EXTRA...

Mihos campaign short in funds, but Ex- Bill Clinton crony backs "irreverent" Christy; State speeds up wind projects; DA says hospital death investigation could be lengthy; Upping insurance BEFORE the fire; Harvard buys wind; ‘Stealth' turbines avoid radar

 TODAY's quotes; "There needs to be a lot more certainty in the permitting process." - Ian Bowles.
"This is classic Christy." - Kevin Sowyrda.
"He's my kind of candidate. He's irreverent. And he doesn't pander to either party." - Dick Morris.

District attorney says hospital death investigation could be lengthy

"We were involved, along with the Barnstable Police Department, in the incident even before the death."
                    - D.A. O'Keefe.

Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe is expecting the investigation of David Ryan's death at Cape Cod Hospital to take a couple of months. Ryan, 35, of Mashpee died after an altercation with a Cape Cod Hospital employee earlier in October.

"We were involved, along with the Barnstable Police Department, in the incident even before the death," said O'Keefe.

Ryan died at Cape Cod Hospital Thursday, Oct. 29... As a result of the measures taken by the unidentified hospital employee, Ryan was placed on life support for three weeks... The Register.
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State presses wind projects
Bill aims to ease gridlock around appeals process

With more than a third of the major wind-energy projects in Massachusetts stalled by lawsuits or permit appeals, the Patrick administration has proposed a landmark bill that would streamline the state's appeals process and make it possible to win approval of such projects much more quickly.

Massachusetts now generates less than 1 percent of the nation's wind energy, about 9 megawatts, enough to power only about 2,700 homes. Without a change in the permitting process, administration officials say, the state will not meet Governor Deval Patrick's goal of producing 2,000 megawatts of wind power, enough for 800,000 homes, by 2020... Globe.
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Ex- Bill Clinton crony backs ‘irreverent' Christy Mihos
Dick Morris, a former top adviser to President Clinton, says he's crossed party lines to strategize for Bay State gubernatorial hopeful Christy Mihos because the Cape Cod businessman is an "iconoclast" in the vein of former Govs. Ed King and Bill Weld. But Morris says he's joined Mihos because Massachusetts needs spending and tax cuts similar to those under King and Weld - or the state risks falling into a "death spiral"... Herald.

Mihos campaign coming up short in funds

Republican Christy Mihos's campaign for governor is in some disorder after it fell short of fund-raising goals, did not fulfill a promise to go up with television ads in October, and fired its director of communications as part of a staff shake-up.

Kevin Sowyrda, who has been Mihos's spokesman and media director since the summer, said he was told yesterday that he has been terminated. Sowyrda said he has not heard directly from Mihos, but that he had heard he was fired from another consultant to the campaign, whom he would not identify.

Sowyrda said the first hint came when his campaign cellphone shut down yesterday... Globe.
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Pocono Playhouse owner pumped up insurance six months before fire
Ralph Miller Owned Falmouth Playhouse when it burned down too

Ralph Miller says he had his Pocono Playhouse reappraised and its insurance bumped up to $1.25 million for refinancing purposes about six months before fire destroyed the theater. Miller suspects the early morning Oct. 2 blaze - the third in 21 years to leave one of his theaters in ashes - was electrical in origin. Authorities said the cause remains under investigation.

Fires deemed to be arson destroyed Miller's Woodstock Playhouse in New York state in 1988 and the Falmouth Playhouse in Cape Cod, Mass., in 1994... Pocono Record.
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‘Stealth' wind turbines avoid aviation radar interference
The spinning blades of wind turbines have been known to scramble the radar waves needed to track airplanes. Two European companies have partnered to apply radar-absorbing materials to wind turbines in an attempt to fix the problem.
Danish outfit Vestas and U.K. defense tech contractor QinetiQ say they are building wind turbines whose blades are made with glass-reinforced epoxy and plastic foam, which produces a smaller radar signature during testing...
   Absorbing radar is not as easy as simply painting the wind turbine blades. A five-millimeter coating could add 1,200 kilograms to large turbine blades, notes Technology Review. Even if weight parity is achieved, there's still a cost premium to consider.
   But for some wind farms whose operation has been blocked by the U.S. government over concern of disrupted radar waves - a troubled 130-turbine wind farm in Cape Cod, for example - the radar-absorbing technology might do the trick... Smart Planet.

Applications for affordable homes available

Habitat for Humanity announces that the deadline for submitting applications for two affordable homes (a one-bedroom and a two-bedroom) to be built in Dennis is Nov. 9 at 5:30 p.m.

Applications are available at Dennis Public Library or by calling or stopping in at the Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod office, 657 Route 28, West Yarmouth, 508-775-3559. The homes are priced to be affordable to a family with an income of 65 percent of area median (example: $40,381 for a family of two)... Register.
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Harvard to become largest institutional buyer of wind power in New England

Harvard University announced Monday that more than 10 percent of the electricity consumed on its Cambridge and Allston campuses soon will be supplied from a wind farm in northern Maine. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, this agreement will make Harvard the largest purchaser of wind power by a university or college in New England.

Last year, Harvard's Cambridge and Allston campuses used more than 247,000,000 kWh.

Under the agreement reached with First Wind, a Massachusetts-based company, Harvard will purchase half of the power generated by the planned Stetson Wind II... Cambridge Chronicle.