news-record.com

You can’t handle the truth, at least according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The nation’s air safety agency proposed rules Friday that would allow it to keep secret the data it collects on when and where birds hit and damage airplanes. It was a bird-strike that reportedly forced a U.S. Airways jet to touch down in the Hudson River earlier this year.

Agency officials said the public might misconstrue the data.

“Whether the public should worry is for the public to decide, not FAA,” Rep. Brad Miller told the Associated Press on Friday.

Miller, a Democrat who leads the House Science Committee’s investigative panel, has tussled over air safety data before. In 2007, he asked NASA to cut loose with air safety data.

According to the FAA’s Web site, bird-strikes cause more than $300 million in damage a year nationwide.

Burr: I’m a target

Survey outfits like Public Policy Polling and the J.W. Pope Civitas Institute Poll have been testing U.S. Sen. Richard Burr’s name against potential Democratic challengers in 2010. The most talked about contender by far is Attorney General Roy Cooper, but the Democrat hasn’t said whether he’ll take up the challenge.

While the results have varied depending on how the questions are asked and who he was tested against, the consistent take-away has been that Burr has a tougher re-election fight on his hands than might be expected.

Burr acknowledged as much at the Buncombe County Lincoln Day dinner, according to a story by the Asheville Citizen Times’ Josh Boatwright.

According to his account: “Burr said after Democrats swept North Carolina last fall, he became a target by the national Democratic Party to replace him and strengthen their place in the Senate.”

Burr also said that the GOP’s resistance to administration policies is being misrepresented by the media. As quoted in the Asheville story, Burr said, “I’m amazed how the national media portrays this as a Republican conspiracy against a popular president. That’s not what it is. It’s an American people that are saying we’ve been here before and you can’t continue to spend money like this and believe that the future is going to be better for our children.”

Coble’s shield

The House Judiciary Committee last week passed HR 985, commonly known as a media shield law. Co-sponsored by Rep. Howard Coble, it would allow reporters to keep sources confidential in some circumstances, even if federal prosecutors or judges wanted to know where some information came from.

“I have always contended that a free and unfettered media is healthy for a thriving democracy,” Coble said in a statement.

Votes

• The House voted 423-0 to approve appointing a special inspector general to oversee bank bailout money given under the Trouble Assets Relief Program, or TARP. All North Carolina representatives voted in favor.
   
• The House agreed to the final version of HR 146, an act that will add land to the national parks system. The vote was 285-140. Democrats Brad Miller and Mel Watt voted for the bill; Republicans Howard Coble and Virginia Foxx voted against.
   
• The Senate passed HR 1388, an act that would extend national service programs such as AmeriCorps. The vote was 79-19. Both North Carolina senators, Democrat Kay Hagan and Republican Richard Burr, voted for the bill.
   
• As part of its consideration of HR 1388, the bill extending national service programs, senators rejected an amendment that would have prohibited the community organizing group ACORN from receiving money under the act. ACORN was the subject of controversy in 2008 for its efforts to register voters, which many Republicans claimed were riddled by fraud and linked to the Obama campaign. The vote was 53-43, with Hagan voting with the majority of Democrats to reject the restriction and Burr voting for the measure.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com