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Texas Tribune Daily Brief
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| Abandoned Texas Oil Wells Seen as "Ticking Time Bombs" of Contamination |  | Amid a recent oil market crash that followed years of frenzied drilling, Texas is among several states ' including Louisiana and Oklahoma ' grappling with a surge of abandoned drilling sites and dwindling funds to clean them up. Occasionally, the wells yield pollution you can see: oil, brackish water or other smelly substances leaking onto the land. But the biggest threats lie thousands of feet underground: the possible, but tough-to-detect migration of oil and other toxic minerals into aquifers or water supplies.
Jim Malewitz, Texas Tribune 12/22/2016    | | Read Article: Texas Tribune |
| Federal Jury: DuPont Acted with Actual Malice | | A U.S. jury in Ohio on Wednesday ordered DuPont (DD.N) to pay $2 million to a man who said he developed testicular cancer from exposure to a toxic chemical leaked from one of the company's plants. The federal jury also found DuPont acted with actual malice, raising the possibility of punitive damages, Bilott said. It is the third time jurors in Columbus, Ohio federal court have found DuPont liable for injuries linked to perfluorooctanoic acid, known as PFOA or C-8, which is used to make Teflon. There are more than 3,400 lawsuits pending against DuPont over the chemical leak, which allegedly contaminated local water supplies. Chemours Co (CC.N), the performance chemicals unit which was spun off from DuPont last year, has an agreement to cover the costs of such lawsuits.
Erica Teichert, Reuters 12/22/2016 | | Read Article: Reuters |
| 61 Texas Hospitals Will See Federal Funding Cuts in 2017 for Patient Infections, Injuries | | The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its third year of data on payment cuts that facilities will face under the hospital-acquired condition reduction program. Nationally, 769 hospitals will be penalized. The program was established as part of the Affordable Care Act to provide incentive for hospitals to lower the high rates of patients developing new conditions during their stay. The CMS rates facilities on many factors, including patient satisfaction, complications and the need for return visits, as part of a greater push to provide more transparency to consumers.
Sabriya Rice, The Dallas Morning News 12/22/2016 | | Read Article: The Dallas Morning News |
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