The City of Newport has been working on bringing back commercial air services for several months, and now, with the help of a $3.6 million Oregon state grant, they are ready to make that dream a reality.
The return of commuter air service at the Newport Municipal Airport is about to take flight with word Friday that the project has received $3.6 million in funding through a ConnectOregon II grant.
Newport has been working in partnership with the Port of Astoria to create a commuter air service between Newport, Astoria and Portland International Airport. The Oregon Transportation Commission announced last week that 30 projects involving rail, air, marine and public transit transportation will receive funding through the $100 million, lottery-bond-backed program.
Source
This is truly exciting news for the City of Newport, the citizens of Lincoln County, and the many tourists who flock to the central Oregon Coast each year. A revived commercial air service will allow people to easily and conveniently travel to and from the coast.
I know personally, if I’m planning to travel alone, I would much prefer to fly out of Newport to Portland to cut down on transportation time as well as to prevent someone else from having to drive 6 hours round trip from Newport to Portland. Hopefully the prices will be reasonable enough to make this worthwhile.
Currently, the City of Newport has received proposals from two companies: Cape Air, based in the Northeast, and Air Azul (I was unable to find a website), based in Florida.
Talk about a good day on the lake…
Boating on Lake Texoma seemed like just another day for Bob Faulkner until he reeled in what he calls the biggest catch of his life. He never expected that his big catch would turn out to be a stretch Hummer limousine.
Faulkner knew he hit something large and had to get it out of the water. When he attached his anchor and tried to remove the object, he pulled in a large piece of vinyl.
Faulkner says he couldn’t believe his eyes as the roof just kept coming out of the water. He says finding any vehicle in the lake was a shock, but realizing he “caught” a stretch limousine is one catch he says he’ll never forget.
For the full story, please visit: http://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/13758402.html
In this photo taken by NASA’s probe Messenger during
At the beginning of the image sequence, Mercury was just a bright crescent in the blackness of space. As MESSENGER drew closer, surface features could be seen. In the last frame of the video, bright markings are visible, and impact craters can be seen near the terminator (the line between Mercury’s day side, to the left, and the night side to the right).
For a video compilation of the images taken during the probe’s approach, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mov/208323main_opnav_jan09_jan13.mov
For more information on the Messenger mission, visit NASA’s program website: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/main/index.html
At 11:04 AM PST on Monday, NASA’s probe Messenger will pass within 200 km (124 miles) of the first ‘rock’ from the Sun - the planet Mercury. This pass will mark the first encounter with the rocky inner planet since Mariner-10’s 1975 fly-by nearly 33 years ago.
It is not due in orbit around Mercury until the March of 2011. To get there, it must perform a series of fly-bys and engine firings to put it on a correct course and, crucially, slow its final approach.
This week’s pass, which takes place some 53 million km (33 million miles) from Sun, will reduce the spacecraft’s velocity by 8,000km/h (5,000mph). Even so, it will still pass over the cratered surface at a relative speed of 25,000 km/h (16,000 mph).
Messenger (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft) was launched in August of 2004 and since then has already passed by Venus.
Messenger’s cameras and other sophisticated, high-technology instruments will collect more than 1,200 images and make other observations during this approach, encounter and departure. It will make the first up-close measurements since Mariner 10 spacecraft’s third and final flyby on March 16, 1975. When Mariner 10 flew by Mercury in the mid-1970s, it surveyed only one hemisphere.
For more information on the Messenger mission, visit NASA’s program website: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/main/index.html
Article quotes from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7183846.stm
According to a January 9, 2008 NASA/JPL press release:
Since our last update, we have received numerous tracking measurements of asteroid 2007 WD5 from four different observatories. These new data have led to a significant reduction in the position uncertainties during the asteroid’s close approach to Mars on Jan. 30, 2008. As a result, the impact probability has dropped dramatically, to approximately 0.01% or 1 in 10,000 odds, effectively ruling out the possible collision with Mars.
Despite being typical of previous impact scenarios, it is still disappointing to not be able to observe such an awesome astronomical event.
For the full story, please visit: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news156.html
