Rutgers students helping Somerville plan for redevelopment of landfill site
NJ.com, 4/6/2014
Rutgers University student Han Yan sees a potential "icon" of global proportions in Somerville's defunct landfill site. Between the built-up
stretches of the borough's downtown and the natural landscape of nearby Duke Farms, the landfill site could be developed and also become a
destination for eco-tourism through the preservation of open space, Yan said...In examining the site, the students have been exploring site access,
environmental remediation, wildlife habitats, the integration of Somerville's history into the design elements within the site and other issues related
to the project, said Rutgers Professor Frank Gallagher, the course instructor. The class is part of the Rutgers Center for Urban Environmental
Sustainability.
Cooperative Extension marks 100 years of service
MyCentralJersey.com, 4/26/2014
May 1 begins the month long celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Cooperative Extension. And not just for Rutgers Cooperative Extension
here in New Jersey, but also for Cornell in New York and Penn State in Pennsylvania and the entire nationwide Cooperative Extension network.
Next Thursday, May 8, marks the official anniversary of the signing of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, which officially created the national
Cooperative Extension System. This year's national commemoration highlights Extension's past and focus on the contemporary application of
Extension's transformational, educational programming into the future.
Rutgers' Master Gardners Organization of Cumberland County to premier learning programs
NJ.com, 4/29/2014
Rutgers' Master Gardeners Organization of Cumberland County will host learning programs that will start May 3 at Wheaton Arts. The day's
activities will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Wheaton Arts, located off Glasstown Road. The theme of the children's table this year is "Animals of the
Farm and Forest - Identifying Them by their Appearance, Tracks, and Scat." There will be scat and track picture by tracker Kim Cabrera with pelts,
skulls and more. Other activities will include a smell test, jelly bean test, tracks in the sand, animal track twister game and making track stamps.
Scientific 'buried treasure' may yield data about shorelines' future
miamiherald.com, 4/29/2014
Deep beneath the ocean floor off the New Jersey coast lie secrets that could help scientists predict how climate change might affect one of the
most popular shorelines in the country. Gregory Mountain, with a name that befits his expertise, teaches Earth and planetary sciences and has
spent a lot of time in recent years sailing those waters to uncover the answers. "This is . . . to understand better what the future is going to hold,"
said Mountain, a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "The future that is within our grandchildren's time."
El Nino 2014: New Study Links California Drought to Global Warming
theepochtimes.com, 4/29/2014
While researchers have sometimes connected weather extremes to man-made global warming, usually it's not done in real time. Now a study is
asserting a link between climate change and both the intensifying California drought and the polar vortex blamed for a harsh winter that mercifully
has just ended in many places..."It's another way that climate change is probably connected to an individual weather event," Rutgers University
climate scientist Jennifer Francis said. "There are still a lot of questions out there. It's another piece of the puzzle."
Herb Day celebration includes plant sale
ns.gmnews.com, 4/30/2014
The Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Middlesex County will celebrate National Herb Day with the Ask a Master Gardener event and plant
sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 3, rain or shine, at the 4-H Youth Center, 645 Cranbury Road, East Brunswick...This event is an opportunity for
gardeners to get information about how to grow a successful garden and purchase starter plants. The Middlesex County Agricultural Extension
staff and Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer questions.
Water-Contamination Watchdog Restarts Work With Focus on PFCs
NJSpotlight.com, 4/30/2014
A panel that advises state officials on the quality of New Jersey's drinking water met for the first time since 2010 on Tuesday, and pledged to focus
its work on contamination by a class of chemicals that has been linked with cancer and developmental problems...The reconstituted 15-member
panel, which includes academic scientists, government researchers, and water industry officials, will test for, treat, and assess the health effects of
perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), some of which have been found in New Jersey at higher concentrations than elsewhere in the United States. It
will be chaired by Keith Cooper, a professor of toxicology at Rutgers University.
Delays in cleaning Forsythe could lead to environmental problems, scientist warns
PressOfAtlanticCity.com, 4/30/2014
Delays in cleaning up Hurricane Sandy debris at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge could create environmental problems there, a
Rutgers University scientist said. Household chemicals have been found during an ongoing Fish and Wildlife Service-funded cleanup at the
refuge. The cleanup was expected to have been finished by now but will not be completed until at least the fall, refuge Manager Virginia Rettig
said...Household chemicals are a troubling thing for a natural environment such as a salt marsh at the refuge, said Michael Kennish, a research
professor for the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University. "It's very difficult to get chemicals out of the sediments and
to get the habitat cleaned out," he said.
Rutgers Master Gardeners to host plant sale in May
tri.gmnews.com, 5/1/2014
The 12th annual plant sale will be held at the Monmouth County agricultural building, 4000 Kozloski Road, Freehold Township, May 16-17. The
plant sale is the annual fundraiser for the Rutgers Master Gardeners of Monmouth County. Funds raised help the Master Gardeners provide
gardening, pest and horticultural education to the public...Last year, more than 3,300 pounds of produce was provided to local food banks, grown
by the current year's new members, according to a press release.
Ken Able Writes History of the Rutgers Marine Field Station
thesandpaper.villagesoup.com, 5/1/2014
Fish biologist Ken Able has been the director of the Rutgers Marine Field Station, situated at the end of Great Bay Boulevard, from the very
beginning and has written a book about his home away from home for the past 42 years, titled Station 119...In August 1972, a report from Rutgers
mentions that a Marine Research Institute was in the making. The federal government sold the deteriorated building for a dollar to Rutgers for a
research station as part of its new Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences. The university began renovations, keeping true to the original Coast
Guard plans for the building.
Tornadoes, Dust Storms and Floods: What the Hell Happened This Week?
mashable.com, 5/2/2014
The United States had its most unusual weather week of the year to date, with a massive, slow-moving storm system spawning dozens of killer
tornadoes, generating widespread flooding and even whipping up hurricane force winds amid blinding dust in the Great Plains...Some
meteorologists and climate scientists suspect that global warming is leading to more amplified, or wavy, jet stream patterns like the one we saw
this week. This can prolong weather events and lead to more extreme events. One such scientist, Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University, has
published several studies arguing that rapid climate change in the Arctic, where temperatures are increasing twice as fast as the rest of the world,
is behind the jet stream changes in the northern midlatitudes.
Hunterdon cow-breeding innovation changed the nation
NJ.com, 5/3/2014
It's no longer just "cows and cooking," as the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Extension System approaches. While originally the role of
county agricultural agents and the 4-H program was helping farmers and rural youth, the system’s work is much different. The county is
celebrating the anniversary of the 1914 federal Smith Lever Act, which funded outreach endeavors at Rutgers and other land-grant universities
through vocational, agricultural, and home demonstration programs in rural America. Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Hunterdon is marking
the anniversary the week of May 4, with a big open house on Sunday, at the Extension Center, county complex, 314 Route 12, Raritan Township.
It runs noon to 3 p.m.
Long-Awaited DEP Study Says PFC Contamination Widespread in State's Water
NJSpotlight.com, 5/5/2014
Two-thirds of New Jersey's public water systems tested in a statewide survey were found to contain perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), which have
been linked to some cancers in humans and reproductive and developmental problems in animals, according to a newly released survey from the
state's Department of Environmental Protection...Larry Ragonese, a spokesman for the DEP, did not respond to a request for an explanation of
why the survey was kept from public view for so long. Keith Cooper, a Rutgers University toxicologist who is the new chairman of the Drinking
Water Quality Institute, which advises the DEP on water quality, said he did not know why the report had been so severely delayed.
We invite you to send an email to InTheNews@aesop.rutgers.edu alerting us when you are quoted in a story or if your program is mentioned in
the news. Please send links of news, as it happens, as some media outlets do not retain online links beyond a week.
Visit the SEBS and NJAES Newsroom at sebsnjaesnews.rutgers.edu.