Senator Dorgan (D-ND) Retiring

Via the WaPo -- Senator Byron Dorgan announced today that he would be retiring at the end of his term: North Dakota Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan will not run for re-election later this year, creating a major pickup opportunity for Republicans.

Ammonia in Your Beef

And this isn't even a story about Chinese made or processed goods. Via the NYT -- Beef trimmings were often sent off to be made into cooking oil or into pet food because the trimmings had a high risk of E. coli, salmonella and other food pathogens. A company called Beef Products, though, found a way around this -- by treating this beef (gassing it basically) with ammonia. This ammoniated beef is then sold to school lunch programs and McDonalds and other processors where it is used as an extender product.

Delaware and 10 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States in Pact to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Fuels

This was announced on 12/30 -- sorry for the delay is seeing this! You can see the entire Press Release here. The key info: Gov. Jack Markell joined the governors of 10 other Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states today in announcing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) among the states that underscores their commitment toward developing a regional Low Carbon Fuel Standard in a regional effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fuels for vehicles and other uses.

More Security Checks and the Race to Whole Body Screening

New security rules have been implemented for people coming to the US from certain countries: But American citizens, and most others who are not flying through those 14 nations on their way to the United States, will no longer automatically face the full range of intensified security that was imposed after the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight, officials said.

This Can’t Be Right

The Obama Administration asked for funds to buy a prison in Illinois to transfer Gitmo prisoners to: Rebuffed this month by skeptical lawmakers when it sought finances to buy a…