Former Interior Sec. Norton Now Adviser For Shell
“Gale Norton is back providing oversight of energy development issues on public lands in the American West, this time as a key legal advisor for a major global oil company.
“Months after she resigned her cabinet post as President Bush’s Interior Secretaryâand then seemed to disappear from public viewâthe Coloradan apparently has accepted an offer to serve as counsel for Royal Dutch Shell PLC.” (NewWest)
Katrina Evacuees On Tight Deadline To Appeal Revocation Of Aid
“Under a court order, the Federal Emergency Management Agency sent letters to about 4,000 storm victims in Texas last week, explaining why they were deemed no longer eligible for aid. A federal judge ruled the original letters unconstitutional because they contained only hard-to-decipher computer codes and agency jargon.
“With the new letters, storm victims can appeal the decision to FEMA and may be eligible for renewed housing payments of about $750 a month.
“But the program is set to expire at the end of February and the appeal process can take up to three months. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who has called the agency’s housing program a ‘legal disaster’ said Wednesday that he wanted to speed up the appeals.” (AP)
Gov’t Watchdogs Undermined By Bosses
“The inspectors general entrusted to unearth waste, fraud and abuse in federal agencies are increasingly under attack, as top government officials they scrutinize try to erode the watchdogs’ independence and authority.” (AP)
Too Little Bang For The Buck In Drug Research?
“Whenever critics complain about the high cost of prescription drugs, the pharmaceutical industry’s standard defense is that companies have to plow so much money into researching innovative new medicines. But a recently released report from the Government Accountability Office casts doubt on that rationale. Yes the industry is spending heavily on R&D, the GAO found, but it turns out big pharma isn’t actually generating such a good return on their investments.
“The congressional watchdog agency’s 48-page study came up with disturbing numbers. From 1993-2004, spending by U.S. drug companies on research and development jumped 147%, from $16 billion to nearly $40 billion annually. But the number of applications the pharmaceutical firms submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for potentially groundbreaking new drugs during that 10-year period increased only a meager 7%. And since 1995, the applications for these innovative drugs have been dropping each year. ‘The productivity of research and development investments has declined,’ the GAO concluded.” (Time)
Dem Congress Puts Oil Industry On Defense
“Whether the issue is rolling back tax breaks — some approved by Congress only 18 months ago — pushing for more use of ethanol and other biofuels instead of gasoline, or investigations into shortfalls in royalty payments to the government, oil industry lobbyists will spend most of their time playing defense.” (AP)
GOP Senator in Spotlight After a Critical Iraq Speech
“At the close of the Senateâs lame-duck session, in between formulaic tributes to senators departing voluntarily or otherwise, a Republican backbencher suddenly rose to give one of the most passionate and surprising speeches about the war in Iraq yet delivered in Congress.
“For a solid Republican who had originally voted for the war, the words spoken by the senator, Gordon H. Smith of Oregon, on the evening of Dec. 7 were incendiary and marked a stunning break with the president.
“‘I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs day after day,’ Mr. Smith said. ‘That is absurd. It may even be criminal.'” (NYTimes)
Senate Sex Blog Suit Heads toward X-rated Trial
“When Robert Steinbuch discovered his girlfriend had discussed intimate details about their sex life in her online diary, the Capitol Hill staffer didn’t just get mad. He got a lawyer.
“Soon, though, the racy tidbits about the sex lives of the two Senate aides faded from the front pages and the gossip pages. Steinbuch accepted a teaching job in Arkansas, leaving Washington and Jessica Cutler’s ‘Washingtonienne’ Web log behind.” (CNN)
