WAMU 88.5 : News

Filed Under:

Chesapeake Bay Shows Modest Environmental Improvement

By: Sabri Ben-Achour // January 2, 2013
Play associated audio
comments
The Chesapeake Bay is still far from healthy, but it showed modest improvement.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crimfants/2837868139/
The Chesapeake Bay is still far from healthy, but it showed modest improvement.

The health of the Chesapeake Bay improved slightly last year, according to a new report by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Crabs and oysters are doing better, and there was more oxygen dissolved in the bay's waters in 2012.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation rates the bay's health on a scale from 0 to 100 using different indicators. A rating of 70 would mean a healthy bay. This year it got a 32. That's actually four points better than 2008.

Underwater grass coverage was the only health indicator that worsened last year. The grasses were hurt by high water temperatures and smothered by sediment and pollution washed in by heavy rains.

The Foundation says the bay is still out of balance, but the improvement may reflect a new federal strategy that's bringing together six states and the District of Columbia to reduce pollution that gets washed into the estuary.

Arts & Culture

NPR

James Gandolfini Dies; 'Sopranos' Actor Was 51

Actor James Gandolfini, 51, has reportedly died. Variety magazine reports that he suffered a "sudden stroke." The cause of death is not yet known with certainty, but HBO says the actor may have suffered a heart attack.

Food

NPR

And The Winner Of The World Food Prize Is ... The Man From Monsanto

The prize is sometimes called the "Nobel Prize for food and agriculture." And this year's winners include Monsanto executive Robert Fraley, a pioneer in genetically engineered crops. If there's a single person who personifies the company's controversial role in American agriculture, it's probably Fraley.

Politics

NPR

How Ted Cruz's Father Shaped His Views On Immigration

The Texas senator says giving a path to citizenship to immigrants in the U.S. illegally would be unfair to immigrants who followed the rules, like his own father, 74-year-old Rafael Bienvenido Cruz. He portrays his dad as a kind of Cuban Horatio Alger.

Technology

NPR

In More Cities, A Camera On Every Corner, Park And Sidewalk

A growing number of cities are using surveillance cameras in the hope of fighting crime, but all that video is almost useless without powerful search tools to sort the material. The municipal camera trend is proving to be big business for companies that design video analytics software.

Leave a Comment

Help keep the conversation civil. Please refer to our Terms of Use and Code of Conduct before posting your comments.