Today’s comic by Ruben Bolling is Illegals pose public safety risk:
• Sally Jewell says Army Corps of Engineers reneged on full eco-review of Dakota Access Pipeline:
Sally Jewell, Interior secretary under President Obama who was involved in the decision to halt the pipeline, said the Army Corps is "reneging" on its commitments to other federal agencies and to the tribe after promising a full environmental review before granting the pipeline's easement.
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe will file litigation against the Army Corps within days, according to Phillip Ellis, a spokesperson for Earthjustice, an environmental law firm that is representing the tribe.
• Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman released from prison:
Former Gov. Don Siegelman waved to sign-toting supporters gathered at a Birmingham street corner Wednesday afternoon as the silver Jaguar carrying him slowly passed by.
Siegelman, 70, still wearing his gray prison shirt with his prison registration number 24775-001 on it, had been met at the Birmingham-Shuttleworth airport by friends, family members and longtime supporters shortly before then. He had been released earlier in the day from the federal prison at Oakdale, La., where he was serving a sentence for a bribery conviction.
• Former U.N. arms inspector Scott Ritter says U.S. playing with fire on Iran:
An American military strike against Iran based upon continued testing of ballistic missiles would most likely trigger a response from Tehran that would neither be limited nor readily containable. American forces in Syria and Iraq that are currently focused on defeating Islamic State could be put at genuine risk from the thousands of Iranian troops and pro-Iranian proxies operating in their vicinity. Moreover, any military action against Iran could draw both Israel and Russia into the fight (and not necessarily on the same side) while alienating European allies and creating levels of uncertainty that neither the American military nor foreign service is prepared to deal with.
• It’s National Pizza Day. It’s also National Bagel Day.
• California utilities plan to spend a billion bucks to electrify transportation sector:
California’s three largest utilities have filed proposals with the state’s public utilities commission that would allocate up to $1 billion in new spending to “accelerate widespread transportation electrification.” The proposals are about more than adding charging stations for light duty cars and trucks. California wants to remove as many diesel powered vehicles from its roadways as possible, so the proposals also target “medium and heavy-duty” vehicles. That includes trucks, buses, fork lifts, port equipment, and any other devices involved in freight operations. [...]
The largest proposal comes from Southern California Edison. It wants to invest $573 million to create the infrastructure needed to electrify the entire freight handling system at the Port of Long Beach. Containers unloaded there are towed by drayage tractors to inland distribution centers where they are loaded on trains and tractor trailers to be distributed throughout the nation. The transportation corridor between the ports and the warehouses has some of the worst air pollution in the country. The plan would electrify freight handling equipment in warehouses as well as the gantry cranes in the port that load and unload container ships.
• Bob Costas passes Olympic hosting torch:
After serving as NBC's prime-time Olympic host since 1992, Costas is stepping down and handing duties over to Mike Tirico beginning with the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, NBC announced Thursday.
• N.C. wind farm operational despite politicians’ attacks:
North Carolina’s first large-scale wind farm is fully operational despite efforts by some of the state’s most powerful politicians to shut down the $400 million project as a possible national security threat.
Avangrid Renewables said Thursday its 104 wind turbines reaching 50-stories tall are now generating enough electricity for 60,000 homes. Amazon is buying the power produced in rural, northeastern North Carolina to run its Virginia data centers.
• On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, Greg Dworkin & Armando debate the value of the reach out & understand mantra. The grifting is ratcheted up a notch. Gorsuch says some words. What are they worth? What’s it cost to keep Trump’s family in NYC? A 25th Amendment framer speaks.
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