News Headline

nytimes.com — A rift has emerged within the Democratic Party between liberal economists, who generally view the 2009 stimulus package as a success and say that Keynesian economics should remain the heart of the party’s economic policy, and elected officials, who in growing numbers have shunned affiliation with the $787 billion effort and are expressing doubts about the effectiveness of fiscal intervention.

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pbs.org — The Tea Party has captured the imagination and spirit of many Americans and may very well turn that into a powerful voting bloc come November. But, that bloc may not have a leg or girder to stand on as our nation’s infrastructure continues to crumble. I am very concerned, from what I have read so far, and what has been ignored to date, that the Tea Party movement will throw our public works overboard with the tea.

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nytimes.com — In a New York Times/CBS News Poll last month, fewer than one in 10 respondents knew that the Obama administration had lowered taxes for most Americans. Half of those polled said they thought that their taxes had stayed the same, a third thought that their taxes had gone up, and about a tenth said they did not know. As Thom Tillis, a Republican state representative, put it as the dinner wound down here, “This was the tax cut that fell in the woods — nobody heard it.”

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thehill.com — Asked why the Democrats are still expected to lose seats in November after passing major bills like healthcare reform, credit card reform, a fair-pay act and Wall Street reform, Schumer said voters are frustrated and don’t feel the effects of the legislation.

“It’s the world we’re in. It’s a much more negative, critical world, and people are sour now,” he said. “The thing they’re most sour about is the future, not the present. In other words, if people were sure that things would be better five years from now, they’d be less sour.

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stateline.org — North Shore Community College, located outside Boston, joined the glitzy side of the green-building trend last November when it broke ground on the first state-owned “zero net energy” building in Massachusetts. The 58,000-square foot health and student center, with geothermal heating and cooling and solar panels on the roof, will produce more than enough power to cover its energy needs.

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huffingtonpost.com — The Florida Panhandle beach where the Obamas are going to spend the weekend to boost tourism in the region is indeed pristine and oil-free.

Panama City Beach, where the White House has announced the first family will be staying Saturday and Sunday, was spared the worst of the BP oil spill, sullied only by sporadic tar balls that were easily cleaned up.

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dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com — The vast remaining deposits of coal in the world guarantee that this fossil fuel will remain a big part of the global energy mix for decades to come. And that reality guarantees that countries with a lot of this resource will remain hopeful that coal can be burned without adding substantially to the atmosphere’s building heat-trapping blanket of carbon dioxide.

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thehill.com — Several Capitol Hill lawmakers on Thursday cheered new federal recommendations to spur deployment of technologies that trap carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants and store them underground.

The report by a multi-agency task force Thursday found no “insurmountable” barriers to deploying the technology, although it said the absence of final legislation that puts a price on carbon emissions is a stumbling block.

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consumerwatchdog.org — Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Media and Democracy have sent a letter to Secretary Kathleen Sebelius calling on her and the administration to investigate the recent dramatic decreases in medical loss ratios by major health care insurers in anticipation of health care reform implementation. The insurers, led by Cigna and its 2nd quarter 6.4% drop, seek to benefit in two primary ways:

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wonkroom.thinkprogress.org — Over the last several months, I’ve noted that even while the economy is in recession and a growing number of Americans are going without health insurance coverage, the big health insurers are posting higher profits. Americans are actually using less care — filing fewer claims — but still paying more in premiums.

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