Monday, June 29, 2009Last Update: 11:15 PM PT

     WASHINGTON (CN) - President Obama has created the White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers to establish a coordinated federal response to issues that impact automotive industry workers and their communities to ensure that federal programs and policies address and take into account their concerns.
     The council is composed of the entire cabinet as well as the heads of the many bureaus and agencies whose regulatory oversight has an impact on U.S. autoworkers.
     Click the document icon on the front page for details and a link to the regulation. The document icon under the "Scientific Instruments, Security Background Checks & More" heading leads to other new regulations.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The Environmental Protection Agency is raising the residual tolerance level of the widely used pesticide chlorantraniliprole, sold under the trade names Coragen and Altacor.
     DuPont had requested a tolerance of .07 parts per million on nutmeats such as almonds and pistachios, but the EPA determined that for the requested uses .04 parts per million was adequate to meet the manufacturer's needs.
     The EPA states that Chlorantraniliprole is only considered toxic to humans who suffer chronic oral contact with a highly concentrated dose which exceeds any likely human exposure.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The Department of Labor plans to require that any states receiving interest-free advances from the federal government to pay for unemployment compensation first must meet "funding goals" set out by the Labor Secretary.
     The rule would require that states: Meet a solvency criterion in one of the five calendar years before the year in which advances are taken; and meet two tax effort criteria for each calendar year after the solvency criterion is met, up to the year in which an advance is requested.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - President Obama has extended for a year the national emergency President Bush declared last year, which freezes the assets of the North Korean government and officials, held in U.S. banks.
     Bush declared the national emergency due to the risk of proliferation of weapons-usable nuclear material on the Korean Peninsula, and President Obama states that this remains an extraordinary threat. The emergency also prohibits U.S. entities from trading or facilitating trade with North Korea.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The Departments of Commerce and Treasury and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have amended the regulations for the duty-free entry of scientific instruments and apparatus into the U.S. by educational and nonprofit institutions to update them to match current law and practice.
     The Transportation Security Administration finalized a rule prohibiting public transportation agencies, railroad carriers, and their contractors and subcontractors from knowingly misrepresenting federal guidance or regulations concerning security background checks for certain individuals.
     Click on the document icon for these and other federal regulations.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The Obama administration is trying to kick-start the Post 9-11 G.I. Bill by issuing Defense Department wide regulations guiding the implementation of the bill without having to wait for each service to establish its own policies.      To be eligible for the GI Bill, individuals must serve on active duty on or after Sept. 11, 2001, for at least 30 continuous days with a discharge due to a service-connected disability; or an aggregate period ranging from 90 days to 36 months or more. The benefits of the bill include tuition and fees that may not exceed the most expensive in-state undergraduate program at a public institution of higher learning, a monthly stipend equal to the basic allowance for housing given to a service member with dependents, in the same ZIP code as the school that the student is attending; and a yearly books and supplies stipend of up to $1,000 per year.
     The bill also authorizes kickers of $150 to $950 a month as enlistment and reenlistment incentives for members who enlist in reserve units that are in need of the skills the members will acquire from further education.