Nation

Active Duty U.S. Military Offered Free Entrance to All National Parks Beginning Saturday

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BANDELIER News:

The National Park Service has announced that on Saturday May 19, which is Armed Forces Day, it will begin issuing an annual pass offering free entrance to all 397
National Park Service areas for active duty military members and their dependents.

This military version of the America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass also permits free entrance to sites managed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Forest Service.

The pass is available at these locations as well.

“We all owe Read More

Andrew Zhao Named 2012 U.S. Presidential Scholar

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LAHS News:

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has announced the selection of Los Alamos High School senior Andrew Zhao as a 2012 U.S. Presidential Scholar.

Zhao is one of 141 outstanding American high school seniors who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement, artistic excellence, leadership, citizenship, service and contribution to school and community.

The U. S. Presidential Scholars will be honored for their accomplishments in Washington D.C., June 16–19.

“Honoring Presidential Scholars is an important celebration of students showing the dedication, creativity Read More

Los Alamos High School Advances to “Sweet 16” in the National Science Bowl

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A team of students from Los Alamos High School is competing this week in the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Science Bowl (NSB) in Washington, D.C. and has advanced to the “sweet sixteen” from an original field of 69 high school teams from across the country.
 
Members of the Los Alamos High School team, Los Alamos, NM concentrate on the answer to a question at the U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl in Washington DC on April 29, 2012. Photograph by Dennis Brack, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science/Courtesy
 
The National Science
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DOE Launches National Science Bowl Lithium-Ion Battery-Powered Model Car Race

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Middle School Regional Champions From Around the Country to Compete
 
Beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 29, 44 middle school teams from across the nation will race against one another in the Lithium-Ion Battery-Powered Model Car Challenge as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Science Bowl Competition.
 
The middle school teams designed and built their model cars from everyday household materials and brought them to D.C. to compete.
 
The teams will be judged on two criteria – time trials and car design.
 
The three middle school teams with the fastest
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Los Alamos Ranked Among Nation’s Top Hunting and Fishing Spots

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Courtesy/outdoorlife.com

Los Alamos is ranked 28 among the “35 Best Hunting and Fishing Towns in the U.S.,” according to OutdoorLife magazine.

The publication says about Los Alamos: “Stay close to home for walleyes, catfish, bass and trout, in waters like Abiqui Lake, Rio Chama and Rio Grande. The nearby Valles Caldera National Preserve runs a lottery program for monster elk.”

Now in its fifth year, the annual “Best Towns for Sportsmen” feature is an OotdoorLife institution: “Readers love to argue the merits of their burgs based on our rankings; local newspapers Read More

Overall, Three Mile Island Operated Safely in 2011

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The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Middletown, Penn., was the site of a March 28, 1979 power plant accident that brought about sweeping changes involving emergency response planning, reactor operator training, human factors engineering, radiation protection, and many other areas of nuclear power plant operations. Courtesy Photo

 

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION News:

 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will conduct an open house April 11 in Middletown, Penn., regarding the agency’s annual assessment of safety performance for the Three Mile Island 1 nuclear Read More

$7 Million Available for Earthquake Research

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USGS News:

Scientists interested in earthquake research will be pleased to hear that the U.S. Geological Survey is awarding up to $7 million in grants and cooperative agreements for earthquake research in 2013.

Applications are due May 17 and researchers can apply online at GRANTS.GOV under the funding opportunity number G12AS20013.

There are four National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) agencies that work in close coordination to improve the nation’s understanding of earthquake hazards and to mitigate their effects. The missions of the four agencies are complementary, Read More

U.S. Senate Confirms New Deputy Chief at DEA

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Thomas Harrigan

DEA News:

DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart hailed Senate confirmation of Special Agent Thomas Harrigan as DEA’s Deputy Administrator.

“I cannot think of a better, more qualified, or more honorable person to have at my side than Special Agent Tom Harrigan as we lead the Drug Enforcement Administration through the many challenges we will face and the many successes we will have in the coming years,” Leonhart said. “Tom demonstrated strong leadership and dedication in the field, and his strategic vision as Chief of Operations has been second to none. Special Agent Harrigan’s Read More

Former Chairman and CEO of Kellogg, Brown & Root Inc. Sentenced for Foreign Bribery and Kickback Schemes

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WASHINGTON—Albert “Jack” Stanley, a former chairman and chief executive officer of Kellogg, Brown & Root Inc. (KBR), was sentenced Friday to 30 months in prison for conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by participating in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts and for conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud as part of a separate kickback scheme, the Justice Department’s Criminal Division today announced.

U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison for the Read More

FY 2013 Budget Request Seeks $11.5 Billion to Achieve President Obama’s Nuclear Security Objectives, Shape Future of Nuclear Security

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NNSA News

WASHINGTON, D.C. – National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Administrator Thomas D’Agostino today highlighted the strong support for NNSA in President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Request, which was delivered to Congress earlier today. The $11.5 billion budget request will help NNSA achieve the President’s nuclear security objectives, including his four-year goal to secure vulnerable nuclear material around the world. The request represents an increase of 4.9 percent over the FY 2012 appropriation.

“The President’s budget continues Read More