The southern San Joaquin half of the valley traditionally records the highest level of particulate matter and ozone pollution in the United States. Obama promotes insourcing of jobs ADVERTISING WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is highlighting companies that have
Obama promotes insourcing of jobs
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is highlighting companies that have returned jobs to the U.S. and he says that’s one more way of putting people back to work.
The White House plans a forum Wednesday, called “Insourcing American Jobs,” that will bring together business leaders who shifted work back home. The president said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address that the event will discuss ways business leaders can return more jobs to the country.
“We’re heading in the right direction. And we’re not going to let up,” Obama said on the heels of the government reporting Friday that the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent in December.
EPA cancels water delivery to town
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency abruptly changed its mind Saturday about delivering fresh water to residents of a northeastern Pennsylvania village where residential wells were found to be tainted by a natural gas drilling operation.
Only 24 hours after promising them water, EPA officials informed residents of Dimock that a tanker truck wouldn’t be coming after all. The about-face left residents furious, confused and let down — and, once again, scrambling for water for bathing, washing dishes and flushing toilets.
Agency officials would not explain why they reneged on their promise, or say whether water would be delivered at some point.
“We are actively filling information gaps and determining next steps in Dimock. We have made no decision at this time to provide water,” EPA spokeswoman Betsaida Alcantara said in an email to The Associated Press.
It’s not clear how many wells in the rural community of Dimock Township were affected by the drilling. The state has found that at least 18 residential water wells were polluted.
Super Bowl threat conviction nixed
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court has refused to reinstate the conviction of an Arizona man accused of planning a Super Bowl massacre, saying his rambling “manifesto” did not constitute a threat to people.
Kurt Havelock, who did not attack, was convicted in 2008 of mailing threatening messages after he sent a disjointed “econopolitical” letter to media outlets that promised to “test the theory that bullets speak louder than words.”
Havelock instead turned himself in to police, saying he changed his mind after sending the statements and taking a semiautomatic weapon and ammunition to a parking lot near University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., where people had begun to gather before the game.
A full 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 9-2 Friday that Havelock’s rambling message did not violate the law because it was addressed to corporations, not individuals.
Air pollution hammers California
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — This is the time of year when residents who often live with the nation’s worst pollution often can draw a breath of fresh air. But this winter has not been kind to people who want to play outside in California’s Central Valley.
A dry December and January has stagnated air across California, but nowhere is the situation more serious than between Modesto and Bakersfield, where nearly every day dirty air has exceeded federal health standards.
It’s the worst air quality recorded in a dozen years, and it’s the unhealthiest kind — microscopic, chemical-laden particles that can get into lungs and absorbed into the bloodstream to create health risks in everyone, not just the young and infirm.
The southern San Joaquin half of the valley traditionally records the highest level of particulate matter and ozone pollution in the United States.
