• Breaking news: Gunman kills 27, self, in Connecticut elementary school

    A 20-year old Newtown, Connecticut man entered the Sandy Hook Elementary School in town and began shooting; police says that, so far, there are twenty-seven dead and scores of injured; among the dead are twenty students and six staff members; most of the students were killed in the classroom of the gunman’s mother, who was also shot and killed; police reports that so far it appears that there is only one person injured who requires hospitalization

  • Sandy exposes weaknesses of antiquated sewage systems in N.Y., N.J.

    Hurricane Sandy destroyed homes, apartments, and entire communities, and it also exposed the outdated sewage systems in New York and New Jersey; since Hurricane Sandy, millions of gallons of raw sewage have infiltrated waterways in both states, and it could take several years and billions of dollars to fix the systems; New York governor Andrew Cuomo estimated that it will cost about $1.1 billion to repair treatment plants; officials in the field say that much more will have to be done

  • TVA considering raising height of dams to prevent future floods

    The dams located on the upper Tennessee River never had flood waters top them, and government officials want to keep it that way, saying that due to recent disasters such as the 2010 Nashville flood and the 2011Fukushima tsunami, they need to prepare the worst possible situation

  • Andrew Cuomo heads to Washington to push for disaster aid

    Governor Andrew Cuomo says that New York needs $33 billion to cover storm cleanup and another $9 billion for new programs to protect against future storms; Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey says his state will need $36.8 billion to recover from Sandy; it is not clear how Congress and the administration, locked in a tug of war over differing deficit cut plans, will respond

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  • Arizona denies driver licenses to those eligible for DHS deferred action program

    The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit to overturn Arizona governor Jan Brewer’s order to deny driver licenses to illegal immigrants who qualify for the federal governments “deferred action” program; Brewer contends that although DHS is not deporting the 1.4 million people eligible for the program, this does not mean they are in the country legally

  • Fracking in Michigan

    In hydraulic fracturing, large amounts of water, sand and chemicals are injected deep underground to break apart rock and free trapped natural gas; though the process has been used for decades, recent technical advances have helped unlock vast stores of previously inaccessible natural gas, resulting in a fracking boom; researchers are examining the benefits of fracking for Michigan

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  • Post-Sandy insurance rates increase may make coastal living unaffordable

    Residents of New York and New Jersey are still coping with the destruction Hurricane Sandy caused, but home and business owners alike will soon face another burden: rising insurance rates and new building codes and requirements that could threaten many that live and work in the coastal areas of the two states

  • Federal ID deadline draws near, but some states are not yet ready

    A federal deadline imposing security standards for states-issued driver’s licenses is drawing near, but according to New Mexico’s congressional delegation, an extension is possible for the state for complying with the law; the act currently has thirty-one requirements, but New Mexico has not met sixteen of them and eight of those are related to the driver’s license law

  • Detection aircraft surveys 600 miles of PG&E California pipeline for gas leaks

    PG&E’s transmission pipeline is routinely surveyed each year, typically by ground crews; accessing rural areas with difficult terrain, however, can be time consuming, expensive, and unsafe for crews on the ground; aerial surveys often look for dead vegetation as an indicator of gas leaks

  • New Georgia immigration bill makes state health professionals feel the pain

    Starting in January 2012, a Georgia House bill required health employees to prove their citizenship or legal residency when they apply for or renew a professional license; the bill has licensing administrators tied up in knots as understaffed offices cannot keep up with the deluge of new paperwork and increased responsibility

  • “Soft infrastructure” as storm surge defense alternatives

    The flooding in New York and New Jersey caused by Superstorm Sandy prompted calls from Governor Andrew Cuomo and other officials to consider building storm surge barriers to protect Lower Manhattan from future catastrophes. Such a strategy, however, could make things even worse for outlying areas that were hit hard by the hurricane, such as Staten Island, the New Jersey Shore, and Long Island’s South Shore, a City College of New York landscape architecture professor warns; landscapers and engineers say that environmentally friendly “soft infrastructure” would mitigate flood damage without sending harm elsewhere

  • In 2009, engineers predicted surge threats to N.Y.-N.J. and offered detailed mitigation measures

    The leaders of the U.S. top engineering association, reflecting on the destruction inflicted by Superstorm Sandy, say that more than three years ago the association presented studies showing that a devastating storm surge in the region was all but inevitable; participants in the 30-31 March 2009 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) conference called on NYC officials seriously to consider whether to install surge barriers or tide gates in New York Harbor to protect the city

  • New book discusses storm surge protection for New York City

    A new book from American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), to be published on 3 December, includes sixteen papers exploring the development of storm surge barriers to protect New York City and nearby New Jersey from the effects of a future deluge

  • Relief organizations step up their efforts in wake of Hurricane Sandy

    In response to Superstorm Sandy, the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and other organizations have combined for the largest relief effort since Hurricane Katrina; the Red Cross has raised more than $117 million across ten states in donations and pledges

  • South Carolina exploring different cybersecurity plans

    Last month state officials in South Carolina discovered a massive breach at the Department of Revenue; the attack exposed 3.6 million social security numbers of residents in the state, 387,000 credit and debit card numbers, and information for 657,000 businesses as well as other personal information; now, officials are trying to figure out what security measures they need to take in order to prevent another attack