Jon Huntsman raises $4.1 million in the second quarter
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on July 1st, 2011 4:35 am by HL
Jon Huntsman raises $4.1 million in the second quarter
Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman raised $4.1 million for his campaign in the second quarter, including a large contribution of his own money. A campaign official would not say how much of the money came from Huntsman’s personal coffers — only that the amount was “less than half” of the total.
Huntsman, the former Utah governor who announced his bid nine days ago, will not file a fundraising report in July, a campaign aide said. Huntsman arrived in the United States in May from Beijing, where he was serving as ambassador to China.
White House holding first ever Twitter town hall
President Obama will host the first White House Twitter town hall next week, an event announced today on (of course) Twitter.
On July 6, the president will answer questions tweeted to #AskObama live from the White House via webcast. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey will moderate, and Twitter will use its own curation methods to choose the questions.
Some portion of the live audience will be drawn from the 2.25 million people who follow @whitehouse — making the event not just a townhall but a ‘Tweetup.’ Those visitors won’t ask in-person questions, but White House Director of New Media Macon Phillips says officials are thinking about “other cool things they can do at the White House.”
Status of polar bears as threatened species upheld by judge
A U.S. federal judge upheld the status of polar bears as a species threatened by climate change, denying challenges by a safari club, two cattlemen’s organizations and the state of Alaska.
The ruling Thursday by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan confirmed a 2008 decision that polar bears need protection under the Endangered Species Act because their icy habitat is melting away.
The legal challenges — some contending polar bears don’t need this protection, others maintaining the big white bears need more — were launched after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service included this Arctic mammal on its list of threatened species.
Justice Department to investigate deaths of two detainees in CIA custody
The Justice Department has opened full criminal investigations of the deaths in CIA custody of two detainees, including one who perished at Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison, U.S. officials said Thursday.
The decision, announced by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., means continued legal jeopardy for several CIA operatives but at the same time closes the book on inquiries that potentially threatened many others. A federal prosecutor reviewed 101 cases in which agency officers and contractors interrogated suspected terrorists during years of military action after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but found cause to pursue criminal cases in only two.
Pentagon costs rising fast, CBO warns
The Congressional Budget Office on Thursday projected that higher costs for weapons systems and health care will increase the Pentagon budget by $40 billion over the next five years at a time when President Obama and many lawmakers are looking to cut military spending.
The new projection, of $594 billion in spending for 2016, is $25 billion higher than the Pentagon’s estimates.
The report notes that health-care costs for the Defense Department have outpaced those elsewhere. It also says that “the costs of developing and buying weapons have historically been, on average, 20 percent to 30 percent higher” than Pentagon estimates.
