Bush resubmits Idaho judges
The Bush administration, trying to push through judicial nominations before Republicans lose control of the Senate, resubmitted six nominees, including two from Idaho, deemed by Democrats too conservative.
Five nominees were the subject of an angry exchange in August when Democrats said their selection was a sop to the president’s conservative base.
The White House on Wednesday submitted William Gerry Myers III and Norman Randy Smith, both of Idaho, for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco; Terrence Boyle, of North Carolina, and William James Haynes II, of Virginia, to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va.; Michael Brunson Wallace, of Mississippi, to the 5th Circuit in New Orleans; and Peter Keisler, of Maryland, to the District of Columbia Circuit. Everyone except Keisler has generated intense opposition from Democrats.
Under Senate rules the nominations must be resubmitted after Congress takes an extended break, as was the case this year for the 2006 election.
“Democrats have asked the president to be bipartisan, but this is a clear slap in the face at our request,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of the Judiciary Committee.
“For the sake of the country, we hope that this is an aberration because the president feels he must placate his hard-right base, rather than an indication of things to come.”
Spokane County
Waste smoke was industrial iodine
Brightly colored plumes emitted from Spokane’s city-county garbage incinerator earlier this month were traced to an industrial waste containing iodine, city officials said Wednesday.
An investigation of the purple or pink plumes showed that the Spokane Regional Solid Waste System had accepted as “special waste” 249 gallons of an iodine-containing solution packaged in 11,800 vials.
Officials initially suspected that the unusual plumes, which exceeded the plant’s smoke opacity standards, were caused by garbage that should not have been disposed there.
“The solution was a permissible, non-dangerous waste, and iodine wasn’t on our list of materials that couldn’t be accepted at the Waste-to-Energy facility,” said Monica Bramble, acting director of the solid waste system, in a prepared statement.
New screening is being implemented to stop iodine-containing materials from being accepted at the plant.
“We acted quickly to take steps to ensure that these types of emissions won’t occur in the future,” she said, explaining that incinerating iodine-containing materials can be a concern, but the amount emitted was below occupational exposure limits.
Compiled from staff
and wire reports