It also said that the hulking remains of factories that dot Detroit, crumbling reminders of the city’s manufacturing prowess, must be salvaged or demolished, which could cost as much as $1 billion more.
Month: May 2014
U.S. Will Complete Afghan Pullout by End of 2016, Obama Says
NEW YORK TIMES: President Obama said on Tuesday that he planned to withdraw the last combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016, declaring that “it’s time to turn the page on a decade in which so much of our foreign policy was focused on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.” Under the plan, […]
Arctic ice melt to release 1 trillion pieces of plastic into sea
ALJAZEERA: As the Arctic ice melt accelerates due to climate change it could release more than 1 trillion pieces of plastic into the ocean over the next decade, possibly posing a major threat to marine life, a new scientific report said. The report, titled “Global Warming Releases Microplastic Legacy Frozen in Arctic Sea Ice,” said […]
In Expanded Program, Officers Across New York City Will Carry Antidote for Heroin Overdoses
Those encounters are increasingly frequent in the city as well as around the country amid skyrocketing heroin use and opioid pill abuse. In Suffolk County, officers have saved more than 184 lives since a pilot program began there in 2012. On Friday, officers on Staten Island twice revived residents in the throes of an overdose by administering the drug…
U.S. Training Elite Antiterror Troops in Four African Nations
NEW YORK TIMES: United States Special Operations troops are forming elite counterterrorism units in four countries in North and West Africa that American officials say are pivotal in the widening war against Al Qaeda’s affiliates and associates on the continent, even as they acknowledge the difficulties of working with weak allies. The secretive program, financed […]
Median CEO pay crosses $10 million in 2013
DAILY BEAST / AP: …Last year was the fourth straight that CEO compensation rose following a decline during the Great Recession. The median CEO pay package climbed more than 50 percent over that stretch. A chief executive now makes about 257 times the average worker’s salary, up sharply from 181 times in 2009… Over the […]
Philadelphia Newspapers Sold For Fifth Time In Eight Years
HUFFINGTON POST: …Minority owners H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest and Lewis Katz made an $88 million bid Tuesday morning at an auction at a Philadelphia law firm to declare victory over Interstate General Media’s majority owners George E. Norcross, William P. Hankowsky and Joseph E. Buckelew. The final auction came after a longtime feud between the owners […]
Orphans in Russia
According to official statistics there were 697,000 orphans in Russia in 2010, more than during WWII. In 1940 the figure was 678,000.
Poll finds seniors shunning Pennsylvania Gov. Corbett
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE: …A slightly higher percentage of senior citizens — 37 percent — have a favorable opinion of Corbett than likely voters as a whole, while 57 percent have an unfavorable one, the poll shows. Their support appears to be slipping. Forty-eight percent of seniors had an unfavorable opinion of Corbett in an RMU survey […]
Time for a second Constitutional Convention?
Given their experiences and struggles with England, our founding fathers understandably had distaste for the parliamentary form of the British government, with its then powerful monarchy and the House of Lords that shared power with the House of Parliament.
Heads roll across Europe in wake of polls
FINANCIAL TIMES: The aftershocks of EU elections that saw a surge in support for anti-establishment parties rippled across Europe on Monday with mainstream party leaders losing their posts and a battle building over the bloc’s top job. The struggle over the EU’s future is due to be joined on Tuesday, when EU leaders gather for […]
Obama to Troops in Afghanistan: Caring for Vets is ‘Sacred Obligation’
NEWSMAX / AP: …[President Barack] Obama’s visit took place against the backdrop of growing outrage in the United States over the treatment of America’s war veterans. More than two dozen veterans’ hospitals across America are under investigation over allegations of treatment delays and deaths, putting greater scrutiny on the VA… “We’re going to stay strong […]
Handicapping a shale extraction tax
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE Column: It’s a question with huge implications for state budget negotiations next month and perhaps for the length of Gov. Tom Corbett’s tenure in the governor’s mansion: Will Corbett sign a bill bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars through a tax on natural gas drilling if the Republican-controlled Legislature sends him one?…
Poroshenko claims victory in Ukraine election
ALJAZEERA: Petro Poroshenko has declared himself winner in Ukraine’s presidential election and vowed to end the conflict in his country, after an exit poll showed he had won an outright majority… “The first steps that must be taken must focus on finishing the war, the chaos, and bring peace to a united Ukraine,” said Poroshenko, […]