Veteran's Health Care

Missoulian: Fix to veterans' health care takes on new resolve
Statement by the President on Veterans Health Care
“First, anybody found to have manipulated or falsified records at VA facilities has to be held accountable.  The inspector general at the VA has launched investigations into the Phoenix VA and other facilities.  And some individuals have already been put on administrative leave.  I know that people are angry and want a swift reckoning.  I sympathize with that.  But we have to let the investigators do their job and get to the bottom of what happened.  Our veterans deserve to know the facts.  Their families deserve to know the facts.  And once we know the facts, I assure you -- if there is misconduct, it will be punished.” 

Fires and Climate Change/ Wildfires and Exploding Targets/ More FIrefighting Tankers

Climate is the most important environmental factor affecting long-term variability and change of wildfire. R.C. Wilkinson, University of Florida

Missoulian: Wildfires growing increasingly dangerous and costly, expert says
NDFD Fire Danger Point Forecast Tool
Wildfire in the United States: Future Trends and Potential
“Wildfire is a major forest disturbance in the United States—one with remarkable environmental, social, and economic impacts. Future wildfire trends are mainly determined by variability and change in climate, which is projected to become warmer and drier this century in the continental United States. Researchers at the Forest Service's Center for Forest Disturbance Science projected trends in wildfire potential for the continental United States using dynamical regional climate change downscaling simulations provided by the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program.”

Climate change and wildfires
“Wildland fire regimes are primarily driven by climate/weather, fuels and people. All of these factors are dynamic and their variable interactions create a mosaic of fire regimes around the world. Climate change will have a substantial impact on future fire regimes in many global regions. Current research suggests a general increase in area burned and fire occurrence but there is a lot of global variability. Recent studies of future global fire weather under different climate change scenarios using several General Circulation Models are reviewed. A widespread increase in future fire weather severity was found over almost all the earth with increasing fire season length occurring in many regions, particularly at northern latitudes. In the boreal forest region, which represents about one-third of global forest cover, increased area burned over the last four decades has been linked to higher temperatures as a result of human-induced climate change.”

Missoulian: Exploding targets banned on national forests in Montana, Idaho, Dakotas
US Forest Service Implements Closure Order on Explosive Targets
“In the past two years, exploding targets have been identified as the cause of at least 16 wildfires in the western states, costing taxpayers more than $33 million in fire suppression costs. The closure order includes all 12 national forests and grasslands in the Northern Region, covering northern Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and remaining portions of South Dakota not already under a closure order by the Rocky Mountain region.”

Missoulian: Forest Service expands aerial firefighting fleet with 3 more Neptune Aviation tankers
Forest Service increases its firefighting aircraft fleet as fire season begins

“In the face of what is shaping up to be a catastrophic fire season in the Southwest, the U.S. Forest Service is adding four additional aircraft to its next-generation firefighting fleet, bringing the total amount of aircraft to 21 large airtankers (with opportunities to add additional aircraft, if needed) and more than 100 helicopters.  The new aircraft will enter service in the coming weeks and support over 10,000 firefighters for the 2014 wildfire season.”

Off Shore Banking Bust/ Chinese Cyber Crime

Missoulian: Credit Suisse case called warning to foreign banks
Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division Kathryn Keneally Speaks at Press Conference Announcing Guilty Plea in Credit Suisse Offshore Tax Evasion Case
“Credit Suisse has now acknowledged that it acted in both the United States and Switzerland to aid and abet the use of secret Swiss bank accounts for the evasion of U.S. taxes.  As set out in the statement of facts, Credit Suisse assisted its clients in using sham entities, soliciting IRS forms that falsely stated that those sham entities were the beneficial owners of assets in accounts with the bank, and facilitating access to the funds in those accounts in a manner designed to keep the accounts secret.  It also failed to preserve documents that would have aided in our investigation.  The plea agreement that has been announced today imposes serious consequences on Credit Suisse for this conduct.  ”

Missoulian: Cyber case puts more strain on US-China relations

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin Speaks at the Press Conference Announcing U.S. Charges Against Five Chinese Military Hackers for Cyber Espionage

“We allege that members of unit 61398 conspired to hack into computers of six U.S. victims to steal information that would provide an economic advantage to the victims’ competitors, including Chinese state-owned enterprises.”

FBI: Five Chinese Military Hackers Charged with Cyber Espionage Against U.S.
“From 2006-2014, defendants Wang Dong, Sun Kailiang, Wen Xinyu, Huang Zhenyu, and Gu Chunhui, who were officers in Unit 61398 of the Third Department of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, were allegedly involved a hacking conspiracy that targeted Westinghouse Electric Co.; U.S. subsidiaries of SolarWorld AG; United States Steel Corp.; Allegheny Technologies Inc.; the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union; and Alcoa, Inc.”