### On 30 June from 9.00 to 16.00, scientists from the LU Faculty of Geography and Earth Sciences invite you to a seminar on changes in Latvian soil classification, where they will discuss the classification of Latvian soil at the national and international level, as well as explain the application of the new classification system to describe our soil.
https://www.zm.gov.lv/lv/jaunums/latvijas-lauksaimniecibas-augsnes-jauna-klasifikacijas-sistema-kas-ka-un-kapec-mainas-seminars-klatiene-un-tiessaiste

 

### It is possible to sign a petition “No to new protected nature areas without providing fair compensation!”

 

 

The Dailes Theatre, in cooperation with the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music (JVLMA), is preparing to announce admissions for an acting course with a specialisation in music education. As a supporter of this study programme, the Dailes Theatre has engaged one of Latvia’s leading timber industry companies, “Stiga RM”. As a local company and a team of Latvian patriots, they have agreed with great satisfaction to support the Dailes Theatre’s young actor studies and, consequently, the development of Latvian culture.

Minister of Transport Jānis Vitenbergs is holding a meeting with “Latvijas dzelzceļš” (Latvian Railways), industry companies, and associations to discuss the possibilities of more actively using rail infrastructure for domestic transport. In the conversation, special attention will be paid to potential opportunities to use “Latvijas dzelzceļš” wagons during the grain harvest season.

 

According to “Pilsētsaimniecība”, preparations are underway for extensive reconstruction work starting on 26 June on the transit roads of Jelgava from the Riga side – Aizsargu iela, Miera iela, and the Aizsargu roundabout. It is planned to reconstruct Aizsargu iela from the bridge over the Vircava river to the Aizsargu street roundabout, a stretch of about one and a half kilometres.

 

Taking public demand into account, Minister of Transport Jānis Vitenbergs has ordered the launch of daily passenger train services between Riga and Liepāja and back. This issue is planned to be reviewed and approved by the Public Transport Council on 14 July, with the expectation that the new routes will begin operating in the coming months.

In the previous planning period of the Latvia-Switzerland Cooperation Programme, 13 million CHF were invested in the remediation of the historically polluted Sarkandaugava territory, eliminating threats to the Daugava estuary and the Baltic Sea ecosystem. In the new planning period, an equal amount of funding from the Swiss Confederation will be invested in the cleanup of the historically polluted territory in Aizkraukle, located on the banks of the Daugava near the Pļaviņas Hydroelectric Power Station. The pollution in Aizkraukle originated in the second half of the twentieth century, when the area of 10.6 hectares was polluted with oil products as a result of the operation of the Aizkraukle reinforced concrete plant.

 

In the context of fauna, sandy habitats will suffer the most from the floods; however, water habitats will also be severely affected by water pollution. It is possible that part of the birch and oak forests and wild orchid populations will perish. The acting Director General of “Forests of Ukraine”, Yuriy Bolokhovets, has already reported that approximately 55,000 hectares of forest have been flooded in the Kherson region as a result of the explosion.

 

Continuing the reduction of waste volume in the capital, in Riga from next year, in temporary street trading and street trading during events, reusable cups, or deposit cups, will have to be used instead of disposable cups.

To make the transition to the use of deposit cups more successful, the new system will be tested this year at several public events organised by the municipality.

But then there are those people who just need everything and everywhere. Trees everywhere! Untouched city meadows everywhere! Outdoor terraces everywhere! And bike lanes – on every street! I’m not even exaggerating about that last one – before the previous Riga City Council elections, a candidate from my neighbourhood had written it as the first thing they would like to accomplish in Riga in their deputy questionnaire: “Quickly implement safe bike paths on all Riga city centre streets and to the neighbourhoods.”

The agricultural services cooperative society “Baltu piens” has acquired the production facility of the insolvent milk processing company SIA “Elpa” in Kazdanga, as confirmed to the LETA agency by the Latvian Association of Agricultural Cooperatives (LLKA).

The association points out that the long-term goal of “Baltu piens” is to promote the development of Latvian dairy production by investing in the development of innovative products and ensuring a higher milk purchase price for the farms belonging to the cooperative. By acquiring the milk processing plant in Kazdanga, the cycle “from the farmer’s meadow to the city dweller’s table” is partially ensured.

“Russia is an unpredictable, inadequate, and mind-bogglingly vile country,” says Gundars, “yet at the same time courageous... and devoid of any logic.

That is precisely why it is important that Ukraine wins and the battlefields are not brought onto our land. I fear that a full-scale bloody war could become fatal for Latvians as a nation.” Therefore, Gundars also emphasises that it is very important to strengthen the front in Ukraine, because only in this way is the security of the Baltic states and NATO ensured. Only by acting together are we able to stand against a nation for whom nothing is sacred.

When, last February, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Latvian authorities began frantically looking for the assets of Russian oligarchs subject to sanctions in order to freeze them, no one paid any attention to the apartment building at Brīvības iela 19, designed by Jānis Frīdrihs Baumanis in 1892, because there was no reason to.