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Federal Government
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By Administrator
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Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:54 |
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Energy Committee has overwhelmingly endorsed the nomination of physicist Ernest Moniz to lead the Energy Department.
The energy panel voted 21-1 Thursday to endorse Moniz, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina was the only lawmaker to oppose Moniz. Scott says he opposes the president's plan to cut funding for a project to turn weapons-grade plutonium into nuclear reactor fuel.
President Barack Obama's budget would cut about $200 million from a plant being built at South Carolina's Savannah River nuclear site.
Moniz has said he supports Obama's all-of-the-above approach to energy and that a sharp increase in natural gas production is nothing less than a "revolution."
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Last Updated on Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:55 |
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Federal Government
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By Administrator
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Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:32 |
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GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Opponents and supporters of the Keystone XL oil pipeline are converging on a Nebraska town for what could become a pivotal moment for the project.
The U.S. State Department hearing Thursday in Grand Island is expected to draw at least several hundred people from Nebraska, as well as out-of-state activists from both sides who consider the state a key battleground.
After months of quiet, a State Department report has cleared the way for a final decision on the plan to transport oil extracted from Alberta tar sands more than 1,700 miles, to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
Opponents are now focused on the new Secretary of State, John Kerry, who will make a recommendation to President Barack Obama on whether to green-light the project.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:32 |
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Federal Government
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By Administrator
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Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:04 |
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder is telling Congress that he is angered and frustrated over the Senate votes that scuttled gun control legislation.
In a hearing before a House appropriations subcommittee, the attorney general says that he and the rest of the Obama administration remain committed to standing with the families of victims in the shootings in Newtown, Conn., and countless others who have lost their lives in senseless acts of gun violence.
Senate Republicans, backed by a small band of rural-state Democrats, rejected tighter background checks for buyers and a ban on assault weapons on Wednesday.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:04 |
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Federal Government
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By Administrator
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Wednesday, 17 April 2013 11:09 |
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled that police must usually try to obtain a search warrant from a judge before ordering blood tests for drunken-driving suspects.
The justices on Wednesday sided with a Missouri man who was subjected to a blood test without a warrant and found to have nearly twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said for the court that the natural dissipation of alcohol in the blood is generally not sufficient reason to jettison the requirement that police get a judge's approval before drawing a blood sample.
Missouri and the Obama administration were asking the court to endorse a blanket rule that would have allowed the tests without a warrant.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 17 April 2013 11:09 |
