The Quid Pro Quo was spite and racism

Team Trump admits holding back billions for Puerto Rico disaster recovery

 Mc Nelly Torres, DCReport @ RawStory

Trump administration officials have admitted that last summer they knowingly withheld billions of dollars Congress appropriated to help Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria. 

 House Democrats say withholding the relief money violates the law.

Federal law requires that our government help Americans hit by natural disasters. 

But two Housing and Urban Development officials acknowledged at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Oct. 17 that HUD blocked the Puerto Rico relief funds.

The HUD delay meant the island missed a deadline to apply for billions of dollars in disaster relief funds, raising doubts about when, if ever, the money will flow to the island devastated in September 2017 by the Category 5 hurricane.

The federal money is part of a $19 billion supplemental disaster relief bill that Congress passed in June. It came with stipulations requiring HUD to provide funding notices to nine states and two American territories, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

HUD intentionally left Puerto Rico out of the notices, the HUD officials admitted.

Why dogs have bangs

https://www.facebook.com/fakescientist/

Make New Mexico pay

Building wind turbines that are safer for birds

Wind turbine design and placement can mitigate negative effect on birds

By Marianne Stein

Wind energy is increasingly seen as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, as it contributes to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. It is estimated that by 2050, wind turbines will contribute more than 20% of the global electricity supply. However, the rapid expansion of wind farms has raised concerns about the impact of wind turbines on wildlife.

Research in that area has been limited and has yielded conflicting results. A new study, published in Energy Science, provides comprehensive data on how turbines affect bird populations.

While the study did find a negative effect on some breeding birds, it also suggests ways to mitigate that effect through wind turbine design and placement, explains Madhu Khanna, professor of agricultural and consumer economics in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois. Khanna is co-author of the study.

New test promises fast results on Lyme Disease

New test diagnoses Lyme disease within 15 minutes

Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science

Some 300,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with Lyme disease every year. 

Caused by Borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted by the bite of infected Ixodes ticks, the disease if left untreated can cause serious neurologic, cardiac, and/or rheumatologic complications.

Current testing for Lyme disease, called the standard 2-tiered approach or the STT, involves running two complex assays (ELISA and western blot) to detect antibodies against the bacterium, and requires experienced personnel in a lab, and a few hours to carry out and interpret. 

A team led by Sam Sia, professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, has developed a rapid microfluidic test that can detect Lyme disease with similar performance as the STT in a much shorter time -- 15 minutes.

Education Secretary DeVos held in contempt

Violated court order to stop collecting on student loans from students defrauded by bankrupt for-profit college

By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams

A federal judge on October 24 held President Donald Trump's billionaire Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in contempt of court for failing to comply with an order to stop collecting loan payments from former students of Corinthian Colleges, a defunct for-profit college company that defrauded tens of thousands of borrowers.

Judge Sallie Kim of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco also hit the Education Department with a $100,000 fine for violating the injunction.

"Money from the fine will be used to compensate the 16,000 people harmed by the federal agency's actions," the Washington Post reported. "Some former students of the defunct for-profit college had their paychecks garnished. Others had their tax refunds seized by the federal government."

The Education Department said in a statement that it made "mistakes" and did not intend to violate the order.

Sen. Claiborne Pell's great achievement may become a 2020 election issue

Pell Grants are getting their due in the 2020 campaign
Donald E. Heller, University of San Francisco

Rhode Island's Senator Claiborne Pell, those inspired legislation helped
millions go to college.

Just as it did in the 2016 election, college affordability has become a critical issue in the 2020 election.

One key difference, however, is unlike in the 2016 election, which was largely devoid of any talk about increasing Pell Grants for students from low- and moderate-income families to pay for college, this time around Pell Grants are part of the discussion.

Leading Democratic candidates – Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and, most recently, Joe Biden – have floated their own proposals. Biden’s plan – released in October 2019 – distinguishes itself from those of his competitors, however, by recognizing the important role that Pell Grants do and should play in paying for higher education.

Biden has proposed to double the maximum Pell Grant award from its current level of US$6,195 per year to $13,000 annually. This would be an important first step and a well-targeted approach to addressing the college financing needs of low- and moderate-income students. 

It is also a much more effective approach, in my view, than those proposed by his competitors of simply making college free for everyone – a step that would waste billions by forcing taxpayers to subsidize the college education of students from wealthy families.

Under siege

By Walt Handelsman

Chart: Know your ticks

Great if it works

Resilient Local Coral May Help Save Tropical Relatives

By TODD McLEISH/ecoRI News contributor

Northern star coral is found in the waters along the Rhode Island coastline. In this photo, the northern star coral is attached to a rock and near green alga, commonly called sea lettuce, and red alga. (ecoRI News)

The ongoing decline of tropical coral reefs around the world is causing a domino effect that could impact the quarter of marine life that depends on this ecosystem. 

Reefs are becoming bleached and dying as warming waters force corals to expel the algae that live in their tissues and produce sugars to provide food for the coral.

A Rhode Island scientist is co-leading a collaborative effort to determine if New England’s only hard coral species — a variety that can survive bleaching — could provide a solution to the coral bleaching problem in the tropics.

Northern star coral is found in the waters along the Rhode Island coastline. Its range extends from the Gulf of Mexico to Cape Cod.

RECIPE: Rhode Island’s escargot

Go Fish: Periwinkles Abundant and Tasty Snack

By GRACE KELLY/ecoRI News staff

Periwinkles that are harvested locally are typically exported to Asia. (Kate Masury/Eating with the Ecosystem)

Why go to France for fancy escargot when the abundant local periwinkle beckons?

These common seaside snails are an invasive species originally from Europe. They spend their days on briny rocks eating barnacle larvae and algae. 

While what few periwinkles that are harvested are typically exported to Asia, you may find them at local Asian or Portuguese markets, or you can head to any rocky beach and you can “pick-your-own” periwinkles.

“I think they are really tasty. They have a sweet, briny flavor I would compare to a steamer clam,” Kate Masury of Eating with the Ecosystem said.

Because of their small size, she suggested using them as a locally sourced hors d’oeuvre.

“You won’t typically fill up on periwinkles, but they make an excellent appetizer or snack, and can add a nice flavor to other seafood dishes such as seafood stews and sauces,” she said.

While a more traditional preparation is given below, Masury mentions a unique interpretation that is also worth trying.

“At one of our dinners in 2017, chef Chris Kleyla from the Statesman Tavern in Bristol prepared them by marinating them and serving them on toast. It was absolutely delicious.”

Trump lawyers claim he cannot be prosecuted even for murder

'Nothing Could Be Done'

By Eoin Higgins, staff writer for Common Dreams

Lawyers for President Donald Trump Wednesday argued in a Manhattan courtroom that were the president to shoot someone on 5th Avenue in New York City, he could not be prosecuted while in office because of presidential immunity. 

"Trump's lawyers openly declared that Trump is above all laws, including murder," tweeted Rep. Bill Pascrale (D-N.J.) in response to the news.

The exchange came during a hearing on the president's tax returns, which Manhattan D.A. Cyrus Vance Jr. is attempting to obtain to see if Trump illegally paid to silence people with damaging information to his presidential campaign in 2016. 

Judge Denny Chin used Trump shooting someone in broad daylight on 5th Avenue—an invocation of a Trump brag on the campaign trail in 2016—as an example of the limits of presidential immunity from prosecution.

But Trump lawyer William S. Consovoy told the court that, in fact, the president would escape prosecution as long as he were in office. 

Grand Jury in Wyatt private prison assault case fulfill Justin Price’s dream

Editorial: Remember that time the General Assembly considered allowing motorists to run over protesters?

By Steve Ahlquist in UpRiseRI

In March 2017 the Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee heard testimony on Rep. Justin Price (Republican, District 39, Richmond, Exeter, Hopkinton)’s bill, H5690, that “would provide that a person driving an automobile who is exercising due care and injures another person who is participating in a protest or demonstration and is blocking traffic in a public right-of-way shall be immune from civil liability for such injury.”

Justin Price (left) with his pod-mate Rep. Blake (Flip) Filippi (R-Charlestown)

“This stems back to 2014, when we had some protesters blocking 95 in Providence,” said Price by way of explanation, 

“It’s really a safety issue… During this protest I was stuck in traffic, I witnessed cars traveling south in a northbound lane, exiting on on-ramps, just because people are confused, scared… protests can very quickly become a riot, so people want to not be involved in that so if someone is demonstrating due care, they should be able to pass through… peaceful protests… peaceful protests should let people pass through and there would be no injuries… so I feel that this bill… people should be able to protest and also proceed, travel freely without any civil liability.”

At that hearing, eight people testified against the bill. One of the more interesting parts of the hearing occurred just after Steve Brown of the Rhode Island ACLU finished his testimony

Price asked Brown if people blocking the highway are engaged in peaceful protest. He wanted to know if Brown believed that people blocking the highway have “more rights” than people traveling on the highway.

As Brown attempted to answer, Price cut him off. “But if you’re illegally, if you’re illegally, if you’re violating the law…”

“That’s making an excuse for someone to run you over,” said Brown.

“I’m not- Does it say ‘run you over?'” asked Price, angrily pointing at the bill on his screen, “Does it say ‘run you over?'” 

The Emperor decides

By David Horsey

Thank you, Republicans