Poll Charts Rising U.S. Environmental Satisfaction
Americans have grown more content about current environmental quality over the past year, though 53 percent still rate conditions as only fair to poor, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday. Forty-six percent of the 1,014 adults surveyed March 4 to 7 described current U.S. environmental conditions as excellent or good. That was up from 39 percent in March 2009 and was the highest positive environmental rating measured by Gallup since 2002. The percentage of Americans who say the environment is only fair to poor was down from 61 percent last year. Reuters

Cash-Strapped States Go All In On Gambling
Faced with a drop in gambling revenue, states are adding games, considering new casinos and increasing lottery options — anything to keep their cut of the profits rolling in. States are adamant that they don't want to take advantage of anyone, but with budgets in free-fall and tax increases a losing hand politically, lawmakers acknowledge they are dependent on gambling dollars. At least 18 states this year are looking to expand games of chance because of a drop-off of anywhere from 5 to 14 percent in the money they collect from casinos, horse racing, lotteries or other gambling. MSNBC
VOA VIEW: States are financially hurting citizens by enticing them to waste their needed earnings on gambling.

AG Sees Promising Change Toward Open Government
Attorney General Eric Holder vowed Monday to pursue a government-wide strategy to open greater amounts of information to the public. In the past year, "we've seen something truly promising: an obvious and encouraging change in our government's attitude toward information," Holder told Justice Department employees in a speech. "We must keep up this work." President Barack Obama has given Holder the lead in pushing the federal bureaucracy to release more information. Las Vegas Sun

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Dodd Unveils Plans To Expand Fed Powers Over Banks
A new Democratic Senate bill to tame the financial markets would give the government new powers to break up firms that threaten the economy and would force the industry to pay for its failures. Legislation unveiled Monday by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd falls shy of the ambitious restructuring of federal financial regulations envisioned by President Obama or contained in legislation already passed in the House. But the bill would still be the biggest overhaul of regulations since the New Deal. It comes 18 months after Wall Street's failures helped plunge the nation into a deep recession. Fox News

U.S. Ties In 'Crisis Of Historic Proportions'
U.S.-Israeli relations have hit a 35-year low over a contentious east Jerusalem building project that threatens to derail peacemaking efforts with the Palestinians, Israel's envoy to Washington was quoted as saying Monday. Ambassador Michael Oren's remarks clashed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assurances that the political turmoil resulting from the settlement announcement, which the Obama administration slammed as "an insult," was under control. "Israel's ties with the United States are in their worst crisis since 1975 ... a crisis of historic proportions," the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted Oren as saying to Israeli diplomats in a phone briefing over the weekend. Fox News
VOA VIEW: Obama is causing problems with one of the nation's best ally.

Mexico’s Drug Violence Claims An American Couple Tied To U.S. Consulate
Suspected drug gang hit men separately ambushed two cars carrying families with ties to the U.S. consulate in this violent border city, killing an American couple and a Mexican man. Three young children survived, although two suffered wounds. The slayings came amid a surge in bloodshed along Mexico's border with Texas and drew condemnation from the White House. Mexico's president expressed outrage and promised a fast investigation to find those responsible. CNS News

Ford Had 20 Acceleration Deaths As Regulators Cited Human Error
U.S. regulators have tracked more deaths in vehicles made by Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Group LLC and other companies combined than by Toyota Motor Corp. during three decades of unintended acceleration reviews that often blamed human error. Fifty-nine of 110 fatalities attributed to sudden acceleration in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration records occurred in vehicles other than those sold by Toyota, whose recalls have drawn widespread attention to the issue, according to data compiled for Bloomberg News by the NHTSA. Bloomberg

Continental Cuts Back On Free Food
Continental Airlines will discontinue offering free food to economy-class passengers on the majority of its domestic flights in the United States and Canada and on flights to some leisure destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean, the airline announced Monday. "Our traditional free-food model has served us well for many years, but we need to change to reflect today's market and customer preferences," Jim Compton, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said in a statement. CNN

Obama Slams Insurers, Demands Health Care Reform
The yearlong fight over health care reached a fever pitch Monday as President Obama took his call for change to the political swing state of Ohio, slamming insurance companies and repeating his call for a final congressional vote on his sweeping reform plan. The president's push came as the House of Representatives prepared for an expected vote this week on the roughly $875 billion bill passed by the Senate in December. Under the strategy adopted by congressional leaders, both chambers of Congress then would pass a series of changes designed in part to make the legislation more acceptable to House Democrats. CNN

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Congress Has a Right, and Duty, to Earmark
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R.-Okla.), named by the National Journal as the senator with the most conservative voting record in 2009 and rated by the National Taxpayers Union as having the Senate's fifth-best voting record on bills affecting taxing and spending, told CNSNews.com that he intends to lead a new effort to protect and defend the right of members of Congress to “earmark” appropriations and authorization bills. CNS News

Credit Card Data Evidence Of Consumer Rebound
Credit card delinquency rates slipped or held firm at most major U.S. lenders last month, showing fewer Americans are falling behind on bills, and providing some evidence that the worst of consumers' stress may be over. Charge-off rates were mixed at the companies -- including JPMorgan Chase & Co, American Express Co and Citigroup Inc -- a reflection of a broad rate rise last summer and a sign that the lenders still face hurdles in the wake of the deep recession. The delinquency rates likely received a seasonal boost, but nonetheless signal the card issuers are less likely to have to write off bad loans in the future. Charge-offs are loans the companies do not expect to be repaid. Reuter

Obama Seeks To Reassure Seniors On Health Care
With a fresh sense of urgency, President Barack Obama sought to reassure seniors Monday about health care legislation approaching a final vote in Congress, pledging it would make preventive care cost-free and close a gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage. "This proposal adds almost a decade of solvency to Medicare," Obama said in a visit to a senior center. MSNBC

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Dodd Unveils Financial Market Reform Plan
A new Democratic Senate bill to tame the financial markets would give the government new powers to break up firms that threaten the economy, force the industry to pay for its failures and create a consumer watchdog within the Federal Reserve. Legislation unveiled Monday by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd falls shy of the ambitious restructuring of federal financial regulations envisioned by President Barack Obama or contained in legislation already passed in the House. CBS

Most Power On LI Should Be Back By Weds., Some Thurs.
As the frustration level of nearly 60,000 ratepayers still without power rises, LIPA this afternoon acknowledged restoration work could spill over into Thursday, though it expects 95 percent to have service back by Wednesday. The weather isn't cooperating: Just today, rain and wind knocked out power to another 15,000 homes, LIPA said. Newsday

Arteries Improve After Smokers Quit
A year after kicking the habit, smokers' arteries showed signs of reversing a problem that can set the stage for heart disease, according to the first big study to test this. The improvement came even though smokers gained an average of 9 pounds after they quit, researchers found. Their levels of so-called good cholesterol improved, too. "A lot of people are afraid to quit smoking because they're afraid to gain weight," said the study's leader, Dr. James Stein, a University of Wisconsin-Madison cardiologist. Las Vegas Sun

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China Trims Holdings Of U.S. Treasury Debt
China retained its spot as the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury debt in January although it trimmed its holdings for a third straight month. The string of declines are likely to underscore worries that the U.S. government could face much higher interest rates to finance soaring budget deficits. The Treasury Department said Monday that China's holdings dipped by $5.8 billion to $889 billion in January compared to December. Japan, the second largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt, also trimmed its holdings but by a much smaller $300 million to $765.4 billion. CBS

Rove: Obama Not Doing ‘Homework In Advance’ On Foreign Trips
With tensions simmering between the US and Israel in the wake of Vice President Joe Biden’s trip to the region last week, former senior Bush White House adviser Karl Rove said today that Israel’s announcement of new settlements in East Jerusalem shows that President Obama and his top aides aren’t doing “their homework in advance.”  “I think this is part of a broader problem with the Obama administration, and that is there doesn’t seem to be enough groundwork done before these international meetings that they don’t get caught by surprises like this,” Rove said on ABC’s “Top Line.” ABC

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Obama, U.S. Governors Favor “College-Ready” School Standards
The first U.S.-wide set of academic standards for schoolchildren may be adopted by half of all states this year, while President Barack Obama presses to overhaul the main law designed to hold accountable 100,000 public schools for their students’ achievement. Obama is scheduled today to present to Congress a blueprint for transforming the No Child Left Behind law, which uses testing to gauge student achievement, into a measure that would offer schools more flexibility in demonstrating academic progress. Governors and chief schools officers on March 10 proposed specific grade-level requirements for reading, writing and math. Bloomberg

Biden Predicts Net Job Gain For 2010 1Q
The economic stimulus package would see the United States showing a net gain in jobs for the first quarter of 2010, Vice President Joe Biden said Monday. "We're not just creating jobs and putting paychecks in somebody's pocket," Biden said in Cincinnati during a fundraising appearance for Rep. Steve Driehaus, D-Ohio. "Every bit of this money gets pumped back into the economy." He told about 500 supporters who had paid between $100 and $500 for the luncheon the economic stimulus package passed last year means "you are going to see us creating a net-plus jobs this quarter." UPI News
VOA VIEW: A soon to be proven false claim.

Delinquencies Slow But They Exceed Modifications
Though the rate of delinquent mortgages is slowing, the number of loans that are delinquent 60 days or more since the first of the year exceed the total number of loans modified through private and governmental programs. The February 2010 Mortgage Monitor report, released by Lender Processing Services, Inc. shows that while delinquency rates in the U.S. have risen to historic highs, the pace of deterioration has slowed. However, the nation's housing market remains far from a full recovery. UPI

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'Hamas Used Kids As Human Shields'
Hamas gunmen used Palestinian children as human shields, and established command centers and Kassam launch pads in and near more than 100 mosques and hospitals during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip last year, according to a new Israeli report being released on Monday that aims to counter criticism of the IDF. The detailed 500-page report, obtained exclusively by The Jerusalem Post, was written by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (Malam), a small research group led by Col. (res.) Reuven Erlich, a former Military Intelligence officer who works closely with the army.Jerusalem Post

US Industrial Output Rises Again
US industrial production has increased for the eighth month in a row, beating expectations of a fall. Levels of production were "held down somewhat by winter storms in the Northeast" according to the Federal Reserve, which publishes the data. Overall industrial output was up 0.1% in February, compared with January. In the same period the manufacturing sector fell 0.2%, but the output of mines rose 2% and the index for utilities went up by 0.5%. BBC

Burma And N Korea Slam UN Reports
Recommendations by the UN special envoy to Burma "violated the right of a sovereign state", Burma's UN envoy told the UN Human Rights Council. North Korea's UN envoy "categorically" rejected a recent UN report describing the country as "one big prison". Meanwhile, the UN report on Burma used "unverifiable sources", the UN special envoy Tomas Quintana said. BBC

BA Plans To Keep 60% Of Passengers Flying
British Airways today announced emergency plans to leep 60 per cent of its customers flying during the planned cabin crew strike this weekend – either on its plane or other airlines – as the dispute threatened to hit Labour’s general election campaign. With little sign of a breakthrough in the dispute between BA and Unite, the Prime Minister was dragged into a bitter political row over the party’s links with the unions. Following accusations that the Government had minced its words for fearing of antagonising Unite, Gordon Brown finally condemned the threatened strike as “unjustified and deplorable”. Independent

Small Firms Feel Failed By Government
Most smaller firms believe the Government and banks have not done enough to support them during the recession, according to a new study today. A survey of 650 businesses by XLN Telecom showed most were dissatisfied with the Government's handling of the financial crisis. Only one in four expressed any optimism about the coming year and nine out of 10 said small firms were having to carry "unfair tax burdens" as a result of banks being bailed out. Independent

Supreme Court Considers UK Soldiers' Right To Sue Over Military Missions
The extent to which British soldiers on any military operation in any country will be able to sue the government under the human rights act will be decided by a landmark case which opened in the supreme court today before nine of the country's most senior judges. The Ministry of Defence is challenging an appeal court ruling which, it claims, will have a serious impact on commanders by allowing troops to sue even as a result of decisions made in the heat of battle. Guardian

Israel Claims Jerusalem Settlement Plan Would Not Harm Palestinians
The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, stepped up the row over Jewish settlement plans in East Jerusalem today, saying they would not hurt the city's Palestinian residents. Speaking to Israel's parliament, Netanyahu said the construction of homes for Jews in the city's eastern sector "in no way" hurts Palestinians. His comments came after an admission by the Israeli ambassador to Washington that Israel's relations with the US are at their worst for 35 years. Guardian

House Market Stalls, Fuels Double-Dip Recession Fears
Prices are up a measly 0.1pc compared to February, the smallest margin ever recorded at this time of the year, when prices have never fallen month on month, according to property website Rightmove. The near standstill in prices has fuelled concerns that a decline in the housing market could lead to a slowdown in the wider economy as unemployment, public sector spending cuts and potentially higher interest rates hit the consumer. Telegraph

Army Training Exercises Cut By A Third To Save Money
Training exercises for military operations have been cut by a third to save money at a time when the Army is engaged in heavy fighting in Afghanistan. A record 80 training exercises were cancelled last year while the number of British troops in Helmand reached 10,000. Last week a coroner castigated the Ministry of Defence over “inadequate” mine detection training following the death of Cpl Sarah Bryant, the first British woman killed in Afghanistan, and three SAS soldiers. The Daily Telegraph has also learnt that units training to deploy to Afghanistan within the next two years have had their training cut. Telegraph

Prison Mobile Phone Debate Jammed Up In The System
On paper, it’s a no-brainer: Prisoners have mobile phones they are using to run gangs, call friends and intimidate witnesses. Tech companies have the equipment to jam the phones by flooding the airwaves, and prisons want to use them. But the 1930’s law setting up the nation’s telecommunications bureaucracy makes such jamming illegal. That drives Howard Melman, the CEO of CellAntenna, crazy. Witnesses are dying and gangs are flourishing because Congress has yet to put the Safe Prison’s Act bill on President Obama’s desk, Melman argues. His company, which mostly sells tech to expand cell coverage inside buildings, also does a small business in jammers. And over the last seven years, he’s become one of the most public faces of the campaign to rid prisons of rogue cell phones. Wired

FCC To Release Ambitious, But Pragmatic, National Broadband Plan
The FCC is set to share the nation’s first official broadband plan with Congress Tuesday, a sort of Declaration of the Internet which seeks to ensure that a fast broadband connection is just as much an unalienable right as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That’s pretty ambitious, but the FCC is as unambiguous about its intentions as the Colonists were about throwing off the yoke another form of oppression. For example, goal number three states that “Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service, and the means and skills to subscribe if they so choose.” Wired

One Billion Could Miss Sanitation Goal Without Boost To Efforts
With five years to go before the deadline for halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) warn in a report released today that without stepped-up efforts, nearly one billion people will be overlooked. UN News

Human Rights Situation In DPR Korea Is Bleak
The many instances of harrowing and horrific human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) will continue unless certain measures at the national and international levels are taken, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in the country said today. UN News

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