Is text messaging compatible with open meetings? Courts have for several years upheld the notion that texts can be public records. The problem, of course, is knowing about them — since they are less visible than meeting minutes. Image: © Clipart.com.
Food industry groups generally liked the new rule, saying that it improved transparency. But consumer groups said it did not go far enough. Image: © Clipart.com.
Embroiled in a growing scandal about efforts to cover up the science on the threat posed by coal ash to North Carolinians' drinking water, Duke Energy is asking a court to hold a hearing to discover the source of a document leaked to the Associated Press.
"Federal regulators are proposing to ban swimming with dolphins in Hawaii, a move that could imperil one of the Aloha State's most popular tourist delights and the industry that has sprung up around it."
"With little more than a promise, the Texas Railroad Commission is trusting a struggling coal industry to pay for the cost of cleaning up old mines."
"The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court struck down a controversial 'pipeline tax' that would have allowed electric utilities in the state to raise rates to pay for natural gas pipeline projects."
"A state appeals court has struck down a plastic bag ban in Laredo in a high-profile fight over local control that could ultimately impact similar laws in other Texas cities."
"Dozens of law professors banded together this week to assail a federal court's recent decision striking down the Obama administration's hydraulic fracturing rule."
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said in an interview that his fraud investigation of Exxon is less on the company's alleged past deceptions about climate than on its economic future.
"Bankrupt coal company Peabody Energy won U.S. court approval on Wednesday for agreements with three states to partially cover $1.14 billion in potential environmental liabilities and for a bonus plan for its six top executives."
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