Republicans Tell Bush War is Harming GOP

Fenty Regrets Copied Proposal

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty characterized his administration's verbatim copying of portions of an education plan from another school district as a "serious issue" that should not have happened, while District leaders warned that the matter threatened to erode support for the mayor's takeover of the public schools.

Fenty (D) said the administration made a mistake in lifting sections of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., school system's "strategic plan" and using them without attribution in a document submitted to the D.C. Council in February.

Interest Rate Unchanged by Fed

Federal Reserve policymakers held short-term interest rates steady yesterday, saying they remain more concerned about high inflation than tepid economic growth.

The Fed's top policymaking committee, in a statement released after its meeting, noted that the economic expansion lost steam earlier this year and that the housing market is still in the dumps. However, the group said it believes the economy will be fine in coming months, continuing to grow at a moderate rate.

WP: Bush told war is harming GOP

House Republican moderates, in a remarkably blunt White House meeting, warned President Bush this week that his pursuit of the war in Iraq is risking the future of the Republican Party and that he cannot count on GOP support for many more months.

110 Degree Weather for Chicago, Atlanta in the Future

A new study by NASA scientists suggests that greenhouse-gas warming may raise average summer temperatures in the eastern United States nearly 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the 2080s.

"There is the potential for extremely hot summertime temperatures in the future, especially during summers with less-than-average frequent rainfall," said lead author Barry Lynn of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University, New York.

The research found that eastern U.S. summer daily high temperatures that currently average in the low-to-mid-80s (degrees Fahrenheit) will most likely soar into the low-to-mid-90s during typical summers by the 2080s. In extreme seasons – when precipitation falls infrequently – July and August daily high temperatures could average between 100 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit in cities such as Chicago, Washington, and Atlanta.