Employment Relations Court of Fiji in Suva.

LETTERS

Image: THE FIJI TIMES

PEOPLE

Image: THE FIJI TIMES

SPORT

Image: THE FIJI TIMES

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From the Editor-in-Chief's desk: Your January 25 briefing - Fiji Times

Narayan DyandeoPatil, who passed away on January 17, was a towering figure of the Left movement, and the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP). He was 93. He confronted the powerful and comforted the poor till his last breath.

His wife Saroj is the sister of Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, however, the two leaders represent two contrasting approaches to politics.

Patil imbibed the best values of Kolhapur, the former seat of Maratha ruler Shahu Maharaj, who had introduced caste-based reservation early in the 20th century. Kolhapur and surrounding areas had a rich tradition of rebellion, and social and educational reform.

The PWP grew out of a non-Brahmin, social reform movement, Satyashodhak Samaj, founded by Jyotiba Phule in Pune. The party was formed in 1948 by prominent Congressman, Keshavrao Jedhe, who felt the Congress was not giving its due to farmers. His exit, along with other Congressmen, helped the rise of Y.B. Chavan in the Congress. Later, as he became more secure, he, in turn, engineered defections from the PWP. This changed the ideological course of Maharashtra politics. Even then, the PWP remained strong with a good presence in the Lok Sabha and the state legislature.

As a journalist, I have seen Patils work for decades, since 1978 when he was the minister for cooperation in the coalition government led by Pawar. Patil then became the architect of the cotton monopoly procurement scheme. Like some other dedicated PWP leaders, he never set up any cooperative enterprise.

Naganath (Anna) Nayakwadi ran a successful sugar factory while Ganpatrao Deshmukh who won 11 elections as an MLA and passed away last year at the age of 94 ran a spinning mill in Solapur district, which was known for its textile workers struggles.

Pawar also comes from a family background rooted in the PWP. His mother Sharadabai was an active PWP member of what was then a local self-government body, known as the district local board in the 1930s.

The PWP had embraced Marxism as an ideology in 1950 following a thesis written by Shankarrao More, known as Dabhadi Prabandh.

One reason why Pawar is so different from other Maratha leaders in Maharashtra is that unlike most of them, he grew up in a very urban atmosphere in Pune, often among several liberal Brahmins, and early in life, he was soon exposed to capitalists and the American establishment.

Patil strongly opposed Pawars projects, including the Enron-Dabhol power project, but this never came in the way of their personal relations. He played a major role in both houses of the state legislature and was also a street fighter, leading numerous struggles and morchas. In one of the marches he led in Islampur, his own nephew was killed in police firing but the struggle was not given up. Without a microphone, he could reach thousands at rallies and demonstrations.

The younger generation has little idea of PWPs contribution. The party had dedicated leaders like D.B. Patil, who was for some time an MP and leader of the opposition in the legislative assembly, and so there is demand that the international airport coming up in Navi Mumbai be named after him.

PWPs Datta Patil, an MLA, too was a strong leader and an expert lawyer. Pawar had once joked in the legislative assembly about him, saying that a person would commit murder, straight away go to Datta, and secure acquittal.

It is unfortunate that land has become such a commodity in Raigad district, where highly respected Gandhian leaders like Vinoba Bhave grew up. Bhave had launched the bhoodan satyagraha with his padayatra (walk) throughout the country, seeking land to be donated for distribution among the poor. It is sad that our rulers have turned land into commodity, further enriching the rich.

Kolhapur had lost in 2015 another stalwart, Govind Pansare of the CPI. Five bullets were fired from two revolvers at the Communist leader. Patil is gone after nearly 70 years of popular struggles. But men like them will continue to inspire people.

Vidyadhar Dateis a senior journalist, a cultural critic and the author of a book on the importance of public transport.

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N.D. Patil Confronted the Powerful and Comforted the Poor Till His Last Breath - The Wire

It proposed allocating new strategic sites for 1,600 homes at Ansty, 1,400 homes west of Burgess Hill and 1,850 homes at Sayers Common.

A total of 21 other smaller sites were also proposed totalling 1,562 homes.

This is on top of the 11,519 dwellings already allocated or committed.

However amidst uproar at the plan, the Conservatives, who control the district council, are calling for the process to be paused.

Jonathan Ash-Edwards, leader of the Conservatives at Mid Sussex District Council, said: The council is mandated by national policy and by the planning inspector who examined the current District Plan to undertake a five year review which is now due. The results of this review have now been published so the community can understand the scale of the challenge we face in Mid Sussex.

It is now sensible to press the pause button given the significant issues which impact the Councils planning. I am writing to the Secretary of State, Michael Gove, calling for our housing targets to be reset to a level more consistent with our environmental and infrastructure constraints and liaising with our local MPs to make our case in Westminster. The Levelling Up White Paper will be published shortly and I hope the Government uses this as an opportunity to review the housing numbers currently set for parts of the South East such as ours.

It is essential that the plan maximises the amount of brownfield and windfall development that can be counted, although brownfield sites are limited in Mid Sussex. The amount of unmet need from neighbouring Councils that we are expected to take needs to be thoroughly scrutinised. The rapidly emerging issues raised by Natural England about water neutrality in West Sussex also need much greater clarity and resolution.

Mid Sussex is a great place to live and we must keep it that way by balancing the need for new homes for local people needing to get on the housing ladder with protections for our environment and the critical improvements to our infrastructure that must always come alongside new development.

Robert Salisbury, Conservative spokesman for housing and planning, added: Nationally, the Liberal Democrats have proposed that 380,000 new houses are built every year, a 26% uplift on the numbers currently set by the Conservative Government. This would require over 4,500 more houses to be built over and above the already increased numbers in the draft District Plan review. The Liberal Democrats must now explain to Mid Sussex communities where these additional houses would be built in our district.

Just las week, Mr Salisbury, who is the councils cabinet member for housing and planning, had said: The new plan must identify sites to meet at least 7,000 new homes. The method for selecting sites to be allocated has been via a transparent and robust site selection process.

Reacting to the news, Green district and town councillor Anne Eves said: Had the Conservative councillors taken a more collegiate approach to this whole exercise, they wouldnt have to be back-pedalling quite so furiously now. It is completely unreasonable to expect opposition councillors (many of whom have day jobs) to react to this 250-page dossier with only seven days notice.

The inflated figure of 18,000 new houses is based on the outdated dodgy algorithm, which penalises the South East, is utterly unsustainable and will lead to a haemorrhage in votes from the Tory Party.

Alison Bennett, leader of the Lib Dem group, added: We are delighted that local Conservatives have seen sense and joined us in calling to fix the broken planning system rather than progressing with a review of the District Plan that was clearly flawed and has angered residents across Mid Sussex since the proposals were abruptly published last week.

We are happy to help with the letter to Michael Gove, and welcome their interest in Liberal Democrat policy on this subject.

Liberal Democrats would give the power to build houses back to local authorities and social housing providers, rather than large private developers. That would provide more of the kind of housing that local people need, deliver homes that are genuinely affordable, ensure high sustainability standards are baked in, and give communities more control over where they are built.

We hope that Cllr Ash-Edwards will raise these policies in his letter to Michael Gove.

The District Plan review allocations have been widely condemned since they were publicly revealed last week.

Parish councillor Jon Gilley said: Ansty and Staplefield Parish Council are totally opposed to the draft District Plan proposal of a 1,600-home new town merging Ansty and Cuckfield.

Our parish has always adopted a pragmatic approach and has already agreed to 3,500 houses at the Northern Arc development a short distance down the road.

Mid Sussex District Council has also totally ignored our neighbourhood plan, which took years to compile and was supported by the electorate.

It seems district councillors are happy to put their heads in the sand and accept arbitrary housing numbers based on a central government algorithm.

In the process they are totally ignoring the views of the vast majority of local residents who will not accept this developer-led Cuck-Sty proposal.

The Green Party group on the district council said it deplores MSDCs District Plan which would concrete over large swathes of our Mid Sussex countryside.

They believe the draft plan is full of meaningless words such as where possible and should, pointing to the Northern Arc developers as an example where housebuilders are very rarely prepared to go the extra mile and provide renewable energy sources.

The Greens wanted to see photovoltaic panels planned in at the start, with homes built on the north-south axis to benefit from them.

They also do not want to see developments built with unsustainable gas boilers and suggest statements of intent such as to create and maintain town centres that are vibrant, attractive and successful would read like a sick joke to the people of Burgess Hill.

Meanwhile references to the creation of first-class cultural facilities will ring hollow with the people of both Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath when we have lost the Martlets Hall and are fighting to keep Clair Hall.

They believe the West of Burgess Hill allocation would wreck the rural charm of the Green circle, one of the greatest assets of the town.

On the subject of housing targets, the Greens suggest these are unfairly biased towards building in the South East and take no account of increased likelihood of flooding, water shortages, sewage discharges into rivers, and the release of carbon through the destruction of soil, trees and hedges and the use of concrete.

The revised plan would also cause yet more loss of biodiversity and fragmentation of habitats. They are unconvinced by the promise of 20 per cent biodiversity net gain and believe nature needs to be looked after to improve peoples wellbeing, catch carbon, reduce flood risk and attract tourism all of which are good for the economy too, but dont count for a bean in the planning laws.

The Greens also question where the new doctors will come from to man the GP surgeries and how hospitals and roads will cope with 50,000 extra people.

Their statement concluded: How would Greens do things differently? We would: focus on brownfield sites, and occupying empty homes; introduce checklists for housing developers to identify those who would go above the statutory requirements: are they prepared to install PV or heat pumps, offer water-saving appliances, rainwater collection, use of greywater, and use of local recycled materials; prioritise ancient woodland, green spaces, wellbeing and wildlife protection.

Last week Lib Dems in Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common made their opposition to the proposals clearly known.

This week, Robert Eggleston (LDem, Burgess Hill - Meeds) pointed out that of the extra new homes proposed the south of the district is taking more than 70 per cent.

He said: This is on top of the substantial house building target for the area. Looking at the plans overall it is clear the Albourne and Sayers Common effectively becomes one settlement and similarly Cuckfield and Ansty merge.

In his view salami slicing the greenfields of south Mid Sussex is proof the national planning system is broken and not working in favour of the district.

Although some new homes will need to be built, Mr Eggleston suggest the balance of power and rights between communities and giant developers is completely unbalanced.

He thought it was wrong for the district council to entertain proposals from developers without at the same time giving councillors and communities they represent equal time to make their views known before being in the middle of a planning inquiry.

He added: I am very concerned by the amount of greenfield land that is being surrendered in the south of the district and around Burgess Hill and our village neighbours.

I have strongly argued in favour of each community having its own separate identity (see, for example, my views on development south of Folders Lane) but the proposals coming out of Mid Sussex District Council are creating an urban sprawl by stealth.

As a district councillor I am being asked to consider and recommend substantial policy changes which will set the tone for further development in the district forever. I am expected to do this with barely a weeks notice. This is totally unacceptable, and it risks making bad decisions if all of us are not given sufficient time to scrutinise the proposals. A week is clearly not enough time.

Burgess Hill has, in the past, stepped up to the plate and done all the right things when it comes to supporting the housing needs of the district. We have done this, even though, there has been limited investment in the town centre over the years. But yet again these latest proposals do not address the town centre infrastructure gap and effectively leaves Burgess Hill short-changed again.

Although the proposed strategic site allocations have garnered the most attention, a number of smaller sites have also been put forward.

These are: Batchelors Farm, Keymer Road, Burgess Hill (33 homes), land off West Hoathly Road, East Grinstead (45 homes), land at Hurstwood Lane, Haywards Heath (55 homes), land at Junction of Hurstwood Lane and Colwell Lane, Haywards Heath (30 homes), land east of Borde Hill Lane, Haywards Heath (60 homes), land to west of Turners Hill Road Crawley Down (350 homes), Hurst Farm, Turners Hill Road, Crawley Down (37 homes), land west of Kemps Hurstpierpoint (90 homes), The Paddocks Lewes Road, Ashurst Wood (8 homes), land at Foxhole Farm, Bolney (100 homes), land West of London Road, Bolney (north) (81 homes), land rear of Daltons Farm and The Byre, The Street, Bolney (50 homes), land east of Paynesfield, Bolney (30 homes), land at Chesapeke and Meadow View, Reeds Lane, Sayers Common (33 homes), land at Coombe Farm, London Road, Sayers Common (210 homes), land to the west of Kings Business Centre, Reeds Lane, Sayers Common (100 homes), land to South of LVS Hassocks, London Road, Sayers Common (120 homes), Ham Lane Farm House, Ham Lane, Scaynes Hill (30 homes), land at Hoathly Hill West Hoathly (18 homes), Challoners, Cuckfield Road Ansty (37 homes) and land to west of Marwick Close, Bolney Road, Ansty (45 homes).

Continue reading here:

Plans allocating thousands of new Mid Sussex homes set to be paused - Mid Sussex Times

GREENVILLE, N.C. (Stacker.com) Every state approaches education differently. For some states, investment in K-12 and higher education is paramount. For others, there is simply not enough tax money to both fully fund the states public education system and meet certain requirements for higher educationand how that manifests can speak to a students educational experience in that state.

New York, for example, has experienced ahistoric reshuffling of state-based college funding. Since 2012, the state has been pumping money into its higher education system, with total support for the 2020 fiscal year estimated at $7.6 billion. Beginning in the 20192020 academic year, the Excelsior Scholarship has allowed New York State residents who have a household income of $125,000 or less to enroll in a New York State public university tuition-free.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, California houses some of the best post-secondary schools in the nation. Well-funded up to the 1970s, the University of California and the California State University systems defined international standards.Budget cuts in the last four decades,however, have slowly driven up the cost of tuition, with state funding priorities now directed toward Californias community colleges instead of the states public universities. In recent years, the deficit has forced California to spend more on reinvestments than any other state.

But Californias situation is not unique. As state education budgets ebb and flow, so too do collegiate rankings.Stackerstudied Niches 2022 Best Colleges in America list, released on August 16, 2021, to determine which states have the most highly ranked colleges. For this list, states are ranked by the number of schools they have in the top 250 ofNiches Best Colleges in America rankings. Ties are broken by the highest-ranked school. Nine statesAlaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, and West Virginiaare not included as they didnt have any colleges in the top 250.

Keep reading to find out where your state ranks.

1 / 41Dan Lewis // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 1 Highest ranked schools: Dartmouth College (#10 national rank)

Dartmouth College is New Hampshires Ivy League institution. One of theoldest institutions of higher learningin the United States, the school was founded a full seven years before the United States declared independence. Dartmouth Medical School, in particular, isamong the best in the U.S., according to U.S. News & World Report.

2 / 41Canva

Schools in top 250: 1 Highest ranked schools: University of Delaware (#144 national rank)

The small state ofDelaware has eight colleges and universities, but the University of Delaware, located in Newark, is the states oldest and largest. U.S. News & World Report ranked the schoolsphysical therapy graduate programas the best in the country for 2020, and it wasthe 38th best public university in 2022.

3 / 41Thecoldmidwest // Wikimedia Commons

Schools in top 250: 1 Highest ranked schools: University of Wyoming (#207 national rank)

Wyoming is home tonine institutions of higher learning. Of these, the University of Wyoming is the only one that is a four-year, degree-granting school. TheUniversity of Wyoming has an acceptance rateof 94% and a graduation rate of 33%.

4 / 41Canva

Schools in top 250: 1 Highest ranked schools: Middlebury College (#32 national rank)

Middlebury College has deep historical significance for the U.S. One of the best liberal arts schools in America, the college was thefirst in the nation to see a Black graduate,Alexander Twilight, earn a bachelors degree. Twilight would go on to become the nations first Black state legislator.

5 / 41Forge Productions // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 2 Highest ranked schools: Arizona State University (#150 national rank), University of Arizona (#174)

Arizona has a strong public university network, withmore than 75 colleges and universitiesthroughout the state. Arizona State University, for example, isone of the nations largest public universitiesby enrollment, andU.S. News & World Report named ASUthe most innovative school in the nation in 2021.

You may also like:25 oldest colleges in America

6 / 41Ken Wolter // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 2 Highest ranked schools: Mississippi State University (#154 national rank), University of Mississippi (#186)

Mississippis schools are steeped in tradition and history, for better or for worse. Reflective of the part of the world they reside in, the states schools have struggled with race issues and coming to terms with their segregationist pasts. In recent years,the University of Mississippiand Mississippi State University have both declared themselves to be welcoming and inclusive.

7 / 41Wirestock Creators // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 2 Highest ranked schools: Kansas State University (#172 national rank), University of Kansas (#204)

Like many of the colleges and universities on this list, the University of Kansas is well known for its athletics along with its educational programs. One of the top Division 1 schools, its mens basketball team regularly participates in March Madness. Success on the court is one thing, but KU also boasts some impressive academics. In 2019,U.S. News & World Report rankedKUs city management and urban policy program the best in the nation.

8 / 41Matthew J Brand // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 2 Highest ranked schools: Creighton University (#180 national rank), University of Nebraska Lincoln (#188)

At 856 acres, theUniversity of Nebraska Lincolnboasts a sprawling campus. The school, which has a strong commitment to research, is also the alma mater of Warren Buffett. Its ranked slightly lower than Creighton University, a private Jesuit university located in downtown Omaha.Creighton has a 97% post-graduation success ratewithin six months and was one of the first schools to offer afinancial technology degree.

9 / 41AlexiusHoratius // Wikimedia Commons

Schools in top 250: 2 Highest ranked schools: Augustana University (#193 national rank), South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (#199)

Augustana University is South Dakotas largest private undergraduate university. The Sioux Falls school was ranked #10 on U.S. News & World Reports list ofBest Regional Universities Midwest 2022. Although Augustana is affiliated with the Lutheran Church, it accepts students of all faiths and promotes academic integrity that is free of religious bias.

10 / 41Fotoluminate LLC // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 2 Highest ranked schools: Tulane University (#73 national rank), Louisiana Tech University (#210)

New Orleans Tulane University is arguably Louisianas most prestigious school. Founded in 1834 as the Medical College of Louisiana,Tulanes medical and law collegesare among the oldest in the nation.

You may also like:Colleges that are richer than some countries

11 / 41Ken Wolter // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 2 Highest ranked schools: Brown University (#8 national rank), Rhode Island School of Design (#122)

Rhode Island is the smallest of the nations states, but its also one of the oldest and as such, it holds a significant place in U.S. history. For example, Brown University, one of the oldest colleges in the country, was thefirst to accept students without consideration of religious affiliation.

12 / 41Pastelitodepapa // Wikimedia Commons

Schools in top 250: 2 Highest ranked schools: Brigham Young University (#94 national rank), University of Utah (#146)

Brigham Young University is one of the few religious schools on Nicheslist oftop colleges. Owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, theschool has an honor codethat forbids extramarital sex, alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine and mandates Bible and LDS scripture studies. The schoolsforeign languageand business programs are among the best in the nation.

13 / 41jbdphotography // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 3 Highest ranked schools: University of Tulsa (#118 national rank), Oklahoma State University (#136), University of Oklahoma (#156)

The University of Tulsa manages the Gilcrease Museum, which houses the worlds largest collection of American Western art and indigenous American artifacts. Building on its tradition of conservatorship, the private research universitymade headlines in 2018 for taking over the Bob DylanCenter.

14 / 41Valis55 // Wikimedia Commons

Schools in top 250: 3 Highest ranked schools: Hendrix College (#151 national rank), University of Arkansas (#179), Ouachita Baptist University (#213)

Arkansas is another state whose schools are known for both athletics and academics, like the University of Arkansas and its Razorbacks. The agricultural university has also earned high ratings for its law and architecture programs.

15 / 41Jon Bilous // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 3 Highest ranked schools: Johns Hopkins University (#22 national rank), University of Maryland College Park (#109), Loyola University Maryland (#201)

Johns Hopkins University is not only thefirst center for researchin the nation, founded in 1876, but its also regarded as one of the finest to this day. The university is named for its first benefactorabolitionist and philanthropist Johns Hopkinsand its medical university is where thecardiac defibrillator was developed.

You may also like:Most liberal colleges in America

16 / 41Rob Hainer // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 3 Highest ranked schools: Georgia Institute of Technology (#30 national rank), Emory University (#35), University of Georgia (#57)

Georgias capital city of Atlanta is a university-dense metropolitan area. Besides Emory, Georgia Tech, and UGA, the city is home to Morehouse Universitywhich is the alma mater of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.as well Spelman College, Clark Atlanta College, Georgia State University, Oglethorpe University, and many others.

17 / 41Nora Yero // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 4 Highest ranked schools: Clemson University (#100 national rank), Furman University (#129), University of South Carolina (#153)

South Carolinas top college, Clemson University,ranked 30th inU.S. News & World Reports 2022 Top Public Schools rankings. The top-tier public research university has also emerged as a football powerhouse.

18 / 41Rob Hainer // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 4 Highest ranked schools: Auburn University (#140 national rank), University of Alabama Birmingham (#191), The University of Alabama (#192)

Yet another state that houses colleges with strong athletics programs, Alabama is home to Auburn University and the University of Alabama. Typically, both schools have starring roles in the end-of-year bowl games. But their football programs should not overshadow the Alabama schools educational prowessboth Auburn University and the University of Alabama have been recognized as top public universities.https://87813263fe6812e78afeefb4320d44ca.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

19 / 41EQRoy // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 4 Highest ranked schools: Bowdoin College (#27 national rank), Colby College (#58), Bates College (#62)

Maine is known for its liberal arts schools. Bowdoin College, for example, which is technically older than the state itself by 26 years, regularly ranks among the top liberal arts schools in the nation. The college has formed an athletic andlibrary-exchange consortiumwith fellow Maine liberal arts schools Bates and Colby Colleges.

20 / 41SoisudaS // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 4 Highest ranked schools: Princeton University (#5 national rank), Stevens Institute of Technology (#117), Rutgers University New Brunswick (#137)

New Jersey has one of the highest concentrations of colonial-era schools that are still in operation, among them being Princeton University and Rutgers University, which was originally called Queens College.New Jersey has invested a large amount of moneyin its higher education program. While Princeton is a founding member of the Ivy League, Rutgers is considered to be a Public Ivy,meaning its a top school capable of providing students with an education comparable to the Ivy League.

You may also like:Best value big colleges in America

21 / 41Aeypix // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 4 Highest ranked schools: University of Wisconsin (#65 national rank), Milwaukee School of Engineering (#169), Lawrence University (#195)

Like Rutgers, the University of Wisconsin Madisonor the University of Wisconsin for shortis also considered a Public Ivy. The oldest university in Wisconsin, the school scores high points for research, having yieldedrecipients of the coveted Fields Medalin mathematics.

22 / 41Png Studio Photography // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 5 Highest ranked schools: Reed College (#108 national rank), Lewis & Clark College (#155), University of Portland (#184)

If you havent heard of Reed College, its worth taking a look at. The Portland-based school is small yet distinguishedaccording to the National Science Foundation,itranks third in graduates that go on to get doctoratesin physical and social sciences, and fourth in humanities, the arts, and all other disciplines.

23 / 41Sean Pavone // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 5 Highest ranked schools: Vanderbilt University (#13 national rank), Rhodes College (#141), Union University (#205)

A legacy school,Nashvilles Vanderbilt Universitywas built from a $1 million endowment from railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, despite the billionaire never visiting the South. The university has emerged as one of the most prestigious private schools in the region, playing a key part in the intellectual heritage of the South.

24 / 41SNEHIT // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 5 Highest ranked schools: University of Michigan Ann Arbor (#25 national rank), Michigan State University (#111), Michigan Technological University (#126)

It is true that the University of Michigan Ann Arbor hasthe largest college football stadiumin the nation. It is also the eighth-best university in the world,per Scimago. One of the best research universities in the U.S., UM is also one of the most well-funded. Ithad a budget of more than $10 billionfor the2021-2022academic year.

25 / 41Chadarat Saibhut // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 5 Highest ranked schools: Duke University (#6 national rank), Wake Forest University (#45), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (#47)

Another legacy school, Duke University was founded from the Duke Endowment, funded by tobacco industrialist James Buchanan Duke. From 1986 to 2015,Duke had the fifth-highest numberof Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater, and Udall Scholars in the nation.

You may also like:Best value public colleges in America

26 / 41Ken Wolter // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 5 Highest ranked schools: Grinnell College (#60 national rank), Iowa State University (#147), University of Iowa (#149)

Iowa is home tomore than 50 colleges and universities, including Grinnell College, a liberal arts school known for its high endowment,academic rigor, the pursuit of social justice, and diversity.

27 / 41cpaulfell // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 5 Highest ranked schools: University of Washington (#99 national rank), Whitman College (#106), Washington State University (#164)

Sometimes, a university can help a city to develop, like Seattles University of Washington, which played a key role in growing the citys tech industry. Boeing, Amazon, and Microsoft all chose the Seattle area for their main campuses in part due to the proximity to the University of Washington.

28 / 41Evan Meyer // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 6 Highest ranked schools: Washington University in St. Louis (#12 national rank), Saint Louis University (#128), University of Missouri (#166)

One of the best medical schools for research in the nation(ranked by U.S. News & World Report), Washington University in St. Louis is a world-renowned research university. The school has been at the forefront of modern political discussion asthe host of more presidential and vice-presidential debatesthan any other institution.

29 / 41Ken Wolter // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 6 Highest ranked schools: University of Notre Dame (#19 national rank), Purdue University (#77), Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (#97)

Any college football fan is probably familiar with Indianas schools. Whether its the University of Notre Dames Fighting Irish or Purdues Boilermakers, Indianas football prowess helps to highlight the academic excellence of these schools. One example? Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the Moon, was a graduate of Purdue, and the tradition holds: At least one person on almost one-third of NASAs space flights has been aPurdue alum.

30 / 41f11photo // Shutterstock

Schools in top 250: 6 Highest ranked schools: Yale University (#4 national rank), Wesleyan University (#53), University of Connecticut (#157)

Connecticut is one of the smaller states in the Union. Its proximity to New York City, however, positions it as a strategic option geographically for students. Take the University of Connecticut, for example. The schools presence in the New York City media market helped its athletics to draw better talent, which is reflected in the success of the schools mens and womens basketball teams. UConns athletic successes highlight the fact that the school has been recognized as a Public Ivy, one of the best public universities in the nation.

Read the rest here:

States with the most highly ranked colleges - WNCT

news, national

On the beautiful but windswept eastern peninsula of Tasmania there's a bush-lined horseshoe of white sand known as Pirates Bay. Despite the intriguing name, though, it was only last year that local historians discovered the story of the convict pirates who inspired it. This month marks the 200th anniversary of the day six escapees attempted to abscond Van Diemen's land aboard a stolen schooner called the Seaflower. But unlike most stories of piracy, these villains - who had been transported to the colonies for crimes such as stealing a shawl or a quilt - were not on the hunt for gold and treasure but a chance at freedom and a return to loved ones back in England. Their tale was only uncovered when members of the local Eaglehawk Neck History Group were studying a map of the island from 1824 early last year and noticed a note under the name Pirates Bay: "Schooner taken, 30th Jan. 1822". The group began researching court records, old newspapers and books to piece together a full picture of the escapade. Richard Hurlstone, John Wilkinson, William Walker, Matthew Travers, Robert Greenhill and a sixth unknown convict stole a pilot boat from the Hobart Town public works, made their way around the island and hid in the bushland surrounding what was then known as Monge Bay. When colonist George Meredith and son Edwin anchored a few days later and hauled their empty water cask onto the beach to refill at a nearby creek, the escapee party rushed down and took the Seaflower. They pushed the crew ashore and left them with only a dinghy and one oar to journey back to Hobart to raise the alarm. It took three days, giving the pirate crew a good head start. It took a few weeks but eventually a government-dispatched boat caught up with the now-argumentative pirates. Travers, Hurlstone and Greenhill were captured when they disembarked on Waterhouse Island off the northern tip of Tasmania to replenish their water supply. The other three convicts were able to out-sail the authorities and escape. "The remainder in the schooner put to sea, and the Government boat pursued for several hours; but owing to the very heavy sea, could not then come up with her," a report in the Hobart Gazette dated March 2, 1822 said. "The schooner had no provisions but a few mutton birds, and no compass and the pirates had lost their powder on shore. "Thus having no means of leaving the coast, the desperate and misguided criminals (who are stated to have quarrelled amongst themselves) can hardly fail of being overtaken." The remaining three pirates eventually ran the Seaflower aground near Port Kembla on the NSW south coast, where authorities caught up with them once more. "Walker and Wilkinson invented a detailed story to cover their tracks, which was initially believed," says Eaglehawk Neck group historian Ruth Moon. "However soon reports were received of people seeing them deliberately running it into the rocks and the news had arrived for Hobart of their escape." The pair were arrested again and returned to Macquarie Harbour where 150 lashes awaited them, like it had the three who had been captured earlier. "Therefore one only remained, for whom active search and pursuit was made," reported the Hobart Gazette on March 30, 1822. However the sixth convict would never be found or identified. Moon says it is the convicts' "determination and tenacity" that makes them so fascinating to modern Australians. But also the fact that their actions were quite understandable, given the crimes they were originally transported for and their strong desire to see their families again. Travers and Greenhill would attempt an escape again but this time chose a more dangerous accomplice - the cannibal convict Alexander Pearce. They both met a grisly end before they could leave the colony. It was only Walker who would eventually make it back to the UK to see his wife and three children, only to discover his wife had remarried, not anticipating his return. "The more I research people's lives from 200 years ago, the more it becomes obvious that basically people haven't changed - apart from becoming a bit softer physically," Moon says. "They are our history." The Library of Tasmania has recorded that more than 160,000 men, women and children were transported to Australia between 1788 and 1868. "There are still a lot of stories to tell," says Moon. "Every convict had a story as does every immigrant." The story of the Pirates of Pirates Bay will be celebrated at a three-day event beginning on January 28. The pirate-themed festival will include the theatrical premier of historian James Parker's play The Pirates, the Unknown Cannibals and the Man Who Changed His Feathers and a pirates ball and market. A two-masted brigantine called Windeward Bound will sail into Pirates Bay and anchor to represent the Seaflower. Australian Associated Press

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/e06621e9-252c-47d1-9d34-9b6b9091c924.jpg/r0_74_800_526_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

On the beautiful but windswept eastern peninsula of Tasmania there's a bush-lined horseshoe of white sand known as Pirates Bay.

Despite the intriguing name, though, it was only last year that local historians discovered the story of the convict pirates who inspired it.

This month marks the 200th anniversary of the day six escapees attempted to abscond Van Diemen's land aboard a stolen schooner called the Seaflower.

But unlike most stories of piracy, these villains - who had been transported to the colonies for crimes such as stealing a shawl or a quilt - were not on the hunt for gold and treasure but a chance at freedom and a return to loved ones back in England.

Their tale was only uncovered when members of the local Eaglehawk Neck History Group were studying a map of the island from 1824 early last year and noticed a note under the name Pirates Bay: "Schooner taken, 30th Jan. 1822".

The group began researching court records, old newspapers and books to piece together a full picture of the escapade.

Richard Hurlstone, John Wilkinson, William Walker, Matthew Travers, Robert Greenhill and a sixth unknown convict stole a pilot boat from the Hobart Town public works, made their way around the island and hid in the bushland surrounding what was then known as Monge Bay.

When colonist George Meredith and son Edwin anchored a few days later and hauled their empty water cask onto the beach to refill at a nearby creek, the escapee party rushed down and took the Seaflower.

They pushed the crew ashore and left them with only a dinghy and one oar to journey back to Hobart to raise the alarm. It took three days, giving the pirate crew a good head start.

It took a few weeks but eventually a government-dispatched boat caught up with the now-argumentative pirates.

Travers, Hurlstone and Greenhill were captured when they disembarked on Waterhouse Island off the northern tip of Tasmania to replenish their water supply.

The other three convicts were able to out-sail the authorities and escape.

"The remainder in the schooner put to sea, and the Government boat pursued for several hours; but owing to the very heavy sea, could not then come up with her," a report in the Hobart Gazette dated March 2, 1822 said.

"The schooner had no provisions but a few mutton birds, and no compass and the pirates had lost their powder on shore.

"Thus having no means of leaving the coast, the desperate and misguided criminals (who are stated to have quarrelled amongst themselves) can hardly fail of being overtaken."

The remaining three pirates eventually ran the Seaflower aground near Port Kembla on the NSW south coast, where authorities caught up with them once more.

"Walker and Wilkinson invented a detailed story to cover their tracks, which was initially believed," says Eaglehawk Neck group historian Ruth Moon.

"However soon reports were received of people seeing them deliberately running it into the rocks and the news had arrived for Hobart of their escape."

The pair were arrested again and returned to Macquarie Harbour where 150 lashes awaited them, like it had the three who had been captured earlier.

"Therefore one only remained, for whom active search and pursuit was made," reported the Hobart Gazette on March 30, 1822.

However the sixth convict would never be found or identified.

Moon says it is the convicts' "determination and tenacity" that makes them so fascinating to modern Australians.

But also the fact that their actions were quite understandable, given the crimes they were originally transported for and their strong desire to see their families again.

Travers and Greenhill would attempt an escape again but this time chose a more dangerous accomplice - the cannibal convict Alexander Pearce. They both met a grisly end before they could leave the colony.

It was only Walker who would eventually make it back to the UK to see his wife and three children, only to discover his wife had remarried, not anticipating his return.

"The more I research people's lives from 200 years ago, the more it becomes obvious that basically people haven't changed - apart from becoming a bit softer physically," Moon says.

The Library of Tasmania has recorded that more than 160,000 men, women and children were transported to Australia between 1788 and 1868.

"There are still a lot of stories to tell," says Moon.

"Every convict had a story as does every immigrant."

The story of the Pirates of Pirates Bay will be celebrated at a three-day event beginning on January 28.

The pirate-themed festival will include the theatrical premier of historian James Parker's play The Pirates, the Unknown Cannibals and the Man Who Changed His Feathers and a pirates ball and market.

A two-masted brigantine called Windeward Bound will sail into Pirates Bay and anchor to represent the Seaflower.

Australian Associated Press

See the original post:

The real pirates of Pirates Bay - Daily Liberal

David Condos| Kansas News Service

KISMET As morning light creeps across this pasture, Bryan Garrison all but disappears into the High Plains landscape.

Motionless and covered in camo, he reclines on a cushion next to a sagebrush.

With a shotgun in one hand and the remote to an electronic calling device in the other, he plays the role of DJ, spinning some of the coyote calling worlds greatest hits from cottontail distress to coyote yip duet.

I start most every set with a howl, Garrison said. Im setting a scene.

This is the opening day of the Southwest Kansas Coyote Calling Contest in Kismet. And Garrison, his son and a friendare competing with other teams to see who can call in and shoot the most coyotes from dawn till dusk.

Calling contests mark just the latest chapter in a centuries-long war between humans and coyotes as both species expand their range across the continent.

The coyotes are winning.

More: Kansas wildlife commission OKs use of thermal imaging, lights for coyote hunting at night

State estimates show the number of coyotes in Kansas has nearly tripled since the 1980s. But just because there are more of them around doesnt mean that outwitting this wily canine comes easily.

Garrisons heavy-duty coyote calling boombox sings out from the valley where he stashed it in a bush. Nearby, a motorized decoy waves a piece of fur back and forth.

After about 15 minutes, Garrison spots a flash of gray 40 yards ahead. He steadies his 12-gauge shotgun and fires twice. But the coyote is too quick. It disappears back into the brush.

Its fun because its hard, Garrison said. You dont turn on a call and every coyote in the country come running to you.

Their intelligence, resilience and extraordinary adaptability equip coyotes to thrive in the modern world,even as many other American mammals havedeclinedordisappearedsince European settlement.

Cutting down forests to create farms gave themmore habitat. Exterminating wolves removed theirchief rival.

Now, they are themost abundantlarge predator in the country.

So coyote callers figure that every animal they shoot means one less potential threat to livestock out on the range. Garrison, for example, said he regularly gets calls from neighbors asking him to come shoot unwelcome coyotes on their land.

(Hunting contests help) ranchers and farmers take care of a serious problem, he said. If somebody was breaking into your house and stealing your goods and messing with your well-being, youd do something about it.

While huntings power to actually make a dent in the greater coyote population is questionable, this adaptable animals improbable conquest of America is hard to ignore.

Once limited to high deserts and prairies in the middle of the country, coyotes have colonizednearly allof North America over the past two centuries. Its a feat made even more amazing by the fact that people have been trying to wipe them out just about that whole time.

Organized coyote hunts in Kansas go back more than 100 years, with communities fromLiberaltoMcPhersontoTopekacoming together to round up and kill them. Sometimes the townspeople made a day of it and ate dinner together after.

In the early 1900s, the state of Montanapurposefully infectedcoyotes with mange to see if the mite disease would exterminate them. By the mid-20th century, federal hunters across the West were tossing poison-laced baits fromairplanes and snowmobiles.

More: Kansas coyote-killing competition is so serious you'll need to pass a lie detector test

The USDA shoots downtens of thousandsof coyotes each year from helicopters and kills thousands more with spring-loadedcyanide trapsscented like meat.

Meanwhile, coyote hunting and calling contests remain legal in most states. In Kansas, thecoyote seasonruns year-round with no limit. The state also recentlylegalizedhunting coyotes after sundown with night vision scopes, which makes it easier to spot them during their active nocturnal hours.

Americans kill roughly500,000coyotes each year. But through it all, coyote populations just keep getting stronger.

People always talk about how if theres a nuclear war or whatever, theres going to be cockroaches and rats left. … I always throw coyotes into that, Kansas State University wildlife specialist Drew Ricketts said. Theyve survived as much persecution as any animal on the face of the earth, and theyve just expanded in the face of it.

More: Climate change means Kansas farmers are dealing with hotter nights and rainfall changes

Since the 1950s, coyotes havestretched their territory across North Americaby 40%, making themselves at home everywhere from the Alaskan tundra to the Florida coast to Americas largest urban centers. In his book,Coyote America, Dan Flores describes them as a cosmopolitan species whose adaptability mirrors that of humans.

They have crossed rail lines and bridges to make it to New YorksCentral Park. In downtown Chicago, theyve learned how tonavigate crosswalk signalsand cool off in aQuiznossoda fridge. And because theres no hunting in cities, urban areas have become a sort ofrefugefor coyotes.

Their flexible diet helps too. Unlike other predators like bobcats and cougars which eat strictly meat coyotes will dine on just about anything, from deer, rodents and birds to insects, trash and fruit. Ricketts said they can be a real pest on watermelon farms.

Most people think about them as predators, but really their diet breadth is about as broad as a raccoons, Ricketts said. They are very good at taking advantage of just about any resource that we make available.

More: 'Its got to translate to real climate policy': Kansas farmers could lose millions

Humans have unknowingly given coyotes a helping hand in other ways, too.

Before Europeans settled in America, wolves killed enough coyotes to keep them in check, creating a kind of canine predator equilibrium. But after centuries of government-encouraged extermination, wolves have been nearly wiped out in the lower 48 states. Thatpaved the wayfor coyotes to move up the food chain.

Then theres the biological phenomenon calledcompensatory reproduction. The year after people kill a bunch of coyotes in a given area, the remaining coyotes litters will double in size. And young females will start breeding a year earlier than they otherwise would.

Some studies have even shown that indiscriminate hunting and trapping coulddisrupt coyotes' social orderin a way that may increase the chance of a livestock attack. For example, the territory near a herd might be dominated by resident coyotes who have learned to hunt rodents there instead of livestock. But if those residents are killed, other transient coyotes who are more likely to eat calves could take over that territory.

For every coyote thats removed, Ricketts said, theres another one waiting to take its place.

On the final evening of the calling contest in Kismet, teams line up their coyote carcasses by the dozen on the grass behind city hall.

As coyote populations have grown in recent years, hunting competitions like this one have followed close behind. Just 85 miles up the road in Greensburg, thePasture Poodlescalling contest brought in 150 coyotes during the same weekend as the one in Kismet.

The contests have become more competitive, too.

To curb cheating, contestants need to follow a specific set of rules to get credit for each kill: submit a time-stamped photo of the coyote, zip tie a wooden block marked with the time of death between its teeth.

At the final check-in, volunteers use a small arsenal of kitchen thermometers to make sure the bodies are still warm. Then they check whether the coyotes have the right amount of rigor mortis based on the way their jaws clench those wooden blocks.

Most years, this is also when a scientist draws the dead coyotes blood to test for the bubonic plague. Its a golden opportunity to get a quick scan of how rampant the disease is among the local rodents these coyotes have been eating.

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Finally, theres the lie detector test.

Winning teams draw straws to see which member has to sit down with James Kelly, a retired cop and the contests last line of defense against cheating.

He has strapped thousands of coyote hunting contestants to his polygraph machine over the years. Hes seen teams try to pass off coyotes they didnt hunt themselves. Teams that shot coyotes in nature preserves or with illegal guns or out of moving vehicles.

Kelly said the key to uncovering a cheat is his special recipe of detailed questions that approach the contest like a criminal case and dont leave contestants any wiggle room.

We're not doing polygraph for the heck of it, he said. Were doing it for a specific goal to make sure that people aren't cheating.

On this night, the winners pass the test. Altogether, the teams bring in a total of 83 coyotes. And thats just a drop in the bucket.

Kelly said hell run polygraphs at eight other contests before the end of January.

These competitions draw their share of controversy, too.

A handful of states havebannedcoyote contests. And even where theyre legal, some have chosen to shut down amid pressure from conservation organizations and animal rights groups thatdescribe themas inhumane and detrimental to the natural ecosystem.

But Ricketts, the K-State wildlife specialist, said that, while controlling coyote population numbers through hunting would benext to impossible, the coyotes incredible resilience means that theyre able to bounce back from calling contests, too.

The reasons that broad-scale population control of coyotes doesnt work all that well, he said, those are also the reasons that make the calling competitions and continued intensive harvest of coyotes sustainable.

Meanwhile, predators causeroughly 5%of calf deaths in Kansas, and coyotes are blamed for nearly all of them. For ranchers, it adds up.

Even though that's not a huge percentage of calf losses, Ricketts said, thats still about $4 million annually that Kansas producers are losing.

Nationwide, predators accounted formore than 11%of calf deaths in 2015 up from 3.5% in 1995.

Rancher Bob Davies can hear them howling at night around his pastures in the Cimarron River valley near Kismet. A few years back, they dragged off several of his calves around a watering hole.

It was really bad, Davies said. Thats a big blow when you wait nine months for a baby, and the coyotes get your baby.

The coyotes got so thick that year, he ended up renaming that piece of land Coyote Pasture. He hasnt had as much coyote trouble this season, but hes learned to keep a close eye on his calves.

And ultimately, hes resigned to the fact that everyone who chooses to raise cattle in coyote country has to learn to live with these native predators.

Coyotes have called these plains home for millennia, and they dont plan on leaving any time soon.

They're gonna survive no matter what we do, he said. They're gonna be one of the last critters on earth.

David Condos covers western Kansas for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service.

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Coyotes are thriving in Kansas despite competitive hunting events designed to reduce population - The Topeka Capital-Journal

Liberal candidate for Gilmore, Andrew Constance. Photo: Elise Searson.

The Liberal Party has endorsed former State MP and NSW Cabinet Minister Andrew Constance as its candidate for the South Coast seat of Gilmore in the coming federal election, and he is promising a positive, community-based campaign.

Mr Constance, the last candidate standing after his three preselection rivals withdrew from the field, will throw his considerable personal following at retaking the federal seat.

Labors Fiona Phillips won Gilmore in 2019 with 52.6 per cent of the vote after sitting Liberal member Ann Sudmalis retired, a 3.3-point swing away from the Liberals.

Mr Constance rejected suggestions that he would prefer to keep Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other ministers out of the Gilmore campaign, despite lauding the benefits of working in a bipartisan and caring way in his endorsement statement and the harsh reception Mr Morrison received during the Black Summer fires.

Mr Constance told Region Media hed been working with the Foreign Affairs Minister that morning.

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He said he will focus on local infrastructure such as the Nowra bypass, the port of Ulladulla and the expanding tuna export industry there, and supporting the areas tourism, education and community needs.

Thats the type of stuff that is really important in terms of bringing those key ministers here, regardless whether people agree with them or not, he said.

Weve got to be able to support our community leaders and industry leaders to get the financial support they need to continue to build on the great things we have.

Mr Constance said he believed in the value of working in a bipartisan way, for example, as he worked with the Labor Gillard Government delivering the NDIS as a State Minister.

Even during the fires, I had to work closely with [former Bega mayor and now Labor Member for Eden-Monaro] Kristy McBain, he said.

Weve got a community that has experienced the best of bipartisanship in Gilmore we saw that with fire survival and recovery, seeing it with the pandemic, people wanting to reach out and help.

I think there is an incredibly important principle at work there. Ive seen great outcomes for the community when we all do pull together.

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Mr Constance said the community was not interested in political brawling but results.

The community is not going to appreciate a stand-up political fight between me and the Labor candidate, he said.

Theyre going to want to see positivity, particularly at a time when everyone is so susceptible to the impact of the virus and ongoing recovery after natural disasters.

It is about the community. Its not about me and Fiona. Its about the community and where its at and whats got to happen into the future.

Mr Constance, who acknowledged his mental health issues during and after the fires, said there were still many matters related to the fires that still needed to be acted on, including formal analysis of the trauma people had suffered and were still experiencing.

Its key that the government understand that beyond mitigation measures and land management practices, weve always got to understand wellbeing and the impacts on people and the trauma people are suffering, he said.

We dont handle trauma management well in this country. I want to ensure that through my advocacy, no one is left behind. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of hidden pain that is going on.

Mr Constance will be campaigning heavily on his experience as a local MP and Minister to deliver projects and services for Gilmore.

Its a very important time to be positive, and that is my intention every day of the campaign, he said.

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Constance vows positive campaign in Gilmore (and yes, the PM is welcome) - About Regional