After Hillary Clinton’s narrow victory in Iowa and crushing defeat in New Hampshire, Nevada has turned into another tight and unpredictable contest.
Source: Race in Nevada, Once Clinton Firewall, Is Now Hotly Contested
After Antonin Scalia’s Death, Fierce Battle Lines Emerge
The debate over who should replace Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court created a complicated calculus for both the Senate and President Obama.
Source: After Antonin Scalia’s Death, Fierce Battle Lines Emerge
Reporter fights Hillary Clinton email delay by State Department
State missed the monthly goals on two occasions, but subsequently made up the shortfalls.
In Iowa, Bernie Sanders’ Surge Tests the Hillary Clinton Machine
Hillary Clinton’s supporters acknowledge the senator from Vermont could win the Feb. 1 caucuses.
Source: In Iowa, Bernie Sanders’ Surge Tests the Hillary Clinton Machine – US News
Sanders and Clinton Go to the Mat
The two leading candidates battled over gun control and health care during the final Democratic debate before the Iowa caucuses.
Watch Live: NBC News-YouTube Democratic Debate – NBC News
Join NBC News’ Lester Holt, Andrea Mitchell, Chuck Todd and several popular YouTube creators as Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley debate in Charleston, South Carolina. Pre-Debate coverage begins at 8pm ET.
Source: Watch Live: NBC News-YouTube Democratic Debate – NBC News
Democratic debate: Clinton and Sanders prepare for meaningful engagement
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders head into the Democratic debate tonight with just 14 days to go before the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses. Little did anyone predict that the polls in Iowa would be so close between the two as they prepare to share the stage in Charleston, South Carolina.
Sanders enters the debate seeking to sustain his recent momentum, and hoping to convince democrats that he is a viable candidate once the campaigns move away from the predominately white audiences of Iowa and New Hampshire to more diverse states like South Carolina. Meanwhile, Clinton needs to follow up her recent advertising offensive against Sanders, with an effective showing in the debate.
Sanders will be defending against criticism of thee financial basis of his health care proposal and his stance on gun control (e.g., his past support for manufacturers immunity, Charleston Loophole). Note: The Sanders campaign has just released his health care plan.
Clinton has been dogged by the increasingly disturbing email scandal. Sanders has avoided the topic in the past, but moderators or Martin O’Malley may revisit the issue. Clinton will also seek to avoid criticism about her close relationships with Wall Street or the publicity of Benghazi from the movie “13 hours”.
With election polls showing a narrowing gap between the two candidates, both will be looking to gain an edge. Clinton will look to throw some scrutiny on Sanders without belying desperation or overreach, whereas, Sanders will attempt to convince the audience of his viability in the general election.
Obama highlights links between climate change and public health
President Barack Obama, at at Howard University, participated in a roundtable discussion examining the impacts of climate change on human health. The group explored the role of increased airborne particulates,shifts in insect-borne diseases and heat waves on respiratory distress, illness and heat stroke in Americans.
The administration also released an array of data that details links between climate change and public health. Google and Microsoft are now using that data to help inform communities about imminent climate-related threats.
In addition, the inter-agency U.S. Global Change Research Program is also drafting a Climate and Health Assessment report to describe human health impacts emerging from changes in extreme weather events, air quality and insect-borne diseases.
EPA announces new limits on greenhouse gas emissions
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency announced new regulations designed to reduce CO2 emissions from power plants by 30% by the year 2030. The Clean Power Plan, expected to be enacted by 2015 is an effort to curtail power plant emissions, which account for 40% of total US emissions.
The new regulations follow on the heels of the EPA’s report, Climate Change Indicators in the United States that documents increased sea level rise, tropical storms and large wildfires.
Over at FiveThirtyEight, an analysis of approaches is summarized in their article, The Cap Matters Most in Cap-And-Trade Markets.
The federal plan is also hoped to motivate countries such as China and India to enact similar regulations. Whereas US power plant emissions have been in decline, China’s emission have risen 52% since 2005. Today’s announcement may be part of negotiations to occur at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, slated to meet in Paris in 2015.
As Democrats push Paycheck Fairness Act, Republicans decline
President Obama issued an executive order to prevent federal contractors from taking action against employees who discuss their salaries. The President also used his weekly address to underscore the need for equal pay between men and women in the same professions.
In the Senate, Democrats voted on the Paycheck Fairness Act, which was defeated by the Republicans. Senate hopeful Terry Lynn Land (R) stated that she opposed the bill “that would require that businesses have to post the pay of each individual so it was public”. The problem is that the bill contains no language about posting salaries. Women, however, would be able to ask employers for salary information about male workers.
Late night comedians Jimmy Fallon (Tonight Show) and Cecily Strong (Saturday Night Live) took turns poking fun at the Republicans.