Friday, July 24, 2015
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Montana Fires/ GMO Labeling
Missoulian: Evacuations
begin in St. Mary as Glacier Park fire marches across 4,000 acres
Closures Due to Wildland Fire
The Going-to-the-Sun Road from Big Bend to St. Mary, Logan Pass & Logan Pass Visitor Center, Rising Sun Campground & all Rising Sun facilities, St. Mary Campground & Visitor Center, & The Highline Trail from Granite Park Chalet to Logan Pass
Montana Incidents
Closures Due to Wildland Fire
The Going-to-the-Sun Road from Big Bend to St. Mary, Logan Pass & Logan Pass Visitor Center, Rising Sun Campground & all Rising Sun facilities, St. Mary Campground & Visitor Center, & The Highline Trail from Granite Park Chalet to Logan Pass
Montana Incidents
Missoulian: 5 things:
House bill would prevent mandatory GMO labeling
H.R.1599 - Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015
“A food label can only claim that a food is non-GMO if the ingredients are subject to certain supply chain process controls. No food label can suggest that non-GMO foods are safer than GMO foods. A food can be labeled as non-GMO even if it is produced with a GMO processing aid or enzyme or derived from animals fed GMO feed or given GMO drugs.”
H.R.1599 - Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015
“A food label can only claim that a food is non-GMO if the ingredients are subject to certain supply chain process controls. No food label can suggest that non-GMO foods are safer than GMO foods. A food can be labeled as non-GMO even if it is produced with a GMO processing aid or enzyme or derived from animals fed GMO feed or given GMO drugs.”
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Glacier Fire/ North Dakota Abortion Law/ Social Security Funds
Missoulian: Glacier
Park fire at 2,000 acres; more evacuations underway
Reynolds Creek Wildland Fire
“Firefighters and fire-fighting resources continue to respond to the Reynolds Creek Wildland Fire on the east side of Glacier National Park. At this time, the fire is estimated to be approximately 2,000 acres. The fire management priorities are safety of public and fire-fighting personnel, protection of property and values at risk, and containment of the fire.”
Reynolds Creek Wildland Fire
“Firefighters and fire-fighting resources continue to respond to the Reynolds Creek Wildland Fire on the east side of Glacier National Park. At this time, the fire is estimated to be approximately 2,000 acres. The fire management priorities are safety of public and fire-fighting personnel, protection of property and values at risk, and containment of the fire.”
“Widespread showers with scattered thunderstorms will
develop and grow stronger across southwest Montana and Lemhi County Wednesday
afternoon. Some thunderstorms will continue overnight, though these storms will
likely be weaker and more isolated in coverage. A secondary push of moisture
will shift the focus for convection farther north on Thursday, likely impacting
the Missoula and southern Mission Valleys. But most all these storms will be
concluded by late Thursday evening. The key threats with all storms will be
brief heavy rain with localized torrential downpours, frequent cloud-to-ground
lightning and gusty winds to around 40 mph.”
Missoulian: Appeals
court OKs tossing strict North Dakota abortion law
142128P.pdf 07/22/2015 MKB Management Corp. v. Wayne Stenehjem
“North Dakota statute banning abortion when the unborn child possesses a detectable heartbeat is unconstitutional; there is no genuine dispute that H.B. 1456 generally prohibits abortions before viability - as the Supreme Court has defined that concept - and because this court is bound by Supreme Court precedents holding that states may not prohibit pre-viability abortions, the district court's grant of summary judgment is affirmed.”
142128P.pdf 07/22/2015 MKB Management Corp. v. Wayne Stenehjem
“North Dakota statute banning abortion when the unborn child possesses a detectable heartbeat is unconstitutional; there is no genuine dispute that H.B. 1456 generally prohibits abortions before viability - as the Supreme Court has defined that concept - and because this court is bound by Supreme Court precedents holding that states may not prohibit pre-viability abortions, the district court's grant of summary judgment is affirmed.”
Missoulian: Government
says Social Security disability benefits face big cut in 2016 unless Congress
acts
Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs
“Social Security’s Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund now faces an urgent threat of reserve depletion, requiring prompt corrective action by lawmakers if sudden reductions or interruptions in benefit payments are to be avoided. Beyond DI, Social Security as a whole as well as Medicare cannot sustain projected long-run program costs under currently scheduled financing.”
Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs
“Social Security’s Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund now faces an urgent threat of reserve depletion, requiring prompt corrective action by lawmakers if sudden reductions or interruptions in benefit payments are to be avoided. Beyond DI, Social Security as a whole as well as Medicare cannot sustain projected long-run program costs under currently scheduled financing.”
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Montana internet/ Unemployment/ Tax Provisions
Missoulian: USDA commits
$30 million to rural Montana internet service
USDA Announces $349 Million in Funding for Rural Electric Infrastructure Projects including $17 Million in Smart Grid Technology
“Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced $349 million in funding for 15 rural electric infrastructure projects to build or improve more than 1,844 miles of transmission and distribution lines for rural electric cooperatives and utilities in 13 states.”
USDA Announces $349 Million in Funding for Rural Electric Infrastructure Projects including $17 Million in Smart Grid Technology
“Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced $349 million in funding for 15 rural electric infrastructure projects to build or improve more than 1,844 miles of transmission and distribution lines for rural electric cooperatives and utilities in 13 states.”
Montana’s Unemployment Rate drops to 3.9
Percent
“Montana’s unemployment rate declined to 3.9 percent in May, down 0.1 percentage points from April. Employment levels in Montana are now over the half million threshold for the first time ever. The U.S. unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 5.5 percent. New data from the Montana Department of Labor & Industry also showed that the state’s average annual wage increased to $38,875 in 2014, a 3.5% increase over last year.”
“Montana’s unemployment rate declined to 3.9 percent in May, down 0.1 percentage points from April. Employment levels in Montana are now over the half million threshold for the first time ever. The U.S. unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 5.5 percent. New data from the Montana Department of Labor & Industry also showed that the state’s average annual wage increased to $38,875 in 2014, a 3.5% increase over last year.”
Missoulian: Senate panel
votes to renew dozens of expired tax breaks
Description Of The Chairman’s Modification To The Chairman’s Mark Of A Bill To Extend Certain Expired Tax Provisions“The Senate Committee on Finance has scheduled a markup on July 21, 2015 of the extension of certain expired tax provisions. This document, prepared by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, provides a description of the Chairman’s modification to the Chairman’s mark of a bill to extend certain expired tax provisions.”
Description Of The Chairman’s Modification To The Chairman’s Mark Of A Bill To Extend Certain Expired Tax Provisions“The Senate Committee on Finance has scheduled a markup on July 21, 2015 of the extension of certain expired tax provisions. This document, prepared by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, provides a description of the Chairman’s modification to the Chairman’s mark of a bill to extend certain expired tax provisions.”
Monday, July 20, 2015
Climate Change and Fires/ Cuban Relations
Missoulian: Missoula
study: Climate change increasing length of wildfire seasons worldwide
Climate-induced variations in global wildfire danger from 1979 to 2013
“Climate strongly influences global wildfire activity, and recent wildfire surges may signal fire weather-induced pyrogeographic shifts. Here we use three daily global climate data sets and three fire danger indices to develop a simple annual metric of fire weather season length, and map spatio-temporal trends from 1979 to 2013. We show that fire weather seasons have lengthened across 29.6 million km2 (25.3%) of the Earth’s vegetated surface, resulting in an 18.7% increase in global mean fire weather season length. We also show a doubling (108.1% increase) of global burnable area affected by long fire weather seasons (41.0 s above the historical mean) and an increased global frequency of long fire weather seasons across 62.4 million km2 (53.4%) during the second half of the study period. If these fire weather changes are coupled with ignition sources and available fuel, they could markedly impact global ecosystems, societies, economies and climate.”
Climate-induced variations in global wildfire danger from 1979 to 2013
“Climate strongly influences global wildfire activity, and recent wildfire surges may signal fire weather-induced pyrogeographic shifts. Here we use three daily global climate data sets and three fire danger indices to develop a simple annual metric of fire weather season length, and map spatio-temporal trends from 1979 to 2013. We show that fire weather seasons have lengthened across 29.6 million km2 (25.3%) of the Earth’s vegetated surface, resulting in an 18.7% increase in global mean fire weather season length. We also show a doubling (108.1% increase) of global burnable area affected by long fire weather seasons (41.0 s above the historical mean) and an increased global frequency of long fire weather seasons across 62.4 million km2 (53.4%) during the second half of the study period. If these fire weather changes are coupled with ignition sources and available fuel, they could markedly impact global ecosystems, societies, economies and climate.”
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