Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), as the most senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, likely will replace Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), who died Monday, as the head of the panel. The Hill reports that Dicks would be acting panel chairman pending a formal vote, for which he is lining up support. Dicks, who called Murtha a “strong leader and exceptionally fair chairman” of the defense spending panel in a statement on his death, is a long-time proponent of Boeing, which has major production facilities in Washington state. He has led a Congressional push to get the Obama Administration to bar EADS (teamed with Northrop Grumman) from competing in the KC-X tanker program over the European government subsidies issue.
Active-Duty Airmen only have a few days left to submit an official waist-to-height ratio into the Air Force’s new online application. But the service clarified July 23 that this first body composition measurement is not meant to be scored as part of the new Physical Fitness Readiness Assessment, or PFRA