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from Columbia Basin Herald
Wilson Creek school superintendent resigns
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from The Spokesman-Review
Suicide bombing at US Embassy in Turkey
Feds: Warming imperils wolverines
Ed Koch, mayor who became a symbol of NYC, dies
Debt ceiling bill clears Senate
Lawmakers admit next budget hurdle won’t be so easy
Trash diet success
More residents increasing their recycling, downsizing to less expensive garbage can
Turk group wants to trademark ‘IDAHO’
Abuse report termed ‘brutal’
L.A. archdiocese makes sweeping moves in response to priest actions
Census shift in Golden State
Latinos will become plurality by 2014
Health care protections lag
American deaths in Afghanistan drop
January’s toll was lowest since 2008
U.S. considers more action against China cyberattacks
American firms find more hacking
25 dead, 101 injured at Pemex headquarters
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In brief: From Wire Reports:
Beirut – Syria threatened Thursday to retaliate for an Israeli airstrike and its ally Iran said the Jewish state will regret the attack. Syria sent a letter to the U.N. Secretary-General stressing the country’s “right to defend itself, its territory and sovereignty” and holding Israel and its supporters accountable.
U.S. officials said Israel launched a rare airstrike inside Syria on Wednesday targeting a convoy carrying anti-aircraft weapons bound for Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group allied with Syria and Iran.
In Israel, a lawmaker close to hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stopped short of confirming involvement in the strike. But he hinted that Israel could carry out similar missions in the future.
Iran plans to increase uranium enrichment
Vienna – In a defiant move ahead of nuclear talks, Iran has announced plans to vastly increase its pace of uranium enrichment, which can make both reactor fuel and the fissile core of warheads. Eager to avoid scuttling those negotiations, world powers are keeping their response low-key.
Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency of its intentions last week, and the IAEA informed member nations in an internal note seen by the Associated Press on Thursday.
Mark Fitzpatrick, a non-proliferation expert and former senior official at the U.S. State Department, described the planned upgrade as a potential “game-changer.”
“If thousands of the more efficient machines are introduced, the timeline for being able to produce a weapon’s worth of fissile material will significantly shorten,” said Fitzpatrick.
Health care workers killed by land mine
Islamabad – A land mine blast killed two polio vaccination workers in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, the latest deaths involving health care teams trying to eradicate the disease in the South Asian nation.
The blast occurred in Pakistan’s Kurram region, one of several remote tribal districts along the border with Afghanistan that have long harbored Islamic militants. Health care workers Muzamel Hussain and Akbar Badshah had been administering polio vaccination drops to children in the village of Malikhel and were on their motorcycle when a mine in the road exploded.
McMorris Rodgers touts hydropower
U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is pushing for greater development of hydroelectric power.
The Spokane Republican, co-sponsor of the proposed Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013, met Wednesday in Spokane with representatives of several Eastern Washington utilities to discuss the effort.
“The potential of hydropower is tremendous,” McMorris said in prepared remarks. “Washington state alone gets over 75 percent of its power from this clean and renewable source of energy – and we owe it to the Pacific Northwest and to the rest of America to expand an energy source that will not only lower costs, but create thousands of jobs.”
The bipartisan legislation won the unanimous backing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and now is awaiting consideration by the full House. It’s intended to make it easier for small hydropower and conduit projects to get permits, McMorris Rodgers said.
Congressional analysts estimate just 3 percent of America’s 80,000 existing dams are equipped to generate hydropower.
Washington state to get settlement
OLYMPIA – Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said Washington will get about $4 million as part of a national settlement of claims against a mortgage processing company.
The attorney general’s office will receive an additional $433,000 in legal fees and costs.
Washington is among the states that agreed to a roughly $120 million settlement with Lender Processing Services over practices that included the “robo-signing” of foreclosure documents without proper review of the papers.
Ferguson said the settlement will require proper execution of documents and prohibit signatures by unauthorized people or those without firsthand knowledge of facts referenced in the documents.
He said the settlement is one more opportunity to improve lending and foreclosure practices for homeowners in the future.
Consumer spending up a scant 0.2 percent
WASHINGTON – U.S. consumers increased their spending in December at a slower pace, while their income grew by the largest amount in eight years. Income surged because companies rushed to pay dividends before income taxes increased on high-earners.
The Commerce Department said Thursday that consumer spending rose 0.2 percent last month. That’s slightly slower than the 0.4 percent increase in November.
Income jumped 2.6 percent in December from November, the biggest gain since December 2004. The main driver of the increase was dividend payments, which companies accelerated to beat the January rise in income tax rates.
Wages and salaries grew 0.6 percent.
Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity, is expected to slow this year. That’s because consumers are receiving less take-home pay starting this month because of an increase in Social Security taxes.
Analysts predict the January report will show slower income growth because most bonuses and dividends were paid out in December.
Labor group to suspend Wal-Mart picketing
Labor groups say they will end their picketing at Wal-Mart stores for at least 60 days as part of a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board. But they vowed they will continue to press the world’s largest retailer to better overall working conditions, including wages.
The agreement, announced by the labor board Thursday, comes after the discounter filed a complaint on Nov. 20 with the board against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. It said that demonstrations at the stores organized by union-backed OUR Walmart that culminated on the day after Thanksgiving threatened to disrupt its business and intimidate customers and other store workers.
OUR Walmart is made up of former and current Wal-Mart workers.
Meanwhile, OUR Walmart filed its own charge with the labor board. It cited attempts by Wal-Mart to deter workers from participating in what the group called legally protected walkouts.
Apple blocks Java for security reasons
NEW YORK – Some Mac users were taken by surprise Thursday as their computers stopped running programs written using the Java programming language after Apple blocked Java due to security problems.
Java allows programmers to write a wide variety of Internet applications and other software programs and run them on most computers, including Apple Inc.’s Mac. However, earlier this month the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recommended disabling Java in Web browsers to avoid potential hacking attacks. Oracle Corp., which owns Java, has issued updates that fix known vulnerabilities, but the DHS expects that there are more flaws in Java’s coding.
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| Michael Philip Anderson 1995 NASA photo |
His namesake school honors Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson
Ten-year anniversary of Columbia loss
Spokane Tribe posts casino impact statement
Renowned Indian artist George Flett dies at 66
All Nippon to seek damages from Boeing
Grounded Dreamliners cost airline $15.4 million in January
Jobless claims jump, in sync with hiring
Four-week unemployment average is at four-year low
Vestal: Nailing down the hammer analogyTen-year anniversary of Columbia loss
Spokane Tribe posts casino impact statement
Renowned Indian artist George Flett dies at 66
All Nippon to seek damages from Boeing
Grounded Dreamliners cost airline $15.4 million in January
Jobless claims jump, in sync with hiring
Four-week unemployment average is at four-year low
Shawn Vestal
Amy Goodman
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Prep Girls Basketball
Northeast 1B South
Almira/Coulee-Hartline 62, St. Michael’s 30: Karlee Martin scored 21 through three quarters and ACH’s Warriors (15-5, 10-0) raced to a victory over the host Warriors (4-16, 2-8). Macaela Shelley’s 10 points were tops for St. Michael’s.
Almira/Coulee-Hartline 62, St. Michael’s 30: Karlee Martin scored 21 through three quarters and ACH’s Warriors (15-5, 10-0) raced to a victory over the host Warriors (4-16, 2-8). Macaela Shelley’s 10 points were tops for St. Michael’s.
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from The Wenatchee World
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| The Chelan lakeside was a busy place for steamboat traffic in the early 1900s. One business to benefit from the activity was an ice cream parlor at the end of the dock. Fruit, candy and cigars were also sold in addition to frozen treats. |
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As nation remembers, struggling families can never forget
Florida scrambles to get NASA OK for land to build launch pad
Storm damage doesn’t qualify for federal assistance
A mall shooting’s ‘silent victim’
Soldier sleep problems and how to fix them
Immigration reform starts at the fence
Charles Krauthammer Washington Post Writers Group
Caribou Trail League playoff picture coming into focus
Do gays need a church of their own anymore?
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