Subject: Daily News Clips 3/5/14
From: "Sam Losow" <[email-masked]>
To: "undisclosed-recipients:"
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2014 10:49:27 -0500

*National News:*

*Envoys seek a peace deal for Ukraine*
Diplomats from Russia, Ukraine, the U.S., Britain, and France are meeting
in Paris on Wednesday for emergency talks on resolving the crisis in
Ukraine. "Today the Ukrainian future will be decided," Ukrainian Foreign
Minister Andriy Deshchytsia said. Russia sent troops into Ukraine's Crimea
region on Saturday after president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted. Tensions
rose when Russia carried out a pre-planned missile
test<http://theweek.com/article/index/257376/speedreads-today-in-terrible-timing-russia-carries-out-a-pre-planned-test-of-an-intercontinental-ballistic-missile>
Tuesday.
[*The Associated
Press*<http://www.aol.com/article/2014/03/05/diplomatic-exit-ukraine-players-converge-on-paris/20843243/?icid=maing-grid7|maing8|dl2|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D450546>
, *Reuters*<http://uk.news.yahoo.com/russia-test-fires-icbm-amid-tension-over-ukraine-190802764--finance.html#fJW5CiX>
]
..........................................................................................

*D.C. council decriminalizes marijuana*
The City Council in Washington, D.C., voted to decriminalize marijuana
possession. Currently, pot possession can result in six months in jail and
fines up to $1,000. If Mayor Vincent Gray signs the new measure, as
expected, anyone caught with up to an ounce of marijuana would pay just a
$25 civil fine, a penalty similar to a parking ticket. The move came after
several states eased their marijuana
laws<http://theweek.com/article/index/254677/why-legalizing-marijuana-is-a-smart-fiscal-move>.
[*TIME*<http://nation.time.com/2014/03/04/washington-decriminalizes-marijuana/>
]
..........................................................................................

*GOP slams Obama's budget proposal*
As soon as President Obama unveiled his 2015
budget<http://theweek.com/article/index/257326/speedreads-obamas-budget-plan-would-help-millions-wont-happen>
on
Tuesday, Republicans began harshly criticizing it. House Speaker John
Boehner (R-Ohio) called the $3.9 trillion spending blueprint Obama's "most
irresponsible budget yet," saying it had too much spending, borrowing, and
taxation. "It would hurt our economy and cost jobs," Boehner said. The
budget increases spending on roads and early education while cutting tax
breaks for the rich.
[*Reuters*<http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/04/us-usa-fiscal-idUSBREA2309B20140304>
]
..........................................................................................

*Moody's downgrades Chicago's credit rating*
Moody's downgraded Chicago's creditworthiness on Tuesday, saying the city
was endangering its financial security with "massive and growing" pension
obligations. The credit-rating agency made the change because the city,
which has put off dealing with the issue for years, now faces a doubling in
its pension promises to $1.07 billion next year. Chicago also must cope
with a nearly $20 billion funding hole for police, firefighter, and city
worker pensions.
[CNN<http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/04/news/chicago-credit-rating/>
]
..........................................................................................

*Abbott and Davis win Texas gubernatorial primaries*
Texas' closely watched governor's race gets underway in earnest on
Wednesday, following Tuesday's primary victories for Attorney General Greg
Abbott (R) and state Sen. Wendy Davis (D). Abbott beat four GOP rivals with
90 percent of the vote, and Davis defeated her lone opponent with 80
percent. George P. Bush, son of former Florida governor Jeb Bush, launched
his political career by winning the GOP primary for Texas Land
Commissioner. [*Austin
American-Statesman*<http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/with-primary-wins-greg-abbott-and-wendy-davis-can-/nd5wY/>
,*The Huffington
Post*<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/04/george-p-bush-primary_n_4897801.html>
]

..........................................................................................
E-Cigarettes, by Other Names, Worry
Experts<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/05/business/e-cigarettes-under-aliases-elude-the-authorities.html?hp>
Olivia Zacks, 17, recently took a drag of peach-flavored vapor from a
device that most people would call an e-cigarette.

But Ms. Zacks, a high school senior, does not call it that. In fact, she
insists she has never even tried an e-cigarette. Like many teenagers, Ms.
Zacks calls such products "hookah pens" or "e-hookahs" or "vape pipes."

These devices are part of a subgenre of the fast-growing e-cigarette market
and are being shrewdly marketed to avoid the stigma associated with
cigarettes of any kind. The products, which are exploding in popularity,
come in a rainbow of colors and candy-sweet flavors but, beneath the
surface, they are often virtually identical to e-cigarettes, right down to
their addictivenicotine and unregulated swirl of other chemicals.

The emergence of e-hookahs and their ilk is frustrating public health
officials who are already struggling to measure the spread of e-cigarettes,
particularly among young people. The new products and new names have health
authorities wondering if they are significantly underestimating use because
they are asking the wrong questions when they survey people about
e-cigarettes.

..........................................................................................
Drones may be the answer to Facebook's big connectivity
project<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/03/04/facebook-may-look-to-drones-to-connect-world-to-the-web/>

Facebook has committed
itself<http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/zuckerberg-other-tech-leaders-launch-initiative-to-increase-global-internet-access/2013/08/21/95cdc5ee-0a58-11e3-8974-f97ab3b3c677_story.html>
to
figuring out how to improve Internet connectivity around the world, a major
engineering and infrastructure project. But how? If a recent report is
correct, the answer may be "by using drones."

TechCrunch reported<http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/03/facebook-in-talks-to-acquire-drone-maker-titan-aerospace/>
that
Facebook is in talks to acquire Titan Aerospace, a drone production
company. The firm is developing solar-powered atmospheric satellites,
which, the report says, the social media company plans to use to blanket
parts of the world with Internet connections.

Over two-thirds<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/business/internet-users-worldwide/>
of
the global population has no access to the Internet, a problem that
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg set out to tackle last year by
partnering with companies such as Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung to improve
existing network technologies around the world.

Using drones would be a new method, but an efficient one. Titan's Web site
does name "voice and data" communications as one of the applications of its
technology, which could be used to deploy reliable Internet connections
across portions of the world that aren't currently connected -- without
having to dig to lay down wires and cables.
*Opinion:*

The What-Might-Have-Been
Budget<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/05/opinion/the-what-might-have-been-budget.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>

President Obama's proposal for 2015 shows how many national goals could be
won by cutting unnecessary and unfair tax breaks for the rich.

*DE News:*

*Water tax plan draws criticism, praise*
Gov. Jack Markell predicted his new $800 million water-improvement plan,
funded in part by a new tax on property owners, would receive a mixed
reaction.

"There's not going to be any opposition at all to cleaning up our water,
but no one wants to pay for it," he said in a recent interview.

Turns out, he was partly right.

Rich Collins, executive director of the Sussex County-based Positive Growth
Alliance, speculated that Markell's proposed tax, along with the governor's
earlier proposal of a 10-cent a gallon gas tax increase, stand little
chance of passing this election year. But this may be a way to get the
ideas out there for 2015.

"People had better hold on to their wallets next year," he said.

Collins said worries that the water tax would take money from residents in
Sussex County, "which is lacking in prosperity, and send it to New Castle
County" to address the toxic issues there.

Delaware residents already are coping with the added expense and burden of
new state septic and storm water regulations, he said.

State lawmakers had only a sketchy idea of what the water plan would look
like before it was announced Tuesday.

House Speaker Peter C. Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, said the water
proposal may stand a better chance than the gas tax increase because water
issues impact so many state residents.

"Every time we have a rain, every legislator in this state gets calls about
stormwater runoff," he said. "The roads aren't the problem right now."

Schwartzkopf said residents in his district might be more willing to accept
a water tax because Sussex County has no stormwater ordinance.

Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, said she's grateful for Markell's proposal.
Peterson's district includes the community of Glenville, where tropical
storm flooding in 2003 largely destroyed more than 160 homes, prompting
state and county officials to put together a $33 million flood control plan
that included a $23 million homeowner buyout.

"Ever since the Glenville flood, I've been trying to find a way to address
the issue of flooding in our communities, much of which is caused by creeks
and streams that have been neglected because there is no fund to maintain
them," Peterson said.

"While this proposal focuses primarily on cleaning up our water, it also
provides for flood mitigation funding, which is long overdue," Peterson
said. "This is a huge step in the right direction and certainly an answer
to my prayers."

Senate Minority Leader F. Gary Simpson, R-Milford, said he'd been hearing
for months that a water proposal was coming, but on Tuesday he had yet to
see the details.

"I think it's a bad time," he said. Along with the proposed gas tax, "it's
just the wrong approach to growing government."

Not all the reaction was guarded or negative.

In Annapolis, Chesapeake Bay Foundation President William C. Baker emailed
his support for the proposal.

"We commend Gov. Markell for his groundbreaking and innovative strategy to
finance clean water," Baker wrote. "Over one third of Delaware is part of
the Chesapeake Bay watershed. So the Chesapeake will benefit, Delaware Bay
will benefit, and all of the rivers, streams, and drinking water supplies
in Delaware will be improved. Governor Markell's announcement today clearly
demonstrates his leadership, and his action provides a model for other
leaders to emulate"

Delaware Nature Society Executive Director Brian Winslow said the
governor's plan is an important step.

"We know where the problems are and we have the connections with community
to work with them, our partner organizations, and the state to go to the
next step," he said.

And Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, said she looks forward to
seeing the specifics of the plan. "It certainly seems that he is
positioning Delaware as a leader in securing the many irreplaceable
benefits our rivers, streams, and wetlands provide," van Rossum said.

In Wilmington, City Council member Hanifa Shabazz said the plan offers hope
to residents in the city's Southbridge community just west of the Port of
Wilmington and the point where the tidal Christina River empties into the
Delaware River.

Flooding, especially at high tides and during heavy rainfalls, is a fact of
life in much of the neighborhood, with sirens sounded to warn of pending
high water, and buses used to evacuate some residents. A project already is
planned to rework contaminated land just west of Southbridge to create a
wetland where high water would go first, cutting the frequency of floods.

"Its very hard to go back and tell constituents that, yes, we do understand
what needs to be done, but it's going to take five or seven years" said
Shabazz, who sent Markell urgent, personal text messages and cell phone
pictures during a particularly bad flooding episode in December 2012.

"This could get it done much faster, and create a better quality of life in
South Wilmington."

Dover City Council President David Bonar said the state's proposal was
"needed and long overdue." Flooding has troubled residents and businesses
in parts of the state's capital for decades, he said.

Recent storms have produced a series of deep backups near Bayhealth,
jeopardizing a hospital generator at one point, a county sewage pumping
station near Legislative Hall at another, and ruining dozens of cars.

"We need to have the backbone to stand up and say we need to do it now,"
Bonar said.

As with Southbridge, DNREC has indicated that solutions to the
hospital-area flooding could include cleanup of a former city landfill that
is now leaking pollution into the St. Jones River.

Jeffrey W. Bross, vice-chairman of Delaware's Water Infrastructure Advisory
Council, called Markell's "well thought out."

"It's balanced, I don't think it's overdone" said Bross, who chairs
Duffield Associates, a regional engineering company. "I think the governor
has asked for what we really think we need, not a a penny more. I think
we're still going to have financial challenges, but it's a good start.

"This is still probably a 10 to 15 years proposition to really get to where
we need to be. But if you don't start, you'll never get there," Bross said.

..........................................................................................

*Delaware is full of fat people*
I'm fat... and I'm far from alone in Delaware.

According to a Gallup Well-Being poll released Tuesday, Delaware is the
third most obese state in the nation with 34.3 percent of the population
being obese, coming in behind only Mississippi (35.4 percent) and West
Virginia (34.4 percent).

The numbers, based on respondents' self-reported height and weight, are not
good news for Delawareans.

People living in states with the highest levels of obesity are more likely
to report having had a diagnosis of chronic disease at some point in their
lives - including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression,
diabetes, cancer, and heart attacks - than are those living in the states
with the lowest obesity rates.

Yep. That's me with my hand raised over here - high blood pressure.

I see a cardiologist every six weeks - far too often, if you ask me,
considering the new high deductible health insurance. Although my blood
pressure is now under control, I don't want to be on pills the rest of my
life. To get off the pills, my doctor said I must lose weight by exercising
and eating better. She really stresses the exercise part for men my age.

So I joined the "Be Healthy Delaware: Weigh to Go" challenge here at work.
Hoping that will help kick my big butt in the right direction. I'll let you
know how it goes.

If you want to join me and the thousands of others who have signed up, go
to delawareonline.com/weightogo and sign up. You have until Monday.

-- 
Sam Losow
*Finance Assistant*
Beau Biden, DE Attorney General
Office: (302) 295-8340
Cell: (202) 821-3399
[email-masked]