Lebanon has "several" options to free the captured soldiers: Salam

Rai: Christian politicians should act on biblical values

Lebanon’s Christian politicians should incorporate Christian values into their political behavior and immediately...

New fight erupts over New England natural gas plan

HARTFORD, Conn. -- A new fight has emerged over efforts to shift New England from oil and coal to lower cost natural gas.

Plans by New England's governors and energy officials to expand natural gas in the six states have drawn fights in the past year among energy companies, environmentalists and local and state officials. Now, a lawyer who represents a pipeline company, manufacturers and two organized labor groups is accusing environmental advocates of abandoning their early support for cleaner energy and trying to block pipeline projects.

Anthony Buxton, a Portland, Maine, lawyer who represents the Industrial Energy Consumer Group and two labor union organizations, has taken his complaint about the Conservation Law Foundation to Maine utility regulators.

"CLF's energy hypocrisy in promoting the construction of more than 20 natural gas plants and then preventing them from getting the gas they need is very dangerous," he said.

The Boston environmental group, which has questioned the transparency of New England's governors and state energy officials seeking to expand natural gas use, says Buxton is misrepresenting its position.

Greg Cunningham, senior attorney at CLF, said environmentalists urged an expansion of natural gas in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a clean alternative to more common oil- and coal-fired plants.

"We completely stand by that advocacy today," he said.

The argument now, he said, is not whether power plants will be fired by natural gas but whether ratepayers should subsidize the construction of gas pipelines, Cunningham said. Investors are stepping forward, which should be encouraged, Cunningham said.

CLF has challenged how energy policy is coordinated by New England's six governors, saying the state leaders are conducting private negotiations with the energy industry. Environmentalists submitted public records requests demanding more transparency.

The governors late last year announced a plan to expand natural gas use. They asked the region's grid operator, ISO-New England, for technical help to seek proposals to build transmission equipment and public works to deliver electricity to as many as 3.6 million homes. They also asked ISO to figure out how to finance the project.

A proposal that would impose federal tariffs on electric ratepayers to finance energy infrastructure projects is on hold. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is seeking a delay while his administration analyzes different energy scenarios, including a plan that does not call for building extensive natural gas pipelines.

Buxton says a June 2001 statement published by CLF backing natural-gas-fired power plants demonstrates the environmental group's support for natural gas. He is asking the Maine Public Utilities Commission to include the statement in its consideration of a new policy promoting expansion of natural gas pipelines. It was previously excluded.

The United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 716 and Maine State Building and Construction Trades Council have joined Buxton's filing before Maine regulators.

"All we're looking to do is get some clean natural gas," said John Napolitano, business manager at Local 716 and president of the Building and Construction Trades Council. "It will bring more work for our guys, too."

Congress coming back, must act to avoid shutdown

WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers are streaming back to Capitol Hill after their summer vacation for an abbreviated September session in which feuding Democratic and Republican leaders promise action to prevent a government shutdown while holding votes aimed at defining the parties for the fall campaign.

Republicans control the House and want to pad their 17-vote majority, so they intend to follow this simple rule: first, do no harm.

Last fall, they sparked a partial government shutdown over the implementation of President Barack Obama's health law. Now, Republicans are pressing for drama-free passage of a temporary spending bill to prevent a shutdown at month's end and fund government agencies into mid-December.

The Senate is sure to go along if the measure is kept free of objectionable add-ons.

House Republicans also plan votes aimed at drawing attention to legislation they say would boost jobs and energy production.

"We're set up to paint a very stark contrast between ourselves and the Democrats who run Washington — if we take advantage of it by getting our work done and getting our message out," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told colleagues in a conference call last week.

Boehner said that message — "our closing argument," he called it — would focus on ways to get people back to work and "restore opportunity" for Americans.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., seems most intent on getting endangered incumbents from Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana and North Carolina back campaigning as soon as possible.

He is planning to adjourn the Senate by Sept. 23 after dispensing with the spending measure and holding votes — destined to lose — on Democratic planks such as raising the minimum wage and block the flow of unlimited, unregulated campaign cash from the wealthy, including the billionaire Koch brothers.

There are few must-pass items that require cooperation between the feuding House and Senate.

Atop the list is the spending measure to keep agencies funded at current levels through mid-December. That would give House and Senate negotiators ample time to work out a trillion-dollar-plus bill during a lame-duck session after Election Day.

Boehner is looking to settle a split among Republicans over reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, which provides credit guarantees that help foreign buyers purchase U.S. exports such as Boeing airplanes and heavy equipment built by Caterpillar.

Many conservative Republicans, including House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling of Texas, oppose extending the bank. But Democrats and a host of business friendly Republicans may have the upper hand.

GOP aides said it's likely that an interim deal would extend the bank's authority until perhaps early next year.

Also in play is a freeze that prevents state and local governments from taxing access to the Internet.

Under current law, the freeze expires Nov. 1, exposing Internet users to the same kind of connection fees that often show up on telephone bills. Legislation to extend the tax moratorium is expected to be attached to the must-do spending bill, according to senior House GOP aide.

The aide spoke on condition of anonymity to candidly discuss internal party deliberations.

Republicans and Democrats are clamoring for legislation authorizing Obama to use military force against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. But the abbreviated session and a lack of consensus raise doubts about whether any congressional action is possible.

Obama plans to meet with congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday, with the threat posed by the militants a likely topic of discussion.

Some lawmakers say the president has the power to act under the 1973 War Powers Resolution and no new permission is necessary. Several Republicans say they are unwilling to grant Obama blanket authority without a detailed strategy from the administration.

Several lawmakers are pressing for new economic penalties against Russia in response to its aggressive moves in Ukraine, but it's doubtful Congress can move quickly on such a measure.

One certainty is the first open hearing of the special House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. The committee will hold a session the week of Sept. 14 to examine whether the State Department has put in place recommendations to improve security at U.S. embassies and diplomatic posts.

The issue that dominated lawmakers' attention in the final days before recess — the crisis of unaccompanied minors at the border with Mexico — has faded because the numbers arriving at the border has dropped sharply in the hot summer months. Congress never came to agreement on Obama's emergency spending request to deal with the matters, and there's unlikely to be an effort to revisit it.

With the list of must-do items so short, expect votes aimed at motivating each party's core supporters.

In a memo to Republican lawmakers last week, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., outlined some politically motivated pieces of the GOP's September agenda, including votes on bills to promote energy production and ease taxes and regulations on businesses.

Reid planned a test vote Monday on a symbolic but futile attempt to amend the Constitution to give Congress the power to set stricter limits on campaign cash.

Reid said last month that he may force new votes on failed measures to raise the minimum wage, make college more affordable, and guarantee contraception coverage despite the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision that said employers with religious objections could opt out of the new health care law's contraception mandate.

Cuomo Gets More Of An Opponent Than He Bargained For

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Gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout been hammering Gov. Andrew Cuomo for allegedly interfering with the work of his own anti-corruption commission earlier this year. Mike Groll/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Mike Groll/AP

Gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout been hammering Gov. Andrew Cuomo for allegedly interfering with the work of his own anti-corruption commission earlier this year.

Mike Groll/AP

Gov. Andrew Cuomo was supposed to cruise past next Tuesday's primary election in New York on his way to a second term.

But the powerful Democratic incumbent may have more trouble than many expected. For one thing, his main opponent, a little-known law professor named Zephyr Teachout, is mounting a respectable challenge from the left. For another, Cuomo could potentially wind up with a running mate he doesn't want.

This week, the local cable news channel NY1 tried to host a debate between Cuomo and Teachout. Teachout was the only one to show up.

A veteran of Howard Dean's presidential campaign, Cuomo's challenger is also a distinguished legal scholar with a recent book, Corruption in America.

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo has made few campaign appearances in recent weeks. John Minchillo/AP hide caption

itoggle caption John Minchillo/AP

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has made few campaign appearances in recent weeks.

John Minchillo/AP

Corruption has been Teachout's top issue. For months, she's been hammering Cuomo for allegedly interfering with the work of his own anti-corruption commission earlier this year.

"Voters will forgive a lot of things," she said. "But they won't forgive a politician who's self-serving or serving their donors. And increasingly, that's what Democratic primary voters are thinking, is that Cuomo is out for himself."

Cuomo denies interfering with the commission. The Justice Department is investigating, but no charges have been filed.

While Teachout has campaigned vigorously, Cuomo has all but disappeared. He's made few public appearances in recent weeks.

"I've been in many debates that I think were a disservice to democracy," he said, explaining his decision not to take part in the event at NY1. "So anyone who says debates are always a service to democracy hasn't watched all the debates that I've been in."

It's a classic front-runner strategy — especially when the opponent has a bit of a name-recognition problem.

Teachout's name recognition, however, may be higher with the kind of people who vote in Democratic primaries. Jeanne Zaino, political science professor at Iona College, says she doesn't think Cuomo is going to lose, but if Teachout does well, Zaino says, it could hurt Cuomo's standing as a possible presidential candidate down the road.

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Columbia University professor Tim Wu and former Rep. Kathy Hochul are running against each other for the the lieutenant governor nomination. Mike Groll/Frank Franklin II/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Mike Groll/Frank Franklin II/AP

Columbia University professor Tim Wu and former Rep. Kathy Hochul are running against each other for the the lieutenant governor nomination.

Mike Groll/Frank Franklin II/AP

"It is something that I think could potentially weaken him," she says. "It's probably not going to throw him out of the primary, certainly, or the general election. But it could certainly make him look less attractive to Democrats, and that's something that's going to matter to the governor."

Another way Tuesday's outcome could matter to Cuomo: Under a quirk in New York law, the governor and lieutenant governor run on separate ballot lines, and Cuomo's running-mate may be vulnerable. Former U.S. Rep. Kathy Hochul comes from western New York, the only part of the state where Cuomo under-performed in his first campaign four years ago. But Hochul's relatively conservative record on issues like guns, the environment and immigration suddenly looks like a liability.

Hochul tried to shore up her liberal credentials this week as she picked up the endorsement of Mayor Bill de Blasio and other New York politicians.

"I'm so proud to be standing here with New York City's prominent, progressive leaders," she said. "You call me anti-immigrant at your own peril. That is not true. I have a history of being in this arena and fighting for people all my life."

Hochul is locked in a surprising primary battle with political newcomer Tim Wu. A Columbia University law professor, Wu was best known for coining the phrase "net neutrality," until Teachout tapped him as her running mate.

Wu has picked up the endorsement of The New York Times, and he's been a quick study in the art of politics.

"Kathy Hochul's positions are really far out of line with the Democrats who vote in a Democratic primary," Wu says. "She's in a really difficult position."

Wu says he wants to reinvent the role of the lieutenant governor as an independent voice inside the administration. That would be a big change for a job that critics describe as little more than a cheerleader for the governor's agenda — and possibly the last thing Cuomo had in mind when he imagined his second term.

Obama To Speak Wednesday On U.S. Strategy Against Islamic State

Citing a broad threat posed by the Islamic State, President Obama said Sunday that he'll deliver a national address Wednesday to discuss the U.S. approach to fighting the group that has beheaded two American journalists this summer.

"This is not going to be an announcement about U.S. ground troops," Obama tells Chuck Todd on NBC's Meet the Press. "This is not the equivalent of the Iraq war. What this is, is similar to the kinds of counter-terrorist campaigns that we've been engaging in consistently over the last five, six, seven years."

Obama stressed that U.S. agencies "have not seen any immediate intelligence about threats to the homeland" from the group. He also said the U.S. has built an international coalition to help deal with the extremist group.

The U.S. approach will include airstrikes and strategic advice in Iraq, Obama said, adding that the plan also has economic and political components.

"What I want people to understand though," the president said, "is that over the course of months, we are going to be able to not just blunt the momentum of ISIL – we are going to systematically degrade their capabilities, we're going to shrink the territory that they control, and ultimately we are going to defeat them."

Vermont uses new technology to speed bridge repair

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Last month, construction crews placed a series of hollow tubes over the Wanzer Brook in Fairfield as part of a Vermont Transportation Agency program that uses new technology to cut construction time, save money and reduce the backlog of bridges that need replacement.

The tubes, made of material that is impervious to the elements, have since been filled with concrete and construction crews are laying a deck across the top. The bridge, just under 35 feet long, should be ready for traffic within a few weeks, a fraction of the time it would take to build a traditional bridge.

And by agreeing to close the road during construction, the town is paying about $45,000 on the $900,000 project, said Fairfield Town Clerk Amanda Forbes.

"They were really impressed with it," Forbes said of the town selectboard after it heard a proposal for the bridge.

The span, nicknamed a "bridge in a backpack," is an example of the innovative ideas that are part of Vermont's accelerated bridge program that uses quick-building designs and other innovations, such as closing the road to traffic during construction rather than building a temporary bridge, to save time and money.

The Fairfield bridge was developed at the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center. A handful of others have been built in Maine and New Hampshire, two in Michigan, and one in Trinidad.

Bridges can be built in weeks instead of months and there's no need for trucks to bring in heavy steel beams. The composite shell provides a protective barrier that keeps out road salt, chemicals and moisture, which eventually penetrate and degrade conventional bridges.

Tim Kenerson is a design engineer with Advanced Infrastructure Technologies, of Orono, Maine, which spun off from the university center. He said the first bridge was installed in 2008 and hasn't required any maintenance.

"If you think of it, there's really nothing in our system that can corrode or degrade," Kenerson said.

The idea behind Vermont's accelerated bridge program goes back several years, but the need for innovation was driven by Tropical Storm Irene when Vermont engineers were faced with the immediate need to repair or replace scores of bridges.

"We did it so much in Irene, it transformed our willingness to do it far more," said Vermont Deputy Transportation Secretary Sue Minter. "I think it's advanced us significantly and really helped us create this whole new program."

Several years ago, more than 30 percent of Vermont bridges were considered structurally deficient. That number is now under 8 percent, Minter said.

Wayne Symonds, the structures program manager for the Agency of Transportation, said most steel bridges last about 75 years with routine maintenance while the new technology is expected to last at least 100 years and require little maintenance.

AgCenter offers mold control classes

BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU AgCenter LaHouse Resource Center will offer mold control and remediation training on Oct. 21-23 at LaHouse in Baton Rouge.

The program is planned for 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day.

Completion of the course fulfills the initial 24-hour education requirement for a mold remediation contractor license in Louisiana. The class is designed to provide hands-on training for contractors and technicians to safely perform mold remediation.

The course qualifies for Louisiana Incumbent Worker Training Program tuition reimbursement for eligible employers.

More information is available and registration can be made online at http://bit.ly/1lKgESn or by calling AgCenter housing specialist Claudette Reichel at 225-578-7913.