News digest News digest (December 18, 2002)

Stem cell research institute launched

Stanford University has announced the formation of a new Institute for Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine. The new institute will link together stem cell biology and cancer biology in new research efforts.

"This is a major undertaking that will capitalize on Stanford's expertise in stem cell and cancer research," said Dr. Philip Pizzo, dean of the School of Medicine.

"What we're doing is examining these two fields that we thought were separate and looking at the overlap that exists between them," said Dr. Irving Weissman, a cancer biology professor and stem cell researcher. Weissman will be the director of the new institute.

An anonymous donor has contributed up to $12 million to help fund the new institute. --Don Kazak
Judge rules on Trinity River lawsuit

Thanks to a judge's ruling this week, Palo Alto will continue to get hydroelectric power from water diverted from the Trinity River, despite a Clinton administration decision two years ago to the contrary.

But environmentalists and Native Americans, who had unsuccessfully pleaded last month for the city council to back out of its small part in the lawsuit, found fault in the judge's decision, since they hoped restoration of the river would commence immediately.

U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger's decision means that, for the time being, water will continue to be diverted from the Trinity River to the Sacramento River for farmers and power companies, including Palo Alto's utility department.

The restoration was planned to fulfill a promise Congress made to Native American tribes, who watched the river's once healthy salmon runs be decimated by the water's diversion.

Essentially, Wanger ruled that the Department of Interior needs to study the issue further. "The range of alternatives considered was not adequate," he wrote in his 150-plus page decision.

The Interior was given 120 days to complete a further environmental review. Wanger criticized the Interior for lagging in its responsibility thus far, calling the restoration "unlawfully long overdue."

The power companies that use the diverted water, including the city of Palo Alto, were pleased by Wanger's ruling.

"We are grateful the judge made his decision so the process of finding a science-based, balanced restoration plan for the Trinity River can begin," said John Ulrich, director of the City of Palo Alto Utilities.

Environmentalist activists sympathetic to the Native American tribes felt let down. "After decades of study and two Congressional mandates to restore Trinity River, it is disappointing that the judge has ruled the studies were not complete," said Spreck Rosekrans, a senior analyst for Environmental Defense. -- Bill D'Agostino
Eshoo to author flood insurance bill

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, has announced she will draft legislation reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Act. The current act expires Dec. 31.

The law allows property owners to apply for federally backed flood insurance.

"This bill must be taken up by the new Congress to address the critical needs of hundreds if not thousands of American homeowners," Eshoo said. "Because the Republican House leadership chose not to bring appropriations bills to the floor of the House during the last Congress, American homeowners are now on the hook."

The 108th Congress doesn't convene until Jan. 7, one week after the flood insurance law expires.

Stanford student wins Marshall scholarship

A Stanford University student has won a Marshall scholarship, which funds two years of study at a British university.

Nathaniel Parker VanValkenburgh, who is a senior, will use the scholarship to pursue a master's degree in archaeology, possibly at Cambridge.

VanValkenburgh, who is studying anthropological sciences, has been a President's Scholar and a Pritzker's Scholar at Stanford and has spent his summer on archaeological digs. He has done field work in China, Peru and Costa Rica.

He is a native of Tulsa.

The Marshall Scholarship program offers American students funding for two to three years of study at a United Kingdom university. It was established by the British government in 1953 in thanks for the Marshall Plan, the American aide program that helped rebuild Europe after World War II.