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The Southern city welcomes the middle class; heavily regulated and expensive Gotham drives it away.___ New Yorkers are rightly proud of their city's renaissance over the last two decades, but when it comes to growth, Gotham pales beside Houston. Between 2000 and 2007, the New York region grew by just 2.7%, while greater Houston — the country's sixth-largest metropolitan area — grew by 19.4%, expanding to 5.6 million people from 4.7 million. To East Coast urbanites, Houston's appeal must be mysterious: The city isn't all that economically productive — earnings per employee in Manhattan are almost double those in Houston...

High gas prices are getting most people down these days -- unless, perhaps, they live in San Francisco. The city was named the country's most walkable, according to a list released on Thursday by Walk Score, a Web site that assigns grades to addresses based on the proximity of amenities surrounding them. Chinatown, Financial District and Downtown were the most walkable neighborhoods in the city, according to the site. New York followed at a close second, mainly due to the high walkability of neighborhoods including Tribeca, Little Italy and Soho. The rest of the top 10 walkable cities were (in...

Census Bureau says New Orleans is the fastest-growing large city in the nation, recovering from being wiped out by Hurricane Katrina. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- After being pummeled by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans is showing signs of recovery - ranking as the fastest-growing large city in the nation, according to a government report released Thursday. The Census Bureau said New Orleans' population rose 13.8%, to 239,124, in the year ended July 1, 2007. That was a faster growth rate than any other city with a population of 100,000 or more.

Borderline Insecurity by: Melinda Zosh, July 08, 2008 Mark Krikorian, author of The New Case Against Immigration argues that today’s society is vastly different, and low-skilled immigrants actually harm America. “[Today’s] immigrants aren’t that different from the past but we’ve changed,” said Krikorian. “High levels of immigration on incompatible with the goals of modern society.” And one of the goals of modern society, Krikorian argued, is the creation of even wages and a fair labor market. Immigration actually threatens the jobs of teens and blacks. “Certain groups of American workers most directly in competition [with immigrants] are in fact seeing...

Lately, I've had disturbing thoughts about the future, and the question arose in my mind: Can the United States become so bad, politically, that an option to leave for better climes becomes desireable? I think of our ancestors in Europe and their deep-rooted, ancient love for their own country, who, because of overwhelming political and social unrest and tyranical oppression, made the excruciating decision to migrate to America with little to start out and no prospects to succeed. I can't believe that we are so much better than many of these fine, Godly men, that we have resolve that they...

The Great Human Migration Why (Modern) humans left their African homeland 80,000 years ago to colonize the world By Guy Gugliotta Smithsonian magazine, July 2008 Seventy-seven thousand years ago, a craftsman sat in a cave in a limestone cliff overlooking the rocky coast of what is now the Indian Ocean. It was a beautiful spot, a workshop with a glorious natural picture window, cooled by a sea breeze in summer, warmed by a small fire in winter. The sandy cliff top above was covered with a white-flowering shrub that one distant day would be known as blombos and give this...

Americans migrate back to the cities By Tom Leonard in New York Last Updated: 2:23AM BST 19/06/2008 Americans are choosing to abandon the suburban sprawl in favour of a more comfortable, cheaper and greener life in the city centre. Americans flocked to the suburbs after the WWII. Soaring energy prices and the sub-prime crisis are driving them back to the cities The mass migration of America's middle classes from urban areas to the suburbs amounted to a demographic revolution in the years after the Second World War. But the so-called "driveable suburb" is becoming increasingly unfeasible as soaring fuel costs...

But hair sample could have been from a wandering mercenary. An early wave of migration into the New World and the Arctic has been identified by sequencing a genome from a frozen hair excavated in Greenland. Archaeological evidence shows that there were two waves of migration to Greenland starting 4,500 years ago, first with the Saqqaq and then the Dorset groups, collectively known as the Paleo-Eskimos. Later, around 1,000 years ago, came the Thule culture which led to the current native population. The relationship between these three groups has been uncertain. Some theories hold that Paleo-Eskimos derived from the populations...

WASHINGTON: Human beings for 100,000 years lived in tiny, separate groups, facing harsh conditions that brought them to the brink of extinction, before they reunited and populated the world, genetic researchers in a study said on Thursday. "Who would have thought that as recently as 70,000 years ago, extremes of climate had reduced our population to such small numbers that we were on the very edge of extinction," said paleontologist Meave Leakey, of Stony Brook University, New York. The genetic study examined for the first time the evolution of our species from its origins with "mitochondrial Eve," a female hominid...

The Hummingbirds are settled in and used to me again, I can move around the yard and they accept me as part of the landscape. There is a Wren building a nest in the rafters of the old shed, I'm hoping she will settle down and pose for me too. I really hate to go to town this time of year, afraid I'll miss something. http://www.pbase.com/tsiya/root http://photobucket.com/albums/v244/tsiya/ http://cabbagehammock.blogspot.com/

Archaeologists Find Evidence of Origin of Pacific Islanders By Heidi Chang Honolulu, Hawaii 31 March 2008 The origin of Pacific Islanders has been a mystery for years. Now archaeologists believe they have the answer. As Heidi Chang reports, they found it in China. The excavation of the Zishan site (Zhejiang Province) in 1996, where many artifacts from the Hemudu culture have been found China had a sea-faring civilization as long as 7000 years ago. Archaeologist Tianlong Jiao says, one day, these mariners sailed their canoes into the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, and stayed. He points out, "Most scientists, archaeologists,...

Four Texas metropolitan centers were among the biggest population gainers as Americans continued their trend of moving to the Sun Belt in 2006 and 2007, according to Census Bureau estimates to be released Thursday. Dallas-Fort Worth added more than 162,000 people between July 2006 and July 2007, the most of any metro area. Three other Texas population centers - Houston, Austin and San Antonio - also cracked the top 10. Atlanta saw the second-largest population jump, at just over 151,000 new residents. Phoenix was third, with more than 132,000, followed by Houston, Riverside, Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Austin, Las Vegas and...

A University of Florida economics professor finds Florida's population's is dipping to 30-year low. A new study has reaffirmed a growing demographic trend in Florida: The state is seeing its population growth slow to its lowest level in three decades. So says a University of Florida professor who reviewed building permits and residential electric customer data to draw projections on the state's population growth. ''The state has not experienced a decline of this magnitude since the mid-1970s, when we were in a national recession,'' said Stan Smith, an economist and director of UF's Bureau of Economic and Business Research. The...

Migration has brought 'zero' economic benefit By Philip Johnston and Robert Winnett Last Updated: 1:11am GMT 29/03/2008 Ten years of record immigration to Britain has produced virtually no economic benefits for the country, a parliamentary inquiry has found. A House of Lords committee, which is due to report next Tuesday, will call into question Government claims that foreign workers add £6 billion each year to the wealth of the nation. It is expected to say this must be balanced against the increase in population and their use of local services such as health and education, resulting in little benefit per...

Country long known as a land of emigrants is transformed by migrants PORTLAOISE, Ireland - As revelers worldwide celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a pint of Guinness, dyed-green milk or visions of red-bearded leprechauns, it’s a good bet that few of them will have Rotimi Adebari in mind. But, for those seeking an authentic vision of today’s Ireland, perhaps they should. The election last year of Nigerian-born Adebari as mayor of Portlaoise is the most prominent manifestation of the changes sweeping this island, which is rapidly evolving from a land of emigration into one of immigration, where at least 1...

When more than a dozen lambs and sheep were slaughtered on a Shelburne farm last fall, wildlife officials suspected either a wolf that had escaped from captivity or a rogue mutt on a hungry rampage. But after the culprit animal was killed and examined, they found themselves with a bigger mystery: How did a wild eastern gray wolf, an endangered species absent from the state for more than a century, find its way to western Massachusetts? Thomas J. Healy, head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Northeast regional office, said Tuesday recent DNA tests at the agency's Oregon labs...

You have heard of white flight. Now consider black flight Next month the Burning Bush Baptist Church will hold its first service in a converted Sears department store. When the church was founded, in 1995, it had a congregation of 12. About 750 now attend Sunday services, and more are joining all the time. One reason for the church's growth is the oratorical skill of David Denson, its pastor. Another is that Burning Bush is a mostly black church, and there are a lot more blacks around these days. Between 2000 and 2006 the black population of Victorville and Apple...

Lice from mummies provide clues to ancient migrations By John Noble Wilford Published: February 6, 2008 When two pre-Columbian individuals died 1,000 years ago, arid conditions in the region of what is now Peru naturally mummified their bodies, down to the head lice in their long, braided hair. This was all scientists needed, they reported Wednesday, to extract well-preserved louse DNA and establish that the parasites had accompanied their human hosts in the original peopling of the Americas, probably as early as 15,000 years ago. The DNA matched that of the most common type of louse known to exist worldwide,...

Rat genes shed light on ancient human migrations 15:16 01 February 2008 NewScientist.com news service Emma Young One of humanity’s greatest scourges – the black rat – may help health experts track the spread of disease. New work probing Rattus rattus’s origins and historical movements should help health officials track its ongoing dispersal – and might also explain anomalies in its spread of diseases such as typhus and plague. Ken Aplin at CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems in Canberra, Australia, and colleagues have analysed the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 170 black rats from 76 regions in 32 countries. They also surveyed other...

New migration after EU relaxes border control By Michael Leidig in Traiskirchen Last Updated: 1:51am GMT 06/01/2008 Thousands of asylum seekers are on the move across Europe as a result of the relaxation of internal border controls. A new system intended to make it easier for European Union citizens to move between member countries has led to a dramatic rise in illegal immigrants. Elena Gairabeka and her five children arrive in Austria At the Traiskirchen refugee camp in Austria, numbers have more than doubled, from 300 to 770, since the rules were changed just before Christmas. Many, travelling on foot,...

Contact: Anne Rueter arueter@umich.edu 734-764-2220 University of Michigan Health System 11-26-2007Gene study supports single main migration across Bering StraitSiberians and Native Americans share unique genetic variant The U-M study, which analyzed genetic data from 29 Native American populations, suggests a Siberian origin is much more likely than a South Asian or Polynesian origin. Did a relatively small number of people from Siberia who trekked across a Bering Strait land bridge some 12,000 years ago give rise to the native peoples of North and South America? Or did the ancestors of today’s native peoples come from other parts of Asia or...

For years, the vast majority of politicians in the main parties have avoided having honest public conversation about the extent and consequences of immigration. The fear of appearing racist, or giving any ground to the arguments of the far right, has left most MPs and commentators in Pollyanna territory - extolling the economic and cultural benefits of immigration and glossing over problems. That has done the nation no favours, because the consequences of rapid social change have been scarcely studied, let alone addressed. And it has increased many people's distrust of the political universe, as the gulf between their own...

Nearly nine of 10 readers who participated in an online survey believe that southern New Hampshire is becoming more like Massachusetts -- and most are not happy about it.Eighty-four percent of the nearly 900 people who took part in the informal UnionLeader.com survey are concerned that the "traditional culture" of New Hampshire is changing as people move here from other states -- including 63 percent who are "very" concerned. Only 10 percent were "not very concerned," while six percent were "not concerned at all."Asked what the biggest change has been, more than half answered "politics." About 28 percent said it...

TRENTON, NJ (AP) -- New Jersey's accelerating population loss is starting to have significant economic and fiscal consequences for the state [SNIP] The report found the state lost 231,565 people between 2002 and 2006, including 72,547 people last year. The latter was the fourth highest loss in the nation behind only California, Louisiana and New York. Meanwhile, North Carolina grew by 807,000 people over the four-year period, displacing New Jersey last year as the nation's 10th most populous state, the report stated. When lost income and sales taxes from the people who left New Jersey are considered, the population drain...

10,000 Wildebeest Drown in Migration "Pileup" Blake de Pastino National Geographic News October 1, 2007 In a bizarre mishap that conservationists describe as "heartbreaking," an estimated 10,000 wildebeest have drowned while attempting to cross Kenya's Mara River during an annual migration. The deaths, which occurred over the course of several days last week, are said to account for about one percent of the total species population. The drownings created a grotesque wildlife pileup, after part of the migrating herd tried to ford the Mara at "a particularly treacherous crossing point," according to Terilyn Lemaire, a conservation worker with the Mara...

Four tales of city dwellers who fled New York More New Yorkers leave the city every year than move here, a trend highlighted in a population study released last week. The report showed that in 2005, 300,000 people left New York, and only 200,000 arrived from across the U.S. and other countries to replace them. The results prompted the Daily News to ask: Why did you say goodbye to New York? Here are the stories we heard: He's getting more bang for his bucks Carlos Thompson and his wife owned a house in Brooklyn and made a decent living as...

UK cities to have white minorities 'in 30 years' By Christopher Hope, Home Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 1:21am BST 15/09/2007 Luton, Slough, Birmingham and Leicester will have minority white populations within 30 years, experts predict. Research also shows that the proportion of white people in every region of Britain will fall between now and 2020. Prof Ludi Simpson, from Manchester University, forecast that Leicester will become the first "plural" city within 12 years, by 2019, followed by Birmingham in 2024. He also suggested that the next towns to "go plural" will be Luton and Slough some time in the 2030s....

Source: Geological Society of America Date: August 30, 2007 Migration of Early Humans From Africa Aided By Wet Weather Science Daily — The African origin of early modern humans 200,000--150,000 years ago is now well documented, with archaeological data suggesting that a major migration from tropical east Africa to the Levant took place between 130,000 and 100,000 years ago via the presently hyper-arid Saharan-Arabian desert. This migration was dependent on the occurrence of wetter climate in the region. Whereas there is good evidence that the southern and central Saharan-Arabian desert experienced increased monsoon precipitation during this period, no unequivocal evidence...

Mass migration of wildlife in Sudan By Paul Eccleston Last Updated: 12:01pm BST 13/06/2007 Scientists looking for wildlife in war-ravaged southern Sudan feared they would find animal populations decimated after years of civil war. Elephants migrating through the wetlands of southern Sudan Instead they found one of the biggest mass migrations ever witnessed. An aerial survey by a team from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) , the first for 25 years, found huge herds of antelope and gazelle on the move. "I have never seen wildlife in such numbers, not even when flying over the mass migrations of the Serengeti,"...

As a rule in the West, the more calluses on your hand, the less money you make. So Americans and Europeans do their best to get a desk job. But an immigrant may feel that washing clothes or busing tables is still better than doing the same thing back in Oaxaca or Ankara. A few immigrants do flee persecution or prosecution, but the vast majority just seek jobs - but for low wages that Americans or Europeans won't accept. Still, given the social costs of illegal immigration, this is not a "win-win" situation of hooking up our available jobs with...

A common theme in discussing the immigration issue is “I love legal immigration, it’s just the illegal kind I’m against.” And there’s no question that political elite’s refusal to enforce the law is the most immediate immigration problem we face. But the “legal is good, illegal is bad” mantra will only get you so far. Even if we were to address the pervasive illegality of today’s immigration flow — by, say, amnestying all the illegal aliens and increasing legal immigration, as the appalling Senate bill calls for — most of the problem would remain. To begin with, the legal and...

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,2481970,00.html?maca=en-bulletin-433-html During meetings on climate change among representatives from over 100 countries, specialists said global warming is confusing the biological clocks of birds and whales -- disrupting their migration patterns. Moulay Lahcen El Kabiri, deputy head of the United Nation's Bonn-based Convention on Migratory Species, said that warmer climates are confusing migratory species including bats, dolphins, antelopes and turtles, causing them to end up at the wrong place at the wrong time. "They are the most visible warning signs -- indicators signaling the dramatic changes to our ecosystems caused in part by climate change," he explained to delegates on Monday,...

Synch1: Australia Jobs Immigration Migration Laws Change By Barbara Morganstern Canberra --- April 14 .....The Ministry for Australia Immigration and Citizenship will make it easier for English speaking UK applicants to emigrate to Australia. As of September 1, 2007, additional points will be granted to candidates for immigration to Australia who are willing to take a Standard English language proficiency test, meaning more points for more Brits. "Before these Australia immigration laws were changed applicants born in the United Kingdom, (UK) were not required to take an International English language test (IELTS) test, says Mira Flomin, CEO of Synch1 Australia...

UN predicts huge migration to rich countries By David Blair Last Updated: 1:39am GMT 15/03/2007 At least 2.2 million migrants will arrive in the rich world every year from now until 2050, the United Nations said yesterday. The latest figures from the UN's population division predict a global upheaval without parallel in human history over the next four decades. There will be billions more people in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Of these, tens of millions will migrate to Europe and America, while the indigenous populations of most countries in the rich world will either stagnate or decline. In...

Norway's biggest minority Polish immigrants in Norway are shedding their seasonal worker image, extending their contracts and starting to bring over their families, a Norwegian study on immigration showed on Tuesday. In the biggest wave of immigration into the rich Nordic country, tens of thousands of Poles have arrived since restrictions were lifted in 2004. Poles have even passed neighboring Swedes as Norway's biggest minority. The influx of Poles, and other predominantly East European workers, has boosted economic growth in Norway as it has in other migrant-friendly countries such as Britain and Ireland. But industry groups in Norway, as well...

I didn't see anyone talking about the speech/ramble the President is giving in Mexico at the moment. All smiles...all giddy...bragging on the "new" senate..how they get it..they are more "informed". I just don't understand this man. I voted for him twice..and I want my votes back. He is giving money hand over fist to Mexico and any other country that whines. Meanwhile..for the ordinary citizen for the USA..hunker down..life gets harder. He stands up there gafawing, stuttering, sheepishly smiling and yucking it up..kinda like he's nervous. He's gotta know that the stuff he's spewing is gonna make alot of Americans...

Bernard Lewis is the recipient of the 2007 Irving Kristol Award presented annually by the American Enterprise Institute at the institute's annual dinner. After receiving the award, Mr. Lewis delivered the Irving Kristol Lecture. In his lecture, Bernard Lewis outlined the historical relationship between the west and the middle east and recent trends in European attitudes towards Muslims.

More than two decades ago I witnessed a chilling vow. One that appears to have been kept. Therein lies a story. It was a beautiful spring morning in 1985. The cloudless sky above the mountains brought clear air in off the Mediterranean Sea. The morning sun had burned off the early fog that usually covered the blacktop streets in the strategic mountain village of Marjayoun, South Lebanon perched 1200 feet above the Litani River gorge. From my office I looked directly across the gorge to the ruins of Beaufort Castle atop the mountain that was exclusively Shiite Muslim territory. I...

Spread Of Modern Humans Occurred Later Than Previously Thought, Profs Say Thursday, January 11, 2007 The spread of modern humans out of Africa occurred 40,000 to 50,000 years later than previously thought, according to researchers including one Texas A&M University anthropologist. Ted Goebel, associate director of the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M, is the author of the paper titled “The Missing Years for Modern Humans” that appears in the Jan. 12 (Friday) issue of Science. Goebel’s paper is one of three published in the current issue of Science dealing with the origins and dispersals...

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) -- The No. 2 in the Spanish Foreign Ministry flew to Mauritania on Thursday in an attempt to persuade government officials to allow a boat carrying 400 migrants to come ashore. ...The boat left Guinea-Bissau for Spain but ran into mechanical trouble around February 2, before being intercepted by Spanish authorities. Mauritania's government has argued that the migrants did not leave from Mauritania and so the country cannot take them in. They also say they have little capacity to care for those aboard. More than 30,000 people were caught trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands last year...

MOSCOW - Russia launched a crackdown on millions of illegal workers as tough new migration rules came into effect Monday amid a rising tide of anti-immigrant sentiment. But with Russia's population plummeting, there is concern the country could face serious shortages of low-wage laborers. "They don't like the color of our skin here," said a 26-year-old Azerbaijani produce seller at a Moscow food market who gave his name as Alek. He predicted that he and many of his fellow migrants would have to leave Russia. Under the new rules, which set a quota of 6 million foreign workers for 2007,...

New signposts on the path of early human migration 19:00 11 January 2007 NewScientist.com news service Jeff Hecht The resemblance of the South African skull to European finds suggests early humans arrived relatively lat in Europe (Image: Luci Betti-Nash)Related Articles The Big Questions: What comes after Homo sapiens? Finds from the Paleolithic site in Russia including possible art and shells imported from more than 500 kilometres away (Image: Science)An old South African skull and an ancient settlement along the Don River in Russia lend crucial support to the idea that modern humans spread from Africa across Eurasia only 50,000 years...

United Van Lines Releases 2006 Migration Study: A strong mobility pattern continued in 2006 as many Americans packed up their belongings and headed to the West and Southeast parts of the country, while the Central Northeast region of the country experienced an increase in residents departing. The statistics are among the findings of United Van Line’s 30th annual “migration” study that tracks where its customers, over the last 12 months, moved from and the most popular destinations. The findings were announced by Carl Walter, vice president of United Van Lines, the nation’s largest household goods mover. United has tracked shipment...

Humans Migrated Out of Africa, Then Some Went Back, Study Says Stefan Lovgren for National Geographic News December 14, 2006 Humans first moved out of Africa about 70,000 years ago, but 30,000 years later some of them moved back. That's according to a new study based on DNA evidence from ancient human remains found in Africa. The study shows that a small group of early humans returned to Africa after migrating to the Middle East. In addition, the research suggests that the humans' return occurred around the same time that another group of humans left the Middle East and moved...

ALBANY - Thousands of people left New York for other parts of the country last year, making it one of only three states that failed to grow since 2005, according to census estimates released Friday. New York's estimated population on July 1 was 19.3 million, a drop of 9,538 from a year earlier, the U.S. Census Bureau reported. That drop is minuscule - 0.0005 percent - and based on estimates rather than an actual count. But census demographers say it shows New York's population remained virtually unchanged over the year. New York and other Northeast states have suffered for years...

California growing more slowly High cost of living seen as dampening its appeal Tyche hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, December 21, 2006 California's population growth rate slipped for a sixth year in a row as tens of thousands of residents left for other states, according to new estimates the state released Wednesday. Demographers said many of those who left probably were seeking a lower cost of living. New arrivals from other countries and babies born in California more than offset the departure of residents for other states, bringing California to an estimated total population of 37.4 million on July 1....

One day this month an immigrant will arrive or, more likely, a baby will be born who will make the United States a nation of 300 million. This demographic milestone has prompted hand-ringing among environmentalists on the left and immigration opponents on the right, all of whom are misguided. Passing the 300 million mark should be cause for celebration: Never in the history of mankind have so many people lived such free and prosperous lives in one country. Anti-immigration activists blame newcomers for driving up the population, when in fact most growth is natural. Since 2000, births have averaged 4.05...

There has been much discussion in recent years of California's tax and business climate—and it has not been very flattering. California owns the dubious title of highest tax bracket in the nation, at 10.3 percent. Even the state's second-highest bracket (9.3 percent), collected on those earning more than $41,500 in taxable income, ranks below only Vermont's 9.5 percent rate. High taxes, onerous regulations, perennial government overspending and multi-billion-dollar budget deficits, and a high cost of living have caused many to question whether it is still worth it to live and do business in California. Public perception of the Golden State's...

New Jersey is the perennial loser in the student migration wars: more of its residents leave the state to go to college than anywhere else in the country. On the other end of the spectrum, so many students have decided that sunshine, mosquitoes and the Marlins are the essential elements of the college experience that Florida is the state with the highest “net migration” (the number who enter minus the number who leave). Source: Interstate Commission for Higher Education; number of students in 2005 and 2015 are projections based on 2001-2 data... The swelling population of 18-year-olds — members of...

Chirac warns of 'African flood' Thousands of Africans are risking their lives to reach Europe French President Jacques Chirac has warned that Africans "will flood the world" unless more is done to develop the continent's economy. In a TV interview, Mr Chirac said nearly 50% of Africa's 950m population was under 17 and that by 2050 there would be two billion Africans. He said the necessary resources had to be made available to help Africa. "We have an immense problem [in Africa] ... which is that of development," he said in the Bastille Day interview. 'Back to basics' "If we...