Links

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/carbon-monoxide-from-california-wildfires-drifts-east
Aug. 14, 2018
California is being plagued by massive wildfires, and the effects on air quality from those fires can extend far beyond the state’s borders. In addition to ash and smoke, fires release carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. Carbon monoxide is a pollutant that can persist in the atmosphere for about a month and can be transported great distances.
New images made with data acquired by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite show the high concentrations of carbon monoxide emitted from the fires (in orange/red) between July 29 and August 8. As the time series progresses, carbon monoxide high in the atmosphere is shown drifting east -- with one branch moving southward toward Texas and the other forking to the northeast.


https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/in-case-you-missed-it-northeast-rainstorm-among-heaviest-without-a-tropical-storm-flooding-displaces-over-300-000-in-india/70005812
Aug. 18, 2018
Flash flooding overtook parts of the northeastern United States this week, submerging cars and prompting water rescues.
Over the weekend and into the start of the week, areas from southeastern Pennsylvania to New York City were hit by torrential rain. Little Falls, New Jersey, received 5 inches of rain in about two hours on Monday.
According to AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, the unique rainstorm will be regarded as one of the most significant heavy rain events to unfold in the Northeast unrelated to a tropical storm.

tags: extreme weather, severe weather


http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/402414-trump-administration-is-americas-1-low-wage-job-creator
Aug. 18, 2018
When Donald Trump ran for president, he promised to be a workers’ champion who would deliver  “better wages” for America’s working people.
But 18 months into his first term, President Trump has neither pushed Congress to take legislative action to raise the federal minimum wage - which has been stuck at $7.25 for a decade - nor taken executive action to boost pay for 12.5 million workers who work in private sector jobs.
As a result, Trump is now CEO of America’s top creator of poverty jobs:  the U.S. government.
As a result, more than one in three private sector workers who serve the American people - from aiding seniors with their Medicare benefits to helping our troops prepare for combat - earn so little that they rely on food stamps and other public assistance programs to survive.
The truth is that Trump could take action right now to deliver “better wages” for these workers. All it would take is the stroke of the pen.
As CEO of America, Inc., President Trump oversees the more than $1.5 trillion of federal tax dollars spent in the private sector each year. He could mandate that these taxpayer dollars go to corporations that create good living wage jobs for America’s workers. In 2014, President Obama took the first step by signing an executive order to raise the minimum wage on federal contracts to $10.10 an hour declaring that “as a chief executive, I intend to lead by example.” Trump could build on this precedent and deliver on his promises to boost wages for working people.
In one of his first acts in office, Trump rolled back an executive order that would have protected 20 million contract workers from wage theft and other labor law violations.   Since then, he’s also rescinded regulations that would have extended overtime pay to more than 12.5 million workers, and issued directives to undermine the power of workers to collectively bargain for better wages.
And earlier this month, Trump took executive action to actually lower the minimum wage for contract workers  who serve as guides and outfitters in America’s National Parks.


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-former-cia-officials-sign-letter-against-trumps-security-clearance-decision/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab6a&linkId=55696679
Aug. 17, 2018
A day after 12 former senior intelligence officials signed a letter condemning President Trump for revoking the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, 60 lower-ranking former CIA officers signed an open letter on Friday also in opposition to Mr. Trump's decision.
"All of us believe it is critical to protect classified information from unauthorized disclosure. But we believe equally strongly that former government officials have the right to express their unclassified views on what they see as critical national security issues without fear of being punished for doing so," the new letter says. 
The letter supports Brennan's right to express his opinions, without necessarily approving of his perspective.
"Our signatures below do not necessarily mean that we concur with the opinions expressed by former Director Brennan or the way in which he expressed them," it says. "What they do represent, however, is our firm belief that the country will be weakened if there is a political litmus test applied before seasoned experts are allowed to share their views."


https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2018/08/16/senate-unanimously-passes-resolution-affirming-press-not-enemy-people/6XfWvGTMqvzJVfJSIa0HDK/story.html
Aug. 16, 2018
The US Senate on Thursday passed a resolution by unanimous consent affirming that the media “is not the enemy of the people.”
The move comes amid an initiative led by the Boston Globe editorial board in which more than 350 news organizations published editorials promoting the freedom of the press. The editorials were published in response to President Trump’s repeated verbal attacks on journalists, in which he has called mainstream press organizations “fake news” and “the enemy of the American people.”


https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/investigations/2017/08/13/medicaid-patient-lost-care-hed-received-20-years-3-months-later-he-dead/488367001/
Aug. 12, 2018
Thirty-two years ago, a vehicle accident left Todd Mouw a quadriplegic, unable to feed himself and needing a ventilator to breathe.
Yet for decades he was able to live at home with the help of family, aided by medical staff who visited him daily to help provide 24-hour care.
That care abruptly ended when a for-profit company that Iowa hired last year to manage the state's Medicaid program announced that some of the staffers who had attended to Mouw all those years weren't qualified, and it wouldn't pay for the cost.
As he and his wife Cyndi futilely searched for qualified help, Todd's health dissipated. He had to leave his home for care, and on July 8 he died at age 53. 
Now, Cyndi Mouw is speaking out, blaming her husband's death on Iowa's decision to turn over its Medicaid program to for-profit companies she believes are unilaterally denying or revoking medical services to potentially thousands of other disabled or elderly Iowans.
Her criticisms have echoed those of other families who complain that the private companies now managing the state's Medicaid program are denying care that the state once approved.
And the state's long-term care ombudsman said she has received hundreds of complaints from Medicaid recipients who are appealing decisions of the private managers hired by the state.
Iowa's government for decades had managed the state's Medicaid program, which serves more than 568,000 poor or elderly Iowans. 
That changed last year when then-Gov. Terry Branstad decided to move the state's Medicaid management to three private companies, saying health care would improve and the state would save tens of millions of dollars each year. The companies help decide which health procedures Medicaid will pay for.
Since then, hundreds of Iowans have logged complaints, many saying the companies have unfairly denied access to care.
Serious claims have also been made against the companies in other states.
She recalled her husband's "food ministry," in which he planned meals and directed his family to regularly cook and serve needy families in his community.