Credit: Gerry Broome/AP
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday abruptly removed inspection reports and other information from its website about the treatment of animals at thousands of research laboratories, zoos, dog breeding operations and other facilities.
In a statement, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service cited court rulings and privacy laws for the decision, which it said was the result of a “comprehensive review” that took place over the past year. It said the removed documents, which also included records of enforcement actions against violators of the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act, would now be accessible only via Freedom of Information Act Requests. Those can take years to be approved.
“We remain equally committed to being transparent and responsive to our stakeholders’ informational needs, and maintaining the privacy rights of individuals with whom we come in contact,” the statement said.
The records that had been available were frequently used by animal welfare advocates to monitor government regulation of animal treatment at circuses, […]
Solar power represents only about 1% of the electricity U.S. utilities generate.
Credit:Jim Mone / Associated Press
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA — The plunging cost of solar power is leading U.S. electric companies to capture more of the sun just when President Donald Trump is moving to boost coal and other fossil fuels.
Solar power represents just about 1% of the electricity U.S. utilities generate today, but that could grow substantially as major electric utilities move into smaller-scale solar farming, a niche developed by local cooperatives and nonprofits.
It’s both an opportunity and a defensive maneuver: Sunshine-capturing technology has become so cheap, so quickly, that utilities are moving to preserve their core business against competition from household solar panels.
“Solar growth is so extensive and has so much momentum behind it that we’re at the point where you can’t put the genie back in the bottle,” said Jeffrey R.S. Brownson, a Pennsylvania State University professor who studies solar adoption. “You either learn how to work with this new […]
Republican Representative John Barrasso of Wyoming
The House of Representatives on Thursday evening voted to overturn an Obama-era rule that had been put in place to prevent people with severe mental illnesses from buying firearms.
The rule, which was finalized by the Social Security Administration in December, banned Social Security beneficiaries from buying guns if their disability payments are handled by an outside party due to their “marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease.”
Appearing on CNN Friday morning, Rep. John Barrasso (R – WY) defended his vote to overturn the rule on the basis that it went into effect at the very end of President Barack Obama’s second term, and was thus a “midnight” regulation that deserved to be scrutinized. Although the rule was only put into effect in December, it had actually been in the works for years, and was a response to the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012.
But when Barrasso was asked repeatedly by CNN’s Alisyn Camerota whether he thought that it was a good […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
