"ARLINGTON, Va. -- A recently-formed judicial 'academy' funded by industry groups and conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch is offering members of Congress and their staff free meals and trips in order to 'educate' the lawmakers on controversial pro-business reforms."
"The top two executives of a solar-energy company that filed for bankruptcy after getting $528 million in loan guarantees from the Obama administration said Tuesday that they will invoke their constitutional rights against compelled self-incrimination when they appear at a Congressional hearing."
"ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Shell Oil Co. on Monday took a step closer to tapping vast petroleum reserves off Alaska's Arctic coasts when the federal Environmental Protection Agency approved an air quality permit for one of the company's drilling vessels."
Federal agents from several agencies arrested 12 in a sweep targetting illegal imported pesticides in New York's Chinatown. The unlabelled or mislabelled pesticides were especially dangerous because they could be mistakenly consumed and were potent enough to kill a child.
"More veterans who deployed to Iraq in 1991 and took anti-nerve-agent pills suffer from symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome than those who did not receive injections; and the illness is more prevent in troops who used pesticides on their uniforms or skin, USA Today reports, citing results of a study scheduled to be released Monday."
"US President Barack Obama on Monday introduced a wide-ranging proposal to save the federal government $3 trillion over the next 10 years by cutting spending and raising taxes, including the repeal of a number of tax subsidies for the oil and gas industry." ...
"Federal agencies have changed the designation of loggerhead sea turtles from a single threatened species to nine distinct population segments; five are listed as endangered and four are listed as threatened.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the change will help scientists tailor conservation efforts to deal with threats faced by genetically distinct groups of the species in regions around the world.
Republicans in Congress are whipping up fear among Midwest farmers that EPA will burden them with tighter dust-control regulations. The only problem is that it isn't true.
"Arizona farmer Kevin Rogers has a new routine in the morning: Checking the wind. If it’s too high, he’s required to park his tractors and combines for the day to keep from kicking up dust that’s long been a major cause of air pollution in the Phoenix area.
"As an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News has shown , oil refining is one of the country’s most dangerous industries, where even seemingly small recurring events such as equipment breakdowns and fires can have fatal consequences. Yet an easily manipulated regulatory system allows companies to delay or avoid improvements. While the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration occasionally appears to take a tough stance, identifying perils and proposing fines, the fines are often small and can be appealed for long periods of time, delaying fixes."
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Republicans like Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) have pounced on solar panel-maker Solyndra's bankruptcy as proof that most renewable energy projects are wasteful. Yet Vitter and others energetically worked to bring federal dollars for renewables to their own districts.
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