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A urologist charged California's prison system $2,036 an hour to treat inmates. An orthopedic surgeon billed the state for 30 hours' work - for a single day. The examples are contained in an audit released Tuesday that found rampant waste in how California's prison health care system spends money on outside doctors, nurses and laboratories. The lax spending practices have cost California taxpayers millions, according to the audit by the state controller's office. Prison health care spending soared from $153 million in 2001 to $821 million this year - an increase of $668 million, or 437 percent. "Waste, abuse and...

Researchers work to shrink technology that harnesses sun's energy to both heat and coolEvery day, the sun bathes the planet in energy--free of charge--yet few systems can take advantage of that source for both heating and cooling. Now, researchers are making progress on a thin-film technology that adheres both solar cells and heat pumps onto surfaces, ultimately turning walls, windows, and maybe even soda bottles into climate control systems. On July 12, 2006, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) researcher Steven Van Dessel and his colleagues will announce their most recent progress--including a computer model to help them simulate the climate within...

Asia tsunami warning system ready Most had no warning of the 2004 tsunami until giant waves appeared A tsunami warning system covering the Indian Ocean region is now "up and running", Unesco has said. The UN organisation, which has overseen the project, says the whole region can now receive and distribute warnings of possible tsunamis. The system is in place 18 months after the devastating tsunami of December 2004 that killed more than 200,000. The Pacific region has had a system for 40 years and others are planned for the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Caribbean. Work unfinished Koichiro Matsuura, director-general of...

FORT BELVOIR, Va., June 13, 2006 – A system initially adopted to help the Army Corps of Engineers detect invasive vegetation growing in coastal waterways is giving warfighters an edge in the global war on terror. "Buckeye," a digital imaging system that's installed on an aircraft, gives ground commanders a bird's-eye view of the area in which they're operating, Army Capt. Jed Richards, research and development coordinator for the Army's Topographic Engineering Center here, told American Forces Press Service. Featuring a high-quality digital camera with an extra-large focal frame, Buckeye "looks" nearly straight down from an aircraft and captures images...

USS JOHN C. STENNIS, At Sea (NNS) -- As part of a weapons testing phase, USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) fired both of its new Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) systems at a remote-controlled drone for the first time, June 8. The ship’s two RAM launchers each fired one missile at a BQM-34 Firebee drone, which was about four miles out and incoming and had been launched from Point Mugu, Calif. Both missiles successfully hit the infrared beacons the drone was carrying from its wings. “They gave us a green light on both RAM missiles,” said Stennis’ Commanding Officer Capt....

WASHINGTON - Remember the Department of Homeland Security's "no-fly'' lists that erratically flagged 3-year-old children and dozens of men named David Nelson as terrorists seeking to board commercial airplanes? Well, now privacy experts are warning America to prepare for the "no-work'' list. As Congress debates immigration reform, experts say a little-discussed aspect of the bill, mandatory employee eligibility verification, is likely to have a colossal impact on the lives of every person in the U.S. labor market -- citizen and foreigner alike. "Everyone who wants to work will feel this provision,'' said Tim Sparapani, legal counsel for the American Civil...

--House panel backs budget reductions-- WASHINGTON -- House Republicans yesterday revived their efforts to slash funding for public broadcasting, as a key committee approved a $115 million reduction in the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that could force the elimination of some popular PBS and NPR programs. On a party-line vote, the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees health and education funding approved the cut to the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes money to the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. It would reduce the corporation's budget by 23 percent next year, to $380...

WASHINGTON — Fairfax County, Va., Police Detective Vicky Armel, who was murdered Monday during a shooting rampage by a troubled teen-ager, had helped people with severe mental illnesses. I know because she helped my son. Four years ago, I rushed my college-age son to a Fairfax Hospital emergency room only to be turned away. Although Mike was delusional and had been hospitalized twice before for treatment of bipolar disorder, a doctor said he was not sick enough — yet. (snip) I was told to bring my son back after he hurt himself or me. Forty-eight hours later... (snip) I have...

Space-Age Drinking Water System Tested The system, originally designed for NASA, may provide a short-term solution to provide residents with clean drinking water. By U.S. Army Sgt. Dennis Gravelle 138th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment DAHUK, Iraq, May 2, 2006 — U.S. soldiers assigned to the 401st Civil Affairs Battalion in Dahuk, Iraq, have found an alternative way for residents to drink clean water in the village of Bendaway. A creek running through a small village in northern Iraq is the only natural source of drinking water for the residents who live there.“We are surrounded by agriculture here,” said John...

BURBANK – Chris James needed help moving a piano and three dozen boxes of records from his music studio, but instead of corralling some buddies he rented a truck and hired day laborers outside the local Home Depot. The two Guatemalan men finished the job in an hour and a half, hauling a piano and wedging a sofa into his condo, then stacking the boxes in a back room, for less than $40. It was first time James hired day laborers but it won't be his last. “Absolutely satisfied,” said James, 31. The No. 1 employers of day laborers, many...

A vision system that helps soldiers plan a route through the chaos of the battlefield will undergo tests on both sides of the Atlantic. The system, called Primordial Soldier, will provide soldiers with a real-time picture of where troops are in relation to each other and a digital rendering of the route they should follow. It is about to undergo trials with US special forces and has been bought by the UK arm of MBDA Missiles. MBDA plans to carry out conceptual research on the system to learn how using such technology affects a soldier's decision-making capability in the field....

In an attempt to tackle gun crime in the UK, researchers from Loughborough University are developing an innovative identification system that will use CCTV cameras to spot individuals carrying concealed firearms. Starting in June, the three-year multi-environment deployable universal software application (Medusa) project aims to develop intelligent software that can detect a person carrying a concealed weapon in real time. While it is difficult to predict if someone is carrying a gun before crime occurs, Professor Alastair Gale, head of Loughborough University's Applied Vision Research Centre and leader of Medusa, said there are a number of cues the CCTV operator...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday called for a market-based approach to reducing industrial emissions of "greenhouse" gases, endorsing a plan to combat global warming that faces opposition from business and Republican leaders. Schwarzenegger said he supported requiring companies to report their carbon emissions and creating financial incentives to limit the release of greenhouse gases. "Let's work together to create the world's best market-based system to limit and slash emissions," he said. The governor voiced his support for a plan to curb carbon dioxide emissions and other gases blamed for climate change from power plants, oil refineries and factories operating in...

AL ASAD, Iraq (April 9, 2006) -- Sweat slowly drips off of the Marines as they carefully raise the 500- and 1000-pound munitions to the weapons carriage on the AV-8B Harrier - the Flying Nightmares are readying for action. Marine Attack Squadron 513, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, is the first Harrier squadron to employ the Joint Direct Attack Munitions in a combat zone. "With this new feature on our jets, we will be able to hit targets more accurately, therefore making us a more effective squadron," said Lt. Col. Willis E. Price, commanding officer, VMA-513. The...

WASHINGTON, April 6, 2006 – The United States now has a rudimentary missile defense system in place, a senior defense official told the Senate's strategic forces subcommittee here April 4. "The United States today has all the pieces in place needed to intercept an incoming long-range ballistic missile: ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California; a network of ground-, sea- and space-based sensors; a command-and-control network; and, most importantly, trained servicemen and women ready to operate the system, Peter C.W. Flory, assistant defense secretary for international security policy, said in prepared testimony. The system is still aimed primarily at development and...

4/5/2006 - HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. (AFPN) -- One year after answering a call by the Marine Corps' that met an urgent need, the Force Protection Systems Squadron here is preparing to do it again. It is planning to deploy a Tactical Automated Security System, or TASS, to Al Taqaddum Air Base, Iraq. "The Marine Corps came to us saying, 'We want to make this our system of choice for expeditionary electronic security systems,'" said 1st Lt. Ted Boender, tactical systems program manager. With one system already deployed at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, they wanted to install a...

WASHINGTON, March 22, 2006 – The proposed U.S. ballistic missile defense system is intended to tie numerous independent elements into a sophisticated web of protection, U.S. military officials said. Integrated ballistic missile defense system. Image courtesy of the Missile Defense Agency  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The stated mission of the Missile Defense Agency is to field a layered missile defense system that integrates land-, sea-, and air-based missile defenses to protect the U.S. homeland, deployed troops, and America's friends and allies against all types of ballistic missiles in all phases of flight. Basically, that means the United...

JUNEAU--The national missile defense system could stop an attack from North Korea today, despite consecutive test failures in recent months, the head of the ground-based missile defense program said Tuesday. But with just eight interceptor missiles in place in Alaska and California, it would have to be a pretty small attack, said Major Gen. John Holly, who heads the program for the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency. While the system has not officially been declared active by the Bush administration, it has an emergency capability that can be switched on at any time, Holly said. "If directed, we could provide a...

WASHINGTON, March 9, 2006 – The conventional "Trident" missile program the Pentagon will ask Congress to fund is part of a larger strategy to better address diverse threats facing the United States and will further the country's defense goals, a Defense Department spokesman said here today. The Conventional Trident Modification program, which will cost about $503 million, was developed based on a 2001 comprehensive review of America's deterrence policy, the spokesman said, speaking on background. The study, he said, recognized that a deterrence strategy that relies primarily on nuclear weapons does not address the diverse threats the United States faces,...

Products based on NASA Earth observations and a new Internet-based decision tool are providing information to help land and water managers combat tamarisk (saltcedar), an invasive plant species damaging precious water supplies in the western United States. This decision tool, called the Invasive Species Forecasting System (ISFS), is being used at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Institute of Invasive Species Science in Fort Collins, Colo. It is the result of combining USGS science and NASA Earth observations, software engineering and high- performance computing expertise. "The ISFS combines NASA satellite data with tens of thousands of field sampling measurements, which...