Friday, June 14, 2013

PILT Money/ Wildfires/ Military Sexual Assault


 Payments in Lieu of Taxes Website
“‘Payments in Lieu of Taxes’ (or PILT) are Federal payments to local governments that help offset losses in property taxes due to non-taxable Federal lands within their boundaries.”
Missoulian:
Agency mobilizes more aerial assets to help suppress fires in Colorado, elsewhere
“The U.S. Forest Service is mobilizing two Department of Defense C-130s equipped with Modular Airborne Firefighting Systems, known as MAFFS, to assist with wildfire suppression efforts in Colorado and elsewhere in the West as needed.   ”

Reported fires
InciWeb Colorado
InciWeb Idaho
InciWeb New Mexico 
 

H.AMDT.147 (A007)
Amends: H.R.1960: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014
Sponsor: Rep Turner, Michael R. [OH-10] (offered 6/13/2013)
AMENDMENT PURPOSE:
An amendment numbered 6 printed in Part B of House Report 113-108 to establish mandatory minimum sentences of discharge or dismissal, and confinement required for certain sex related offenses committed by members of the Armed Forces.


“ We begin today in open session to address the issue of sexual assault in the military. There is strong public interest in the sexual assault provisions. They are easily segregable from the other provisions and issues in the mark, and there is no likelihood of any classified aspect of this issue. We have had an open markup in the past on similarly segregable issues, including the Wounded Warriors Act, the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act, and the first Military Commissions Act.”

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Freedom of Speech/ Immigration


 Civil Action No. 2012-0104
HODGE v. TALKIN et al 
Following his arrest for violation of 40 U.S.C. § 6135 for wearing a sign while standing “quietly and peacefully” on the Supreme Court plaza, the plaintiff, Harold Hodge, Jr., brought this lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of that statute under the First and Fifth Amendments “on its face and as applied to his desired activities,” which include returning to the Supreme Court plaza to “engage in peaceful, non-disruptive political speech and expression.”