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Twice recently, Crouch and her children have found out their landlord plans to sell the home they had been renting. Rent has been costly, homes are scarce, and each successive search for a new residence has been more difficult. "I'm just having a really hard time," said Crouch, who works at New Mexico State University- Carlsbad. "There are lots of other people like me, I am sure." Rent has skyrocketed to around $800 a month, Crouch said, and she is currently unable to afford or locate suitable lodging for herself and her children. Organizations like Habitat for Humanity and the Department of Housing and Urban Development can only help so many people. "We need some more community awareness about this. I'm not the only one in this situation," she said. "We need it (more affordable housing) now.
ROYAL Dutch Shell says it has taken less than a month to sort out most of the ecological violations Russian authorities have identified at its Sakhalin oil and gas project, but official probes continue. Russia's ecological agency RosPrirodNadzor (RPN) has threatened to withdraw permits from the US$20-billion project on the Pacific island of Sakhalin and force it to re-route pipelines, which Shell has said may further delay the scheme. RPN has yet to give Shell's operations a clean bill of health and its investigations will continue for several weeks. ``We have addressed the violations very quickly but we had to divert resources from pipeline construction,'' Wayne Harris, Shell's health and risk assurance manager at the pipeline, told reporters visiting a 30-km section 220 km north of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
State regulators have given the go-ahead for a $100 million expansion of Athens Regional Medical Center, and hospital administrators have asked the Athens-Clarke government to back $100 million ARMC will borrow to finance the construction. The government's backing - about $85 million in bonds for construction and $15 million to equip the expansion - will save millions of dollars in interest over the life of the loan, said Grant Tribble, ARMC vice president for finance. The state issued ARMC a required certificate of need on Monday, giving the hospital permission to undertake the expansion, which includes adding space to the existing South Tower on Talmadge Drive and another tower behind, as well as a pedestrian bridge to connect the new building with a third building.
Vandalism and vagrancy have recently plagued the Rocky Mount Train Station, and the city is taking steps to address both issues. Police have stepped up patrols of the area and are being more strict with loiterers, many of whom are homeless. "(Patrolling) has increased dramatically in the last three or four weeks," said Rocky Mount police Chief John Manley. The city is also installing panic doors on the streetside entrances to direct nighttime visitors at the 24-hour station to the railroad track-side entrance and repairing three broken security cameras. For the past year, gang graffiti has continually been sprayed in the men's restroom at the station, said Assistant City Manager Peter Varney. The historic train station, renovated and reopened in September 2000, did not have problems with gang vandalism prior to a year ago, he said.
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