NASA: Space station power system radiator leaking

WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Space Station has a radiator leak in its power system. The outpost's commander calls the situation serious, but not life-threatening.

The six-member crew on Thursday noticed white flakes of ammonia leaking out of the station. Ammonia runs through multiple radiator loops to cool the station's power system. NASA said the leak is increasing from one previously leaking loop that can be bypassed if needed. NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs said engineers are working on rerouting electronics just in case the loop shuts down. The Earth-orbiting station has backup systems.

Space station Commander Chris Hadfield of Canada tweeted that the problem, while serious, was stabilized. Officials will know more Friday.

The space station always has enough emergency escape ships for the crew, but there are no plans to use them.

View the original article here

NASA: Space station power system radiator leaking

WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Space Station has a radiator leak in its power system. The outpost's commander calls the situation serious, but not life-threatening.

The six-member crew on Thursday noticed white flakes of ammonia leaking out of the station. Ammonia runs through multiple radiator loops to cool the station's power system. NASA said the leak is increasing from one previously leaking loop that can be bypassed if needed. NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs said engineers are working on rerouting electronics just in case the loop shuts down. The Earth-orbiting station has backup systems.

Space station Commander Chris Hadfield of Canada tweeted that the problem, while serious, was stabilized. Officials will know more Friday.

The space station always has enough emergency escape ships for the crew, but there are no plans to use them.

View the original article here

Pennsylvanians complete 100 days of climate action to call for final EPA carbon pollution standards for power plants

HARRISBURG, Pa., May 6, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- When President Obama stated at his second inauguration that we have a moral obligation to fight climate change, Pennsylvanians saw it as a call to action. Over the past 100 days, a coalition of environmental groups including PennFuture, National Wildlife Federation, Clean Air Council, PennEnvironment, and Sierra Club have joined with Pennsylvania citizens to help fulfill that obligation by holding events across the state and generating more than 6,200 grassroots activities directed toward policymakers. These actions highlighted the need for the President and his administration to follow through on his promises to limit industrial carbon pollution that causes climate change and endangers the health of our communities.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130211/DC57616LOGO)

"President Obama called climate action an 'obligation' and we spent the last 100 days showing the President we support his fulfillment of that obligation and look forward to his prioritizing American leadership on climate and clean energy during his second term," said Joy Bergey, federal policy director for PennFuture. "Right now, after the Obama Administration missed a recent court-ordered deadline, the EPA can finalize a Carbon Pollution Standard for power plants and then immediately turn its attention to curbing carbon pollution from existing power plants. These are the largest producer of dangerous carbon pollution, and a strong carbon pollution standard would be a major step forward in protecting public health, especially of our children and seniors."

In addition to the efforts in Pennsylvania, groups across the nation participated in many local actions over the last 100 days to highlight our climate action obligation that included:

1. 13,899 participants in climate change activities nationwide; and
2. 17,226 grassroots activities nationwide, such as climate change awareness events, letter writing, and phone calls to policy makers.

Those who participated say we've waited long enough for our leaders to act to protect our health and build our economy using cleaner, safer energy technology.

"People of faith recognize that we have a moral calling to care for each other and for Creation. Every year, power plants dump more than two billion tons of dangerous industrial carbon pollution into our shared air, impairing our children's health and their futures. We can work to make our lives as energy-efficient as we can, but neither individuals nor congregations can change the way power is generated," said Cricket Eccleston Hunter, executive director of PA Interfaith Power & Light. "The EPA should complete the final version of the proposed and reviewed new source standards without further delay."

There are also benefits to the economy of moving forward. "Just as the Obama administration's clean car standards are helping rebuild the American auto industry, these power plant standards to protect human health will promote the innovation and investment needed to create jobs," said Christina Simeone, director of the PennFuture Energy Center.

PennFuture is a statewide public interest membership organization, founded in 1998, with staff in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Wilkes-Barre. PennFuture's activities include litigating cases before regulatory bodies and in local, state, and federal courts; advocating and advancing legislative action on a state and federal level; public education; and assisting citizens in public advocacy.

The Philadelphia Inquirer called PennFuture the "state's leading environmental advocacy organization;" the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette named the organization "one of the 10 most influential groups on the issue of natural gas drilling;" and StateImpact Pennsylvania, an online collaboration of NPR stations across the state, called PennFuture "the commonwealth's main environmental advocate."

Contact: Joy Bergey bergey@pennfuture.org, 215-313-1311

SOURCE Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture)

View the original article here

Hagel to ask Congress to end commanders' power to overturn jury verdicts

By David Alexander

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Monday he would ask Congress to change U.S. military law to eliminate the power of senior commanders to alter courts martial verdicts for major crimes like murder or sexual assault.

The decision follows a controversial ruling in which a senior military commander in Europe set aside the sexual assault conviction of an Air Force officer, throwing out his one-year prison term and dismissal from the service.

The ruling sparked an outcry in Congress, where the military has faced rising criticism over its failure to deal effectively with the large number of military sexual assault cases. It prompted Hagel to order a one-month review to determine whether a revision to U.S. military law was warranted.

Announcing the results of that review, Hagel said he would ask Congress to revoke the power of military commanders to change a jury's findings of guilt or innocence, but would recommend that they retain the power to alter courts martial sentences.

He said he would recommend military law be changed to require the "convening authority" - the general with the final say over a court martial - to explain in writing any reduction of sentence or change in the verdict in a minor case.

"The intent is to ensure that convening authorities are required to justify - in an open, transparent, and recorded manner - any decision to modify a court martial sentence," Hagel said in a statement.

"These changes, if enacted by Congress, would help ensure that our military justice system works fairly, ensures due process, and is accountable."

PLEA BARGAINING

Defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said commanders needed to retain the power to reduce sentences handed down by courts martial to be able to engage in plea bargaining, in which defendants cooperate in exchange for a reduced sentence.

They said the authority also was needed so that commanders could ensure that people convicted of the same crimes did not receive wildly varying sentences.

The changes would have implications for virtually all military legal cases, from the trial of al Qaeda suspects at Guantanamo Bay to the prosecution of Private Bradley Manning, who is suspected of releasing secret documents to WikiLeaks.

Critics of the military's handling of sexual assault cases agreed that changes were needed in the court martial process, but some said Hagel had not gone far enough and that sexual assault cases should be removed from the chain of command.

"Today's proposed changes from the Pentagon fall short of the necessary fixes to end the epidemic of sexual assault in the military," said Nancy Parrish, head of Protect Our Defenders, which is pressing the military for action.

Hagel acknowledged that the Pentagon needed to take further steps to address the problem of sexual assault. The Pentagon has estimated that 19,300 military men and women were sexually assaulted in 2010, with only 240 of those cases going to trial.

"It is clear the department still has much more work to do to fully address the problem of sexual assault in the ranks," Hagel said. "This crime is damaging this institution."

Hagel's proposals, if approved by Congress, would tinker with a system that dates back to the Continental Congress - before the adoption of the Constitution - and is now outdated due to creation of a robust appeals process, officials said.

Hagel ordered the review after Lieutenant Colonel James Wilkerson at Aviano Air Base in Italy had his sexual assault conviction overturned by a commander, who threw out his one-year prison sentence and dismissal from the Air Force and returned him to duty.

Lieutenant General Craig Franklin, the officer with final authority in Wilkerson's court martial, reviewed the trial record and concluded that, despite the jury verdict, the evidence was insufficient to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Defense officials said a review of the Wilkerson case found that the Uniform Code of Military Justice had been followed. The Air Force was expected to release further information about that case at a later time, the officials said.

(Additional reporting by Phil Stewart.; Editing by Christopher Wilson)

View the original article here