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WASHINGTON, May 2, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Astronomers have gathered … Full Story »Black Hole Caught Red-handed In A Stellar Homicide

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Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/triplets-turn-just-fine-black-hole-murderer-193333433.html

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Article source: http://dfw.cbslocal.com/video/7104268-garry-seiths-630-am-weather-report/

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew more slowly in the first three months of this year. Governments spent less, and businesses cut back on investment. But consumers spent at the fastest pace in more than a year.

The result suggests that the economy will continue to expand, slowly but steadily.

The Commerce Department estimated Friday that the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the January-March quarter, compared with a 3 percent rate in the final quarter of 2011. But growth is expected to rebound to around 3 percent for all of 2012 as stronger job growth spurs more consumer spending.

Consumer spending accelerated to an annual rate of 2.9 percent in the first quarter. The strength came from a second robust quarter of growth in auto purchases.

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Here’s what The Associated Press’ reporters are finding:

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SPENDING WARMS UP…

A warm winter probably pulled some consumer spending into the January-March quarter that would normally have occurred this quarter. Auto sales, for example, accounted for nearly 30 percent of growth last quarter. Many car buyers probably came out earlier than usual.

Without autos, growth would have been about 1.5 percent.

“The second quarter won’t have the advantage of unseasonably warm weather that likely goosed auto sales,” says Beata Caranci, deputy chief economist at TD Economics.

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… ON THE OTHER HAND

The warmer weather also sapped strength from the economy: Americans spent less on utilities from January through March for a second straight quarter.

That reduced growth.

Perhaps a hot summer will add to growth later this year as Americans crank up their air conditioners.

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WEAK GROWTH, WEAK HIRING

How weak was the economy’s 2.2 percent growth rate from January through March? It depends.

A growth rate of 2.5 percent or higher is good when the economy is healthy. But not at a time of high unemployment.

With 12.7 million people unemployed, today’s economy needs much faster growth to boost hiring. Growth would have to be roughly 4 percent for a full year to lower the unemployment rate, now 8.2 percent, by 1 percentage point.

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U.S. ECONOMY STILL TOPS

Even when growth is tepid, as it was last quarter, the dollar figure for the U.S. economy exceeds that of any other country’s.

Adjusted for inflation and seasonal factors, first-quarter output weighed in at $13.5 trillion.

At its lowest point during the Great Recession, the figure was $12.6 trillion.

The size of the world’s second-largest economy, China’s, is roughly $11.3 trillion.

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A DIFFERENT GAUGE OF GROWTH

The drop from a 3 percent growth rate in the October-December quarter to 2.2 percent last quarter partly reflected a slower pace of restocking by businesses.

Such inventory building had contributed more than half the growth in the final three months of 2011. But last quarter, it contributed less than one-third.

Many economists exclude inventories to better gauge the economy’s underlying strength. By that measure, the output of goods and services grew at an annual rate of 1.6 percent last quarter — up from a 1.1 percent increase in the fourth quarter.

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PRESSURE ON CONGRESS

There may be a bright side to the weaker-than-expected growth in the January-March quarter: It could push Congress to reach a budget deal before the end of the year.

Otherwise, automatic tax increases and spending cuts would send the nation over a “fiscal cliff” and drastically weaken economic growth, according to Bank of America.

“Lawmakers need a reminder that they must reduce the fiscal drag,” says Ryan Sweet, senior economist at Moody’s Analytics.

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SAVING LESS OF WHAT WE EARN

The increase in consumer spending comes with a caveat: People spent more in part because they socked away less.

After-tax income grew at an annual rate of 2.8 percent from January through March. That was about the same pace as in the final three months of last year.

But over the same period, the savings rate fell to 3.9 percent of after-tax income, down from 4.5 percent.

Economists worry that people won’t keep spending more unless their income grows.

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HOUSING PERKING UP

One surprising bright spot in the first quarter’s data: housing.

Spending on home construction and renovations rose by the most in nearly two years. Some of that gain was likely fueled by the warm winter. Many construction projects are usually put on hold when building sites are covered with snow and ice. That didn’t happen so much this winter.

Housing is expected to contribute to growth this year for the first time since 2005.

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FIRST DRAFT OF HISTORY

Friday’s GDP report is just the initial estimate for first-quarter economic output. As is customary, the government will update its estimate in May and June.

And then in July, the first-quarter numbers will be tweaked yet again. That’s when the government will revise its estimates of growth from 2009 through the first quarter of this year.

Last year, figures on incomes and saving were revised to show that Americans earned and saved more than previously estimated. Some economists think the current numbers on savings and income will also be revised higher later this year.

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BETTER THAN OVERSEAS

As disappointing as the first-quarter numbers were, the U.S. economy still looks a lot stronger than most of the rest of the developed world. It’s expected to grow at least 2.5 percent for the full year.

By contrast, Britain’s economy will only grow 0.8 percent and Japan’s about 2 percent, according to forecasts from the International Monetary Fund. Things are even worse in Europe. The 17 countries that use the euro as their currency are expected to see growth shrink 0.3 percent.

“Growth is an increasingly rare commodity in the global economy, but the US has got it,” says Jason Conibear of Cambridge Mercantile, which specializes in trading currencies.

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NOT FAST ENOUGH

This was the 11th quarter since the Great Recession officially ended in June 2009. The fastest rate of economic growth has been 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2010. Normally, a much bigger bounce would follow a deep recession like the one the United States sank into in December 2007.

When the economy emerged from the recession of 1981-1982, for instance, growth hit an 8 percent annual pace for four straight quarters in 1983 and 1984.

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THE WEIGHT OF GOVERNMENT

Government spending cuts are weighing on the U.S. economy in a way that hasn’t been seen in generations. Those cuts have reduced growth for six straight quarters — the longest stretch since 1955.

Reduced government spending subtracted 0.6 percentage point from the first quarter’s growth.

That drag may ease the rest of this year. Defense spending fell sharply in the past two quarters, which isn’t likely to continue. And state tax revenue is recovering, closing budget gaps.

“It’s hard for the economy to accelerate when the government has its foot on the brake,” said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.

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WILL FED INTERVENE?

The Federal Reserve might have to rethink its forecasts and its policies, economists say. One economist thinks the Fed is now more likely to pursue a third round of bond purchases to try to push down long-term interest rates to stimulate the economy.

It’s “back on the table,” says Bernard Baumohl of the Economic Outlook Group.

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WHY IT MATTERS

The U.S. gross domestic product is the bedrock of the economy. It measures the output of all goods and services produced in the United States, from cars to electricity to manicures. GDP growth drives job creation, pay, corporate profits and stock prices.

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AP Economics Writer Martin Crutsinger contributed to this report.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/warm-weather-add-us-growth-weaken-170950857--finance.html

DENVER (AP) — Backcountry pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones says he’s seen the effects of climate change up close after 18 years of heading to Alaska for deep winter powder.

“Our season ends a week earlier than it used to. The glacier we use to land on, we can’t anymore,” Jones said.

It’s a big part of why Jones formed Protect Our Winters in 2007 to unite snowboarders and skiers to save what they love.

Coming off a shortened ski season with weak snowfall in much of Colorado, Utah and the Northeast, there’s a sense of urgency to what Protect Our Winters wants to do next — get Congress to pay more attention to climate change.

Protect Our Winters has distributed money to groups working on projects like renewable energy and climate education. Last fall, board members, including Olympic snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, delivered a letter asking U.S. senators to support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has proposed stripping carbon dioxide from the list of pollutants included in the Clean Air Act.

Though it was just a letter, it gave the group a taste of its greater goal of building a constituency that can get Congress to act.

“Now people are desperate for a way to engage,” Auden Schendler, vice president of sustainability for Aspen Skiing Co., told fellow Protect Our Winters board members at a January meeting.

Protect Our Winters wants to convert people’s love of winter sports into political activism. The U.S. has an estimated 21 million snow sports enthusiasts who tend to have higher-than-average incomes, according to the snow gear manufacturers’ trade group SnowSports Industries America.

The way pro skier and Protect Our Winters board member Chris Davenport sees it, skiers and snowboarders are a tribe of like-minded people vested in protecting the mountain snows that they spend vast amounts of money to play in.

In January, in a windowless Denver conference room with high ceilings and fluorescent lights, board members brainstormed how best to mobilize the roughly 32,000 people who have “liked” the group’s Facebook page — and not letting let them turn into “slacktivists” who only own a sticker or T-shirt.

The board fantasized about one day becoming as influential as groups such as the National Wildlife Federation, which claims 4 million members.

A few weeks later the nonprofit group, based in Pacific Palisades, Calif., launched what it calls its POW Seven — seven steps supporters can take to support its mission. They run from reducing emissions by using a clothesline to dry laundry, for instance, to “higher-friction” actions like evangelizing to businesses and politicians.

“There’s no worse way to try to ignite a fire than putting out matches,” said Matt McClain, who works with Protect Our Winters and the like-minded Surfrider Foundation, which could be a model for Protect Our Winters’ growth.

A handful of surfers in Malibu, Calif., started Surfrider in 1984 to protect ocean coastlines. Today, it has about 50,000 members it can mobilize for local campaigns, like urging California counties to consider banning single-use plastic bags.

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Follow Catherine Tsai at http://www.twitter.com/ctsai_denver

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/protect-winters-mobilizing-skiers-boarders-180504773.html

HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR SO FAR…

Today the high temperature at DFW has been 89 degrees.  That may go up a degree or two, but today is the hottest day we have seen all year.  Winds have been gusting out of the south up to 30 mph.  It will stay windy the next several days.

WEST TEXAS HEAT…

Summer like heat in West Texas today as many locations have topped 100 degrees!  Here is a link to the West Texas Mesonet where you can see the current temperatures.

LUBBOCK actually has set their all-time hottest temperature ever recorded in the month of April.  Here is the statement from the NWS.

AS OF 435 PM…THE TEMPERATURE AT LUBBOCK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT HAS
REACHED 104 DEGREES. THIS BREAKS THE PREVIOUS ALL-TIME HOTTEST APRIL
HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 100 DEGREES SET ON APRIL 16 1925 AND APRIL 22 1989.

RECORD HIGHS AND WINDY WEATHER…

Tomorrow will be just as warm if not warmer.  We will see highs near or at 90 degrees across the metroplex tomorrow.  The record high for tomorrow is 90.  So it is possible we could tie the record high for tomorrow.  Out in western sections of North Texas, temperatures will warm into the upper 90s close to 100 degrees!

Here is a look at high temperatures around the state tomorrow and Friday.

RAIN CHANCES EVAPORATING THIS WEEKEND…

This time of year can be frustrating when looking at long range forecasts.  Things can change much more frequently in the spring and fall seasons than in the summer or winter.  A change occurred in our weekend outlook today as the models are stopping a cold front along the Red River Friday into Saturday.  Yesterday, it looked like that front would make it thru DFW.  That would have given us cooler weather and some rain chances.  But with the front staying north, temperatures will continue to warm into the 80s with very low rain chances in North Texas and most of the rain chances will be up along the Red River Saturday night into Sunday morning.

FORECAST:

Tonight: Becoming partly cloudy.  Windy.  Low of 68.  S 15-20 mph Gusts to 25

Tomorrow:  Mostly sunny, very windy.  High of 90.  S 25-35. Gusts to 40 mph

Friday: Morning clouds, than mostly sunny.  Low of 69.  High of 89.  S 25-35 Gusts to 40 mph

Saturday: Partly cloudy.  Low of 68.  High of 86.  S 20-30 mph

Sunday: Partly sunny.  Low of 67.  High of 85.  SE 10-20 mph

Monday: Partly sunny.  Low of 68.  High of 87.

Tuesday and Wednesday:  Partly cloudy with isolated showers and thunderstorms.   Lows near 67.  Highs in mid 80s

Article source: http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/04/25/record-texas-heat-and-very-windy-weather/

An unmanned hypersonic glider likely aborted its 13,000 mph flight over the Pacific Ocean last summer because unexpectedly large sections of its skin peeled off, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said Friday.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/german-scientists-unveil-intelligent-tyre-weather-233420234.html