AURORA, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado family that’s been trying to get its pet back from animal control officers says DNA tests show the dog is not a wolf hybrid. Aurora Animal Control picked up the Abbato family pet last month after it escaped from the yard. Officials classified the animal, named Capone, as being […]
Reported by Seattle Times 5 days ago.
Family: Tests show pet seized in Colorado is not part wolf
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DNA test shows Aurora dog not a wolf, despite animal control belief
Animal Control in Aurora ordered a DNA test after the department's animal experts observed the dog's physical characteristics and believed them to be consistent with those of a wolf hybrid.
Reported by Denver Post 5 days ago.
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Experiencing Aurora Australis 'alters' passengers' lives!
Reported by TopNews 7 hours ago.
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A round-trip flight just for the view — the Southern Lights
A charter plane that left Dunedin, New Zealand, late Thursday flew close to the Antarctic Circle to give the eager passengers an up-close look at the Aurora Australis, or Southern Lights. Wong, a cancer research scientist, said he loves going camping and looking at the stars, something he found more stunning in New Zealand after moving from Australia three years ago. Griffin said he's thinking about another trip next year. Because the Boeing 767 is being decommissioned and the trip proved so popular, he said he may seek a larger jet.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 19 hours ago.
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I am so unreasonably jealous of this view of the southern lights
The northern and southern lights are probably the eeriest cosmic views available to us here on Earth, and 150 people on a flight from New Zealand learned that first-hand this week.
The Air New Zealand charter flight took off on March 23 to give passengers their best shot at seeing the cosmic lights thanks to the 12 hours of darkness provided by the equinox.
SEE ALSO: 9 Stunning Images of the Aurora Borealis Over the U.S.
A seat on board the chartered flight wasn't exactly cheap. Two economy seats were sold for $2,775, and two business-class seats went for $5,973.
"What an amazing night we all had," one of the passengers said in a Facebook post. Read more...
More about Space Exploration, Aurora Australis, Aurora Videos, Aurora Photos, and Aurora Borealis Reported by Mashable 15 hours ago.
The Air New Zealand charter flight took off on March 23 to give passengers their best shot at seeing the cosmic lights thanks to the 12 hours of darkness provided by the equinox.
SEE ALSO: 9 Stunning Images of the Aurora Borealis Over the U.S.
A seat on board the chartered flight wasn't exactly cheap. Two economy seats were sold for $2,775, and two business-class seats went for $5,973.
"What an amazing night we all had," one of the passengers said in a Facebook post. Read more...
More about Space Exploration, Aurora Australis, Aurora Videos, Aurora Photos, and Aurora Borealis Reported by Mashable 15 hours ago.
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Trump’s 'Beachhead' Teams Host Dozens Of Former Lobbyists
by Ashley Balcerzak and Niv SultanHealth and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has been mired in questions about his investments in the healthcare industry. As it turns out, some of the people helping him get grounded at the department are also prompting questions about their ties with the industry.
Lance Leggitt, a lobbyist at Baker Donelson since 2006, was named Price’s chief of staff earlier this month. In 2016 alone, he lobbied for 10 organizations — all related to health care. Alere Inc, for example, manufactures diagnostic tests and spent nearly $900,000 lobbying last year. Other clients included hospitals and a medical trade group.
Leggitt deregistered as a lobbyist in January, because he was on his way to HHS even before being made chief of staff. In the early days of the administration, Leggitt was a member of President Trump’s “beachhead” force, a temporary cast of characters brought in to keep the government running and lay the groundwork for Trump’s agenda. With key jobs in the administration being filled at a slower-than-average pace, these individuals can have a big impact on their agencies.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by ProPublica, the names of 400 of the more than 520 members of beachhead teams were released by the Office of Personnel Management — including several dozen individuals who have been federally registered lobbyists, a review by OpenSecrets confirmed.
Their positions can last 90 to 120 days, depending on the level, with one contract extension permitted — although many expect to be later hired on to full-time positions. That’s what happened with Leggitt, for example, and with Jack Kalavritinos, who was brought in on a beachhead assignment to help run FDA; that agency’s commissioner wasn’t named by Trump for close to two months. Kalavritinos worked at HHS in the mid 2000’s but more recently spent eight years lobbying for Covidien Ltd, an Ireland-based pharmaceutical and health products company. This week, Kalavritinos was named associate commissioner for external affairs at FDA.
While past administrations have used some temporary personnel, they didn’t seem to do so at the same scale as Trump’s, said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, which helps advise new administrations. Most pushed to have officials in place much more quickly.
“There wasn’t a notion of a group of people that were only there for a limited period of time, but more of an expectation that the secretary and team would get in and be using the career folks,” Stier said. “The beachhead team creates another step in the process.” (The term “beachhead” was first used by Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign; he didn’t get the chance to implement the concept.)
It also creates “minders” of a sort who aren’t always appreciated by agency chiefs or civil service employees trying to do their work. According to the Washington Post, these temporary figures often act as eyes and ears for the White House, making sure the agencies are loyally hewing to the administration’s agenda.
Now, some of the beachheaders with lobbying backgrounds did that work many years ago and went on to other careers. But even for more recent practitioners, Trump’s executive order on ethics, unlike President Obama’s, allows lobbyists to join the administration, even in the agencies they previously lobbied, though they are not supposed to work on specific issues on which they lobbied in the last two years. There are also restrictions on the lobbying that administration employees can do after they leave the public payroll, but there are a number of loopholes in the rules.
It’s unclear if all the beachhead employees are bound by the Trump policy. Still, even if they are, there are a number of ways that former lobbyists can flourish in the administration. For instance, Trump could waive the executive order’s requirements for certain appointees, and now doesn’t even need to make those waivers public, like Obama did. (There is a section of the White House site that says “Ethics pledge waivers will be published as they become available,” but there weren’t any waivers posted when we published.)
The placement of all these lobbyists as de facto — or actual — high-level agency staffers “raises the appearance that you could be attempting to influence public policy in favor of your former client,” said Meredith McGehee, chief of policy, programs and strategy at Issue One. “This isn’t saying that lobbyists are bad or evil, it’s simply saying the reason that you should have rules governing lobbyists in government is because they have been paid by private interests to promote the interests of their employer.”
It makes a difference whether an individual lobbied last year of 10 years ago, McGehee said. Revolving door restrictions are written with time limits, because it’s understood your relationships with clients and freshness of information cool over time.
One former for-profit college lobbyist has already resigned from his beachhead position at the Department of Education, where he worked for about a month. Taylor Hansen lobbied for Career Education Colleges and Universities until July 2016, where he focused on trying to weaken the “gainful employment” rule that puts for-profit schools’ federal funding at risk if their graduates don’t earn enough to pay back their student loans.
ProPublica reported that soon after Hansen started working at Education, the agency began delaying deadlines for the gainful employment rule and is reviewing the implementation of the rule. Hansen told ProPublica he didn’t work on gainful employment while at the department.
OpenSecrets Blog contacted the federal agencies with former lobbyist beachhead members about their ethics policies. The Department of Homeland Security was the only one to get back to us, and its response was vague:
“Ethics training, consistent with U.S. Office of Government Ethics regulations, is provided to all political appointees,” said DHS spokesman David Lapan in an email. “DHS ethics attorneys conduct reviews for potential conflicts of interest and provide guidance to employees.”
Nine beachhead members were registered lobbyists as recently as last year; eight of them have filed forms with the Senate deregistering from that work. General Mills has not filed paperwork that shows Erika Baum ending her lobbying gig at the food company, although she is now an executive assistant to the Secretary of Transportation, according to ProPublica‘s data and lobbying records.
OpenSecrets Blog contacted all nine firms, and confirmed at least four beachheaders had formally resigned from their lobbying jobs, as opposed to taking temporary leaves of absence. Two firms said they could not divulge personnel information, and two did not reply by publication. (The ninth was General Mills.)
Among the former cohorts on K Street:
John Barsa, who is installed at DHS, has lobbied for the Aerospace Industries Association of America, a trade group for the aerospace and defense industry. He’s also represented MRIGlobal, a research organization that touts its security and defense program and runs facilities for the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense. He deregistered in 2013, though he stayed at his lobbying firm until 2015.
Pete Giambastiani, in his role as special assistant at the office of the secretary of defense, might visit one of those facilities. He, too, has a history of lobbying on behalf of defense interests. His past clients, through 2014, include the Defense Venture Group, Finmeccanica SpA and the Navy League of the US. Giambastiani also served in the Department of the Navy and the offices of Reps. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) and, most recently, Tom Rooney (R-Fla.).
Mark Maddox‘s clients as a lobbyist included General Synfuels International, Calcasieu Refinery Co. and Cline Resource and Development. Now, fittingly, he’s a key beachhead figure at the Energy Department. He deregistered in 2015, though he continued working at The Livingston Group/Maddox Strategies.
Then there’s Geoff Burr, who is at the Department of Labor. Until 2015, he was the top lobbyist for the Associated Builders and Contractors, which is always fighting wage standards in federal contracts and is on the other side of labor unions when it comes to exposure to hazardous materials. He then went on to run the lobbying shop at Cablevision. Burr previously put in time at Labor, from 2006 to 2008.
Other departments have smatterings of staff who have lobbied on behalf of issues that are intensely political. Julie Kirchner, a Homeland Security adviser, represented the Federation for Amer Immigration Reform, a nonprofit that seeks to reduce immigration levels. (She deregistered in 2015.) At the Department of Agriculture, special assistant George Dunlop brings with him his experience lobbying for the Tobacco Quota Warehouse Alliance, which advocated in support of tobacco producers from 1999 to 2001.
So far, the links between lobbying and the beachhead team have been pretty direct: Health care lobbyists at HHS, defense lobbyists at Homeland Security, and so on. But what about the Department of Commerce, which is tasked with the broad goal of expanding economic growth? Earl Comstock, director of the Office of Policy and Strategic Planning at Commerce, has demonstrated the flexibility befitting the nation’s multifaceted economy. In his 18 years of lobbying until 2015, he represented firms from Swiss International Air Lines to the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission to the Teamsters Union. He can now apply that diverse experience as he makes his way back to government — he was a staffer on the Senate Commerce, Science, & Transportation Committee from 1988-1991.
In some cases, the revolving door made a complete 360 swivel: At least 14 of the beachheads have previously worked in the same agency where Trump has now placed them.
One of them is Marcus Peacock, now adviser for Office of Management & Budget, who worked in that office for eight years under GOP Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush (R). Peacock worked for Jellinek, Schwartz & Connolly as a program manager in the early 1990’s. Most recently he was the environment & energy consultant for dark-money nonprofit Right to Rise Policy Solutions, which supported Jeb Bush.
Here are the rest of the former lobbyists on Trump’s beachhead team:
·
Patricia Adkins – Executive director at the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Lobbying client was the Home Safety Council until 2010, after which she worked at Safe Kids Worldwide. Has worked at CPSC since 2014 under Obama, and was temporarily hired to stay on under the Trump administration.·
Byron Anderson – Dept. of Labor. Lobbying clients included American General Corp and Transamerica Companies. Deregistered 2016.·
Deidre Bass – Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. Lobbying client was the Stark Area Transit Authority. Deregistered 2008.·
Scott Cameron – Dept. of Interior. Lobbying client was Chep USA. Deregistered in 2001, then worked at Interior and Grant Thornton LLP.·
Mauricio Claver-Carone – Dept. of Treasury. Lobbying client was the Cuba Democracy Public Advocacy Corp. Deregistered 2016.·
Martin Dannenfelser – Dept. of Energy. Lobbying client was the Family Research Council. Deregistered 2000, worked at the Energy Innovation Reform Project.·
Lynda Davis – Dept. of Veterans Affairs. Lobbying clinets included Florida State College at Jacksonville and Valencia Community College, as well as Lockheed Martin, Raydon Corp and BAE Systems. Most recently, was executive director of a group called the Military and Veteran Caregiver Network.·
Sheila Greenwood – Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. Lobbying clients included Prudential Financial and Wal-Mart. Deregistered 2014, continued working at Prudential Financial.·
Scott Hommel – Dept. of Interior. Lobbying clients included American Defense Systems, Avalex Technologies and the National Guard Association of the U.S. Deregistered 2010, served as now-Secretary Ryan Zinke’s chief of staff.·
Russell Laird – Dept. of Agriculture. Lobbying clients include the National Cooperative Services Corp. and the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corp. Deregistered 2016.·
Keagan Lenihan – Dept. of Health and Human Services. Lobbying client was McKesson Corp. Deregistered 2016.·
Marianne McInerney – Dept. of Transportation. Lobbying client was the American International Automobile Dealers Association, a lobbying group for foreign car dealers, where she was also president. Joined beachhead team from electric car maker Cenntro Automotive.·
Justin Mikolay – Office of the Secretary of Defense. Lobbying client was Palantir Technologies. Deregistered 2016.·
Wayne Palmer – Dept. of Labor. Lobbying clients included the Alliance for Healthcare Competitiveness and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. Deregistered 2015, continued working at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.·
Alex Pryor (or Campau) – Dept. of Health and Human Services. Lobbying clients included AmeriHealth Caritas, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Fresenius Medical Care. Deregistered 2014, worked at the House Budget Committee and Senate Republican Policy Committee.·
Lora Ries – DHS. Lobbying clients included General Dynamics and Boeing. Deregistered 2010, worked with two technology companies that had contracts with DHS.·
Heidi Stirrup – Dept. of Health and Human Services. Lobbying clients included the National Association of Spine Specialists and Aurora Organic Dairy. Deregistered 2008, worked at Faithful Catholic Citizens, then the Department of Commerce followed by the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health.·
George Sugiyama – Environmental Protection Agency. Lobbying clients included the National Mining Association, Southern Co. and Solargenix Energy. Deregistered 2013, worked at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.·
Cathy Tripodi – Dept. of Energy. Lobbying clients were Abound Solar and the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Deregistered 2012, worked at the North Carolina Department of Transportation.·
Laura Clay Trueman – Dept. of Health and Human Services. Lobbying clients included Aetna, Coalition for Affordable Health. Deregistered 2007, worked at the UnitedHealth Group and then the Heritage Foundation.·
Brooks Tucker – Dept. of Veterans Affairs. Lobbying clients included Management Solutions and Air Comm Corp. Deregistered 2016.·
Stephen Vaughn – U.S. Trade Rep. Lobbying client was U.S. Steel. Deregistered 2015, worked at King & Spalding LLP.·
Chad Wolf – Dept. of Homeland Security. Lobbying clients included Harris Corp. and Boeing. Deregistered 2016.·
Mark Zelden – Dept. of Labor. Lobbying clients included Birmingham Water Works and the cities of Foley, Jackson and Mobile, Alabama. Deregistered 2014, worked at Adams and Reese.
Senior researcher Dan Auble contributed to this report.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 14 hours ago.
Lance Leggitt, a lobbyist at Baker Donelson since 2006, was named Price’s chief of staff earlier this month. In 2016 alone, he lobbied for 10 organizations — all related to health care. Alere Inc, for example, manufactures diagnostic tests and spent nearly $900,000 lobbying last year. Other clients included hospitals and a medical trade group.
Leggitt deregistered as a lobbyist in January, because he was on his way to HHS even before being made chief of staff. In the early days of the administration, Leggitt was a member of President Trump’s “beachhead” force, a temporary cast of characters brought in to keep the government running and lay the groundwork for Trump’s agenda. With key jobs in the administration being filled at a slower-than-average pace, these individuals can have a big impact on their agencies.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by ProPublica, the names of 400 of the more than 520 members of beachhead teams were released by the Office of Personnel Management — including several dozen individuals who have been federally registered lobbyists, a review by OpenSecrets confirmed.
Their positions can last 90 to 120 days, depending on the level, with one contract extension permitted — although many expect to be later hired on to full-time positions. That’s what happened with Leggitt, for example, and with Jack Kalavritinos, who was brought in on a beachhead assignment to help run FDA; that agency’s commissioner wasn’t named by Trump for close to two months. Kalavritinos worked at HHS in the mid 2000’s but more recently spent eight years lobbying for Covidien Ltd, an Ireland-based pharmaceutical and health products company. This week, Kalavritinos was named associate commissioner for external affairs at FDA.
While past administrations have used some temporary personnel, they didn’t seem to do so at the same scale as Trump’s, said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, which helps advise new administrations. Most pushed to have officials in place much more quickly.
“There wasn’t a notion of a group of people that were only there for a limited period of time, but more of an expectation that the secretary and team would get in and be using the career folks,” Stier said. “The beachhead team creates another step in the process.” (The term “beachhead” was first used by Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign; he didn’t get the chance to implement the concept.)
It also creates “minders” of a sort who aren’t always appreciated by agency chiefs or civil service employees trying to do their work. According to the Washington Post, these temporary figures often act as eyes and ears for the White House, making sure the agencies are loyally hewing to the administration’s agenda.
Now, some of the beachheaders with lobbying backgrounds did that work many years ago and went on to other careers. But even for more recent practitioners, Trump’s executive order on ethics, unlike President Obama’s, allows lobbyists to join the administration, even in the agencies they previously lobbied, though they are not supposed to work on specific issues on which they lobbied in the last two years. There are also restrictions on the lobbying that administration employees can do after they leave the public payroll, but there are a number of loopholes in the rules.
It’s unclear if all the beachhead employees are bound by the Trump policy. Still, even if they are, there are a number of ways that former lobbyists can flourish in the administration. For instance, Trump could waive the executive order’s requirements for certain appointees, and now doesn’t even need to make those waivers public, like Obama did. (There is a section of the White House site that says “Ethics pledge waivers will be published as they become available,” but there weren’t any waivers posted when we published.)
The placement of all these lobbyists as de facto — or actual — high-level agency staffers “raises the appearance that you could be attempting to influence public policy in favor of your former client,” said Meredith McGehee, chief of policy, programs and strategy at Issue One. “This isn’t saying that lobbyists are bad or evil, it’s simply saying the reason that you should have rules governing lobbyists in government is because they have been paid by private interests to promote the interests of their employer.”
It makes a difference whether an individual lobbied last year of 10 years ago, McGehee said. Revolving door restrictions are written with time limits, because it’s understood your relationships with clients and freshness of information cool over time.
One former for-profit college lobbyist has already resigned from his beachhead position at the Department of Education, where he worked for about a month. Taylor Hansen lobbied for Career Education Colleges and Universities until July 2016, where he focused on trying to weaken the “gainful employment” rule that puts for-profit schools’ federal funding at risk if their graduates don’t earn enough to pay back their student loans.
ProPublica reported that soon after Hansen started working at Education, the agency began delaying deadlines for the gainful employment rule and is reviewing the implementation of the rule. Hansen told ProPublica he didn’t work on gainful employment while at the department.
OpenSecrets Blog contacted the federal agencies with former lobbyist beachhead members about their ethics policies. The Department of Homeland Security was the only one to get back to us, and its response was vague:
“Ethics training, consistent with U.S. Office of Government Ethics regulations, is provided to all political appointees,” said DHS spokesman David Lapan in an email. “DHS ethics attorneys conduct reviews for potential conflicts of interest and provide guidance to employees.”
Nine beachhead members were registered lobbyists as recently as last year; eight of them have filed forms with the Senate deregistering from that work. General Mills has not filed paperwork that shows Erika Baum ending her lobbying gig at the food company, although she is now an executive assistant to the Secretary of Transportation, according to ProPublica‘s data and lobbying records.
OpenSecrets Blog contacted all nine firms, and confirmed at least four beachheaders had formally resigned from their lobbying jobs, as opposed to taking temporary leaves of absence. Two firms said they could not divulge personnel information, and two did not reply by publication. (The ninth was General Mills.)
Among the former cohorts on K Street:
John Barsa, who is installed at DHS, has lobbied for the Aerospace Industries Association of America, a trade group for the aerospace and defense industry. He’s also represented MRIGlobal, a research organization that touts its security and defense program and runs facilities for the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense. He deregistered in 2013, though he stayed at his lobbying firm until 2015.
Pete Giambastiani, in his role as special assistant at the office of the secretary of defense, might visit one of those facilities. He, too, has a history of lobbying on behalf of defense interests. His past clients, through 2014, include the Defense Venture Group, Finmeccanica SpA and the Navy League of the US. Giambastiani also served in the Department of the Navy and the offices of Reps. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) and, most recently, Tom Rooney (R-Fla.).
Mark Maddox‘s clients as a lobbyist included General Synfuels International, Calcasieu Refinery Co. and Cline Resource and Development. Now, fittingly, he’s a key beachhead figure at the Energy Department. He deregistered in 2015, though he continued working at The Livingston Group/Maddox Strategies.
Then there’s Geoff Burr, who is at the Department of Labor. Until 2015, he was the top lobbyist for the Associated Builders and Contractors, which is always fighting wage standards in federal contracts and is on the other side of labor unions when it comes to exposure to hazardous materials. He then went on to run the lobbying shop at Cablevision. Burr previously put in time at Labor, from 2006 to 2008.
Other departments have smatterings of staff who have lobbied on behalf of issues that are intensely political. Julie Kirchner, a Homeland Security adviser, represented the Federation for Amer Immigration Reform, a nonprofit that seeks to reduce immigration levels. (She deregistered in 2015.) At the Department of Agriculture, special assistant George Dunlop brings with him his experience lobbying for the Tobacco Quota Warehouse Alliance, which advocated in support of tobacco producers from 1999 to 2001.
So far, the links between lobbying and the beachhead team have been pretty direct: Health care lobbyists at HHS, defense lobbyists at Homeland Security, and so on. But what about the Department of Commerce, which is tasked with the broad goal of expanding economic growth? Earl Comstock, director of the Office of Policy and Strategic Planning at Commerce, has demonstrated the flexibility befitting the nation’s multifaceted economy. In his 18 years of lobbying until 2015, he represented firms from Swiss International Air Lines to the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission to the Teamsters Union. He can now apply that diverse experience as he makes his way back to government — he was a staffer on the Senate Commerce, Science, & Transportation Committee from 1988-1991.
In some cases, the revolving door made a complete 360 swivel: At least 14 of the beachheads have previously worked in the same agency where Trump has now placed them.
One of them is Marcus Peacock, now adviser for Office of Management & Budget, who worked in that office for eight years under GOP Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush (R). Peacock worked for Jellinek, Schwartz & Connolly as a program manager in the early 1990’s. Most recently he was the environment & energy consultant for dark-money nonprofit Right to Rise Policy Solutions, which supported Jeb Bush.
Here are the rest of the former lobbyists on Trump’s beachhead team:
·
Patricia Adkins – Executive director at the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Lobbying client was the Home Safety Council until 2010, after which she worked at Safe Kids Worldwide. Has worked at CPSC since 2014 under Obama, and was temporarily hired to stay on under the Trump administration.·
Byron Anderson – Dept. of Labor. Lobbying clients included American General Corp and Transamerica Companies. Deregistered 2016.·
Deidre Bass – Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. Lobbying client was the Stark Area Transit Authority. Deregistered 2008.·
Scott Cameron – Dept. of Interior. Lobbying client was Chep USA. Deregistered in 2001, then worked at Interior and Grant Thornton LLP.·
Mauricio Claver-Carone – Dept. of Treasury. Lobbying client was the Cuba Democracy Public Advocacy Corp. Deregistered 2016.·
Martin Dannenfelser – Dept. of Energy. Lobbying client was the Family Research Council. Deregistered 2000, worked at the Energy Innovation Reform Project.·
Lynda Davis – Dept. of Veterans Affairs. Lobbying clinets included Florida State College at Jacksonville and Valencia Community College, as well as Lockheed Martin, Raydon Corp and BAE Systems. Most recently, was executive director of a group called the Military and Veteran Caregiver Network.·
Sheila Greenwood – Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. Lobbying clients included Prudential Financial and Wal-Mart. Deregistered 2014, continued working at Prudential Financial.·
Scott Hommel – Dept. of Interior. Lobbying clients included American Defense Systems, Avalex Technologies and the National Guard Association of the U.S. Deregistered 2010, served as now-Secretary Ryan Zinke’s chief of staff.·
Russell Laird – Dept. of Agriculture. Lobbying clients include the National Cooperative Services Corp. and the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corp. Deregistered 2016.·
Keagan Lenihan – Dept. of Health and Human Services. Lobbying client was McKesson Corp. Deregistered 2016.·
Marianne McInerney – Dept. of Transportation. Lobbying client was the American International Automobile Dealers Association, a lobbying group for foreign car dealers, where she was also president. Joined beachhead team from electric car maker Cenntro Automotive.·
Justin Mikolay – Office of the Secretary of Defense. Lobbying client was Palantir Technologies. Deregistered 2016.·
Wayne Palmer – Dept. of Labor. Lobbying clients included the Alliance for Healthcare Competitiveness and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. Deregistered 2015, continued working at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.·
Alex Pryor (or Campau) – Dept. of Health and Human Services. Lobbying clients included AmeriHealth Caritas, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Fresenius Medical Care. Deregistered 2014, worked at the House Budget Committee and Senate Republican Policy Committee.·
Lora Ries – DHS. Lobbying clients included General Dynamics and Boeing. Deregistered 2010, worked with two technology companies that had contracts with DHS.·
Heidi Stirrup – Dept. of Health and Human Services. Lobbying clients included the National Association of Spine Specialists and Aurora Organic Dairy. Deregistered 2008, worked at Faithful Catholic Citizens, then the Department of Commerce followed by the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health.·
George Sugiyama – Environmental Protection Agency. Lobbying clients included the National Mining Association, Southern Co. and Solargenix Energy. Deregistered 2013, worked at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.·
Cathy Tripodi – Dept. of Energy. Lobbying clients were Abound Solar and the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Deregistered 2012, worked at the North Carolina Department of Transportation.·
Laura Clay Trueman – Dept. of Health and Human Services. Lobbying clients included Aetna, Coalition for Affordable Health. Deregistered 2007, worked at the UnitedHealth Group and then the Heritage Foundation.·
Brooks Tucker – Dept. of Veterans Affairs. Lobbying clients included Management Solutions and Air Comm Corp. Deregistered 2016.·
Stephen Vaughn – U.S. Trade Rep. Lobbying client was U.S. Steel. Deregistered 2015, worked at King & Spalding LLP.·
Chad Wolf – Dept. of Homeland Security. Lobbying clients included Harris Corp. and Boeing. Deregistered 2016.·
Mark Zelden – Dept. of Labor. Lobbying clients included Birmingham Water Works and the cities of Foley, Jackson and Mobile, Alabama. Deregistered 2014, worked at Adams and Reese.
Senior researcher Dan Auble contributed to this report.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 14 hours ago.
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Ship traffic, March 27
Ship traffic Due to arrive today SHIP FROM PORT Aries Leader Vancouver, Wash. RCH Aurora Honolulu SFO Cap Taputapu Long Beach OAK CMA CGM Gemini Long Beach OAK Luchow Tangshan, China SCK Maersk Esmeraldas Long Beach OAK Maui Seattle OAK NYK Terra Los Angeles OAK Paganino New Westminster, B.C. BNC Due to depart today SHIP TO PORT Cosco Thailand Busan, South Korea OAK Ever Strong Tacoma OAK London Express Seattle OAK Mol Courage Hong Kong OAK NYK Deneb Lons Angeles OAK Source: S.F. Marine Exchange
Reported by SFGate 1 day ago.
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Aurora code enforcement officer recorded himself soliciting prostitutes on body camera
An Aurora code enforcement officer has resigned after he recorded himself soliciting two prostitutes late last year while his body camera was rolling, according to court documents and investigators.
Reported by Denver Post 17 hours ago.
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Visit Aurora hires new CEO
A tourism and hospitality industry veteran with nearly 30 years of experience in the South is moving to Aurora to try to persuade travelers to schedule trips to Colorado’s third-largest city. Visit Aurora announced Monday that Bruce Dalton will become its new president and CEO, replacing Gary Wheat, who founded the organization in 2010. Dalton most recently served as vice president of Groups360, a Nashville hospitality company. Before that, his career included stints as managing director of sales…
Reported by bizjournals 17 hours ago.
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AG Jeff Sessions targets ‘sanctuary cities’ as Boulder and Denver vow resistance
In Colorado, the cities of Aurora, Boulder and Denver previously have been flagged as potential violators of the administration’s new funding threats against sanctuary cities -- and Jeff Sessions on Monday named Denver specifically.
Reported by Denver Post 12 hours ago.
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Airline Passengers Get A Spectacular Show Flying Through Southern Lights
Passengers on a charter flight from New Zealand to the Antarctic Circle had the thrill of their lives when they flew into the heart of the southern lights, aka the aurora australis, reports LiveScience.
The southern lights, like its counterpart northern lights, or aurora borealis, are considered “unpredictable displays of light in the night sky,” according to NASA.
“While usually a milky greenish color, auroras can also show red, blue, violet, pink and white. The colors appear in a variety of continuously changing shapes,” NASA says. “Sometimes the aurora is so dim and scattered as to be mistaken for clouds or the Milky Way; sometimes it is bright enough to read by.”
Auroras are seen during strong geomagnetic events, like when the sun sends a powerful burst of energy toward Earth, which triggers the brilliant displays in the nighttime skies, usually occurring around the magnetic poles, NASA says.
The 134 passengers on the March 23 flight from New Zealand’s Dunedin Airport, cruising in a Boeing 767, had a perfect view. The following video includes images of the aurora australis taken from different vantage points inside the plane.
The New Zealand charter trip to the Antarctic Circle, dubbed “Flight to the Lights,” was organized by astronomer Ian Griffin, former outreach head of NASA’s Space Telescope Science Institute.
Griffin told the New Zealand Herald that the airliner crossed the International Date Line four times as it zigzagged back and forth to allow people on both sides of the aircraft to have good views of the aurora australis.
Tickets for the flight were sold in pairs ― windows and adjacent seats ― and went for $2,776 for economy and $5,972 for business-class pairs.
“We [didn’t] want to have issues with people fighting about who sits next to the window,” Griffin said. “The assumption was, people who buy a pair of seats will sort it out beforehand.”
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 11 hours ago.
The southern lights, like its counterpart northern lights, or aurora borealis, are considered “unpredictable displays of light in the night sky,” according to NASA.
“While usually a milky greenish color, auroras can also show red, blue, violet, pink and white. The colors appear in a variety of continuously changing shapes,” NASA says. “Sometimes the aurora is so dim and scattered as to be mistaken for clouds or the Milky Way; sometimes it is bright enough to read by.”
Auroras are seen during strong geomagnetic events, like when the sun sends a powerful burst of energy toward Earth, which triggers the brilliant displays in the nighttime skies, usually occurring around the magnetic poles, NASA says.
The 134 passengers on the March 23 flight from New Zealand’s Dunedin Airport, cruising in a Boeing 767, had a perfect view. The following video includes images of the aurora australis taken from different vantage points inside the plane.
The New Zealand charter trip to the Antarctic Circle, dubbed “Flight to the Lights,” was organized by astronomer Ian Griffin, former outreach head of NASA’s Space Telescope Science Institute.
Griffin told the New Zealand Herald that the airliner crossed the International Date Line four times as it zigzagged back and forth to allow people on both sides of the aircraft to have good views of the aurora australis.
Tickets for the flight were sold in pairs ― windows and adjacent seats ― and went for $2,776 for economy and $5,972 for business-class pairs.
“We [didn’t] want to have issues with people fighting about who sits next to the window,” Griffin said. “The assumption was, people who buy a pair of seats will sort it out beforehand.”
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 11 hours ago.
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Life sentence for fatal shooting outside Aurora bar
A 22-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison Monday for a 2013 fatal shooting outside an Aurora bar.
Reported by Denver Post 10 hours ago.
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Qualified Dentist, Dr. Mark Braasch, Welcomes New Patients for Modern Sleep Apnea Solutions in Aurora, CO
Dr. Mark Braasch now accepts new patients, with or without a referral, for custom sleep apnea treatments in Aurora, CO. Patients who struggle with snoring, chronic fatigue and other common symptoms of sleep apnea are encouraged to schedule an appointment at Dr. Braasch’s state-of-the-art practice, Meadow Hills Dental.
Aurora, CO (PRWEB) March 27, 2017
New patients who have sleep apnea in Aurora, CO, can now see Dr. Mark Braasch for leading sleep apnea treatment, with or without a referral. Sleep apnea is often left untreated because patients are not familiar with common symptoms of the condition, which can include daytime sleepiness, morning headaches and chronic snoring.
Dr. Braasch seeks to raise awareness of sleep apnea in Aurora, CO, and provides leading care for those who have the condition. Unfortunately, sleep apnea is commonly left undiagnosed, simply because those who have it rarely realize they do. The condition is characterized by symptoms that mainly occur during sleep, including snoring and shallow breathing that can prevent those affected from entering into a deep, restful sleep.
In addition to nighttime symptoms, sleep apnea is also characterized by chronic daytime sleepiness, an inability to focus and morning headaches. If left untreated, the condition can not only reduce the patient’s daily quality of life, but can also increase the risk of heart attack, diabetes, high blood pressure and other physical problems. Depending on the type of sleep apnea an individual is experiencing, Dr. Braasch may recommend a variety of treatment options. In some cases, the patient may simply need to make some healthy lifestyle changes to greatly improve their quality of sleep. In other cases, oral devices may be recommended to change the position of the mouth during sleep and prevent apnea symptoms. In the most severe cases, surgery may also be recommended.
Patients who have issues with snoring, daily fatigue and other common symptoms of sleep apnea in Aurora, CO, are invited to schedule an appointment with Dr. Braasch. Consultations can be reserved by calling 720-325-2460.
About the Practice
Meadow Hills Dental is a family and cosmetic dental practice offering personalized dental care for patients in Aurora, Colorado. Dr. Mark Braasch graduated from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 2004 and earned his post doctorate fellowship from Las Vegas Institute. Dr. Braasch is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and was voted Best Dentist in Omaha, Nebraska. Meadow Hills Dental offers a variety of dental services such as general dentistry, orthodontics, TMD treatments, cosmetics, and medical devices for sleep apnea. To learn more about Meadow Hills Dental and their services, visit their website at http://www.meadowhillsdental.com or call 720-325-2460 to schedule an appointment. Reported by PRWeb 10 hours ago.
Aurora, CO (PRWEB) March 27, 2017
New patients who have sleep apnea in Aurora, CO, can now see Dr. Mark Braasch for leading sleep apnea treatment, with or without a referral. Sleep apnea is often left untreated because patients are not familiar with common symptoms of the condition, which can include daytime sleepiness, morning headaches and chronic snoring.
Dr. Braasch seeks to raise awareness of sleep apnea in Aurora, CO, and provides leading care for those who have the condition. Unfortunately, sleep apnea is commonly left undiagnosed, simply because those who have it rarely realize they do. The condition is characterized by symptoms that mainly occur during sleep, including snoring and shallow breathing that can prevent those affected from entering into a deep, restful sleep.
In addition to nighttime symptoms, sleep apnea is also characterized by chronic daytime sleepiness, an inability to focus and morning headaches. If left untreated, the condition can not only reduce the patient’s daily quality of life, but can also increase the risk of heart attack, diabetes, high blood pressure and other physical problems. Depending on the type of sleep apnea an individual is experiencing, Dr. Braasch may recommend a variety of treatment options. In some cases, the patient may simply need to make some healthy lifestyle changes to greatly improve their quality of sleep. In other cases, oral devices may be recommended to change the position of the mouth during sleep and prevent apnea symptoms. In the most severe cases, surgery may also be recommended.
Patients who have issues with snoring, daily fatigue and other common symptoms of sleep apnea in Aurora, CO, are invited to schedule an appointment with Dr. Braasch. Consultations can be reserved by calling 720-325-2460.
About the Practice
Meadow Hills Dental is a family and cosmetic dental practice offering personalized dental care for patients in Aurora, Colorado. Dr. Mark Braasch graduated from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 2004 and earned his post doctorate fellowship from Las Vegas Institute. Dr. Braasch is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and was voted Best Dentist in Omaha, Nebraska. Meadow Hills Dental offers a variety of dental services such as general dentistry, orthodontics, TMD treatments, cosmetics, and medical devices for sleep apnea. To learn more about Meadow Hills Dental and their services, visit their website at http://www.meadowhillsdental.com or call 720-325-2460 to schedule an appointment. Reported by PRWeb 10 hours ago.
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Red alert for aurora sightings was issued Monday night
BBC Local News: Highlands and Islands -- Displays of the Aurora Borealis were visible from parts of Scotland on Monday night when a red alert was issued for potential sightings.
Reported by BBC Local News 2 hours ago.
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Northern Lights spotted in Scotland - here's when you should see the stunning light display again
Stargazers on the shores of Loch Lomond were treated to breathtaking scenes and, the good news is, you shouldn't have too wait to long for another chance to see the Aurora Borealis.
Reported by Daily Record 34 minutes ago.
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NASA just launched a new tool that lets you search decades' worth of beautiful space porn
If you're looking for the perfect space-themed computer or phone background, or just want to browse decades' worth of spaceflight and science history, NASA has you covered — big time.The space agency just launched a new multimedia search engine called the NASA Image and Video Library: a collection of more than 140,000 of the NASA's most popular photos, illustrations, videos, and audio files.
The tool echoes previous (now-defunct) NASA image search tools, but with some 21st-century improvements.
For one, NASA's new library automatically scales to smartphone- and tablet-size screens — so you can get easily your space fix on the move.
The library also shows you the newest uploads in a Flickr-like presentation, which notes the format, file size, credit, and creation date. You can also filter results by date, all the way back to the 1920s.
The pages for individual files offer a download link (for scaled versions and the high-resolution original), a permanent link to the multimedia, and a tool to embed the file on other sites.
There are also tabs that show the newest additions to the library and most popular items in it.
The "most popular" results shift based on how many people look at different images and videos, but a photo of an aurora over New Zealand as seen from space (pictured at the top of this article) and an image of the sun (below) both caught our eyes as top results.
NASA wants you to know that this vast collection "is not comprehensive, but rather provides the best of what NASA makes publicly available," according to the space agency's press release about the new tool. In other words, this doesn't include all of NASA's millions upon millions of files. (We recommend a Google site-specific search to find those.)
But NASA says this "is a living website, where new and archival images, video and audio files continually will be added."
So what are you waiting for? Find and download a killer new space background for your phone or computer. Or just ogle at all the space porn that's now at your fingertips.
*SEE ALSO: 25 iconic images of Earth that will make you feel small and insignificant*
*DON'T MISS: The 15 most incredible nuclear-powered space missions of all time*
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: Something amazing happens when you drip water and alcohol onto oil Reported by Business Insider 15 hours ago.
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Canada's set to legalize marijuana nationwide on July 1, 2018
Marijuana will be legal for all Canadians over the age of 18 by July 1, 2018, CBC News reports, marking Canada's 151st birthday in style. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party will officially announce the plan on April 10.
The legislation is expected to easily pass through Parliament, as it holds support from major political parties both to the right, and left of Trudeau's Liberals. As well, a majority of Canadians support legalizing marijuana, according to a recent poll from NRG Research Group.
The plan follows the recommendations laid out by a federal task force — led by former Toronto police chief Bill Blair and former Justice Minister Anne McLellan — and leaves it up to the provincial governments to implement the plan and control how marijuana is sold, reports CBC.
Though the federal government stipulates a minimum age of 18 to purchase marijuana in stores, provinces will be free to raise the age as they see fit. Canadians will also be able to grow up to four marijuana plants in their household.
Trudeau has faced criticism from rival political parties who've accused him of failing to deliver on his campaign promise to legalize marijuana federally by spring of 2017. The April 10 announcement, while not expressly fulfilling the prime minister's intended timeline, will at least assuage those concerns. Canadians go back to the polls in October of 2019.
The announcement provides some much-needed stability to Canada's marijuana industry after police raided dispensaries in Toronto and Vancouver this month, not to mention the discourse south of the border, where US attorney general Jeff Sessions has hinted at a crackdown of marijuana markets in legalized states.
The firm date to legalize marijuana "provides investors with a greater degree of clarity and certainty of what the recreational market could look like," Cannacord Genuity analyst Neil Maruoka said in a report titled, "Legislation should be the tide to lift all stocks," reports the The Financial Post.
Maruoka noted that now's the time to profit from marijuana stocks, as "there will likely be a lack of positive industry catalysts over the next year or so," once the legislation gets passed.
Marijuana stocks traded up at the news on Monday. Aurora Cannabis (ticker: ACBFF) — which Maruoka called his "top pick"— surged 9% Tuesday, while Canopy (ticker: WEED) was up 11%, though both leveled off on Tuesday afternoon.
*SEE ALSO: The marijuana industry's first unicorn is being added to an influential stock index*
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: People on Twitter are turning Paul Ryan’s healthcare presentation into hilarious memes Reported by Business Insider 14 hours ago.
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Aurora Crime Blotter: Angry roommate slashes air mattress, takes off
Backhanded deals, creepy notes and more. The Aurora Crime Blotter is worth reading this week.
Reported by Denver Post 14 hours ago.
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Passengers Take Flight To View Southern Lights
The Aurora Australis is a display of neon green lights that dance across the southern skies. A plane took off from New Zealand to get a special view.
Reported by NPR 3 hours ago.
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Aurora Australis snapped in Auckland during geomagnetic storm
Cameraman Larryn Rae has captured extraordinary pictures of the Aurora Australis in Auckland after heading out to the Waitakeres "on a whim" during a geomagnetic storm.Rae, 39, had spent a week in the South Island and headed home,...
Reported by New Zealand Herald 3 hours ago.
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