By Houston Williams for AllHipHop.com

Kanye West has joined a musical boycott of Arizona's new immigration law, which has caused a firestorm of controversy.

Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against The Machine has sparked the protest and the rock rapper furnished a list of musicians that have supported the movement.

West has been joined by Cypress Hill, Conor Oberest, Sonic Youth, Massive Attack, Ozomatli, Rise Against, Pitbull and Tenacious D.

De la Rocha said their boycott of the state was comparable to the legendary boycott of the Montgomery Bus system in the 60’s, which sparked the Civil Rights Movement.

Continue reading HERE

By Clifford Krauss and John M. Broder for The New York Times

By injecting solid objects overnight as well as heavy drilling fluid into the stricken well leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico, engineers appeared to have stemmed the flow of oil, Adm. Thad W. Allen of the Coast Guard, the leader of the government effort, said on Friday morning. But he stressed that the next 12 to 18 hours would be “very critical” in permanently stanching what is already the worst oil spill in United States history.

Admiral Allen, who spoke on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” said the biggest challenge would be to sustain the “top kill” effort, which involves pumping material into the well to counteract the upward pressure of the gushing oil so that the well can be sealed.

“They’ve been able to push the hydrocarbons and the oil down with the mud,” he said, referring to the heavy drilling fluid. “The real challenge is to put enough mud into the well to keep the pressure where they can put a cement plug over the top.”

The top kill effort has proceeded in fits and starts. BP officials, who along with government officials created the impression early Thursday that the strategy was working, disclosed later that they had stopped pumping on Wednesday night when engineers saw that too much of the drilling fluid was escaping along with the oil.

It was the latest setback in the effort to shut off the leaking oil, which federal officials said was pouring into the Gulf at a far higher rate than original estimates suggested.

If the new estimates are accurate, the spill would be far bigger than the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.

Continue reading HERE

By Nina Chestney for Reuters

Senators are unlikely to pass legislation to tackle global warming this year as the time remaining to do so runs out, a panel of experts said on Friday at a carbon conference.

U.S. Senators John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman unveiled a climate bill earlier this month. Congressional elections are less than six months away and with Democrats facing losses, June or July could be the last chance to pass a bill this year, before the political atmosphere gets too heated.

Other countries are waiting anxiously for the bill to be passed so progress can be made later this year on an international pact to battle global warming.

The U.S. legislation would establish a cap and trade system for reducing carbon emissions by utilities and industrial companies.

Investors say cap-and-trade legislation will give them more certainty about their climate investments and international carbon trade.

"There is little chance anything will happen this year," said Tom Lewis, chief executive of Green Exchange.

The political challenges in passing the bill are similar to those associated with a healthcare reform law, which was passed in March.

"Healthcare legislation was passed because the president made a major push but no one is willing to take a major step prior to the mid-term elections," Lewis said.

Continue reading HERE

By Michael Kunzelman, Mike Baker, and Jeff Donn for The Associated Press

As the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig burned around him, Chris Pleasant hesitated, waiting for approval from his superiors before activating the emergency disconnect system that was supposed to slam the oil well shut at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

The delay may have cost critical seconds. When Pleasant and his co-workers at rig owner Transocean finally got the go-ahead to throw the emergency disconnect switch, they realized there was no hydraulic power to operate the machinery.

Five weeks after the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers, the blown-out well continues to gush oil, pouring at least 7 million gallons of crude into the Gulf.

Dozens of witness statements obtained by The Associated Press show a combination of equipment failure and a deference to the chain of command impeded the system that should have stopped the gusher before it became an environmental disaster.

On Wednesday, BP launched its latest bid to plug the well, force-feeding it heavy drilling mud in a technique known as a top kill. Officials said it would take until at least Thursday to know if it worked, and President Barack Obama cautioned there are "no guarantees."

At a Coast Guard hearing that started earlier this month and continued in New Orleans on Wednesday, Doug Brown, chief rig mechanic aboard the platform, testified that the trouble began at a meeting hours before the blowout, with a "skirmish" between a BP official and rig workers who did not want to replace heavy drilling fluid in the well with saltwater.

The switch presumably would have allowed the company to remove the fluid and use it for another project, but the seawater would have provided less weight to counteract the surging pressure from the ocean depths.

Brown said the BP official, whom he identified only as the "company man," overruled the drillers, declaring, "This is how it's going to be." Brown said the top Transocean official on the rig grumbled, "Well, I guess that's what we have those pinchers for," which he took to be a reference to devices on the blowout preventer, the five-story piece of equipment that can slam a well shut in an emergency.

Continue reading HERE

By Al Baker for The New York Times

A governor’s task force studying mistaken-identity confrontations between police officers found that racial bias, unconscious or otherwise, played a clear role in scores of firearms encounters over the years, most significantly in cases involving off-duty officers who are killed by their colleagues.

The task force, formed last June by Gov. David A. Paterson to examine confrontations between officers and the role that race might have played, conducted what it said it believed was the first “nationwide, systematic review of mistaken-identity, police-on-police shootings” by an independent panel outside of law enforcement.

“There may well be an issue of race in these shootings, but that is not the same as racism,” said Zachary W. Carter, a former United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, who served as the task force’s vice chairman. “Research reveals that race may play a role in an officer’s instantaneous assessment of whether a particular person presents a danger or not.”

The report by the task force found that 26 police officers were killed in the United States over the past 30 years by colleagues who mistook them for criminals. It also found that it was increasingly “officers of color” who died in this manner, including 10 of the 14 killed since 1995.

More specifically, in cases involving a victim who was an off-duty officer, the task force reported that 9 of the 10 officers killed in friendly fire encounters in the United States since 1982 were black or Latino, including Omar J. Edwards, a New York City officer who was fatally shot in Harlem last May by an on-duty colleague, and Officer Christopher Ridley, an off-duty Mount Vernon officer shot and killed by at least three uniformed Westchester County officers in White Plains in January 2008.

The last killing of a white off-duty officer by an on-duty colleague in a mistaken-identity case in the United States happened in 1982.

Continue reading HERE

by Julie Rovner for NPR

When it comes to health care, even the simplest things can get very confusing.

So it is with the new health law's requirement that young adults be able to remain on their parents' health plans until they turn 26. But when exactly the new benefit begins, who exactly is eligible and who decides all have the same answer: It depends.

It depends who your insurer is, who your employer is and who makes the decision about what kind of benefits you get on the job.

The Lucky Ones

Robin Byrne is one of the lucky ones. She's getting to stay on her mother's plan with no break.

The 22-year-old just graduated from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, with a degree in economics and international affairs. She's off to do a Fulbright fellowship this fall, studying in Muscat, Oman. But between now and then, she'll need health insurance.

"I have asthma," she says. "It's very mild, but it does mean I have to buy inhalers. And they're not terribly expensive. But out of pocket they would certainly be more expensive than with our prescription coverage."

The good news for Byrne is that her mother's health plan — which comes from a local government job in New Jersey — is going to continue to cover her both before and after her fellowship. Byrne says the security of knowing she'd be able to stay on her mom's plan gave her more freedom to pursue her career goals.

"Knowing I would be covered, I felt a little bit more comfortable applying to not necessarily riskier programs, but programs that may or may not have extended health insurance, rather than just looking for traditional employment," she says.

That was true for some of her friends as well, she added.

Running Into Problems

But things haven't gone quite so smoothly for everyone finishing college this spring. Jackson Cahn graduated last weekend from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. The biochemistry and biophysics major is taking a year off to teach before pursuing graduate studies.

Jackson's mom, June Blender, says she was delighted when the provision letting young adults stay on their parents' health plans remained in the bill that was signed into law. But then she found out that her employer, Microsoft, wasn't going to enroll newly eligible young adults like Jackson until the next open season for benefits this fall.

While her benefits are great, says Blender, that gap left the family in a bit of a bind.

"The open season begins in November. But he graduates on the 23rd of May, so there's a significant gap in his insurance," she says.

And because Jackson, like Robin Byrne, has asthma, buying even temporary insurance on the open market probably isn't an option.

But this story has a happy ending, too. It turns out that Jackson can qualify for his stepfather's insurance starting in June, until he can get back on his mom's plan next January.

Continue reading HERE

By NPR Staff

President Obama will send 1,200 National Guard troops to boost security along the U.S.-Mexico border, officials said Tuesday, pre-empting Republican plans to try to force votes on such a deployment.

Obama will also request $500 million to hire more border patrol agents and buy more equipment, according to lawmakers and administration officials. The moves come as chances for action on an overhaul of immigration laws, Obama's long-stated goal, look increasingly small in this election year.

According to the White House, the money would be used for enhanced border protection and law enforcement. The National Guard troops are meant to be a stopgap: They will provide intelligence, surveillance and counternarcotics support until Customs and Border Protection can recruit and train more officers to serve on the border. They will not act in a law enforcement capacity.

Supporters of an immigration overhaul criticized the move as doing nothing to fix the problems that lead to illegal crossings — the U.S. demand for drugs and the lure of jobs.

The plans were disclosed shortly after Obama met at the Capitol with Republican senators who pressed him on immigration issues, including the question of sending National Guard troops to the border.

Arizona Republican Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl have been urging such a move, and Republicans planned to try to require it as an amendment to a pending war spending bill.

In a speech Tuesday on the Senate floor, McCain said the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border has "greatly deteriorated." He called for 6,000 National Guard troops to be sent and asked for $250 million more to pay for them.

Continue reading HERE

From The Times Online

Europe will introduce a surprise new plan today to combat global warming, committing Britain and the rest of the EU to the most ambitious targets in the world. The plan proposes a massive increase in the target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in this decade.

The European Commission is determined to press ahead with the cuts despite the financial turmoil gripping the bloc, even though it would require Britain and other EU member states to impose far tougher financial penalties on their industries than are being considered by other large economies.

The plan, to cut emissions by 30 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020, would cost the EU an extra £33 billion a year by 2020, according to a draft of the Commission’s communication leaked to The Times.

The existing target of a 20 per cent cut is already due to cost £48 billion. The Commission will argue that the lower target has become much easier to meet because of the recession, which resulted in the EU’s emissions falling more than 10 per cent last year as thousands of factories closed or cut production. Emissions last year were already 14 per cent below 1990 levels.

Business leaders fear that thousands of jobs could be lost and energy bills could soar. Carbon taxes on road fuel, heating and other sources of emissions could be introduced, with proceeds reinvested in renewable energy products.

The EU’s present policy is to wait for other countries to commit themselves to equivalent action on their emissions before raising its target to 30 per cent “as part of a genuine global effort”. But after the failure of the Copenhagen climate summit, a global deal on cutting emissions is now unlikely to be agreed until the end of next year.

Continue reading HERE

By Henry Fountain and Tom Zeller Jr. for The New York Times

In the hours before the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded last month in the Gulf of Mexico, there were strong warning signs that something was terribly wrong with the well, according to a Congressional committee that was briefed on the accident by executives from BP.

Among the red flags, the panel said, were several equipment readings suggesting that gas was bubbling into the well, a potential sign of an impending blowout. Investigators also noted “other events in the 24 hours before the explosion that require further inquiry,” including a critical decision to replace heavy mud in the pipe rising from the seabed with seawater, possibly increasing the risk of an explosion.

The new information, released Tuesday night in a memorandum addressed to members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, confirmed many of the committee’s own findings from a review of documents and from statements and testimony given at Congressional hearings over the last two weeks.

The memorandum provides the most detailed accounting of the events and decisions made aboard the Deepwater Horizon before the accident on April 20 that took 11 lives and caused a so-far unchecked torrent of oil to pour into the gulf, and comes as BP prepared an ambitious “top kill” procedure in a new effort to stop the leak.

The findings are preliminary, and most come from BP, which owns the lease on the well and has at hearings pointed fingers at other companies for the problems on the rig, including Transocean, the rig’s owner. In a statement late Monday, Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive, said, “A number of companies are involved, including BP, and it is simply too early — and not up to us — to say who is at fault."

Continue reading HERE

Below please find a link to this week’s episode of “West Wing Week” along with information on the Fall session of the White House Internship Program.

West Wing Week

http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/west-wing-week-85-ton-electric-arc-furnace

Internships

The application deadline for the White House Internship Program’s Fall 2010 session is Sunday, June 6. Please take the time to think of five future young leaders you believe would serve as great White House Interns, and personally encourage them to apply.

• Visit the White House Internship website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/internships/
• Apply to the White House Internship program: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/internships/apply/
• Learn more about the selection process: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/internships/selection/

A White House Internship provides a unique opportunity to gain valuable professional experience and build leadership skills. This hands-on program is designed to mentor and cultivate today’s young leaders, strengthen their understanding of the Executive Office and prepare them for future public service opportunities.

Our mission is to cultivate and prepare those devoted to public service for future leadership opportunities. Encourage all eligible young leaders to take advantage of this incredible opportunity!

Sincerely,

The White House Internship Team

By Sue Sturgis for Grist

When a billion gallons of coal ash broke loose from a holding pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston power plant near Harriman, Tenn. in December 2008, registered nurse Penny Dodson was living nearby with her 18-month-old grandson, Evyn.

Like most of her neighbors, Dodson never gave much thought to the impoundment until it collapsed, destroying three homes, damaging 42 others and inundating the nearby Clinch and Emory rivers with the sludgy coal waste.

The Dec. 22 spill blanketed Dodson's property, but TVA assured residents it wasn't toxic, so she and Evyn stayed put. But a week after the disaster, Evyn -- who suffers from cerebral palsy -- became very ill.

He refused to play or eat, his eyes turned red and watery, and he began coughing and wheezing. He eventually landed in the hospital, where tests showed his body had high levels of arsenic and lead, contaminants in the coal ash. The doctors blamed his troubles on airborne ash and advised them to move.

"I carry guilt because we stayed," Dodson said in testimony to state lawmakers at a hearing held two months after the disaster. "Because I was told that we were going to be safe, and I believed them."

Since that fateful incident, other energy disasters have grabbed headlines: the blast at a West Virginia coalmine that left 29 miners dead, and an explosion on BP's offshore oil drilling rig that killed 11 workers and has released millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Continue reading HERE

By Solve Climate Staff

More than 6,000 U.S. companies — a record amount — are calling on Congress to pass a climate bill this year that puts a price on emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, according to a recent tally by two major business coalitions.

The groups behind the analysis, the American Businesses for Clean Energy (ABCE) and the We Can Lead campaign, said the results are proof that business demand for climate action is "growing rapidly."

"We have an unprecedented tally of businesses large and small that are urging the Senate and the White House...to pass a piece of comprehensive [climate and energy] legislation," said Christopher Van Atten, a spokesperson for ABCE, a six-month-old umbrella organization.

The list of companies represents a wide cross-section of U.S. industry and covers 21 Fortune 100 companies and 49 Fortune 500 firms. It includes corporate giants Target, Bank of America, IBM, Boeing, General Electric and Starbucks.

In total, the businesses employ an estimated 3.5 million Americans and boast a market capitalization that exceeds $2.6 trillion.

According to Tim Greeff, co-manager of We Can Lead, a coalition of energy, technology and other firms, all the companies share a common goal of enacting a long-term carbon price signal that rewards clean energy innovation.

"There is a strong, broad and diverse business voice who is tired of the same old status quo energy policies that continue to force jobs overseas, that continue to keep business chained to higher and rapidly fluctuating energy prices," he said. "They want to see some change."

The No. 1 fear of businesses, the coalitions said, is that without a climate bill in place, the U.S. will lose its competitive edge to China and other leaders of the global clean energy economy. According to Greeff, U.S. lawmakers are "not seeing the big picture."

Continue reading HERE

By The Associated Press

Violence and unrest continued in Jamaica on Tuesday morning with much of the capital locked in a state of emergency, a day after waves of police officers and soldiers raided a public-housing complex in search of a gang leader wanted in the United States on gun and drug charges.

The Jamaican Gleaner newspaper reported that the military said it had gained more control over the Tivoli Gardens neighborhood in the slums of West Kingston, where heavily armed gangsters traded fire with government forces on Monday.

But the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew were still in a state of emergency, according to local news reports, and despite the government offensive, there was no sign on Tuesday morning that the police and military had found their quarry, Christopher “Dudus” Coke, who has been indicted in New York on drug- and arms-trafficking charges. The United States Justice Department considers him one of the world’s most dangerous drug lords.

Jamaica’s prime minister, Bruce Golding, was expected to address the crisis in a speech to Parliament later on Tuesday.

Security forces broke through barbed-wire barricades and fought their way into the warren-like neighborhood Monday afternoon. Sporadic gunfire could be heard into the night echoing across the darkened slums, where authorities cut off power. Military helicopters flying with their lights off buzzed overhead.

Masked gunmen swarmed around West Kingston trying to prevent the extradition of Mr. Coke.

While fighting raged in Tivoli Gardens, gun battles spread to other volatile slums close to Kingston, the capital that sits on Jamaica’s southeastern coast, far from the tourist resorts on the north shore.

It was not immediately clear what was happening inside the virtual fortresses where Mr. Coke’s supporters began massing last week after Mr. Golding dropped his nine-month stonewalling against extraditing Mr. Coke, who has ties to the governing party.

Continue reading HERE

By Sam Stein for The Huffington Post

It's been more than three weeks since Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) unveiled a proposal to raise the liability cap to $10 billion for oil companies involved in economically damaging offshore spills. And despite two efforts to pass the legislation through the Senate, the backing of the president and an ever-dire crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, there currently exists no clear path forward for getting the idea into law.

Under normal circumstances, the inaction would be chalked up to the normal lethargy of the Senate chamber. Three weeks, after all, is a relative blip in a legislative calendar that often sees bills and nominations debated well beyond that. But disasters -- such as the expanding oil spill in the Gulf -- usually spur quick, populist-stoked legislative action. The mere fact that Congress has been unable to accomplish something as politically obvious as asking companies like BP to pay more for the spills they create has some on the Hill shaking their heads.

"Beyond anything else," said one Senate Democratic aide, "it's frustrating."

The failure to pass Menendez's proposal has become symbolic, in no small way, of what Democratic strategist James Carville described as a "lackadaisical" response to the crisis as a whole. As with the government's efforts to stop the flow of leaking oil, top Senate Democratic aides insist that they are utilizing all the available tools to get the liability cap raise into law. So far, two unanimous consent agreements to pass the bill have failed after a single Republican senator expressed objections -- worried, they say, that the higher liability would make it prohibitively expensive for smaller oil companies to drill in the Gulf.

Continue reading HERE

By Matthew Brown for The Associated Press

The gooey oil washing into the maze of marshes along the Gulf Coast could prove impossible to remove, leaving a toxic stew lethal to fish and wildlife, government officials and independent scientists said.

Officials are considering some drastic and risky solutions: They could set the wetlands on fire or flood areas in hopes of floating out the oil.

They warn an aggressive cleanup could ruin the marshes and do more harm than good. The only viable option for many impacted areas is to do nothing and let nature break down the spill.

More than 50 miles of Louisiana's delicate shoreline already have been soiled by the massive slick unleashed after the Deepwater Horizon rig burned and sank last month. Officials fear oil eventually could invade wetlands and beaches from Texas to Florida. Louisiana is expected to be hit hardest.

On Saturday, a major pelican rookery was awash in oil off Louisiana's coast. Hundreds of birds nest on the island, and an Associated Press photographer saw some birds and their eggs stained with the ooze. Nests were perched in mangroves directly above patches of crude.

Plaquemines Parish workers put booms around the island, but puddles of oil were inside the barrier.

"Oil in the marshes is the worst-case scenario," said Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the head of the federal effort to contain and clean up the spill.

Also Saturday, BP told federal regulators it plans to continue using a contentious chemical dispersant, despite orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to look for less toxic alternatives. BP said in a letter to the EPA that Corexit 9500 "remains the best option for subsea application."

Continue reading HERE

By Ed White for The Associated Press

Civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton gave a rousing eulogy Saturday for a 7-year-old girl killed in a police raid, challenging the hundreds of mourners to take responsibility and help stop a spiral of violence that has swept the city.

Sharpton lobbed some criticism at Detroit police, whose explanation of how Aiyana Stanley-Jones died from a gunshot has been contradicted by the girl's family. But he mostly offered a broad cultural message to a city where at least three children and an officer have been killed in recent weeks.

"I'd rather tell you to start looking at the man in the mirror. We've all done something that contributed to this," he said referring to Aiyana's death.

"This is it," Sharpton said at Second Ebenezer Church. "This child is the breaking point."

The congregation stood and applauded Sharpton, the final speaker at a nearly two-hour service that included stirring gospel music and remarks from clergy.

Aiyana was shot in the neck while sleeping on a couch May 16. Police hunting for a murder suspect say an officer's gun accidentally fired inside the house after he was jostled by, or collided with, her grandmother. A stun grenade was also thrown through a window.

A lawyer for Aiyana's family, Geoffrey Fieger, is suing and claims the shot was fired from outside the house immediately after the grenade was used. A camera crew working on the A&E reality series "The First 48" accompanied police on the raid.

Continue reading HERE

By Mark Landler for The New York Times

China and the United States opened three days of high-level meetings here on Monday meant to broaden and deepen the ties between the world’s largest developed and developing economies.

But the opening session instead laid bare a recurring theme between Beijing and Washington: the United States came with a long wish list for China on both economic and security issues, while China mostly wants to be left alone to pursue policies that are turning it into an economic superpower without putting at risk its prized geopolitical stability.

President Hu Jintao, welcoming the 200-strong American delegation in the Great Hall of the People, praised the “mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation” between the United States and China. Such coordination, he said, had helped speed the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis.

On the crucial issue of China revaluing its currency — something the Obama administration had pushed for — Mr. Hu made a specific reference to continuing “reform of the reminbi exchange-rate mechanism.” His language repeated China’s past promises to make its effectively fixed exchange rate respond more to the market, but the fact that the country’s top leader mentioned reform at all suggested it is on the leadership’s agenda.

Still, Mr. Hu also repeated that Beijing would move “under the principle of independent decision-making, controllability, and gradual progress.” Translation: China alone will determine the timing of any such move.

Continue reading HERE

By The Associated Press

Masked men defending a reputed drug lord sought by the United States torched a police station and traded gunfire with security forces in a patchwork of barricaded slums in Jamaica's capital Sunday.

The government declared a state of emergency as sporadic gunshots rang out in gritty West Kingston, stronghold of Christopher "Dudus" Coke, a Jamaican "don" charged in the U.S. with drug and arms trafficking. His defiant supporters turned his Tivoli Gardens neighborhood and other areas into a virtual fortress with trashed cars and barbed wire.

Four police stations came under heavy fire from gangsters roaming the streets with high-powered guns. In barricaded Hannah Town, close to Tivoli Gardens, black smoke spiraled into the sky from one that was set aflame by molotov cocktails.

Officers fled the burning station in impoverished West Kingston, where a 2001 standoff between gunmen and security forces killed 25 civilians as well as a soldier and a constable.

Authorities said two security officers had been wounded by Sunday night.

Police said the attacks were unprovoked. It called for all "decent and law-abiding citizens" in the troubled areas to immediately evacuate their homes and said security forces would ferry them out safely.

Continue reading HERE

The United States strongly condemns the conviction and harsh sentencing of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga in Malawi.  The criminalization of sexual orientation and gender identity is unconscionable, and this case mars the human rights record of Malawi.  We urge Malawi and all countries to stop using sexual orientation or gender identity as the basis for arrest, detention, or execution.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on the passage of The DISCLOSE Act by the House Administration Committee:

“Today the House of Representatives made critical progress on The DISCLOSE Act, to protect our elections from being overtaken by special interest money and influence.

“The recent Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case opened the floodgates for the corporate takeover of elections.  With this legislation, Congress has acted to help ensure that the special interests do not drown out the voices of America’s voters.

“This legislation restores transparency and accountability to our campaigns, and ensures that Americans know who is really behind political advertisements.  This bill requires corporations to stand by their ads in the same way candidates do, and prevents foreign-owned entities from participating in our elections.  It prevents the use of taxpayer dollars to sway elections, and sets high standards for financial disclosure by outside groups seeking to influence our democratic process.

“In short, this legislation reaffirms a fundamental American value: the people decide our elections, not the special interests.  I look forward to bringing this bill to the House floor soon.”

Here’s a brief summary of the conversation from Mediaite:

Since last Tuesday, it’s been morning after week for Kentucky Senate Republican candidate Rand Paul. While he recorded interviews at NPR and The O’Reilly Factor today, he didn’t waste any time booking himself for the toughest interview he could find. Tonight, that interview was on The Rachel Maddow Show. Don’t be deceived by the lack of shouting– this was by far the most heated exchange of the night across cable news.

It wasn’t the first time Paul was on the program– in fact, he had announced his candidate for Kentucky Senate on The Rachel Maddow Show months before. But last night’s interview was almost like a science experiment: put two of the most ideologically pure people in the politi-media world together to challenge each other on one of the issues they each care about the most. For Paul, that issue is the rights of the individual and the danger of the federal government stepping over them. For Rachel Maddow, the issue is institutional discrimination and the moral obligation to abolish it. That, at least, is how each one of them saw the respective problems and successes of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which Paul had been coming under attack for allegedly opposing.

While, as he has before, Paul reiterated that he personally hates racism and, for the most part, likes the Civil Rights Act, he is definitely giving people the space to assume that he would be ok with segregated businesses, because he expects the practice to negatively affect a business so much that the market wold take care of eliminating racism without the government getting in the way. It’s a consistent application of his ideology, but Maddow counters that, in practice, the market just hasn’t proven enough of a detractor to ensure that racism will not be institutionalized.

By CNN Staff

An effort to plug the ruptured oil well that is spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico may halt the leak when oil giant BP tries it Sunday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday.

"Everything is being done to make sure that happens," Salazar said Thursday on CNN's "American Morning."

"We have the best scientists in the world who are overseeing what is going on. So, we are hopeful that it will happen soon," Salazar said.

Even so, he said, there are no guarantees.

In the so-called "top kill" procedure, a large amount of heavy "mud" -- a fluid used as a lubricant and counterweight in drilling operations -- is inserted into the well bore. If that succeeds, the well will be cemented shut, officials said.

Until some effort succeeds at plugging the leak, the well almost certainly will continue to spew thousands of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill came after an April 20 explosion aboard the drilling rig the Deepwater Horizon. The rig burned for two days and then sank, causing the ruptured pipe.

The incident has raised wide fears of an ecological disaster as syrupy, brown fingers of crude have started to seep into the Louisiana marshes. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said efforts have not yet stopped oil from reaching his state's coastline. Thicker, heavier oil than seen in previous days has blanketed some of the state's precious interior wetlands, he said.

Continue reading HERE

The Ongoing Administration-Wide Response to the Deepwater BP Oil Spill

Prepared by the Joint Information Center

UPDATED May 19, 2010 7 PM

* For a full timeline of the Administration-wide response, visit the White House Blog.

PAST 24 HOURS

Secretary Salazar Divides MMS’s Three Conflicting Missions; Establishes Independent Agency to Police Offshore Energy Operations

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today signed a Secretarial Order that will lead to the fundamental restructuring of the Minerals Management Service and the division of its three conflicting missions into separate entities with independent missions to strengthen oversight of offshore energy operations, improve the structure for revenue and royalty collections on behalf of the American people, and help the country build a clean energy future.

Top Scientists Engaging Closely with BP’s Efforts to Cap the Leak

As a responsible party, BP is charged with capping their leaking oil well. However, the U.S. government is taking an active role to ensure that BP’s approach is as strong and as innovative as possible. The Department of Energy has engaged some of the world’s top scientific and engineering minds from Sandia, Los Alamos and Livermore Labs—to lend their expertise to BP’s efforts to cap the well and permanently stop the leak.

These government scientists are reviewing every plan on the table, validating those that are moving forward and providing additional expertise and input on new tactics.

Observations Indicate a Small Portion of Light Oil Sheen Has Entered the Loop Current

NOAA’s latest observations indicate that a small portion of the oil has reached the Loop Current in the form of light to very light sheens.

In the time it would take for oil to travel to the vicinity of the Florida Straits, any oil would be highly weathered and both the natural process of evaporation and the application of chemical dispersants would reduce the oil volume significantly. However, the oil may get caught in a clockwise eddy in the middle of the gulf, and not be carried to the Florida Straits at all.

The Coast Guard has confirmed that the tar balls collected yesterday in the Florida Keys did not originate with the BP oil spill.

1,000s of Oil Spill Cleanup Employee Safety Guides Distributed

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is distributing thousands of safety guides and fact sheets to employees involved with the oil spill cleanup along the Gulf Coast.

The materials supplement OSHA-required training workers must receive before they can be hired to engage in the cleanup. In addition to English, the safety guides and fact sheets initially will be printed in Spanish and Vietnamese in recognition of the diverse population inhabiting the Gulf Coast region. They will be made available by BP’s education contractor, PEC, and OSHA officials at cleanup staging areas.

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis is urging BP to hire local workers displaced by the oil spill, including fishermen and workers from the hospitality industry, many of whom have limited English proficiency.

Monitoring of Oil Flowing from Insertion Tube Continues

MMS is working with the BP engineers to monitor the flow of liquid from the riser insertion tube tool, or RITT, as it is brought onto the vessel Enterprise for containment and storage. They continue to inject methanol to prevent build up of hydrates, and additional methanol is being delivered to the Enterprise. Samples of the produced oil are being sent to Louisiana State University (LSU) for analysis.

Successful Burn Conducted

Favorable weather conditions allowed responders to conduct a successful controlled burn operation for the third consecutive day. As part of a coordinated response that combines tactics deployed above water, below water, offshore, and close to coastal areas, controlled burns efficiently remove oil from the open water in an effort to protect shoreline and wildlife.

By the Numbers to Date:

• Personnel were quickly deployed and approximately 20,000 are currently responding to protect the shoreline and wildlife.

• More than 970 vessels are responding on site, including skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery vessels to assist in containment and cleanup efforts—in addition to dozens of aircraft, remotely operated vehicles, and multiple mobile offshore drilling units.

• More than 1.38 million feet of containment boom and 530,000 feet of sorbent boom have been deployed to contain the spill—and approximately 380,000 feet of containment boom and 845,000 feet of sorbent boom are available.

• Approximately 7.9 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been recovered.

• Approximately 655,000 gallons of total dispersant have been deployed—600,000 on the surface and 55,000 subsea. More than 310,000 gallons are available.

• 17 staging areas are in place and ready to protect sensitive shorelines, including: Dauphin Island, Ala., Orange Beach, Ala., Theodore, Ala., Panama City, Fla., Pensacola, Fla.,  Port St. Joe, Fla., St. Marks, Fla.,  Amelia, La., Cocodrie, La., Grand Isle, La., Shell Beach, La., Slidell, La., St. Mary, La.; Venice, La., Biloxi, Miss., Pascagoula, Miss., and Pass Christian, Miss.

Resources:

• For information about the response effort, visit www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com.

• For specific information about the federal-wide response, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/deepwater-bp-oil-spill.

• To contact the Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Center, call (985) 902-5231.

• To volunteer, or to report oiled shoreline, call (866) 448-5816. Volunteer opportunities can also be found here.

• To submit your vessel as a vessel of opportunity skimming system, or to submit alternative response technology, services, or products, call 281-366-5511.

• To report oiled wildlife, call (866) 557-1401. Messages will be checked hourly.

• For information about validated environmental air and water sampling results, visit www.epa.gov/bpspill.

• For National Park Service updates about potential park closures, resources at risk, and NPS actions to protect vital park space and wildlife, visit http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm.

• For daily updates on fishing closures, visit http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov.

• To file a claim, or report spill-related damage, call BP’s helpline at (800) 440-0858. A BP fact sheet with additional information is available here. For those who have already pursued the BP claims process and are not satisfied with BP’s resolution, can call the Coast Guard at (800) 280-7118.  More information about what types of damages are eligible for compensation under the Oil Pollution Act as well as guidance on procedures to seek that compensation can be found here.

For information about the response effort, visit www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com.

By Julia Preston for The New York Times

In an escalation of protest tactics, five immigrants dressed in caps and gowns held a sit-in on Monday at the Tucson offices of Senator John McCain, calling on him to sponsor legislation to open a path to legal status for young illegal immigrants.

Four of the protesters, including three who are in the country illegally, were arrested Monday evening on misdemeanor trespassing charges. The three were expected to face deportation proceedings.

It was the first time students have directly risked deportation in an effort to prompt Congress to take up a bill that would benefit illegal immigrant youths.

Separately on Monday, a lawsuit was filed in federal court in Phoenix by a coalition of civil rights, labor and religious groups challenging the new Arizona law that allows the police to detain suspected illegal immigrants as unconstitutional, saying it would lead to racial profiling.

Though it was the fifth suit challenging the law, it was widely believed to have the best chance of being heard by the courts given the groups’ experience and the nature of the complaint.

Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for Mr. McCain, said of the protesters, “The individuals have a right to peacefully protest in the senator’s office,” and added that Mr. McCain “understands the students’ frustrations.”

But she said: “Elections have consequences, and they should focus their efforts on the president and the Democrats that control the agenda in Congress.”

Continue reading HERE

By Ben Geman for The Hill

President Barack Obama plans to create an independent commission to probe the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, an administration official and a Capitol Hill aide said.

The April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig and the ongoing spill have raised a host of questions about industry safety and the adequacy of federal oversight.

A Capitol Hill aide familiar with the plan said Obama will issue an executive order that creates a commission to probe needed improvements in offshore infrastructure. It will examine industry practices and Federal and state regulatory programs.

This will include the structure and roles of the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service, which is the branch that regulates offshore drilling, the aide said.

Reps. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) recently introduced legislation to create an independent probe akin to commissions created after the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident and the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

Both lawmakers cheered the decision to create the oil spill commission.

“President Obama creating an independent blue-ribbon panel on this oil spill will help provide the recommendations to ensure that similar disasters do not happen again,” Markey said, while Capps said it shows that Obama is committed to “transparency and accountability.”

The upcoming commission will join several other probes of the rig explosion – which killed 11 workers – and subsequent spill. The Interior and Homeland Security Departments have launched a joint investigation, and multiple Capitol Hill probes are also underway.

DIRECT LINK

By Shaheem Reid for MTV News

Nas shared a brotherly bond with Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley while recording their Distant Relatives LP, which was part of the reason he has been able to get through his much-publicized personal turmoil over the past year. In April of last year, Kelis filed for divorce from Nas. Since then, the two have been embroiled in a court battle over child support.

Still, despite whatever drama the MC found himself in, it didn't blur his focus on his new project.

"Personal life is what it is," he said Monday (May 17). "Everybody goes through it. Working on this record got me through it. Rockin' with D got me through it. His whole squad, his whole team, the way he rides, his whole culture. He didn't have to push anything on me. He didn't have to say anything particular. Just, I know this is my brother right here. Rockin' with him, I kept my head clear and focused on what we was doing, so it was all good."

Their joint effort hits stores Tuesday. The two started a tour in support of the project, touching the stage in Chicago over the weekend, and they hit New York on Monday night.

"People don't know what to expect still," Nas said of their live shows. "It's a good thing the album is out. You can enjoy it, come through, anticipate certain songs. We're doing an album for the first time, so we're still getting the kinks out, but each show we do, it's just growing."

Continue reading HERE

By The Associated Press

Seven-year-old Aiyana Jones was asleep on the living room sofa in her family's apartment when Detroit police searching for a homicide suspect burst in and an officer's gun went off, fatally striking the girl in the neck, family members say.

Her father, 25-year-old Charles Jones, told The Detroit News he had just gone to bed early Sunday after covering his daughter with her favorite Disney princess blanket when he heard a flash grenade followed by a gunshot. When he rushed into the living room, he said, police forced him to lie on the ground, with his face in his daughter's blood.

"I'll never be the same. That's my only daughter," Jones told WXYZ-TV.

Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee said officers set off the flash grenade as they entered the apartment with their guns drawn about 12:40 a.m. Sunday with a warrant to look for a suspect in the Friday slaying of a 17-year-old boy. The lead officer's gun went off after he encountered a 46-year-old woman inside the front room of the home and "some level of physical contact" ensued. Police do not believe the gun was fired intentionally.

"This is any parent's worst nightmare. It also is any police officer's worst nightmare," Godbee said.

Continue reading HERE

The Ongoing Administration-Wide Response to the Deepwater BP Oil Spill

Prepared by the Joint Information Center

UPDATED May 15, 2010 5 PM

* For a full timeline of the Administration-wide response, visit the White House Blog.

PAST 24 HOURS

Secretaries Napolitano and Salazar Seek Clarification of BP’s Redress Intentions

Secretary Napolitano and Secretary Salazar sent a letter to BP CEO Tony Hayward publicly holding BP’s feet to fire. As the President said yesterday, this administration is committed to ensuring that those affected are compensated. The Secretaries reiterated that as a responsible party for this event, BP is accountable to the American public for the full clean up of this spill and all the economic loss caused by the spill and related events.

Coast Guard and EPA Approve Use of Dispersant Subsea

The U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced they have authorized BP to use dispersants underwater, at the source of the Deepwater Horizon leak. Oil spill dispersants are chemicals that attempt to break down the oil into small drops and prevent it from reaching the surface or the U.S. shoreline. Dispersants are generally less harmful than the highly toxic oil leaking from the source and biodegrade in a much shorter time span.

The use of the dispersant at the source of the leak represents a novel approach to addressing the significant environmental threat posed by the spill. Preliminary testing results indicate that subsea use of the dispersant is effective at reducing the amount of oil from reaching the surface—and can do so with the use of less dispersant than is needed when the oil does reach the surface. This is an important step to reduce the potential for damage from oil reaching fragile wetlands and coastal areas.

This course of action was decided upon with thorough evaluation and consideration of many factors as well as consultation with stakeholders. While BP pursues the use of subsea dispersants, the federal government will require regular analysis of its effectiveness and impact on the environment, water and air quality, and human health through a rigorous monitoring program. EPA's directive to BP, including the monitoring plan the company must adhere to in order to ensure the protection of the environment and public health, is publicly available at www.epa.gov/bpspill/dispersants.

Secretary Salazar Visits Wildlife Rehabilitations Center

Secretary Salazar visited Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Buras, La., today to examine efforts being undertaken by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners to protect and rehabilitate wildlife affected by the BP oil spill. Salazar also visited the Unified Area Command facility in Robert, La., for a briefing.

Fishing Restrictions Extended; More Than 92 Percent Remains Open

NOAA Fisheries revised the federal fishery closure boundaries late on May 14. The new closure will cover is a precautionary measure to ensure public safety and assure consumer confidence of Gulf of Mexico seafood. These changes will leave more than 92 percent of the Gulf’s federal waters open for fishing, and supporting productive fisheries and tourism. More details can be found here.

Staging Area Total Grows to 17

17 staging areas are in place and ready to protect sensitive shorelines, including: Dauphin Island, Ala., Orange Beach, Ala., Theodore, Ala., Panama City, Fla., Pensacola, Fla.,  Port St. Joe, Fla., St. Marks, Fla.,  Amelia, La., Cocodrie, La., Grand Isle, La., Shell Beach, La., Slidell, La., St. Mary, La.; Venice, La., Biloxi, Miss., Pascagoula, Miss., and Pass Christian, Miss.

Progress Made in Relief Well Drilling Preparations

The Development Driller III, which will dig the first relief well, is lowering the blowout preventer stack and riser. The report depth was nearly 3,000 feet as of 7 p.m. EDT on Friday, May 14. After initial review by MMS, BP revised and resubmitted the Application for Permit to Drill the second relief well, which will be undertaken by the Development Driller II—which is on location and making preparations for initiating the drilling process.

Wildlife Hotline Taking Calls

The Wildlife Hotline has received a total of 17 calls for birds, fish, marine mammals, and reptiles which have not been confirmed. The Wildlife Rehabilitation Centers in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida have received wildlife and have been conducting to treatment and rehabilitation.

Water Contamination Devices Installed in Everglades

A National Park Service crew installed three Semi-Permeable Membrane Devices in the Gulf Coast District of Everglades National Park to detect contamination in the water.

Mussel Watch Team is Dispatched

A NOAA Mussel Watch team has been sent to the Gulf to collect mussel samples, including oyster tissue, sediments, and water from Atchafalaya Bay, La., west to the Brazos River, Texas. The team has partnered with the Louisiana Department of Fish and Game to collect remaining sites in Louisiana, and will then work with the NMFS Galveston Laboratory to collect sites along the Texas coast. Mussel Watch is the longest continuous contaminant monitoring program in U.S. coastal waters.

NOAA Research Ship Re-Deployed to Spill Response

The NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter, previously scheduled to conduct plankton research in the Gulf of Mexico, is now providing information for oil spill related research.

By the Numbers to Date:

• Personnel were quickly deployed and approximately 17,500 are currently responding to protect the shoreline and wildlife.

• More than 600 vessels are responding on site, including skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery vessels to assist in containment and cleanup efforts—in addition to dozens of aircraft, remotely operated vehicles, and multiple mobile offshore drilling units.

• More than 1.25 million feet of containment boom and 415,000 feet of sorbent boom have been deployed to contain the spill—and approximately 270,000 feet of containment boom and 900,000 feet of sorbent boom are available.

• More than 6 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been recovered.

• Approximately 560,000 gallons of dispersant have been deployed. More than 260,000 gallons are available.

• 17 staging areas are in place and ready to protect sensitive shorelines, including: Dauphin Island, Ala., Orange Beach, Ala., Theodore, Ala., Panama City, Fla., Pensacola, Fla.,  Port St. Joe, Fla., St. Marks, Fla.,  Amelia, La., Cocodrie, La., Grand Isle, La., Shell Beach, La., Slidell, La., St. Mary, La.; Venice, La., Biloxi, Miss., Pascagoula, Miss., and Pass Christian, Miss.

Resources:

• For information about the response effort, visit www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com.

• For specific information about the federal-wide response, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/deepwater-bp-oil-spill.

• To contact the Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Center, call (985) 902-5231.

• To volunteer, or to report oiled shoreline, call (866) 448-5816. Volunteer opportunities can also be found here.

• To submit your vessel as a vessel of opportunity skimming system, or to submit alternative response technology, services, or products, call 281-366-5511.

• To report oiled wildlife, call (866) 557-1401. Messages will be checked hourly.

• For information about validated environmental air and water sampling results, visit www.epa.gov/bpspill.

• For National Park Service updates about potential park closures, resources at risk, and NPS actions to protect vital park space and wildlife, visit http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm.

• For daily updates on fishing closures, visit http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov.

• To file a claim, or report spill-related damage, call BP’s helpline at (800) 440-0858. A BP fact sheet with additional information is available here. For those who have already pursued the BP claims process and are not satisfied with BP’s resolution, can call the Coast Guard at (800) 280-7118.  More information about what types of damages are eligible for compensation under the Oil Pollution Act as well as guidance on procedures to seek that compensation can be found here.

For information about the response effort, visit www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com.

By MSNBC News

Political pressure mounted on Friday for BP to show progress plugging a massive oil leak while residents of coastal Florida, Mississippi and Alabama learned the growing pool of oil from the leak would not strike their beaches until late on Saturday.

The drifting sea of oil could still spell disaster for coastlines all around the Gulf of Mexico while crippling attempts in Washington to overhaul U.S. energy policy.

President Barack Obama, whom the White House has described as "deeply frustrated" that the massive mile-deep oil leak has not been plugged, is set to meet with top advisers on Friday to discuss "next steps" as the giant oil slick creeps west across the Louisiana coast.

Capt. Steve Poulin, sector commander for the U.S. Coast Guard in Mobile, Alabama, said in a briefing on Thursday afternoon the latest National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast did not see the oil slick making landfall in Alabama, at least until Saturday evening.

"You will see no imminent threat of oil impacting Mississippi, Alabama or Florida with these projections," Poulin added.

Continue reading HERE

By Rob Stein for The Washington Post

Low-quality care in the first few years of life can have a small but long-lasting impact on a child's learning and behavior, according to new results from the largest, most authoritative assessment of child rearing in the United States.

The federally funded study, which has been tracking more than 1,300 children since 1991, found that obedience and academic problems among those who received low-quality care in their first 4 1/2 years of life persisted through their 15th birthdays, suggesting the potential for lifelong difficulties.

The differences between teens who received low- and high-quality care when they were very young were relatively small, and the endurance of these disparities startled researchers.

"The fact that you have this persistent association is pretty remarkable," said James A. Griffin of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which is funding the research being reported Friday in the May-June issue of the journal Child Development.

Several experts praised the findings, saying they underscore the urgent need for local, state and federal governments, employers and others to improve access to high-quality child care.

"I think it is shocking that we don't have a much higher proportion of our children . . . in excellent, quality child care," said Sharon Landesman Ramey, director of the Georgetown University Center on Health and Education.

Continue reading HERE

Overcoming the dark and gloomy weather, the Hip Hop Caucus partnered with 350.org to make sure President Obama heard his “Crude Awakening.”  50 loud, passionate, and soaking wet individuals came together to march in protest of offshore drilling from the Department of Interior directly to the President at White House.

The march was a response to the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused by an explosion on a BP operated oilrig. The explosion and spill took 11 lives and has already greatly impacted the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Mexico and their ecosystems. Spilling oil at a rate of roughly 5,000 barrels a day this disaster is destroying our earth at an unquestionable rate. It is time President Obama responds and responds by banning offshore drilling!

As the mood of the crowd became melancholy after discussing what an uphill battle we face, Rev. Yearwood gave a rousing speech reenergizing the protesters and displayed the showed the support of the Hip Hop Caucus.  As the march winded down shouts of “Power to the People!”  made sure the White House recognized who was there and what must be done.

Administrator Jackson has asked Mr. Mathy Stanislaus, Assistant Administrator Office of Solid Waste Emergency Response and Ms. Lisa Garcia, Senior Advisor, Environmental Justice to travel to the region and meet with community representatives and organizations.

They will join representatives from other federal response agencies to share information and answer questions as part of the Administrator's on-going efforts to share information.

Below are a few details and contact information for you.

Date: Thursday, May 13th
Time: 6-8:00pm
Location: Grand Caillou Recreation Center, Houma LA 106 Badou Dr., Dulac, LA
CONTACT: Patty Whitney, BISCO, 985-227-9042

By The Associated Press

The first firm evidence of what likely caused the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil blowout — a devastating sequence of equipment failures — drives home a central unsettling point about America's oil industry: key safety features at tens of thousands of U.S. offshore rigs are barely regulated.

Wednesday's hearings by congressional and administration panels in Washington and in Louisiana laid out a checklist of unseen breakdowns on largely unregulated aspects of well safety that appear to have contributed to the April 20 blowout: a leaky cement job, a loose hydraulic fitting, a dead battery.

The trail of problems highlights the reality that, even as the U.S. does more deepwater offshore drilling in a quest for domestic oil, some key safety components are left almost entirely to the discretion of the companies doing the work.

It remains unclear what, if anything, Congress or the Obama administration may do to address these regulatory deficiencies.

So far, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has proposed splitting his department's Minerals Management Service in two to make safety enforcement independent of the agency's other main function — collecting billions in royalties from the drilling industry. But the events that unfolded in the hours before the blowout on the Deepwater Horizon rig suggest that much more will ultimately need to be done on the regulatory front.

Continue reading HERE

By Craig Havighurst for NPR

The flooding in Tennessee last week took more than 20 lives and wrought billions in property damage. In Nashville, it also took a toll on the city's musical heritage and infrastructure. The Grand Ole Opry House was inundated. The Nashville Symphony lost two Steinways when its basement flooded. But the most concentrated instrument loss took place at a facility beside the Cumberland River called Soundcheck, where hundreds of the city's musicians stored their treasured instruments.

Raul Malo, founder of country band The Mavericks and a widely respected singer and songwriter, opens up the case of his beloved 1962 Gibson J-45.

"What? Oh my god. How is that holding up?" Malo says in disbelief.

It's in one piece, but when Malo's guitar repairman turns it over, more than a gallon of water pours out of the sound hole onto the muddy floor.

"That's like my favorite acoustic," Malo says. "That's the one I was going: 'Please, if any acoustics make it, let it be that one.' Look at that. How is that possible?"

Malo and a friend try the soggy Gibson and a waterlogged acoustic bass.

"It kind of sounds good now," Malo says.

And his bass?

"Maybe that's what it needed. If I'd have known that, I would have dropped it in the Cumberland years ago," Malo says, laughing.

It's a rare light moment from a weekend of anguish for hundreds of Nashville musicians. The rest of Malo's collection didn't fare nearly as well as the Gibson. Guitar bodies have swollen up until their backs split in a lattice of cracks. Necks are twisted beyond repair.

"Last night, I was sitting there with my wife, listening to my new album, and I said, 'Those guitar sounds on this record, I will never be able to duplicate again because all of those guitars are gone,' " Malo says.

Continue reading HERE

Congressman John Garamendi (D-Walnut Creek, CA) today joined a broad coalition of Congressional members and environmental leaders to highlight legislation that seeks to curtail new offshore oil drilling and to hold the oil industry accountable for cleanup and safety improvements.

One bill discussed was Congressman Garamendi’s bill, the West Coast Ocean Protection Act of 2010 that would stop all new offshore oil drilling on platforms in federal waters on the West Coast. It presently has 25 cosponsors.

“The Gulf Coast oil spill is a clarion call to reevaluate our nation’s priorities,” Congressman John Garamendi said. “Do we want to continue drilling and spilling, or should we instead invest in the renewable energy sources that are our future? The West Coast Ocean Protection Act of 2010 stops all new offshore oil drilling in federal waters off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington. We know disaster can strike from any platform, and the risk simply isn’t worth the reward.”

"Offshore drilling poses too great a risk to our coastal communities, economies, and our ecosystems. This was made painfully clear by the recent British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico," said Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA). "The best and most responsible path forward is one in which our coastlines remain free of offshore oil and gas drilling, and our demand for fossil fuels is diminished through the use of renewable energy sources and the deployment of energy efficient technologies. I am pleased to join with Congressman Garamendi in this effort to protect our coasts against unnecessary drilling."

“With 210,000 gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf Coast every day, it’s time to stop pretending that we can safely drill offshore without threatening our coastlines, our marine ecosystems, and our coastal fishing and tourism economies,” said Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

“The bottom line is that these spills happen all the time and opening up new drilling for fossil fuel development is unnecessary,” said Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ). “We simply cannot allow a tragedy like this to occur on the east coast, or anywhere in the U.S. for that matter. We cannot drill our way to energy independence, we must put a stop to any and all new offshore drilling in the United States.”

"I commend Congressman Garamendi for introducing this bill, and believe we must go even further and end new offshore drilling until we have a better understanding of the Deepwater Horizon situation," said Congresswoman Donna F. Edwards (D-MD). "Until the industry demonstrates effective oil spill planning, containment and clean up technology, no coastal communities should face the threat of an environmental and economic catastrophe.  When it does happen, oil companies must be held liable for all costs.  We must end our dependence on fossil fuels, we must look towards renewable energy, and we must do it now.”

“A legislative moratorium on offshore drilling along the West Coast would be one more step in the long Oregon tradition of protecting our ecologically unique, seismically sensitive coastline,” said Rep. David Wu (D-OR). “We must continue to have the foresight to invest in innovative, sustainable solutions to our energy needs, while shielding our coastal economies and natural heritage from disasters like the one currently afflicting the Gulf Coast.”

“I thank Congressman Garamendi for introducing this important bill,” Rep. Sam Farr said. “Too many times we’ve seen the tragic results of offshore drilling, from the 1969 blow-out off the coast of Santa Barbara to the distressing images we’re seeing this week from the Gulf. We must protect the fragile coastlands of the West coast, and this bill moves us in that direction.”

“In addition to protecting the west coast from the damage and devastation currently occurring in the Gulf Coast, this measure reinforces the need to focus on renewable and sustainable energy policies. It is about time we exercise some common sense,” said Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA).

"The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico illustrates the serious safety and environmental risks of offshore drilling, even with modern technology," said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA). "I do not support new drilling off the California coast, and I hope that the West Coast Ocean Protection Act will restore the long-standing Congressional moratorium that has prevented another such disaster along our shores.”

“We face a choice,” Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) said. “Do we build more offshore oil rigs and risk more massive oil spills or do we build offshore wind turbines that present little environmental risk and will create good paying jobs in the clean energy industry?”

“Expanding offshore drilling is a fool’s bargain. There is not enough oil off of our shores to make America energy independent or reduce gas prices.  And new offshore drilling puts coastal ecosystems and billion dollar coastal economies at risk,” said Jackie Savitz, Senior Campaign Director of Oceana. “We commend Representatives Garamendi, Pallone, and Castor for their leadership and vision and their aim to end dirty and dangerous offshore drilling. America must take the path to a cleaner energy future and we need to start now.”

By CNN Wire Staff

The "top hat" oil containment device has reached the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico and should be in position over a leaking well head and operational by the end of the week, BP said Wednesday.

A larger containment vessel was unsuccessful in stopping the flow of oil from the gusher about 5,000 feet underwater. The spill is sending 210,000 gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico each day.

The "top hat," a 5-foot-tall, 4-foot-diameter structure, weighs less than 2 tons. The structure was deployed by the drill ship Enterprise.

BP built the smaller dome after a much larger, four-story containment vessel designed to cap the larger of two leaks in the well developed glitches Saturday. Ice-like hydrate crystals formed when gas combined with water and blocked the top of the dome, making it buoyant.

The new device would keep most of the water out at the beginning of the capping process and would allow engineers to pump in methanol to keep the hydrates from forming, said Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer for exploration and production. Methanol is a simple alcohol that can be used as an antifreeze.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said the success of this latest attempt to cap the well could be known in the next few days.

Continue reading HERE

By Morris Moore for AllHipHop.com

Rapper Mos Def will join a number of top musicians who are rallying to help Louisiana’s coast with a benefit concert called Gulf Aid.

Mos will be joined by artists like Lenny Kravitz, Ani DiFranco, John Legend, Allen Toussaint, Rebirth Brass Band and numerous others.

The artists are pitching in to clean up over 4 million gallons of oil that has spilled since an April 20th explosion on the Deepwater Horizon off the coast of Louisiana.

“It’s only fitting that the individuals who are the protectors of our culture, the musicians, come to the aid of those who help supply our culture, the fishermen,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu said during a press conference yesterday (May 11th).

The event will take place this Sunday (May 18th) at Mardi Gras World River City from 12pm-10pm.

Tickets are $50 and proceeds will go to the Gulf Relief Foundation, which will benefit the fishermen and their families in the Gulf.

DIRECT LINK

By Richard Cowan for Reuters

A new Senate bill aimed at battling global warming would impose new limits on carbon dioxide pollution from factories, utilities and vehicles, while expanding heavy-polluting domestic oil production and nuclear power generation.

The legislation, which is certain to face tough opposition from Republicans and even some Democrats, will be formally unveiled Wednesday by Democratic Senator John Kerry and Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman.

There is no guarantee the bill will even be debated this year and it is unclear whether a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will hamper the legislation or prompt a more urgent look at U.S. energy and environmental policy.

A summary of the long-delayed bill, obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, contained few surprises as many details had leaked out over the past several weeks.

At the core of the bill is a goal to cut U.S. carbon emissions by 17 percent by 2020. But the summary did not address several questions, such as how new pollution permits would be distributed or sold to electric power utilities.

The bill also contains tax and loan guarantee incentives to expand nuclear power generation. Offshore oil drilling also would get a new boost from Washington.

Both steps are aimed at building more support from senators than a climate-only bill would get.

But in the wake of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that began in April, the proposal includes protections for coastal states that do not want oil drilling off their shores.

Continue reading HERE

R&B Singer Bobby Valentino wrote sent this message to the Hip Hop Caucus community this morning.  Follow the spread of the BP Oil Spill in the gulf coast on Google’s tracker here: http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/oilspill/.  And take action per Bobby V’s call to action to you:

This is my first time writing to Hip Hop Caucus members, and I'm honored to be a part of this movement.  Last week I performed at the final stop on the Green and Live HBCU Earth Month tour at Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Throughout the month of April the Hip Hop Caucus in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation organized Green and Live Earth Month events in Florida, North Carolina, and Arkansas.

During this historic month marking the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, however, we witnessed the devastating BP oil spill off of the Gulf Coast of the United States, and I just learned that oil has now reached our shores.

The environment, the economy, politics... none of that may be my focus when I am out here touring and performing around the world.  But even so, I know that we need to start making some better choices.

We can choose to stop off-shore drilling that puts workers, our oceans, our health, and our costal businesses at risk, and instead start producing clean-energy and that will create good jobs for people who are out of work.  As Rev Yearwood said to me, we can fight poverty and pollution at the same time, with clean-energy jobs.

Sign this petition to permanently abandon offshore drilling, and instead, invest in a clean and safe energy future.

Millions of gallons of oil have leaked into the waters off of our Gulf Coast, killing wildlife, putting people out of work, and putting folks in Gulf Coast states at higher risk of cancer, particularly endangering children, the elderly and those with asthma and other lung diseases.  Today in Washington, DC, the Hip Hop Caucus is joining with a coalition of groups like 350.org, 1Sky, Oceana, Energy Action Coalition, and Green For All, to tell President Obama and Congress that we just got our crude oil awakening, and it's time to stop off-shore drilling, and make our energy clean.

I signed the petition, you should too.

Peace,

Bobby Valentino

By Leslie Berliant for Solve Climate

Sunlight is free, but getting power from solar panels remains far from it. At least for some low-income families in California, it's now affordable for the first time.

The California Public Utilities Commission Single-Family Affordable Solar Homes program, or SASH, is a first-of-its-kind program dedicated to bringing solar energy to owners of low-income housing. The program, part of the California Solar Initiative and managed by the non-profit organization GRID Alternatives, will bring solar power to 7,000 homes by 2016, all of them designated affordable housing.

The incentives offer anywhere from $4.75 to $7.00 per watt depending on income and the size of the installation. In some cases, these incentives completely cover costs.

GRID Alternatives, which started in 2003, with a mission to provide renewable energy and energy-efficiency services, equipment and training to low-income homeowners, says that going solar saves families 75 percent or more on their electricity bills. Because low-income families spend a significant portion of their income on utilities, cutting those costs can have a large impact on the bottom line.

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B y SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and JOHN M. BRODER for The New York Times

President Obama is proposing to split the agency that oversees offshore oil drilling into two parts, one to inspect oil rigs and enforce safety and the other to oversee leases for drilling and collect royalties, the White House said Tuesday.

The shift would be the first major structural change in government regulation of oil and gas operations since the destructive Gulf Coast oil spill that began on April 20. The formal announcement is expected to be made by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at 1 p.m. Eastern time, officials said.

Mr. Salazar will propose breaking up the Minerals Management Service, which has been caught up in scandals repeatedly in recent years and has been accused of being too cozy with the industry it is supposed to regulate. Its current mission includes collecting royalties and negotiating leases while at the same time acting as a policeman, overseeing safety and environmental protection rules.

The minerals service supervises one of the federal government’s largest sources of revenue after personal and corporate income taxes. It collects an average of $13 billion a year in royalties and fees from oil and gas on public and Indian lands and offshore.

The proposal to divide the agency reflects the shift in attitude by the Obama White House since the Gulf spill began. In March, a few weeks before the drilling-rig explosion and fire that led to the spill, the president laid out plans for comprehensive energy legislation that called for new offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean from Delaware to central Florida. That legislation faced an uncertain path in the Senate even before the accident.

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By PETER BAKER and JEFF ZELENY for The New York Times

President Obama nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan as the nation’s 112th justice, choosing his own chief advocate before the Supreme Court to join it in ruling on cases critical to his view of the country’s future.

After a monthlong search, Mr. Obama informed Ms. Kagan and his advisers on Sunday of his choice to succeed the retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

In settling on Ms. Kagan, the president chose a well-regarded 50-year-old lawyer who served as a staff member in all three branches of government and was the first woman to be dean of Harvard Law School. If confirmed, she would be the youngest member and the third woman on the current court, but the first justice in nearly four decades without any prior judicial experience.

That lack of time on the bench may both help and hurt her confirmation prospects, allowing critics to question whether she is truly qualified while denying them a lengthy judicial paper trail filled with ammunition for attacks. As solicitor general, Ms. Kagan has represented the government before the Supreme Court for the past year, but her own views are to a large extent a matter of supposition.

Perhaps as a result, some on both sides of the ideological aisle are suspicious of her. Liberals dislike her support for strong executive power and her outreach to conservatives while running the law school. Activists on the right have attacked her for briefly barring military recruiters from a campus facility because the ban on openly gay men and lesbians serving in the military violated the school’s anti-discrimination policy.

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By John Flesher for The Associated Press

With a huge and unpredictable oil slick drifting in the Gulf of Mexico, state and federal authorities are preparing to deal with a variety of hazards to human health if and when the full brunt of the toxic mess washes ashore.

The list of potential threats runs from minor nuisances such as runny noses and headaches to nausea. While waiting to see how bad things will get, public health agencies are monitoring air quality, drinking water supplies and seafood processing plants and advising people to take precautions.

"We don't know how long this spill will last or how much oil we'll be dealing with, so there's a lot of unknowns," said Dr. Jimmy Guidry, Louisiana's state health director. "But we're going to make things as safe as humanly possible."

Oil has been spewing into the Gulf at a rate of at least 200,000 gallons a day since an offshore drilling rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 people. Little if any has reached land thus far, but shifts in wind speed and direction could propel the slick toward populated areas.

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By Ben Geman for The Hill

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Sunday that the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill helps make the case for passage of the climate change and energy bill that he’s rolling out May 12 with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).

Lieberman said on “Fox News Sunday” that he believes the bill can pass this year despite plans to include measures that promote offshore oil-and-gas drilling, noting “I think we’ve got a real shot at this.”

“The oil spill in the gulf reminds us of a couple of things. The first is that we need to transition our energy system to one that doesn't depend on oil,” Lieberman said.

“But in the meantime, as we're making the transition, which our bill would accelerate and create millions of new jobs in our country and make us energy independent, we've got to continue to use our domestic energy resources, because every barrel of oil we get from American offshore or onshore is one barrel less we are paying for to enemies of the United States around the world,” he added.

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NEW ORLEANS — With a huge and unpredictable oil slick drifting in the Gulf of Mexico, state and federal authorities are preparing to deal with a variety of hazards to human health if and when the full brunt of the toxic mess washes ashore.

The list of potential threats runs from temporary, minor nuisances such as runny noses and headaches to long-term risks such as cancer if contaminated seafood ends up in the marketplace. While waiting to see how bad things will get, public health agencies are monitoring air quality, drinking water supplies and seafood processing plants and advising people to take precautions.

"We don't know how long this spill will last or how much oil we'll be dealing with, so there's a lot of unknowns," said Dr. Jimmy Guidry, Louisiana's state health director. "But we're going to make things as safe as humanly possible."

Oil has been spewing into the Gulf at a rate of at least 200,000 gallons a day since an offshore drilling rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 people. Little if any has reached land thus far, but shifts in wind speed and direction could propel the slick toward populated areas.

In a possible hint of things to come, a foul stench drifted over parts of southwestern Louisiana last week. The oil probably was the culprit, said Alan Levine, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, whose office heard about dozens of complaints – even from state legislators in New Orleans, some 130 miles from the leaky undersea well.

"Their eyes were burning, they felt nauseated, they were smelling it," Levine said.

Farther up the coast at Shell Beach, marina operator and commercial fisherman Robert Campo said the smell gave him a headache as he collected oysters 20 miles offshore. "It was rotten," he said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has began round-the-clock air monitoring in Gulf coastal areas and posting online hourly readings for ozone and tiny particles such as soot. Both can cause respiratory problems and are particuarly aggravating for people with chronic conditions such as asthma.

Crude oil emits volatile organic compounds that react with nitro gen oxides to produce ozone. Fires being set by the Coast Guard to burn off oil on the water's surfice would produce sooty, acrid smoke.

Continue Reading Article HERE

WASHINGTON (Politico) Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has gone from fence-sitting to urging Democrats to scrap climate change legislation before the midterms — saying the Gulf oil spill warrants a pause in the effort.

“As I have previously indicated, a serious debate on energy legislation is significantly compromised with the cynical politics of comprehensive immigration reform hanging over the Senate," Graham said in a statement Friday morning.

"In addition to immigration, we now have to deal with a catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which creates new policy and political challenges not envisioned in our original discussions. In light of this, I believe it would be wise to pause the process and reassess where we stand.”

Graham's statement came after senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) announced plans to push ahead with a climate bill Graham previously had signed off on.

The White House has become increasingly frustrated with Graham, who agreed to be a pivotal bipartisan bridge on energy, climate change and terror detention — but has yet to follow through on any of those issues.

"We have worked with Senator Graham I think pretty well in this administration," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Thursday. "He’s been here a number of times to discuss a whole host of issues. All we’ve done on Senator Graham — with Senator Graham — on energy and immigration reform is each and every thing he asked to do, right? ... So I can’t speak for where Senator Graham is today."

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Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) voted to boost the American clean energy economy by creating nearly 170,000 jobs, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and saving American families $9 billion over 10 years.  The Home Star Jobs Bill would provide rebates to homeowners who install energy-saving products and reduce energy use in their homes.

“This bill is about reducing energy demand by expanding the use of cost-effective energy efficient technologies, of which my District and the State of California have long been a leader,” said Congresswoman Lee. “Additionally, it will help create good-paying, high-quality green jobs – which are essential to achieving stronger homes and healthier communities.”

The bill features two levels of rebates that will help an estimated 3 million American homeowners.  The Silver Star program would provide up-front rebates of up to $3,000 for the installation of proven energy-saving technologies, such as insulation, duct sealing, window and door improvements, air sealing, and advanced water heaters.  The Gold Star program rewards homeowners with up to $8,000 for conducting a comprehensive energy audit and substantially reducing their energy use at home.

This bill would boost our construction and manufacturing industries in the short term by creating jobs immediately.   More than 90% of the materials and products used in eligible measures are made in the U.S.   In the long run, it will help rebuild the foundation of our economy by encouraging American innovation and entrepreneurship in the growing clean energy industry.

“I am pleased that this legislation will incentivize targeted job training and financial assistance for low-income communities and the chronically unemployed, as well as the recruitment of small, minority and women owned businesses,” Congresswoman Lee. “This will ensure that we serve and empower those hardest hit by this economic recession and historical environmental injustices.”

This legislation builds on our previous accomplishments offering tax credits for energy-efficient home improvements in the Recovery Act.  Through the end of 2010, homeowners can receive a tax credit for 30 percent of the cost of these improvements, up to $1,500.  More information is available at http://www.energysavers.gov/financial.

The Home Star Energy Retrofit Act has received bipartisan support, and has been endorsed by a broad range of business, labor, environmental, and consumer groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of Home Builders.

Hip-Hop artists in Arizona protest the tough new immigration laws in the state. Featuring DJ John Blaze, Tajji Sharp, Yung Face, Mr. Miranda, Ocean, Da'aron Anthony, Atllas, Chino D, Nyhtee, Pennywise, Rich Rico, and Da Beast:

The good news is that Iraq's fractious politicians may be finally moving to break the deadlock over the formation of a new government eight weeks after the March 7 election. The bad news is that despite the strong showing of the Sunni-backed alliance of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi in the polls, the next government is likely to once again be dominated by Shi'ite parties — running the risk of recreating the political conditions that pushed the country to the brink of civil war following the 2005 election.

Iraq's two largest Shi'ite-led electoral blocs — the State of Law coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Iraqi National Alliance of Shi'ite Islamist parties, in which the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is the dominant voice — announced Tuesday night that they would join forces, creating a combined coalition just a few seats short of a parliamentary majority. Although Allawi's list had narrowly edged out Maliki's by a margin of 91 seats to 89, the INA won 70 seats, making its combined total with State of Law 159 seats — just four short of the 163 needed for majority. Even if the recount currently underway at Maliki's behest affirms those results, the outcome looks set to once again be a shut-out of the Sunnis from a substantial share of power in Baghdad. That's if the Shi'ite alliance remains intact.

Continue reading HERE

By The Associated Press

A boat carrying a 100-ton concrete-and-steel contraption designed to siphon off the oil fouling the Gulf of Mexico arrived Thursday at the spot in the sea where a blown-out well is spewing hundreds of thousands of gallons a day.

Another boat with a crane plans to start lowering the box to the seafloor later in the day. Engineers hope it will be the best short-term solution to controlling the leak that has only worsened since it began two weeks ago.

The waters at the spill site Thursday were calm with some clouds in the sky, though visibility was good. "This is perfect for all the guys trying to contain the oil," the boat's first mate, Douglas Peake said.

Thick, tar-like oil surrounded the boat for as far as the eye could see.

A rapid response team planned to head to the Chandeleur Islands off Louisiana's coast Thursday to look into unconfirmed reports that oil from the spill had arrived there, Coast Guard Petty Officer Erik Swanson said.

The boat hauling the specially built containment box and dome structure pushed off Wednesday evening from the Louisiana coast and arrived at the site of the disaster Thursday morning.

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Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) are planning to release their climate and energy bill as soon as next week even if they cannot win back their longtime GOP partner, according to a top Senate Democrat.

Kerry revealed the tentative schedule for the unveiling of his long-awaited measure during the Democrats' weekly meeting of committee leaders. "He said it's looking good, and he hopes to have a press conference next week," said Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

Both Kerry and Lieberman sidestepped questions about the timing of their bill. "It's coming soon," Lieberman said.

Kerry, Lieberman and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) originally planned to release their bill April 26 but postponed the press conference after Graham complained that Democratic leaders had pushed the politically thorny issue of immigration onto the Senate agenda, making it impossible for him to also work on the climate legislation.

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By FELICIA FONSECA for The Associated Press

The Tucson and Flagstaff city councils voted Tuesday to sue Arizona over its tough new immigration law, citing concerns about enforcement costs and negative effects on the state's tourism industry.

They are the first municipalities in Arizona to approve legal challenges to the law. Earlier this week, proposed litigation in Phoenix took a hit when the city attorney said Mayor Phil Gordon lacks the authority to file suit without the support of the City Council.

The new state law requires local and state law enforcement officers to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they're in the country illegally.

The Flagstaff City Council voted unanimously in favor of a resolution that says it's an unfunded mandate to carry out the responsibilities of the federal government. Its Tuesday night meeting drew a crowd that initially numbered in the hundreds but dwindled significantly as the night wore on.

The council will retain legal counsel and could either pursue its own lawsuit or join Tuscon or other cities in efforts to fight the immigration bill.

It also is considering setting up a legal defense fund to which many in the audience said they would contribute.

"This new bill has the power to make a criminal out of me for helping my family and friends," said Flagstaff resident Loretta Velasco. "I will not turn my back on them, so whatever I can do, I will do."

Continue reading HERE

By CNN Staff

The Cumberland River in Tennessee was receding Tuesday as favorable weather was in the forecast, bringing some relief to the flood-battered state.

Severe weather over the weekend was blamed for at least 28 deaths across the Southeast -- 19 of those in Tennessee -- between Saturday and Monday, emergency officials said. Ten of the Tennessee deaths occurred in Nashville and surrounding Davidson County, the Nashville mayor's office said.

President Obama on Tuesday named parts of Tennessee major disaster areas.

The designation makes federal funding available to affected residents in the counties of Cheatham, Davidson, Hickman and Williamson, according to the White House.

The Cumberland River crested Monday evening at 51.9 feet, 11.9 feet above flood stage, National Weather Service Meteorologist Sam Herron said.

"It's going to continue dropping through today," he said.

The National Weather Service expects the river to fall below flood stage by Thursday morning. The water should recede enough to leave the downtown Nashville area by Tuesday night, Herron said.

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By The Associated Press

Restaurateurs, hotel owners, fishermen and beachfront property owners watched and waited for the weather and ocean currents to determine where a bulk of the oil from a calamitous Gulf of Mexico spill would finally wash ashore.

The consequences of the 200,000 gallons a day of crude spewing from a blown-out underwater well on those whose livelihoods rely on the richness of the sealife in the waters was obvious. Fishing has been shut down in federal waters from the Mississippi River to the Florida Panhandle, leaving boats idle Monday in the middle of the prime spring season. A special shrimping season will close Tuesday evening.

Inns and restaurants that count on tourists attracted to the beautiful blue-green waters and sandy white beaches already are getting calls about the spill, which has flirted with the coastlines before receding, mostly because of the weather.

"You mentally want to push it back to the west, and then you feel guilty for doing so," said Jan Grant, manager at the St. George Inn on St. George Island, Fla., about the path the spill might take.

Engineers from BP PLC have failed to invent a solution to halt the gusher that's been spewing into the sea since an offshore drilling platform blew up and sank last month and killed 11 workers. BP operated the rig that was owned by Transocean Ltd.

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by Larry Abramson for NPR

How much would it cost to solve some of the world's biggest problems? King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia says about $10 billion — that's the endowment he's given to the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, or KAUST, a huge research facility devoted to solving some of the major problems facing the planet.

The brand new school — it opened just this past fall — rises from the desert north of Jeddah like the secret research lab in a James Bond movie. The desert blooms here, thanks to a private desalination plant and an army of gardeners. With a private Red Sea beach, knock-your-socks-off architecture and world-class labs, KAUST hopes to lure the world's brainiest scientists to this Xanadu for nerds.

This isn't a university in the traditional sense, says KAUST President Choon Fong Shih.

"KAUST is a global university of the 21st century," Shih says, "a place where we integrate graduate education with research and the cutting edge."

That word — global — is thrown around a lot in higher education these days. Every university is trying to spread its wings and go international. What's different at KAUST? Well, for one thing — money. And lots of it. Money can buy some very nice science toys.

Take KAUST's visualization lab. It's got a room-sized video screen that shows a microscopic view of a rat's brain with stunning clarity. Steve Cutchin, who manages the lab, says this display also enables smooth video conferencing to anywhere in the world, including with his former home campus of the University of California, San Diego, halfway around the globe.

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By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM, MARK MAZZETTI and PETER BAKER for The New York Times

A Connecticut man pulled off a plane bound for Dubai and arrested for Saturday’s night’s failed bid to set off a car bomb in Times Square has made statements implicating himself, and has told the authorities that he acted alone, a law enforcement official said on Tuesday morning.

The man, Faisal Shahzad, 30, was taken into custody just before midnight at Kennedy Airport aboard an Emirates flight that had just pulled away from the gate, officials said. Two other men were also interviewed by authorities but were released, according to another law enforcement official. Mr. Shahzad had apparently driven to the airport in a white Isuzu Trooper that was found in a parking lot with a handgun inside, the official said.

The official added that the other men may have been taken into custody simply because they had similar names.

Mr. Shahzad is a naturalized United States citizen from Pakistan — from which he had recently returned after a five-month visit — who lives in Bridgeport, Conn., the authorities said. He was already aboard Emirates flight 202 when he was identified by the Department of Homeland Security’s United States Customs and Border Protection, according to a joint statement issued by the office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the southern district of New York, the F.B.I. and the New York Police Department.

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Tens of thousands of people marched in protest in major US cities against a new Arizona law that allows police to detain anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant. Local governments and rights groups have called for a boycott of the state.

Oil slick that threatens to become the Americas' worst environmental disaster in decades has started to wash up along the Gulf coast:

By The Associated Press

Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday signed a follow-on bill approved by Arizona legislators that make revisions to the state's sweeping law against illegal immigration — changes she says should quell concerns that the measure will lead to racial profiling.

The law requires local and state law enforcement to question people about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're in the country illegally, and makes it a state crime to be in the United States illegally.

The follow-on bill signed by Brewer makes a number of changes that she said should lay to rest concerns of opponents.

"These new statements make it crystal clear and undeniable that racial profiling is illegal, and will not be tolerated in Arizona," she said in a statement.

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By Debbie Elliott for NPR

A massive oil slick is fouling the Gulf's fragile coastal ecosystem and taking aim at the industries that rely on it.

Strong winds and rough seas have prevented skimming and burning operations designed to reduce the slick. Meanwhile, more than 200,000 gallons of crude oil a day are spewing unchecked from a deepwater well where an offshore platform exploded and sank.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was among the Obama administration officials who traveled to Louisiana Friday to assure residents the government was doing all it could.

"The response is strong. It's coordinated, and it's designed to minimize the harm to our coastal lands and that, to the extent there is harm, there is swift and effective cleanup," she said.

But there's growing frustration over BP's inability to stop the flow and keep the oil slick away from land. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said containment booms designed to be a protective barrier have not been effective.

In Alabama, residents are waiting for the damage to begin.

Continue reading HERE