There is an environmental disaster brewing in Washington, D.C.
The 2010 election contributions made by Big Business have won them a spending bill for U.S. environmental agencies that is packed with “riders” gutting protections for air, water, public lands and wildlife.
If this bill — proposed by the House Appropriations Committee — passes into law, it will allow polluting industries to reap private profits at the expense of our health and natural heritage, according to a press release from Earthjustice.
“Washington, D.C. has never seen such an environmental disaster as the one that is happening in the House Appropriations Committee,” Joan Mulhern, Earthjustice’s senior legislative counsel in D.C., said in a statement. “Our elected officials are sacrificing regulations that will save lives, protect our drinking water, clean our air and save our mountains and species.
Water and fish samples have been sent to the Alabama Department of Public Health to try and figure out what is causing a fishkill in sea waters off Gulf Shores, Alabama, according to a report from WKRG News 5 in Mobile.
“The middle of last week is when we started getting reports of them washing up on the front beach of the state park,” Chief Biologist for the Alabama Department of Conservation Kevin Anson said.
For about a week now, fish — mostly menhaden — have been dying by the hundreds, popping up in Gulf waters either to be eaten by seabirds or other marine life or just washing ashore.
Biologist are trying to figure out why. Anson told the news channel it started with an algae bloom and could have to do with calm waters and high temperatures depleting oxygen levels.
Rep. Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican, is taking heat over comments he made last month saying that when it comes to illegal immigrants, “I will do anything short of shooting them.”
“Anything that is lawful, it needs to be done because illegal aliens need to quit taking jobs from American citizens,” Brooks said in an interview with Alabama television station WHNT, an excerpt of which was posted to YouTube (see video above).
Brooks’ comment, reportedly first made in a town hall meeting and then repeated on camera, has prompted the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Democratic Rep. Charlie Gonzalez of Texas, to criticize Brooks for “rhetoric referencing acts of violence.”
The Republican insistence on making the debt ceiling their give as opposed to increased tax revenues is like a doctor who believes strictly in magic consulting with a patient.
Two environmental organizations, the Alabama Rivers Alliance and Southern Environmental Law Center, released a report on Wednesday detailing the changes needed in state policies to ensure that Alabama has clean and plentiful drinking water and healthy river systems for the long term.
The Alabama Water Agenda calls on state leaders to take prompt action to protect the state’s environment and to manage Alabama’s waters to ensure the resource is fully protected and allocated fairly among communities, farms and industry.
The groups recommend more funding for water quality programs, stronger enforcement of water laws and better coordination among the many state agencies with some level of responsibility for our water resources.
“Healthy water in Alabama starts with strong leadership from state decision-makers,” said Cindy Lowry, Alabama Rivers Alliance Executive Director. “We want people to be more aware of the importance of water in our lives and the need for sound water policy to protect this valuable resource.”
In a “blatant demonstration of partisan favoritism,” according to a press release from the Alabama Democratic Party, Governor Robert Bentley declared Tuesday that he would provide just 72 hours for candidates to qualify to run for the recent vacancies in State House Districts 45 and 48, severely limiting the ballot access window for potential candidates.
“I certainly hope no interested candidates are on vacation this week,” said Bradley Davidson, Executive Director for the Alabama Democrats.
“It’s the middle of summer,” Davidson said. “We find it unfortunate that Governor Bentley has so little faith in his Party’s potential nominees that he’d try to handicap challengers with such a narrow qualifying window.”
A Talladega County man pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to mailing a series of hoax anthrax letters in Alabama in March and April last year, according to a press release from the office of U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance.
Just before his trial was to begin, Clifton Lamar “Cliff” Todd, 39, of Lincoln, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Abdul Kallon to 23 counts of mailing letters that contained a threat in the form of white powder that could reasonably have been perceived as the biological toxin, anthrax. He also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to mail eight of the hoax anthrax letters.
One of the threat letters was delivered to U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby’s office in the Robert S. Vance Federal on March 8, 2010. Other recipients of the white-powder letters Dodd has pleaded guilty to sending include Alabama Sen. Jim Preuitt of Talladega, two Talladega County state court judges, Talladega County Sheriff Jerry Studdard, several Talladega County Jail inmates who were in the jail at the same time as Dodd, and police investigators from both the Lincoln and Oxford police departments who previously had interviewed Dodd.
“We are pleased with the defendant’s decision to plead guilty and look forward to sentencing,” Vance said.
A St. Clair County man pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to mailing a series of hoax anthrax letters in Alabama in March and April last year, according to a press release from the office of U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance.
Just before his trial was to begin, Clifton Lamar “Cliff” Todd, 39, of Lincoln, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Abdul Kallon to 23 counts of mailing letters that contained a threat in the form of white powder that could reasonably have been perceived as the biological toxin, anthrax. He also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to mail eight of the hoax anthrax letters.
One of the threat letters was delivered to U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby’s office in the Robert S. Vance Federal on March 8, 2010. Other recipients of the white-powder letters Dodd has pleaded guilty to sending include Alabama Sen. Jim Preuitt of Talladega, two Talladega County state court judges, Talladega County Sheriff Jerry Studdard, several Talladega County Jail inmates who were in the jail at the same time as Dodd, and police investigators from both the Lincoln and Oxford police departments who previously had interviewed Dodd.
“We are pleased with the defendant’s decision to plead guilty and look forward to sentencing,” Vance said.
During the Bush years, we specialized in covering the politicization of the U.S. justice system as much as any news organization. Our archives are about the most comprehensive for anyone researching the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, and the original case against Richard Scrushy, which Glynn Wilson covered for The New York Times.
