PTSD/ Pipeline Safety / Transportation Bill

Missoulian: Army: PTSD treatable; some diagnosed return to war
Murray Presses Army Secretary on Handling of the Mental Wounds of War

Missoulian: Audit: Gas lines tied to fracking lack oversight
Collecting Data and Sharing Information on Federally Unregulated Gathering Pipelines Could Help Enhance Safety
“While the safety risks of onshore gathering pipelines that are not regulated by PHMSA are generally considered to be lower than for other types of pipelines, PHMSA does not collect comprehensive data to identify the safety risks of unregulated gathering pipelines. In response to a GAO survey, state pipeline safety agencies cited construction quality, maintenance practices, unknown or uncertain locations, and limited or no information on pipeline integrity as among the highest risks for federally unregulated pipelines.”

Missoulian: Highway bill becomes House Republican headache
H.R.7: American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act of 2012

Global Trends 2025

Missoulian: US intel: water a cause for war in coming decades

Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World
“Unprecedented economic growth, coupled with 1.5 billion more people, will put pressure on resources—particularly energy, food, and water—raising the specter of scarcities emerging as demand outstrips supply.”

Supreme Court Elections

Helena Independent Record: Judge: Supreme Court election referendum unconstitutional

SB 268 Referendum to require election of supreme court justices from districts

Eagles / Drug Patents / FMLA

Missoulian: Native Americans can face long wait for eagle feathers
How Can I Obtain Eagle Feathers or Parts?
National Eagle Repository
“The National Eagle Repository serves as a collection point for dead eagles. Most of the dead golden and bald eagles received by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) have been salvaged by State and Federal wildlife personnel. Many of these birds have died as a result of electrocution, vehicle collisions, unlawful shooting and trapping, or from natural causes.”

Helena Independent Record: Court throws out Prometheus drug patent
Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc.
“If a law of nature is not patentable, then neither is a process reciting a law of nature, unless that process has additional features that provide practical assurance that the process is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the law of nature itself. A patent, for example, could not simply recite a law of nature and then add the instruction “apply the law.””

Helena Independent Record: Court says state can't be sued over sick leave
Coleman v. Court of Appeals of Md.
“The Fourth Circuit affirmed, holding that unlike the family-care provision in Hibbs, the self-care provision was not directed at an identified pattern of gender-based discrimination and was not congruent and proportional to any pattern of sex-based discrimination on the part of States.”

Graduation Rates

Missoulian: Report: US makes modest gains in graduation rate

The Condition of Education
“The Condition of Education (COE) is a congressionally mandated annual report that summarizes important developments and trends in education using the latest available statistics.”

Missoulian: Montana high school graduation rates improve slightly

2011 Four‐year Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate
“Students earning General Education Development (GED) certificates are not included; nor are students who graduate in more than four years, even if the student has an individualized education plan (IEP) that specifies more than four years for completion of graduation requirements.”