Jon Stewart Rips Palin, LaPierre And Their Paranoid Friends At The Annual NRA Convention (Video)

Last rebel bastion in Syria’s Homs expected to fall soon

Source: McClatchyDC

BEIRUT — Syrian regime tanks and artillery shelled rebel positions Thursday in the central old city district of Homs, according to rebels and anti-government activists, who said they believe that the last rebel bastion will be overwhelmed by government forces in the coming days.

One of the first Syrian cities to rise up against the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Homs often has been described by the rebels as the symbolic capital of the 3-year-old civil war, which has killed more than 150,000.

Besieged for almost 700 days, the narrow streets and stone buildings of the old city continue to provide a haven to what rebels claim are nearly 1,000 Islamist fighters who rejected a United Nations-brokered truce earlier this year that allowed hundreds of civilians and rebels _ many badly malnourished _ to flee the siege.

But after another round of U.N.-mediated talks to end the siege failed, the remaining rebel areas came under heavy bombardment in the last week as government troops backed by Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon began a final push, according to an anti-government activist who has remained behind.

“If there is not a cease-fire, the old city will fall within days,” said Abu Rami al Homsi.



Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/04/23/225342/last-rebel-bastion-in-syrias-homs.html

Top court declines Exxon's appeal in water pollution case

(Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a ruling against Exxon Mobil Corp that ordered the company to pay $105 million in damages for polluting New York City's groundwater with a toxic gasoline additive.

The decision not to hear the case leaves intact a July 2 U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that upheld the judgment.

In 2009, a jury concluded that Exxon contaminated water supply wells when the additive, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), leaked from its underground storage tanks in the borough of Queens.

The appeals court rejected Exxon's arguments that it was required to use the additive under the federal Clean Air Act. An oxygen-containing substance that is added to gasoline to promote more complete combustion and reduce air pollution, MTBE was one of several additives recommended by regulators to reduce emissions.

It has now largely been phased out of the U.S. fuel supply because of its danger to groundwater.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/21/us-usa-court-environment-idUSBREA3K0L720140421

LTTE: Crude oil ships imperil the Hudson

How many more indignities must our dear Hudson River suffer before sanity takes hold and those in positions of power act decisively?

If the expansion of tanker and barge shipments of crude oil on the river is permitted, a disastrous spill is inevitable. In December, a ship ran aground near Albany and a major spill averted only because the ship had, luckily, a double hull; we were that close to a 12 million gallon spill. Remember the Exxon Valdez? That was a 12 million gallon spill and, despite all the cleanup efforts, today the area remains intensely polluted to the detriment of the fish, birds and fishermen whose livelihood depended on those waters.

An oil barge can carry the equivalent of 45 railroad tanker cars. Those are what you see going by while you wait at the crossing in Valley Cottage ... and how did they get there? By tracks that run for miles along the river into which the oil will likely spill in the next train wreck like the fiery one in Canada. When is enough enough?

I fully support Riverkeeper's efforts to have Gov. Andrew Cuomo enact a moratorium on all shipments of oil, by whatever means, through the Hudson River Valley. And it is essential that the DEC meet its responsibilities and proceed with an in-depth environmental review of all aspects of the oil terminal operations in Albany, including a review of all permits already granted.

http://www.lohud.com/story/opinion/readers/2014/04/19/crude-oil-ships-imperil-hudson/7920249/




Riverkeeper boat captain John Lipscomb talks about crude oil shipments on the Hudson River, while sitting along the Hudson in Ossining Jan. 23. (Photo: Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News)

Deepwater Horizon disaster continues to harm environment

This week, as we mark the fourth anniversary of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, evidence of that catastrophe's effects on wildlife continues to emerge.

Despite sunny assurances from BP, the largest oil spill in U.S. history is leaving its mark on everything from marine mammals to mollusks.

Bottlenose dolphins have been particularly hard-hit.

Some 900 of these graceful creatures have been found stranded, most of them dead, in the northern Gulf between April 2010 and March 2014, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently published a study linking the ill health of dolphins in Louisiana's Barataria Bay - anemia, adrenal problems and lung disease - to oil exposure.

Birds that migrate through the Gulf Coast or winter here are likewise showing signs of oil exposure.

http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Kaderka-Deepwater-Horizon-disaster-continues-to-5414014.php



A flotilla of fire boats battle flames in the aftermath of the explosion of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon on April 21, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. Photo By U.S. Coast Guard/Handout

McCartney: I'm coming to Albany

ALBANY - Paul McCartney made it official a few moments ago:

"Paul's just added Albany, NY and Pittsburgh, PA to his #OutThere tour," his official Twitter account announced Tuesday afternoon.

McCartney's "Out There Tour" will land July 5 at the Times Union Center.

McCartney tweeted as arena officials and government leaders held a news conference to announce the show.

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/McCartney-I-m-coming-to-Albany-5386226.php

NY looks to suspend vehicle registrations of toll scofflaws

The amount of uncollected tolls on New York's Henry Hudson Bridge increased an astounding 785 percent after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority eliminated cash toll lanes and began mailing bills to drivers without E-ZPass.

Figures provided by the MTA show that 1 in 3 motorists who receive a bill in the mail don't respond. From November 2012 through September 2013, those drivers owe the MTA $1.6 million, which the agency is still trying to collect.

State officials say that over the past five years, toll evaders statewide have failed to pay $150 million in tolls. But now, the state may dole out stiffer penalties...

Governor Andrew Cuomo has proposed a plan to suspend the registration of drivers who are persistent toll dodgers. Some lawmakers agree and are working to make the proposal part of the annual state spending plan.

Read more at http://blog.gasbuddy.com/posts/NY-looks-to-suspend-vehicle-registrations-of-toll-scofflaws/1715-567898-2349.aspx#Sm11h1r3mu0lEYdt.99

Cops: Bethlehem drunk driver called police on herself

At least she knows who dropped the dime.

A 51-year-old Delmar woman was charged with drunken driving Wednesday after allegedly becoming so intoxicated that she called police on herself, authorities said.

Cynthia L. Begg, of Harrison Ave., registered a blood-alcohol content of .31% — nearly four times the legal limit — when she was taken into custody around 3:50 p.m. near the busy intersection of Kenwood and Delaware avenues, police said.

The legal threshold for intoxication in New York is a BAC of .08%.

But unlike many cases in which officers are summoned by an alarmed fellow motorist or a report of a wreck, police said Begg called them herself when she realized she was way too drunk to keep going.

“She stopped driving, she pulled over and she waited for us to get there,” Bethlehem police Sgt. Stephen Kraz said. “In 16-and-a-half years, I’ve never seen that before.”

http://blog.timesunion.com/crime/police-drunk-driver-called-police-on-herself/14424/

NYT: Panel’s Warning on Climate Risk: Worst Is Yet to Come (includes video and photos)

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Climate change is already having sweeping effects on every continent and throughout the world’s oceans, scientists reported on Monday, and they warned that the problem was likely to grow substantially worse unless greenhouse emissions are brought under control.

The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations group that periodically summarizes climate science, concluded that ice caps are melting, sea ice in the Arctic is collapsing, water supplies are coming under stress, heat waves and heavy rains are intensifying, coral reefs are dying, and fish and many other creatures are migrating toward the poles or in some cases going extinct.

The oceans are rising at a pace that threatens coastal communities and are becoming more acidic as they absorb some of the carbon dioxide given off by cars and power plants, which is killing some creatures or stunting their growth, the report found.

Organic matter frozen in Arctic soils since before civilization began is now melting, allowing it to decay into greenhouse gases that will cause further warming, the scientists said. And the worst is yet to come, the scientists said in the second of three reports that are expected to carry considerable weight next year as nations try to agree on a new global climate treaty.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/science/earth/climate.html?hp&_r=0



Greenland'­s immense ice sheet is melting as a result of climate change. Credit Kadir van Lohuizen for The New York Times