Despite sharing a common interest — protecting the public while they get body art — some Boulder County body artists and the Boulder County Public Health department are struggling to resolve their differences in ongoing disputes that both sides say have become increasingly personal.

In the launch of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, Colorado will challenge France for the title of toughest race in the world, putting 128 cyclists to a grueling test against fierce climbs that crisscross Colorado mountain passes, long distances and an uphill time trial. The race, which starts on Aug. 22 in Colorado Springs, will draw top cyclists from around the world, including Boulder resident Tom Danielson.

Local farmers are speaking up to have their wish list and their problems heard as the Boulder County commissioners begin reviewing agriculture land use codes for an update. Revisions may move more farmers out of the gray areas of ambiguous regulations and onto ground that could help them grow their operations.

Increasing particles in the atmosphere may be slightly slowing climate change, according to a study released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. These particles, called aerosols — which have nothing to do with hair spray or spray-on deodorants — have been shown to reflect sunlight back into space and have decreased the expected temperature increases.

Residents in the Ward area have been involved in the process for the fire mitigation programs currently underway since planning started back in 2003. As the project approaches half completion, they’re starting to complain that this isn’t the treatment they were told their forests would get. This isn’t fire mitigation, they say, this is clear-cutting.

Rows of squash, beans, corn, broccoli, lettuce, potatoes and tomatoes are tended by apprentice farmers, coming out even on the recent blazing hot afternoons to plant seeds, pull weeds and cover potato plants in hay and dirt on a small farm off the Diagonal Highway near Niwot. The one-acre Everybody Eats! farm is planted on 3.5 acres of land leased from the Shepherd Valley Waldorf School.

This is the 11th consecutive year the Boulder’s Parks and Recreation Department has sent goats out to patrol the weed populations as part of an integrated pest management plan. Integrated pest management means tackling a pest through several methods — cultural, mechanical, chemical and biological.

Somewhere down the line, after the budget appropriations bills at the top of the agenda for the extended session in Congress this week, is the optimistically named “New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions Act of 2011,” HR 1380, the NAT GAS Act.

When Jim Turner founded Optibike, a local electric bike manufacturer, he initially geared marketing toward the environmental benefits of swapping a car for a bike - even one powered with electricity.

Energy's proposal to build a 200-kilowatt wind farm dedicated to Boulder residents promises a quick transition to renewable energy for almost all of the city's electricity, but city officials are still evaluating that proposal's ability to meet all of the energy priorities for Boulder in the long term.