CAPITOL HILL: Chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services committees take pride in the fact their panels have gotten 53 annual defense bills in a row through the often tortuous negotiations required to clear Congress. And Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has often made known his view that the… Keep reading →
Apparently, that heat is going to kill you. Scientists are constantly trying to find ways to define the threat posed by climate change in ways that politicians and average fossil fuel burning citizens will understand. The people of the world have resoundingly agreed that we don’t care about polar bears, or rising sea levels. And… Keep reading →
WASHINGTON: Army officers and officials hit Capitol Hill this afternoon to brief congressional staff on the coming round of personnel cuts. We’ve known for over a year that the Army would cut 40,000 active-duty soldiers — going down from 490,000 troops to 450,000 — but now the service is finally saying which units get cut. Further,… Keep reading →
BP’s long, flammable nightmare is finally over. It has agreed to a record settlement to cash out all of the federal and state claims against it arising from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.From the Wall Street Journal: BP PLC on Thursday agreed to pay $18.7 billion to settle all federal and state claims arising from… Keep reading →
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a momentous rulemaking that will prohibit high-global warming potential (GWP) hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) from being used as alternatives under the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Program. By avoiding an estimated 78 – 101 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2eq) in 2030, which is equal to annual greenhouse gas (GHG)… Keep reading →
How much would I have to pay you to smash a thermometer and drink its mercury, right now? “A lot”, you are probably thinking, but you have a price. One hit of thermometer mercury isn’t going to kill you. You’d probably Google “mercury poisoning,” make a guess about your risk tolerance, and get back to… Keep reading →
Last week, the United States Supreme Court rendered a decision in the King v. Burwell case, stating that premium tax credits are allowed for eligible individuals who sign up for health insurance coverage through federal, as well as state health insurance marketplaces. With the ruling, provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) remain unchanged. Paychex,… Keep reading →
PARIS AIR SHOW: Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James came out swinging today here, forcefully telling reporters that she was here and traveling throughout Europe tp deliver a message of reassurance in the face of a “resurgent Russia.” “I would say, the biggest threat on my mind [is] the activities of Russia,” she said when asked by… Keep reading →
At long last he did it – he came out with a strong, unequivocal statement on the need to fight climate change. Yep, actor Mark Ruffalo is urging action. I’m angry that we are still debating climate change, and that despite the reams of science-based evidence for it, there are still those who ignore the… Keep reading →
Manufacturers’ News, Inc. — Manufacturing employment in Alabama inched up another notch over the past year, reports the 2015 Alabama Manufacturers Register ®, an industrial database and directory published by Manufacturers’ News, Inc. (MNI) Evanston, IL. According to data collected by MNI, Alabama manufacturers added 2,013 jobs from March 2014 to March 2015, a half-percent… Keep reading →