Month: August 2012

Field of dreams: Israel’s natural gas

FINANCIAL TIMES:  After decades of importing every drop of fuel, Israel has struck it rich, uncovering vast reserves of natural gas in the Mediterranean… The men on board the Sedco Express are busy testing the field’s multiple wells in preparation for the long-awaited day next April, when a US-Israeli consortium will start pumping the gas […]

Field Poll shows Californians lean toward dividing electoral votes

HUFFINGTON POST: …California voters are inclined to support a proposed ballot initiative that would change how the Golden State allocates its electoral votes in presidential campaigns, but they’re not yet sold on the idea, a Field Poll released today showed. Currently, California employs a winner-take-all system that awards the state’s entire 55 electoral votes to the […]

INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL NEW ERA

An article “East King mulls improvements” reports: “A NID [Neighborhood Improvement District]  would improve city life for everyone who lives or works there, supporters of the project said Tuesday. “But the new tax needed to pay for it — proposed as an additional 2.16 mills, or a 5 percent increase over current city and school […]

Drillers rattled as ethane, propane prices plunge

PITTSBURG POST-GAZETTE:  …Ethane in July cost about 31 cents per gallon, a drop of about 60 percent from one year ago and the steepest drop among the hydrocarbons extracted from the Marcellus Shale gas formation that underlies much of Pennsylvania. An unseasonably warm winter that reduced the need for heaters didn’t help things, driving the […]

Harvard: Dozens of undergraduates may have cheated, including plagiarism, sharing answers

WASHINGTON POST:   Harvard University is investigating whether dozens of undergraduate students cheated on a take-home exam last spring. School officials said they discovered students may have shared answers or plagiarized on a final exam. They declined to release the name of the class, the students’ names or the exact number being investigated, citing privacy laws. […]

Pa. voter ID opponents appeal to high court

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: Challengers seeking to block the new voter ID law argued in a filing with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday that a lower court decision applied the wrong legal standards in assessing the potential harm of the requirement. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and other opponents of the law requiring photo […]

Mitt Romney Delivers Republican Convention Speech

HUFFINGTON POST / AP:… “America has been patient,” he told the nation. “Americans have supported this president in good faith. But today, the time has come to turn the page.” The campaign themes are mostly set. Romney depicts the president as a once-inspiring but disappointing figure who doesn’t understand job-creation or ordinary Americans’ frustrations. Democrats […]