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Op-Ed: The SEC’s climate disclosure rule is dark cloud over energy abundance
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) climate disclosure rule poses real problems for public companies. The SEC’s mission is to facilitate capital formation and maintain market efficiency, but for the first time in its 90-year history, the SEC has injected political risk factors into its traditionally principles-based disclosure framework. Leading up to the new rule, the SEC buckled under pressure from left-wing special interests to impose the first environmental disclosure mandate on public companies. If the SEC’s final rule is allowed to go into effect...
Spokane gun control measure tweaked just weeks after forgoing legal review
(The Center Square) – Spokane City Councilmember Paul Dillon amended his gun control measure on Monday, tightening up some of the language just two weeks after pushing it through council without a legal review. The ordinance garnered broad support for the most part but faced skepticism from the Spokane City Council's two conservatives. Councilmembers Jonathan Bingle and Michael Cathcart noted the lack of a review before passing and tried to defer a vote on that basis but to no avail. ...
Gun rights group: Chicago’s expanded lawsuit against Glock misguided
(The Center Square) – Chicago is expanding its lawsuit against gun manufacturer Glock, but a gun rights advocate says it’s misguided and likely unconstitutional. Last year, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker enacted a measure allowing lawsuits against the firearms industry for allegedly making the community less safe. The National Shooting Sports Foundation challenged the law. The state said no one has been harmed and the case should be dismissed. A ruling is pending on whether to enjoin the law or dismiss the case. ...
Wisconsin’s Democratic members of Congress skip Netanyahu speech
(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s two Democratic members of Congress are among the group of Democrats who do not plan to attend the Israel’s prime minister speech on Capitol Hill today. Both Madison Congressman Mark Pcoan and Milwaukee Congresswoman Gwen Moore announced they would not sit for Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress. ““For nearly 10 months, Netanyahu has waged a deadly and excessive response that has targeted Gazan civilians. It...
Republican lawmaker doubles down on DEI comments about Harris
(The Center Square) – A Republican lawmaker said Wednesday he regretted saying Vice President Kamala Harris was a diversity, equity and inclusion hire, but said it was the "truth" as former GOP leader Kevin McCarthy called such attacks "stupid." On Monday, Congressman Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said Harris was hired because she is Black. "One hundred percent she is a DEI hire,” he said. "Her record is abysmal at best." ...
Ohio law limiting disabled voter assistance overturned
(The Center Square) – Ohio disabled voters can ask friends, neighbors and grandchildren to help them cast absentee ballots after a federal court struck down part of a 2023 state law. House Bill 456 created sweeping voting changes, including the provision that limited who could possess a disabled voter’s absentee ballot. A federal court, however, said the voter can choose who helps them. The ACLU and ACLU-Ohio sued to stop...
Vermont faces lawsuit over climate change law
(The Center Square) — A regional environmental group plans to sue Vermont over a climate change law, alleging that the state isn't complying with mandates to reduce its carbon footprint. The Conservation Law Foundation said it had sent a notice of alleged violation to Vermont’s secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources for "failing to meet the legal responsibilities" set by the Global Warming Solutions Act to reduce "climate-damaging" emissions. The legal challenge specifically names the secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, Julie Moore. ...
Nobody claims ownership of $250K earmark for abandoned church in Michigan budget
(The Center Square) – A $250,000 earmark in the new Michigan state budget is raising concerns, with little information about its use beyond a building rehabilitation project. Event planner Tatiana Grant told the Detroit News she requested the funding to restore the St. Columba Episcopal Church, which has been closed since 2003. However, nonprofit Invest Detroit, which holds the grant funding, says there is no ownership agreement with Grant. The...
Davis wants to overturn same-sex marriage as she continues appealing her case
(The Center Square) – Nine years after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, attorneys for a former Kentucky county clerk who went to jail for failing to issue licenses said their client’s case should lead to the landmark decision being overturned. “The time has come for a course correction,” lawyers from Liberty Counsel wrote in a 73-page brief filed this week before the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of their client, former Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis. ...
Tennessee again claims record 2023 tourism spending in commissioned report
(The Center Square) – The Tennessee Department of Tourism Development again claimed the state had a record amount of visitor spending in 2023 based on numbers in a commissioned report from marketing firm Tourism Economics. Each year, state tourism departments, including Tennessee, pay the firm and it produces numbers those departments then use to justify tax dollar spending in future budgets. Economists say that the numbers are not credible. ...
Ohio redistricting amendment will appear on November ballot
(The Center Square) – Ohio voters will get the chance in November to decide whether to remove the redistricting process from lawmakers and create an independent commission. A group pushing for a constitutional amendment they say would remove politics from redistricting gathered more than enough signatures to put the question on the general election ballot. All that’s left is to figure out the exact ballot language. Secretary of State Frank...
Illinois airport aims to add carriers and more flights
(The Center Square) – Willard Airport in Champaign County is aiming to join other Illinois airports with more flights and destinations. University of Illinois-Willard Airport Executive Director Tim Bannon said the ultimate goal is for Willard to be the airport of choice in Downstate Illinois. “We have a lot of demand. Willard Airport only retains 14% of all passengers leaving Champaign County every day, which means we have a lot...
Environmentalists grateful for appellate win over chemical industry giant
(The Center Square) – Health advisories issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about the risks of chemicals produced at a North Carolina plant on the Cape Fear River are lawful and not reviewable by a court. In a ruling by three judges Tuesday at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, Justice Arianna Freeman wrote, “The health advisory provides guidance, but it imposes no obligations, prohibitions, or restrictions. The health advisory also does not give rise to any ‘direct and appreciable legal...
Pennsylvania could be a lithium goldmine, if the tech catches up
(The Center Square) — The hunt for critical minerals in Pennsylvania is on. A multi-billion-dollar industry is at hand — if innovators can make the technology work and scale up from the lab to the field. With lithium — used in solar energy, batteries, and other electronics — the commonwealth may have an opportunity to salvage the metal from oil and gas wastewater. If it works, Pennsylvania could see an...
Illinois quick hits: McClain wants to sever from case; Cameo settles; site prep grants announced
McClain wants to sever from case with Madigan A defendant in the upcoming federal prosecution of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan wants his own trial separate from Madigan. Defendant Michael McClain, a former state lawmaker and ComEd lobbyist known for his close association with Madigan, has filed a request to sever his trial from Madigan's because Madigan's defense team plans to blame McClain for any wrongdoing. ...
Mississippi unemployment rate holds steady at record low 2.8%
(The Center Square) – Federal data shows Mississippi's unemployment rate remained at a record low 2.8% in June for the third consecutive month. That is an improvement over June 2023, when the rate was 3.1%. The national unemployment rate in June was 4.1%. The number of unemployed grew from 35,600 to 47,100. Initial unemployment claims were down from 6,338 in May to 5,652 in June. Continuing claims increased from 27,799...
Maine lawmakers urge Army to update mental health policies
(The Center Square) — Maine's congressional delegation is calling on the U.S. Army to overhaul its policies and procedures in response to a damaging report detailing multiple failures to identify Army reservist and Lewiston mass shooter Sgt. 1st Class Robert Card's mental health issues. A newly released Army report outlines a series of failures and "multiple errors" by Card's unit leading up to the Oct. 25, 2023, shooting where he...
Court gives Thurston until Monday to count signatures on abortion question
(The Center Square) — The Arkansas Supreme Court said Secretary of State John Thurston has until Monday to count the signatures on a petition for a proposed ballot amendment on abortion. The group Arkansans for Limited Government submitted the petition for the amendment that would allow abortion up to 18 weeks of pregnancy and prevented the state from banning abortion in cases of rape, incest, the mother's health or fatal fetal anomaly. Arkansas banned abortion except in cases where the mother's life is in danger...
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