Across the country, aging dams are reaching the end of their lifespan, and must be either removed or rebuilt -- at very significant cost. One dam in Minnesota raises issues of public tax dollars being spent to benefit the rich -- and puts a political problem squarely in the lap of aspiring GOP tea-bagger Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

"President Barack Obama will outline a revamped space policy on Thursday that will use $6 billion in new funding over five years to create 2,500 new jobs in Florida with the ultimate goal of going to Mars." "NASA's earth science team would receive an extra $2.4 billion -- a 62 percent increase -- through 2015 to study changing temperatures, ice coverage, ozone depletion, and atmospheric carbon dioxide."

"The Government Accountability Office concluded that the Energy Star program is susceptible to fraud and abuse, after investigators received certification for 15 phony appliances, including a gasoline-powered alarm clock."

"Weeds are developing resistance to the herbicide that genetically engineered crops are designed to tolerate, finds the first major assessment of how biotech crops are affecting all U.S. farmers, released today by the National Research Council."

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's announcement that biking and walking would get equal priority in federal funding as automobiles has drawn praise from bikers and brickbats from the conservative National Association of Manufacturers.

Mine safety experts are questioning the appointment of Norman Page to head the MSHA investigation into the Massey mine disaster. As an MSHA inspector, Page oversaw faulty inspections that led to a mine explosion that killed 5 people in 2006.