A summer of record hot and dry weather across the United States is reviving concerns about global warming. July was the hottest ever in the Lower 48 states, government scientists reported on Wednesday. Sen. Bernie Sanders has taken a lead in focusing attention on the risks that human-caused climate change poses to our planet. In a radio interview on Thursday, Sanders questioned whether President Obama has retreated from his 2008 campaign promise not to cut Social Security. On Monday, the senator chaired a field hearing of the Senate energy committee on above-average gasoline prices in Burlington, Vt.  

Sen. Sanders chairs a field hearing Monday in Burlington, Vt., on high gasoline prices. 

Global Warming 

July broke a record set during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s for the hottest month ever recorded in the Lower 48 states, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced.  NOAA records go back to 1895. Sanders has cited this summer's scorching temperatures and severe drought in calling on Congress to get serious about climate change.

Social Security 

"Where is the president when it comes to Social Security," Sanders asked Thursday on The Ed Schultz Show. "In terms of Romney, we know he wants to privatize Social Security. He and his friends are looking at raising the retirement age. He and his friends are looking at cutting the COLA." Obama, Sanders said, should be clear that he opposes cuts. Listen

USPS 

The Postal Service reported a $5.2 billion net loss on Thursday for the quarter that ended June 30. The Postal Service attributed the net loss mostly to a 2006 law requiring that the agency make a $5 billion payment each year for 10 years to pre-fund future retirees' health benefits. A Senate-passed bill that Sanders helped write would modernize the Postal Service and retool its finances, but the House has refused to act.

Gas Prices 

Sanders chaired a Senate energy committee field hearing last Monday on why gasoline prices in northwestern Vermont have been among the highest in the nation. Burlington area gas prices over the past three years have exceeded the U.S. average 86 percent of the time - sometimes by as much as 29 cents per gallon. During the same period, Burlington prices exceeded the statewide average 72 percent of time. The average price in Burlington on Friday was $3.68, a 13-cent price spike in just one week, according to gasbuddy.com. Friday's average price in Burlington also was greater than one month ago ($3.59), greater than one year ago ($3.63) and - as usual - greater than the national average ($3.66). Watch

Wall Street 

The Justice Department said Thursday that it won't bring charges against Goldman Sachs or any of its employees for financial fraud related to the mortgage crisis.

"Pharmaceutical companies, military contractors, banks and other corporations are on track to pay as much as $8 billion this year to resolve charges of defrauding the government ... but the settlements for civil charges of fraud raise questions about the relative lack of charges against executives at the companies that are getting the stiffest penalties," The New York Times reported.

"When I testified before the Senate in 1988, I warned of the kind of future that climate change would bring to us and our planet. I painted a grim picture of the consequences of steadily increasing temperatures, driven by mankind's use of fossil fuels. But I have a confession to make: I was too optimistic," NASA's James Hansen wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.