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Suzuki recalls 193,936 vehicles for air bag defect

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 15 September 2013 | 00.48

DETROIT — Suzuki is recalling 193,936 cars and SUVs because of a defective air bag sensor in the front passenger seat.

Grand Vitara SUVs from the 2006 through 2011 model years and SX4 small cars from the 2007 through 2011 model years are involved.

Sensor mats measure passengers' weight and determine if the air bag should deploy. Determining who sits in the seat is important because the force of an air bag can injure children or small adults.

Suzuki says the mats can stop working after repeated flexing. If that happens, the bag will deploy even if a small person is in the seat.

The Japanese automaker says there are no reports of accidents or injuries due to the problem.

Suzuki will notify owners starting next month. Dealers will replace the mats for free.


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Mass. 1st state to join Alzheimer's program

BOSTON — State officials say Massachusetts has become the first state in the nation to sign on to a program that provides employees information about Alzheimer's Disease.

Gov. Deval Patrick's administration says the state's partnership with the Alzheimer's Early Detection Alliance will give thousands of state workers information about early warning signs of the disease, along with resources to help care for a loved one who has been affected.

The programs are offered through the Massachusetts/New Hampshire chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.

About 100 businesses in the Bay State previously registered for the program.

In 2010, Patrick formed a task force on Alzheimer's Disease and related disorders to formulate strategies to help families impacted by the disease.


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Strawberry growers seek pesticide alternatives

FRESNO, Calif. — For decades, California strawberry growers injected the potent pesticide methyl bromide into soil to kill bugs, weeds and plant diseases before planting strawberries.

But the chemical was slated to be phased out by international treaty because it depletes the Earth's ozone layer. And later its replacement methyl iodide was pulled off the market after numerous public protests.

Now California regulators have proposed stricter rules to protect the public from a third fumigant, chloropicrin, which growers use to sanitize their fields. The restrictions are pushing California's $2.3 billion strawberry industry toward developing nonchemical alternatives to pesticides.

The industry and state say alternatives such as sterilizing soil with steam or growing berries in peat are not ready for prime time.

California supplies nearly 90 percent of the nation's strawberries.


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100,000 Poles in anti-govt march, threaten strike

WARSAW, Poland — Threatening a general strike, throwing smoke grenades and blowing whistles, around 100,000 Polish union members marched through Warsaw on Saturday to vent their anger against the government's labor and wage policies.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government is rapidly losing support after recently raising the retirement age, announcing a reform of the pension system and relaxing some labor code provisions that allow for longer daily and weekly working hours.

City authorities have blocked traffic in central Warsaw to allow the demonstrators to march to the historic Castle Square with flags and balloons in national white-and-red colors, and banners saying "We are Coming to Get You", "Tusk's government Must Go," and individual plaques reading: "I am Tusk's Slave."

They converged on Warsaw from all over Poland on the last of four days of major, peaceful protests in the city that also included meetings with politicians and debates with labor market experts.

Some of them have camped in front of parliament since their first march Wednesday.

The organizers — Poland's largest union, OPZZ, Solidarity and groups representing various professions — said about 120,000 participated in the march Saturday. City authorities said there were some 100,000.

The unionists said that the policies of Tusk's pro-market government hurt the interests of workers and of their families. Tusk, in his second term and sixth year in office, is Poland's longest-serving premier since the fall of communism in 1989.

A protester, Andrzej Kulig, said the government never listens to workers' needs.

"Our situation is getting worse and worse, and our government doesn't listen to us," Kulig told AP Television News. "We want them to hear us today, to hear our protest and to know that they don't govern very well."

A nurse interviewed on Polish private TVN24 said that after 31 years in her job her monthly earnings are 2,000 zlotys ($630.)

OPZZ leader Jan Guz said the march was a warning and if the government does not change its policies "we will block the whole country, we will block every highway, every road" to demand better work conditions.

"We don't accept a policy that leads to poverty," Guz said amid the noise of whistles and horns.

Poland has experienced big strikes in the past. In the 1980s, the Solidarity freedom movement organized nationwide strikes that eventually led to democratic reforms.

A prominent member of Tusk's Civic Platform party, Rafal Grupinski, said the workers have every right to express their discontent, but they should primarily return to the long-established negotiations with the government and employees, which they broke off in the summer over changes to the labor code.

The marchers complained of large-scale layoffs after economic growth slowed down to 1.9 percent of gross domestic product last year from 4.5 percent in 2011. They want job security and contracts that guarantee health care and retirement benefits at a time when unemployment is at 13 percent and many companies offer short-term contracts without social security.

Workers say average monthly wages of about 3,700 zlotys ($1,150) before tax are among Europe's lowest. They also want the reversal of a recent raise in the retirement age to 67 years from the previous 60 years for women and 65 years for men.

The ruling coalition of Tusk's center-liberal party and a peasant party is losing popularity to the nationalist opposition Law and Justice party of former prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and its parliament majority has shrunk precariously to 232 votes in the 460-member lower house.


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Bacterial outbreak roils Mass. oyster industry

BOSTON — A mystery of sorts threatens to stunt Massachusetts' small but growing oyster industry after illnesses linked to bacterial contamination forced the state to shut down beds for the first time ever.

The culprit is the Vibrio parahaemolyticus bacterium, which has occurred in state waters since the 1960s. Theories abound about the recent increase in illnesses linked to Massachusetts — but those are only theories.

"Honestly, I'm confused by the whole thing," said Don Merry, an oyster grower from Duxbury, where oyster beds have been closed.

Average monthly daytime water temperatures in the region rarely approach the 81 degrees believed to be the threshold that triggers dangerous Vibrio growth. Rising average water temperatures locally, while not reaching that threshold, could be causing environmental changes that cause strains of Vibrio to thrive, said Suzanne Condon, associate commissioner of the Department of Health.

In addition, virulent Vibrio strains that aren't as temperature-sensitive may have been carried from overseas in ships' ballast water in the past decade, said the state's chief shellfish biologist, Michael Hickey.

Meanwhile, it has been only six years since states were required to federally report Vibrio illnesses. So testing for it is relatively slow and underdeveloped and can't yet predict, for instance, if outbreaks are coming, Hickey said.

The bacterium causes gastrointestinal problems, including vomiting and cramping, but the illness is generally severe only in people with weakened immune systems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the U.S. has about 4,500 cases of Vibrio infection annually.

Since May, Massachusetts has had 50 laboratory-confirmed cases of Vibrio, compared with 27 during the same period last year. Other states have also seen increases in Vibrio-related illnesses.

Last month, Connecticut closed oyster beds and issued a voluntary oyster recall after its first Vibrio outbreak, which sickened at least 14 people. Also last month, officials in Washington's King County, where Seattle is located, warned oyster fans that Vibrio had sickened twice as many people as normal.

Cape Cod oyster farmer John Lowell said the trouble hits everyone working to build his state's industry, though his East Dennis farm is nowhere near the closed beds.

"You either hang separately or you hang together, so it affects all of us," he said.

Massachusetts has about 260 oyster growers who harvested roughly $12 million worth of oysters in 2012. That total is dwarfed by Louisiana — the highest-revenue oyster state, at $42 million — but it's in the top five nationally, according to federal statistics.

Hickey said a boom in aquaculture operations fueled a 67 percent increase in the value of the Massachusetts oyster catch between 2010 and 2012.

Massachusetts' first closures were announced Aug. 30 for oyster beds along the shore south of Boston, after illnesses caused by Vibrio were linked to an oyster-growing area in Duxbury. The second closure, announced Monday, shut down oyster beds in Katama Bay in Edgartown, on Martha's Vineyard.

Combined, this year's closures affect about 14 percent of Massachusetts growers, Hickey said.

Sal Bartolomeo, an oyster eater from Boston's North End, said that he's always cautious with shellfish, and news of the closures will make him more so. Now, he'll be sure to ask restaurants where they get their oysters, though he added he'll likely just avoid oysters altogether for a while.

"But I wouldn't give them up, like, for forever," Bartolomeo said.

Vibrio growth is not pollution-related. Since it grows quickly at higher temperatures, state oyster dealers are under are strict handling requirements to keep the oysters cool, and it's unknown where things went wrong with Massachusetts' recent cases.

As researchers try to figure it out, they may also be able to find correlations in existing data that could help avoid future problems, Condon said. "Is there some way we can predict, maybe, when (harvesters) shouldn't be collecting oysters?" she said.

Hickey figures it may be a month before the closed beds can reopen. Growers like Merry won't lose their oysters during that time, just the chance to sell them.

No estimate of total lost sales is available. Merry said it's costing him about $6,000 to $7,000 a week. Another cost, he said, may be higher.

"Quite honestly, the worst thing, is when we get back and rolling, is anybody going to want to eat a Duxbury oyster?" Merry said. "It's hard to quantify how much this has hurt us."


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Mass. fisherman pushes Congress for disaster aid

BOSTON — A top fishing industry advocate has told a Congressional committee that New England fishermen need major improvements in fishing law, but first they need disaster aid.

Gloucester fisherman Vito Giacalone of the Northeast Seafood Coalition testified Wednesday before a House committee considering the reauthorization of the nation's fishery law. His testimony comes as New England fishermen struggle with huge cuts in their allowed catch.

Giacalone said current fishing law doesn't work because it demands science know things it can't know about how fish populations respond to their dynamic environment — including how they'll behave and how fast they will recover.

He said the law must better recognize to this unpredictability, to give the industry much-needed stability.

But first, Giacalone said, fishermen critically need federal aid so the industry doesn't collapse during the current crisis.


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Poker players have winning hand in NY case

NEW YORK — Poker players are on a winning streak in a New York illegal gambling case.

A handful of professional card players have won permission to play in legal, high-stakes poker games while the case plays out. They include a popular baby-faced player named Justin "Boosted J" Smith.

Lawyers for the pro players have argued their clients make a legitimate living playing poker. They say the players should be able to pursue their careers until the case is resolved — and a judge has agreed.

The 25-year-old Smith pleaded guilty last week to playing a role in the international sports betting scheme. He's free on bail — and free to play poker — until his sentencing in January.


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Conn. lawmakers push expansion of video gambling

HARTFORD, Conn. — In response to growing competition in the Northeast gaming market, some Connecticut lawmakers are calling for an expansion of video gambling, and that push is raising concerns about over-saturation in a state that hosts two casino resorts and is already preparing for the rollout next year of keno.

A task force is looking into bringing video gambling, such as video slot machines, to gaming halls that offer betting on simulcast races in Bridgeport, New Haven and Windsor Locks. That would require changes to state law, which currently forbids video gambling, and the compacts with Connecticut's two tribal-owned casinos, the only places where it is allowed in the state.

Rep. Peggy Sayers, a Democrat representing Windsor Locks, said expanding local offerings could keep Connecticut residents from trying their luck across state lines. As proposals advance for a casino in western Massachusetts, she said, allowing video slots at the Bradley Teletheater near the airport could entice gamblers who might otherwise drive north to the Springfield area.

"If we were to expand it to the teletheater in Windsor Locks, that would offset some of those losses, or keep things more competitive," she said. "These are jobs, local jobs."

Sayers and other members of the task force are holding their first hearing in Hartford on Sept. 26. A proposal to authorize the expansion could be submitted for the next legislative session.

Currently, video gambling is only allowed at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, two giant resort casinos that once dominated the region's gaming market. They now face growing competition from casinos in the New York City area, the arrival of table games at Rhode Island's Twin Rivers Casino, and a plan to allow three casinos in Massachusetts.

Chuck Bunnell, a spokesman for the Mohegan tribe that owns Mohegan Sun, said the tribe generally is not opposed to an expansion of video gambling. Those who want the resort experience, he said, still will come to the casino. But he said the tribe would oppose video gambling in Windsor Locks because it is so close to the line with Massachusetts, where the Mohegans are among the groups vying to build a casino in the western part of the state.

Consent is needed from the Mohegans and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which owns Foxwoods, because the compacts that require the tribes to hand over 25 percent of their slot-machine revenue to the state also give them exclusive gaming privileges.

Changes to the compacts are being negotiated for the rollout of keno, a bingo-style lottery game that was authorized by the General Assembly in June as part of a deal to balance the state budget. As long as the compacts were being opened, Sayers proposed along with Sen. Andres Ayala of Bridgeport and Rep. Roland Lemar of New Haven that the state take a look at video gambling, too.

Mary Drexler, executive director of the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling, said it is worried about the potential to expose many more residents, including minors, to gambling.

"It's almost like anywhere you go in the state, there will be an opportunity to gamble," she said.

The office of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy did not respond to a request for comment on his position regarding video gambling.


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Obama to use Lehman anniversary to cite progress

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is marking the fifth anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse by trying to lay claim to an economic turnaround and warning Republicans against moves that he contends would risk a backslide.

His message to the GOP: don't oppose raising the nation's debt limit, don't threaten to close down the government in a budget fight, and don't push to delay the health care law or starve it of federal money.

The economic emphasis, after weeks devoted to the Syrian crisis, begins coming into focus in a series of events kicked off by a Rose Garden speech Monday. It's a determined effort to confront public skepticism about his stewardship of the economy and to put down his marker for budget clashes with Congress in the weeks ahead.

The White House argues that a better capitalized and better regulated financial sector is extending more credit, fueling an economy now able to withstand headwinds such as spending cuts and tax increases.

"You can draw this straight line from the health of the financial system to the ways the financial system impacts the economy," said Jason Furman, the chairman of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.

Obama can point to a growing economy, rising housing prices, 35 straight months of hiring, a rebounding stock market and other signs of recovery.

Five years after the federal government stepped in and infused banks with $245 billion in taxpayer money to avert a financial meltdown, the government has been paid back nearly in full.

Sunday is the fifth anniversary of Lehman's bankruptcy, which was the largest in U.S. history. The firm's demise marked the beginning of the global financial crisis and was a major catalyst of the financial meltdown.

"We've put more people back to work, but we've also cleared away the rubble of crisis and laid the foundation for stronger and more durable economic growth," Obama said during his recent trip to Russia.

"And as Congress takes up important decisions in the coming months, I'm going to keep making the case for the smart investments and fiscal responsibility that keep our economy growing, creates jobs and keeps the U.S. competitive. That includes making sure we don't risk a U.S. default over paying bills we've already racked up."

Obama intends to highlight that progress to economists and other guests at the White House on Monday, and his National Economic Council is set to release a report detailing the economic advances.

Obama planned to discuss the economy as part of an interview airing Sunday on ABC's "This Week" and scheduled a speech Wednesday to the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs from the biggest U.S. companies.

But the public is not convinced that the economy is on the mend. Only one-third say the economic system is more secure now than in 2008, and 52 percent say they disapprove of Obama's handling of the economy, according to a Pew Research Center poll. There is still plenty of pain to justify their pessimism.

Despite job growth, the unemployment rate remains high at 7.3 percent. Though the rate has fallen, one of the reasons is because some people have dropped out of the labor force and no longer are counted as job seekers. The income gap between the very rich and the rest of the population is the biggest since 1928.

"We have genuinely made progress. We genuinely have more work to do," said Furman.

What's more, some banks that received government aid because they were deemed "too big to fail" are now bigger than they were in 2008, but they are smaller as a share of the economy than the largest banks in other big economies. Three years after Obama signed a sweeping overhaul of lending and high-finance rules, execution of the law is behind schedule.

"We should not accept a financial system that allows the biggest banks to emerge from a crisis in record-setting shape while ordinary Americans continue to struggle," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who watched over the bank bailout as head of a special oversight panel.

This glass-half-empty-glass-half-full state of the economy has produced competing story lines about the role Obama's administration has played in getting the country to this point. Did Obama's approach validate the philosophy of spending your way out of crisis or did some of his policies actually slow the recovery?

The bank bailout, which started during the closing weeks of President George W. Bush's term, was highly unpopular but is generally credited with stabilizing the financial system.

Obama continued the program and ultimately used some of the $700 billion that had been allocated to prop up the financial system to bail out General Motors and Chrysler, a move generally accepted as a success.

Still, voters in 2009 and 2010 rebelled, and the bank bailout vote cost some lawmakers their seats.

Former Rep. Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who headed the House Financial Services Committee, noted the other day that "you don't get credit for disaster averted."

Some conservative economists say the $800 billion stimulus Obama pushed for in 2009 initially did help reverse the plunging economy, even though some liberals insist the dollar amount should have been even bigger.

But much of the credit for the current recovery, tepid as it may be, goes to the Federal Reserve. It has held short-term interests rates near zero and has undertaken a massive bond purchase program that has supported spending, lifted stocks and kept home mortgage rates at near record lows.

"The Fed was the single biggest policy move in the crisis. No question about it," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office and top economic adviser to Republican Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.

The question that defines the debate is not so much whether government steps helped, but whether it could have done more to accelerate the recovery. Many Democrats and liberal-leaning economists say the economy needed more stimulus. But Republicans, worried about skyrocketing deficits, cut back on spending instead.

Now many say the economy needs long term measures that would reduce spending on entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security and that would overhaul and simplify the tax system.

"We've done too much temporary targeted intervention, we're passed the time for that," said Holtz-Eakin, who now heads the American Action Forum, a conservative public policy institute. "It's no longer 2008 when things were falling like a rock. It's time to have long-term growth policies. We don't have them."

Obama and Republicans are at a stalemate, however.

Obama has proposed some changes that would reduce spending on Social Security and Medicare, including an adjustment that would lower cost-of-living adjustments. But he has insisted on more tax revenue by closing what he says are loopholes for the rich, a step Republicans won't take.

The impasse has revived threats of a government shutdown after the current budget year ends Sept. 30 and, more economically damaging, a default if Congress can't agree to raise the debt ceiling later in October.

Some conservative Republicans say they will only extend current spending levels or increase the debt ceiling if Obama delays putting in place his health care law, a condition Obama has flatly rejected.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has tried to keep the focus on spending reductions, even as some on his right insist on defunding or delaying the health care law.

"This year the federal government will bring in more revenue than any year in the history of our government, and yet we will still have nearly a $700 billion budget deficit," he said. "We have a spending problem. It must be addressed, period."

___

Follow Jim Kuhnhenn on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn


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After coal, W.Va. push for natural gas trust fund

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For decades, coal from West Virginia's vast deposits was mined, loaded on rail cars and hauled off without leaving behind a lasting trust fund financed by the state's best-known commodity. Big coal's days are waning, but now a new bonanza in the natural gas fields has state leaders working to ensure history doesn't repeat itself.

West Virginia's Senate president, Jeff Kessler, is pushing to create an oil and natural gas trust fund to support core government functions decades from now. His goal: a cushion of funds long after the gas is depleted to buoy an Appalachian mountain state chronically vexed by poverty, high joblessness, and cycles of boom and bust.

The Democratic Senate leader said the previous generation missed out on creating a permanent fund based on coal severance tax revenues. Current residents, he said, should be prudent and set aside a part of the revenue from the extraction of natural gas to benefit future generations.

"Had we had the good sense to put a few cents aside of every ton of coal ... that has come out of our ground, we'd probably be the richest state in the Union instead of in many respects the poorest," Kessler said.

Indeed, supporters say the future health and welfare of the state is, to some extent, at stake. West Virginia consistently has ranked among the states with the lowest life expectancy while grappling with problems of obesity, education and drug abuse.

"This is really about protecting the long-term fiscal health of the state," said Ted Boettner, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. "Without a plan for the future, we're likely to continue to experience a lack of economic diversity, cycles of boom and bust and poor economic outcomes."

Kessler's isn't a new concept. Other states with abundant natural resources have set up legacy funds as Alaska voters did in 1976 with a constitutional amendment creating the Alaska Permanent Fund to protect a portion of that state's oil wealth for future generations. That vote came amid construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline and the fund is now worth billions.

Kessler is still crafting his Future Fund proposal for the 2014 legislative session that opens in January. He said he's leaning toward presenting it as a proposed constitutional amendment. His call for a trust fund would go on next year's ballot for voters to decide if it clears the Legislature.

His proposed endowment would be built with a portion of oil and natural gas severance tax collections. Severance taxes, including those on coal and other natural resources, are a big part of the state budget. They contributed an estimated $462 million, or 11 percent, to total general tax revenues in the fiscal year that ended in June.

The trust could not be tapped for a specified number of years and would be limited to supporting a few needs including education, economic development or tax relief once it became accessible.

Kessler said constitutional protections would lock down the fund from lawmakers and interest groups tempted to pry it open prematurely to spend money elsewhere. "I don't want it to be willy nilly, people using it for pet projects," he said.

He notes that places such as Alaska are already benefiting handsomely from their funds.

Supported by about 30 percent of all mineral royalties the state receives, the Alaska Permanent Fund is invested in a broad portfolio and recently had an unaudited market value of $46.6 billion. Dividends, coming from investment profits, are paid each year to most Alaskans. Last year, the payment amounted to $878 per person. Principal can't be spent.

Then there is North Dakota. Kessler recently led a group of West Virginia lawmakers there to study state's legacy fund.

In 2010, North Dakota voters approved their Legacy Fund, which has been rising faster than predicted with booming oil production. Oil and gas revenue that began gushing in only since September 2011 had topped $1.3 billion as of last month. The fund gets 30 percent of the state's oil and gas tax collections. None of the money can be spent until 2017, and only then if the Legislature decides by a two-thirds vote to dip into it.

Natural gas production in the big Marcellus Shale formation underlying parts of West Virginia and other nearby states has been rising even faster than energy experts had predicted. That production in West Virginia alone nearly doubled in the last five years and could nearly double again in coming years, they say.

Tapping it can require an unconventional horizontal drilling method as well as hydraulic fracturing. Also known as fracking, that process relies on water drawn from area sources that's mixed with chemicals and sand and then pumped into wells to crack the rock.

As a result of the production boom, natural gas severance tax collections in West Virginia are expected to surge.

But despite the welcome news, some are taking a wait-and-see approach.

Corky DeMarco, executive director of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association, said the proposal to divert money into a fund that's untouchable for years comes at a time of a shrinking state budget.

"In theory, I'm not sure how anyone could not support leaving something for their children and grandchildren," he said. "The problem is that we are looking at budget deficits in West Virginia."

The Legislature agreed in April to cut ongoing spending by $28 million and expects to face more budget pressures next year.

The oil and gas industry worries that talk of creating a permanent fund could veer onto another subject, such as tax rates, DeMarco said.

Kessler said his legislation would not increase severance tax rates.

Boettner estimates that an oil and gas trust fund started now could accumulate $2 billion to $4 billion by 2040, if it wasn't tapped. But that wouldn't be politically practical, he said, adding that the fund would probably need to be accessible within five to 10 years to build public support.

West Virginia House Speaker Tim Miley said some form of a Future Fund "carries great potential." He and Kessler, along with the House and Senate Finance committee chairmen, plan to meet with other legislators who visited North Dakota as they prepare for next year's session.

Getting a constitutional amendment on the ballot requires super-majority support in both legislative chambers, and Kessler said he thinks that is attainable.

"Rather than pouring it all into the General Revenue fund and spending every dime we get and wake up 20 years from now and say, 'What did we do with all that money,' we could say, 'Hey, we put it in the bank and put some aside," he said.

That could be welcome money for a state struggling on many fronts.

In July, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said West Virginia ranked among the worst four states for life expectancy and healthy life expectancy. In June, a report by the national KIDS COUNT project — backed by Annie E. Casey Foundation — found that 26 percent of West Virginia's children live in poverty. The report also said West Virginia's educational system ranks fourth-worst in the nation, citing in part a lack of quality pre-kindergarten programs.

And while West Virginia has been a coal-producing powerhouse for generations, Kessler noted, some of its most economically stressed areas are in the heart of the coalfields.

"When the (coal) seams got thinner and the jobs were done, there was just nothing to sustain their communities," Kessler said. "I don't want to see that happen again ... when I see another golden opportunity where we have something in great supply and enormous demand."

______

Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, and James MacPherson in Bismarck, N.D., contributed to this report.


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