ISIS Cartoon

State lawmakers weigh ending ‘unnecessary’ car inspections

Broken taillight? Soon, it might not be a problem. 
State lawmakers are revving up efforts to abolish or roll back car inspections -- arguing that the government-mandated check-ups amount to little more than a hassle and a tax. 
The Mississippi state Senate recently passed a bill that would eliminate vehicle inspections completely. 
State Sen. John Polk, a Republican and supporter of the bill, said states are going this way because they've found the inspections "unnecessary." 
"Cars have become much more reliable today," Polk said. The measure heads next to the Mississippi House for a vote. 
While safety advocates argue the inspections are still important, the proposal follows other efforts at the state level to roll back inspections. New Jersey, for example, eliminated their safety inspections back in 2010. And some Pennsylvania lawmakers are pushing anew to get rid of inspections for cars less than two years old. 
There are two types of regulated inspections: safety and emissions. A handful of states -- including Florida, Alabama and Hawaii -- don't require any. Today, at least 18 states require periodic safety inspections, and roughly three-dozen states require emissions inspections. 
Those considering moving away from inspections argue they're antiquated. 
In Mississippi, the inspections cost drivers $5 per year. The penalty for not having a valid inspection sticker is $50. 
Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves believes the stickers are used to essentially collect a "$5 tax." 
"Many states are eliminating the inspection sticker as vehicles are manufactured with improved safety features, and I think we should join them," Reeves said in a written statement. He also complained that state troopers have to spend time inspecting inspection stations, when they are trained to "protect Mississippians' safety on the road." 
But some drivers think the inspections are worth it. "I think they're a good thing. They keep broken-down cars off the road, for safety reasons. It's not expensive either," said Long Beach, Miss., resident Cameron Hatch. 
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Mississippi had more than 2 million registered vehicles -- which puts the state's annual revenue from safety inspections at more than $6 million. That's a tiny fraction of the state's budget, expected to be more than $6 billion for 2016. 
"This is not about money," state Sen. Billy Hudson told The Clarion Ledger. "I don't care if we are losing money on it or making money. It's a public safety issue." 
But AAA Public Affairs Vice President Mike Wright said some safety inspections are not worth it. 
"Nobody can prove with any degree of certainty that spending the money, suffering the inconvenience of getting your vehicle inspected, actually produces desired results," said Wright, who added only the smallest portion of car accidents are caused by motor vehicle defects. Driver error is the biggest cause, Wright said, while stressing that drivers should still get their vehicles inspected periodically. 
The Department of Transportation created a vehicle inspection program after Congress passed the Highway Safety Act in 1966. But in 1976, Congress allowed states to abandon their inspection programs. 
The safety inspection typically involves a driver bringing a car to an authorized shop for testing on the brakes, steering, suspension and headlights, among other factors. Drivers get a sticker on the windshield to show their car has passed. 
In Pennsylvania, state Sen. John Wozniak, a Democrat, is leading an effort to eliminate safety inspections for cars less than two years old. 
"When you look at accidents and crashes of states that have inspections to those that do not, their accident rates are not much different," said Wozniak, who plans to introduce a bill.   
Wozniak also wants to toss out emissions inspections in his state; he said there is a 99 percent passing rate for emission tests. "If you had your kids in school and that's the kind of grades they were bringing home, you'd say well done ... we don't need these inspections anymore," he said. 
An EPA spokesperson disagreed, saying: "The Clean Air Act's inspection programs are important tools for protecting public health by reducing smog pollution. Although newer vehicles have better emissions control technologies, a significant number of vehicles do not pass their emissions test -- up to 10 percent or more of the tested fleet." 
Some car maintenance shop owners say the inspections are just good for business. 
"A lot of [auto shops] don't do it because they think it's a nuisance, but I like them," said Hal Mardis, owner of the Goodyear Auto Service Center in Ridgeland, Miss. "It brings in a lot of traffic for me. We do 1,600 a month." 
But if Mississippi gets rid of the safety inspections, Mardis thinks his business won't be affected: "We are well-established enough that I don't think we're going to drop a lot of business because of it."

Biden Cartoon

CDC discovers new virus in Kansas

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Friday the discovery of a new virus that may be spread through tick or insect bites. The virus may have contributed to the 2014 death of a Kansas man who was otherwise healthy.

Working with experts from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and University of Kansas Medical Center (UKMC), researchers found that the virus is part of a group of viruses called thogotoviruses. The virus was named Bourbon virus for the county in which the patient lived. The case is the first time a thogotovirus has been shown to cause human illness in the U.S. and the eighth known case of it causing symptoms in people.
According to the report, the patient, who was over 50 years old, was working outside on his property in late spring 2014 when he received several tick bites and
found an engorged tick on his shoulder. Several days later, he fell ill with nausea, weakness and diarrhea. The next day, he developed a fever, anorexia, chills, headache, myalgia, and arthralgia. The patient visited his primary care physician on the third day, at which point he was prescribed an antibiotic for a presumed tickborne illness.  The next morning, his wife found him experiencing reduced consciousness and we was taken to the local hospital.
Test results for many infectious diseases came back negative and a sample of the patient’s blood was sent to the CDC, which found evidence of an unidentified virus. Researchers used Advanced Molecular Detection (AMD) and determined it was a new virus.
According to the news release, the CDC is working with KDHE and UKMC to identify additional cases of Bourbon virus disease, determine who gets sick and with what symptoms, and how people are getting infected. CDC experts are also working to better understand the virus itself to potentially prevent and control Bourbon virus.
CDC researchers believe other undiscovered viruses are likely causing illness, with this finding and recent discoveries of Heartland virus in Missouri and severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome viruses in China.

Beagle Cartoon

GOP senators demand answers over disclosure of mission to oust ISIS from Mosul

Top Republican senators Friday demanded answers after a military official revealed “detailed operational information” about a looming Iraqi mission to retake Mosul from the Islamic State, saying the disclosure has put the mission at risk.
“Never in our memory can we recall an instance in which our military has knowingly briefed our own war plans to our enemies,” Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a letter to President Obama.
“These disclosures not only risk the success of our mission, but could also cost the lives of U.S., Iraqi, and coalition forces.”
The senators asked who was responsible for the briefing, conducted Thursday by a military official, and whether they had White House approval. “Those responsible have jeopardized our national security interests and must be held accountable,” they wrote.
The letter follows criticism in other corners that the military may have revealed too much detail in previewing the operation.
On Thursday, the U.S. military official outlined plans to retake Mosul and said the “shaping” for the battle is currently underway. He said the Iraqi military hopes to begin operations in the “April, May timeframe” with the goal of retaking Mosul before Ramadan begins on June 17.
The official then went a step further and leaked that five Iraqi Army brigades will be used in the fight, as well as several smaller brigades, composing a total force of up to 25,000 Iraqi troops. Three brigades of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters will participate as well. 
But the details, disclosed at the close of a White House summit on combating violent extremism, raised some concerns. 
"That is pretty amazing that that information's out there," retired Gen. Jack Keane, former Army vice chief of staff and a Fox News military analyst, said Friday.  
A current and former military intelligence officer also told Fox News that the decision to publicly announce the plan was counterintuitive because it "telegraphs" the timing and number of units involved. The officers said it would allow Islamic State, also known as ISIS, or ISIL, to prepare for the battle by laying improvised explosive devices.
Both officers questioned whether political considerations on the part of the Obama administration factored into the decision to announce the offensive. 
The Obama administration wasn't the first to discuss plans to retake Mosul, however. Iraqi government leaders previously had talked about the looming offensive, and Defense officials are pushing back on the notion that anything tactical was revealed on Thursday. 
CENTCOM sources also stressed that the briefing on Thursday came from the military, not the White House. 
Keane suggested there should be nothing surprising about the fact that Iraqi forces are looking to retake Mosul before Ramadan. 
"ISIS is not stupid," he said, adding that their fighters already know that Mosul is the key to any counteroffensive and have likely been preparing for weeks. "This is not something new to ISIS."
However, Keane said the details about the force size and other elements were "surprising" to hear. 
ISIS militants overtook Mosul last June, as the group marched across large sections of Iraq and Syria, sending Iraqi forces fleeing. At this point, officials estimate there are between 1,000 to 2,000 ISIS insurgents in the city of Mosul. Military leaders have been talking about retaking the city for some time, but they have said they won't launch the operation until the Iraqi troops are ready.
Included in the force would be a brigade of Iraqi counterterrorism forces who have been trained by U.S. special operations forces. The brigades include roughly 2,000 troops each.
The CENTCOM official said the U.S. will provide military support for the operation, including training, air support, intelligence and surveillance. The official said there has been no decision made yet on whether to send in some U.S. ground troops to help call in airstrikes.
"But by the same token, if they're not ready, if the conditions are not set, if all the equipment they need is not physically there and they (aren't) trained to a degree in which they will be successful, we have not closed the door on continuing to slide that to the right," he said.
The official also revealed for the first time that Qatar has agreed to host a training site for coalition forces to train moderate Syrian rebels who would return to Syria to fight the Islamic State forces there. Other sites are in Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Arab governments reportedly concerned about terms of Iran nuke talks

Arab governments are privately expressing their concern to Washington about the emerging terms of a potential deal aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program, according to Arab and U.S. officials involved in the deliberations.
The direction of U.S. diplomacy with Tehran has added fuel to fears in some Arab states of a nuclear-arms race in the region, as well as reviving talk about possibly extending a U.S. nuclear umbrella to Middle East allies to counter any Iranian threat.
The major Sunni states, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, have said that a final agreement could allow Shiite-dominated Iran, their regional rival, to keep the technologies needed to produce nuclear weapons, according to these officials, while removing many of the sanctions that have crippled its economy in recent years.

'At this stage, we prefer a collapse of the diplomatic process to a bad deal,'- Arab official

Arab officials said a deal would likely drive Saudi Arabia, for one, to try to quickly match Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
"At this stage, we prefer a collapse of the diplomatic process to a bad deal," said an Arab official who has discussed Iran with the Obama administration and Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.
The Obama administration initially said its policy was to completely dismantle Tehran's nuclear infrastructure as a means to protect Washington's Mideast allies.
Now, however, U.S. officials say it is no longer plausible to eliminate all of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, suggesting that any final deal would leave some nuclear capability in place. Iran denies that it is seeking to build a nuclear bomb, but a final deal providing for nuclear enrichment capacity could prompt a competition.
Arab officials have increasingly spoken about a possible nuclear arms race in the Mideast as the negotiations have continued for 18 months, having been extended twice.
U.S. officials have declined to publicly disclose terms of the deal being negotiated with Iran. But they stress that they have closely consulted with Washington’s Arab allies about the diplomatic process.
The Obama administration believes an agreement with Iran will curtail the potential for a nuclear arms race in the Mideast, rather than fuel one.
"Only a good negotiated solution will result in long-term confidence that Iran won't acquire a nuclear weapon," a senior U.S. official said. "Given Iran already has the technical capability, our goal has always been to get to one-year breakout time and cut off the four pathways under a very constrained program."

Pipeline Cartoon

Newark mayor backs students occupying superintendent's office

Students holed up since Tuesday in the office of the Newark, N.J., school superintendent in an effort to force her to meet with them or resign gained a powerful ally Thursday -- the city's mayor.
"They're obviously frustrated about not being able to have a voice in what happens around their own education," Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said at a news conference outside of school district headquarters Thursday.
"As the mayor of this state's largest city, I am also frustrated that I do not have a say-so in what is happening in the education of the children that exist and live in these communities," he said.
At least eight students, who call themselves the Newark Student Union, seized Superintendent Cami Anderson's office Tuesday night during a public schools advisory board meeting, and have remained on the floor where Anderson and other administrators have offices. They're protesting Anderson's leadership of the school district, including school building assignments and her support for charter schools.
The students claim the district is trying to "starve out" the Newark Student Union by purposely depriving them of food.
"For anyone tuning in right now, right now we're giving a live stream explaining what's going on. We have a food situation," one student is heard saying in the background of the live stream. "They haven't given it to us yet."
Another student said the protesters are surviving on chips and candy they brought in themselves Wednesday night.
"They are knowingly detaining our food," the student says. "As students, as people, we have a right to food. And we have a right to protest in this office."
In a letter to parents on Wednesday, however, Assistant Superintendent Brad Haggerty said the district "will continue to provide her with water, food, and access to a bathroom until you retake custody of your child."
A phone call placed to the superintendent's office by FoxNews.com on Thursday went unanswered. Spokespeople for the district and state Department of Education didn't immediately return calls Thursday from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Shortly after 10 a.m. Thursday, three female students appeared on a live stream from the superintendent's office, stating their mission in a brief statement. They urged anyone listening in the Newark area to join them in protest.
The district, meanwhile, said it hand-delivered letters Wednesday to parents of six students to ask them to pick their children up. Newark public schools spokeswoman Brittany Chord Parmley said Tuesday night that the district has tried to engage and listen to the students' concerns for the past several months.
"Despite our best efforts to work together, they have repeatedly ignored district requests to meet and engage in a constructive dialogue," she said in a statement. "While we appreciate their passion, this is not the appropriate forum to engage in productive conversation."
Former television talk show host Montel Williams tweeted a copy of one of the letters and claimed the district had Newark police officers deliver them to parents.
"Great job #camianderson - u have cops deliver threatening letters to parents of @NewarkStudents #occupynps ? Wow," Williams tweeted.
"Newark School Superintendent response to MASS student/teacher protest is bizarre. Students this fired up about their education = commendable," Williams wrote.
The students' remarks were met with chants from others in office, yelling, "Cami's got to go!" and, "Tell me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!"  
At least one organizer of the student group is a college student from Rutgers University.
New Jersey has run Newark schools since 1995, and Baraka has said he wants New Jersey to return the district to the city's control. Anderson's administration and the One Newark plan involving the expansion of charter schools have met skepticism from city officials and Baraka.
Anderson, an ally of former Newark Mayor Cory Booker, was appointed by Gov. Chris Christie in 2011. On Thursday, Baraka said her contract was renewed Wednesday, though he didn't support the claim with specific details about his sources, The Star-Ledger reported.

Judge defies Texas law to wed same-sex couple under one-time order

Defying Texas' longstanding ban on gay marriage, a lesbian couple wed in Austin on Thursday immediately after being granted a marriage license under a one-time court order because one of the women has cancer.
The women said their union was the first legal same-sex marriage since voters approved the ban in the fiercely conservative state in 2005, though Texas' attorney general immediately appealed to the state Supreme Court. The court later issued an emergency stay that blocks other gay couples from obtaining marriage licenses but didn't address the Austin marriage.
Thursday's license was issued exclusively for and Suzanne Bryant and Sarah Goodfriend, who has ovarian cancer, in liberal-leaning Travis County. The Austin couple requested the license two days after a local probate judge ruled in an unrelated estate case that Texas' gay-marriage ban was unconstitutional. The couple — together for more than 30 years — cited the estate case, saying it should allow them to get married.
State District Judge David Wahlberg sided with the couple and directed the Travis County clerk to stop relying on "the unconstitutional Texas prohibitions against same-sex marriage as a basis for not issuing a marriage license." County Clerk Dana Debeauvoir said she issued the license, but that any other licenses must be court ordered.
Courts made a similar exception in Indiana for a lesbian couple in April because one of the women was dying of cancer and wanted her partner's name on her death certificate. A federal appeals court overturned Indiana's ban in September.
Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican who took office in January, filed for an emergency stay Thursday morning and took the unusual step of asking Texas Supreme Court justices to rule within the hour. Justices didn't heed the request.
"A stay is necessary to make clear to all county clerks that Texas marriage law remains enforceable until there has been final appellate resolution," Paxton wrote.
Texas' ban on gay marriage was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in San Antonio last year, but the judge put the ruling on hold amid the ongoing court fight. The state's appeal is currently before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
"We are all waiting for a final decision on marriage equality," Debeauvoir said. "However, this couple may not get the chance to hear the outcome of this issue because one person's health."
Goodfriend, policy director for state Rep. Celia Israel, said during a midday news conference that her last chemotherapy treatment was four and a half months ago. But, she added: "All of us wonder if the cancer grows back along with the hair growing back."
Bryant, an Austin lawyer who works on adoptions for same-sex couples, said the couple's two children were legally adopted by both her and Goodfriend years ago. But she said a legal marriage would affect their finances and property rights, and if one of them dies, the other would inherit the other's property and be able to make medical decisions and funeral arrangements for the other.
"Financially now, we're intertwined, and we will have community property that we will share," she said.
Bryant said she and her wife couldn't control what the attorney general does. "If they want to come in and try to nullify this, they will," she said. "But we have a valid marriage license, and I don't think they can."
Still, the women said they hoped other couples would follow their lead. Their advice: "Have hope and have faith."
The couple was joined by their two teenage daughters when they married Thursday morning in a ceremony presided over by a rabbi. Bryant later released a statement saying they wanted to open the door for all families to have the right to marry in Texas.
Mark Phariss, who along with his partner are among those fighting the ban in federal court, said he was "thrilled" by news of the nuptials even though it's unlikely to impact the federal lawsuit. But he said the marriage could prompt other same-sex couples to seek similar exceptions, saying Bryant and Goodfriend's case "is evidence of the harm the ban is having on the state."
Before the state Supreme Court ruling, two same-sex couples had inquired about getting a marriage license in Travis County, chief deputy clerk Ronald Morgan Jr. said. Morgan said both couples were told that Thursday's order applied only to the one couple, but that the office was "committed to abiding by any future court orders related to this issue."