Thursday, July 02, 2009Last Update: 10:20 PM PT

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has found that a petition submitted by the Center for Native Ecosystems contains sufficient information on the status of the Northern Leopard Frog to proceed with a year-long review to determine if the frog warrants listing as threatened or endangered.
     The northern leopard frog historically ranged from Newfoundland and southern Quebec, south through New England to West Virginia, west across the Canadian provinces and northern and central portions of the United States to British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, and northern California, and south to Arizona, New Mexico, and extreme western Texas. Since the 1970s the frog has experienced significant declines throughout its range, particularly in the western U.S. and Canada and declines of the species have been documented in most western states.
     The agency is asking for information from the public on the present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of the species' habitat or range; overuse of the species habitat for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes; threats to the species from disease or predation; the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms to protect the species; and other natural or man made factors affecting its continued existence and threats to the northern leopard frog or its habitat.
     Click the document icon beneath "VA, Highway Safety & More" for additional federal regulations.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - Companies that have moved their registered headquarters to offshore tax-havens no longer will be awarded contracts by the Defense Department. The late Senator Paul Wellstone placed a provision in the Homeland Security Act of 2002 which eliminated the award of contracts to so called "inverted domestic corporations," but the act, as passed, contained a grandfather clause allowing any company that had relocated to a tax-haven before the act passed to continue to receive contracts.
     The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council now have amended the Federal Acquisition Regulations to eliminate the grandfather provision and prohibit any inverted domestic corporations from bidding on or being awarded a defense contract or a contract from any agency under the Department of Homeland Security.
     Click the document icon beneath "VA, Highway Safety & More" for additional federal regulations.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The U.S. Coast Guard is increasing the maximum liability of vessel and deepwater port owners for oil or fuel spilled from their vessel or facilities to reflect significant increases in the Consumer Price Index. The maximum liability will increase 6.8 percent.
     Liability varies depending on the type or vessel or facility in question, ranging from $2,000 per gross tonnage of a vessel up to $373.8 million for deepwater ports.
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     WASHINGTON (CN) - The medical preauthorization dollar ceiling for buying or renting durable medical equipment has been increased from $300 to $2,000, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs' regulation.
     The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requests public comment on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's "Vehicle Safety Rulemaking and Research Priority Plan 2009-2011," which the NHTSA states is an internal management tool and a means to communicate to the public the NHTSA's highest priorities to meet the nation's motor vehicle safety challenges. Among them are programs and projects involving rollover crashes, children (both inside and near vehicles), motorcoaches and fuel economy that must meet congressional mandates or secretarial commitments.
     Click on the document icon for new federal regulations.