The mighty Mississippi River likely will remain within its banks in La Crosse this spring, but flood-weary Gays Mills to the south could take another hit from the Kickapoo River, forecasters said Friday.The Kickapoo, which flooded in August due to heavy rains, has a 90 percent chance this spring of reaching flood stage at Viola, Gay Mills and Steuben in southwestern Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service long-range flooding forecast released Friday. .

Acciona dedicates solar power generator in southern Nevada desert

BOULDER CITY, Nev. – The founder of Apple Computers, the first woman in space and a Hollywood actor and activist joined officials from a Spanish company dedicating a solar power generating station Friday in the Nevada desert.

Acciona executives say the 400-acre Nevada Solar One project provides enough electricity to serve 14,000 homes, and demonstrates the viability of commercial-scale concentrating solar power production in the United States.

"We launched this project in Nevada because of the existing solar resources and the capacity to provide a significant portion of the electricity consumed by a city like Las Vegas in the hours of peak demand," Acciona chairman and chief executive Jose Manuel Entrecanales said in a statement.

Apple founder Steve Wozniak, former NASA astronaut Sally Ride and actor Ed Begley Jr.

IT Who Needs Due Process? Senate Passes Spy Bill

U.S. Senate to telecoms -- I'll scratch your back, if you scratch mine. Telecoms and many in the federal Executive branch seemed quite content with the increased usage of warrantless phone surveillance, which some people feel violates Americans' legal rights. The telecoms received large paychecks for every wiretap put in place; Comcast's rate was a modest $1,000 per tap. Meanwhile, politicians are happy because they were able to extend their surveillance programs as planned. The program may toss due process out the window, but, in their opinion, that is a necessary loss to deal with today's troubled world. Then all of a sudden the good times ended, when a few members of Congress demanded telecom's spy records for hearings on the legality of the program. The phone companies refused, and all of a sudden, their dirty laundry was aired to the public. The public exposure opened the NSA and telecoms up to legal action from civil liberties groups and citizens. Sure enough, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed for a class action lawsuit for the warrantless eavesdropping practices. Such a lawsuit could cost telecoms and the U.S.