Lead Story
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In November artist Muhammad Mueller started work on a new project: a tunnel, to be dug by two people using only shovels, from Graz, Austria, to Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia, 42 miles away. Mueller estimated it would take 5,600 years to complete. And in September a federal appeals court refused to reconsider its ruling that threw out the safety standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency for a proposed nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The EPA had required the Department of Energy to show that radiation at the site would be contained for 10,000 years, but the court found that the EPA was legally required to base its standards on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences that advocated a safety period of 300,000 years.
Achieving the Perfect Society
Sylvain Didier was convicted of sexual assault in Longueuil, Quebec, in December. Didier, a former mechanic who worked at a weight-loss clinic owned by his wife, offered a female client free treatment using a procedure he invented called “Slimtronic,” which involved passing an electrical current through rubber patches attached to the vulva. The victim testified that while ostensibly adjusting the apparatus Didier placed his finger in her vagina and left it there until she asked him to take it out.
Least Competent Banks
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Shawn Belschwender.
