Top Stories
Should Private Companies be Allowed to Charge for Use of Public Lands?
Specifically, BARK claims that private companies charge an $8 parking fee at Rose Canyon Lake in the Coronado National Forest in Arizona; that in Oregon, a private company charged for use of the Mt. Hood National Forest, “including the ‘Big Eddy’ day-use area, where visitors have traditionally parked to swim in the Clackamas River free of charge;” and that “the concessionaire now charges $5 per person to soak in Bagby Hot Springs, regardless of how they arrive.” read more
Researchers of Anti-Organic Report Funded by Agribusiness
Organic boosters also noted that, despite the headlines that accompanied the release of the results, the Stanford study actually substantiated one of the advantages of consuming organic food, specifically that it can lead to an 81% reduction in exposure to toxic and carcinogenic agrichemicals. read more
Meat Producer Sues ABC over Pink Slime Accusations
The South Dakota-based meat processor wants $1.2 billion in damages from the network, which was named a defendant along with reporter Diane Sawyer and Gerald Zirnstein, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) microbiologist who coined the term pink slime in 2002. Beef Products chose ABC to sue because of its “sustained, concerted, long-duration attack.” read more
Federal Judge Halts Indefinite Detention of Suspects without Trial
"This Court rejects the Government’s suggestion that American citizens can be placed in military detention indefinitely, for acts they could not predict might subject them to detention, and have as their sole remedy a habeas petition adjudicated by a single decision-maker.” read more
Illegal Border Crossings Drop So Much that Homeland Security Halts Program to Fly Immigrants to Mexico
Since 2004, DHS has spent about $100 million a year sending undocumented Mexicans by plane to Mexico City. It used aircraft to return immigrants a thousand miles away with the hope that the distance would dissuade them from traveling all the way back north to the border.
By this summer, however, the Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were picking up fewer illegal immigrants—to the point where officials had trouble filling up flights.
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Percentage of Americans with Jobs Hits 31-Year Low
The labor force participation rate, defined as the percentage of Americans who either have a job or are looking for one, fell to 63.5% in August, the lowest in 31 years…since September 1981. The percentage peaked at 67.3% during the first four months of 2000.
Economists estimate there are seven million people who have stopped looking for work, in addition to another 13 million who continue the search.
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Bipartisan Bill Would Make Independent Regulatory Agencies Less Independent
The IARAA would fundamentally change the way independent regulatory agencies operate in two crucial ways by (1) giving the president the power to force independent agencies to submit proposed and final rules to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for approval and (2) requiring agencies to conduct a so-called “cost-benefit analysis” of such rules. read more
Hurricane Isaac Stirred up Tar Balls from BP Spill
Since the storm passed and the waters receded, tar balls, tar mats and oil have been found on the beaches of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, mostly in places where heavy oil deposits occurred during the spill. The oil forced officials to close a 13-mile stretch of Fourchon beach in Louisiana Tuesday, where a dead whale washed up and officials have banned commercial fishing within one mile of shore. Isaac made landfall near Fourchon August 28 as a Category 1 storm. read more
The New Renewable: Ocean Wave Energy Set to Take Off
Off the coast of Reedsport, the first commercial wave-energy device is scheduled for launch. The hope is that the cannon-shaped device will generate enough energy to light 1,000 homes while floating in the ocean.
Ocean Power Technologies, the New Jersey company that built it, is also hoping the 260-ton invention will withstand winter storms and not sink.
Wave-energy technology is so new that there is no set design yet for this untested renewable energy.
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Justice Dept. Accuses BP of “Gross Negligence” over Gulf Oil Spill
The court document blasts BP’s leadership in no uncertain terms. Referring to “A Culture of Corporate Recklessness,” it states that “The behaviour, words and actions of these BP executives would not have been tolerated in a middling size company manufacturing dry goods for sale in a suburban mall.” read more
Ohio Secretary of State Rejects Court Order to Extend Early Voting Hours
Republican lawmakers adopted the law claiming it was necessary to restrict access to early voting in order to curb voter fraud and that voting on the weekend and Monday interfered with preparations for Election Day. Democrats counter that the real reason the Republicans want to limit the hours for early voting is that those who vote in the weekend before the election are more likely to vote Democratic. read more
New York Investigates Tax Avoidance by Bain and Other Private Equity Firms
The statements revealed that the firm Romney founded got away with not paying income taxes on at least $1 billion in accumulated fees by converting them into investments that produced capital gains, which are subject to a federal tax of only 15%. Had the fees been recorded as income, Bain would have owed 35% in tax. read more
The Battle to Limit the Number of Voters in November
Recently, federal and state judges have blocked some of these laws. In most cases, the judges issuing the opinions have been those who were appointed by Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. However, this is not always the case. The most notable exemption has been the rejection of Texas’ redistricting plan, in which two of the three judges who denied the Republican redistricting were appointed by President George W. Bush.
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Job Creators Best at Creating Low-Wage Jobs
Since the economic recovery began, low-wage occupations ($7.69 to $13.83 an hour) have made up 58% of all job growth, even though these jobs represented only 21% of job losses during the downturn.
What the country lost the most was middle-wage positions that paid $13.84 to $21.13 an hour. These accounted for 60% of layoffs from 2008 to 2010. So far, middle-wage jobs have made up only 22% of employment growth.
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New AllGov RSS Feeds
Regular readers of AllGov may have noticed that we have updated the site. As part of this changeover, the AllGov RSS feeds have been changed. Please click on the RSS button above to keep up with the feeds. Thank you. read more
Obama Gives Green Light to Shell Drilling for Oil in Arctic
In April, the Obama administration approved Shell’s emergency blueprint for containing an accidental blowout. The plan was designed to deal with a spill as large as 480,000 barrels of oil that, at that size, could reach the edge of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill dumped about 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. read more