lawn

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Some Are Putting Mowers Away for a Month

'No Mow' movement is catching on as a way to help pollinators

(Newser) - An idea gaining in popularity allows you to put away the lawnmower for a month, guilt-free. As Allyson Chu explains at the Washington Post , the "no-mow" movement encourages homeowners to let their lawns get a little wild to help pollinators such as bees and butterflies in the spring. Some...

Judge After Blowup at Cancer Patient: 'I'm Very Embarrassed'

Michigan's Alexis Krot apologizes amid calls for her removal

(Newser) - Update: A Michigan judge has apologized to a 72-year-old cancer patient after telling him that she would have liked to jail him for his overgrown lawn. "I made a mistake. I acted intemperately. I'm very embarrassed that I did so," Hamtramck Judge Alexis Krot said of her...

An Overgrown Lawn Leads to Deadly Police Standoff

Austin resident shot at city workers who came to mow it, is later killed by police

(Newser) - Texas workers tasked with enforcing city code showed up at an Austin home Wednesday morning to carry out their latest directive: cut a Travis County residence's overgrown lawn, which had drawn multiple complaints. Instead, they were greeted with gunfire, which was returned by police who ended up fatally gunning...

Leaf Blowers Are Multipronged Threat to Health and Environment
Put Down
the Leaf Blowers
opinion

Put Down the Leaf Blowers

Consider leaving the leaves alone, Margaret Renkl writes

(Newser) - A lot of crimes against nature are committed in the name of lawn care. Pesticides are involved. Other practices endanger insects, birds, and plants. But with its high levels of chemical emissions, deafening noise, and unhealthy pollution, Margaret Renkl writes in an opinion piece in the New York Times , the...

Parts of Nevada Banning 'Non-Functional' Grass

Nevada is first state to permanently ban lawns in certain areas

(Newser) - Grass that's just sitting around, serving no purpose, will soon be prohibited in the Las Vegas Valley. Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak on Friday signed legislation banning "non-functional turf" starting in 2027, the AP reports. Backyards and front lawns aren't going anywhere—single-family homes are exempt from the...

Official: Lawn Toilet Display Is a Crime

A Michigan resident suggested voters put mail-in ballots inside a toilet

(Newser) - A Michigan resident's apparent joke showing disdain for voting by mail is no laughing matter for one election official, the AP reports. The resident put a toilet on their lawn with a sign that says, "Place mail in ballots here." Barb Byrum, the Democratic clerk of Ingham...

Aussie Calls Out to PM: 'Get Off My Grass'

Scott Morrison ensured reporters complied with the request

(Newser) - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was in the process of announcing a strategy to assist Australians in investing in their homes Thursday when he was interrupted by an annoyed homeowner who'd just invested in his lawn. "Can everyone get off the grass please," the man yelled from...

'Three Cheers' for Bus Driver Who Goes Above and Beyond

Jerry Martin earns praise in his Texas community

(Newser) - A Texas school bus driver is winning accolades for the extra effort he puts in, People reports. Jerry Martin, who's driven a Copperas Cove school bus for 18 years, mows a curbside lawn after work so kids won't have to wait for the bus in high grass. "...

His Grass Got Too Long. Now He Could Lose His Home
His House Is Worth $125K.
Fine Over His Lawn Is $30K
in case you missed it

His House Is Worth $125K. Fine Over His Lawn Is $30K

Jim Ficken's grass exceeded 10 inches in length over two months last summer

(Newser) - When Jim Ficken spoke to the press recently in front of his Dunedin, Florida, home, his lawn was neatly cut. That hasn't always been the case, and that fact has made national news. That's because last year Ficken was fined $500 a day over his grass, which exceeded...

Cut the Lawn —As In, Scrap It Altogether
It's Time
for the American
Lawn to Go Away
OPINION

It's Time for the American Lawn to Go Away

Eric Holthaus makes an environmental case at Grist

(Newser) - When purchasing a home, Eric Holthaus looked for "the smallest lawn I could find." It'll mean less work, though not as it relates to mowing, since Holthaus plans to "rip out my grass lawn as soon as possible." He suggests you do the same. "...

His Playboy Bunny Display Was Attacked. So He Made It Bigger

NJ dentist Wayne Gangi ups number of mannequins to 7

(Newser) - A New Jersey woman who allegedly used garden shears to ruin her neighbor's Playboy bunny lawn display has been charged with criminal mischief—and she's forced to look at the mannequins once more. NJ.com reports dentist Wayne Gangi resurrected his lingerie-clad display outside his Clifton office over...

Dozens of Goats Munch on Pretty Lawns

No kidding: Residents are surprised to see them

(Newser) - About 100 escaped goats have munched on manicured lawns in Idaho's capital city before being rounded up and hauled away, the AP reports. Multiple news outlets captured the goats calmly eating grass and shrubs in a Boise neighborhood Friday morning before a trailer arrived amid applause from neighborhood residents....

He Was Having a Heart Attack. He Really Wanted to Finish His Sod

First responders stepped in for Gene Work and finished his chore while he had surgery

(Newser) - It was a hot, humid day in Pasco County, Fla., on Saturday, and Gene Work was trying to beat the clock to lay down sod in his yard so he wouldn't face a fine from his homeowners association. But the 40-year-old, who was working with his brother-in-law Mark Rouco,...

Cops Called on 12-Year-Old for Mistakenly Cutting Someone's Lawn

His customer calls whole situation spurred by her neighbor 'ridiculous'

(Newser) - Mr. Reggie’s Lawn Cutting Service is booming—and it's all because of a viral video made after the cops were called on the company's namesake. That would be 12-year-old Reginald Fields, who WEWS explains runs a summer landscaping business in Maple Heights, Ohio, that cuts people's...

Couple With Flowers Instead of Grass Faces Jail

Lawyer says their fight in Missouri could go all the way to the Supreme Court

(Newser) - Janice Duffner is allergic to grass, so she and her husband, Carl, have no lawn—only flowers are planted in their Missouri yard, which also includes ponds and pathways. They bought their St. Peters home in 2002, and in 2008, the Board of Aldermen adopted a city ordinance requiring 50%...

Single Mom Thrown in Jail for Overgrown Lawn

Ebony Conner's 5 kids waited at their Illinois home while she cleared things up

(Newser) - An Illinois woman with five kids was arrested July 7 and briefly thrown in jail for an offense that the town of Cahokia obviously feels strongly about: not mowing her lawn, the Week reports. Single mom Ebony Conner tells KMOV she was verbally warned by a municipal code-enforcement officer back...

Welcome to the Twilight of the American Lawn

Lawns around the US are disappearing as houses get bigger

(Newser) - “It’s kind of like the American dream has changed,” a real estate broker tells the Boston Globe , which reports that US lawns are in danger of disappearing. According to the Atlantic , the average home size has increased about 50% since the 1970s to 2,500 square feet....

Not Enough Mail, So Finland's Postal Service Will Mow Lawns

On Tuesdays, and it won't provide the mower

(Newser) - The USPS isn't the only woebegone postal service. Things are bad enough in Finland that the state-owned Posti is getting into ... lawn care. Under the new program, which begins next month, postal workers will mow residents' lawns each Tuesday, when mail volumes are typically lower, broadcaster Yle reports. Interested...

We Can't Eat America's No. 1 Crop

We grow three times more grass than even corn

(Newser) - Corn might be the United States' No. 1 food crop, but it doesn't hold a candle to the amount of grass being grown by accidental farmers around the country. In a look at America's "most useless crop," io9 surfaces decade-old research from NASA's Earth Observatory...

I Won't Mow My 'Nuisance' Lawn
 I Won't Mow My 
 'Nuisance' Lawn 
OPINION

I Won't Mow My 'Nuisance' Lawn

Proponent of 'natural lawn' is fighting her township

(Newser) - Sarah Baker lives on about an acre of land in St. Albans Township, Ohio, and she hasn't fired up the mower once this season. Township officials have deemed her lawn a "nuisance" and are threatening to send in a mowing company and to exact a steep fine. Baker...

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