WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator Ted Cruz, a conservative whose defiant stand against Obamacare helped prompt the U.S. government shutdown, has blocked the Senate from voting on the nomination of Tom Wheeler to be Federal Communications Commission chairman.
The Senate was scheduled to vote on Wheeler, a Democrat and telecom industry veteran, late on Wednesday. Cruz held up the vote over questions about the FCC's power to enforce disclosures of who sponsors political television advertising.
"The Senator is holding the nominee until he gets answers to his questions regarding Mr. Wheeler's views on whether the FCC has the authority or intent to implement the requirements of the failed Congressional DISCLOSE Act," said Cruz spokesman Sean Rushton, referring to a failed bill meant to step up political disclosures.
"Mr. Wheeler had previously declined to give specific answers, but as he's now expressed his readiness to revisit the Senator's questions, the Senator hopes to communicate with him soon," Rushton said.
If Wheeler cannot resolve Cruz's concerns, Senate Democrats could force a vote on the nomination. Majority Leader Harry Reid would decided whether to take that action.
Clearing the senator from Texas' procedural roadblock would require 60 votes in the 100-member chamber, meaning the support of some Republicans would be needed. Democrats currently hold 52 seats and usually have the support of two independent Senators.
The Senate also has yet to vote on the nomination of Republican Michael O'Rielly to fill the fifth and final open FCC commissioner position.
Cruz, prominent in the small-government Tea Party wing of his party, had threatened earlier to delay Wheeler's confirmation vote after pressing for a more detail from the nominee on his views of the donor disclosure issue.
As political spending by outside advocacy groups pushes into the billions of dollars each election cycle, voters are exposed to a growing deluge of ads that refer to the often vaguely named groups sponsoring them.
Some Democrats have suggested that the FCC's existing oversight authority over broadcasters could also be used to force TV advertisers to name specific funders for each spot they buy. That idea has emerged as Cruz's focus at the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the commission.
The FCC remains in something of a holding pattern under Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn. It awaits Wheeler's confirmation to move ahead on several key projects, including upcoming auctions of spectrum. Former chief Julius Genachowski left the FCC in May.
The agency also saw its operations, including approvals of new device licenses and acceptance of routine required filings, stalled by the government shutdown that started on October 1 and ended late on Wednesday. All but a few dozen of the FCC's roughly 1,700 workers were furloughed.
Wheeler most recently invested in technology at a venture capital firm, raised money for President Barack Obama's political campaigns and advised Obama and the FCC on telecom issues. In the past he has been an industry lobbyist, running the National Cable Television Association and the wireless industry group CTIA.
O'Rielly, the Republican FCC nominee, has spent nearly two decades as a staffer in Congress, most recently serving as a top aide to Senator John Cornyn of Texas.
(Reporting by Alina Selyukh; Additional reporting by Tom Ferraro; Editing by Ros Krasny and Tim Dobbyn)
NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball's No. 2 executive testified that the sport wasn't concerned if the head of a Florida clinic distributed performance-enhancing drugs to minors because MLB's sole interest was his relationship with players under investigation, a person familiar with the Alex Rodriguez grievance hearing told The Associated Press.
MLB chief operating officer Rob Manfred testified this week and was asked by Rodriguez's lawyers about documents indicating Biogenesis of America founder Anthony Bosch had given PEDs to high school students, the person said Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the testimony is confidential.
Manfred said he assumed, based on documents in MLB's possession and media reports, that Bosch had distributed illegal substances to minors, but he never asked Bosch about it. Manfred also said MLB was interested only in possible criminal activity involving players, the person said.
Bosch agreed to cooperate with MLB's investigation, and 14 players in all were suspended this summer.
Rodriguez was given the harshest penalty, a 211-game suspension announced Aug. 5. The players' association filed a grievance to overturn the suspension of the New York Yankees third baseman, and arbitrator Fredric Horowitz has presided over eight days of hearings in the case, which is scheduled to resume the week of Nov. 18.
Federal and Florida authorities have begun investigations of the now-closed clinic.
As part of a June 3 agreement between Bosch and MLB, part of which was read to the AP, MLB promised to inform federal and state law enforcement agencies of Bosch's cooperation and its value in ridding baseball of PEDs.
The Daily News reported Saturday that Rodriguez paid $305,000 for evidence, an allegation denied by a spokesman for the three-time AL MVP. The newspaper said Rodriguez and his representatives confirmed the payments during testimony.
Citing an unidentified source familiar the proceedings, the News reported Rodriguez and his surrogates spent the money to purchase evidence that included videotapes, documents and affidavits.
"It's not true and as usual not only are certain parties leaking information but they are leaking false information," Rodriguez spokesman Ron Berkowitz said in an email to the AP.
Porter Fischer, the former Biogenesis associate who gave the Miami New Times documents last winter that sparked Major League Baseball's investigation, said in July he turned down MLB's $125,000 offer for evidence but he did receive $5,500 in cash.
British actor Anthony Hopkins, left, has heaped high praise on Bryan Cranston for his work as Walter White on "Breaking Bad."
Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins is no slouch in the acting department, but after binge-watching all six seasons of "Breaking Bad" recently, he couldn't resist writing a letter to star Bryan Cranston to tell him it was the best acting he had seen — ever.
The letter showed up Sunday on the Facebook page of actor Steven Michael Quezada, who played DEA agent Steve Gomez on the AMC hit. It was quickly picked up across the web, but on Monday the post, along with a tweet about it from Quezada, disappeared.
Arnold Robinson, a publicist for Hopkins, confirmed to TODAY on Monday that the letter was indeed real. And a source at United Talent Agency, which represents both Hopkins and Cranston, told TODAY that Hopkins wanted to write Cranston because he admired his work so much. Hopkins was complimentary of the entire cast, and the UTA source said Cranston shared it, not expecting the letter to go viral.
Hopkins writes that he was compelled to reach out after what he refers to as two weeks of "addictive" viewing.
I have never watched anything like it. Brilliant!
Your performance as Walter White was the best acting I have seen — ever.
I know there is so much smoke blowing and sickening bull---- in this business, and I've sort of lost belief in anything really.
But this work of yours is spectacular — absolutely stunning. What is extraordinary, is the sheer power of everyone in the entire production. What was it? Five or six years in the making? How the producers (yourself being one of them), the writers, directors, cinematographers.... every department — casting etc. managed to keep the discipline and control from beginning to the end is (that over used word) awesome.
Hopkins is no stranger to portraying crafty monsters — he won his Academy Award for the role of Hannibal Lecter in 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs."
"Thank you," the 75-year-old actor writes. "That kind of work/artistry is rare, and when, once in a while, it occurs, as in this epic work, it restores confidence. You and all the cast are the best actors I've ever seen."
Cranston, 57, won three Emmys for his work as the high-school-teacher-turned-meth-kingpin Walter White. Last month he lost out to Jeff Daniels of HBO's "The Newsroom," but "Breaking Bad" won the Emmy for best drama series.
Trilogy fights are usually known as rubber matches, because the first two fights were split and could bend either way. This is the conventional thing. In the Frankie Edgar sense of the word trilogy, there is no such thing as a rubber match. There is only re-rematches.
For instance, Edgar lost to Gray Maynard, then had a draw with Maynard, thus setting up a third fight. He won that one at UFC 136 in Houston, to make the series 1-1-1, meaning a quadrilogy fight becomes the rubber match. Similarly, his re-rematch with BJ Penn makes zero sense from conventional rubber match perspective. Edgar has beaten Penn twice already. But, they’ll re-rematch at 145 pounds because, hey, why not? Penn has been sleepless in Hilo trying to get back at Edgar one more time.
Should Penn win the third fight, and win the inevitable quadrilogy at 135 pounds or some far-fetched thing, that would set up an unprecedented quintilogy fight as the rubber match.
Etc.
With heavyweights Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez getting set to add another Roman numeral to their series, we thought it would be a good time to revisit some of the other great trilogy fights. (Note: You will not find the Forrest Griffin/Tito Ortiz series here, because that particular trilogy falls under the category of "existential vertigo").
BJ Penn versus Matt Hughes I, II and III In the olden days, this was one of those match-ups that bordered on becoming a fight game "standard" for fans. Hughes, all neck and density, and Penn, the elastic man who was always a little unsettling, made for an intense rivalry. At UFC 46, Hughes was riding a 13-fight winning streak and had defended his welterweight belt five times. Yet it was the challenger Penn walked out of the cage with that belt. They’d meet again nearly three years later at UFC 63 -- by chance, really, as it was supposed to be a title fight between Georges St-Pierre and Hughes, but GSP got hurt -- and put on the fight of the year for 2006. That time Hughes retained his title.
The third fight came in depressing Auburn Hills, Michigan, when both guys were depressingly civil with one another, at a time when St-Pierre had a depressing death-grip on the welterweight title. Time had gotten on with things, so this trilogy felt more like a twilight fight (particularly for Hughes) and didn’t nearly have the luster of the first meet-ups. Penn knocked out Hughes in just 21 seconds, which was great for him (and depressing for the guy with a shotgun, a rifle and a 4-wheel drive).
Ken Shamrock versus Tito Ortiz I, II and III This is literally one of the rivalries that had everything to do with bad blood and little to do with actual competitiveness. Shamrock hated Ortiz. Ortiz, who’d already beat Shamrock’s teammates Jerry Bohlander and Guy Mezger, used that hatred to bewitch him at every turn. This made for a fantastic thing. They met at UFC 40, and the light heavyweight champion Ortiz thoroughly dominated Shamrock. After coaching opposite one another on the third season of "The Ultimate Fighter," in which Shamrock became the equivalent of an absentee father for his team (and Ortiz came off like a gentleman, all tenderness and caring), they fought twice more in 2006. Ortiz clobbered Shamrock in the second one, and by the third it felt like Shamrock was just being assigned his regularly scheduled beating.
Still, though -- the bad blood carried the rivalry.
Chuck Liddell versus Randy Couture I, II and III Liddell, as Dana White has iterated and reiterated, was a rock star in his day. He had a stripper pole in his house, and a Ferrari. He had a girthy mohawk with a Matrix-like tattoo running down the side of his head, and he painted his toenails. Megadeth would coil in fear if they saw Liddell walk in. Couture? Perennial underdog, and a perennial old man. But he and Chuck put on a ridiculous series of fights in the mid-aughts that to this day still feel important.
The first fight happened at UFC 43, and many thought that Liddell -- riding a 10-fight winning streak and having just literally anesthetized Renato Sobral with a head kick -- would have his way with Couture (then only a spring chicken of 40 years old). But Couture did what he did best: Defy logic. He beat Liddell for the interim light heavyweight title, setting up a huge rematch at UFC 52. This time the "Iceman" made quick work of Couture with a first-round TKO to lose the 205-pound belt. Ten months later, they’d do it again at UFC 57, a true rubber match, but Liddell put an exclamation point on the rivalry, scoring a second-round KO.
Changes in ocean circulation focus of $16 million project
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
17-Oct-2013
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Contact: Tim Lucas tdlucas@duke.edu 919-613-8084 Duke University
Instrument-laden bobbers will be set adrift in North Atlantic
DURHAM, N.C. -- Oceanographers from Duke University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Miami have received $16 million in grants from the National Science Foundation for the deployment of a new observing system in the subpolar region of the North Atlantic. The observing system will measure the ocean's overturning circulation, a key component of the global climate system.
The five-year initiative is part of the $32 million, U.S.-led Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP). International collaborators include scientists from Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Netherlands.
The goal of the program is to simultaneously measure the surface ocean currents that carry heat northward toward the Arctic Ocean and the deep ocean currents that carry cooler waters southward toward the equator. Together, these currents form the overturning circulation that plays a role in redistributing heat from the equator to the poles. Recent modeling studies have shown that changes in this circulation would have a critical impact on temperatures and precipitation in North America, Europe and Africa.
"In addition to measuring the variability of the ocean overturning, OSNAP is strongly focused on understanding what factors create those changes," said Susan Lozier, the international project lead and a physical oceanographer at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.
"For decades, oceanographers have understood the overturning circulation to be highly susceptible to changes in the temperature and salinity of surface waters in the subpolar North Atlantic. With increasing ocean temperatures, and increased ice melt that impacts the salinity of the surface waters, it is timely to establish just how climate changes might affect the strength of the overturning circulation," Lozier explained.
Likewise, the OSNAP array affords the opportunity to study how overturning changes impact the environment. OSNAP measurements will facilitate the study of how changes in the northward flow of warm water affects the reduction of Arctic sea ice and the shrinking of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Duke, Woods Hole and Miami oceanographers, along with their international partners, will deploy moored instruments and sub-surface floats across the subpolar North Atlantic during the summer of 2014. The measurement period will last until 2018.
The array of instruments will stretch along two lines, from Labrador to southern Greenland and from Greenland east to Scotland. The instruments will provide the scientists with continuous measurements of surface-to-bottom water temperature, salinity and velocities in areas of the subpolar ocean that historically have been under-sampled. Trajectories of the subsurface floats will provide the first look at deep-water pathways in the North Atlantic.
The OSNAP measurement system complements a joint U.K. and U.S. program that has been measuring the overturning circulation in the subtropical North Atlantic since 2004. Differences and similarities in these measures will provide oceanographers insight into the working of the ocean's overturning.
Overturning measures are also critical for an understanding of the ocean's continued ability to act as one of Earth's most important carbon sinks.
Surface waters absorb heat-trapping carbon dioxide from Earth's atmosphere. When cold, dense south-flowing waters from subpolar regions sink, they carry the surface water -- and much of the CO2 it contains -- into the ocean's depths, where it is no longer available to heat Earth's climate.
"Because the storage of carbon at depth is linked to the overturning circulation, our OSNAP measures take on added importance," Lozier said. "A critical question for climate scientists today is: How much carbon will continue to be stored in the ocean?"
The OSNAP program was designed at an international workshop Lozier led at Duke in April 2010.
Principal U.S. investigators of the new program are Amy Bower, Fiamma Straneo and Robert Pickart, scientists in physical oceanography at Woods Hole Oceanographic; William Johns, professor of meteorology and physical oceanography at the University of Miami; and Lozier.
OSNAP will be one of the first projects to make use of the new, NSF-funded Ocean Observatories Initiative's (OOI) array of moored sensors that will be installed in the Irminger Sea, off the southern tip of Greenland, in 2014. The Irminger Sea is one of four planned global observing sites of the OOI program, a networked infrastructure of sensor systems measuring physical, chemical, geological and biological variables in high-latitude and coastal ocean locations as well as at the seafloor.
###
The OSNAP project is funded by two NSF grants, OCE-1259102 and OCE-1259103.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Changes in ocean circulation focus of $16 million project
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
17-Oct-2013
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| Share
]
Contact: Tim Lucas tdlucas@duke.edu 919-613-8084 Duke University
Instrument-laden bobbers will be set adrift in North Atlantic
DURHAM, N.C. -- Oceanographers from Duke University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Miami have received $16 million in grants from the National Science Foundation for the deployment of a new observing system in the subpolar region of the North Atlantic. The observing system will measure the ocean's overturning circulation, a key component of the global climate system.
The five-year initiative is part of the $32 million, U.S.-led Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP). International collaborators include scientists from Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Netherlands.
The goal of the program is to simultaneously measure the surface ocean currents that carry heat northward toward the Arctic Ocean and the deep ocean currents that carry cooler waters southward toward the equator. Together, these currents form the overturning circulation that plays a role in redistributing heat from the equator to the poles. Recent modeling studies have shown that changes in this circulation would have a critical impact on temperatures and precipitation in North America, Europe and Africa.
"In addition to measuring the variability of the ocean overturning, OSNAP is strongly focused on understanding what factors create those changes," said Susan Lozier, the international project lead and a physical oceanographer at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.
"For decades, oceanographers have understood the overturning circulation to be highly susceptible to changes in the temperature and salinity of surface waters in the subpolar North Atlantic. With increasing ocean temperatures, and increased ice melt that impacts the salinity of the surface waters, it is timely to establish just how climate changes might affect the strength of the overturning circulation," Lozier explained.
Likewise, the OSNAP array affords the opportunity to study how overturning changes impact the environment. OSNAP measurements will facilitate the study of how changes in the northward flow of warm water affects the reduction of Arctic sea ice and the shrinking of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Duke, Woods Hole and Miami oceanographers, along with their international partners, will deploy moored instruments and sub-surface floats across the subpolar North Atlantic during the summer of 2014. The measurement period will last until 2018.
The array of instruments will stretch along two lines, from Labrador to southern Greenland and from Greenland east to Scotland. The instruments will provide the scientists with continuous measurements of surface-to-bottom water temperature, salinity and velocities in areas of the subpolar ocean that historically have been under-sampled. Trajectories of the subsurface floats will provide the first look at deep-water pathways in the North Atlantic.
The OSNAP measurement system complements a joint U.K. and U.S. program that has been measuring the overturning circulation in the subtropical North Atlantic since 2004. Differences and similarities in these measures will provide oceanographers insight into the working of the ocean's overturning.
Overturning measures are also critical for an understanding of the ocean's continued ability to act as one of Earth's most important carbon sinks.
Surface waters absorb heat-trapping carbon dioxide from Earth's atmosphere. When cold, dense south-flowing waters from subpolar regions sink, they carry the surface water -- and much of the CO2 it contains -- into the ocean's depths, where it is no longer available to heat Earth's climate.
"Because the storage of carbon at depth is linked to the overturning circulation, our OSNAP measures take on added importance," Lozier said. "A critical question for climate scientists today is: How much carbon will continue to be stored in the ocean?"
The OSNAP program was designed at an international workshop Lozier led at Duke in April 2010.
Principal U.S. investigators of the new program are Amy Bower, Fiamma Straneo and Robert Pickart, scientists in physical oceanography at Woods Hole Oceanographic; William Johns, professor of meteorology and physical oceanography at the University of Miami; and Lozier.
OSNAP will be one of the first projects to make use of the new, NSF-funded Ocean Observatories Initiative's (OOI) array of moored sensors that will be installed in the Irminger Sea, off the southern tip of Greenland, in 2014. The Irminger Sea is one of four planned global observing sites of the OOI program, a networked infrastructure of sensor systems measuring physical, chemical, geological and biological variables in high-latitude and coastal ocean locations as well as at the seafloor.
###
The OSNAP project is funded by two NSF grants, OCE-1259102 and OCE-1259103.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
MTV has added two comedies to its original programming roster.
High-school set entry Faking It and theme park comedy Happyland have been picked up to series, each receiving orders for eight episodes.
Faking It hails from Carter Covington(Greek, Hart of Dixie) and revolves around two best friends who will do almost anything to fit in and be popular in high school, including pretending to be something they're not. The cast includes Bailey Buntain, Gregg Sulkin, Katie Stevens, Michael Willett and Rita Volk.
Happyland, from Ben Epstein (Daddy's Girls), is a soapy teen comedy exploring the underbelly of one of the country's most popular theme parks and those who work there. The project centers on Lucy, a cynical teen whose mother makes a living as a fairy tale princess, and explores the realities of growing up and falling in love while living in a make-believe world. Smash's Neil Meron and Craig Zadan will executive produce. Bianca Santos, Zulay Henao, Shane Harper, Katherine McNamara, Cameron Moulene, Brandy Smith and Ryan Rottman star.
The two comedies join Awkward on the schedule as the network continues its push into original scripted programming. On the drama side, the network recently renewed Teen Wolf for a fourth season with a companion talk show.
Drama pilots Scream, Finding Carter and Eye Candy remain in the mix at the network. Casting on the latter two has already begun, with Scream on the back burner.
The series orders come as no surprise as MTV programming president Susanne Danielstold THR in July after both comedies were ordered to pilot that she was looking to add one drama for 2014 and either one or two more comedies.
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