May 16, 2013, 2:30 PM

Gun Violence is a problem in Benicia

By Roger Straw

Gun violence is in fact a BENICIA problem ... it is time to take action in EVERY city and town. Here are 21 links to Benicia Herald reports of gun violations in Benicia since April, 2010.

BREAKING: Armed Liberty High student accused of threatening classmate

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
Benicia police arrested a 17-year-old Liberty High School student they said made threats Wednesday to kill a classmate, and Thursday brought a gun to campus, Lt. Frank Hartig said. The youth’s identity was not disclosed, but he was accused of felony counts of terrorist threats and possessing a firearm on school grounds, as well as misdemeanor accusations of possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number; of being a minor in possession of ammunition; possession of an assault weapon; and being a minor in possession of a concealed firearm, Hartig said.
May 16, 2013

County youth homicide rate on the rise
Solano ranks 6th in California
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

Solano County has been ranked sixth among California counties in youth and young adult homicides, said Marty Langley, policy analyst for the the Violence Policy Center, Washington, D.C. San Joaquin County topped the list that is based on 2011 statistics, and several counties reported no homicides among those 10 to 24, the age range that is the focus of the center’s report.
March 7, 2013 at 11:01 am

Police search reveals drugs, ‘suspected Molotov cocktail’
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

Benicia police arrested a Benicia man early Monday in the Solano County Square parking lot after a police dog detected drugs in the vicinity of the man’s car. A search turned up drugs, weapons and a suspected incendiary device, Lt. Frank Hartig said Tuesday afternoon.
December 11, 2012 at 3:39 pm

Man sought in Benicia robbery dies in standoff Police: After chase to Treasure Island, Duncan Phillips shot himself
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

A man sought by Benicia police in the Thanksgiving Day armed robbery of one woman and theft of another women’s car died early Tuesday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot after a lengthy standoff on Treasure Island, San Francisco police said. Duncan Phillips, 29, had been the subject of a Benicia police search after he was suspected of attacking and robbing a 52-year-old woman at her apartment on the 900 block of Southampton Road, Lt. Frank Hartig said.
November 27, 2012 at 4:18 pm

Armed robbery at Fast and Easy Mart
Staff Report

Fast and Easy Mart, 1500 East Fifth Street, was held up Thursday night by armed robbers, police said. The lone clerk described the four assailants as African-American men in the 20s or 30s, wearing dark-colored bandanas over their mouths, police said.
August 17, 2012 at 10:57 am

Held in county lockup, suspect charged with attempted murder of police officer
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

The 22-year-old American Canyon man identified as the suspect who exchanged gunfire with a Benicia police officer Saturday afternoon remained in Solano County Jail, Fairfield, after his arrest Sunday morning in Vallejo, authorities said Monday. Robert Flores Folster was arrested by Benicia police with help from Vallejo police at 1324 Lincoln Road East in Vallejo on Sunday morning, according to Lt. Mike Greene and Solano County Jail records. Folster has been booked on charges of burglary, endangerment of a child that could result in injury or death, attempted murder, carjacking, receiving stolen property and vehicle theft, according to jail records. All are felony charges. While bail of $1,050,000 was set for the first three charges, Folster is being held without bail on the latter three.
July 17, 2012 at 8:08 am

Drug, gun charges for Benicia juvenile

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
A 17-year-old Benicia driver who ran a stop sign late Thursday was arrested on weapons and drug charges and was taken to Solano County Juvenile Hall in Fairfield, Lt. Frank Hartig said Friday. Read the rest of this entry »
July 13, 2012 at 4:02 pm

BREAKING: Man robs 7-11 at gunpoint

with 2 comments
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
A convenience store clerk was robbed at gunpoint early Tuesday, and the suspect not only demanded money from the register’ but the clerk’s wallet as well, Benicia police Lt. Frank Hartig said.
The robber escaped on foot, and the clerk was not harmed, he said. Read the rest of this entry »
June 5, 2012 at 5:19 pm

Police say Rio Vista man had 2 concealed guns

with 2 comments
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
A Rio Vista man has been jailed after Benicia police accused him of two firearms violations following a traffic stop in a residential area. Read the rest of this entry »
May 25, 2012 at 5:54 am

Gunshots in Benicia lead to charge of endangerment

with one comment
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
Benicia Police arrested a 20-year-old Napa man early Wednesday and accused him of endangering a child when he negligently fired a revolver from his car while he on the 1300 block of Southampton Road, Lt. Frank Hartig said. Read the rest of this entry »
May 10, 2012 at 1:37 pm

BREAKING: Armed gunman holds up Benicia business

with 43 comments
Staff Report
Benicia police said an armed robber entered a Southampton business Thursday afternoon and escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash.
No one was injured in the holdup at Check Into Cash, 806 Southampton Road, police said. Read the rest of this entry »

Police find 59 guns; resident arrested

with 5 comments

SOME of the 59 guns police confiscated from a Benicia resident Thursday, including a 9mm UZI.
Courtesy BPD
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
A 49-year-old Benicia man has been arrested and a cache of guns, including an illegal 9 mm UZI assault weapon, were confiscated after Benicia police looked into reports Thursday that the man had been harassing a 20-year-old Martinez woman, Lt. Mike Daley said. Read the rest of this entry »
October 28, 2011 at 3:13 pm

Police arrest parolee on weapons charges
Staff Report

Benicia police on Friday arrested a Magalia, Calif., man after finding a handgun and tools commonly used for car theft in his possession. Police Sgt. John Daley stopped a 1994 Acura on the 900 block of Cambridge Drive at about 6:24 a.m. for an expired registration. After the stop police determined that the passenger, Brad Stancliff, 23, had a felony warrant for his arrest from the California Department of Corrections, according to a Benicia Police Department news release.
April 8, 2011 at 9:41 pm

Police: Man aimed gun at roommate

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

A 28-year-old Benicia man who police said pointed a handgun at his roommate’s forehead Tuesday evening was arrested and charged with a felony.
Lt. Mike Daley said the 34-year-old roommate called police and said the man had pointed the gun at him about 6:46 p.m. after they had been arguing. Read the rest of this entry »
March 17, 2011 at 5:31 am

Absent plate leads to weapons, drug arrest
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

The occupants of a Ford Thunderbird missing its rear license plate were arrested Tuesday night and charged with weapons and drug violations, Benicia police Lt. Mike Daley said Wednesday. Benicia K-9 Officer Damiean Sylvester noticed the Thunderbird was missing its plate and stopped the vehicle on East Fifth Street at the eastbound Interstate 780 on-ramp, Daley said. Sylvester spoke with the driver and passenger and discovered each had some prescription medicine but no prescriptions, Daley said. The passenger also had a substance police believe is methamphetamine, he said.
March 10, 2011 at 1:32 am

Lone gunman robs store in Southampton

By Marc Ethier
Editor
“Friday the 13th” it was not, but a lone gunman wearing a mask popularized by the horror film series was deadly serious Wednesday when he entered a Southampton Shopping Center store.
The gunman entered GameStop, 821 Southampton Road, at 9:54 p.m. wearing a white hockey mask, according to a Benicia police report. He brandished but did not point a black, semi-automatic-type handgun and demanded cash, then escaped with an undisclosed amount, police said. Read the rest of this entry »
December 30, 2010 at 10:20 pm

Police: Benicia man hospitalized with apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
A Benicia man was taken to an area hospital early Monday after police found him wounded by a gun he may have fired himself.
The man was listed in critical but stable condition at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek later that day, Lt. Bob Oettinger said. Read the rest of this entry »
December 20, 2010 at 10:23 pm

Gunpoint robbery at Homecoming

with 3 comments
“One suspect pulled a black, semiautomatic gun and stuck it into the stomach of one of the victims.” — Benicia police Sgt. Scott Przekurat
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
Two 14-year-old Benicia High School students were robbed at gunpoint by four teenagers Friday night after the school’s homecoming game, Benicia police said Monday.
A school administrator appeared shortly after the four robbed the two boys of their wallets, cell phones and a small amount of money, prompting the robbers to scatter, said Sgt. Scott C. Przekurat of the department’s investigations unit.
The victims were walking through the campus after the game and had entered an outside hallway along the school’s A Wing at about 11 p.m. when they were approached by the four robbers, all described as wearing dark sweaters or jackets, dark pants, and flat-billed ball caps, Przekurat said. Read the rest of this entry »
October 18, 2010 at 11:26 pm

Gunshots spur school lockdown

❒ None hurt; police arrest 4 in drive-by
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
Robert Semple Elementary School was placed on lockdown about 2:30 p.m. Thursday while authorities searched the area for gunmen who apparently were stalking a Benicia man and his girlfriend.
Vincent Winnie, a 22-year-old Vallejo man, and three others were arrested by Benicia police at the Interstate 780-Interstate 80 interchange, Lt. Mike Daley said. They were still being processed by police at press time.
The incident started before 1 p.m. when police received multiple calls of a possible drive-by shooting at the first block of La Prenda Avenue, Daley said. Read the rest of this entry »
October 1, 2010 at 12:32 am

City police seek help on reports of gunshots

BENICIA POLICE Lt. Mike Daley.
Herald file photo
❒ None injured in 2 incidents last week
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
Benicia police are asking residents to help them solve two incidents involving gunfire that occurred four days apart, Lt. Mike Daley said Wednesday.
The first report was of shots fired on the 400 block of East L Street about 8:10 p.m. on June 29, Daley said. Read the rest of this entry »
July 7, 2010 at 11:50 pm

Autopsy confirms Benicians’ deaths came by gunshot

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

Autopsies performed Wednesday on the two Benicia residents who died in an apparent murder-suicide confirmed that Walter Little, 48, and his girlfriend, Julie Strack, 49, both died of gunshot wounds, Solano County Deputy Sheriff Corey McLean said.
Little, of 69 Vista Grande, died of an intraoral gunshot wound while Strack, of the same address, died of two wounds, one to the head and one to the neck, McLean said. Read the rest of this entry »
April 17, 2010 at 12:11 am

February 22, 2012, 10:00 AM

Climate Change Deniers Alive and Well - right here in Benicia!

By Roger Straw

Nationwise, and here in Benicia, climate change deniers have been extraordinarily bold and repetitive in their orchestrated campaign against the strong scientific consensus about climate change.  It does little good to liken them to a flat earth society.  They persist because it is in their highly financed backers' interest - big oil.  (See Jerry Page's articles on the deniers in the Benicia Herald, especially Science With the Odor of Oil, Feb. 5, 2012.)  Below is one of the best refutations of climate change myths I have come across. Read and pass this on ... - RS, Editor/Publisher

Global Warming & Climate Change Myths

Source: Skeptical Science: Getting Skeptical about Global Warming Skepticism
skepticalscience.com

Here is a summary of global warming and climate change myths, sorted by recent popularity vs what science says. Click the response for a more detailed response.  (You can also view them sorted by taxonomy, by popularity, in a print-friendly version, with short URLs or with fixed numbers you can use for permanent references.)

	Climate Myth	vs	What the Science Says
1	"Climate's changed before"		Climate reacts to whatever forces it to change at the time; humans are now the dominant forcing.
2	"It's the sun"		In the last 35 years of global warming, sun and climate have been going in opposite directions
3	"It's not bad"		Negative impacts of global warming on agriculture, health & environment far outweigh any positives.
4	"There is no consensus"		97% of climate experts agree humans are causing global warming.
5	"It's cooling"		The last decade 2000-2009 was the hottest on record.
6	"Models are unreliable"		Models successfully reproduce temperatures since 1900 globally, by land, in the air and the ocean.
7	"Temp record is unreliable"		The warming trend is the same in rural and urban areas, measured by thermometers and satellites.
8	"Animals and plants can adapt"		Global warming will cause mass extinctions of species that cannot adapt on short time scales.
9	"It hasn't warmed since 1998"		For global records, 2010 is the hottest year on record, tied with 2005.
10	"Antarctica is gaining ice"		Satellites measure Antarctica losing land ice at an accelerating rate.
11	"Ice age predicted in the 70s"		The vast majority of climate papers in the 1970s predicted warming.
12	"CO2 lags temperature"		CO2 didn't initiate warming from past ice ages but it did amplify the warming.
13	"Climate sensitivity is low"		Net positive feedback is confirmed by many different lines of evidence.
14	"We're heading into an ice age"		Worry about global warming impacts in the next 100 years, not an ice age in over 10,000 years.
15	"Ocean acidification isn't serious"		Past history shows that when CO2 rises quickly, there was mass extinctions of coral reefs.
16	"Hockey stick is broken"		Recent studies agree that recent global temperatures are unprecedented in the last 1000 years.
17	"Hurricanes aren't linked to global warming"		There is increasing evidence that hurricanes are getting stronger due to global warming.
18	"Climategate CRU emails suggest conspiracy"		A number of investigations have cleared scientists of any wrongdoing in the media-hyped email incident.
19	"Glaciers are growing"		Most glaciers are retreating, posing a serious problem for millions who rely on glaciers for water.
20	"Al Gore got it wrong"		Al Gore book is quite accurate, and far more accurate than contrarian books.
21	"It's cosmic rays"		Cosmic rays show no trend over the last 30 years & have had little impact on recent global warming.
22	"1934 - hottest year on record"		1934 was one of the hottest years in the US, not globally.
23	"It's freaking cold!"		A local cold day has nothing to do with the long-term trend of increasing global temperatures.
24	"Extreme weather isn't caused by global warming"		Extreme weather events are being made more frequent and worse by global warming.
25	"Sea level rise is exaggerated"		A variety of different measurements find steadily rising sea levels over the past century.
26	"It's Urban Heat Island effect"		Urban and rural regions show the same warming trend.
27	"Mars is warming"		Mars is not warming globally.
28	"Arctic icemelt is a natural cycle"		Thick arctic sea ice is undergoing a rapid retreat.
29	"Medieval Warm Period was warmer"		Globally averaged temperature now is higher than global temperature in medieval times.
30	"Increasing CO2 has little to no effect"		The strong CO2 effect has been observed by many different measurements.
31	"Oceans are cooling"		The most recent ocean measurements show consistent warming.
32	"It's a 1500 year cycle"		Ancient natural cycles are irrelevant for attributing recent global warming to humans.
33	"Human CO2 is a tiny % of CO2 emissions"		The natural cycle adds and removes CO2 to keep a balance; humans add extra CO2 without removing any.
34	"Water vapor is the most powerful greenhouse gas"		Rising CO2 increases atmospheric water vapor, which makes global warming much worse.
35	"IPCC is alarmist"		The IPCC summarizes the recent research by leading scientific experts.
36	"It's not happening"		There are many lines of evidence indicating global warming is unequivocal.
37	"Polar bear numbers are increasing"		Polar bears are in danger of extinction as well as many other species.
38	"Greenland was green"		Other parts of the earth got colder when Greenland got warmer.
39	"CO2 limits will harm the economy"		The benefits of a price on carbon outweigh the costs several times over.
40	"Greenland is gaining ice"		Greenland on the whole is losing ice, as confirmed by satellite measurement.
41	"Other planets are warming"		Mars and Jupiter are not warming, and anyway the sun has recently been cooling slightly.
42	"CO2 is not a pollutant"		Through its impacts on the climate, CO2 presents a danger to public health and welfare, and thus qualifies as an air pollutant
43	"There's no empirical evidence"		There are multiple lines of direct observations that humans are causing global warming.
44	"Arctic sea ice has recovered"		Thick arctic sea ice is in rapid retreat.
45	"CO2 is plant food"		The effects of enhanced CO2 on terrestrial plants are variable and complex and dependent on numerous factors
46	"We're coming out of the Little Ice Age"		Scientists have determined that the factors which caused the Little Ice Age cooling are not currently causing global warming
47	"There's no correlation between CO2 and temperature"		There is long-term correlation between CO2 and global temperature; other effects are short-term.
48	"It cooled mid-century"		Mid-century cooling involved aerosols and is irrelevant for recent global warming.
49	"CO2 was higher in the past"		When CO2 was higher in the past, the sun was cooler.
50	"Satellites show no warming in the troposphere"		The most recent satellite data show that the earth as a whole is warming.
51	"It warmed before 1940 when CO2 was low"		Early 20th century warming is due to several causes, including rising CO2.
52	"It's aerosols"		Aerosols have been masking global warming, which would be worse otherwise.
53	"It's El Niño"		El Nino has no trend and so is not responsible for the trend of global warming.
54	"There's no tropospheric hot spot"		We see a clear "short-term hot spot" - there's various evidence for a "long-term hot spot".
55	"Mt. Kilimanjaro's ice loss is due to land use"		Most glaciers are in rapid retreat worldwide, notwithstanding a few complicated cases.
56	"2009-2010 winter saw record cold spells"		A cold day in Chicago in winter has nothing to do with the trend of global warming.
57	"It's a natural cycle"		No known natural forcing fits the fingerprints of observed warming except anthropogenic greenhouse gases.
58	"It's Pacific Decadal Oscillation"		The PDO shows no trend, and therefore the PDO is not responsible for the trend of global warming.
59	"It's not us"		Multiple sets of independent observations find a human fingerprint on climate change.
60	"Global warming stopped in 1998, 1995, 2002, 2007, 2010, ????"		Global temperature is still rising and 2010 was the hottest recorded.
61	"Scientists can't even predict weather"		Weather and climate are different; climate predictions do not need weather detail.
62	"IPCC were wrong about Himalayan glaciers"		Glaciers are in rapid retreat worldwide, despite 1 error in 1 paragraph in a 1000 page IPCC report.
63	"2nd law of thermodynamics contradicts greenhouse theory"		The 2nd law of thermodynamics is consistent with the greenhouse effect which is directly observed.
64	"Sea level rise predictions are exaggerated"		Sea level rise is now increasing faster than predicted due to unexpectedly rapid ice melting.
65	"Clouds provide negative feedback"		Evidence is building that net cloud feedback is likely positive and unlikely to be strongly negative.
66	"CO2 limits will hurt the poor"		Those who contribute the least greenhouse gases will be most impacted by climate change.
67	"Greenhouse effect has been falsified"		The greenhouse effect is standard physics and confirmed by observations.
68	"It's the ocean"		The oceans are warming and moreover are becoming more acidic, threatening the food chain.
69	"IPCC were wrong about Amazon rainforests"		The IPCC statement on Amazon rainforests was correct, and was incorrectly reported in some media.
70	"Volcanoes emit more CO2 than humans"		Humans emit 100 times more CO2 than volcanoes.
71	"CO2 effect is saturated"		Direct measurements find that rising CO2 is trapping more heat.
72	"Greenland ice sheet won't collapse"		When Greenland was 3 to 5 degrees C warmer than today, a large portion of the Ice Sheet melted.
73	"The science isn't settled"		That human CO2 is causing global warming is known with high certainty & confirmed by observations.
74	"Corals are resilient to bleaching"		Globally about 1% of coral is dying out each year.
75	"It's methane"		Methane plays a minor role in global warming but could get much worse if permafrost starts to melt.
76	"CO2 is just a trace gas"		Many substances are dangerous even in trace amounts; what really matters is the total amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
77	"CO2 has a short residence time"		Excess CO2 from human emissions has a long residence time of over 100 years
78	"Humidity is falling"		Multiple lines of independent evidence indicate humidity is rising and provides positive feedback.
79	"Neptune is warming"		And the sun is cooling.
80	"CO2 measurements are suspect"		CO2 levels are measured by hundreds of stations across the globe, all reporting the same trend.
81	"Springs aren't advancing"		Hundreds of flowers across the UK are flowering earlier now than any time in 250 years.
82	"Jupiter is warming"		Jupiter is not warming, and anyway the sun is cooling.
83	"It's land use"		Land use plays a minor role in climate change, although carbon sequestration may help to mitigate.
84	"500 scientists refute the consensus"		Around 97% of climate experts agree that humans are causing global warming.
85	"Scientists tried to 'hide the decline' in global temperature"		The 'decline' refers to a decline in northern tree-rings, not global temperature, and is openly discussed in papers and the IPCC reports.
86	"CO2 is not increasing"		CO2 is increasing rapidly, and is reaching levels not seen on the earth for millions of years.
87	"Record snowfall disproves global warming"		Warming leads to increased evaporation and precipitation, which falls as increased snow in winter.
88	"Solar Cycle Length proves its the sun"		The sun has not warmed since 1970 and so cannot be driving global warming.
89	"Pluto is warming"		And the sun has been recently cooling.
90	"CO2 is coming from the ocean"		The ocean is absorbing massive amounts of CO2, and is becoming more acidic as a result.
91	"Arctic was warmer in 1940"		The actual data show high northern latitudes are warmer today than in 1940.
92	"Southern sea ice is increasing"		Antarctic sea ice has grown in recent decades despite the Southern Ocean warming at the same time.
93	"IPCC overestimate temperature rise"		Monckton used the IPCC equation in an inappropriate manner.
94	"CO2 is not the only driver of climate"		Theory, models and direct measurement confirm CO2 is currently the main driver of climate change.
95	"Peer review process was corrupted"		An Independent Review concluded that CRU's actions were normal and didn't threaten the integrity of peer review.
96	"CO2 limits will make little difference"		If every nation agrees to limit CO2 emissions, we can achieve significant cuts on a global scale.
97	"It's microsite influences"		Microsite influences on temperature changes are minimal; good and bad sites show the same trend.
98	"Renewable energy is too expensive"		When you account for all of the costs associated with burning coal and other fossil fuels, like air pollution and health effects, in reality they are significantly more expensive than most renewable energy sources.
99	"Sea level rise is decelerating"		Global sea level data shows that sea level rise has been increasing since 1880 while future sea level rise predictions are based on physics, not statistics.
100	"It's albedo"		Albedo change in the Arctic, due to receding ice, is increasing global warming.
101	"Tree-rings diverge from temperature after 1960"		This is a detail that is complex, local, and irrelevant to the observed global warming trend.
102	"Dropped stations introduce warming bias"		If the dropped stations had been kept, the temperature would actually be slightly higher.
103	"Phil Jones says no global warming since 1995"		Phil Jones was misquoted.
104	"Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity"		Lindzen and Choi’s paper is viewed as unacceptably flawed by other climate scientists.
105	"It's soot"		Soot stays in the atmosphere for days to weeks; carbon dioxide causes warming for centuries.
106	"Humans are too insignificant to affect global climate"		Humans are small but powerful, and human CO2 emissions are causing global warming.
107	"They changed the name from global warming to climate change"		'Global warming' and 'climate change' mean different things and have both been used for decades.
108	"Hansen's 1988 prediction was wrong"		Jim Hansen had several possible scenarios; his mid-level scenario B was right.
109	"It's too hard"		Scientific studies have determined that current technology is sufficient to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to avoid dangerous climate change.
110	"It's not urgent"		A large amount of warming is delayed, and if we don’t act now we could pass tipping points.
111	"Roy Spencer finds negative feedback"		Spencer's model is too simple, excluding important factors like ocean dynamics and treats cloud feedbacks as forcings.
112	"It's global brightening"		This is a complex aerosol effect with unclear temperature significance.
113	"Arctic sea ice loss is matched by Antarctic sea ice gain"		Arctic sea ice loss is three times greater than Antarctic sea ice gain.
114	"It's a climate regime shift"		There is no evidence that climate has chaotic “regimes” on a long-term basis.
115	"Earth hasn't warmed as much as expected"		This argument ignores the cooling effect of aerosols and the planet's thermal inertia.
116	"Less than half of published scientists endorse global warming"		Around 97% of climate experts agree that humans are causing global warming.
117	"Solar cycles cause global warming"		Over recent decades, the sun has been slightly cooling & is irrelevant to recent global warming.
118	"Ice isn't melting"		Arctic sea ice has shrunk by an area equal to Western Australia, and summer or multi-year sea ice might be all gone within a decade.
119	"Over 31,000 scientists signed the OISM Petition Project"		The 'OISM petition' was signed by only a few climatologists.
120	"IPCC ‘disappeared’ the Medieval Warm Period"		The IPCC simply updated their temperature history graphs to show the best data available at the time.
121	"It's ozone"		Ozone has only a small effect.
122	"Sea level is not rising"		The claim sea level isn’t rising is based on blatantly doctored graphs contradicted by observations.
123	"Freedom of Information (FOI) requests were ignored"		An independent inquiry found CRU is a small research unit with limited resources and their rigour and honesty are not in doubt.
124	"Tuvalu sea level isn't rising"		Tuvalu sea level is rising 3 times larger than the global average.
125	"The IPCC consensus is phoney"		113 nations signed onto the 2007 IPCC report, which is simply a summary of the current body of climate science evidence
126	"Trenberth can't account for the lack of warming"		Trenberth is talking about the details of energy flow, not whether global warming is happening.
127	"Climate is chaotic and cannot be predicted"		Weather is chaotic but climate is driven by Earth's energy imbalance, which is more predictable.
128	"Renewables can't provide baseload power"		A number of renewable sources already do provide baseload power, and we don't need renewables to provide a large percentage of baseload power immediately.
129	"Ice Sheet losses are overestimated"		A number of independent measurements find extensive ice loss from Antarctica and Greenland.
130	"Naomi Oreskes' study on consensus was flawed"		Benny Peiser, the Oreskes critic, retracted his criticism.
131	"Melting ice isn't warming the Arctic"		Melting ice leads to more sunlight being absorbed by water, thus heating the Arctic.
132	"Climate 'Skeptics' are like Galileo"		Modern scientists, not anti-science skeptics, follow in Galileo’s footsteps.
133	"A drop in volcanic activity caused warming"		Volcanoes have had no warming effect in recent global warming - if anything, a cooling effect.
134	"Breathing contributes to CO2 buildup"		By breathing out, we are simply returning to the air the same CO2 that was there to begin with.
135	"Satellite error inflated Great Lakes temperatures"		Temperature errors in the Great Lakes region are not used in any global temperature records.
136	"CRU tampered with temperature data"		An independent inquiry went back to primary data sources and were able to replicate CRU's results.
137	"Soares finds lack of correlation between CO2 and temperature"		Soares looks at short-term trends which are swamped by natural variations while ignoring the long-term correlation.
138	"We're heading into cooling"		There is no scientific basis for claims that the planet will begin to cool in the near future.
139	"Water vapor in the stratosphere stopped global warming"		This possibility just means that future global warming could be even worse.
140	"It's waste heat"		Greenhouse warming is adding 100 times more heat to the climate than waste heat.
141	"CO2 emissions do not correlate with CO2 concentration"		That humans are causing the rise in atmospheric CO2 is confirmed by multiple isotopic analyses.
142	"It warmed just as fast in 1860-1880 and 1910-1940"		The warming trend over 1970 to 2001 is greater than warming from both 1860 to 1880 and 1910 to 1940.
143	"Record high snow cover was set in winter 2008/2009"		Winter snow cover in 2008/2009 was average while the long-term trend in spring, summer, and annual snow cover is rapid decline.
144	"The sun is getting hotter"		The sun has just had the deepest solar minimum in 100 years.
145	"Mauna Loa is a volcano"		The global trend is calculated from hundreds of CO2 measuring stations and confirmed by satellites.
146	"An exponential increase in CO2 will result in a linear increase in temperature"		CO2 levels are rising so fast that unless we decrease emissions, global warming will accelerate this century.
147	"Venus doesn't have a runaway greenhouse effect"		Venus very likely underwent a runaway or ‘moist’ greenhouse phase earlier in its history, and today is kept hot by a dense CO2 atmosphere.
148	"Murry Salby finds CO2 rise is natural"		Multiple lines of evidence make it very clear that the rise in atmospheric CO2 is due to human emissions.
149	"Antarctica is too cold to lose ice"		Glaciers are sliding faster into the ocean because ice shelves are thinning due to warming oceans.
150	"Skeptics were kept out of the IPCC?"		Official records, Editors and emails suggest CRU scientists acted in the spirit if not the letter of IPCC rules.
151	"Water levels correlate with sunspots"		This detail is irrelevant to the observation of global warming caused by humans.
152	"CO2 was higher in the late Ordovician"		The sun was much cooler during the Ordovician.
153	"It's CFCs"		CFCs contribute at a small level.
154	"Scientists retracted claim that sea levels are rising"		The Siddall 2009 paper was retracted because its predicted sea level rise was too low.
155	"Warming causes CO2 rise"		Recent warming is due to rising CO2.
156	"Positive feedback means runaway warming"		Positive feedback won't lead to runaway warming; diminishing returns on feedback cycles limit the amplification.
157	"Coral atolls grow as sea levels rise"		Thousands of coral atolls have "drowned" when unable to grow fast enough to survive at sea level.
158	"It's internal variability"		Internal variability can only account for small amounts of warming and cooling over periods of decades, and scientific studies have consistently shown that it cannot account for the global warming over the past century.
159	"Greenland has only lost a tiny fraction of its ice mass"		Greenland's ice loss is accelerating & will add metres of sea level rise in upcoming centuries.
160	"DMI show cooling Arctic"		While summer maximums have showed little trend, the annual average Arctic temperature has risen sharply in recent decades.
161	"It's only a few degrees"		A few degrees of global warming has a huge impact on ice sheets, sea levels and other aspects of climate.
162	"CO2 limits won't cool the planet"		CO2 limits won't cool the planet, but they can make the difference between continued accelerating global warming to catastrophic levels vs. slowing and eventually stopping the warming at hopefully safe levels
163	"Renewable energy investment kills jobs"		Investment in renewable energy creates more jobs than investment in fossil fuel energy.
164	"CO2 increase is natural, not human-caused"		Many lines of evidence, including simple accounting, demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that the increase in atmospheric CO2 is due to human fossil fuel burning.
165	"Royal Society embraces skepticism"		The Royal Society still strongly state that human activity is the dominant cause of global warming.
166	"It's satellite microwave transmissions"		Satellite transmissions are extremely small and irrelevant.
167	"CO2 only causes 35% of global warming"		CO2 and corresponding water vapor feedback are the biggest cause of global warming.
168	"Sea level fell in 2010"		The temporary drop in sea level in 2010 was due to intense land flooding caused by a strong La Nina.
169	"We didn't have global warming during the Industrial Revolution"		CO2 emissions were much smaller 100 years ago.
170	"Hansen predicted the West Side Highway would be underwater"		Hansen was speculating on changes that might happen if CO2 doubled.
171	"Ljungqvist broke the hockey stick"		Ljungqvist's temperature reconstruction is very similar to other reconstructions by Moberg and Mann.
172	"Removing all CO2 would make little difference"		Removing CO2 would cause most water in the air to rain out and cancel most of the greenhouse effect.
173	"Postma disproved the greenhouse effect"		Postma's model contains many simple errors; in no way does Postma undermine the existence or necessity of the greenhouse effect.

Many thanks to Dr. Jan Dash, Director of the UU-UNO's Climate Portal for writing many of the one line responses in 'What the Science Says', with some edits by John Cook.

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August 27, 2008

Benicia's Green Gateway Group

By Roger Straw

Beginning in early summer of 2008, a group of Benicia citizens gathered under the name Green Gateway Group (GGG) to prepare a detailed study of a greener vision for the proposed Benicia Business Park.

The current proposal for a Business Park, prepared by owner/developer Albert Seeno and Seeno-family-owned Discovery Builders, has come under intense scrutiny and public opposition as it has wended its way through the application process with City staff, the Planning Commission and City Council.

Talented and well-informed citizens, led by Benicia First! , have long acknowledged that some kind of development is permissible and even desireable. They have nevertheless pointed out repeatedly and on the record, how the current Seeno proposal fails to meet the requirements of Benicia's General Plan, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB32).

In the course of opposing Seeno's proposal, the oft-heard request was for a "campus style R & D project."

GGG members noted that no one had yet painted a clear and understandable vision of what is meant by "campus style R & D project." So the group set out to prepare a study with relevant documentation and visible, tangible images that would show the public and city officials what is needed to preserve the character and beauty of our town and our beautiful Benicia hills.

The project soon embraced the idea of a Specific Plan - a procedural method of community-based planning that could result in a truly visionary 21st Century project, and that would be legally binding and enforceable. The GGG sees the issue of legal enforceability as crucial, given the environmental violations and huge fines paid by owner/developer Albert Seeno over the years, as well as other convictions related to his Casino operations in Nevada and his "gaming" approach with the City of Benicia throughout this application process.

Benicia Independent is now hosting the Green Gateway Group's website: greengatewaygroup.org.

Contact for more information: Roger Straw, Green Gateway Group chair.

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November 26, 2007, 7:00 PM

Benicia Independent gone into hibernation

By Roger Straw

[This note added in September, 2008 - Well hibernation is no longer completely accurate. See article above about Green Gateway Group. For the record, though, hibernation is still accurate with regard to the daily news function of the old Benicia Independent. ... as follows ... - RS, Editor/Publisher]

Dear friends,

It turns out The Benicia Independent is a much bigger job than I imagined.

Late last October, local events created a window in time that required a very quick response, which the Independent filled nicely. A clear call to action arose because of the last-minute election hit pieces, the Benicia Herald’s censorship and politically influenced firing of Les Mahler, and the refusal by all nearby media to publish pre-election coverage of the public campaign finance reports that implicated out-of-town businesses that work with Seeno and Valero. Benicia needed, and still needs, an independent voice for news that is judged too "ugly" for the mainstream media, too "unflattering" to the current powers that be, or too "sensitive" for those whose advertising pays the bills at the local newspaper.

And beyond all that, no town, large or small, should have to rely on a single news source. Online media hold great promise for returning us to the days of multiple sources for local news and views.

But while an online news source is quick, easy and cheap to start, it takes an incredible amount of work to live with what one has created. Since the start-up of the Independent on November 1, I have been struggling to:

• gather news and commentary
• fact-check
• write stories
• copy-edit for spelling, punctuation, grammar and style
• design (and re-design) the site
• layout and publish EVERY day
• build a subscription database and communicate with readers
• research and implement the business end of a news operation
• solicit advertisers
• design, publish and bill for advertising
• and more....

In all this, I’ve had a great show of support from many of you as volunteer writers and contributors of story ideas. Several of you have sent financial support, and a very special handful of you have sat with me and offered advice, encouragement and your own skilled volunteer time.

The personal side to this story is this: I am a staff of one. At first I wrote a few stories and threw together a quickie website design. Gradually, it dawned on me that I’m both Publisher and Editor, not to mention writer, copywriter, web designer, subscription manager, advertising manager.... And here’s the rub: just one week before taking all this on, I began full-time infant care for my daughter’s and son-in-law’s 3 month old baby.

Stressing myself out completely, anxiously running to the computer at the baby's nap time, not paying adequate attention to either the news or the baby, straining my lower back ... I’m announcing today that the Benicia Independent is going into hibernation.

Hmmmm.... hibernation. That’s not "dead," right? Well, it may be dead. A website will sit there doing nothing for as long as you pay a web server to keep the code in play, and that’s not very expensive. So yes, not dead. But not very alive, either. And I’m making no promises of a yawning bear emerging from this sleep on a date certain, nor on a date uncertain.

There are only a few things that might wake this sleeping bear:

• big news (it’s possible that I won’t be able to resist posting stories about some kinds of things)
• the emergence of two or three others like myself who would take on various primary unpaid staff responsibilities (including daily news gathering and editorial responsibilities)
• the appearance of a grant or other financial backing that allows for multiple paid staff
• ...or the stepping forward of someone to whom I could "pass the torch," an eager and committed person who has more time and energy than me to devote to start-up, development and daily operations

To all whose high hopes for the Benicia Independent are diminished, I apologize. I dreamed big, and surely filled a significant need for a very short time. Let me know if you or someone you know would like to go into the news business.

Roger Straw
Publisher, et. al.
The Benicia Independent

November 22, 2007, 7:00 PM

Patterson extends margin of victory to 184 votes; Cloutier ahead in Vallejo

By Roger Straw

The Solano County Registrar of Voters has completed its count of provisional ballots and posted the final results of Benicia's elections, with Mayor-elect Patterson extending her lead over Councilmember Bill Whitney by 7 votes. None of the Benicia races were altered by the addition of provisional votes. | READ MORE