House Republicans pull Confederate flag vote

 U.S. House Republican leaders have yanked a controversial vote on keeping Confederate battle flags in national parks, following a reversal and a firestorm.

The vote would have put Southern lawmakers, in particular, in a tough spot, on record as to whether they support allowing the flag to be placed by graves in some limited. House leaders decided today to cancel all votes on a spending bill for the Interior Department and other agencies.

“That bill is going to sit in abeyance until we come to some resolution on it,” House Speaker John Boehner said at a news conference.

Democrats had spent the morning bashing the GOP. Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta, told us the vote was “a shocking development.” He added:

“Hopefully at the end of today this mess will be cleaned up here and we’ll be able to take the knife out of the wound.”

Rep. Jody Hice, R-Monroe, said this morning he planned to support the amendment:

“From what I understand at this point the amendment that’s coming to the floor now simply codifies existing law that’s been in place for five years, which allows the states to recognize the historical significance on dates of their choosing, while at the same time recognizing sensitivities that many people have with the flag.

“I’m just glad that Georgia dealt with this issue [with the state flag] years ago and in the right way, and so you know this law, this amendment would allow Georgia and the states to dictate it. And Georgia’s handled it right.”

A series of voice votes Tuesday night had added language to the spending bill banning all Confederate flags at National Park Service cemeteries. That went too far in the minds of many Southerners, according to a GOP aide, and they wanted an up-or-down vote on the issue and could have sunk the whole spending bill if their concerns were not addressed.

The controversial amendment would have kept the limitations on Confederate memorabilia at gift shops mandated by the Obama administration, but would have allowed small Confederate battle flag displays at certain times at graves — consistent with current policy, but overturning the earlier vote to ban them completely.

After the political firestorm erupted, House leaders decided to scrap the vote and regroup.

Fireworks cause a toxic brew of unhealthy air

The thousands of Fourth of July fireworks celebrations across the nation bring a toxic brew of air pollution to our atmosphere, according to a recent study from federal scientists.

The exploding fireworks unleash tiny particles — about 1/30th the diameter of a typical human hair — that can affect health because they travel deep into a person's respiratory tract, entering the lungs.

The tiny particles are known as "particulate matter" and include dust, dirt, soot, smoke and liquid droplets and are measured in micrometers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. A micrometer is one-millionth of a meter.

The fine particulate matter in this study — which was led by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — were 2.5 micrometers in size.

Both long- and short-term exposures to fine particles are linked to a range of health effects — from coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath, to asthma attacks, heart attack and stroke, to even premature death in people with heart or lung disease, according to the study.

On average, the air is at its worst from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the holiday, the study found. But levels drop back down by noon on July 5.

"These results will help improve air quality predictions, which currently don't account for fireworks as a source of air pollution," said NOAA scientist Dian Seidel and study lead author.

"The study is also another wake-up call for those who may be particularly sensitive to the effects of fine particulate matter," she said.