News briefs

Governor revisits solar power promise

SACRAMENTO “”mdash; Four months after Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s ambitious pledge of a million solar-powered
homes died in a legislative committee, his administration is trying
again.

The goal itself has little overt opposition. The rub is how to
pay for the incentives that make solar panels affordable.

California already is the world’s third-largest market for
solar technology, but advocates say a statewide incentive plan of
the sort Schwarzenegger envisions would spur installation on a par
with leaders like Japan and Germany.

His Resources and Environmental Protection agencies are
gathering ideas at an event Monday, while the proposal’s
legislative sponsor says he’d like to see an even broader
incentive package that would include businesses and fuel cell
technology.

The right incentives could clean California’s dirty air
and ease the energy dependence that dimmed lights across the state
in 2000 and 2001, says an advocacy group’s report being
released Monday. Helping individual homeowners afford solar power
would have widespread benefits for the state as a whole, contends
the Environment California Research and Policy Center.

Marine sacrifices ring finger for symbol of
vows

VICTORVILLE “”mdash; When Marine Lance Cpl. David Battle learned
he’d either have to sacrifice his ring finger or his wedding
ring, he didn’t think twice before telling doctors at a field
hospital in Iraq to cut off the finger.

The 19-year-old former high school football star had suffered a
mangled left hand and serious wounds to his legs in a Nov. 13
firefight in Fallujah, and doctors were preparing to cut off his
ring to save as much of his finger as they could.

“But that would mean destroying my wedding ring,” he
said he quickly realized. “My wife is the strongest woman I
know. She’s basically running two people’s lives since
I’ve been gone. I don’t think I could ever repay her or
show her how grateful … how much I love my wife, my soul
mate.”

So doctors cut off his finger, but somehow in the chaos that
followed, they lost his ring.

Although Battle was disappointed, his wife, Devon, was
honored.

“I can’t believe he did that,” she said.
“At first I was mad when he told me, but then I realized how
lucky I am to have him in my life.”