News roundup


--> US news: President Obama proposes $1.5 trillion in new taxes. Responding to a common complaint from Republicans, he said, "This is not class warfare, it's math."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



--> US news: The death toll from a crash at an air race at Reno, Nevada, has risen to 10, one of the hospitals treating patients from Friday's accident said today. Close to 70 people were injured in the incident.

Reports coming in now indicate that the World War II-era plane that plummeted into the crowd underwent years of massive overhauls making it ideal for speed, not for stability.

National Transportation Safety Board member Mark Rosekind said investigators are looking at whether the plane's apparently damaged elevator trim tab - whose breaking apart was captured in a photograph - played a role in the nosedive crash. Authorities do not know why the aircraft went down.

A full investigation could take six to nine months, Rosekind said. (Via CNN)

--> Environmental news: The death toll from a magnitude 6.9 earthquake and its aftershocks along the border of India and Nepal climbed to 38 today, officials said.

Thirty-one deaths were reported in India with seven others in Nepal, according to each nation's Home Ministry. More than 90 were injured in India.

The quake struck the northern Indian state of Sikkim, where 24 people died, but also caused damage in West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. Five deaths were reported in West Bengal and two others in Bihar..

The deaths, damage and recovery efforts came after a total of three quakes struck the region in rapid succession in a mountainous region. More at CNN.

--> Environmental news: Closer to home, a giant, semi-submersible oil rig en route from Singapore will probably be drilling in the Florida Straits between Key West and Cuba in mid-December. The rig could arrive earlier, but Repsol, the Spanish oil company, wants to wait until after hurricane season ends before it begins drilling.

This latest report on the progress of the Italian-made Scarabeo 9 oil rig comes from Lee Hunt, the chief executive of the International Association of Drilling Contractors, who just returned from a trip to Cuba last week as part of a joint delegation with the environmental group, the Environmental Defense Fund.

Their goal was to learn how committed the Cuban government is to operating offshore oil and natural-gas rigs safely and responsibly, and to find out the best way for American companies with oil-spill expertise to work with Cuba, despite a 50-year-old economic embargo by the United States. More at the Miami Herald.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Regarding the Barry Manilow concert in Coral Gables

Image
[ Editor's note ] Three monumental things have happened to me at the BankUnited Center. In 2004, my high school held its graduation ceremony there. In 2008, I heard presidential nominee Barack Obama speak about the future. And this past Saturday night, I saw the incomparable Barry Manilow perform in concert. To say that Barry remains every bit the superstar I was hoping for is putting it mildly. At 67 years young, he brought all the magic, the smiles, and the bandstand boogie he's famous for and then some. Funny, talented and charmingly self-deprecating, Barry Manilow remains without equal. Admittedly, the night started off rather poorly. Barry’s opening act was a man named Gerry McCambridge who has allegedly been wowing audiences at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas since 2005. As the creative force and inspiration behind the TV show The Mentalist , McCambridge's schtick is to do clever things with numbers. Honestly, I've never thought that doing anything with numbers w...
Read more

Regarding Steve Grand at Market Days

Image
Today, in the unlikeliest place imaginable, a musician restored my faith in music. His name is Steve Grand and believe me when I say that he lives up to his name. I first heard about Steve a year ago when his video for “All-American Boy” spread across the Internet like a wildfire. Being an ardent supporter of talented people (because there are so few of them left!) I downloaded the song, donated a little money to his Kickstarter campaign for an album, and followed him on the Twitter. Then last week I found out that he’d be at Market Days this weekend and quickly made arrangements to be there, too. Given the venue and nature of the audience, I was not expecting much. Steve is handsome and built like a truck, so I thought he’d come out shirtless, the audience of boys would fawn over him for the duration of three songs, and that would be that. How wonderfully wrong I was. Steve came out fully clothed-- wearing a plain white V-neck tee shirt, skinny black Levis, and...
Read more

California high court expected to rule on same-sex marriage

Image
The California Supreme Court is expected to determine the fate of same-sex marriage in the state today as well as the validity of about 18,000 same-sex marriages. The court will rule on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the controversial measure banning same-sex marriage that voters approved in November. Its opponents want the amendment nullified. They say the proposition alters California's Constitution and, therefore, under state law, is a revision that requires a constitutional convention. Attorneys for the opponents also say the proposition, which removed the "marriage" label from same-sex unions, effectively deprives same-sex couples of a fundamental right guaranteed them under the equal-protection clause in the U.S. Constitution. Proposition 8 passed with about 52.5 percent of the vote, making California one of several states to ban same-sex marriage in the November 4 elections. But unlike others, California had been issuing marriage licenses to same-sex coupl...
Read more