Secretary of State Tom Schedler feels voter apathy may partly explain why 46% of candidates who signed up for offices in the October 24th primary will run without opposition. He says in 2007, 35% of qualified candidates didn’t have an opponent and in 2011 it was 39%. He feels this uptick points to a public that just doesn’t care:

cut 13 (09) “away from that”

Schedler says 20 out of 39 state senators drew no opponents.

The US House Natural Resources Committee will hold a field hearing in New Orleans today to discuss how current federal policies impact oil and natural gas development in the Gulf of Mexico. Committee chair, Utah Congressman Rob Bishop, says the hearing will focus on federal statutes which could cause a second moratorium in the Gulf…

cut 4 (09) “negative impact”

The hearing begins at 9AM.

A study out of Illinois finds people who drink diet sodas tend to eat unhealthier, higher calorie food, which negates their attempts to lose weight. The research found that many diet soda drinkers feel justified in eating more because they feel guilty about indulging in unhealthy food. Dr. Anne Gilmore of LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center says these results aren’t surprising…

cut 10 (09) “we’re doing”

Gilmore says diet soda drinkers often think they are cutting calories in one place, so it’s okay to splurge on another. She says overall, we need to look at all the calories that we consume.