Friday, April 4, 2014

Flathead Protection/ CIA Torture



Missoulian: Senate committee OKs release of CIA torture report
Intelligence Committee Votes to Declassify Portions of CIA Study
“The Senate Intelligence Committee this afternoon voted to declassify the 480-page executive summary as well as 20 findings and conclusions of the majority’s five-year study of the CIA Detention and Interrogation Program, which involved more than 100 detainees.”

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Air-Tanker Contracts/ Heroin Overdose Antidote/ 40h = Full Time



Missoulian: Feds uphold protests of air-tanker contract with Missoula company
Coulson Aviation (USA) Inc.; 10 Tanker Air Carrier, LLC; Minden Air Corp.
“Coulson Aviation (USA) Inc., of Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada, 10 Tanker Air Carrier, LLC, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Minden Air Corp., of Minden, Nevada, protest the noncompetitive award of contract No. AG-024B-C-14-9000 to Neptune Aviation Services, Inc., of Missoula, Montana, by the Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Forest Service, for next generation (NextGen) large airtanker services for wildland firefighting support. The agency justified the sole-source award under 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(3)(A) (2006), which provides for a noncompetitive award to a particular source to maintain that supplier for a national emergency or to achieve industrial mobilization. See also Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-3. The protesters argue that the sole-source contract awarded to Neptune, which was promised in exchange for Neptune's withdrawal of an earlier bid protest, is not justified.”

Missoulian: FDA approves easy-to-use heroin overdose antidote
FDA approves new hand-held auto-injector to reverse opioid overdose
“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a prescription treatment that can be used by family members or caregivers to treat a person known or suspected to have had an opioid overdose. Evzio (naloxone hydrochloride injection) rapidly delivers a single dose of the drug naloxone via a hand-held auto-injector that can be carried in a pocket or stored in a medicine cabinet.”

Missoulian: House GOP moves against health care law
H.R.2988: Forty Hours Is Full Time Act of 2013
“Forty Hours is Full Time Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the employer mandate to provide health care coverage, to: (1) modify the formula for calculating the number of full-time employees employed by an applicable large employer subject to the mandate; and (2) define a "full-time employee" as an employee who is employed on average at least 40 hours per week (currently, 30 hours).”

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Campaign Contribution Limits/ Frequent Fliers



Missoulian: Supreme Court strikes down overall limits on campaign contributions
McCutcheon v. Federal Election Comm’n
The right to participate in democracy through political contributions is protected by the First Amendment, but that right is not absolute. Congress may regulate campaign contributions to protect against corruption or the appearance of corruption… It may not, however, regulate contributions simply to reduce the amount of money in politics, or to restrict the political participation of some in order to enhance the relative influence of others.

Missoulian: High court limits suits over frequent flier miles
Northwest, Inc. v. Ginsberg
The ADA pre-empts a state-law claim for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing if it seeks to enlarge the contractual obligations that the parties voluntarily adopt.