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Recent News Stories

• Friday Trivia...On Thursday
  In firework displays, which of the following colors is the hardest to produce? A. Red                       B. Green C. Silver                   D. Blue [Read more]
• Obama urges public to demand healthcare reform
  LA Times -- "In order to make it happen, I'm going to need ordinary Americans to stand up and say now's the time," Obama said at a town hall meeting at Northern Virginia Community College in the Washington suburb of Annandale, Va. "If Congress thinks that the American people don't want to see change, frankly [Read more]
• Spending on Taxpayer-Funded Trips Rises Tenfold
  Wall Street Journal -- The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two [Read more]
• Biden announces rural broadband funding in Pa.
  AP -- Vice President Joe Biden outlined a $4.7 billion loan and grant program Wednesday to develop the infrastructure needed to deliver broadband, or high-speed, Internet access to areas that are underserved or without access. [Read more]
• Energy Policy's 'Lone Voice in the Wilderness' Finds Place in Climate Debate
  NY Times -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission invited Tyson Slocum in May to join the Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee, which is preparing for regulation of the carbon derivatives market. And he has been working on toughening commodity regulations with House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and with staffers for Sens. Maria Cantwell [Read more]
• EPA Proposes Stringent Standards for Large Ships
  Reuters -- The US Environmental Protection Agency today announced the next steps in a coordinated strategy to reduce emissions from ocean-going vessels. The EPA is proposing a rule under the Clean Air Act that sets engine and fuel standards for U.S. flagged ships that would harmonize with international standards and are expected to lead to [Read more]
• Suicide Warnings for 2 Anti-Smoking Drugs
  NY Times -- Federal drug regulators warned Wednesday that patients taking two popular drugs to stop smoking should be watched closely for signs of serious mental illness, as reports mount of suicides among the drugs’ users. [Read more]
• Green Buildings Get Boost in Cap-and-Trade Bill
  Wall Street Journal -- The bill mandates that upon passage, all states move to adopt standards for residential and commercial structures that are at least 30 percent better than two widely accepted energy codes. The requirements get more strict over time, and states would get lots of money from the federal government to enforce them. [Read more]
• Scrubbing CO2 With Synthetic Trees
  NY Times -- Deploying technology on a grand scale to alter the planet and combat global warming — that is, the concept of geoengineering — has had scientists brainstorming for some time. Ideas vary, from spraying reflective particles into the atmosphere, to seeding the oceans with iron, to launching a giant reflective sunshade into space. [Read more]
• First Direct Evidence Of Lightning On Mars Detected
  Science Daily -- For the first time, direct evidence of lightning has been detected on Mars, say University of Michigan researchers who found signs of electrical discharges during dust storms on the Red Planet. [Read more]
• NASA Reconsiders Its Moon Plans
  Popular Science -- Next year, 33 years after its maiden flight, the space shuttle will retire. What happens after that has become subject to fierce debate within the space agency. The designated successor program, named Constellation, was the darling of previous NASA administrator Michael Griffin, but a new review now has the space agency looking [Read more]
• Justice tech a big winner in Senate spending bill
  Federal Computer Week -- The bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on June 25 would spend $95 million on the Justice Information Sharing Technology program, which is used for corporate technology investments. The committee’s recommendation is $15 million more than the program got this year but about $28.6 million below what President Barack Obama [Read more]
• Defend America, One Laptop at a Time
  NY Times (Opinion) -- Our economy, energy supply, means of transportation and military defenses are dependent on vast, interconnected computer and telecommunications networks. These networks are poorly defended and vulnerable to theft, disruption or destruction by foreign states, criminal organizations, individual hackers and, potentially, terrorists. [Read more]
• Fuel Standards Are Killing GM
  Wall Street Journal (Opinion) -- General Motors can survive bankruptcy far more easily than it can survive President Barack Obama's ambitious fuel economy standards, which mandate that all new vehicles average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. [Read more]
• The New Energy Politics
  Washington Post (Opinion) -- Hours before the House passed its cap-and-trade bill last week, freshman Democrats Tom Perriello and Frank Kratovil were pondering the political fallout of the votes they were about to cast in favor of a plan Republicans were denouncing as "cap-and-tax." [Read more]
• The New Energy Politics
  Washington Post (Opinion) -- Hours before the House passed its cap-and-trade bill last week, freshman Democrats Tom Perriello and Frank Kratovil were pondering the political fallout of the votes they were about to cast in favor of a plan Republicans were denouncing as "cap-and-tax." [Read more]
• Fuel Standards Are Killing GM
  Wall Street Journal (Opinion) -- General Motors can survive bankruptcy far more easily than it can survive President Barack Obama's ambitious fuel economy standards, which mandate that all new vehicles average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. [Read more]
• Defend America, One Laptop at a Time
  NY Times (Opinion) -- Our economy, energy supply, means of transportation and military defenses are dependent on vast, interconnected computer and telecommunications networks. These networks are poorly defended and vulnerable to theft, disruption or destruction by foreign states, criminal organizations, individual hackers and, potentially, terrorists. [Read more]
• Justice tech a big winner in Senate spending bill
  Federal Computer Week -- The bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on June 25 would spend $95 million on the Justice Information Sharing Technology program, which is used for corporate technology investments. The committee’s recommendation is $15 million more than the program got this year but about $28.6 million below what President Barack Obama [Read more]
• NASA Reconsiders Its Moon Plans
  Popular Science -- Next year, 33 years after its maiden flight, the space shuttle will retire. What happens after that has become subject to fierce debate within the space agency. The designated successor program, named Constellation, was the darling of previous NASA administrator Michael Griffin, but a new review now has the space agency looking [Read more]
• First Direct Evidence Of Lightning On Mars Detected
  Science Daily -- For the first time, direct evidence of lightning has been detected on Mars, say University of Michigan researchers who found signs of electrical discharges during dust storms on the Red Planet. [Read more]
• Scrubbing CO2 With Synthetic Trees
  NY Times -- Deploying technology on a grand scale to alter the planet and combat global warming — that is, the concept of geoengineering — has had scientists brainstorming for some time. Ideas vary, from spraying reflective particles into the atmosphere, to seeding the oceans with iron, to launching a giant reflective sunshade into space. [Read more]
• Green Buildings Get Boost in Cap-and-Trade Bill
  Wall Street Journal -- The bill mandates that upon passage, all states move to adopt standards for residential and commercial structures that are at least 30 percent better than two widely accepted energy codes. The requirements get more strict over time, and states would get lots of money from the federal government to enforce them. [Read more]
• Suicide Warnings for 2 Anti-Smoking Drugs
  NY Times -- Federal drug regulators warned Wednesday that patients taking two popular drugs to stop smoking should be watched closely for signs of serious mental illness, as reports mount of suicides among the drugs’ users. [Read more]
• EPA Proposes Stringent Standards for Large Ships
  Reuters -- The US Environmental Protection Agency today announced the next steps in a coordinated strategy to reduce emissions from ocean-going vessels. The EPA is proposing a rule under the Clean Air Act that sets engine and fuel standards for U.S. flagged ships that would harmonize with international standards and are expected to lead to [Read more]