ANGORA FIRE UPDATE
Local and state firefighting resources from Nevada have
responded to the Angora Fire near South Lake Tahoe, California. The
fire started at approx. 2:15 pm Sunday, June 24, 2007.
Recent media reports put the fire at approx. 750 acres with 165 homes
lost and 500+ homes threatened. The fire is burning in heavy fuels in
the Angora Ridge/Upper Angora Creek area, northwest of the City of South
Lake Tahoe. Heavy spotting towards the South Lake Tahoe High School have
also been reported. Highways 50 and 89 are closed. County officials
have declared a State of Emergency and the State of California has
declared the same. Hundreds of residents have been evacuated.
There is no estimate of containment at this time.
$3 MILLION FOR AMERICAN HISTORY EDUCATION IN NEVADA
On June 21, 2007 the Nevada Delegation announced secured funding that will improve the quality of American history education in Nevada by providing teachers with additional resources. The grants are designed to expand history teacher’s knowledge of United States history by providing professional development courses that will increase their understanding and ability to teach our nation’s history to children. Clark County will receive $1,993,687 in funding and Washoe County will receive $954,730. The Grants are provided through the No Child Left Behind Act’s Teaching American History Grants Program.
SENATE COMPROMISES ON ENERGY BILL
Last Thursday, after adopting a bipartisan compromise that heightens automobile fuel economy standards, the Senate approved comprehensive energy legislation. Included in the legislation was the Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) amendment to increase Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for all passenger cars and trucks by roughly 40 percent by year 2020, to a fleet-wide average of 35 miles per gallon, after dropping language requiring the standards to rise by 4 percent annually after 2020.
The House Ways
and Means Committee approved legislation last week that includes
$16 billion in energy tax incentives that would boost taxes on
the oil and gas industry like the Senate package.
CONGRESS TURNS ATTENTION TO DISABILITY
BACKLOGCongress is now giving its attention to backlogs in disability claims with the Social Security system providing millions of extra dollars to fix the problem. According to the Commissioner of Social Security, more than 700,000 outstanding cases will not be reduced even with the FY 2008 budget increase proposed by appropriators to stop the backlog.
Chairman Baucus (D-MT) wrote the Senate appropriators asking them to provide the Social Security Administration with $731 million more than the $9.3 billion provided in FY 2007, yet Chairmen Harkin (D-IA) of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee, outlined only a $426 million increase, and House Appropriations Chairman Obey (D-WI) has proposed only a $401 million increase.
BERKLEY AMENDMENT SHUTS DOWN "YUCCA MOUNTAIN JOHNNY"
Last Wednesday the House ruled that the “Yucca Mountain Youth Zone,” webpage be taken down. “Yucca Mountain Johnny” is a cartoon miner on the site that is aimed at teaching students about radioactive waste. With the acceptance of Congresswoman Shelley Berkley’s amendment, the Department of Energy ruled that the site conveys a “pro-nuclear” point of view and presents an unbalanced view of the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository. After Congresswoman Berkley compared "Yucca Mountain Johnny" to "Joe Camel" from the cigarette company, the chairman of the House Energy and Water Subcommittee, Peter Visclosky (D-IN) accepted the amendment without debate.
The amendment was added to a FY 2008 spending bill for the Energy Department. The Senate is also scheduled to debate the bill.
