Author: Admin

The Hill – by Timothy Cama

Lawmakers added a bipartisan series of long-awaited energy and public lands measures to a compromise defense bill.

Congress had not passed any significant bills related to public lands in years, frustrating lawmakers from western states with large swaths of publicly owned and managed property.

The proposed National Defense Authorization Act, considered a must-pass bill to enable the Defense Department’s programs to continue, had its text released late Tuesday night after months of negotiations by the House and Senate.   Continue reading “Energy, public land measures tacked onto defense bill”

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South China Morning Post – by Lana Lam

Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom won the right to get his hands on HK$330 million in assets frozen in 2012 by the Hong Kong authorities – but the victory was short-lived as a High Court judge immediately reimposed an order to keep the assets under lock and key.

Negotiations will now take place between Megaupload founder Dotcom’s legal team and the Department of Justice in Hong Kong on the terms of conditions of the new order. The assets freeze was imposed by Hong Kong authorities on behalf of the administration of US President Barack Obama.   Continue reading “Kim Dotcom sees HK$330m assets unfrozen by court – before judge locks them up again”

My Fox 28 – by Sadie Gurman

DENVER (AP) — Denver authorities say a driver had a medical emergency when he hit and injured four Denver police officers who were monitoring a student protest of the Ferguson, Missouri, grand jury decision.

Police Chief Robert White says one officer was critically injured and was in surgery. He says two of the other three were released from a hospital.   Continue reading “4 Denver officers hit by car during Ferguson protest”

Fox News

Texas Gov.-elect Greg Abbott announced Wednesday that Texas is leading a 17-state coalition suing the Obama administration over the president’s executive actions on immigration.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Texas on Wednesday, and names the heads of the top immigration enforcement agencies as defendants.

Abbott, in a news conference in Austin, said the “broken” immigration system should be fixed by Congress, not by “presidential fiat.”    Continue reading “Texas leads coalition of 17 states in lawsuit against Obama immigration actions”

RT

A New York City grand jury has decided not to indict the New York Police Department officer accused of killing a Staten Island man by putting him in an illegal chokehold. The NYPD is now preparing for more protests stemming from the decision.

Early Wednesday afternoon, CNN, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post all reported that a grand jury declined to indict the officer.   Continue reading “Grand jury doesn’t indict NYPD officer accused in chokehold death – reports”

Reuters

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Wednesday an accident had occurred at the Zaporizhye nuclear power plant (NPP) in south-east Ukraine and called on the energy minister to hold a news conference.

“I know that an accident has occurred at the Zaporizhye NPP,” Yatseniuk said, asking new energy minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn to make clear when the problem would be resolved and what steps would be taken to restore normal power supply across Ukraine.   Continue reading “Ukrainian PM reports accident at nuclear power plant”

Yahoo Autos

With prices at the pump falling along with oil, the idea of raising the federal gasoline tax to help pay for the nation’s ailing infrastructure is gaining steam.

“One of the politicians who raised the gas tax was Ronald Reagan,” Pennsylvania’s Democratic former Gov. Ed Rendell said Tuesday on CNBC’s “ Squawk Box ” during a debate with anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, an influential voice among conservatives.   Continue reading “Ronald Reagan caught in gas tax debate crossfire”

The Hill – by Justin Sink

The White House on Wednesday will release a new report offering a stark appraisal of past failures in federal education policy for Native Americans ahead of President Obama’s scheduled appearance at the annual Tribal Nations Conference.

The report acknowledges “a history of deeply troubling and destructive federal policies and actions” that have hurt Native communities and exacerbated inequality, while warning that progress today “continues to be hindered” by poor educational infrastructure.   Continue reading “Obama to speak at Tribal Nations Conference”

Chron

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The University of Texas at Austinis missing about 100 brains — about half of the specimens the university had in a collection of brains preserved in jars of formaldehyde.

One of the missing brains is believed to have belonged to clock tower sniper Charles Whitman.

“We think somebody may have taken the brains, but we don’t know at all for sure,” psychology Professor Tim Schallert, co-curator of the collection, told the Austin American-Statesman (http://bit.ly/11R7vym ).   Continue reading “About 100 brains missing from University of Texas”

Wall Street Journal – by NICHOLAS CASEY and JOSHUA MITNICK

JERUSALEM—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday fired two top cabinet ministers, bringing about the collapse of his coalition government and calling for fresh parliamentary elections.

The ministers, Yair Lapid and Tzipi Livni, ran the finance and justice ministries respectively. They came from parties that were increasingly coming to blows with the conservative Mr. Netanyahu over a growing list of subjects—from the country’s budget to a proposed law that would declare Israel a Jewish state.   Continue reading “Netanyahu Fires Two Top Ministers, Setting Stage for Fresh Israeli Elections”

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Bangor Daily News – by Paul Nussbaum

PHILADELPHIA — Chinese investors have begun signing up to spend $500,000 each to help pay for a long-awaited connection between the Pennsylvania Turnpike and I-95.

In exchange, the investors hope to get permanent residency in the United States for themselves and their families.   Continue reading “Chinese investors sign up to fund I-95 Turnpike link in exchange for fast-track to US citizenship”

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RT

Kim Dotcom, wanted in US for copyright infringement, says his Internet Party plans to enter American politics next year. The taunt came shortly after a New Zealand court rejected a US plea to revoke Dotcom’s bail.

Dotcom, who is engaged in a number of court battles in New Zealand over US extradition for his Megaupload service, described himself as “your Internet Freedom fighter” and “Hillary’s worst nightmare in 2016!” in a tweet.   Continue reading “‘Hillary’s worst nightmare’: Kim Dotcom flags US Internet Party launch”

The New American – by Alex Newman

Pointing to the killing of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson along with subsequent unrest in Ferguson and policing issues, the dictator-dominated United Nations just launched another brazen assault on America, U.S. sovereignty, and the gun rights of Americans. UN boss Ban Ki-moon (shown), the global body’s “Human Rights Council,” and even the UN “Committee against Torture” all took turns lambasting the United States as an alleged stronghold of systemic racism and police brutality. To fix the problems, the UN argued, Americans and their elected officials must submit to the demands of self-styled global “authorities” — including more unconstitutional gun control to further restrict access to firearms, and UN rules for police.   Continue reading “UN Attacks U.S. Gun Rights and More, Citing Ferguson and Cops”

Fox News

House Speaker John Boehner announced plans Tuesday to effectively push off a looming battle over President Obama’s immigration policies until next year, while potentially averting a partial government shutdown later this month.

The speaker met behind closed doors Tuesday with fellow Republicans. Boehner is attempting a balancing act — as he tries to avert a budget showdown, while also letting conservatives vent over the president’s controversial executive actions on immigration.    Continue reading “Boehner moves to push off immigration fight to 2015”

USA Today – by Robert Allen, Elisha Anderson, and Doug Stanglin

DETROIT — A massive power outage throughout the city on Tuesday knocked out electricity to most public buildings, trapping many people in elevators and cutting power to police departments, fire stations, schools, jails and traffic lights.

A city spokesman said most of municipal grid was down. Some police officers speaking to their dispatcher on police scanners said they were concerned about running out of gasoline because gas pumps were down.   Continue reading “Detroit hit by huge power outage”

Fox News

The gunman in three shootings that killed four people in West Virginia on Monday morning was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, State Police said.

Jody Lee Hunt, 39, of Westover, was found Monday evening in the woods in the southern part of Monongalia County, located in the north-central part of the state. Two of the shootings happened in the Westover area and the other was in the Cheat Lake area, both in Monongalia County, authorities said.   Continue reading “Gunman in West Virginia shootings dead of self-inflicted gunshot wound”