Some people might be able resist to a story about a group of smart brave kids banding together to help save their beloved local state park from budget cuts. I am not one of those people.  This documentary, "How the Kids Saved the Parks," follows students from Grass Valley Charter School in California on their quest to save the gorgeous South Yuba River State Park. According to Grist:

The kids put together a Mobile Media Action Team, and met with John Laird, the California Secretary for Natural Resources. They explained to Laird why they thought South Yuba Park should not close, and also gathered more than 10,000 signatures urging the state to keep the park open. In short, they did a lot of difficult, adult stuff, and because of their efforts, the community managed to find a way to keep the park open (with a $3 to $5 entry fee, but still).....The entry fee alone won’t generate enough revenue to keep the park open, but officials say that the groundswell of support insures it will not close.

Even though California is making something of a comeback, it's no secret that its state parks are in deep financial trouble. The Wall Street Journal reports: "California lawmakers should outsource management of some state parks to cope with chronic under funding, advised an influential state commission, which found that the state had expanded its park system without providing adequate income to support it."

Last week the state's Little Hoover Commission released a report entitled "Beyond Crisis: Recapturing Excellence in California's State Park System."  In it, member Virginia Ellis advocates a major overhaul. "Without a bold, new course equal to the vision that created the state park system, California risks a replay of closing parks that the state can no longer afford to operate," she says.

Solutions will require creativity, perseverance and guts. Maybe California could put the Grass Valley Charter School kids on retainer.

As if there weren't enough going on this week, the Obama Administration announced the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy, a coordinated government strategy to protect animals and plants from the perils of climate change. According to the Department of the Interior

The Climate Adaptation Strategy provides a roadmap of key steps needed over the next five years to reduce the current and expected impacts of climate change on our natural resources, which include: changing species distributions and migration patterns, the spread of wildlife diseases and invasive species, the inundation of coastal habitats with rising sea levels, changing productivity of our coastal oceans, and changes in freshwater availability.

And their logo? Sharp.

What is Mexico City artist Pedro Reyes holding here? After confiscating and publicly destroying some 6,700 weapons in the city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's Secretary of Defense gave some mangled guns to Reyes, who turned them into musical instruments like this pistol-guitar. The Lisson Gallery in London is currently exhibiting two groups of Reyes' sonic creations. 

The first, a series titled Imagine, is an orchestra of fifty instruments, from flutes to string and percussion instruments, designed to be played live. The second, Disarm, is a never-before-exhibited installation of mechanical musical instruments, which can either be automated or played live by an individual operator using a laptop computer or midi keyboard.

Says Reyes: It's important to consider that many lives were taken with these weapons; as if a sort of exorcism was taking place, the music expelled the demons they held, as well as being a requiem for the lives lost.

-- a letter from "Roy" to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department apologizing for poaching three whitetail deer illegally between 1967 and 1970. Enclosed with the letter was a check to the enforcement division for $6,000.

"I was amazed," said Capt. Richard Mann. "It's not uncommon for me to hear from people who are sorry for a wildlife infraction, but usually it's because the judge stuck them with a big fine."

Attention fans of coal, singing or otherwise: here's an important announcement by the city of Los Angeles:

...commissioners at the Department of Water and Power moved forward with plans to dump the utility's interest in a coal-burning plant in Arizona and convert another one in Utah to natural gas. The plants provide nearly 40% of the city's energy.

The changes, coupled with new commitments to renewable power, would make the city coal-free by 2025, utility officials said.

While clearly a victory for the environment, L.A's decision seriously undermines the message of the Clean Coal Carolers, those jolly carbon crooners from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity who were so gleefully dismantled on this show four years ago. Obviously, if the C.C.C. chooses to respond musically to these developments, you'll see it here first.

If the point of a headline is to grab readers and drag them into a story, mission accomplished, Washington Times. $22 an hour -- wow! What will Elizabeth Warren think of next?

But if the point of a headline is to accurately describe the facts, it's do-over time. Here's what the report actually says:

“If we started in 1960, and we said [that] as productivity goes up … then the minimum wage was going to go up the same … if that were the case, the minimum wage today would be about $22 an hour,” the senator said, at a recent Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on “Keeping up with a Changing Economy: Indexing the Minimum Wage.”

Important word, "if." Makes all the difference.

Maybe it was Rachel's segment on climate change last night or maybe it's the sunny, almost spring-like New York weather, but I found myself Googling "bike paths." And up popped... Dubai. According to Arabian Business.com 

"Dubai will add 50 kilometres to its cycle network each year in an unprecedented push to encourage more residents to swap their cars for exercise. ...The announcement follows the launch of a rent-a-bike scheme in Downtown Dubai and Dubai Marina and the opening of a 50km Dubai Cycling Course on Al Qudra Road.....the city’s first cycle park opened at Nad Al Sheba race track in May last year.

Pedal faster, America.

In our comments section yesterday, viewer Beth Arnold asked: "Hope someone asks Rachel to comment on the most hotly debated question in Commonwealth at the moment...does she support the 70's punk rock song, "Roadrunner" as the rock song of Massachusetts? #RoadrunnerForMA!"

After a quick whaaa? I did some poking around: It turns out that that two songs are vying to become the official rock song of the  Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The first: the ubiquitous 1972 smash "Dream On" by an obscure Boston band called Aerosmith.

Rep. Josh Cutler (D-Duxbury) co-sponsored a bill with Rep. James Cantwell  (D-Marshfield) that would designate "Dream On" as the official rock song of the Bay State.  Rep. Cutler said,  ""("Dream On" is a) classic ballad that's all about holding on to your dreams and seizing opportunity."

In the other corner, Representative Martin “Marty” Walsh of Dorchester filed a bill in favor of  the punk anthem "Roadrunner" (also from 1972) by the Modern Lovers

Given the song's propulsive spirit and lyrics like  "I'm in love with Massachusetts" and name checks to Stop & Shop and Route 128, it seems like a strong contender.  Said rock writer Nick Hornby, "I think anything that celebrates a place, and survives, is special. And that’s what ‘Roadrunner’ does for Massachusetts.”  Diplomatically, Governor Deval Patrick refused to choose sides on this issue telling  a reporter, " I'm not even sure what you're talking about.

Meanwhile, to answer Beth Arnold's question, where does Massachusetts resident Rachel Maddow stand on this burning topic? Quote:

"Between the two, I'm 'Roadrunner,' big time." 

Fight amongst yourselves.

If you're Rand Paul, you get to exercise your First Amendment rights on the floor of the Senate--until your bladder can't take it any more. Citizens elsewhere in America, good luck with that.

A federal district court has ordered the public library in Salem, Missouri to stop blocking patrons' access to websites relating to minority religions, which web filters had at times apparently classified as "occult" or "criminal,"...  A Salem resident complained that she couldn't get onto websites about Native American religions and Wiccan faith.

Tony Rothert, legal director for the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, told The Riverfront Times, "Libraries do not have a license to censor viewpoints they disagree with. Viewpoint discrimination should not be tolerated."

Meanwhile, the Dallas Observer reports:

...the city has agreed to barricade and shut down Dealey Plaza for two weeks bracketing the November 22 anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's murder in 1963. ...The city's stated goal is to keep Kennedy assassination conspiracy theorists away from the immense hordes of international press that city leaders fear will show up for the event.

Will the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination bring a surge of, let's say, unpopular speech to Dallas? Absolutely. But it should still be protected, just like when Rand Paul tries to compare President Obama to Hitler. That's why the First Amendment is first.