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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Monday, May 11, 2015,
Vol.
15, No. 91
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Solís
cites deficits but gives no solutions
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
President Luis Guillermo Solís, while noting that the government's financial deficit is one of the major challenges facing Costa Rica, failed to provide a solution in a television talk to the public Sunday. The president, however, warned of austerity that can provoke inefficiencies, paralyzation of agencies, the closing of schools and hospitals and massive unemployment in the public sector. He promised that with discussions, government officials would arrive at an unspecified concrete accord. He noted that the country demands and deserves that public officials make decisions. His television talk, called the Cadena Nacional, the president said the government would push economic growth and generate quality employment, reduce poverty and inequality. The president noted that economic growth is linked to beginning the design of the San José-San Ramón highway and the northern loop of the Circunvalación. He also cited loans for small businesses and some $2 million invested in modernizing agricultural extension services throughout the country. He also cited a program called Mi primer empleo designed to help some 30,000 first-time young jobseekers. Solís noted that he has finished a fourth of his presidential term and, although he categorized the work as satisfactory, he said he wants to be more ambitious and demand more.  Bruce Callow
photo
Castillo Knights display the new equipment.
Ice hockey team
benefits from donation
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A California ice hockey fan was so impressed to learn that the sport is played here that he organized the donation of some $1,500 in equipment for the Castillo Knights, a youth team that plays at the Castillo Country Club`s ice rink located above San Rafael de Heredia. The Californian, Chris Maltese, also personally accompanied the equipment to Costa Rica. "What an experience it has been," he said in an Internet account. "The coaching staff is great, the kids are a ton of fun and really seem to be enjoying this sport that is certainly not common to Central America." He noted that the Castillo ice rink is the only one in Central American and the Caribbean. Long-time coach and founder of the program, Bruce Callow, said that hockey is an expensive sport and one of the biggest challenges the program faces is properly outfitting its players. He said the gear included 32 new composite lightweight sticks. "We are already seeing the positive results of using the lightweight composite sticks as our younger players are shooting and passing with greater confidence and enjoying the game even more." He said that the program and the team would like to thank Maltese for all his hard work in making this donation a reality. Information about the Castillo Knights hockey program is available from Callow at mundodehockey@yahoo.com Increase sought in price of motor fuel By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo is seeking another increase in the price of gasoline and diesel. The government monopoly cites an increase in the international price of crude oil. The proposal would increase the price of super gasoline some 45 colons a liter and that of plus gasoline 35 colons. Diesel would go up 34 colons a liter. The national price regulating agency will have to rule on the request. Officials to promote country up north By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rica trade officials say they will be making the rounds of U.S. citizens seeking investments here. President Luis Guillermo Solís will accompany Alexander Mora, minister of Comercio Exterior, and Jorge Sequeira, director general of the Coalición Costarricense de Iniciativas de Desarrollo. More details and a schedule are expected to be announced today. As is typical of these tours, the officials will visit selected cities, universities and firms that may want to relocate here. American football event called successful By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Organizers are reported pleased with the turnout at the American football event Saturday afternoon. This year the Tropic Bowl game also included the first peewee exhibition of 3 to 10 year olds and the first women's exhibition contact game. In the fifth Tropic Bowl itself the North East USA All Stars scored 18 points against the scoreless Costa Rica All Stars. In the peewee game, the Cartago Leones versus the San Jose Titans ended 6-0. The Pérez Zeledón Angels defeated the San José Olympian Goddesses also 6-0 in the women's contact game. Organizers said that a youth clinic of American football core drills drew double the expected number, about 100 were expected. The most valuable player for the Costa Rican All Stars was quarterback Arturo Ogiste. Released terrorist facing restrictions By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Canada's release of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr has brought the controversial detention center at the U.S. Naval base in Cuba back into the spotlight. Khadr is the youngest person ever to be held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. He was freed Thursday for the first time since 2002, when he was 15 years old and threw a grenade at U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, killing U.S. Sgt. Christopher Speer. A Canadian judge freed Khadr, saying that his case is “to say the least, unusual.” The Canadian government had filed an emergency motion to keep the now 28-year-old behind bars in Canada, but it was rejected. He was released with a number of restrictions. Khadr is required to live with his lawyer, must wear a tracking bracelet and will have restricted Internet access. One of Khadr’s first comments to reporters was “Freedom is way better than I thought.” Khadr says he was the subject of torture and harsh interrogations during his 10 years at Guantanamo. In 2010, he agreed to a plea deal for five war crimes, including the killing of Sergeant Speer. He was sent to Canada in 2012 as part of the deal. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke pointed out that the Canadian government had sought to keep Khadr in prison, and said the U.S. cooperates closely with Canada to fight terrorism. “We would also point out that the arrangement governing Mr. Khadr’s transfer to Canada was clear. After transfer to Canada to serve the remainder of his sentence, Mr. Khadr is subject to Canadian law pertaining to detention,” he said. Defense attorneys said Khadr was pushed into war by his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, an alleged senior al-Qaida financier whose family stayed with Osama bin Laden for awhile when Omar was a boy. Omar Khadr’s father was killed in 2003 in a Pakistani military operation. At a driveway news conference at his lawyer’s house, Khadr said he rejects terrorism and plans to attend university and start a new life in Canada. Some experts say a high percentage of former prisoners convicted of terrorist crimes return to terrorist activity in some form. “I think that a lot of people, they want to be merciful. They want to believe in this idea that terrorists can be rehabilitated," said Max Abrahms, a Northeastern University political scientist. "But I just don’t see a whole lot of empirical support for that, especially for Islamist terrorists.” John Bellinger, an adjunct senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, says the prospect of risk depends on the individual. “Well some do and some don’t," he said. "A number have been approved for release ... for some time. Those presumably pose a lower threat.” There are about 75 detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay. Of those, 57 have already been cleared for transfer. Congress has made it more difficult for President Obama to empty the facility by barring him from bringing any of the detainees back to the United States and by putting restrictions on transferring them to foreign countries. A large number of Republican lawmakers argue that closing Guantanamo would pose a threat to U.S. national security. This week, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican, pledged to push ahead with legislation that would further restrict the president’s ability to transfer detainees. But the White House says the president is determined to keep one of the first promises he made in office to close the facility. Earlier this week, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said: “The president has indicated a willingness to use as much of his executive authority as he can to try to take the steps that he believes are consistent with the national security interests of the United States, and that’s closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay.”
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, May 11, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 91 | |
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| Central government ramps up pressure for animal welfare bill |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The executive branch is trying to advance an animal protection bill that seems stalled in the legislature. A march Sunday in San José that included ministers and a vice president was one effort. The Casa Presidencial issued a list of what the government was doing on its own to reduce mistreatment of animals: • The public school curriculum may include obligatory instructions on animal welfare. A meeting on this proposal will be today. In addition, the 10th-grade program of community service may be expanded to include work with animal welfare non-profit organizations. • The Servicio Nacional de Salud Animal is creating a commission that will include those organizations that work in the rescue and welfare of animals. • The Comisión Nacional de Emergencias will create an advisory board to protect animals at risk and to respond to help animals caught in a natural disaster. • The Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes will be posting more signs to warn motorists of wild animals on the highway. • The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad is placing special lamps at the beaches in Barra de Tortuguero. The color of the lamps do not affect the activities of marine turtles or the recently hatched youngsters. • The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad also is installing new protective devices to prevent contact by |
 Casa
Presidencial photo
Marchers brought their own pets to the
event Sunday.
animals with electrical power lines. The electrocution of animals is a major problem in areas where there are monkeys. Current law treats most abuse of animals as misdemeanors. The law in the legislature upgrades some crimes to felonies that carry jail terms. A legislative committee already reduces some of the penalties. Some lawmakers fear that the law will be aggressively enforced by some of the non-profits. Such activities as chicken fights already are illegal, and there sometimes are raids shutting down this activity. However, chicken fights and disregard of animal welfare are ingrained attitudes, and many animals are considered work implements rather than pets. |
| British community plans a picnic May 31 with traditional
goodies |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The British community plans a charity picnic May 31 at United World College in Santa Ana. An announcement praised the new location and said that there would be plenty of room for up to 500 guests. "The British Shop with imported goodies will again be popular so do come early, and the bar will have British beer and Pymms," said the announcement, adding that there would be lots of prizes with the raffles. There will be the usual games and entertainments, and some |
new
ones, for children and adults and lots of football for the
older
youngsters, plus the novelty of designing and making your own
hat,
fascinator or other millinery concoction, it said. The picnic features curries, imported Angus hamburgers, sausage butties, and pizza. Advance-sale tickets are available by contacting 2228-9810 or 2221 2992, and tickets will be available at the entrance, the organization said. Organizers may be reached at comunidadbritanicacr @gmail.com. More information is available at www.facebook.com/BritishPicnicCR. |
| Flurry of quakes reported offshore from Tamarindo Sunday
night |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The ocean off Tamarindo experienced a flurry of quakes Sunday night. The Red Sismológica Nacional gave this list: The first was at 9:10 p.m. about 45 kilometers west of Cabo Velas with a magnitude of 4.5. Then four minutes later a 4.2 quake took place about 71 kilometers west of Tamarindo. Six minutes after that in about |
the same
location, a 4.1 magnitude quake took place. Then at 10:38 p.m. about 81 kilometers west of Tamarindo there was a 3.7 magnitude quake. All are believed to be the product of tectonic plate subduction. What may have been a related event took inland about 9 kilometers west of Sardinal at 7:46 p.m. That was a 3.3 magnitude quake. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, May 11, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 91 | |||||
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| Brainy occupations seem to increase survival in cases of
dementia |
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By the Perelman School of Medicine
news staff
Doctors, lawyers and other professionals may have a built-in survival edge if they’re diagnosed with the disease frontotemporal dementia, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Their work is published in this week’s issue of Neurology. Frontotemporal dementia is a family of devastating disorders of the brain that lead to the progressive loss of brain cells in the frontal and temporal regions of the brain, most commonly in patients between ages 50 and 65 and often causing symptoms ranging from behavioral impairments to language difficulty. Nearly 10,000 patients are diagnosed with the disease each year. As the disease progresses, it can slowly deprive an individual of their cognitive abilities, personality and eventually their independence. “There is a notion that ones cognitive reserve is built up over the course of a lifetime through experiences such as education, occupation and mental engagement,” said Lauren Massimo, a post-doctoral fellow in the department of Neurology in Penn’s Frontotemporal Degeneration Center. “We believe that those with higher occupational levels are able to build up an additional level of defense against the disease through rich neural connectivity and this could contribute to longer survival.” Dr. Massimo and colleagues retrospectively examined the autopsy reports of 83 patients in the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research at the University of Pennsylvania, 34 of whom had confirmed frontotemporal |
dementia and
49 with autopsy-confirmed Alzheimer’s disease. Each patient’s occupation was recorded and ranked according to U.S. Census categories, with jobs such as factory workers and service workers in the lowest level, jobs such as tradesworkers and sales people in the next level, and professional and technical workers such as lawyers and engineers in the highest level. Education level was also measured in years of schooling completed. Their analysis showed that median survival for patients with frontotemporal dementia was six years and nine months, and just shy of eight years for those with Alzheimer’s, with survival defined as the time from symptom onset until death. Further analysis showed that patients with frontotemporal dementia in the highest occupation level survived an average of nine years, while people in the lower occupation group survived an average of six years, suggesting that higher occupation level is associated with longer survival. Occupational level was not associated with longer survival time for patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Interestingly, the team found that years of education were not associated with survival time for either group. “These results provide support for the protective effects of occupation in FTD,” Dr. Massimo said. “There may be other factors at work here such socioeconomic factors tied to occupational status that contributes to the longevity of this group. Further studies might also want to expand the sample size and occupations characterized, as ours left no room for occupations such as homemaker or those outside traditional lines of work.” |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, May 11, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 91 | |||||||
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 Vatican news photo
Pope Francis and
Raúl CastroPope and
Raúl Castro chat
for an hour at Vatican City By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Cuban President Raúl Castro visited the Vatican Sunday to personally thank Pope Francis for the pontiff's efforts to end five decades of tensions between the United States and Cuba. The two countries are seeking to resume diplomatic ties. The Cuban leader met with the Argentine-born Francis for nearly an hour as the two men spoke in their native Spanish. Francis, the leader of the world's Roman Catholics, was instrumental in the secret negotiations between Havana and Washington leading to the announcement in December that the two countries are taking steps to reopen embassies in their capitals and broaden economic links. The Vatican has said Francis, the first South American pope, personally mediated between the two sides and hosted delegations from both countries. "I thanked the pope for what he did," Castro said as he left the Vatican. Later, he praised Francis for his "wisdom, modesty and all his other qualities." The pontiff gave Castro a medal depicting St. Martin of Tours, known for caring for the destitute. Castro said he plans to attend all the Masses that Francis celebrates when he visits Cuba in September, ahead of a trip to the United States and a meeting with President Barack Obama. Castro's trip to the Vatican followed a trip to Moscow where he was a guest of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the World War II victory parade in Red Square. Last month, President Obama decided to remove Cuba from Washington's list of state sponsors of terrorism. Congress has 45 days to overrule the president's decision through a joint resolution, a move that Obama is sure to veto. Congressional reaction to Obama’s move was mixed. “Long overdue,” said Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, who ridiculed any suggestion that Cuba today poses a security threat to the United States. By contrast, Cuban-American Marco Rubio, a Republican senator, issued a video condemning the president’s move. “Cuba is a state sponsor of terrorism. They harbor fugitives of American justice,” he said. “It is also the country that is helping North Korea evade weapons sanctions by the United Nations. I think it sends a chilling message to our enemies abroad that this White House is no longer serious about calling terrorism by its proper name.” For decades after the Cuban Revolution of 1959, Havana supported insurgents and leftist movements in the Americas and parts of Africa. Analysts say Cuba’s foreign adventurism all but ended in the 1990s, although Havana continues to harbor a handful of fugitives from U.S. justice. More recently, Cuba has played the role of mediator rather than agitator, hosting peace talks between the Colombian government and leftist rebels. North Dakota faces snow and damage from tornado By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Fans of winter weather and springtime storms would have felt at home in the midwestern U.S. state of South Dakota Sunday. A tornado ripped through the eastern town of Delmont Sunday morning, destroying a number of homes and buildings. At least three people were injured. It was snow, not tornadoes, that caused problems on the opposite side of the state. Blizzard warnings were posted for parts of western South Dakota Sunday, with as much as 60 centimeters of snow expected by the end of the day. Heavy snow also fell Sunday in the Rocky Mountains while the same storm system put millions in the path of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes Sunday in the south and midwest. Meanwhile, along the Atlantic coast a rare May tropical storm struck land near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Sunday. Tropical storms, which have the potential of turning into hurricanes, usually do not form in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico until late June. Terrorist threat is new phase, security secretary tells ABC By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The worldwide terrorist threat has entered a new phase, where media savvy Islamic extremists are successfully attracting so-called lone wolf attackers to their cause, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson warned Sunday. Speaking on ABC's This Week program, Johnson said the Islamic State group's influence is spreading far beyond the battlegrounds of the Middle East. "We're very definitely in a new environment, because of ISIL's effective use of social media, the Internet, which has the ability to reach into the homeland and possibly inspire others," he said. "We're very definitely in a new phase in the global terrorist threat, where the so-called lone wolf could strike at any moment." The U.S. security chief urged Americans to be vigilant and aware, but not to avoid going to public events. FBI Director James Comey last week said authorities are concerned about the Islamic State encouraging attacks on uniformed military and law enforcement in online propaganda. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of people in the United States who have received recruitment messages from the jihadists, Comey said. Friday, the U.S. military bolstered security at its bases across the country. "Because of the use of the Internet, we could have little or no notice in advance of an independent actor attempting to strike. And so that's why law enforcement at the local level needs to be ever more vigilant, and we are constantly reminding them to do that," Johnson said. He also urged leaders in the broader Islamic community to step up to counter extremism. "It has to come from within the community. It has to come from Islamic leaders, who frankly can talk the language better than the federal government can," Johnson said. "Islam is about peace and brotherhood. There are 1.6 billion Muslims in this world. And the true Islamic faith has nothing to do with what ISIL represents." U.S. lawmakers face decision on domestic wiretapping law By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
This week brings increased pressure on U.S. lawmakers to reform or reauthorize the National Security Agency’s ability to gather domestic telephone records for anti-terrorist purposes because the program expires at the end of this month. A federal appeals court ruled so-called bulk metadata collection illegal but did not order a stop to the program launched in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. Even before last week’s court decision, some in Congress were urging reform of domestic spying. “I believe we have to protect our national security, but we also have to protect our civil liberties that make us unique as a country,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, said. Exposed by fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the program caused a firestorm when Americans learned of vast telecommunications monitoring by a shadowy U.S. agency. Last year, President Barack Obama pledged what he called a new approach. “The United States is not spying on ordinary people who do not threaten our national security, and we take their privacy concerns into account in our policies and procedures," Obama said then. Moments after the court ruling last week, several Republicans rushed to defend the program, which reportedly collects and stores phone records but not the content of calls made. “The NSA can find connections from known terrorists overseas and connect them to potential terrorists here in the United States. Critics of the program either want to do away with it or make it much more difficult to use," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. Ending the program is unthinkable, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr said. “We are going to keep America safe. We are not going to revert back to where we are susceptible to another 9-11," he said. Others see a threat to privacy. “I say the phone records of law-abiding citizens are none of their damn business," Sen. Rand Paul said. He also announced in early April he is running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. That the debate is unfolding at all shows America’s commitment to transparency, President Obama said. “No one expects China to have an open debate about their surveillance programs, or Russia to take the privacy concerns of citizens into account. But let us remember: we are held to a different standard precisely because we have been at the forefront of defending personal privacy and human dignity," he said. Many expect the Supreme Court will ultimately decide the constitutionality of bulk data collection. In the meantime, Congress could extend the NSA program or reform it. Lawmakers of both parties say the stakes for national security, and civil liberties, are high. U.N. plans a rights review of U.S. policies, problems By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The country that considers itself a human rights champion will have its record reviewed by the United Nations Monday. The United States will experience the Universal Periodic Review that all 193 U.N. member countries must undergo every four years. The U.S. is likely to face tough scrutiny in Geneva, including questions about the recent string of police killings of unarmed African-American men. Other issues likely to emerge in the meeting include the widespread incarceration of illegal immigrants, including children, as well as conditions in U.S. prisons, including long-term solitary confinement and the continued use of the death penalty. The mass surveillance U.S. citizens have been subjected to in recent years will undoubtedly come up for discussion, too. The so-called U.S. Patriot Act, under which many of the surveillance activities have taken place, is up for debate in Congress ahead of a June 1 deadline for renewal. Washington's legacy from the war on terror – alleged CIA torture and the failure to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba – will also likely be examined. "The U.S. has little progress to show for the many commitments it made during its first Universal Periodic Review," said Antonio Ginatta, the U.S. advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. The U.S. had its first review in 2010, but activists say it has done little to implement many of the 171 recommendations it accepted out of the 240 recommendations made. "The world will be asking hard questions of a country that considers itself a human rights champion," said Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Human Rights Program. "It will be expecting meaningful answers and a concrete plan of action." Republican hopefuls give views to conservative summit By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. Republican presidential candidates are continuing their quest to woo conservative voters with a barrage of attacks on President Barack Obama and the leading 2016 Democratic contender to replace him, former secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Nine declared or possible Republican candidates spoke Saturday at the Freedom Summit in South Carolina. South Carolina is a staunch Republican state that will hold one of the early party nominating contests next year, a prelude to picking the Republican presidential nominee for the national election in November 2016. One possible candidate, former Texas governor Rick Perry, said Washington suffers from a dearth of leadership to deal with domestic and world crises. He said next year's election "will be one of those 'show me, don't tell me' elections where voters look past what you say to what you've done." One announced Republican candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio of the southern state of Florida, said the United States is "at a hinge moment in our nation's history, where we must decide whether we will embrace the future and confront its challenges or be left behind by history." "It begins by accepting the mantle of global leadership, by understanding that we have to, because there is no other nation that can do it instead of us," Rubio said. One possible contender, Sen. Ted Cruz of the southwestern state of Texas, accused other Republican candidates of not fighting hard enough for conservative principles. Cruz touted his unapologetic approach as a lawmaker that has angered some party officials in Washington, including his 2013 efforts leading to a partial government shutdown that lasted 16 days. Former technology executive Carly Fiorina, another announced Republican candidate, aimed her attack at Mrs. Clinton, saying she "is not trustworthy, and she does not have a record of accomplishment." One leading Republican possibility, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, skipped the South Carolina gathering but wooed evangelical Christians in a graduation speech at Liberty University in the mid-Atlantic state of Virginia. Bush, the son and brother of two former U.S. presidents, defended the role of Christians in government leadership, saying "it is not only untrue, but also a little ungrateful, to dismiss Christian faith as some obstacle to enlightened thought, some ancient, irrelevant creed wearing out its welcome in the modern world." Vice president of Guatemala resigns in corruption case By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Guatemala's vice president has resigned. Roxana Baldetti stepped down Friday amid a corruption scandal that implicated her private secretary, opening up Ms. Baldetti to investigation, as well. She has maintained her innocence. President Otto Pérez Molina described Ms. Baldetti's decision to resign as brave and thanked her for her service. Baldetti's secretary, Juan Carlos Monzón, is accused of being a leader in a customs bribery ring. His current whereabouts are unknown. After the announcement of the vice president's resignation, U.S. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said the U.S. supports President Pérez Molina and his administration's "efforts to address charges of official corruption." Rathke said, "we urge all Guatemalans to support the governmental institutions that investigate and prosecute allegations of corruption." |
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Listening to the
gardener is a good idea
We work hard all our lives. We love to garden. We save for retirement and keep our fingers crossed that Social Security will provide a little
There are a lot of gardeners here, and they all know exactly what they are doing . . . Okay, no, they don’t. I have talked about it before, the difference in just digging a hole for a plant. Your gardener will dig a hole 8 inches wide and 18 inches deep, a little pot for your plant. What you want, what you have been taught, what you used to do, is dig a nice wide shallow hole for your plant so you could spread out the roots. Who’s right? Well, the wide hole is better and, even though he may grumble, your gardener will dig it, but that doesn’t mean that what the expat knows is always best. Metric Man and I live in hilly country as do most of our friends. In the States, we were used to nice green lawn spreading out around the house. In fact, I have a friend who insists on wide green lawns. Here, your gardener knows best. Trust me. He understands rain and you really, really don’t. Really! A nice green lawn today will be a nice mushy brown slumping mess in the rainy season. What you need here is vetiver with its tremendous roots at slope edged property. Got hills? Try maní, perennial peanut (Arachis glabrata), which sends out very deep tap roots. Mani covers itself with yellow flowers, so, no, you will not have that green green lawn but you will have rainfall protection. Another good plant for hills is trailing sunflower. The roots don’t dig in as deeply but it is easy to establish (as are maní and vetiver) and digs in quickly on short hills, although I don’t recommend it for covering acres of land. For large areas, maní is probably the best choice, but don’t look for seeds. Just find some by the roadside and dig it up (or just yank on it. That works too). Don’t worry if you didn’t get the deep roots, the surface roots will keep things going. So, for hillsides, listen to your local gardener. He understands rain better than you do. Other things are for mediation. And keep a shovel in your car for that perennial peanut.  This Week’s Plant
There is a difference of opinion on the
name of this week’s plant, but I think that firecracker plant (Crossandra
infundibuliformis) may be the winner [the
other contender
is justicia brandegeana, a type of shrimp plant.] We will have
a winner
when the plant goes to seed as a firecracker literally explodes its
seeds to scatter them. In the meantime, this lovely little plant
seems quite happy in a window box in full sun. And I love that color!If you would like to suggest a topic for this column, simply send a letter to the editor. And, for more garden tips, visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arenal-Gardeners/413220712106845 |
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| From Page 7: U.S. April jobs improve over March totals By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. job market rebounded in April with strong growth in business services, health care and construction, Friday's report from the Labor Department said. The unemployment rate dipped to 5.4 percent, the lowest level in nearly seven years, as 223,000 jobs were added. After the weak job gains in March, when fewer than 100,000 people were hired, the second quarter is off to a good start, Bankrate.com's chief financial analyst Greg McBride said. "The April jobs report shows we are back on track," he said. "It really reveals that March was the aberration . . . But, you know, April really kind of gets us back in the game." April's job numbers were an encouraging sign for investors, who helped boost stock prices on Wall Street by more than 1 percent. Adding to the optimism was the fact that average hourly earnings increased, but just barely. At just 3 cents more per hour, McBride said, it's a step in the right direction, but not enough to significantly boost growth. "People don't have enough spending power," he said. "They don't have enough breathing room in the household budget, and that's why we've had this perpetually slow-growth economy because consumers are not in a position where they can ramp up spending on a consistent basis." Until employers start ramping up wages, McBride said, the housing market is likely to remain sluggish. Part of the problem, according to the National Association of Business Economics' Ken Simonson, is inertia. "Employers have been very cautious about hiring people, raising wages, and workers are also nervous that a job won't last," he said, "so it's made them less aggressive about pushing for wage increases in their current job or changing jobs." That could change as competition for skilled workers heats up. The new jobs data show about 8.5 million Americans are still out of work, but that's down more than 1 million from a year ago. |
