Tuesday -- July 15, 2014; Global Warming In North Dakota; Portland, OR, To Impose Tax On Breathing

Global warming: from the US National Weather Service --

This is still July right? Here are the lows this morning through 730 am CDT (North Dakota):

Hettinger: 36
Tioga: 37
Glen Ullin and Watford City: 39
Dickinson: 40
Hazen and Fryburg: 41
Bowman and Center: 42
Williston: 43
Bismarck: 46

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Active rigs:

	7/15/2014	07/15/2013	07/15/2012	07/15/2011	07/15/2010
Active Rigs	193	186	215	178	132

RBN Energy: more big consumers buying into natural gas production.

The Wall street Journal

Top story: fighting continues to rage in the Mideast.

Two more US pharmaceutical companies unveil foreign mergers to help them slash tax rates.  US stands to lose billions from corporate-tax inversions.

California expected to order mandatory statewide water restrictions for the first time, as a prolonged drought across the West shrivels reservoirs.

Photo-op: US flies 38 to Honduras in expedited deportation. 38 out of 60,000 -- okay.

Politics: "With his legislative agenda run aground, the president has been seeking solace away from the White House in recent weeks, traveling the country and cultivating the image of a pool-shooting, beer-drinking regular guy."

Energy executives buzzing at US oil-export opening.

Volkswagen to invest $900 million in SUV plant in its Chattanooga, TN.

 The Los Angeles Times

Israel  resumes airstrikes hours after cease-fire fails. [Comment: Israel declared a unilateral ceaefire; Hamas responded with a barrage of rocket attacks.]

How funny: there it is -- the photo op of the planeload of Hondurans arriving back home. I can't make this stuff up.

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Other News

Portland, OR, to impose tax for breathing. The mayor calls it a "transportation user fee." Anyone who lives along a road in Portland, OR, will pay a monthly fee. Businesses will pay more. If one has two driveways to streets meeting at a corner, the fee is doubled. The "fee" is required, says the mayor, to pay for crumbling streets in Portland. Twenty (20) percent of the money collected will be used for public transportation subsidies and bicycle lanes. And not all of the rest of the 80 percent would be used for maintaining the streets; some of that would be used for "safety improvements." The fee would appear on city water and sewer bills starting in July 2015. Isn't this the city that is also considering a $15 minimum wage? Memo to self: change retirement plans.