The Weekend Off – News You Missed

Alaska

ADN – Begich unveils consulting firm, will work in aviation and health care

Former Alaska U.S. Sen. Mark Begich said Saturday that he’d founded a consulting firm and would work for a health care trade organization and an Alaska airline, Grant Aviation.Begich, a one-term Democrat who last year lost his re-election bid to Republican Dan Sullivan, said in a press release that he’d been hired by the airline and by the National Association for Home Care and Hospice.

Juneau Empire – Female AKNG boss is one of few in country

When Gov. Bill Walker announced Friday that retired U.S. Army Col. Laurie Hummel is his pick for heading the troubled Alaska National Guard, he admitted her to an exclusive club of women who lead state military forces.

KTUU – Shell plans return to Alaska waters for 2015 Arctic drilling

Oil company Shell plans to resume Arctic drilling off Alaska’s coast this year, the company’s leadership announced Thursday.

CEO Ben van Beurden and CFO Simon Henry unveiled the move during an European conference call Thursday morning. The plan was one of the firm’s few points of expansion, amid an overall plan to reduce spending by $15 billion over the next three years in the face of low oil prices.

National

Wired – A New Satellite Will Watch the Western Drought from Space

The launch of a small satellite won’t fix the the drought in the American West—now entering its fourth year—and it won’t change the fact that January was the driest month in recorded California history. But the Soil Moisture Active Passive mission might at least tell scientists and farmers something new about that drought, and maybe how much worse it’ll get.

Bloomberg Business – Oil Workers in U.S. on First Large-Scale Strike Since 1980

The United Steelworkers union, which represents employees at more than 200 U.S. oil refineries, terminals, pipelines and chemical plants, began a strike at nine sites on Sunday, the biggest walkout called since 1980.
The USW started the work stoppage after failing to reach agreement on a labor contract that expired Sunday, saying in a statement that it “had no choice.” The union rejected five contract offers made by Royal Dutch Shell Plc on behalf of oil companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. since negotiations began on Jan. 21.

NYTimes – Albatross of Debt Weighs on Super Bowl City

Jerry Weiers lives less than two miles from University of Phoenix Stadium, where the New England Patriots will play the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl on Sunday. Weiers also happens to be the mayor of Glendale. Yet as politicians, chief executives and tens of thousands of well-heeled fans rub shoulders that day in the stadium in Glendale, a western suburb of Phoenix, he plans to watch the game on television in his living room, because he has not been offered a ticket.

International

Al Jazeera – Egypt deports jailed Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste

Peter Greste, an Al Jazeera journalist who was detained in Egypt for 400 days, has been deported. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Sunday that Greste had arrived in Cyprus and was “desperate” to return to his native Australia. Bishop said that Greste had been released “unconditionally.

BBC – Chile’s President Bachelet proposes end to total abortion ban

Ms Bachelet has tabled a bill in Congress to legalise abortion in cases of rape or when there is a threat to the mother’s or the baby’s life. Abortion is punishable in Chile by up to five years in jail. The absolute ban of abortion puts the lives of thousands of Chilean women at risk every year, said Ms Bachelet.

Vice – Canada’s New Anti-Terror Bill Gives the Government Sweeping New Powers

Under the broad anti-terror legislation tabled Friday, Canada’s spy agency, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS), will be given broad new powers to investigate and “disrupt” terrorist plots. Canada’s police services will be also able to go after online terrorist propaganda.

Comments

comments