USNews | Hottest News Headlines from USA and The World

Started by NewsCaster, Jun 23, 2010, 09:03 AM

NewsCaster

This thread showcases USA and global hottest news headlines, breaking news, and news you can't afford to miss.

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Zoe Saldana stepped out to Bing's Celebration of Creative Minds on Tuesday night wearing a little gray dress with the fashion in the details. The Herve Leger by Max Azria from Fall/Winter 2010 number was one-sleeved, laced up, bandage-style with ruffles. The actress is known for her sleek and daring style, so how does this look measure up? Check out some pictures and vote below.


Zoe Saldana's Little Gray Dress: Love It Or Leave It? (PHOTOS, POLL)

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Two reports released this week reveal that when it comes to the bottom line of state budgets, the coal industry costs Tennessee and West Virginia more than it provides.

These reports are among the first to examine actual revenues and expenditures related to coal industry employment, taxes and subsidies in Tennessee and West Virginia. Downstream Strategies produced the reports.

For Tennessee (PDF), the report found that the coal industry contributed just over $1 million to the state budget - less than one-tenth of one percent of the state's total revenue in 2009. That benefit was overwhelmed by the costs imposed by the industry, including state subsidies, regulation, road repair and mine reclamation costs. The bottom line was an approximate net economic loss of $3 million for the people of Tennessee in 2009.

Though coal brings in a bigger percentage of state revenues in West Virginia (PDF), the end result matches that of Tennessee; the $600.7 million in total revenues coal brought to West Virginia was about $97.5 million less than it cost the state to support the industry.

"It should be no surprise - coal is not king in the West Virginia economy, even though our decision makers act as if it is," said Jim Sconyers, chair of the West Virginia Sierra Club. "It is a total outrage that the long-suffering West Virginia taxpayer is forced to pay millions of dollars so the filthy rich coal companies can destroy our roads, mountains and communities."

And so we learn that even beyond the human and environmental health damage the coal industry does, the economic damage is there as well. More reports like these are coming, and one has already been done on Kentucky. (PDF)

We know Tennessee and West Virginia, and all the other states where Big Coal is trying to be king, can do better with clean energy. We don't need to sacrifice our health, our economy and our environment to power our nation.

Report: Coal Industry Harms TN and WV More Than It Helps

NewsCaster

I am an advocate of homeopathy.  Forty two years ago I knew nothing about this medical modality.  I was going to India to photograph while my husband, Michael, (the new man in my life) was filming a Merchant Ivory film.  Being very healthy I barely knew anything about medicine.  My sister insisted I go to her Harley Street Specialist to obtain pills to prevent getting sick on my trip.  In my ignorance I believed this doctor when he told me I had to take one of the pills he prescribed daily to ward off any disease or germs in this most fascinating of countries.The filming, after Mumbai, was taking place in the small, remote town of Bikaner on the Pakistani border.  The first night we were there I became very ill and was taken to the local hospital.

A Homeopathic Solution to the Gulf Leak?

NewsCaster

Last night Microsoft invited a few dozen close friends to enjoy a night at SIR Stage 37, in New York. The night was filled with conversations that centered around Microsoft Office 2010, 3D gaming with Cold War, Windows Phone 7, Halo on the new 360 and Microsoft Kinect. There was not a shortage of Microsoft product specialists - which were more than happy to give us a high level explanation or a deep dive.The darling of the night was most certainly Kinect. There were dozens of eager fans waiting patiently to experience Kinect - some for the very first time. The favorite game of the night seemed to be Dance Central. I found it amazing how people just simply stepped up to the game and started dancing. There was no learning curve - people danced and Kinect flawlessly picked up everyone's movements. I think that it's safe to say that most of us can't wait until November 4th. I still think the $149.99 price point is still a bit steep for a peripheral - even one as awesome as this.

Microsoft Previews its Latest Toys in NYC

NewsCaster

There is nothing more painful than watching your aging parent's mental agility slip slowly away.  So often we view this degeneration as an inevitable part of getting older -- a force we are incapable of stopping.Yet a flood of new research has offered tremendous insights into how to keep our aging brains active and how to delay or prevent the onset of memory loss and dementia.  As caregivers, by circumstance or by profession, we have a special obligation to translate these new understandings into action.

Aging Tips: 8 Steps to Keeping Aging Brains Active

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Reshma Saujani, the Democratic primary challenger to Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), has posted a new video on her website slamming the Congresswoman for inviting corporate PAC lobbyists to a James Taylor concert during a crucial moment in negotiations for a financial reform bill "already watered down by special interests influence."The Maloney fundraiser, held Wednesday night at the Verizon center, was open to all PACs, but Saujani is accusing the incumbent of cozying up to financial lobbyists during the same week the House Financial Committee hammers out the final details of the bill.

Carolyn Maloney SLAMMED By Reshma Saujani For Concert Fundraiser During Financial Reform Negotiations (VIDEO)



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"The world has arisen in some way or another.  How it originated is the great question, and Darwin's theory, like all other attempts to explain the origin of life, is thus far merely conjectural."Jean Louis Agassiz, Evolution and Permanence of Type (1874)

Russia, Texas and Evolution

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How does a point of view become policy and when does that happen?  When a woman puts her adoptive son on a plane to Moscow C.O.D.?  Or when a family finds, nurtures and raises a beautiful boy to early adulthood?  Over ten years ago, while making the festival rounds with my short film, "Central Park", an acquaintance Joanne Ashe, asked me to film a trip she was taking to Russia with an American adoption agency.  Six weeks later we were in Moscow, and a few months later we were at the Sundance Film Festival with this heartfelt portrait.Soon after, NBC Dateline was running a story about a woman who had fatally beaten her adoptive son.  Her defense was his uncontrollable behavior, which he developed during his early years in The Russian Orphanage.  When I realized that I had footage of the very same orphanage and the staff there, I went up to NBC to show them, hoping for a balanced point of view.  They weren't very interested.  They had a story to sell.  All these years later, Joanne called and asked me to try to get "The Waiting Children" out there again.  Things have changed, The Ashe family, including Tolya, are my close friends, as close as my own family.  That's personal.  I'm not sure the media and the governments have evolved in the intervening years as well.  Thanks to The Huffington Post for allowing me to share this film once again.

The Waiting Children: The Personal Is Political

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell claimed the conservative filibuster of the latest jobs and jobless aid bill was because they oppose any increase of the national debt: "The principle Democrats are defending is that they will not pass a bill unless it adds to the debt."What McConnell and his fellow conservative obstructionists choose not to mention is Senate Democrats relented, scrapped what was once an attempt for an extra boost of stimulus, phased out Medicaid help for states, cut the size of unemployment checks, offset all the additional costs for every aspect of the bill --  including a series of business tax breaks -- with the lone exception for the reduced unemployment checks, which would have increased the national debt by a whopping 0.00043 percent. (Ezra Klein yesterday contrasted that to the multi-trillion dollar cost of the Bush tax cuts backed by the same conservative filibusterers.)

It's Not About The Deficit (Part II). Conservatives Just Hate The Unemployed.

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