By The Associated Press

What ever happened to the hole in the ozone layer?

A decade or two ago, alarm bells were sounding about this growing environmental worry. But you don’t hear so much about it these days. Is it less of a problem than it used to be? Did it go away entirely?

Curiosity about the ozone layer inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

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Rep. Joe Sestak was elected to Congress in 2007 after retiring from the Navy as an admiral. There have been several generals who have been elected president, but how many military officers with at least one star – brigadier general or rear admiral – have served in Congress after their military careers were over?

Chad Steenerson
Terre Haute, Ind.

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Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., served in the Navy for 31 years and rose to the rank of three-star admiral. He is the only three-star officer to be elected to the House, according to the Office of the House Historian.

It’s unclear how many military officers with at least one star have served in the House. There does not seem to be an authoritative log, and the Office of the House Historian does not have a comprehensive list. Those elected to the House with at least one star include the late Rep. Sonny Montgomery, D-Miss., who was a two-star officer. Andrew Jackson, also a two-star officer, served in both chambers of Congress.

At least 91 senators, including Jackson, have had at least one star, according to the Senate Historical Office. Sens. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., and Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., were among those who were two-star officers.

Ann Sanner
Associated Press Writer
Washington

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A number of years ago, the biggest environmental problem was the hole in the ozone layer. Has that hole completely gone away? If so, how was that problem fixed?

Daniel Lippman
Washington

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The “hole” is actually a huge area of depleted ozone high in the stratosphere over the South Pole. It forms every year because of airborne man-made chemicals. Ozone shields Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays, so its depletion is hazardous.

In 1987, 193 nations agreed to cut emissions of ozone-eating chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs. That began a slow-motion fix of the problem that’s still ongoing. That’s probably why you don’t hear as much about the ozone layer as you used to.

Earlier this year, a NASA study used computer modeling to look at what would have happened if the release of CFCs hadn’t been curtailed. In that scenario, two-thirds of the ozone layer would have vanished by 2065 and the hole in the layer would have covered the Earth, NASA atmospheric scientist Paul Newman said. This would have pushed the world’s temperature up an extra 4 degrees, Newman said.

While cutting CFC emissions helped, the problem hasn’t gone away – the hole still appears every August or so, growing to its maximum size in September or October before breaking up. You can track the latest ozone hole data at http://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html

Malcolm Ritter
AP Science Writer
New York

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I’m curious if anyone has ever challenged the legal right of a credit bureau to collect and sell private and financial information about a consumer. What gives a company the right to assemble my information and resell it for a profit? It should be up to me to decide what creditors I provide as a credit reference when applying for loans, credit cards and jobs.

Much of the information they collect seems to be incorrect and nearly impossible to rectify.

And who decided that computers should generate a score to determine a person’s creditworthiness?

Sheryl Smith
Madeira Beach, Fla.

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There have been numerous suits filed against credit reporting agencies regarding the accuracy of their information, but challenging their right to operate would be futile.

The reason: The Fair Credit Reporting Act, first passed in 1970 and amended several times since, includes a congressional finding that the agencies “have assumed a vital role in assembling and evaluating consumer credit and other information on consumers.” The idea is that the banking system depends on this information to evaluate credit worthiness, and that credit is a vital part of the economy.

This law does, however, require these companies to maintain accurate records and respect consumers’ privacy rights, and it restricts access to medical information. It also spells out a consumer’s right to access his credit reports and dispute inaccurate information.

These agencies use the information they collect to calculate your “credit score,” a number that ranks a person’s credit worthiness. FICO, a company formerly known as Fair Isaac, developed the first and most commonly used scoring system.

The systems are designed to examine factors like payment history and credit usage to predict how likely you are to pay back loans. More recently, some employers have started using credit reports as one way to evaluate potential workers.

Eileen AJ Connelly
AP Personal Finance Writer
New York

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Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

Just one month ago we were still officially in the season of summer. The high temperature was 74°, and many trees still had green leaves. Since then a lot has happened:

-Green Bay witnessed a trace of snowfall on three occasions.
-High temperatures were below average for 21 straight days
-Coldest Temperature: 27°
-Leaves reach peak colors

But what maybe just as noticeable is a loss of daylight. Days are getting shorter and shorter. Tonight’s sunset is 6:00 PM. It is about an hour earlier than it was a month ago. In fact, tonight’s sunset will be the earliest since the beginning of March.

Not only is the sun setting early, but it is rising late. The sun won’t rise until quarter after 7 tomorrow, leaving us with under 11 hours of daylight. That mark will continue to get lower as we head towards the winter solstice around the third week of December.

However, well before we get there, Daylight Saving Time will end. In fact, it will occur not this weekend, but the following weekend. What it means, is that at 2 AM on November first, clocks should be turned back one hour and we gain an extra hour of sleep.

Here is an easy way to remember this: In Autumn we “fall back” and hour and in spring we “spring forward” an hour. As for remembering what day to turn back the clocks, that shouldn’t be to hard either. It occurs during the late night hours of Halloween and the early morning hours before the Packers take on Brett Favre and the Vikings at Lambeau.

Until Next Time,
Meteorologist Andrew Thut

The whole ordeal was pretty uneventful.. Until I met Laurie.

She was wearing a pink hat to cover the fact that she had lost her hair.

But what was most memorable about meeting her was her positive attitude.

She told me (in the 4 minutes or so that we talked) that she had originally gone in for a colonoscopy. (If I remember correctly, it was because a family member had been diagnosed with colon cancer.)

After the all clear on the colonoscopy.. Her docs suggested while she was there she should have a mammogram.

And that’s when they found the breast cancer.

Laurie looks like she’s my age. Her kids are older.. Maybe in middle and high school. But my age!

That’s when it hit me .. How lucky I was to have that piece of good news in my hand.

But it was lucky for her, too, that her doctor urged her to get that mammogram.

It actually took me a year to finally do it. My doctor’s office kept calling to remind me and I kept putting it off. I don’t know what I was worried about. I was in and out of there in about 20 minutes. And it DID NOT HURT. I repeat.. DID NOT HURT. Maybe it’s because I breast fed my children.. but it was a piece of cake.

 
So here’s my October is Breast Cancer Awareness message for you. GET A MAMMOGRAM.

Laurie did.. And it saved her life.

At one point Hurricane Rick was one of the strongest hurricanes ever in the Eastern Pacific. Chances are that we won’t see another hurricane as strong as Rick this year. While the season isn’t over yet, it only has around another month and a half left. Most of the activity in the season occurs in August and September with the least activity in November. The reason behind this is water temperatures. Tropical systems thrive off warm waters, and without them they wouldn’t develop.

The Eastern Pacific tropical season started in mid-May and since then there have been 17 named storms. Fortunately most of the storms haven’t affected land. Hurricane Jimena has been the exception to this. Jimena reached category four strength before weakening to a category 2 as it made landfall over the Baja California Peninsula.

Up to this point the Eastern Pacific tropical season has been fairly seasonable. There have been 7 hurricanes so far. Up to this point in the season there are typically 9 hurricanes. The image below has more statistics regarding what has been a seasonable year.

Meanwhile, the Atlantic tropical season hasn’t been quite as seasonable. It took what seemed like forever to get the first storm of the season. Tropical storm Ana first developed in mid August. Ana was the first storm in what turned out to be an active week. Around the same time tropical storm Claudette developed and Hurricane Bill formed. Claudette caused problems for the southeastern United States and Bill eventually strengthened to a category 4 hurricane. However, Bill caused only minor problems for the eastern seaboard before eventually making landfall in Newfoundland as a category 1 hurricane. Since Bill conditions have been very quiet.

There have been only 2 hurricanes in the Atlantic this year which is well below average. Note the image below for more statistics.

So why has it been such a quiet year? Many climate experts will blame El Niño conditions for the calm Atlantic tropical season. El Niño often produces wind shear over the Atlantic. Wind shear is detrimental to the formation and existence of tropical systems.

Until Next Time,
Meteorologist Andrew Thut

Hurricane Rick, was once a category 5 hurricane with wind speeds of 180 mph. The image below was taken on Saturday when Rick was the second strongest Eastern Pacific hurricane on record.

That was Saturday, but as of Monday afternoon, Rick has weakened to a category 2 hurricane with wind speeds of 105 mph. Below is a satellite image, which shows that Rick’s eye is no longer visible.

Wind shear has helped cause the tropical system to lose strength. Wind shear is great for the development of mid-latitude cyclones, but for hurricanes it is just the opposite. Wind shear will continue to be a problem and sea surface temperatures will steadily decrease over the next two days as Rick approaches the Baja Peninsula.

Rick is finally expected to reach the Baja on Wednesday morning as a category 1 hurricane with wind speeds between 74 and 95 mph. The consensus of the models point Rick towards making landfall near the tourist areas of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose Cabo on the Baja’s southern tip.

Until Next Time,
Meteorologist Andrew Thut

It’s tour time here at FOX 11 when school groups visit and check out what it looks like behind-the scenes and how we do the weather.  The first-graders from Pioneeer Elementary in Ashwaubenon are learning about weather through the Einstein Project  and they had a lot of questions for me.  One student wanted to know how tornadoes start and another offered an opinion saying, “You look older in person.”  First-graders are a very honest bunch. 

The favorite part of  the tour is when the kids get to draw in the chroma-key wall…the green screen we use as background when we use our weather graphics.  The students did great and I may be calling them to fill in for me sometime.   

On Friday October 16th I gave a weather talk to Carl Traeger Elementary 1st graders.  We talked about tornadoes, rain, snow, low and high pressure.  We also got to ware hats for Heavenly Hats charity.

It seems like just weeks ago, signs of summer were all around. Temperatures were in the 70s and 80s during the early portions of September with most trees yet to change color. Below is a high resolution satellite image from September 2, courtesy of UW-Madison. As shown in the image, the landscape is dominated by greenery.

However, by the middle of the month, leaves started to change color. Below are satellite images from September 17th and September 30th.

It was difficult to find a good image of the landscape during October because we have seen so many cloud days. But the image below form October 7th, gives glimpses of the colorful landscape.

Nevertheless, the colorful landscape will soon be a thing of the past. This weekend will likely be one of the last opportunity’s to soak in this years fall foliage. Colors have nearly reached their peak across Northeast Wisconsin, with some locations in the northern part of the state already past their peak.

So just how was this year for fall colors? I encourage you to share your opinions. I for one believe that the fall colors weren’t anything out of the ordinary, but they also weren’t poor.

Prime conditions for vibrant red colors are warm sunny days with cool nights. That was generally the case during much of September. However, during October we saw cool and wet days with cold nights.

Until Next Time,
Meteorologist Andrew Thut

By The Associated Press

Any cop in the U.S. who makes an arrest must also read the suspect his Miranda rights, those famous few lines beginning: “You have the right to remain silent.” How about overseas? When U.S. authorities arrest a terror suspect, must that person also be read his rights?

Curiosity about the boundaries of American judicial principles inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

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Can you tell me the difference in designation among the American troops deployed throughout the world – i.e., NATO, coalition, UN peacekeepers, etc.?

Kimberly Bush
Springfield, Ill.

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The United States has more than 500,000 forces stationed overseas. They serve under three broad headings. By far the largest is the combatant command system, a geographic designation. U.S. Central Command, for example, covers countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan fall under Centcom’s jurisdiction. The other broad headings are NATO missions and United Nations missions. In both cases, U.S. forces serve alongside those of other nations. Sometimes that means U.S. forces serve in the same place but under different jurisdictions. In Afghanistan, about 31,000 of the current 65,000 U.S. forces serve under the NATO banner.

Anne Gearan
AP National Security Writer
Washington, D.C.

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What is the current U.S. policy regarding the reading of Miranda rights to captured terrorist suspects? Are Miranda rights reserved for U.S. citizens, or are these warnings given to anyone who might be tried in U.S. courts or U.S. military tribunals? Did our policy change when the administrations changed?

Rowland Driskell
Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.

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The Obama administration insists there has been no policy change whatsoever regarding the use of Miranda warnings to terror suspects overseas. The policy is this: there is no need to give Miranda warnings to the vast majority of terror suspects overseas because in most cases there is no expectation such a suspect will be brought to the United States for trial. In those relatively few cases where career agents and prosecutors believe they may want to bring that person to trial in the U.S., then Miranda warnings are to be read.

The administration says that of the thousands of terror suspect detainees interviewed in Afghanistan, only a handful have been Mirandized, and most of those warnings were given during the previous Bush administration. The issue became a political argument after conservatives accused the Obama administration of fostering a new policy that favors criminal prosecution of terror suspects, which could, in theory, lead to more suspects overseas getting Miranda warnings.

Devlin Barrett
AP Justice Department Writer
Washington, D.C.

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In the Oct. 4 edition of Boston Globe Magazine, an article on breast cancer stated that numerous studies have shown a link between the artificial growth hormone rBGH and breast cancer. If this is true, why do products that claim they do not contain rBGH need to display the disclaimer, “FDA states: No significant difference in milk from cows treated with the artificial growth hormone (rBGH)”?

Joanne Quirk
Westfield, Mass.

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Both humans and cows naturally produce growth hormone. The artificial hormone rBGH is a synthetic version of the bovine, or cow, growth hormone that some farmers use to stimulate milk production.

The concern about a possible breast cancer link arose because this first hormone increases the cows’ production of a second natural hormone – IGF-1 – that at very high levels is thought to play a role in certain tumors.

How big a role IGF-1 plays remains a scientific question. But the government concluded that any increase in a person’s body from drinking milk from an rBGH-treated cow would be too small to matter. The Food and Drug Administration required the disclaimer, contending that labeling something “rBGH-free” wrongly implied that it was better.

The American Cancer Society reviewed the controversy earlier this year. The organization took no formal position on the use of rBGH and encouraged more research, but concluded: “To date, there is no evidence that drinking milk produced using rBGH adds substantively to circulating IGF-1 levels in humans or to the risk of developing cancer.”

But the Cancer Society also pointed out a different concern: Cows are given antibiotics to treat rBGH-linked infections, and it’s unclear if that contributes to antibiotic-resistant germs in people.

Lauran Neergaard
AP Medical Writer
Washington, D.C.

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Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

The past two winters have been some of the snowiest on record. And an increase in snowpack helped to produce cooler than average temperatures. But this year, some meteorologists claim that warmer conditions are ahead for the area.

The Climate Predicition Center, a division of the National Weather Service, has released its winter forecast (December through February). Its temperature forecast calls for above average temperatures in Wisconsin. There is an even greater chance that temperatures will be warmer than average in the northern Plains. This forecast is very similar to what typically happens during El Niño years.

El nino conditions develop due to warm waters over the equatorial Pacific and can produce changes in the locations and intensity of the jet stream. We are currently in a weak El Nino, but it is expected to strengthen by the winter.

With this in mind, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at how El Nino’s have affected our winters here in Green Bay. I researched the past five el Nino’s and found that temperatures were warmer than average during the months from December to February, where the average temperature is 19.1° (This is the average overall temperature, not the average high temperature). As shown by the graphic below, the warmest year was in 1997-98, which was the strongest el Nino ever recorded.

Meanwhile the CPC’s precipitation forecast doesn’t have any major signals that we will see above or below normal precipitation. Wetter conditions, however, are expected in the southern portion of the United States.  Many El Niño’s of the past have directed the jet stream across this area.

El Nino, isn’t the only contributor to our climate though. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation can have an even greater impact on the position of the jet stream. PDO is just one of the many things that FOX 11 Chief Meteorologist Patrick Powell will take into consideration when making his long range winter forecast. Look for his winter predictions to be released sometime in November.

Until Next Time,

Meteorologist Andrew Thut