Since when have things become so topsy-turvy in Washington?

The conventional political wisdom has held that Republicans are the disciplined party, always loyal to the leadership and united in their strategy and talking points. It’s normally the Democrats who are barely unified enough to be considered an organized party.

However, in the shutdown debacle, it seems that the traditional roles  have switched.

Meanwhile, big business is in the unusual role of scolding House Republicans for their economically destructive antics.

This entire crisis is the result of a civil war that’s been brewing in the GOP’s own ranks since the rise of the Tea Party in the 2010 midterm elections. Speaker John Boehner is the only glue left holding together a Republican caucus split between establishment moderates and grassroots radicals.

While establishment Republicans are feeling the political heat of the last week, the Tea Party House members are not. Despite leading the charge in the ill-fated plan to defund Obamacare, they are largely free from potential electoral blowback due to the gerrymandered districts they represent.

The Democrats’ refusal to negotiate until the government reopens puts Speaker Boehner in a difficult position. Either he caves and risks losing his speakership to the radical faction of his caucus or leaves the government closed and risks electoral fallout. This could jeopardize the prospects for Republicans regaining the Senate and perhaps the White House in 2016.

There’s no telling how this standoff ends, but whatever happens will have major implications for the Not-So-Grand Old Party.

A project to build a $400 million gambling complex that will be home to a casino on Baltimore’s Russell Street is moving forward. Construction wasn’t allowed on the piece of land until last year due to the risk of flooding.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said the property was in an area that was particularly prone to flooding, but the city paid a consulting firm to re-evaluate the land and file an appeal. As a result, a new federal map was drawn and construction was allowed to move forward.

In an article in The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday, Geography and Environmental Systems Professor Andrew Miller described how it can be difficult to pinpoint the science behind flood maps.

“The truth is, the 100-year flood map is really somebody’s best estimate,” Miller said. “The 100-year flood is a moving target. You’ve got so many variables.”

Miller also said there are other areas near the harbor that are more prone to flooding than the casino.

“The casino is the least of our problems,” he said. “There’s a risk, but we accept those kinds of risks any time we build a city in a coastal zone.”

·Green roof, having vegetation or special plants to absorb rain water runoff and also helps maintain cooler temperatures on the roof during summer months;

·Compact high tech Variable Air HVAC system yields greater energy efficiency to heat and cool the building versus more conventional systems;

·Exterior wall and roof systems are well-insulated for greater energy efficiency to heat/cool building;

·Windows are insulated with low-E and also have reflectance properties to minimize unwanted solar heat during summer months and still allow some desired solar heat during winter months;

·Programmable lighting controls also control the solar shades to position in ideal position for sun light conditions;

·Roof membrane is pure white to reflect sunlight versus absorb the sun’s energy;

·Daylight harvesting was designed to react to the sun’s light in the larger spaces, turning off certain fixtures automatically to utilize the sun’s light in lieu of power to light the space;

·Low off gas materials and products were used on the interior to minimize or eliminate extensive off gassing of synthetic chemicals found in conventional products;

·¼ of Lot 6 was reconstructed to be a pervious lot that allows water to drain through it and essentially helps clean the water and trap oils or grime from cars beneath he ground locally. Pervious lots do two things: they help maintain water runoff during rains and also help filter or trap particulates in the water runoff before it reaches outfalls that empty into creeks and rivers;

·Energy efficient vehicle parking spaces nearby the building;

·Building structure, skin and interior is largely made of materials that can be recycled at the end of the building’s life cycle;

·Occupancy sensors and dimming controls throughout to effectively minimize burning time of lamps when the spaces within the building are not in use;

·Efficient plumbing fixtures in bathrooms and kitchen area minimize water consumption and power;

·Building has smart metering for easy tracking and measuring building performance related to its energy consumption;

·Exterior skin of the building is designed to be sustainable for at least 50 years without requiring any form of major maintenance or restoration;

·Laundry utilizes high efficiency washers and dryers and is design to utilize 100% fresh outside air intake for dryers;

·Building is designed to have high efficiency supply of fresh outside air consistently throughout the building;

·Carpet is comprised of 70-90% recycled materials with little to no off gassing;

·An abundant of windows were designed to provide an abundant of light within the high use spaces;

·Renewable energy is being purchased by Residential Life to power the building that will help contribute and promote advancement of solar and wind power sources supplying the grid at locations throughout the US.

Dr. Leonid Yurganov returns from a recent Arctic expedition checking out methane emissions from the Arctic Ocean. Read more here.

A recent federal court ruling stated Maryland had violated its constitutional commitment by allowing traditionally White institutions of higher education to duplicate programs already offered by Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s).

Several panelists, including American Studies Assistant Professor Kimberly Moffitt, were on The Marc Steiner Show Thursday to discuss the ruling and its implications. As part of the discussion, the panelists addressed part of the ruling that mentioned transferring or merging high-demand programs from traditionally White institutions to HBCU’s as a remedy.

“The fact of lifting or possibly lifting programs and relocating them says a great deal about what hasn’t been done or at least what has been suspected to have not been done to avoid duplication of services and programs,” Moffitt said. “But it also says a lot about where we need to go to make sure these same issues do not continue to happen.”

Also participating in the discussion were Secretary of Higher Education at the Maryland Higher Education Commission Dr. Danette Gerald Howard, President of the Coalition for Excellence and Equity in Higher Education (lead plaintiff in the case) David Burton, and Editor and co-Founder of Inside Higher Ed Scott Jaschick.

You can listen to the full segment here.

UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski joined U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, former governor of Michigan John Engler and U.S. Manufacturing Council’s Mary Isbister to discuss the role of higher education in preparing the U.S. workforce for global competitiveness in a panel discussion at NBC News’ fourth annual Education Nation Summit.

The segment, What It Takes: Keeping Up with the Competition, Part II – Our Workforce, moderated by NBC News “TODAY” co-anchor Matt Lauer, revolves around the recently released Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) report, which compares the skills and competencies of the adult workforce in 23 countries. According to the exam, Americans performed below the international average on math, reading and problem-solving.

“Scores will continue to go down until we bridge the gap between the haves and have nots,” said Dr. Hrabowski. “We need a new value system that it’s cool to be smart in America. We need to celebrate academics like we celebrate sports.”

The panel discussion was also covered by WBAL-TV in a story highlighting the disparity in test results between the U.S. and other nations. Dr. Hrabowski agreed with Sec. Arne Duncan that the growing “opportunity gap in our country” needs to be addressed. “We have so many, a large percentage, of our Americans who are from low-income families, who have not had an education and have not had the opportunity to learn to read and think critically,” Hrabowski said.

The Education Nation Summit brings together more than 300 of the country’s top thought leaders and influencers in education, government, business, philanthropy and media to discuss the relationship between education and opportunity – helping to engage the U.S. in an unprecedented discussion about how to improve education and prepare our youth for the jobs of the future.