A new report reckons the water cost of electricity generation

Power plants are guzzling water across the United States and increasing the risk of blackouts in the Southeast, where the precious resource is drying up.

"Burning Our Rivers," a new report by the River Network, found that it takes about 40,000 gallons of water to meet the average American household's energy needs, which is five times more than the amount of water used directly in that home.

Of the various modes of power production, hydropower has the biggest water footprint. Each day, enough water evaporates from behind hydroelectric dam reservoirs to meet the demands of more than 50 million people.

Coal-, nuclear- and natural gas- powered plants are also thirsty, in need of water to cool their generators. These energy facilities are the fastest-growing users of freshwater resources and already account for more than half of all fresh surface water withdrawals from rivers. That is more than any other economic sector, including agriculture, write the authors.

More than a quarter of the water fossil-fuel plants take in is turned into steam. The remaining liquid is contaminated with pollutants and excess heat and returned to waterways, where it can kill wildlife and create toxic algae blooms.

"What we are seeing now is the way we produce electricity can threaten our water supplies, and it's already compromising our water quality across the nation," said Wendy Wilson, director of River Network's energy and climate program and author of the new report.

The results found in "Burning Our Rivers" echo a report released last fall by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), which also found that conventional power plants are stressing U.S. lakes and rivers by removing too much water or discharging it at extremely warm temperatures, to the detriment of surrounding ecosystems (ClimateWire, Nov. 15, 2011).

In the Southeast, which has been battling a drought for more than a year, the impact of power plants is especially worrisome and could lead to brownouts and blackouts throughout the summer and beyond.

Seattle - Although more than half the states are now exempt from the toughest requirements of the federal ''No Child Left Behind'' education law, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Friday his goal remains to help Congress fix the law, not to sidestep the stalled overhaul effort.

The Obama administration announced Friday that Washington and Wisconsin have been granted waivers from the education law, bringing to 26 the number of states now free from many of its requirements.

Other waiver applications are still pending in 10 states and the District of Columbia. Waivers were approved last month in Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, South Dakota, Utah, and Virginia.

Allowing waivers has brought a level of creativity to education reform that was unexpected when Duncan and President Obama opened the process nearly a year ago.

Congress could come up with a great plan for reauthorizing the federal law by adopting the best ideas from the states' waiver applications, Duncan said Friday.

A Chicago man who spent more than 30 years behind bars before DNA evidence helped overturn his conviction in the rape and killing of a 3-year-old girl was released from prison late Friday, just hours after prosecutors dropped the case against him.

An Illinois appeals court in March had ordered a new trial for 50-year-old Andre Davis after tests found that DNA taken from the scene of the 1980 killing of Brianna Stickle wasn't his. The girl was attacked in Rantoul, about 20 miles north of Champaign.

Davis was released from the super-maximum security prison in Tamms in far southern Illinois around 7:30 p.m., said Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman Kayce Ataiyero. Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz had decided earlier in the day not to pursue charges against him.

Judy Royal of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University, which represented Davis, said he was the longest-serving of the 42 people exonerated by DNA evidence in Illinois.

President Barack Obama signed a law Friday extending a cap on federal Stafford student loan interest rates -- but U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke, a Detroit Democrat, argues it doesn't go far enough.

He's hoping the more than 1 million people who have signed a petition supporting a bill he's championing will force Congress to make more meaningful reforms to the student loan system.

"The demand is to change the system," he said June 25. "We've got to keep the bubble from bursting and help people who are swamped by debt. I would like to forgive a lot of these loans."

Clarke's bill, which is in committee in the House, would do just that.

Under his plan, people could have federal loans forgiven if they paid 10% of their disposable income -- which is basically any income exceeding 150% of the federally set poverty level -- for 10 years. The plan would apply to undergraduate, graduate and parent loans. Those in public service jobs could have loans forgiven after five years.

"Nobody's getting a free ride here," he said. "They have to pay on the loan before they are eligible for forgiveness."

• In new tell-all, former defence attorney Jose Baez accuses father George Anthony of sexually abusing Casey
• Also says that Casey suspected that George had fathered Caylee
• On July 5, 2011, a jury sensationally acquitted Anthony of all three charges which together carried the death penalty

Casey Anthony, dubbed the most hated mother in America, had suspicions that she and her daughter Caylee shared the same father, according to her former defence attorney.

In his explosive new tell-all, the Florida woman's lawyer Jose Baez accuses George Anthony of abusing his daughter, and speculates that George could have murdered 2-year-old Caylee to hide evidence of abuse.

Casey was sensationally acquitted of murdering her daughter after a highly-publicised trial last July.

In his book, Presumed Guilty, Casey Anthony: The Inside Story, Baez reveals aspects of the Anthony's private lives that were not looked into during the trial.

George Zimmerman was released from the Seminole County Jail at 2:49 p.m ET Friday after posting $1 million bond in the Trayvon Martin case.

Zimmerman, 28, was wearing a white shirt and gray suit as he stepped into an SUV and was driven off, NBC News reported. Don West, one of Zimmerman's attorneys, described his client's mood as "buoyant."

He was fitted with an electronic monitoring device before his release. Zimmerman is required to stay in Seminole County, according to a statement by the Seminole County Sheriff's Department.

According to conditions of his release, Zimmerman can not open a bank account, obtain a passport or set foot on the grounds of the local airport. He has a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, the Associated Press reported.

"Snapperfest" is a brutal festival held every summer in Ohio County, Indiana, where backwater, hillbilly proto-humans gather to cheer on fellow neanderthals, who torture turtles for their depraved amusement.The turtles are snatched from their natural wetland habitat, forced to endure being wrestled, as well as strangled ...some to death, even ripped out of their shells to the sound of exuberant applause from the crowd.

The United Nations on Thursday called for a tax on billionaires to help raise more than $400 billion a year for poor countries.

An annual lump sum payment by the super-rich is one of a host of measures including a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, currency exchanges or financial transactions proposed in a UN report that accuses wealthy nations of breaking promises to step up aid for the less fortunate.

The annual World Economic and Social Survey says it is critical to find new ways to help the world's poor as pledged cash fails to flow.

The report estimates that the number of people around the globe worth at least $1 billion rose to 1,226 in 2012.

There are an estimated 425 billionaires in the United States, 315 in the Asia-Pacific region, 310 in Europe, 90 in other North and South American countries and 86 in Africa and the Middle East.

Together they own an estimated $4.6 trillion so a one percent tax on their wealth would raise more than $46 billion, according to the report.mary

Alix Strauss kicks off her New York Times "trend" story about animal-based additives in beauty products with an account of her bird poop facial. The procedure, which she underwent at a fancy midtown day spa, features UV-disinfected nightingale poop air-lifted from Japan and mixed with rice bran to hide its smell.

Strauss swears that the $180 treatment made her skin look radiant. The "poop powder ... brushed up against my lips and slipped into my mouth. I fought my desire to leave, and surprisingly the next morning my skin did glow."

Good thing, that. Strauss would feel pretty silly if she let a stranger smear bird excrement on her face and it didn't work. When it comes to assessing efficacy claims for beauty products, a testimonial is all but worthless. Never underestimate the power of suggestion or the allure of wishful thinking.

Strauss bills the bird poop facial as evidence of a new trend toward animal-derived additives in premium cosmetics, but the bird poop facial isn't new. Shizuka New York, where Strauss had her treatment, has been touting the dung-based "Geisha Facial" since at least 2008, garnering credulous coverage from Today, Good Morning America, and other high profile outlets.

For years, we've been pointing out the massive problems of e-voting, and governments' general blindness to the security risks. Of course, beyond the basic fear of fraud, there should have also been concerns about wasting taxpayer money. Apparently those concerns didn't amount to much in Ireland. As Slashdot highlights, Ireland spent €54 million on 7,500 e-voting machines. However, after realizing that there was no way to secure them from being hacked, the government has sold them off for scrap for a grand total of €70,000, or approximately €9 per machine. On the bright side, at least they weren't completely worthless...