Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/652314
SUSANWALSH—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, first lady Michelle Obama and Sophie Gregoire Turdeau wave on the South Lawn of White House Thursday. ByRobGillies and Kevin Freking The Associated Press WASHINGTON Oneisleav- ing office soon, the other just starting, but President Barack Obama and Cana- dian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau basked in mutual affection Thursday over all the things they share, em- phasizing common ground on trade and combatting climate change. Trudeau's official visit to the United States was the first by a Canadian leader in nearly two decades. He and Obama announced new ef- forts to curb global warm- ing and to make it easier for the two countries to trade with one another. They also appeared to enjoy each oth- er's company, with Obama playing the role of elder statesman and Trudeau sounding a youthful "hope and change" theme like the one Obama campaigned on seven years ago. "From my perspec- tive, what's not to like?" Obama said. The 44-year-old Trudeau, son of the late Prime Minis- ter Pierre Trudeau, won last October's election borrow- ing the theme of optimism and said he's learned a lot from 54-year-old Obama. "He's somebody with a big heart, but also a big brain," Trudeau said. The leaders also sought to show progress on common areas of concern. Obama said they had instructed aides to work on efforts that would make it easier for goods and people to move back and forth between the twonation'sborders.Canada is the United States' largest trading partner, with more than $2 billion worth of goods and services crossing the border every day. And to start the day off, they announced efforts to reduce methane emissions from gas and oil produc- tion. They committed to re- ducing methane emissions by 40 percent to 45 percent from 2012 levels over the coming decade. Obama, Trudeau show si mi la r va lu es in v is it US-CANADA By Matt O'brien The Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. As most Americans brace them- selves for losing an hour of sleep this weekend, some corners of the country are considering bold alterna- tives to daylight saving time. California has a bill that would ask voters to abol- ish the practice of chang- ing clocks twice a year. Lawmakers in Alaska and nearly a dozen other states are debating similar mea- sures. Some lawmakers in New England want to go even further, seceding from the populous Eastern Time Zone and throwing their lot in with Nova Scotia and Puerto Rico. "Once we spring for- ward, I don't want to fall back," said Rhode Island state Rep. Blake Filippi, who hopes the whole re- gion will shift one hour eastward, into the Atlantic Time Zone. "Pretty much everyone I speak to would rather have it light in the evening than light first thing in the morning," he said. Opponents of daylight saving time argue that traffic accidents, heart at- tacks and strokes increase when we change time, and that contrary to popu- lar belief, it does not save electricity. Shifting to Atlantic Time and never changing back would effectively make summertime daylight sav- ing hours permanent, said Filippi, who made a public health case for his bill at a Rhode Island State House hearing this week. Evening commutes would be safer with more sunlight. Wintertime life- styles and mental health could improve. The biggest downside, Filippi said: Rhode Island children going to school in early January wouldn't see the sun rise until 8:13 a.m. under Atlantic Time. But he argues that could pro- pel school districts to start classes later, more in line with the wiring of adoles- cent brains. Inspired by long-shot legislation in Massachu- setts, Filippi's bill would have Rhode Island follow the neighboring state's lead if it ever defects. He hopes New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine would then see the light. He figures there's little chance Connecti- cut would join in, since so many of its residents com- mute to New York City. States can exempt them- selves from daylight sav- ings under the federal Uni- form Time Act, but moving to a different time zone re- quires approval from Con- gress or the U.S. Depart- ment of Transportation, which must consider the effect on commerce. And that raises perhaps the biggest challenge to this temporal secession movement in tradition- bound New England: Do its people really want to stand more with eastern Canada and the distant Caribbean than the rest of the east- ern United States? The ef- fect on transit alone — forc- ing Amtrak and airlines to recalibrate schedules and commuters to change time zones whenever they cross the New York state line — could involve many unwel- come costs. "For commerce and transportation, it's a ter- rible idea," said Michael Downing, an English pro- fessor at Tufts University who wrote "Spring For- ward: The Annual Mad- ness of Daylight Saving Time," a history of the phe- nomenon. Downing doubts res- idents of Boston, Provi- dence and Hartford would choose to synchronize watches with Canada over New York and Washington. After all, syncing up with New York's banks has been so important that cities as far away as Detroit success- fully petitioned to join the Eastern time zone decades ago, he said. Nearly half the U.S. pop- ulation now lives on East- ern Time, but New England juts much farther east than anywhere else, giving it some of the country's earli- est winter sunsets. During standard time, the Decem- ber sun currently sets as early as 4:15 p.m. in Prov- idence, 4:11 p.m. in Boston and 3:45 p.m. in French- ville, Maine. That's nearly as bad as Anchorage, Alaska, where during the short Arctic winter, the sun sets as early as 3:40 p.m. NEW ENGLAND Some lawmakers propose leaving Eastern Time zone ROBERT F. BUKATY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Commuters leave the Casco Bay Ferry terminal a er arriving during a frigid winter early morning commute in Portland, Maine. FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2016 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 3 B ★