Massachusetts Bill Looks to Limit Shadows on Parks
from the Boston Globe
A pair of Boston lawmakers seeking to check vertical commercial growth in the Back Bay and along the Rose Kennedy Greenway have filed legislation that would outlaw new development that casts midday shadows on a half-dozen parks in the city. "One of the things about having open space is not only do you get to see the sky, but also you get the sun on you," said state Representative Byron Rushing. "We're saying there are places in Boston that, from now on, should have no more shadow in the middle of the day." More

California Observatory Set for its Salute to Galileo
from the LA Daily News
In 1609, a Tuscan astronomer fashioned the world's finest telescope and aimed it at the heavens. What Galileo Galilei observed in Padua, Italy, would upend our notions of the cosmos. Starting last week. the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles will host a yearlong series of new planetarium shows, public sky observing programs, exhibits, telescope workshops and lectures devoted to what Galileo saw. More

Stimulating Walks
from the News & Observer
One step at a time, hikers eat up the miles. And one section at a time, new hiking trails take shape. North Carolina's ambitious Mountains-to-Sea trail is being built that way, and the trail builders recently got a welcome boost. More

Protecting Open Spaces in the Tri-Cities
from the Tri-City Herald
Everywhere he looks, Bob Spaulding sees the big picture for open spaces. That picture is in the canyons, on the hillsides, atop the ridges and along the rivers. It includes the community's tree-canopied parks and pockets of hard-to-build-on properties hemmed in by development. But the picture is getting smaller. Spaulding, who is chairman of the Kennewick Planning Commission, is not alone in sensing urgency about saving Washington’s Tri-Cities open space. More

Multi-county North Carolina Region Maps Proposed Trails
from the Winston-Salem Journal
The High Country Council of Governments in North Carolina has identified and tentatively mapped 389 milesof proposed trails in a seven-county Northwest N.C. mountain region, an ambitious plan that's intended to guide hiking-trail development for decades. The 18-month planning project involved more than 150 people, including state and federal land managers, local government officials and members of trail groups and other organizations in Yancey, Mitchell, Avery, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany and ¬Wilkes counties. More

Video: Grant to Help Georgia Military Families Pay for After School Childcare
from WLTZ-TV
Local military families now have the opportunity to receive financial help with after school childcare. Three Columbus, Ga., Parks and Recreation after school sites, Saint Mary's, Double Churches and Georgetown Elementary Schools have received a national grant from the U.S. army. “It's not a childcare, it's a recreation place. Where they're going to be able to get knowledge, we're going to have homework time, arts and crafts, everything that is associated with a new environment that we're going to create,” said Celsa Muniz Parks and Recreation District Director. More

Montgomery, Ala., Parks & Rec. Helps Fifth-grade Kids Learn about Choices
from the Montgomery Advertiser
During three sessions this spring, the annual Freedom Forum will touch about 3,000 students, according to Pete McCoy, an Alabama man who organized the event. The program, sponsored by the Montgomery County Commission and Department of Parks and Recreation, focuses on helping fifth-graders make good choices. More

Twins Give Back by Coaching
from The Detroit News
For Kasey and Kyle Streeter, volunteering has nothing to do with a soup kitchen and everything to do with a plastic puck on a gymnasium floor. The 20-year-old identical twins volunteer as coaches in a youth floor hockey league run by the Lansing, Mich., Parks and Recreation Department. The brothers say they owe their time to the program since they "grew up" in it. Starting at age 4, they played floor hockey for 10 years together on a team sponsored by the city's Gier Community Center. More

Youth 'Learning' Trail Approved for Illinois Park
from The Pantagraph
Parents and their young children likely will have another place to interact this spring in Normal, Ill. Teens United for McLean County is adding a “Born Learning” loop trail at Anderson Park. The concrete path will feature nine interactive signs along the way to encourage children and their parents or caregivers to interact such as: a jump, clap, skip and move station; a describe, compare, learn station; and a look, listen, touch and think station. More