and we're very honored and happy to thank the fda -- fta for its partnership. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, jose luis. he mentioned the importance of maintaining what we have, and we have been speaking mostly about capital investment, and that is critically important to upgrading and replacing old infrastructure, outdated buses and trains. but we also need to invest our operating dollars. i am very pleased that for the two-year fiscal cycle the started this month, the mta board of directors approved a budget that improved substantially invested -- investment in the maintenance of our system, buses, trains, overhead wires, signals, it switches. this is not sexy stuff, putting money into maintenance of existing equipment, but it is extremely important. sfmta board showed its leadership in putting its money where it its mouth was, investing our local of redding dollars into the maintenance of a system that supports the larger state of good repair investment that is so strongly and luckily -- and welcome to. sleep plays to bring up a representative from our board, the v

in march, the board adopted a baseline budget followed by a request to the fta a full funding agreementst year. up until+Ñ.'- today, the board s allocated $40 million and funds. expenditures to date are -- the allocation in front of you today is to partially fund the tunnel contract. basically, we will be leveraging federal funds, state funds. this contract was awarded last year. $13 million under the estimates. this is the first major construction contract for the project. 1.5 miles under fourth street near stockton to north beach. with three separate notices to proceed. hat of the project. the first, the tunnel boring machines, that was part of the first project to proceed. construction of the launch box. that was the second noticed to proceed. under the freeway at fort st., you can see the activity going on there. the subject of this allocation is the ongoing work, which is the driving of the tunnels themselves, construction of the shaft,o@oh'p" walls for the station at union square and mosconi. of course, the protection of the buildings is part of the contract. in front of you you h

on behalf of the a 70 board of directors, want to thank the deputy administrator and the fta for providing this critical funds. i also want to thank our congressional delegation for their efforts to fight for funds to keep trends in moving throughout our region, not/i our city, and providing bluer skies and better access for all. a big thank you to local leadership, mayor lee and supervisor campos, who was not here, represented by jose luis. especially this supervisors capacity as chair of the transportationwmnçqzr(uáhority d improving muni and making it a transit choice of people want to take instead of transportation of last resort. both grant awards more than $6 million to improve livability and $15 million for the new buses, electric hybrid buses, to support and further the sfmta's plan to member frontline transit service throughout san francisco. i happily in probably serve on the sfmta board of directors, but if you had done me a few years ago how much time i would spend thinking about buses and transportation systems and that when i visit another city, i envy and have it not only th

and fta see is not really insurance. risky banks do not pay a higher premium. it is the same rate of moral hazard. those more conservative are making less money and reckless banks are making more money so conservative says we should be reckless. and that is a shorthand way to explain what has happened, next year the fed will be a 100 years old. it has been going on 100 years. >> host: what should be done in your view? >> there is only one thing. it is a cartel with the monopoly power it needs to be abolished. no other way around it. you cannot take the power and not expect it to corrupt. bankers are politicians eventually they will be corrupted by it. the federal reserve system is a cartel. america needs to abolish its before it abolishes america to seven is that politically possible? >> not now. the average person does not understand it but it is becoming more possible with the passage of every month and year as more people wake up to the fact our banking industry is based upon fraud and all of the stimulus programs plunder the people as they come to this ther

we know the full funding grant agreement was supported by the fta to the secretary of transportation. we understand it has gone on to the office of management and budget, but as i said, we're in a radio silence. they are really keeping very mum about the process, the way they operate. commissioner avalos: we submitted the application, have not heard back. any communication? >> we heard back that it was approved by the fta, signed off, moved on to the secretary of transportation for his signature. we are receiving indication that the secretary has signed off on it, and it has gone to the office of management and budget. however, we do not have official confirmation that that has happened. commissioner avalos: so september is still an estimate? >> yes, september is still good. the one thing they have told us, we will have the full funding grant agreement here that is the best information we have. commissioner avalos: so it is beyond all of the holocaust that happen in congress and all that? >> correct. commissioner avalos: ok, very good. colleagues, comments or questions? seeing none, w

the total cost of the procurement project is approximately $36 million and it will be funded by fta funds prop k. we have a few recommendations i wanted to highlight for the committee. there are approximately $50 million in unallocated prop k funds in the mta vehicle category. these funds are available through fiscal year 2013-2014. the mta has three upcoming procurements scheduled for its hybrids and trolleybuses. the fypp amendment would allow the board to schedule a budget for the procurement as well as the funding plan. this particular program was originally entertain to procure the vehicles for the van ness brt project. to to the timing, it may not work for that project, but two of the upcoming three procurements in the next three years will actually accommodate the van ness brt project. that is something we will losthe presenting its september, along with the fleet plan. we would bring a five-year ypp and men and plans for that simultaneously. lastly, as the cac report indicated, we have also added -- requiring a commitment from the hd vehicles in a state of repair including an mid

and we're very honored and happy to thank the fda -- fta for its partnership. thank you very much.] >> thank

wanted to thank the fta and therese°1%15pfor the strong emps on state of good repair, making on the regionch is a really great thing, considering where we were 40 years ago when we did not have bart. the reinvestment in the system has been tremendous, and we need to keep it up. also, our leadership in congress who are steadfast defenders of public transit and of moving folks. and all of my colleagues in transportation, doing what we can to make the system work for all of you. so thanks again, all of you. [applause] >> thank you, tom. representing our transit agency to the south, the board member and the redwood city council member, jeff. [applause] >> good morning. on behalf of our board, our organization, and the san mateo county community, i want to thank our federal prison does for their commitment to san mateo county and transportation infrastructure. and to the economic environmental health. the state of good repair grant funding will allow sam trans to update our fleet of buses the latest diesel electric buses that you see. it truly is a win-win-win. for all of us. ridership it's a b

it has agreed to stop distributing cantaloupes at this time, but the fta has decided to issue a formal recall. dozens of people became ill and two people died. if you have a melon from indiana or you don't know where it came from, throwaway. concerns continue about the west nile virus. one of the largest outbreaks in the u.s., more than 1100 illnesses reported. about half of them in texas. 41 deaths so far this year. we have seen a few cases in our area. experts are concerned more cases could be cropping up in the next couple weeks. >> it might be all little early for our area to start reporting many cases. we will probably start to hear little pockets within the next month. >> to prevent contracting the west nile virus, you should use books greg, can avoid being outside after dark or before dawn. and get rid of standing water. >> let's check on the weather with adam caskey. >> it has been comfortable the past couple mornings especially off to the west where it's in the upper 50's. patchy fog to deal with. that has more time to develop. as sunrise is not until about 6:30. and i will ha

. >>> tonight the fta is expanding its investigation into pet treats that may be linked to sickness or even death in some dogs. >> vicky joins us with the new follow up. this is going beyond chicken jerky treats. >> reporter: that's right. three warnings have been issued in the past five telling pet owners chicken jer key treats may be linked to sickness in dogs. safeway has just confirmed to nbc bay area it will no longer buy chicken jerky treats made by milo kitchen. the treats have been discontinued. the safeway's facebook page is kbloeing up since our report at 5:00 with positive comments as pet owners thank the chain for its decision. two weeks ago we told you the story of rachel chairmans. he said her dog died after eating chicken jerky treats. she's joined the plight of thousands of pet owners who are calling on stores to remove these products from their shelves. more than 1800 complaints gone to the fda about the treats. the agency cannot find any contaminants in the treat, chicken, duck or otherwise. there's not been a recall. makers of the treats say they too have tested the

but i do know that fta agents are there and they are involved in weapon searches and the like. >> donr, a reporter with the "milwaukee sentinal," thank you for joining us today. >> you're welcome. >> let's go back to clint van zandt. we were just hearing that federal officials are now at the home -- believed to be the home of this alleged shooter. what exactly are they doing now? >> well, they are going to be looking for his records and cell phones. they are trying to find out what, if any, if they can determine the motive -- the shooter is dead. he can't tell us his mod tif. hopefully we can find that out from his writings, his internet, his phone calls, e-mail. and, number two, was there a co-conspirator with these activities. we found out from a couple weeks ago that there were hints. psychological rage issue. we found that in aurora and we're going to probably find it now. we just need to give the authorities time to sort this out. >> as a former fbi profiler, tell us about the kind of person who does this kind of thing and they always seem to meet the same kind of skripg. young w

i'm not aware of the fta report that you are alluding to but they question about complementary medications, earlier today we were discussing this very issue. my take on it is that alternative and complementary remedies are only alternative until they are shown to work and then they are sure by conventional medicine. this demarcation is actually artificial. to me, not to most people but i actually view it not as between alternative and complementary and conventional. i look at whatks andhat es not work. to me that is a key distinction and to know what works one has to test it ruthlessly. there is some sentiment that i don't agree with that alternative medications don't have to go through western-style testing in order to be thought of as efficacious. interestingly neither does germany. if you look at your many money have a long tradition of testing alternative and supplemental medications and they have a really good body of evidence now that there are some things at work and some things that don't work. that is holy need to do. we need to do a vigorous testing. it is simply an does. people

but i know with interest, i am puzzled by the idea of a japan, korea, china fta. really? i saw the announcement to months ago. i was trying to figure out how does that work? at a time when -- i shiver because they are authentic experts in the global trade regime. when there is no next obvious thing, for us to spend time and energy diverted from the largest free trade agreement in the world, nafta, and adding and enriching confidence with japan. in terms of what is next -- in terms of what is next and the pollsters the alliance, that seems an obvious and important signaling. for the rest of the region currently in doubt because of the background noise from your -- from europe, that could be vitally important signaling. >> on energy, i can think of a least one opportunity japan would forfeit. and one additional risk it would take on. what we are suggesting is that we leverage the alliance to remove japan's second-class status when it comes to being a customer for our lbg expert. i think that opportunity would go away. -- lng exports. i think that opportunity would go away.

and frankly i am simply puzzled by the idea of a japan curry at china to the acoustics korea china fta and trying to figure how that would work as my daughter would say. it's frankly puzzling. at a time when shapiro said here i shiver because there are authentic experts in the global trade regime. when there is no next obvious thing for us to be to spend time and energy diverted from the largest free trade agreement in the world nafta and adding and enriching confidence and habits of cooperation for and what this achievement in the bolsters the alliance that seems an obvious and important bit of signaling that for the rest of the region currently in doubt because of the background about the future of export growth. that could be vitally important signaling. >> on the energy we are a non-answer to wither. one opportunity japan would forfeit and one additional risk it would take on. we are suggesting that we leverage the alliance to remove japan's second-class status when it comes to being a customer for our experts. alliance to whether i think that opportunity would go away. and also wi

track, but i note with interest, and frankly, i'm simply puzzled by the idea of a japan-korea-china fta. really, really? i saw that announcemented two months ago, -- announcement two months ago, and i was trying to figure out how does that work as my 19-year-old daughter would say. it's frankly puzzling. at a time when i see irish and meredith broadband, i shriver because they are experts in the global trade regime, and when there's no next obvious thing for us to spend time and energy, i think diverted from the largest free trade agreement in the world, nafta, and adding and enriching confidence and habits of cooperation with japan, terms of what's next, what's achievable, and what bolsters the alliance, that's an obvious and important bit of signaling that for the rest of the region, currently in doubt because of the background noise from europe, about the future of export growth, well, that could be, we think, vitally important signaling. >> tom? >> on energy, where our alliance to wither. i can think of one opportunity japan would forfeit and an additional risk to take on. what we'r

track, but i note with interest, and frankly, i'm simply puzzled by the idea of a japan-korea-china fta. really? really? i saw that announcement two months ago, and i was trying to figure out how does that work as my 19-year-old daughter would say. it's frankly puzzling. we, at a time when we are here, and i shiver because they are authentic experts in the global trade regime, and when there's no next obvious thing for us to be -- to spend time and energy, i think, difficult diverted froe largest free trade agreement in the world, nafta, and adding and enriching confidence and habiting of cooperation with japan, in terms of what's next or achievement and what bolsters the alliance. that's obvious, and an important bit of signaling that for the rest of the region in doubt because of the background noise from europe for the future of export growth, well, that could be, we think, vitally important signaling. >> were our alliae to wither, there's one opportunity japan would forfeit and one additional risk it would take on. what we're suggesting is that we leverage the alliance to remove jap