Free Republic

Executives of America's leading cable systems have announced an initiative to "help families manage their television viewing and protect children from inappropriate programming." One pro-family group called the effort, announced Wednesday, a "$250-million sham." "Take Control. It's Easy" is the name of the campaign, which will feature an enhanced TV ratings system and a $250-million multimedia public service campaign designed to inform the 70 million cable subscribers in the U.S. about parental control tools. However, L. Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council, blasted the program as an attempt "to spin the public with a multi-million-dollar campaign to promote...

Las Vegas SUN Today: June 04, 2004 at 11:28:41 PDT Nuclear waste vote divides Nevada senators By Suzanne Struglinski <suzanne@lasvegassun.com>SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- The Senate voted Thursday to give the Energy Department authority to reclassify nuclear waste in South Carolina, a move that has split Nevada's senators and has some state officials concerned about the precedent set by the decision. The move would ease waste cleanup regulations, which would allow the Energy Department to add cement or grout to high-level nuclear waste in South Carolina and leave it in tanks at a former nuclear weapons facility. Supporters, including Sen....

The U.S. Department of Energy wants to scale back the number of nuclear weapons workers required to take lie detector tests. That according to written testimony that Deputy Energy Secretary Kyle McSlarrow was scheduled to deliver to a congressional committee Thursday. He says he’ll recommend substantially lowering the number of people that would be subject to polygraph screens. McSlarrow says the problem of innocent workers tarred by false polygraph results is too great to ignore. DOE officials had said in April they planned to continue polygraphing nuclear weapons workers as a way of trying to ferret out spies. Many scientists...

Demonstrating the United States' intensifying interest in Russian fuel resources, a high-level U.S. Energy Department delegation on Tuesday visited Murmansk, the Barents Sea port from which Washington eventually hopes to import Russian crude. Headed by Deputy Energy Secretary Kyle McSlarrow, the delegation traveled to Murmansk after signing a protocol with Deputy Energy Minister Oleg Gordeyev in St. Petersburg on Monday aimed at strengthening investment ties and cooperation in oil field development. The visit is part of the groundwork being laid for the second annual U.S-Russia Energy Summit to be held in St. Petersburg Sept. 21 and 22. The first was...