mrs. collins? >> i have a question. >> i wanted to get -- the dvi code enforcers, who come through the door -- that is where they are denied? >> they are denied assets when managment says -- you can't come in or this is not taking place. there is the denial of the problems existing, the investa tion of rodents or bedbugs. elevators out for two or three days. these are the se conditions denying assets into the hotels. this needs to be tightened. our dvi needs to be on that. that will help them out a lot. >> thank you. >> jamie from dvi. maybe after public comment, he could respond. i will call a few more names. richard, dennis scary, c.w. johnson, darnel vogel, jim aires, brenda washington. karen fishkin. >> i am aaron, and i guess my time has come. i own a beautiful victorian house. what a trip. i read the report from the san francisco department of public health. this is a very good report. with the prevention and control of bedbugs. a great report. the key to success is going to be in implementat

mr. collins, i want to ask you a quick question. you are about as close of an expert running high school sports. we heard that the high school baseball fields are probably the biggest problem they have in terms of demand. what is your experience with that? >> high school baseball fields are a problem. part of it is demand. part of it is supply as ms. kecham properly mentioned, we are forced to employ our middle school, high school baseball season in the fall so they do not overburden the people who play baseball and soft ball in the spring. she is very astute. went to harvard unfortunately but not yale. we forgive her. anyway, she made a very fine point. thank you very much. >> thank you much. >> next speaker. >> yeah, i want to thank you all for staying up this late. it's been a long evening. i've been here since 4:00. as many of you have. my name is rich. i'm on the cysa youth board. i want to point ute few things that some people reiterated. the big thing of water, question save a lot of water. there are a lot of water projects i

mr. collins has been accused of assaulting another inmate.here was never a verification of that, but the accusation was there. >> brian had a history of aggressive behavior, a history of getting into fights with inmates and staff. he was a convicted sex offender, obviously in jeopardy inside a prison, so i think a lot of his aggressive behavior was a means of protecting himself. >> prison officials allowed us to give collins a small videocamera to record his personal thoughts inside his cell. he gave us a rundown of the numerous disciplinary write-ups that he had taped to his wall. >> this is a battery. this is a battery. this is a battery. all of these are batteries. influence to others, disruptive, temperament, volatile, safety habits, careless, supervision required, constant. >> but what we really wanted from collins was the truth about the fight. >> there are two offenders over there that have been messing with me so i went in their room and hit him one time. actually i -- i hit him here. you have an equilibrium station. right here. you h

mr. collins to and talk about how we can manage our state's wealth and we have major activities that wille place in jamestown tonight, and williamsburg, the old southern colonial palace to mark, i think it will be very great for governors. a lead for good joining our governors and talking about the issues of the day, the system of federalism that we have in america, the states being the laboratories of innovation and democracy that our founders decided to be, with the 10th amendment, we will continue to talk about the ways the week of work together work with their stand up to the federal government if they over richard did not give us the flexibility to cover well and hopefully have some positive things for republican and democratic governors joining us. we have this belief that this long and storied history of our country and our long history of experiment in freedom in the american republic it now to under 36 years old, born right here in this place, is one that we all share a great love for and wanted to our small part as governors to keep that torture freedom burning brightly. but tha

mr. collins repeated twice that turkey does not seek armed conflict and does not want a war in the region and that is extremely helpful. if armed conflict is not the goal, aren't the measures that are are a public largely agreed upon and moving in the right direction. so the question remains for us, does turkey have a plan which the u.s. lack of action is frustrating? do the two countries have a common plan, and the u.s. is not moving fast enough for ankar or does calling on the u.s. to do more play well with turkish domestic audiences and relieve pressure on the turkish government? is turkey planning to ask a leg towards a possible conflict involving nato, despite earlier nato statements? it is not clear which of these questions is accurate or if there is some other explanation that is accurate. but i do think this scenario clearly and uniquely illustrates the difficulty in trying to answer the question whether the u.s. is needs the turkey war or whether turkey needs the u.s. war. the diplomatic efforts by the u.s. in the region require turkish support. effective turkish approaches to gr

collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. first, let me thank the senator from west virginia for his comments. he has worked so hard on this issue for many years, but in particular the past three years as he and the chair of the senate intelligence committee, senator feinstein, have worked with senator lieberman and with me. so, mr. president, i rise this evening to urge our colleagues to vote to begin the debate on the cybersecurity act of 2012. senator lieberman and i have introduced this bill, along with our colleague, senator rockefeller, senator feinstein and senator carper. it has been a great pleasure to work with all of them, and work we have in numerous sessions over literally a period of years , as we have attempted to merge the bills that were reported by the commerce committee and the homeland security committee. and, of course, mr. president, it is always a great pleasure to once again work with my dear friend, the chairman of the homeland security subcommittee, senator lieberman, as we bring forth yet

mr. collins who can inspire us about how we can manage our states.or activities that will take place in jamestown tonight analyst bert tomorrow that i think will be very great for our governors. i let joining -- i look forward to joining my fellow governors. the states being the laboratories of innovation and democracies, we will continue to talk about the ways we can work together to work with our stand up to the federal government if they overreach or deny give us the flexibility to govern well and hopefully have some republican -- positive things that both republicans and democrats can join in. regardless of what party we are in, we have this belief that this story history of our country and our long history of the experiment in freedom in the american republic now is one that we all share a great love for and want to do our small parts as governors to keep that torch of freedom burning brightly. i want to turn it over to the chairman of the national governors' association to make remarks, dave heineman. >> thank you very much. as he were giving t

senator collins. >> thank you, mr. chairman. congresswoman harman, you've got extensive experience no just on the homeland security comittee and the house, but on h an o untinued your interest in homeland and national security at the wilson center. our committee over the past decade has hd a variety of polevlbiesh tryto ihigt c has, and how we should respond to them. in your testimony you pointed out that dhs has evolved, and so have our nmes one of h remhti beeve dhs has is the going out what is the greatest threat and what resources should be dect, my going to the threts. cargo container coming into ou seaports? is it an act of bioterrorism? is it cargo security? is it homegrown erri h th g dofro, youti m add your is it a cyberattack? if you were secretary of the department, what would be your priority? demechfosobelie t be? >> that's a very hard question, and my first answer is it shouldt just be the department's responsibility. it's a governmentwide responsibility. have coordinated our of oe ctfagncieun t t your question has

mr. john collins. how are you, john? >> pretty good. good morning, everybody. you mentioned the olympics. they start next friday or saturday. the kind of weather they've been having in london is what we're getting this morning, rain much >> and we really need it. >> yeah, we did need the rain. we didn't need all three or four inches we got yesterday, all in twin load, or the day before, the evening before. but we still have rain in the forecast for today. we're still trying to move this front to the south of us. farther south to allow dryer air to get in. it's not happening right now. right now, we have some light rain showers and drizzle over the area. just covering the metropolitan area now from the eastern shore northwestward out into carroll county, and there's more to the west in northern virginia and west virginia as well, and it's drifting in, traveling along the north edge of that front. so, yes, we still have rain in the forecast today. we'll try to salvage tomorrow. it might be a 50-50 this weekend. i'll talk about it coming up with the insta-weather.

collins. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> nearly 10 years ago, the creation of the department of homeland security brought together 22 different agencies into a single department to focus on protecting our country and its citizens. yesterday, we explored the emerging security threats our nation is likely to confront. in my judgment, the largest threat is a cyber attack. today, we will examine whether dhs is well-positioned to address these as well as other, longer-standing threats. the changing threat landscape at home and abroad requires the department to be nimble and imaginative, effective and efficient, qualities not often associated with large bureaucracies. yet the men and women of dhs can take pride in the absence of a successful large-scale attack on our country during the past decade and in the department's contributions to thwarting numerous terrorist plots. there have been successes and failures over the last 10 years. information sharing has improved, but remains a work in progress. ten years ago, we

senator collins. >> thank you, mr. chairman. congresswoman harman, y have had extensi teen committee and i know you have continued your interest in homeland and national security at the wilson center. our committee oe de h et in to highlight possible vulnerabilities that our country has and how we should respond to them. in your testimo you have ol oav ot that s has enemies. one of the problems that i believe dhs has is figuring out what is the greatest threat and what rrces ic ttsra o is it a weapon of mass destruction smuggle about -- smuggled into a cargo teisner our sor i c sit is it homegrown terrorism which we have done a great deal of work on at your suggestion i might add. is it a cyberatck? if you were secretary of th riy?nthatou du ev the department's chief focus should be? >> that a very hard question. my first answer is, it shouldn't just be the department's responsility. it is aoverentwide reonsili weconaou of o director of national intelligence and i think part of the answer to tat, to your question, has to come fr

mr. collins it can inspire us with how we can manage our state's well, and we have major activities that will take place in jamestown, tonight, and in williamsburg, the old governor's palace tomorrow, and it will be great for our governors. i look forward to talking to about the issues of today, the system of federalism we have in america, the states being the laboratories of democracy is that our founders designed it to be. we will talk about ways we can work together to work with or stand up to the federal government if they overreach or do not give us the flexibility to govern well and have positive things that republican and democrat governors and joined in. regardless of what party we are in, we have this belief that this long and storied history of our country and our long history of experiment in freedom in the american republic, 236 years old, born in this place is one that we all share a great love for. of what to turn it over to the chairman of the national governors' association to make his remarks. >> thank you very much. as you were giving those remarks, in particular, virgi

mrs. ripken in the back seat of her car. >> that was david collins reporting. police are still process in the car for information. there is a $2,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction. >> the mall in columbia will be transformed into an open-air plaza surrounded by restaurants and stores. today, whole foods market opened it will announce a store in columbia. rob roblin has details. >> the company headquarters building here in colombia was built in 1974. it was and still is the centerpiece of columbia. today inside the historic building, another store will occupy 45,000 square feet of the building. >> it is great to take something that already belongs in the community and make it grow with the next generation. >> is just the beginning of the redevelopment of columbia. >> at think it will become what it probably was envisioned to be at the beginning. it will be a place where you come and park your car, but you never come back to it. it will be a fun place. >> while columbia will be redeveloped in a few years and whole foods is just the beginning, i

mr. president, on behalf of senator lieberman and collins and others, i call up amendment numbered 2731, which is at the desk, i ask that it be reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, for mr. lieberman and others proposes amendment numbered 2731. mr. reid: i ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. reid: thank you, mr. president. on behalf of senator franken, i call amendment numbered 2732 which is also at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, for mr. franken, proposes amendment numbered 2732 to amendment number 2731. mr. reid: i have an amendment, mr. president, to the language proposed to be stricken. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment to the language proposed to be stricken by amendment numbered 2731. mr. reid: i ask for the yeas and nays on that. the presiding officer: is

news4's pat collins joins us live from aberdeen, maryland with more. pat? >> reporter: pat, neighbors saying mrsf going out to mcdonald's for breakfast. maybe the gunman knew that. maybe that's why he was wait fog her at that garage. violet ripken, the 74-year-old mother of orioles star cal ripken. he was kidnapped, tied up, blind gp folded, held for 24 hours before she was released this morning just a couple blocks from her aberdeen

on behalf of the entire senate, i want to congratulate senator collins for this great achievement. mr. reid: it is a remarkable accomplishment. i hope i don't get in trouble, but i really like her. i appreciate her ability to work with us, work with everybody. she is somebody who you never have to guess where she stands on an issue, and i admire and appreciate her so much for that. i've worked with her on issues going back for many, many years. i really, again, say i appreciate what she's doing. she has great genes. her mother and father each served as mayor of a small town in maine, a place called caribou. and i have really -- i don't have fond memories of caribou because in my, i think it was my 1998 race, we were, this great mailing that we did, one of my consultants from nevada, instead of having deer, they had caribou on my campaign literature. it took me awhile to figure that one out. i'm sure the town of caribou is bigger than my campaign spot. her family ran a lumber business. her father was also a state senator. i am confident that susan has learned to be the senator that she

mr. president. and we have to do it quickly. i want thank senators lieberman, collins, feinstein and rockefeller for putting together this bill. the cybersecurity act of 2012. they've introduced an approach that is balanced, bipartisan, and responsive to legitimate concerns raised by the intelligence community, private city, -- industry, and privacy advocates. the siebd will make us safer. -- the cybersecurity act of 2012 will make us safer. pipelines, electrical grids, water treatment facilities, transportation systems, even financial networks are increasingly vulnerable to attack. bad actors in other countries have already demonstrated their ability to use the internote take control of computer systems -- internet to take control of computer systems. last year there was a 400% increase on signary tacks on the -- cyber attacks. in response to concerns raised by some in the private sect disper some on the other side -- sector and some on the other side of the aisle, senator lieberman and collins revised a section of the bill. the bill now creates a voluntary incentive-

mr. barrett is eager to make a point. >> i think if this committee is interested in protecting localism and if you're having to cover the wildfires in fort collins, the auto hopper will be damaging to the business models and provide the kind of coverage that's important to your district. >> that's why i'm saying, i think for the -- for the local broadcasters, i'm sympathetic to the business model, but we need to balance that plus the consumers wanting the choice. it's not dish that wants to have that choice. it's the consumer, so i think we'll have to work that out. thank you very much, mr. chairman. the gentle lady's time has expired and miss black burn is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you so much. i just have a couple of questions that i want to get to today, but i do thank all of you for your patience and for your diligence in continuing to work on this issue. miss sohn, which you're the only female on the panel and you, we need more women down there. let me go to something. you said previously. you basically endorsed having usage-based billing at one point by saying the isps should charge a flat rate for a certain amount of bandwidth

on behalf of the entire senate, i want to congratulate senator collins for this great achievement. mr. reid: it is a remarkable accomplishment. i hope i don't get in trouble, but i really like her. i appreciate her ability to work with us, work with everybody. she is somebody who you never have to guess where she stands on an issue, and i admire and appreciate her so much for that. i've worked with her on issues going back for many, many years. i really, again, say i appreciate what she's doing. she has great genes. her mother and father each served as mayor of a small town in maine, a place called caribou. and i have really -- i don't have fond memories of caribou because in my, ihink it was my 1998 race, we we, this great mailing that we did, one of my consultants from nevada, instead of having deer, they had caribou on my campaign literature. it took me awhile to figure that one out. i'm sure the town of caribou is bigger than my campaign spot. her family ran a lumber business. her father was also a state senator. i am confident that susan has learned toe the senator that she is be

mr. speaker. i rise today to honor the brave firefighters, the sheriff's department officials, policemen, first responders who fought the hyde park fire near fort collins, colorado, and those who cared so deeply for their neighbors and communities by providing a helping hand. mr. gardner: the hyde park fire was the most destructive in northern colorado. the burning of over 87,000 acres, destroying 259 homes, and displacing hundreds of families for weeks. at its peak over 2,000 firefighters, national guardsmen, law enforcement, and others braved extremely rugged terrain, 100-plus degree temperatures, and high winds to battle this complex and fast moving fire. in some cases local volunteer firefighters fought on the fire line for the good of the community. despite knowing that their own homes would likely be burned to the ground. as science popped up across the front range of colorado thanking those brave men and women for their service, this congress salutes you. because of the brave and immense efforts of these firefighters, lives were saved, homes were preserved, and generations to come will be able to continue to enjoy some of the most beautiful and

mr. president, i -- i want to begin my statement by thanking the aforementioned senators collins, rockefeller, feinstein and carper who joined me in sponsoring s. 3414, which i want to talk about a bit now in this opening statement. i also want to thank the majority leader, senator reid, for seeing the cyber threat to america in all its urgency and reality. last year urging senator collins and me to go forward and repor report -- work on legislation, try to work across party lines to get a bill out, and then now to thank senator reid for keeping his commitment to bring this bill to the floor, even though, as always, there are clearly other important issues vying for this body's attention. but to me, there's none more important to america's security or -- and prosperity than this topic, which is cyber security and the cyber security bill that is pending now. i'd like to make three points in my remarks today to my colleagues. first is that the danger of cyber attacks against the united states is clear, present and growing. with enemies ranging from rival nations to cyber terrorists, organized c

collins: and i would yield the floor. thank you, madam president. mr. franken: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. mr. franken: madam president, i rise today to talk about our nation's defenses against cyber attacks, and i would like to commend the senator from maine for her leadership and all the chair -- the ranking member, of course, on homeland security. and i would like also to commend all the -- the three chairs, lieberman, feinstein, rockefeller for their work. as i said, i rise today to talk about our nation's defense against cyber attacks and how our nation needs to respond to those threats which affect our national security, our economic security, and our privacy. news reports and experts confirm that our nation's critical infrastructure, such as our water systems, our power grid and so forth, are vulnerable to attacks from hackers and foreign governments. and every few weeks, we hear about yet another breach, yahoo and gmail, citibank, bank of america, sony playstation. millions of people have had their names, passwords, credit card inf

mr. president, i would just alert everyone to this: i would hope those people led by senators lieberman and senator collins will work to come up with a finite list of amendments so we can move on to the cybersecurity bill. i've spoken to the republican leader yesterday and i'm being really patient trying to get a list of amendments we can agree on. i hope that can be done soon. it is very important that we make a determination whether we're going to be able to get a bill. there's not a lot of time left to tread water, so to speak. this important piece of legislation -- all one needs to do is look at what's going on in india today. now, there's no cyber problem over there that i'm aware of, but they've had one-half of the country of india without electricity today. transportation has been such down. financial networks in india, which are significant, are down. and it's really a chaotic place. 600 million people in india are without electricity. and as we have been told time and time again, the most important issue we have facing this country today for security is cyber. we've been told that by the joint chi

mr. mcconnell: the senator from maine, senator collins, just passed an important milestone. her 5,000th consecutive roll call vote. a tenacious accomplishment indeed and represents the work ethic and dedication senator collins has for the people of maine and for the senate. we all know she's one of the hardest-working members of the united states senate. listen to this. since she was sworn in in january, january 3 of 1997, she's been present for every single roll call vote. that's over 15 consecutive years of never missing a vote. senator collins is actually in quite an elite company. recently she passed senator byrd and is now third all-time behind senator chuck grassley and the late bill proxmire from wisconsin. i know she took great pride also to be in the company of her role model, a woman that played a major role in her decision to run for public office in the first place, fellow maine senator margaret chase smith, currently number five on the list. on behalf of the entire senate, i want to congratulate senator collins for this great achievement. mr. reid: it is a remar