Texas Tribune Daily Brief
| | |
| Carbon Wars: '˜Get Someone Up Here. We're All Dying' | | | There are 141 oil refineries in the United States. Where they are clustered ' east and south of Houston, south of Los Angeles, northeast of San Francisco ' they are prodigious sources of air pollution and inflict a sort of low-grade misery ' rank odors, bright flares, loud noises ' on their neighbors. They also pose an existential threat, as evidenced by the more than 500 refinery accidents reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency since 1994.
Jim Morris, The Center for Public Integrity 12/14/2016   
| | Read Article: The Center for Public Integrity |
| Reversing Course, E.P.A. Says Fracking Can Contaminate Drinking Water |  | The Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that hydraulic fracturing, the oil and gas extraction technique also known as fracking, has contaminated drinking water in some circumstances, according to the final version of a comprehensive study first issued in 2015. The new version is far more worrying than the first, which found 'no evidence that fracking systemically contaminates water' supplies. In a significant change, that conclusion was deleted from the final study.
CORAL DAVENPORT, The New York Times 12/14/2016 | | Read Article: The New York Times |
| Big Banks Fight to Block Crisis-Era Lawsuits From Continuing | | Big banks are fighting tens of billions of dollars of potential legal costs linked to at least a dozen pending lawsuits arising from the financial crisis. Now they want the Supreme Court to weigh in, arguing that regulators took too long to file their claims. A handful of banks, including Wells Fargo, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, have asked the Supreme Court to review a lower court decision that said the regulators filed their claims on time despite a Depression-era securities law that gave them only a three-year window.
VICTORIA FINKLE, The New York Times 12/14/2016 | | Read Article: The New York Times |
| Stanford Responds to Student's Sexual Assault Lawsuit in Rebuttal | | A lawsuit has been filed against Stanford alleging that the university acted with "deliberate indifference" in response to a female student's sexual assault claims. The lawsuit alleges that the university allowed a serial sexual assault offender to continue harming women on campus. The lawsuit was filed on Dec. 5 by a graduate student of the university, who was attacked by the male student after several others. In a 29-page response to the lawsuit, the university has denied the plaintiff's claims.
Hannah Knowles, The Stanford Daily 12/14/2016 | | Read Article: The Stanford Daily |
| Roger Ailes Faces New Sexual Harassment Accusations in Lawsuit | | Former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes is facing new harassment accusations in a lawsuit filed against 21st Century Fox. The lawsuit was filed on Monday, just months after Fox agreed to pay $20 million to settle separate allegations of sexual harassment by multiple former female staffers. This lawsuit was filed by Lidia Curanaj, who alleges that Ailes sexually harassed her in an interview setting. According to the lawsuit, during a private interview, Ailes evaluated the plaintiff's physical appearance and asked if she would "put out" sexually.
Staff Report, Reuters 12/13/2016 | | Read Article: Reuters |
| Justices Won't Hear Appeal Over NFL Head Injury Settlement | | The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to take another look at an uncapped settlement between former NFL players and the league that would end a long-running dispute over concussions and head injuries, clearing the way for an agreement that could end up paying out up to $1 billion.
Fola Akinnibi, Law360.com 12/14/2016 | | Read Article: Law360.com |
| GM Asks Supreme Court to Reverse Ignition Switch Claims Ruling | | GM on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an appellate court's ruling that the automaker's 2009 bankruptcy does not shield it from lawsuits over a faulty ignition switch linked to 124 deaths and 275 injuries. The petition marked a last-ditch effort by GM to block hundreds of customer lawsuits over faulty ignition switches, and other vehicles components, on grounds that they were barred by the automaker's 2009 bankruptcy sale to a new corporate entity.
Nate Raymond, Reuters 12/14/2016 | | Read Article: Reuters |
| |
