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The NFL Finally Fixed Its Weak Domestic-Violence Penalties

by RusselProby Posted on August 29, 2014

Mother Jones

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The National Football League has drastically toughened its punishments for domestic violence after weeks of uproar over its weak response to the case of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice. Rice received a two-game suspension after allegedly assaulting his fiancée, while players who tested positive for marijuana—some in states where weed is legal—were handed four-game and even season-long suspensions.

In a letter to NFL owners Thursday, commissioner Robert Goodell wrote that the league had fallen short in “a recent incident of domestic violence” and announced that a first-time domestic-violence offender would now receive a six-game suspension. Repeat offenders, he wrote, would face indefinite bans, with the possibility to apply for reinstatement after a year.

To be clear, there’s no epidemic of domestic violence among NFL players; this graph from FiveThirtyEight shows that NFL players are generally less likely to be arrested than the rest of 25-to-29-year-old American men*:



Rather, this smells a lot like a PR-related move from the league, which has seen its reputation suffer in the wake of Rice’s light penalty. After all, it’s not like the NFL jumped to punish any of the following four players, all of whom were involved in domestic incidents during Goodell’s tenure as commissioner:

AJ Jefferson: In February, Jefferson allegedly strangled his girlfriend and was arrested and charged with assault. The Minnesota Vikings released him hours later, but he was picked up by the Seattle Seahawks this spring.
Chad Johnson: In 2012, Johnson was arrested for head-butting his wife and charged with misdemeanor domestic battery. He pleaded no contest, was sentenced to probation and was cut by the Miami Dolphins.
Brandon Marshall: The Chicago Bears’ star wide receiver has one of the lengthier rap sheets in the league. Since 2004, he has been arrested five times, twice on domestic-violence charges, and has been involved in 10 disputes—many involving violence against women—in which no charges were filed. Marshall was suspended one game in 2009 over charges he’d abused his girlfriend in 2008 (he was acquitted); in 2007, he was arrested after preventing his girlfriend’s taxi from leaving his home, completed anger management, and did not receive punishment from the NFL.
Quinn Ojinnaka: The former Atlanta Falcons offensive lineman was suspended for one game in 2010 after a dispute in which he threw his wife down a flight of stairs and out of their home. (The dispute is said to have begun over Ojinnaka contacting a woman via Facebook.)

Ultimately, the NFL is deeply invested in maintaining a clean, family-friendly image, and Goodell is clearly responding to claims that the league takes smoking pot more seriously than it does violence against women. While it’s good that future domestic-violence offenders will receive more appropriate punishment, the timing of his letter—just a day after a vocal outcry about Rice’s punishment—makes it seem like the move of an embarrassed league looking to crack down on players who embarrass it.

Goodell is burnishing his reputation as an authoritarian who’s concerned with appearances, rather than a commissioner who leverages the league’s reach and resources to actually address issues like domestic violence.

*Note: As commenter Bumpasaurus pointed out, the data from the FiveThirtyEight chart is “adjusted for poverty status.” NFL players are wealthy, and compared to other, wealthy individuals in the same age group, “the domestic violence arrest rate is downright extraordinary.”

Originally posted here – 

The NFL Finally Fixed Its Weak Domestic-Violence Penalties

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Oceans Agency Lists 20 Coral Species as Threatened

by Myrna Posted on August 27, 2014

Twenty coral species, facing harms from global warming, coastal pollution and other perils are listed as threatened by the federal oceans agency. Continue reading:  Oceans Agency Lists 20 Coral Species as Threatened ; ;Related ArticlesA Closer Look at Turbulent Oceans and Greenhouse HeatingNew Study Sees Atlantic Warming Behind a Host of Recent Climate ShiftsObserved Planet: A Dawn Torrent of Tree Swallows ;

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Oceans Agency Lists 20 Coral Species as Threatened

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Oh, Good: More Sports Teams Asking Taxpayers to Pay for Their Stadiums

by DelilaDPMwb Posted on May 6, 2014

Mother Jones

Cleveland’s professional sports teams have poured more than a million dollars into a fight they’re hoping will end in victory on Tuesday. The end goal isn’t a championship, though—it’s a municipal tax extension.

While many voters will go to the polls Tuesday to vote in congressional primaries, Cleveland residents have another decision to make: whether to extend the city’s notably regressive sin tax, which bumps up the price of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages by a few cents. If it passes, the sin tax extension will bring the amount of public money Cleveland has spent on the stadiums, which are publicly owned, up to $1.2 billion since 1990. (The city’s mayor and council president have argued that the investment pays for itself, though such claims are often exaggerated.)

The NBA’s Cavaliers and baseball’s Indians have proposed $135 million in renovations to Quicken Loans Arena and Progressive Field, respectively, including new scoreboards and concrete repairs, while the NFL’s Browns already struck a deal with the city netting $2 million a year for 15 years to pay for new scoreboards, faster escalators, and a new sound system at FirstEnergy Stadium. The three teams are fighting to ensure that sin tax money will help assuage those costs—of the $1.4 million raised by Keep Cleveland Strong, the pro-sin-tax PAC, more than $1 million has come from the Browns, Cavs, and Indians. The opposing PAC, Coalition Against the Sin Tax, has raised a mere $6,500.

Teams aren’t just tossing in cash to make sure taxpayers help foot the bill for new scoreboards. The Indians instructed ushers to wear pro-sin-tax stickers on Opening Day, according to an employee instruction sheet a former usher gave to Cleveland.com. While the Indians had told reporters that the stickers were purely voluntary, the handout reads, “An Issue 7 Keep Cleveland Strong sticker is part of your uniform. Place it chest high on your outermost layer.” The former usher, Edward Loomis, said he was fired by the team after refusing to wear the sticker. When opponents proposed adding a $3.25 ticket fee to help pay for the renovations, Keep Cleveland Strong claimed that it would punish local families and innocent sports fans.

Cleveland teams certainly aren’t the only ones asking for public money to help their facilities. The Minnesota Vikings secured hundreds of millions of dollars for their new stadium after pleading that they “only have $975 million in the budget,” while the Atlanta Braves announced a new stadium that will cost suburban Cobb County, Georgia, $300 million. The absolute nadir of public financing for stadiums came two years with the construction of Marlins Park in Miami, which will end up costing city and county taxpayers $3 billion.

The Marlins Park fiasco created such a backlash that local voters rebelled when the Miami Dolphins asked for taxpayer-funded stadium renovations, voting the measure down. The strange alliance pushing for the same result in Cleveland—Ralph Nader, meet Big Tobacco!—has an uphill climb, given the funding differential and the pro-sin-tax support of so many local officials. Maybe Kevin Costner should forget about helping the Browns in this week’s draft—and instead help figure out a more efficient use of taxpayer funds.

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Oh, Good: More Sports Teams Asking Taxpayers to Pay for Their Stadiums

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Still Counting Gulf Spill’s Dead Birds

by Myrna Posted on May 5, 2014

New studies suggest that geographical circumstances may have hidden extent of the bird kill caused by the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, though the effort also illustrates the imprecise science involved in quantifying the toll. View original article: Still Counting Gulf Spill’s Dead Birds Related ArticlesVirginia Oil Tanker Derailment: “The River Was On Fire”World Briefing: The Netherlands: Greenpeace StymiedDot Earth Blog: Vatican Dialogue: ‘Man is a Technical Giant and an Ethical Child’

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Still Counting Gulf Spill’s Dead Birds

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BP won’t pay for Gulf oil spill research

by NapoleonWND Posted on April 28, 2014

BP won’t pay for Gulf oil spill research

By

Visit St. Pete/Clearwater

Who’ll be watching out for the dolphins?

If BP let a bull loose in a China shop, the company would take umbrage at the usual “you break it, you bought it” policy.

The oil giant is refusing to pay for some of the ongoing research into the environmental effects of its 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, forcing the federal government to spend money on the needed science — money that had been earmarked for oil spill emergencies. The Financial Times reports:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a US government agency, wrote to BP last July seeking almost $148m to pay for “injury assessment and restoration planning activities”, including funding of $2.2m for research into the recovery of the coastal wetlands, more than $10m for dolphins and whales and $22m for oysters.

In October, BP replied to the NOAA request rejecting the majority of those requests, saying it was concerned over “the lack of visibility and accountability” in the process, and the unwillingness of the [Natural Resource Damage Assessment] trustees, which are US federal agencies and coastal state governments, to engage in technical discussions of the substantive issues.

BP boasts that it has paid more than $1 billion for damage assessment so far, as if that were some kind of an altruistic act. The company claims that the government is withholding scientific data produced during the assessment from its attorneys — data it says would prove that its oil spill wasn’t really all that bad.

The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, a Louisiana agency involved with some of the post-spill studies, says much more research is needed. “There has never been a spill like this one, the largest, most expensive and the longest active spill response, and a similar level of effort needs to be applied to assessment and restoration,” Kyle Graham, the authority’s executive director, told The Times-Picayune. “We are likely years away from being comfortable with the assessment.”

The fact that BP is having to pay out billions in compensation to Gulf area businesses allegedly hurt by the spill probably isn’t making the company feel more generous.


Source
BP refuses to pay for more research on Deepwater Horizon oil spill effects on dolphins, turtles, oysters, The Times-Picayune
BP refuses to fund Gulf oil spill studies, The Financial Times

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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BP won’t pay for Gulf oil spill research

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U.S. Agrees to Allow BP Back Into Gulf Waters to Seek Oil

by Myrna Posted on March 13, 2014

Under the agreement, BP will be allowed to bid for new leases as early as next Wednesday, but only as long as the company passes muster on ethics, corporate governance and safety procedures. Source –  U.S. Agrees to Allow BP Back Into Gulf Waters to Seek Oil ; ;Related ArticlesAlbany County Orders a Halt to Growth in Oil ProcessingNational Briefing | South: North Carolina: Utilities Board Chair Is Subpoenaed in Coal Ash InquiryNational Briefing | West: California: Court Upholds Guidelines to Protect Fish ;

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U.S. Agrees to Allow BP Back Into Gulf Waters to Seek Oil

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Millions of dolphins could be hurt as oil industry blasts along East Coast

by BillieMcmichael Posted on February 28, 2014

Millions of dolphins could be hurt as oil industry blasts along East Coast

By

Simon du Vintage

The Obama administration tentatively gave its environmental blessing to oil industry plans to look for new deposits in the Atlantic Ocean off the East Coast. Recommendations outlined Thursday in a long-awaited environmental report by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management came as music to the ears of drilling companies.

But the air guns that the industry plans to use in its hunt for underwater oil fields won’t sound so sweet to the staggering numbers of dolphins and whales that could end up being maimed.

The oil industry wants to drill along the East Coast, but the last surveys of oil deposits in coastal Atlantic areas were conducted in the 1970s and 1980s using technology that’s now obsolete. So now industry wants to survey with more modern techniques, which McClatchy news service describes this way: “The seismic tests involve vessels towing an array of air guns that blast compressed air underwater, sending intense sound waves to the bottom of the ocean. The booms are repeated every 10 seconds or so for days or weeks.”

Thirty-four marine mammal species, which use sound to navigate, could be harmed by the seismic testing, and some of the animals could be killed. “By failing to consider relevant science, the Obama administration’s decision could be a death sentence for many marine mammals, needlessly turning the Atlantic Ocean into a blast zone,” said Jacqueline Savitz with the nonprofit Oceana. “In its rush to finalize this proposal, the Obama administration is failing to consider the cumulative impacts that these repeated dynamite-like blasts will have on vital behaviors like mating, feeding, breathing, communicating and navigating.”

The government’s new environmental assessment warns that more than a million bottlenose dolphins could be hurt every year by the acoustic blasts, which would extend from the shoreline to as far as 400 miles offshore, from Delaware down to Florida. More than 600,000 short-beaked common dolphins and more than 500,000 Atlantic spotted dolphins could also be affected, along with humpback whales, baleen whales, and other endangered species.

Estimating the damage that could be caused by the air guns is a difficult task, and the report states that its figures are “based on acoustic and impact models that are by their very nature conservative and complex.” The report also includes estimates that would see far fewer whales and dolphins harmed. And some outside experts say threats are not that dire: “There’s no argument that some of these sounds can harm animals, but it’s blown out of proportion,” Arthur N. Popper, head of the University of Maryland’s laboratory of aquatic bioacoustics, told The New York Times.

The report is part of a long administrative process required to move forward with surveys and the easing of a long ban on drilling the Atlantic seafloor. The New York Times explains what’s next:

Actual drilling of test wells could not begin until a White House ban on production in the Atlantic expires in 2017, and even then, only after the government agrees to lease ocean tracts to oil companies, an issue officials have barely begun to study.

The petroleum industry has sunk 51 wells off the East Coast — none of them successful enough to begin production — in decades past. But the Interior Department said in 2011 that 3.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 312 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could lie in the exploration area, and nine companies have already applied for permits to begin surveys.

Much of the controversy around Thursday’s report has focused on largely invisible impacts on charismatic sea life, but the report warns of another obvious risk associated with an exploration and drilling spree: oil spills.

Those can have bad impacts on sea life too. Just ask fishermen along the Gulf of Mexico.


Source
Feds Sentence East Coast to Dynamite-Like Blasts for Big Oil, Oceana
U.S. Moves Toward Atlantic Oil Exploration, Stirring Debate Over Sea Life, The New York Times
Feds support air gun blasts to find Atlantic oil, gas, McClatchy

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Millions of dolphins could be hurt as oil industry blasts along East Coast

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Oil spills break fishes’ hearts

by UMMLatoyagycy Posted on February 14, 2014

Oil spills break fishes’ hearts

By

Shutterstock

This Valentine’s Day, BP should dedicate some hearts to fish that were exposed to its Deepwater Horizon spill — new research suggests that the spill may have broken theirs.

Scientists investigating the aftermath of the 2010 oil spill have discovered that even very low concentrations of crude in seawater interfered with the normal pumping of tuna hearts. After exposing captured yellowfin and bluefin to BP oil-spill samples, the researchers detected irregular heartbeats, which can lead to fatal cardiac arrest.

Because a wide range of animals have similar heart designs, the researchers are warning that species from turtles to dolphins could also be affected. Even exposed humans could be at risk.

“The ability of a heart cell to beat depends on its capacity to move essential ions like potassium and calcium into and out of the cells quickly,” said Stanford University researcher Barbara Block, coauthor of a study published Friday in the journal Science. “We have discovered that crude oil interferes with this vital signaling process essential for our heart cells to function properly.”

Check out these graphs from the paper. The top one shows the normal and consistent pumping of 20 healthy tuna heart cells. The bottom one shows arrhythmia in 20 heart cells exposed to BP’s spilled oil.

Science

Click to embiggen.


Source
Stanford, NOAA scientists discover mechanism of crude oil heart toxicity, Stanford University
Crude Oil Impairs Cardiac Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Fish, Science

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Oil spills break fishes’ hearts

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We’re Still at War: Photo of the Day for February 14, 2014

by XZQKirbymrteo Posted on February 14, 2014

Mother Jones

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Sgt Jason O. Lucas, an infantryman assigned to Predator Company, 4th Squadron “Longknife”, 3d Cavalry Regiment, kisses his wife Emily during a redeployment ceremony held Jan. 30 at the West Fort Hood Gym. Lucas returned from a nine-month long deployment in Afghanistan with III Corps. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Michael Dator, 3d Cavalry Regiment Public Affairs)

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We’re Still at War: Photo of the Day for February 14, 2014

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Big builders hoarding fracking rights beneath new homes

by huklx2 Posted on October 11, 2013

Big builders hoarding fracking rights beneath new homes

By

Shutterstock

What lies beneath? Whatever it is, it ain’t yours.

Some American developers have begun quietly holding on to the rights to frack and mine beneath the cookie-cutter houses they sell — and many homebuyers don’t realize it.

From a big investigative report by Reuters:

[T]ens of thousands of families … have in recent years moved into new homes where their developers or homebuilders, with little or no prior disclosure, kept all the underlying mineral rights for themselves, a Reuters review of county property records in 25 states shows. …

This is happening in regions far beyond the traditional American oil patch, which has a long history of selling subsurface rights.

“All the smart developers are doing it,” says Lance Astrella, a Denver lawyer who represents mineral-rights owners, including homebuilders, in deals with energy companies.

Among the smart ones are private firms like Oakwood Homes in Colorado, the Groce Companies in North Carolina, Wynne/Jackson in Texas, and Shea Homes, which builds coast to coast. Publicly traded companies that engage in the practice include the Ryland Group, Pulte Homes and Beazer Homes, according to oil and gas attorneys and public land records.

The practice doesn’t just deny mineral rights to homeowners — it can strip away any power they might otherwise have to prevent fracking beneath their feet.

And if fracking does start, homeowners could have problems refinancing or selling their homes. As Grist recently reported, banks are becoming increasingly wary about offering mortgages for properties if there’s fracking happening beneath or even near them.


Source
U.S. builders hoard mineral rights under new homes, Reuters

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Big builders hoarding fracking rights beneath new homes

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