BANK TO PAY $7.1 MILLION FOR NOT USING PRUDENT UNDERWRITNG PRACTICES WITH SBA GUARANTEED LOANS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Friday, January 25, 2013
Pittsburgh-based Bank to Pay U.S. for Failing to Engage in Prudent Underwriting Practices on SBA Loan Guarantees

PNC Bank N.A. has agreed to pay the United States $7.1 million to settle claims under the False Claims Act that it failed to engage in prudent underwriting practices in connection with the issuance of loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Justice Department announced today. PNC has also agreed to take corrective action to prevent similar occurrences in the future. PNC is a national banking association located in Pittsburgh.

The SBA Act allows banks to partner with the SBA to make loans to qualified small businesses. Participants in the SBA’s Preferred Lenders Program, like PNC, have authority to make and close these loans without obtaining the prior approval of the SBA. SBA guaranteed 75 percent of the balance of the loans in question. Banks are required to exercise prudent lending standards when making loans under the Preferred Lenders Program.

In 2005, under the Preferred Lender Program, PNC issued 64 SBA-guaranteed loans for the purchase of 98 Uni-Marts stores located primarily in the mid-Atlantic region. The United States alleges that in connection with these loans, PNC relied upon unaudited financial statements without further verifying whether the information contained in the financial statements was accurate. Of the 64 SBA-guaranteed loans issued by PNC, 36 have defaulted, triggering SBA’s obligations to pay PNC 75 percent of the balance of the defaulted loans. In May 2008, Uni-Marts filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

"Banks that are SBA preferred lenders have a duty to prudently guard the public funds they commit to borrowers," said Stuart F. Delery, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. "The government will pursue vigorously lenders that fail to adequately safeguard public funds due to deficient lending standards."

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Delery thanked the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the SBA Office of General Counsel and the SBA Office of Inspector General for the collaboration that resulted in the settlement announced today. The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.

GREENLAND'S PAST CLIMATE CHANGE AND ICE MELT

On March 29, 2011, Operation IceBridge flew between deep canyons and over glaciers along the northwest coast of Greenland. IceBridge, now in its third year, makes annual campaigns in the Arctic and Antarctic where science flights monitor glaciers, ice sheets and sea ice. Image Credit-NASA-Michael Studinger

FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Analysis of Greenland Ice Cores Adds to Historical Record and May Provide Glimpse into Climate's Future

The International North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) project results indicate that melting of Antarctic ice sheet may have contributed more to sea level rise than melting of the Greeland ice sheet some 100,000 years ago　

A new study that provides surprising details on changes in Earth's climate from more than 100,000 years ago indicates that the last interglacial--the period between "ice ages"--was warmer than previously thought and may be a good analog for future climate, as greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere and global temperatures rise.

The research findings also indicate that melting of the massive West Antarctic ice sheet may have contributed more to sea-level rise at that time than melting of the Greenland ice sheet.

The new results from the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) project were published in the Jan. 24 edition of Nature.

Members of the research team noted that they were working in Greenland during the summer of 2012 during a rare modern melt event similar to those discussed in the paper.

"We were quite shocked by the warm surface temperatures observed at the NEEM ice camp in July 2012," said Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, of the University of Copenhagen, the NEEM project leader.

"It was simply raining, and, just as during the Eemian period, meltwater formed subsurface ice layers. While this was an extreme event, the present warming over Greenland makes surface melt more likely, and the predicted warming over Greenland in the next 50-100 years will potentially have Eemian-like climate conditions."

The Eemian interglacial period began about 130,000 years ago and ended about 115,000 years ago.

The project logistics for NEEM are managed by Denmark's Centre for Ice and Climate. The Arctic Sciences Section in the National Science Foundation's Division of Polar Programs manages the U.S. support for the project.

In addition to Denmark and the United States, researchers from Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom are also partners in NEEM.

The research published this week shows that during the Eemian interglacial, the climate in North Greenland was about 8 degrees Celsius warmer than at present. Despite this strong warming signal during the Eemian--a period when the seas were roughly four to eight meters higher than they are today--the surface in the vicinity of NEEM was only a few hundred meters lower than its present level, which indicates that the Greenland ice sheet may have contributed less than half of the total sea rise at the time.

"The new findings reveal higher temperatures in Northern Greenland during the Eemian than paleo-climate models have estimated," said Dahl-Jensen.

The researchers looked at surface elevation and ice thickness in the early and later parts of the Eemian. Following the previous glacial period, 128,000 years before present, the surface elevation in the vicinity of NEEM was 200 meters higher than the present and the ice thickness decreased at a very high rate of 6 centimeters per year. Some 122,000 years before the present, the surface elevation was 130 meters below the present. In the late Eemian, 122,000 to 115,000 before present, the surface elevation remained stable at a level of 130 meters below the present with an ice thickness of 2,400 meters.

The research team estimated the Greenland ice sheet's volume reduced by no more than 25 percent over 6,000 years. The rate of elevation change in the early part of the Eemian was high and the loss of mass from the Greenland ice sheet was likely on the the same order as changes observed during the last ten years.

"The good news from this study is that Greenland is not as sensitive as we thought to temperature increases in terms of disgorging ice into the ocean during interglacial periods," said Dahl-Jensen. "The bad news is that if Greenland did not disappear during the Eemian, Antarctica, including the more dynamically unstable West Antarctica, must be responsible for a significant part of the 4-8 meters of sea-level rise."

Jim White, director of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the lead U.S. investigator on the NEEM project, said that while three previous ice cores drilled in Greenland in the last 20 years recovered ice from the Eemian, the deepest layers were compressed and folded, making the data difficult to interpret.

With this study, although there was some folding of the lowest ice layers in the NEEM core, sophisticated ice-penetrating radar helped scientists sort out and interpret the individual layers to paint an accurate picture of the warming of Earth's Northern Hemisphere as it emerged from the previous ice age.

"When we calculated how much ice melt from Greenland was contributing to global sea rise in the Eemian, we knew a large part of the sea rise back then must have come from Antarctica," said White. "A lot of us had been leaning in that direction for some time, but we now have evidence that confirms that the West Antarctic ice sheet was a dynamic and crucial player in global sea rise during the last interglacial period."

The intense surface melt in the vicinity of NEEM during the warm Eemian period was seen in the ice core as layers of re-frozen meltwater. Meltwater from surface snow had penetrated the underlying snow, where it re-froze. Such melt events during the past 5,000 years are very rare by comparison, confirming that the surface temperatures at the NEEM site during the Eemian were significantly warmer than today, said the researchers.

The Greenland ice core layers--formed over millennia by compressed snow--are being studied in detail using a big suite of measurements, including stable water isotope analysis that reveals information about temperature and moisture changes back in time. Lasers are used to measure the water stable isotopes and atmospheric gas bubbles trapped in the ice cores to better understand past variations in climate on a year-by-year basis--similar in some ways to a tree-ring record.

"It's a great achievement for science to gather and combine so many measured ice core records to reconstruct the climate history of the past Eemian," said Dahl-Jensen. "It shows what a great team of researchers we have assembled and how valuable these findings are."

U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DESCRIBES $205 MILLION MEDICARE FRAUD CASE

FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Friday, January 25, 2013
Former Program Director and Marketers Sentenced to Prison in Florida in $205 Million Community Mental Health Fraud Scheme

The former program director and two former marketers for Miami-based mental health care company American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC) have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a $205 million Medicare fraud and kickback scheme in which patients were forced to attend inappropriate treatment programs.

The sentences were announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; Special Agent-in-Charge Michael B. Steinbach of the FBI’s Miami Field Office; and Special Agent-in-Charge Christopher Dennis of the Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations Miami office.

Miami-area residents Lydia Ward, 47, a former program director, and Hilario Morris, 47, a former marketer, were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz in Miami federal court to 99 months and 60 months in prison, respectively. In addition to the prison term, Judge Seitz sentenced Ward and Morris each to serve three years of supervised release and ordered them to pay more than $34.1 million and $82.2 million in restitution, respectively, jointly and severally with their co-defendants.

Ward was convicted on Nov. 15, 2012, by a federal jury of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Morris was convicted on June 1, 2012, by a federal jury of conspiracy to pay illegal health care kickbacks. Ward and Morris have been in federal custody since their convictions.

Former marketer Sandra Jimenez, 39, also from the Miami area, was sentenced to 36 months in prison yesterday, Jan. 24, 2013. In addition to the prison term, Judge Seitz sentenced Jimenez to serve three years of supervised release and ordered her to pay $20.5 million in restitution, jointly and severally with her co-defendants.

On Jan. 17, 2012, Jimenez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to receive and pay health care kickbacks.

In pleading guilty, Jimenez admitted that she served as a marketer for ATC and American Sleep Institute (ASI). ATC, a Florida corporation headquartered in Miami, operated purported partial hospitalization programs (PHPs) in seven different locations throughout South Florida and Orlando. A PHP is a form of intensive treatment for severe mental illness. Jimenez also admitted that she and co-conspirators used related company ASI to submit fraudulent Medicare claims.

Additionally, Jimenez admitted she participated in a separate Medicare fraud scheme through Priority Home Health, a Miami home health agency that submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare for home health services. Jimenez and her co-conspirators recruited Medicare beneficiaries to Priority Home Health who did not qualify for the services.

According to the plea agreement, Jimenez’s participation in the ATC fraud and the Priority Home Health fraud resulted in $46 million in fraudulent billings to Medicare.

Evidence at Ward’s and Morris’ trials demonstrated that the defendants and their co-conspirators caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare through ATC and ASI, and that ATC secured patients by paying kickbacks to assisted living facility owners and halfway house owners who would then steer patients to ATC.

According to the evidence, Morris was a marketer for ATC from September 2004 through October 2010, when ATC closed its doors due to the federal case. In that capacity, Morris acted as a liaison, maintaining relationships between ATC and those who were selling their patients to ATC. Morris would physically pay the kickbacks throughout North Miami and Florida’s Broward County. These patients, who attended ATC, were ineligible for the services billed to Medicare and did not receive them. After Medicare paid the claims, some of the co-conspirators then laundered the Medicare money in order to create cash to pay the kickbacks for patients.

Evidence at trial revealed that Ward was a program director at ATC’s Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., center from November 2008 until ATC’s closing in October 2010. The evidence showed Ward helped doctors at ATC sign patient files without reading them or seeing the patients, and that Ward and others would assist the owners of ATC in fabricating doctor notes, therapist notes and other documents to make it falsely appear in ATC’s patient files that patients were qualified for the individualized, specialized treatment. Included in these false and fraudulent submissions to Medicare were claims for patients who were in the late stages of diseases causing permanent cognitive memory loss and patients who had substance abuse issues and were living in halfway houses. These patients were ineligible for PHP treatments, and because they were forced by their assisted living facility owners and halfway house owners to attend ATC, they were not receiving treatment for the diseases they actually had.

ATC executives Lawrence Duran, Marianella Valera and Judith Negron were previously sentenced to 50 years, 35 years and 35 years in prison, respectively, for their roles in the fraud scheme. The 50- and 35-year sentences represent the longest federal sentences for health care fraud ordered to date in the United States.

ATC and Medlink pleaded guilty in May 2011 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. ATC also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks. On Sept. 16, 2011, the two corporations were sentenced to five years of probation per count and ordered to pay restitution of $87 million. Both corporations have been defunct since their owners were arrested in October 2010. Dozens of individuals have been convicted at trial or pleaded guilty for their participation in the scheme, including doctors Mark Willner and Alberto Ayala, who were each sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Evidence at trial showed that the ATC scheme resulted in a total of $205 million in fraudulent Medicare billings.

The cases were prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Jennifer L. Saulino and Trial Attorney Laura M.K. Cordova of the Justice Department Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and James V. Hayes, Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida. The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,480 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $4.8 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

PATRIOT MISSILE BATTERIES IN TURKEY GOING OPERATIONAL

A southwest-looking photograph of south-central Turkey and northwest Syria. The Plain of Adana, an extensive agricultural region, is located northwest of the Gulf of Iskenderun (the roughly rectangular-shaped gulf near the center of the photo) and is irrigated by the Seyhan River. Adana, the largest city in the region, can be seen midway between the Gulf and the Taurus Mountains to the west. The coastlines of Syria, Lebanon, and Israel are visible along the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The island of Cyprus can be seen off the Turkish and Syrian coasts. Photo courtesy of NASA. From: CIA World Factbook.

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
U.S. Patriots Set To Begin NATO Missile Defense in Turkey
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2013 - The first elements of U.S. Patriot missile batteries deployed to Turkey earlier this month are expected to reach initial operating capability this weekend, a senior NATO officer reported.

Plans are on track for two PAC-3 Patriot anti-missile systems and about 400 U.S. personnel deployed to operate them to begin providing missile defense in the coming days, British Army Brig. Gen. Gary Deakin, director of the strategic operations center at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Brussels, reported yesterday on NATO TV.

Members of the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command from Fort Bliss, Texas; 3rd Battalion, 2nd Air Defense Artillery, based at Fort Sill, Okla.; and the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command and 44th Expeditionary Signal Battalion in Europe deployed to Turkey earlier this month to support the mission. The 10th AAMDC will provide command and control for two Patriot missile batteries from the 32nd AAMDC.

"We are aiming for the first initial operating capability to be established this weekend," Deakin said.

"NATO will have the ability to defend some aspects of the population of what we're going to actually cover in the big picture," he explained during a news conference earlier this week. "The first units will arrive on station. They will plug into the NATO command and control network, and they will be then ready to defend the population. So that's what we're calling initial operating capability."

Meanwhile, four additional Patriot batteries from the Netherlands and Germany arrived by sea in Iskenderun, Turkey, earlier this week, he said. They are now fanning out to their designated sites along Turkey's southwest border.

The U.S. Patriots are in Gaziantep, the Dutch will position theirs in Adana, and the Germans in Kahramanmaras, Deakin reported.

"Those locations were decided in close coordination with our Turkish allies, based on the size of the population [and] how we could get the equipment to get the best effect," he said. "A number of factors were considered to get the best deployment options with the resources available from the nations that made the offers in this case."

The next milestone -- achieving full operational capability -- is expected by the month's end, Deakin said. This involves getting all six Patriot batteries in place, plugged into the NATO network and coordinated with Turkey's air defenses. It also includes the full roll-out of the associated sustainment package, consisting of the fuel, logistics and manpower support required to continue the mission long-term.

Once fully in place and at full operational capability, the NATO missile defense systems will help Turkey defend an estimated 3.5 million Turkish citizens, Deakin said.

Although the length of the NATO missile defense mission in Turkey is unclear, he said, all the three nations supporting it have committed assistance for up to a year.

NATO foreign ministers agreed in late November to provide Turkey the air defense support it had requested. The request came after shells from Syria's political unrest -– which a new United Nations report estimated this week has claimed 60,000 lives -- spilled into Turkey.

"NATO has decided to augment Turkey's air defense capabilities in order to defend the population and territory of Turkey and contribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along the alliance's border," the ministers said in a statement released following the meeting.

"Turkey is an important NATO ally, and we welcome the opportunity to support the Turkish government's request in accordance with the NATO standing defense plan," said Navy Vice Adm. Charles Martoglio, U.S. European Command's deputy commander.

Martoglio emphasized that the deployment will be defensive only, and won't support a no-fly zone or any offensive operation.

SOUTHCOM COMMANDER GEN. KELLY SAYS COOPERATION NEEDED TO CONFRONT THREATS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Southcom Commander: Cooperation Vital in Confronting Threats

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2013 - Three months into the job as the top U.S. military officer at U.S. Southern Command, Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly is reaching out to partners in the region and emphasizing the importance of cooperation among nations directly to America's south.

Kelly, who assumed command Nov. 19, returned to his Miami headquarters this week after a two-day visit to Peru. There, he met with President Ollanta Humala, Vice Defense Minister Mario Sanchez, and Peruvian Chief of Defense Adm. Jose Cueto to explore ways to strengthen the two countries' military partnership and enhance regional collaboration in support of shared security goals, Southcom officials reported.

The visit followed one earlier this month to Honduras and El Salvador, where the discussions centered on enhancing the already-robust military-to-military relationships with both countries.

In Honduras, Kelly and other Southcom leaders met with President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, Foreign Minister Arturo Corrales, Defense Minister Marlon Pascua, and the chief of joint staff, Gen. Rene Osorio, as well as U.S. Ambassador to Honduras Lisa Kubiske and the embassy staff, officials said. In El Salvador, they visited Defense Minister Jose Benitez, Defense Chief Maj. Gen. Cesar Acosta and U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Mari Carmen Aponte.

Central to the discussion was ways to cooperate closer to combat organized crime, drug trafficking and other transnational threats, and to improve natural disaster response and increase joint training opportunities, officials said.

Cooperation is vital in dealing with challenges throughout Southcom's area of responsibility, which encompasses Central and South America and the Caribbean and covers about 15.6 million square miles, Kelly told members of U.S. Army South, Southcom's Army component, while visiting its headquarters at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Jan. 15.

"What we do in this part of the world is very, very different than what some of the other folks are doing," he said. "Clearly it's different than what they're doing in the Middle East, but it's no less important. We have challenges in this part of the [world], and the nations down here want to partner with us."

Kelly recognized the devastating toll of transnational threats, particularly narcotrafficking, and the need for regional nations to work together.

"[Nations within the region] have already been shouldering tremendous burdens in terms of drugs and narcoterrorism. Those are things that we want to help them get after," he told the U.S. Army South staff. "The issue of drugs is an influence in our country that costs nearly 200 billion dollars and somewhere around 30,000 lives a year."

Hosting defense and security leaders from 15 nations last month at the 2012 Caribbean Nations Security Conference, Kelly underscored the need to strengthen multinational security efforts to prevent traffickers from shifting their operations to the Caribbean.

"I'm very concerned about the Caribbean vulnerability," he told the forum. "[In response] to shifts in any illicit trafficking that could be on the horizon, and likely is, I'm confident we can take steps now to ensure continued regional security. The U.S. will continue to be engaged in the Caribbean."

While visiting U.S. Army South, Kelly recognized the key role members of Southcom play in helping stand up to these challenges.

"The first line of defense is here under Southcom," he told the group. "I would say to all of the professionals, regardless of the uniform that you wear, what you do here is important and it has a direct effect on large cities and small towns in America."

(Editor's Note: Michael Wimbish and Jose Ruiz from U.S. Southern Command and Robert R. Ramon from U.S. Army South contributed to this article.)

RECENT U.S. NAVY PHOTOS

FROM: U.S. NAVY
Lt. Nate Barton, left wing pilot, assigned to the U.S. Navy flight demonstration squadron, the Blue Angels, from Hummelstown, Pa., references checkpoints while flying in formation with the right wingman over Shadetree Range, near El Centro, Calif., during a training sortie. The Blue Angels are currently conducting winter training where pilots must complete 120 practice flights before kicking off the 2013 air show season at Naval Air Facility El Centro March 16. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael Lindsey (Released) 130124-N-SN160-195

130124-N-TB177-172 ATLANTIC OCEAN (Jan. 24, 2013) An F/A-18C Hornet from the Sharpshooters of Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron (VMFAT) 101 flies over the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). George H.W. Bush is conducting training and carrier qualifications in the Atlantic Ocean. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kevin J. Steinberg/Released)

 

NASA, ESA JOIN TOGETHER TO STUDY THE DARK SIDE

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took advantage of a giant cosmic magnifying glass to create one of the sharpest and most detailed maps of dark matter in the universe. Dark matter is an invisible and unknown substance that makes up the bulk of the universe's mass. Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Coe (NASA JPL/Caltech and STScI)

FROM: NASA
NASA Joins ESA's 'Dark Universe' Mission

WASHINGTON -- NASA has joined the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Euclid mission, a space telescope designed to investigate the cosmological mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.

Euclid will launch in 2020 and spend six years mapping the locations and measuring the shapes of as many as 2 billion galaxies spread over more than one-third of the sky. It will study the evolution of our universe, and the dark matter and dark energy that influence its evolution in ways that still are poorly understood.

The telescope will launch to an orbit around the sun-Earth Lagrange point L2. The Lagrange point is a location where the gravitational pull of two large masses, the sun and Earth in this case, precisely equals the force required for a small object, such as the Euclid spacecraft, to maintain a relatively stationary position behind Earth as seen from the sun.

"NASA is very proud to contribute to ESA's mission to understand one of the greatest science mysteries of our time," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington.

NASA and ESA recently signed an agreement outlining NASA's role in the project. NASA will contribute 16 state-of-the-art infrared detectors and four spare detectors for one of two science instruments planned for Euclid.

"ESA’s Euclid mission is designed to probe one of the most fundamental questions in modern cosmology, and we welcome NASA’s contribution to this important endeavor, the most recent in a long history of cooperation in space science between our two agencies," said Alvaro Giménez, ESA’s Director of Science and Robotic Exploration.

In addition, NASA has nominated three U.S. science teams totaling 40 new members for the Euclid Consortium. This is in addition to 14 U.S. scientists already supporting the mission. The Euclid Consortium is an international body of 1,000 members who will oversee development of the instruments, manage science operations, and analyze data.

Euclid will map the dark matter in the universe. Matter as we know it -- the atoms that make up the human body, for example -- is a fraction of the total matter in the universe. The rest, about 85 percent, is dark matter consisting of particles of an unknown type. Dark matter first was postulated in 1932, but still has not been detected directly. It is called dark matter because it does not interact with light. Dark matter interacts with ordinary matter through gravity and binds galaxies together like an invisible glue.

While dark matter pulls matter together, dark energy pushes the universe apart at ever-increasing speeds. In terms of the total mass-energy content of the universe, dark energy dominates. Even less is known about dark energy than dark matter.

Euclid will use two techniques to study the dark universe, both involving precise measurements of galaxies billions of light-years away. The observations will yield the best measurements yet of how the acceleration of the universe has changed over time, providing new clues about the evolution and fate of the cosmos.

Euclid is an ESA mission with science instruments provided by a consortia of European institutes and with important participation from NASA. NASA's Euclid Project Office is based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. JPL will contribute the infrared flight detectors for the Euclid science instrument. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will test the infrared flight detectors prior to delivery. Three U.S. science teams will contribute to science planning and data analysis.

EPA REPORT ON CHILDREN'S HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT

FROM: U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
EPA Releases New Report on Children's Health and the Environment in America

WASHINGTON – EPA today released "America’s Children and the Environment, Third Edition," a comprehensive compilation of information from a variety of sources on children’s health and the environment. The report shows trends for contaminants in air, water, food, and soil that may affect children; concentrations of contaminants in the bodies of children and women of child-bearing age; and childhood illnesses and health conditions. The report incorporates revisions to address peer review and public comments on draft materials released in 2011.

"This latest report provides important information for protecting America’s most vulnerable – our children. It shows good progress on some issues, such as reducing children’s blood lead levels and exposure to tobacco smoke in the home, and points to the need for continued focus on other issues", said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "Although we are encouraged by these findings, there is still much work to be done. By monitoring trends, identifying successes, and shedding light on areas that need further evaluation, we can continue to improve the health of our children and all Americans."

Among the contaminants clearly linked to health conditions in children, key findings include:
The median concentration of lead in the blood of children between the ages of 1 and 5 years was 92 percent lower in 2009-2010 compared to 1976-1980 levels. Although the majority of the decline occurred in the 1980s, consistent decreases have continued since 1999.
The median level of cotinine (a marker of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke) measured in blood of nonsmoking children ages 3 to 17 years was 88 percent lower in 2009-2010 than it was in 1988–1991. In 2010, 6 percent of children ages 0 to 6 years lived in homes where someone smoked regularly, compared with 27 percent in 1994.
The percentage of children living in counties where pollutant concentrations were above the levels of one or more national air quality standards declined from 75 percent to 59 percent from 1999 to 2009.

The level of knowledge regarding the relationship between environmental exposures and health outcomes varies widely among the topics presented in this report, and the inclusion of an indicator in the report does not necessarily imply a known relationship between environmental exposure and children’s health effects. The report provides data for selected children’s health conditions that warrant further research because the causes, including possible contributing environmental factors, are complex and not well understood at this point.

In the case of asthma, researchers do not fully understand why children develop the condition. However, substantial evidence shows exposure to certain air pollutants, including particulate matter and ozone, can trigger symptoms in children who already have asthma. Although the report found the percentage of children reported to currently have asthma increased from 8.7 percent in 2001 to 9.4 percent in 2010 and that minority populations are particularly affected by asthma, the severity of children’s asthma and respiratory symptoms has declined. The rate of emergency room visits for asthma decreased from 114 visits per 10,000 children in 1996 to 103 visits per 10,000 children in 2008. Between 1996 and 2008, hospitalizations for asthma and for all other respiratory causes decreased from 90 hospitalizations per 10,000 children to 56 hospitalizations per 10,000 children.

The report also looks at trends in other health conditions, such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and preterm births, for which rates have increased. There is no conclusive information on the role of environmental contaminants in ADHD or preterm births, and additional research is ongoing.

The national indicators presented in this comprehensive report are important for informing future research related to children’s health. Children may be more vulnerable to environmental exposures than adults because children’s bodies are still developing. Children eat more, drink more, and breathe more in proportion to their body size; and their behavior can expose them more to chemicals and organisms.

This report includes 37 indicators of children’s environmental health to address 23 important topics. The expanded content reflects the latest research on children’s health issues and the availability of data for more topics. Each indicator and its supporting text were peer reviewed by independent external experts and made available for review and comment by the public.

SECRETARY OF LABOR SOLIS TALKS ABOUT PUBLIC LIFE

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Beginnings and Endings: My Journey of Public Service
by Secretary Hilda Solis on January 22, 2013

It has been an honor to be your secretary of labor. Today, as I prepared to say farewell, I decided that I wanted to share my experience through journeys, and through beginnings and endings, because that reflects what’s in my mind, and more importantly, what is in my heart at this present moment.

Thirty-two years ago—after only a year in Washington—I left my job in President Carter’s administration. Wanting to say something meaningful about what I learned as that job was ending, I wrote a letter to incoming President Reagan that appeared in the Hispanic Link News Service. I had forgotten all about it until a recent reprint by Hispanic Link.

In the letter, I told President Reagan about what I did in the White House, and why I thought it was important. I also told him a little about myself, including the story of how I got that job.

While I was in graduate school, I filled out dozens of applications for internship positions at every level of government. Almost as a lark, I also sent a letter to the White House. A staffer for President Carter read my résumé and called my parents’ home in La Puente, California. I was outside in our vegetable garden when my father hollered out to me: "Phone call for you. Someone who claims he’s from the Casa Blanca."

I ran so fast that I knocked over a table lamp and shattered it. My mother, whom I love dearly, can attest to the truth of that story, and to this day, she still tells my husband how much she liked that lamp.

I’m sharing this story not just because it is about my coming to Washington for the first time—and leaving Washington for the first time—but, rather, it reflects my continuous, lifelong passion, and obvious excitement, for public service.

It’s the same passion that I share with my colleagues at the Labor Department. We don’t do what we do for the money, or the glory; we do it because public service is the very best way to make your own, unique contribution to the world. Leaders may change, circumstances may change, but our service must be constant. It forms an unbreakable bond between ourselves and our communities, our country and the people we care about.

We are all on a journey of service. Yesterday, in an outstanding inaugural speech that mentioned Seneca Falls, Selma and Stonewall, the president gave us a map for that journey of service. He said it is our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began and to make the values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American.

We know that there will be challenges on this journey—there always are. But there is also a true path. And we’ve been on that path for the past four years at the U.S. Department of Labor.

During that time, we have done more for more of our nation’s working families.
We have funded more job training programs that have enhanced the skills of more than 1.7 million people.
We have conducted more wage and hour investigations and collected more back wages for more than 300,000 people.
We modernized Unemployment Insurance benefits so that it could provide a lifeline to more people.
And—quite simply—and I say this with pride, satisfaction and immense gratitude: we have saved more workers’ lives.
Our record of achievement has been remarkable. But there is still so much more we have to do. And I’m counting on the colleagues I leave behind to do it. And to do more.

It is incredibly hard for me to say goodbye. I struggled with this decision for a long time, but I am guided by the words of a poem I studied in La Puente High School called "Four Quartets" by T.S. Elliot, and here’s my favorite line:

"To make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from."

Today is really a beginning for me.

AUSTRALIA'S NATIONAL DAY

Map:  Australia.  Credit:  CIA World Factbook.

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Australia's National Day
Press Statement
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
January 23, 2013

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I am delighted to send best wishes to the Australian people as you celebrate Australia Day this January 26.

During my recent visit to Australia I was reminded of the strong bonds that unite our two countries. We are cooperating on more issues than ever before, from strengthening security to space exploration, from expanding educational exchanges to increasing trade and commerce. We are also working tirelessly to advance the causes of freedom, democracy and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and across the globe. All of this is reinforced by the ties of family, friends, values and principles.

As you celebrate your national day with loved ones, know that the United States stands with you as a committed partner and friend. I wish all Australians a safe and happy holiday celebration and continued peace and prosperity in the coming year.

Canberra from the air. This view of Australia's capital includes the Parliament Building, Lake Burley Griffin, and the Black Mountain (telecommunications) Tower. Photo Credit: CIA World Factbook.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM CIA WORLD FACTBOOK
Aboriginal settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia about 40,000 years before the first Europeans began exploration in the 17th century. No formal territorial claims were made until 1770, when Capt. James COOK took possession of the east coast in the name of Great Britain (all of Australia was claimed as British territory in 1829 with the creation of the colony of Western Australia). Six colonies were created in the late 18th and 19th centuries; they federated and became the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The new country took advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II. In recent decades, Australia has transformed itself into an internationally competitive, advanced market economy. It boasted one of the OECD's fastest growing economies during the 1990s, a performance due in large part to economic reforms adopted in the 1980s. Long-term concerns include ageing of the population, pressure on infrastructure, and environmental issues such as frequent droughts.


　

U.S. AIR FORCE TRANSPORTS FRENCH SOLDIERS AND EQUIPMENT

French soldiers march to a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III in Istres, France, Jan. 21, 2013. The United States agreed to airlift French troops and equipment into the African nation of Mali. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman James Richardson

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Air Force Delivers French Troops to Mali
By Air Force Staff Sgt. Nathanael Callon
U.S. Air Forces in Europe/Air Forces Africa

ISTRES, France, Jan. 25, 2013 - The U.S. Air Force began transporting French soldiers and military equipment Jan. 21 from here to Bamako, Mali, in support of French military operations.

C-17 Globemaster III transport jets, operating under the control of U.S. Africa Command, are moving a French mechanized infantry battalion. The ongoing operation is expected to last at least two weeks, officials said.

The first C-17 from Dover Air Force Base, Del., took off from Istres and landed in Mali's capital of Bamako on Jan. 21 to deliver more than 80,000 pounds of equipment and dozens of French soldiers.

France deployed its armed forces to the African nation Jan. 11 and requested assistance from other nations to transport armored regiments and troops. In response, the United States deployed airmen from the 621st Contingency Response Wing from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., and multiple C-17 aircrews to a French air base here.

Cargo and equipment are prepared by the French, and load plans are given to the U.S. aircraft commander for review, said Maj. Eric Chabaud, chief of aircraft services here for the French air force.

"It's a good for us to work together on things like this, because we want to be an asset to the operation, not a hindrance," Chabaud said. "We have a very good relationship with the Americans here right now, and we help them any time we can."

While the 621st CRW can singlehandedly deploy, establish an airfield and manage air mobility operations, in this case planners are here to coordinate air support for the French military movements and to load the U.S. Air Force cargo aircraft.

Air Force Maj. David Gaulin, a contingency response element commander from the 621st CRW, was one of the first on the ground to assess the airfield and determine requirements for operations at Istres.

"We were able to show up here, set up communications with the [chain of command] and provide an initial assessment of what capabilities the French had and what capabilities we could bring to the operation within an hour of landing," Gaulin said. "It's good that we're able to use the logistics ability we have -- aircraft, our personnel and equipment -- to help them."

REACHING ABSENTEE VOTERS EXCEEDS CONGRESSIONAL EXPECTIONATIONS IN 2012

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Program Exceeds Expectations in Reaching Absentee Voters
By Terri Moon Cronk
American Forces Press Service


WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2013 - The Federal Voting Assistance Program exceeded congressional expectations in the 2012 election cycle by getting guidance out to service members so they could vote by absentee ballot, a senior FVAP official said here yesterday.

David Beirne, acting deputy director of technology programs for FVAP, participated in a "MOVE and the Military" panel discussion at George Washington University during the seventh annual summit of the Overseas Vote Foundation and U.S. Vote Foundation.

MOVE refers to the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act, designed to help military people serving overseas and citizens who live abroad to vote in U.S. elections.

"The FVAP's role [as outlined by Congress] in the MOVE Act is very specific in terms of communicating directly to [service members] in the field," Beirne said. He added that FVAP sent 90-day, 60-day and 30-day email voting notices to troops throughout the election cycle to instruct them on how to request, obtain and track their ballots.

"If there's any one group of voters that's familiar with the FVAP, it's active-duty military," Beirne said. "Anyone with a 'dot mil' email address got one of our emails. That gives us some level of [success in] our outreach and engagement. We not only met, but exceeded, our congressional requirement."

To get the word out on absentee voting, FVAP delivered some 18 million emails, he said, adding that the FVAP website also lays out the how-to-vote instructions, with links to state voting guidance.

Because 2012 was the first general election for FVAP's compliance with the MOVE Act, Beirne said, the outcome is similar to "taking an exam."

"We're just waiting for the results to come in," he said. "That is what's going to determine the success we've had."

U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE CLINTON MAKES REMARKS AT LAUNCH OF 100,000 STRONG FOUNDATION

FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks at Launch of the 100,000 Strong Foundation
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Ben Franklin Room
Washington, DC
January 24, 2013
　

Thank you. Well, we’re all getting a little emotional and sentimental around here – (laughter) – with about a little over a week to go in my tenure. And I am so pleased to welcome all of you here. I see many, many familiar faces and some good friends in this audience.

And I particularly want to thank Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell for driving not only this program, but so much that we have accomplished in the last four years to deepen and strengthen our relationship with China and others in the region, but particularly with China, as it is such a consequential relationship, one that we believe so strongly in. Ambassador Zhang, once again, welcome to the State Department. Because it is, for us, a way of making clear that our relations, government-to-government, are obviously essential. But it is those people-to-people ties that are going to determine the quality of the relationship for the future.

Our engagement with China today deals with a wide range of the most pressing challenges and the most exciting opportunities. And when we began looking at ways to make our exchanges with China more productive, we of course ramped up our diplomatic engagement. We took delegations of investors and entrepreneurs to China. We institutionalized the Strategic and Economic Dialogue. We are very clear that what we’ve tried to build, an architecture that will stand the test of time regardless of what is going on in either of our countries, has been an essential effort.

And in 2010, we launched the 100,000 Strong Initiative. And as Kurt said, this is aimed at increasing the number of American students studying in China to 100,000 over four years. We focused on student exchanges because we believe that the future is very clearly in the hands of the young people of both of our countries. And the more we can foster exchanges and understanding, mutual trust, the better off not only the relationship will be, but each of our countries individually. We have to have far more than conversations with diplomats or journalists or leaders or businesspeople. There’s nothing more important than trying to build a structure of exchanges between us when it comes to students and other young people.

Now, we’ve made tremendous progress since 2010. We’ve already expanded study abroad programs. We’ve supported scholarship funds to help American students from underserved communities study in China. We’ve worked with EducationUSA to provide tools and resources for Chinese students seeking to study here. And the number of students coming between our two countries continues to grow. But we still have a lot of room for improvement.

So I’m happy today that we’re launching a permanent, independent nonprofit organization focused not only on our goal of 100,000 American students in China by 2014, but on continuing to strengthen the student exchanges for years to come. And I’m so grateful to all of our State Department partners who are here today who have helped put the 100,000 Strong Foundation together.

As I think back on the four years that I’ve been privileged to serve as Secretary of State, there are moments that just jump out of my memory bank. And one of them is when I finally got to our pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, which, as a number of you know, I am very proud to be called the mother of whenever I go to China because of the circumstances in which it was birthed. (Laughter.) But when I did get there for this magnificent expo that had been built up with pavilions from around the world and a magnificent Chinese pavilion, I was thrilled that the main attraction of our USA Pavilion were American students who had been studying Chinese, who were our designated hosts and greeters.

And I had the best time watching long lines of Chinese citizens who were coming to see our pavilion like they had been coming to see all of the pavilions looking surprised when some little African American girl would come up and start talking to them in Chinese, or some big tall Hispanic youngster would give them directions about how to go through the pavilion, or some other child – child; I’m so old, they’re all children – (laughter) – but some other student would come up and say something similar. And it was wonderful to watch the interchange. And I talked to some of the students. "Where were you from?" "Oh, from LA." "Where are you from?" "Oh, from New York City." And so many of these young people were first-generation college students in America who had just become taken with China, and so they were studying Chinese and now they were there as official representatives of the United States Government.

I say that because that’s what we want to see more of. We want to see Chinese youngsters here, American youngsters in China, and we want to see them breaking down the barriers that exist between any peoples from different cultures and experiences and histories and backgrounds. And I think that will happen because in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago, young people in both China and the United States are global citizens. They are communicating with new tools of technology that were not even dreamt of a decade ago. And so they are already building cyber or Internet relationships, and we want to give them a chance to form the real deal – getting to know each other, getting to understand each other.

So I’m thrilled that we’re announcing this foundation. I thank everyone here at the State Department and all of our partners who are making this possible. And I’m also very excited because this is a perfect example of a public-private partnership, and nobody does it better than the United States. We really are good at this because we have a long tradition of understanding that we have to have both government action and government involvement, but where most of life takes place in our country is not there; it’s outside of government. It’s in these other institutions – colleges and universities, foundations and philanthropies, individual efforts of all kind. So we are deeply grateful that you have understood our vision for 100,000 Strong and are making it a reality.

And with that, let me turn it back to Assistant Secretary Campbell. Thank you all. (Applause.)

Weekly Address: Two Nominees Who Will Fight for the American People | The White House

Weekly Address: Two Nominees Who Will Fight for the American People | The White House

President Obama Names Denis McDonough as Chief of Staff | The White House

President Obama Names Denis McDonough as Chief of Staff | The White House

FEDERAL ASSISTANCE TO NEW YORK HURRICANE SANDY SURVIVORS AT NEARLY $1.6 BILLION

FROM: FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Nearly $1.6 billion provided by FEMA, SBA to New York Hurricane Sandy
Survivors
January 25, 2013

NEW YORK — Federal disaster assistance to New York survivors of Hurricane Sandy totals almost $1.6 billion.

FEMA continues to reach out to all 13 counties designated for Individual Assistance, focusing on the hardest-hit areas. Assistance to residents in affected counties includes:
Bronx $2.4 million
Kings $191.1 million
Nassau $280.6 million
New York $13 million
Queens $221.1 million
Richmond $89.3 million
Suffolk $64.8 million
FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration have approved almost $1.6 billion for Hurricane Sandy survivors in New York. FEMA has approved nearly $868 million for individuals and households, including more than $761 million for housing assistance and more than $106 million in assistance for other needs.
SBA has approved more than $667 million in disaster loans to homeowners and renters and nearly $44 million in disaster businesses loans. The SBA has staff members at every FEMA/State Disaster Recovery Center and 17 Business Recovery Centers in the New York area to provide one-on-one help to business owners seeking disaster assistance.
More than 264,000 New Yorkers have contacted FEMA for information or registered for assistance, including more than 143,000 who have applied through the online application site or on their smartphone.
18 Disaster Recovery Centers are open in the affected areas. These include mobile sites as well as fixed sites. To date, nearly 140,000 survivors have been assisted at Disaster Recovery Centers in New York.
58 inspectors are currently in the field. To date, 174,472 home inspections have been completed, making a 99.4 percent completion rate.
13 New York counties are designated for both Individual Assistance and Public Assistance. These are Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester. Greene County has been designated for Public Assistance only.
Nearly $1.7 billion has been paid to National Flood Insurance Program policy holders in New York for losses resulting from Sandy. The National Flood Insurance Program, administered by FEMA, offers flood insurance to all homeowners, renters and business owners if their community participates in the NFIP.
Since Hurricane Sandy made landfall, FEMA has provided more than $519 million in Public Assistance grants in New York State. The FEMA PA program reimburses state and local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations 75 percent of costs for disaster-related expenses associated with emergency protective measures, debris removal, and the repair and restoration of damaged infrastructure. In order to qualify, damage must be a direct result of Hurricane Sandy.

U.S. PROVIDING ADDITIONAL $10 MILLION IN HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO SYRIA

FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
U.S. Announces Additional Humanitarian Assistance for the Syria Crisis
Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
January 25, 2013
　

Today in Ankara, Turkey, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict, & Humanitarian Assistance Nancy Lindborg announced that the United States is providing an additional $10 million in humanitarian assistance in response to urgent needs resulting from the brutal conflict in Syria. This new funding will supply enough flour to bakeries in Aleppo to provide daily bread for approximately 210,000 people in need for the next five months. With this new assistance, the United States is providing $220 million to date to help those suffering inside Syria and refugees in the neighboring countries.

This latest assistance is part of an additional, significant funding package that the United States plans to announce at the United Nations high-level donors conference in Kuwait on January 30.

With this additional $10 million, the United States is taking action in response to heightened flour shortages, an alarming lack of bread, and rising hunger. Many bakeries have had to close down because the Assad regime has cut off flour and fuel. The United States recognizes bread as a mainstay of Syrian daily life, and this new program is focused on getting 50 bakeries back up and running to provide life-saving food to the Syrian people.


The United States remains committed to supporting humanitarian assistance for all Syrians in need throughout the country’s 14 governorates, and to working with a wide range of international partners and Syrian humanitarian organizations, whose dedicated staff are taking great risks to ensure aid is directly reaching those in need. The U.S. government is coordinating closely with the Syrian Opposition Coalition in helping identify and locate those in need where access is constrained.


The announcement was made during the visit of a high-level U.S. delegation to the region to ensure sustained U.S. government support for those suffering as a result of the Assad regime’s brutality. The delegation also includes Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford and Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration Anne C. Richard.


The U.S. delegation commended the generosity of the Government of Turkey and the Turkish people, and recognized the Turkish Red Crescent for its tireless efforts to provide protection and assistance to Syrians affected by the crisis.

JELLYFISH POPULATIONS AND THE ECOSYSTEM

Photo:  Jellyfish.  Credit:  Wikimedia Commons.

FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Jellyfish "Blooms" Wax and Wane in Natural Cycles
January 24, 2013
Once a month, on the darkest nights near the new moon, otherworldly beings emerge from Pacific Ocean depths and drift onto the beaches of Hawaii.

Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of these quivering masses of jelly float in with the night tide.

Near shore, time grows short to complete their mission: to reproduce, leaving behind miniature versions of themselves fastened with a glue-like substance to reefs and rocks in the shallows.

Box jellyfish, the invaders are called. Over the past few decades, more and more box jellies are in the waters around Hawaii. The question, scientists say, is where are the jellies coming from?

In the marine science world, it's been dogma that jellyfish are increasing in seas and oceans.

Off the coast of France, for example, aggregations of jellyfish have sunk 500-pound fishing nets. And in Japan, jellies have clogged the water intakes of nuclear power plants.

Humans' expanding influence on the oceans has begun to cause changes. "Blooms" of jellyfish are occurring in response to these effects. Or are they?

Jellyfish on the rise--or on the wane?

"There's a perception that jellyfish numbers are exploding in the world's oceans," says marine scientist Rob Condon of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama, "but there's no real evidence for a global increase in jellyfish over the past two centuries."

Results of a study of worldwide jellyfish abundance, led by Condon, were recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The paper's co-authors are scientists affiliated with the Global Jellyfish Group, a consortium of 30 researchers. The Global Jellyfish Group conducted its work at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

"It's refreshing to see a thoughtful analysis of the 'jellyfish bloom' phenomenon," says David Garrison, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research.

"The findings point out the critical importance of obtaining long-term data to understand the patterns and significance of perceived environmental changes."

The study shows that global jellyfish populations undergo oscillations over decades, including a rising phase in the 1990s and early 2000s that contributed to the perception of an increase in jellyfish abundance.

The previous period of high jellyfish numbers during the 1970s went unnoticed.

"At the time, there was limited research on jellyfish," says Condon, "along with less awareness of global-scale environmental problems, and less information transmitted around the world quickly. We didn't have the Internet."

Long-term observations needed

While there has been no increase in jellyfish blooms over the long-term, the paper's authors say, they detected a hint of a slight increase since 1970.

The trend was countered, however, by the finding that there was no difference in the proportion of increasing versus decreasing jellyfish populations over time.

"Sustained monitoring is required over the next decade to find out if what we're seeing is an actual shift, or if it's part of a larger oscillation," says Condon.

"The research is an important step in our understanding of the complex biological cycles that occur in the oceans," says Henry Gholz, program director in NSF's Division of Environmental Biology, which also funded the research.

"It demonstrates the critical role of long-term observations in informing society of environmental changes."

The idea of a global increase in jellyfish, says Condon, "was fueled by a few local and regional case studies."

"Clearly, there are areas where jellyfish have increased. The situation with Giant Jellyfish in Japan is an example. But there are also places where jellyfish numbers have remained stable, fluctuated over decades, or in fact decreased over time."

He and colleagues say that it's important to sample marine waters over appropriate space and time scales so trends aren't misinterpreted.

"The realization that jellyfish synchronously rise and fall around the world should lead us to search for the long-term natural factors driving jellyfish populations," says Condon.

The ocean brought to life

With tissues made up of 95 percent salts and water, jellyfish are the ocean brought to life.

Washed up on a beach, jellyfish look like ugly gobs of slime. But in the sea, these fragile creatures shimmer with jewel-like radiance.

Their real beauty, though, is their crucial contribution to the functioning of marine ecosystems.

Researchers such as Condon are finding that jellyfish may help us see the complex relationships among species in the oceanic food web.

Jellyfish can live almost anywhere there's water: under the ice in arctic and antarctic seas, and even in North American freshwater lakes and streams, where one tiny species is found.

Most jellyfish are propelled by the rhythmic contraction and expansion of an umbrella-shaped saucer, or bell, as well as by winds, currents and tides. Nearly all are part of a drifting community of organisms called plankton, a term derived from the Greek word for wanderer.

Scientists refer to animal drifters with gelatin-like tissues as gelatinous zooplankton. This group encompasses the familiar bell-shaped jellyfish, related walnut-shaped comb jellies, and similar creatures like siphonophores--chains or colonies of jelly animals.

Many jellyfish live for just one summer. Before they die in September, females release hundreds of eggs into the water, then males release sperm. The resulting larvae swim to the bottom and attach themselves to hard surfaces. In spring they bud into tiny jellyfish, and the cycle begins anew.

Jellies: integral parts of marine ecosystems

Jellies are integral parts of marine ecosystems, says Condon.

They prey on a host of microscopic and larger species, and are themselves food for sea turtles and fish such as the mola, or giant ocean sunfish.

In Alaskan waters, for example, saucerlike moon jellyfish provide nourishment for green sea urchins, crabs and burrowing anemones.

"The question has been: are jellies playing their natural part or hogging the stage?" asks Condon. "Based on recent results, they're doing what jellyfish evolved to do, right on cue."

In addition to Condon, authors of the paper are: Carlos Duarte of the University of the Balearic Islands and the Spanish National Research Council, Esporles, Spain; Kylie Pitt of Griffith University, Australia; Kelly Robinson of the Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory; Cathy Lucas of the University of Southampton, United Kingdom; Kelly Sutherland of the University of Oregon; Hermes Mianzanh of the National Institute of Research and Fisheries Development, Argentina; Molly Bogeberga of the Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory; Jennifer Purcell of Western Washington University; Mary Beth Decker of Yale University; Shin-ichi Uyek of Hiroshima University, Japan; Laurence Madin of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Richard Brodeur of the NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center; Steven Haddock of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute; Alenka Malejo of the National Institute of Biology, Piran, Slovenia; Gregory Parry of the Department of Primary Industries, Victorian Fisheries, Queenscliff, Australia; Elena Eriksenq of the Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway; Javier Quiñones of the Institute of the Sea of the Peru, Paracas, Ica, Peru; Marcelo Achah of the National Institute of Research and Development fisheries, Mar del Plata, Argentina; Michel Harveys of the Maurice Lamontagne Institute, Fisheries and Oceans, Canada; James Arthur of Griffith University in Australia; and William Graham of the University of Southern Mississippi.

Cheryl Dybas, NSF

　

　

　

FORMER CONTRACTING COMPANY CO-OWNER SENTENCED FOR SCHEME TO DEFRAUD U.S. GOVERNMENT

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Former Co-Owner of Contracting Company Sentenced in San Antonio to 30 Months in Prison for Scheme to Defraud the U.S. Government

A former co-owner of a U.S. civilian contractor company was sentenced today in San Antonio to serve 30 months in prison for falsifying official documents in connection with Iraq reconstruction government contracts, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman for the Western District of Texas.

Jill Ann Charpia, 33, formerly of San Antonio and currently of Colorado, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia in the Western District of Texas. In addition to her prison term, Charpia was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $920,000 plus interest in restitution to the United States.

According to court documents, from 2008 through 2009, Charpia was the co-owner of Sourcing Specialist LLC, a privately owned company that contracted with the U.S. government to provide services in Iraq. In September 2008, she contracted to provide a turn-key housing facility located outside Iraq’s International Zone to facilitate the introduction of multi-national firms desiring to develop business opportunities in Iraq. That same month, Charpia signed and submitted to the Department of Defense (DOD) Joint Contracting Command Iraq/Afghanistan, for payment through the contract, a false invoice in the amount of $1,270,075 purportedly for mobilization costs. She followed up with two invoices, one representing that she had paid $700,000 for the rental of two villas in Baghdad, and the other representing that she had paid $570,075 on the purchase of three armored vehicles from an Iraqi company. In October 2008, as a result of her false and fraudulent statements, DOD caused $1,270,075 to be wired to Charpia’s bank account. Charpia admitted that she fabricated both invoices and forged the signatures on the documents. She also admitted that she did not purchase any armored vehicles and paid only half the submitted cost for the villas.

This case is being prosecuted by Special Trial Attorney Mark Grider of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, on detail from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), and by Assistant U.S. Attorney Judith A. Patton of the Western District of Texas. The case is being investigated by SIGIR, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and the Major Procurement Fraud Unit of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command.

ISS WEEKLY RECAP FOR JANUARY 25, 2013

FROM: NASA