Staff Report – The Biden administration announced more than $65 million in spending this week for the U.S. Forest Service to invest in projects nationwide to prepare for climate change by improving roads, trails, fish habitat and water quality. Made possible by President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the first round of a $25.5 million…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Peak Autumn color arrived in the metro area this week, after cooler temperatures blew in from Canada and the first frost covered the ground in the campground here just 10 miles north of the Capitol and 11 miles from the White House. The color…
EDITOR’S NOTE: There’s been much hand wringing and commentary on what’s wrong with America, democracy and why people don’t trust the federal government, which led in part to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. We submit that the reason is pretty obvious and right in front of everyone’s face. Republicans have been running for office for…
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — In sharp contrast to the policies of the previous administration, the Biden administration is going all out to combat pollution of the natural environment. As part of this renewed effort and with funds provided by the $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in November, 2021, the Environmental…
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Are you better off than you were three years ago? That’s a perennial question that pops up like a weed every four years in Washington politics, or at least the media coverage of it. Think about it. Three years ago, in November 2020, the global Covid-19 pandemic was at…
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — There was a time in a previous reality when creating tens of thousands of good paying jobs while rebuilding America would have been big news in newspapers and on television news channels. Not anymore. Social media sensationalism and silly memes and videos have replaced the grocery store checkout…
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — In case you were wondering how the administration was spending the money allocated under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in November, 2021, the availability of $6 million in funds was announced Monday to support Tribal Nations across the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin to reduce nutrient pollution in the third largest…
About $10 million committed to 17 project sites – Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — New federal spending of $10 million from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill will go to fund 17 projects to address legacy pollution and conserve ecosystems around the country, according to an announcement on Wednesday from the Department of the Interior,…
By Tony Schick, Oregon Public Broadcasting, and Irena Hwang, ProPublica – Photography by Kristyna Wentz-Graff, Oregon Public Broadcasting – CARSON, Wash. — The fish were on their way to be executed. One minute, they were swimming around a concrete pond. The next, they were being dumped onto a stainless steel table set on an incline.…
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Timing, technical details and the Biden administration’s old fashioned way of using media could be to blame for why the historic and future significance of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act got lost in the mediasphere and the meta verse over the weekend. Depending on what else…
Guest Column – By James Rhodes – I am motivated by the most recent comments by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell explaining why he, nor his party, could support the national Biden infrastructure proposal: “…because the most unworthy would receive the vast majority of benefits…” As it turns out, the “most unworthy” are basically defined…
Staff Report – A federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday in Los Angeles charges three North Korean computer programmers and a Canadian-American citizen with participating in a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy to conduct a series of destructive cyberattacks and financial crimes that make them the world’s most wanted bank robbers. According to a press release from the…
Staff report… Rural utilities are being encouraged to apply for the up to $600 million in loans and grants now available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help expand high speed internet infrastructure, according to a statement out Friday from U.S. Senator Doug Jones of Alabama. Municipalities, telecommunication companies, rural electric cooperatives, internet service…
Final Farm Bill includes support for farmers, ranchers and communities on rural health, wastewater infrastructure and high-speed internet – By Glynn Wilson – It appears the lame duck Congress will pass a farm bill to place on the president’s desk by the end of the week, according to breaking news on Tuesday out of Washington,…
By Glynn Wilson – After threatening a presidential veto and another government shutdown, Donald Trump went on national television and complained about the massive $1.3 trillion omnibus spending resolution passed this week by both houses of Congress, but then blinked and signed it into law. It funds the federal government through Sept. 30 and includes…
By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — One of new president Donald Trump’s biggest issues during the campaign was his promise to rebuild America’s “crumbling” infrastructure. People who watch politics closely seem to think this may be the one good thing Trump might be able to accomplish out of all his zany Twitter campaign promises…
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – The German automaker Volkswagen has admitted to cheating on emissions tests and agreed to pay more than $15.3 billion in a settlement with U.S. regulators for decieving customers and causing pollution from its diesel vehicles, according to a release just out from the Justice Department and the Environmental…
By Glynn Wilson – President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that he will ask Congress for $300 billion to begin rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure starting with aging roads and railways, making the argument that the taxpayer investment is a worthy cause that will pay huge dividends by attracting businesses and helping get unemployed people back to…
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The EPA’s Gina McCarthy, a teacher from Boston, delivered one of the keynote addresses on repairing America’s infrastructure with green jobs Monday afternoon at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs annual conference, delivering the Obama administrations position before a new and powerful coalition of unions and environmentalists under the umbrella of the Blue…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – JONESBORO, Ark. – Covering politics for the past 44 years, for the past decade mostly in Washington, D.C., I’ve seen some crazy, outrageous things in my time. But Republican Congressman Rick Crawford’s federal lawsuit for a pay raise and back pay may just take the cake. After…
