Today's News

Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Charlie McMillan told a gathering of energy executives Tuesday that securing the electrical grid is a major concern right now and it’s only going to become more serious.
“If you look back at the last year, there were several hundred attacks on critical infrastructure,” McMillan said, addressing attendees at the Deloitte Energy Conference near Washington, D.C. “More than 40 percent of those attacks were on the energy sector.”
Resilience and reliability of the electrical grid have become key energy security concerns at the Laboratory and are important focus areas in global security. Experience with massive amounts of data, complex systems and security technology involved in nuclear weapons research are now providing insights for grid security, McMillan said.
“In the time it takes me to say this sentence, the external firewalls of Los Alamos will be challenged hundreds of times by adversaries. Our systems, and yours, are very attractive.” McMillan said. “But encrypting control signals on the grid is particularly challenging because any encryption scheme must be able to meet competing standards for very rapid response and high security.”

A judgment made earlier this year by the New Mexico Human Rights Division of the State of New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions could affect the outcome of a pending lawsuit filed against the Los Alamos Public School District by a school employee.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court by Mountain Elementary teacher Zeynep Unal, alleges she was forced out of her teaching position at Aspen Elementary through the use of trumped up disciplinary actions allegedly used to intimidate, harass and discriminate against her.

“Defendants unlawfully discriminated against the plaintiff through their repeated and continued harassment of her,” a statement in the lawsuit read. “The repeated and continuous harassment included unfounded disciplinary actions, an attempted improper termination and other adverse actions and unequal terms and conditions of employment.

The Defendants engaged in this repeated and continuous harassment because of the plaintiff’s national origin in violation of her rights under federal and state law.”

Unal is from Turkey. The lawsuit was filed April 18. Besides the Los Alamos School District, Unal also named Superintendent of Schools Dr. Gene Schmidt and Aspen Elementary School principal Kathryn Vandenkieboom as defendants.

Today
Artwork by Richard Swenson. An ongoing exhibit during regular business hours at the Betty Ehart Senior Center, the second floor lobby. For more information call Peggy Pendergast at 412-7223.

The Los Alamos Community of Atheists will discuss Islamophobia vs. legitimate critique of religion. 6:30 to 8 p.m. in meeting room 1 of the Mesa Public Library. For questions or more information, visit them Facebook or email losalamoscommunityofatheists@gmail.com. All are welcome.
Thursday
At 5:30 p.m., parents and children are invited to Ruby K’s Bagel Café to create a bagel birdfeeder. Little Forest Playschool will host this craft. Secilly Keeler, a teacher at Little Forest, will bring the supplies and provide hands-on instruction. For more information call 515-7001.

Authors Speak Series presents Steve Sheinkin, author of “Bomb: The Race to Build-and Steal-The World’s Most Dangerous Weapon.” Teens are invited to a pizza party to meet the author at 5:30 p.m. before the talk. Both Upstairs at the Mesa Public Library.

The explosion of the fertilizer plant in the small town of West, Texas, a few weeks ago, killed dozens of people, injured many more, and blew the walls off numbers of buildings. Has that affected your thinking about how to reduce the cost of government?
Texas Gov. Rick Perry commented in a televised interview that maybe we need to consider toughening the regulations on the storage of such dangerous chemicals.
That’s the same Rick Perry who, as a presidential candidate, famously called for the elimination of three major federal agencies and couldn’t remember one of them. Eliminating government excess sounds a whole lot easier in fuzzy generalities than in the wake of a tragedy.
Shall we reduce the staffing of the agencies that enforce the regulation of the storage of explosive chemicals? Regulations generally are effective only when regulatory agencies are capable of enforcing them. Do you need more evidence? Think back to Wall Street, 2008, and policies based on the belief — expressed by the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, among others — that the financial industry would regulate itself.