Army buys 68 Air Vehicles from AAI Corp.

The U.S. Army intends to procure 68 Air Vehicles and three sets of Mobile Maintenance Facility spares for the Shadow Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), according to contract documents posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website on Wednesday. “This is a planned sole source requirement to AAI Corp., the original equipment manufacturer of the Shadow 200 RQ-7B UAS,” the Army said. AAI Corp. is headquartered in Hunt Valley, Md.

Kaiser appointed to Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett announced on Monday that he has appointed Annmarie Kaiser, currently his secretary of Legislative Affairs, to serve as a member of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. The board oversees the 11 casinos now operating statewide.

The seven-member Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board was established through the passage of Act 71 of 2004, also known as the Race Horse Development and Gaming Act. The board oversaw the creation of a casino industry offering both slot machine and table gaming. The 11 casinos now in operation in Pennsylvania offer both slot machine and table game gambling, employ more than 16,000 people, and collectively have generated more than $6.5 billion in tax and license fee revenue since the first casino opened in November 2006.

NTSB responds to fatal parasailing accident in Florida

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is sending an investigator to Pompano Beach, Fla. to investigate a fatal parasailing accident that occurred on Wednesday.

 

At about 3:15 p.m. EDT, a female passenger, parasailing in tandem with another individual, fell from her harness approximately 150-200 feet into water. The woman was fatally injured. The other passenger was unharmed. The parasailing trip was being operated by Waveblast Water Sports. The NTSB has investigated a number of parasailing accidents, and will examine the circumstances of this accident for any recurring safety issues.

 

NTSB investigator Larry Bowling will join the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Coast Guard investigating the accident, the board said on Friday.

NTSB: Not much to say on Lufthansa/Colgan collision at Dulles

On Friday, at about 3:15 p.m. EDT, Lufthansa flight 417, an Airbus A330, collided with Colgan Air flight 3912, a Bombardier DHC-8-400, on the ground at Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va. The two aircraft collided while the Airbus was taxiing for takeoff.

“At the time of the accident, the DHC-8 (tail number N341NG) was stationary and waiting for ramp workers to assist with parking at gate A1C,” the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said in a preliminary report filed on Monday. “There were no injuries to any of the passengers or crewmembers on either airplane. The DHC-8 received substantial damage to its rudder and vertical stabilizer and the Airbus (tail number D-AIKE) sustained minor damage to its right wingtip.”

The NTSB continues to investigate the accident.

Navy contract RFP for first unmanned flight aboard aircraft carrier

The U.S. Navy's Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike program will release a request for proposal "soon" for the first operational unmanned vehicle that will launch and recover from an aircraft carrier. [Source: Federal Business Opportunities]

Extreme heat waves linked to climate change, NASA says

The Northern Hemisphere over the past 30 years has seen an increase in the amount of land area experiencing what NASA scientists define as "extremely hot" summer temperatures, according to a new analysis led by James Hansen at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Hansen and colleagues looked at statistics and linked this increase in extreme heat waves to climate change.

These "extremely hot" temperatures covered less than one percent of the Northern Hemisphere land surface during the time period 1951 to 1980. Since 2006 these extreme temperatures have covered about 10 percent of this land area. These regions of "extremely hot" temperatures are shown on the map as brown in the YouTube video below.

The YouTube video shows how temperatures by region differed from the 1951-1980 seasonal average for June, July and August. White areas are considered "normal" temperatures, while blues and purples represent colder than usual temperatures. The range of hotter than normal temperatures is defined by the scientists as "hot" (orange), "very hot" (red) and "extremely hot" (brown).

Notice how the areas covered by "extremely hot" temperatures increases from the 1980s to the present. The massive heat waves of Western Europe in 2003, Russia in 2010 and Texas, Oklahoma and Mexico in 2011 particularly stand out.

Chicago's best companies to work for

Being named a Chicago's 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For, is a designation that hundreds of companies pursue. This year, the 2012 winners proved to be companies that deliver exceptional human resources practices and an impressive commitment to their employees.

The National Association for Business Resources selected only 101 companies that best represent the most innovative human resource programs to date. The winning companies will be honored at the Chicago's 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For symposium and awards luncheon on Aug. 20 at the Double Tree Hotel in Oak Brook.

Of the hundreds of nominations received, the companies listed below met the criteria as a "Best and Brightest Company to Work For"

• ADP
• Advanced Group
• American Academy of Pediatrics
• Armstrong Aerospace, Inc.
• Arrow Strategies, LLC
• ArrrowStream
• Assurance
• BDO USA, LLP
• Bel Brands USA
• BGT Partners
• Blue Plate
• Blue, Inc.
• Bosch Rexroth Corp.
• Burwood Group, Inc.
• Care Communications, Inc.
• Centro Media Inc.
• Clarity Consulting Inc.
• Comcast Corp.
• Community Counseling Centers of Chicago
• ContextMedia Inc.
• Conway MacKenzie, Inc.
• DentalPlans.com
• Donlen Corp.
• EMKAY Inc
• Enesco, LLC
• Ernst & Young
• Flexco
• FONA International, Inc.
• Geneca
• Genesis Technologies
• Getty Images
• Ghafari Associates, LLC
• GoHealth Insurance
• Greeley and Hansen LLC
• Harley Ellis Devereaux
• Harrah's Joliet Casino & Hotel
• Hephzibah Children
• Hitachi Consulting
• iD Commerce + Logistics
• Ifbyphone Inc.
• Impact Networking, LLC
• Instant Technology
• Jupiter Communities, LLC
• kCura
• KeyLimeTie
• KPMG LLP
• Kutchins, Robbins & Diamond, Ltd.
• LaSalle Network
• Laurus Strategies
• LeasePlan USA
• Levenfeld Pearlstein, LLC
• Luna
• McGladrey
• Medline Industries, Inc.
• Milhouse Engineering and Construction, Inc.
• Mortenson Construction
• Mutual Trust Financial Group
• National Futures Association
• NCSA Athletic Recruiting
• Nitel
• NOW Foods
• Office Concepts
• Omron Electronics
• OtterBase, Inc
• Paylocity
• PEAK6 Investments, LP
• Perspectives, Ltd
• Plexus
• Protiviti Inc.
• PSC Group, LLC
• Rabjohns Financial Group
• Radio Flyer
• RealTick / ConvergEx Group
• Red Frog Events
• Rightpoint
• Robbins, Schwartz, Nicholas, Lifton & Taylor, Ltd.
• Ryan, LLC
• Service Express, Inc.
• Shure Inc.
• Sikich LLP
• Skender Construction
• Slalom Consulting
• Sonoma Partners, LLC
• Spot Trading
• Starcom
• Stout Risius Ross, Inc
• SunCoke Energy
• SWC Technology Partners
• Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.
• Tasty Catering
• The Carlson Group, Inc.
• The Comprehensive Group
• The James
• ThoughtWorks, Inc
• Turner Construction Company
• Verizon Wireless
• VW Credit, Inc.
• West Monroe Partners
• WestLake Financial Group
• WMS Industries
• WOW Internet Cable and Phone