Last Call For Gentlemen's Club

Beginning to think that maybe fraternities in general aren't such an awesome idea.

A fraternity at Penn State University has been suspended as police investigate allegations that members used a secret Facebook page to post photos of nude women, some of whom appeared to be sleeping or passed out. 

According to a copy of a State College police warrant obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, a former member of the Kappa Delta Rho fraternity came to authorities and told them about the page. The former member also turned over printouts from the page on a computer thumb drive. 

Police say some Facebook posts also related to hazing and drug deals. 

Police say the investigation is ongoing to determine who made the posts. 

The fraternity was suspended by Penn State's intrafraternity governing body and the national chapter.

Can't imagine why colleges and universities have a massive sexual assault problem.

The St. Patrick's Day Mass-Schock-er

And Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Downton Abbey) is resigning from the House.

The 33-year-old Republican has been dogged by questions about his spending of taxpayer and campaign dollars. On Monday afternoon, POLITICO posed a lengthy set of questions about charging the government and his campaign tens of thousands of dollars in questionable mileage reimbursements. 

“Today, I am announcing my resignation as a Member of the United States House of Representatives effective March 31,” Schock said in a statement. “I do this with a heavy heart. Serving the people of the 18th District is the highest and greatest honor I have had in my life. I thank them for their faith in electing me and letting me represent their interests in Washington. I have given them my all over the last six years. I have traveled to all corners of the District to meet with the people I’ve been fortunate to be able to call my friends and neighbors.” 

“But the constant questions over the last six weeks have proven a great distraction that has made it too difficultfor me to serve the people of the 18th District with the high standards that they deserve and which I have set for myself. I have always sought to do what’s best for my constituents and I thank them for the opportunity to serve,” he said in a statement.

Somehow I don't think Republicans will have too much trouble finding a replacement for him, Peoria's district voted 61% for Romney in 2012, and Schock himself got nearly 75% of the vote in 2014.

But still, the guy was clearly crooked and he's out of Congress at the end of the month.

Tanks For The Memories

West Virginia passed legislation regulating safety of all  the state's chemical storage tanks in the wake of last year's chemical spill that contaminated tap water for more than 300,000 people.  Over the weekend however, Republicans rewrote the legislation to cover only a quarter of the state's tanks, in a major victory for chemical and energy companies.

The bill had the backing of several industry groups, including the West Virginia Manufacturers Association, based in Charleston. “This new legislation really narrows the focus of the regulations on the tanks that are by definition the ones that would present the most danger to drinking water supplies,” said Rebecca Randolph, president of the group. 

Environmental groups fought the measure. “It reduces the regulation of tens of thousands of above-ground storage tanks, some of which have the potential to contaminate drinking water,” said Evan Hansen, president of Downstream Strategies, an environmental consulting company based in Morgantown, W.Va. 

Mr. Hansen said opponents of the bill had presented alternatives that were all rejected. “There were compromises that were possible that would have provided regulatory relief for thousands of tanks while still protecting the integrity of the act,” he said. 

Until the passage of last year’s law, one of the strictest in the nation, environmental officials didn’t know how many above-ground storage tanks were in the state. 

Under the new measure, stricter rules regarding inspections and maintenance are required for about 5,000 tanks. Those contain at least 50,000 gallons, store certain hazardous substances or are within a “zone of critical concern,” defined as falling within five hours travel time along a river to a drinking water system intake. 

Another 7,000 tanks that are within 10 hours travel time of a water intake would also be covered but with less stringent requirements. Other changes include scaling back what were annual state inspections of tanks in the zone of critical concern to once every three years.

The rest of the state's other 38,000 plus tanks?  Well, who knows and who cares.  The free market will see to those.  And should another major chemical leak happen in those bigger tanks between three-year inspections, well, residents have been through it before, they'll know what to do.  We can't have businesses spending money of ludicrous things like "keeping public drinking water safe."

StupidiNews!

• As joint US/NATO military exercises continue in Europe, Russia is putting its Northern Fleet on "full alert" in readiness exercises in the Arctic Circle.
• New Labor Department figures show that the gender pay gap is narrowing slowly, but may not close at this rate until the year 2058.
• Israeli voters head to the polls today to select a government in elections that could see PM Benjamin Netanyahu defeated by a coalition of center-left opposition parties.
• Greece's government is scrambling, facing $2 billion plus in debt payments on Friday that it must meet or default on its loans.
• The Dutch non-profit firm selecting colonists to go to Mars is under accusations that the entire process is a scam.