Morning Media Summary

Tech:

Gov will spend 400k pounds to destroy ID card data:
“The cost of destroying the personal data collected under the ill-starred programme will be a mere £400,000, Home Office minister Damian Green revealed yesterday.”

Web images to get expiration date:
“German researchers have created software called X-Pire that gives images an expiration date by tagging them with an encrypted key.”

Verizon challenges FCC’s net neutrality rules:
“Verizon Communications Inc. on Thursday filed a legal challenge to new federal regulations that prohibit broadband providers from interfering with Internet traffic flowing over their networks.”

Global Warming / Environment / Energy:

With health care ‘repealed,’ GOP turns to climate change:
“Now that the House of Representatives has voted to repeal the health care law, Republicans say they’re likely to move soon to another target — a rewrite of the Clean Air Act so that it can’t be used to fight climate change.”

Deep sea fission:
“Akin to the submarines that DCNS has been making for the French navy for 40 years, Flexblue is a cylindrical unit 100 metres in length and 12 to 15 metres in diameter. Inside would be a small nuclear power reactor and well as steam generators, turbines and a generator to produce 50 to 250 MWe.”

Insurance / Gambling:

Casino And Lottery Gambling On The Agenda of Hawaii Lawmakers:
“Hawaii has held out longer than almost every other state when it comes to gambling expansion, but that resistance may soon be coming to an end. Hawaii lawmakers are planning on discussing gambling expansion after several years of failed attempts.”

Health / Safety:

Video: Calorie counts on menus don’t change behavior:
“It’s been almost a year since we discovered one of the surprises in ObamaCare that Nancy Pelosi promised we’d find once we passed the bill — a new federal law requiring all restaurant chains of 20 or more locations to put calorie counts on its menus. The mandate will creates a huge cost burden for restaurants not just in testing and printing costs for initial compliance, but every time the restaurant wants to add a new item to its repertoire. The extra cost will be worth it, say many, because it will change American eating habits once the benighted consumers realize the high amount of calories they consume when eating outside the home.”
Economics:

Poll Finds Wariness About Cutting Entitlements:
“As President Obama and Congress brace to battle over how to reduce chronic annual budget deficits, Americans overwhelmingly say that in general they prefer cutting government spending to paying higher taxes, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.”

Obama willingness to get specific in SOTU on long term fiscal challenges in doubt:
“The unemployment rate and the nation’s increasingly precarious fiscal position – its enormous budget deficits and its ballooning debt – will be the dual points of emphasis in President Obama’s second State of the Union address on Tuesday.”

Some GOP legislators contend U.S. not at risk for default if debt ceiling not raised:
“Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s warning that refusing to increase the debt ceiling would plunge the nation into fiscal catastrophe is unfounded, at least according to some congressional Republicans.”

Path Is Sought for States to Escape Debt Burdens:
“Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers.”

Legal:

A Short-Circuit to Distracted Driving:
“Cellular carriers, having spent years trying to blanket the nation with phone service, are now working on ways to stop people from getting calls and texts when they are behind the wheel.”

Labor:

Hearing Set for NUHW-SEIU Dispute Over Union Elections:
“acting director of the National Labor Relations Board for Region 32 in Oakland — has rejected 88 of 118 objections filed by the National Union of Healthcare Workers over an October election to represent Kaiser Permanente employees. The union vote involved NUHW and the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West. The 30 remaining objections will be the subject of a hearing scheduled for Feb. 7.”

Transportation/ Land Use:

County board hires former Rep. Hassert as lobbyist:
“The Will County Board voted Thursday to hire former state Rep. Brent Hassert to lobby the Legislature for a “quick take” bill.”

High-speed rail dead, development project continues:
“Although the high-speed rail project is dead, the downtown Madison area around the proposed rail station is set to be developed.”