The Missouri legislature on Wednesday sent the state governor a bill that would expand gun rights and declare all federal gun regulations unenforceable, in a response to President Barack Obama's push for gun-control legislation.
The Republican-led legislature passed the measure in an attempt to shield the state from federal proposals that would ban assault weapons and expand background checks. The US Senate's defeat of a background check expansion three weeks ago did nothing to assuage the fears of Missouri Republicans, who pressed forward with their legislation. The Missouri House voted 118-36 to send the bill to the Democratic governor, Jay Nixon. The Senate passed the measure earlier this month.
Missouri legislature passes bill to counteract federal gun control laws
Fracking debate stirs in U.S. House
The U.S. government has an obligation to ensure that oil and natural gas deposits are developed responsibly, a natural resource advocate testified. The House Natural Resources Committee had an oversight hearing on regulations regarding hydraulic fracturing.
Washington Director for the Western Organization of Resource Councils Sara Kendall testified that federal regulators need to update rules to keep pace with state oil and natural gas agencies.
New Bangladesh fire kills 8 as collapse toll hits 950
A fire fed by huge piles of acrylic products used to make sweaters killed eight people at a Bangladesh garment factory, barely two weeks after a collapse at another garment factory building where the death toll was approaching 1,000 on Thursday.
The dead in Wednesday night's fire included a ruling-party politician and a top official in the country's powerful clothing manufacturers' trade group. But unlike the collapse at the Rana Plaza building, which was blamed on shoddy construction and disregard for safety regulations, the Tung Hai Sweater factory appeared to have conformed to building codes. A top fire official said the deaths were caused by panic and bad luck.
Fannie Mae to Pay Treasury $59.4 Billion After Record Profit
The government-sponsored enterprise, which is operating under U.S. conservatorship, had net income of $8.1 billion for the three-month period that ended March 31, according to a statement released today. The Washington-based company’s net worth, which is used to determine what it owes the U.S., was boosted by a reversal of writedowns on tax credits, which may be valuable now that it’s returned to profitability.
A $12 million lesson in military camouflage and duplication
In 2002, the U.S. military had just two kinds of camouflage uniforms. One was green, for the woods. The other was brown, for the desert.
Today, there is one camouflage pattern just for Marines in the desert. There is another just for Navy personnel in the desert. The Army has its own “universal” camouflage pattern, which is designed to work anywhere. It also has another one just for Afghanistan, where the first one doesn’t work.
Patent filing claims solar energy ‘breakthrough’
In a U.S. patent application, a little-known Maryland inventor claims a stunning solar energy breakthrough that promises to end the planet’s reliance on fossil fuels at a fraction of the current cost – a transformation that also could blunt global warming.
Inventor Ronald Ace said that his flat-panel “Solar Traps,” which can be mounted on rooftops or used in electric power plants, will shatter decades-old scientific and technological barriers that have stymied efforts to make solar energy a cheap, clean and reliable alternative.
Nun, 83, and two other activists guilty of intent to injure national security at nuclear complex
An 83-year-old Catholic nun and two of her fellow peace activists were found guilty Wednesday of intending to injure the national defense for intruding last July onto the Y-12 National Security Complex, a nuclear weapons production facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
After hearing two days of testimony and arguments, and then deliberating for nearly 2½ hours, the jury also found the defendants guilty of damaging more than $1,000 of government property at the Y-12 site, where they cut through four chain-link fences and spray-painted biblical messages on a building that warehouses an estimated 400 tons of highly enriched uranium, the radioactive material used to fuel a nuclear bomb.
The Other Immigration Reform: When a Husband Can't Sponsor His Spouse
While advocates for both gay rights and immigration reform pursue comprehensive solutions to the problems they want addressed, one group at the center of both debates is desperately hoping their troubles will finally be over.
For the estimated 32,000 same-sex couples in which one partner is a U.S. citizen and the other is not, finding ways to legally stay together in the United States has been a constant source of anxiety and uncertainty. If the Supreme Court doesn't strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, these couples are in trouble: Immigration reforms currently being considered in the Senate do not include a fix for bi-national families, if those families are same-sex.
No backtracking on World War II apologies, Japan PM says
Only weeks after he cast doubt on claims that Japan waged a war of "aggression" on mainland Asia in the first half of the 20th century, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has moved to avert a possible dip in his country's already precarious ties with its neighbors by saying he had ruled out revisions to previous official apologies for Japan's wartime conduct.
Mr. Abe, who became prime minister for the second time in December, told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday: "We share the same recognition with past cabinets that Japan caused tremendous damage and suffering to people in Asia."
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