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Thursday, July 5, 2012

Snyder, GOP lawmakers pass 603 laws

Associated Press

Updated: Jul 4, 2012 8:04 PM

LANSING, Mich. (AP) ? Gov. Rick Snyder and his lieutenant governor have signed 603 laws since taking office in 2011, a pace not seen in years.

Mlive.com says the Legislature has kept the governor busy since the 2010 election put Republicans in control of state government.

Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel says the governor is focused on quality, not quantity. Republicans have changed the state's tax structure, made motorcycle helmets voluntary and passed laws that haven't been friendly to unions.

The laws haven't always survived court challenges. A federal judge recently halted a law to stop payroll deduction as a way for school employees to pay union dues.

Mlive.com says the 603 new laws roughly match the number signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm at the same point in the 2005-06 legislative season.

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Source: http://michigan.onpolitix.com/news/127976/snyder-gop-lawmakers-pass-603-laws?referrer=woodtv.com

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US infrastructure sees spike in cyber threats: report

2 hrs.

By Jim Finkle

Cyber threats reported by U.S. energy companies, public water districts and other infrastructure facilities surged last year, a new government report shows.

The Department of Homeland Security's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team said that it received 198 reports of suspected cyber incidents, or security threats, in 2011, more than four times the 2010 level.

The report gave examples of cases in which firms were infected with malicious software designed for espionage and fraud.

The agency described a 2010 case in which investigators helped remove a version of the Mariposa botnet virus from more than 100 computers at an unnamed nuclear energy firm. The Mariposa virus was primarily used for financial fraud, though it could have been used to take complete control of the computers.

The virus entered the firm's network after a nuclear engineer plugged a tainted USB flash drive into his laptop, then connected the laptop to the system, according to the report.

The device was provided to the engineer by an instructor teaching a course to nuclear engineers, said Sean McGurk, a former DHS official who helped respond to the incident.

"We all know we aren't supposed to take USB sticks and put them into our networks, but time and time again it has proven to be true," said McGurk, who now manages an industrial control systems security practice at Verizon.

While ICS-CERT said the virus did not impact operations at the nuclear plant in question, it added that the virus could have spread to the laptops of engineers at other companies who took the same course and picked up similar flash drives.

Nitro, Night Dragon?
?The agency said its staff worked with victims of previously reported campaigns in which hackers targeted sensitive data held by chemical firms, energy companies and defense contractors ? the "Night Dragon" attacks first reported in 2010 and "Nitro" campaign uncovered last year.

More than 40 percent of the incidents reported in 2011 were from the water sector.

Many water districts used a control system that administrators could access via the Internet that had a bug in it that made it vulnerable to hackers. ICS-CERT said it worked with the vendor to fix the bug, then urged operators to update their software.

Altogether ICS-CERT provided assistance in 28 cases in 2011, by either sending in teams of experts or through remote assistance from its Advanced Analytics Lab. It intervened 15 times in 2010 and 4 times in 2009, its first year of existence.

DHS spokesman Peter Boogaard said that ICS-CERT has been working closely with operators of industrial control facilities in recent years to help them institute procedures to better identify and prevent cyber incidents.

"The number of incidents reported to DHS's ICS-CERT has increased, partly due to this increased communication," Boogaard said.

Several cyber security experts said they believe that operators are in fact doing a better job of detecting intrusions.

"The operators are starting to wake up and realize that they need to look at their systems," said HD Moore, chief security officer at security firm Rapid7.?

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp ??

Source: http://www.technolog.msnbc.msn.com/technology/technolog/us-infrastructure-sees-spike-cyber-threats-report-861478

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Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Ask Aspen: What's a Stupid Idea?

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[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ask-aspen-whats-stupid-idea-201624570.html

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Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Forums: DFU Mode, Wet iPhone, Orientation stuck

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/rM6ptdj0TTw/story01.htm

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Union plots next move as NY utility talks collapse

NEW YORK (AP) ? Unionized workers with Consolidated Edison in New York City will be picketing as their leadership plots their next move following failed contract talks and a lockout.

A union spokesman said Harry Farrell, president of Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers of America, on Monday will call for federal mediators to intervene to get talks started again.

Both sides said there are many issues on which they have not reached agreement.

Union spokesman John Melia said Monday there was nothing new to report. He planned to issue a statement later in the day.

"We've been trying to get them back to the table since yesterday," company spokesman Mike Clendenin said Monday on "Good Morning New York."

Negotiations stopped just before 2 a.m. Sunday, a couple of hours after the existing contract expired. The impasse came as New York braced for more high temperatures that will increase demand for air conditioning among the utility's 3.2 million customers.

There were about 200 outages overnight, nearly all of which were resolved by morning, Con Ed spokesman Chris Olert said Monday. He said management personnel were standing by, ready to address any problems.

Con Ed closed walk-in centers, suspended meter readings and limited work on major construction projects in New York after the talks broke down.

On Sunday morning, police set up barricades in front of Con Ed's headquarters near Manhattan's Union Square.

"This is crazy! There's a heat wave," said David Palomino, a facility mechanic who rushed to headquarters after finishing his early shift to find out what was coming next. He was one of few workers there; a union official said more picketing was planned for Monday.

"The fight has escalated" between the two sides, Palomino said, explaining that workers fear losing chunks of their pensions and benefits.

Temperatures were in the 90s Sunday and were expected to be in the high 80s and low 90s throughout the week.

Frank Allen is making sure the heat doesn't blow his power at home in upper Manhattan. "I turn off the air conditioner when I leave home," said Allen, 61, who was shopping in the Union Square neighborhood.

"It's not too good when the wires go out, and there's no one to fix them, Allen said. "The workers should get whatever they deserve ? just do it for us, Con Ed."

He has cats at home, but he's not worried leaving them without air conditioning. "They find their way to some cool corner."

And when he goes to work, heat is far from a problem: Allen works in a 33-degree space, in the refrigeration unit of the Fresh Direct food delivery company in Queens' Long Island City.

"In a heat wave, I wear long johns."

At an electronics and air conditioning retailer across the street from Con Ed, manager Ramon Nieves said there have been multiple power outages in recent years in his Queens neighborhood.

"I'm mad at Con Ed ? what are they thinking?" he said. "A lot of people could get sick in this heat."

He said his store sold about 35 percent more air conditioners this month than in the same, cooler period last year.

The extreme weather included vicious storms from Indiana to New Jersey and south to Virginia that left 17 people dead and 2.7 million without power. Most of the damage came in the mid-Atlantic region, and only scattered outages across Con Ed's service area in New York were reported as of Sunday. Con Ed said it is keeping a close watch on its system and has trained managers working on essential operations.

The 8,500 unionized workers told the company they'd be willing to work without a contract to keep the power company running, said Melia.

"We did everything to avert this action," he said. "We recognize that New York City is sweltering right now. ... We recognize we have a responsibility to the people of New York City and Westchester County," the suburban county north of the city.

He disputed the company's claim that its managers could do the job of the union workers.

"They know what happens in a heat wave, they know they don't have the expertise to fix it," he said. "They don't have the technical knowledge."

Con Ed said it had wanted a two-week extension of the current contract while negotiations continued, with assurance that the union would not strike without notice. The company said it offered such an extension, signing an agreement to that effect, but that the union didn't sign it. Con Ed said if the union agreed to the extension, employees would be welcomed back.

"We can't operate the system safely, reliably for our customers if the union were to take some sort of strike action without any advance notice," Clendenin said Monday.

Negotiations lasted just over 10 days over a range of issues, including pensions, heath care and wages.

"This is very unfortunate. Both sides are very far part," Clendenin said.

Melia said the union negotiators were kicked out of the room in what he called a "union-busting tactic."

"This is not a labor issue," he said. "This is a corporate monopoly."

He said the two sides had been talking when the company demanded the union sign the contract extension, and that Con Ed locked workers out when the union said it preferred to keep talking and keep workers at the jobs without a contract in the interim.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/union-plots-next-move-ny-utility-talks-collapse-063157997--finance.html

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Israel's Netanyahu faces coalition crisis

An Israeli soldier prays next to the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, in Jerusalem's Old City. Monday, July 2, 2012. Israel's prime minister on Monday dissolved a high-profile committee assigned to reform the country's military draft law to spread the burden among more sectors of society, conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews and requiring Israeli Arabs to do civilian service. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

An Ultra Orthodox Jewish man walks past an army recruiting base in Jerusalem. Monday, July 2, 2012. Israel's prime minister on Monday dissolved a high-profile committee assigned to reform the country's military draft law to spread the burden among more sectors of society, conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews and requiring Israeli Arabs to do civilian service. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel's prime minister on Tuesday moved to contain the first major crisis in his newly expanded coalition government after his most significant partner threatened to quit in a dispute over how to overhaul the country's military draft.

Benjamin Netanyahu is rushing to meet an Aug. 1 court deadline to end a contentious system that has exempted tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews from serving in the army.

The explosive issue is threatening to drive Netanyahu's new coalition partner, Kadima, out of the government. Kadima, led by Shaul Mofaz, a former military chief of staff, joined the coalition just two months ago with the aim of reforming the draft.

"If Netanyahu doesn't keep his promises, then the crisis is going to be severe and there won't be a partnership. There's no middle ground here," Mofaz told the Yediot Ahronot daily.

The issue of the exemptions has become a major point of division in Israeli society.

Under a long-standing arrangement, ultra-Orthodox seminary students are permitted to skip mandatory military service in order to pursue religious studies.

This system, begun six decades ago by Israel's founding fathers, was originally meant to allow several hundred gifted scholars to revive institutions of Jewish learning following the killing of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust.

The numbers of exemptions have swelled over the years, and today, more than 60,000 young religious men are exempt from military service.

These exemptions, combined with a refusal to enter the workforce and a sense that they are trying to force their strict religious mores on the general public, have bred resentment among Israel's secular majority, where men are required to serve three years in the military, and women just under two years. Many must serve additional decades as reservists.

Modern Orthodox Jews, who make up about 15 percent of the Jewish population, serve in the military.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled the current system illegal and gave the government until Aug. 1 to formulate a new law.

Netanyahu put Kadima in charge of a special parliamentary committee created to draft the new legislation. But on Monday, he disbanded the committee over deep disagreements among its members.

Ultra-Orthodox parties oppose any change in the current system and refuse to cooperate with the committee. Two other parties quit the panel because the new law might not apply to Israel's minority Arabs, who also do not serve in the military.

Following Netanyahu's decision, Mofaz said the disbanded committee would still issue its recommendations on Wednesday. He said if Netanyahu did not take the "necessary step" of using the report as the basis for a new draft system, "the national unity government will come to an end."

An Israeli official said that Netanyahu was working to resolve the standoff. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter, said Netanyahu planned a series of meetings with coalition partners this week.

He said Netanyahu remains committed to key principles worked out with Kadima: Ensuring that all sectors of Israeli society share the burden of military and national service, implementing any changes gradually and maintaining national unity.

Officials have said they expect a final compromise to reduce, but not eliminate, draft exemptions for the religious and create some sort of civilian national service for Israeli Arabs.

It remains unclear whether Kadima will truly bolt the government. With 29 seats in the 120-member chamber, Kadima is the largest party in parliament. Recent polls have forecast it would plunge to roughly 10 seats if new elections are held.

Although Netanyahu would retain a narrow parliamentary majority, Kadima's departure would be deeply embarrassing and rob him of a key moderating force in a coalition otherwise dominated by religious and nationalist hard-liners.

As he draws up a new draft law, without Kadima Netanyahu would also be subject to even more intense pressure from the remaining factions in the coalition, including the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party and the fiercely secular Yisrael Beitenu.

Neither showed any signs of bending.

"We will not compromise on a partial solution. We will not agree to any postponement," Yisrael Beitenu's leader, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, told Army Radio. "At age 18, everyone needs to serve."

Interior Minister Eli Yishai, leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, said prayer and religious study had saved the country. "The state ... would not have been established without the Torah of Israel," he said.

Avraham Diskin, a professor of political science at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya college, said that with so much at stake, he expected Netanyahu to somehow forge a compromise.

"There is a possibility that the collation will lose its majority; that the government will collapse and they will call new elections," Diskin said, "but if I had to bet, I would bet that they would reach some sort of temporary formula or delay by the courts."

___

Federman can be followed at www.twitter.com/joseffederman

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-07-03-Israel-Politics/id-cfe6d1f84a1544fc92ecf50354bb555a

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