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TexasTowelie's JournalWyoming's 1st major coal mine in decades clears council
CHEYENNE -- A state environmental review board voted Wednesday to allow Wyoming's first major coal mine in decades to proceed despite the objections of another coal company.
Amid competition from natural gas and tougher environmental regulations, coal mines tend to be cutting back production or even shutting down — not opening anew. Kentucky-based Ramaco's relatively small Brook Mine would buck that trend but has faced opposition from another company and a ranch.
The Wyoming Environmental Quality Council voted unanimously to allow Ramaco to go ahead despite the Big Horn Coal Company's objections.
Ramaco hopes to begin digging a few miles north of Sheridan by early next year, CEO Randall Atkins said.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/wyomings-1st-major-coal-mine-decades-clears-council-42429975
Attorneys for plaintiffs in Gerber Products labor case want $1.3 million
Lawyers involved in the $3 million class-action labor lawsuit against Gerber Products Co. in Fort Smith, settled last year by the Arkansas Supreme Court, squared off in Sebastian County Circuit Court again Tuesday on a “fee shifting” request from the plaintiff’s counsel.
Circuit Judge James O. Cox heard from Gerber Products attorney Bernard Bobber and plaintiffs' counsel Timothy A. Steadman over a motion that seeks $1.35 million in legal fees be paid by Gerber Products in addition to the $3 million in back pay set aside for about 800 members of the class action suit.
“We don’t want any of the worker’s money,” Steadman said before pointing out they had originally asked for $6 million in the suit.
In June 2012, five hourly employees at the facility called Gerber out for requiring employees to work more than 40 hours per week without overtime pay, and periodically required them to work through lunch without pay. David Hewitt II, Aaron Johnson, James Lane, Ralph LaRosa Jr. and Jerry Osborne filed the case because they were required to change into Gerber-supplied uniforms and protective gear at the facility before they are allowed to "clock in" and were required to "clock out" before they remove the uniforms and protective gear at the end of their shift. Plaintiffs' counsel said it amounted to an estimated four hours of uncompensated time each week, according to the complaint.
Read more: http://www.swtimes.com/news/20160928/attorneys-for-plaintiffs-in-gerber-products-labor-case-want-13-million
Retired judge's report: All signatures for Arkansas lawsuits measure could be tossed
LITTLE ROCK — A retired judge appointed by the state Supreme Court to review petitions for a ballot measure limiting medical lawsuit damages says all of the signatures submitted for the proposal could be disqualified if justices find the campaign didn't follow the law regarding canvassers' criminal background checks.
Retired Judge J.W. Looney says in a report submitted to the court Wednesday that the campaign behind the proposed amendment did not provide written certification that its paid canvassers had passed the background checks. Looney wrote that the group behind the measure says it had provided "verbal" certification.
Looney also found another roughly 12,000 signatures may be disqualified, while several hundred that were tossed out may need to be counted. A group opposed to the measure filed a suit trying to disqualify the measure.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/sep/28/judges-report-all-signatures-arkansas-lawsuits-mea/?latest (short article)
Regulators: Doctor suspended after patients given vaccinations containing cat saliva, vodka
CHICAGO — Illinois regulators Wednesday suspended the license of a suburban Chicago doctor who allegedly gave patients modified vaccinations containing cat saliva and vodka.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation ordered the emergency action in the interest of public safety, according to paperwork signed by Acting Director Jessica Baer.
After hearing complaints from health care providers that children were getting unapproved oral versions of childhood shots from Dr. Ming Te Lin, investigators visited Lin's Flossmoor practice. They found a cluttered, unsterile office and "a box filled with vials and tubes that {Lin} was using to make his own vaccinations."
Lin told investigators he'd been preparing alternative vaccinations for children for more than a decade, according to the order. Despite his unapproved methods, Lin is accused of signing state forms certifying he had given pediatric patients their conventional shots. Charts showed the patients who received unapproved oral vaccines included a 7-day-old infant.
Read more: http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/sep/28/regulators-doctor-suspended-after-patients-given-v/?latest
Arkansas governor: Medical marijuana would hurt state's businesses
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas' governor and lieutenant governor say legalizing medical marijuana would hurt the state's efforts to attract businesses, targeting two proposals on the November ballot they say would prevent companies from being able to enforce drug-free workplaces.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin on Wednesday were joined by business leaders as they criticized two proposals going before voters that would allow patients with certain medical conditions to buy marijuana from dispensaries. Arkansas voters narrowly rejected legalizing medical marijuana four years ago.
The two Republicans say the proposal will make it difficult to attract companies that want a drug-free workforce. Both measures prohibit employers from hiring or firing someone for being a medical marijuana patient, but don't require employers to allow workers to use medical marijuana on the job.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/sep/28/arkansas-governor-medical-marijuana-would-hurt-sta/?latest (short article)
Former state senator tested positive for meth after drunken-driving arrest
CONWAY — Former state Sen. Gilbert Baker tested positive for methamphetamine after he was stopped for drunken driving in Conway last month, a toxicology report released Wednesday shows.
Conway City Attorney Chuck Clawson released the report after the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette submitted a request under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. Clawson said his office received the report earlier Wednesday.
Baker pleaded guilty to a driving-while-intoxicated charge Tuesday in Faulkner County District Court. A music teacher at the University of Central Arkansas, Baker is a lobbyist and a Conway Republican who fought against allowing alcohol sales in Conway while he was a state legislator.
On Wednesday afternoon, a UCA spokesman said the university doesn't comment on personnel matters. The spokesman added that Baker, who has tenure, is still employed.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/sep/28/report-former-state-senator-tested-positive-meth-a/ (short article)
BP oil spill may have caused 'irreversible' damage to marshes, study says
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill has been called one of the worst environmental disasters in American history -- and more than six years later, scientists are still investigating how much damage it actually caused. Now, a new study suggests the spill may have permanently marred one of the Gulf shore's most important ecosystems.
The study, published today in the journal Scientific Reports, finds the oil spill caused widespread erosion in the salt marshes along the coasts of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. And the researchers say there's a chance these marshes might never completely grow back.
Marshes "provide a variety of important services," said lead study author Brian Silliman , a marine conservation biologist at Duke University. "They benefit humans, including acting as pollution filters, absorbing nutrients as they run off from the land before they get into the estuary, helping to suppress harmful algal blooms. They also act as breakwaters and buffer the shoreline from erosion."
They're also important carbon sinks -- in fact, research suggests that coastal wetlands may absorb several times more carbon per unit of area than tropical forests do. And they also provide habitat to a wide variety of animals that are staples of human fisheries, including shrimp, crabs and small fish.
Read more: http://www.houmatoday.com/news/20160927/bp-oil-spill-may-have-caused-irreversible-damage-to-marshes-study-says
Nicholls celebrates building upgrades; Lafourche family donates another $1 million
After two years of undergoing renovations and technological enhancements, Talbot Hall and the Mary and Al Danos Theater were unveiled at a grand reopening ceremony this evening on Nicholls State University's campus.
The building was originally built in 1970 for $1.6 million. Now, the 73,000-square-foot facility has received a face lift, which includes new seating, curtains, flooring and state-of-the-art lighting and sound equipment all worth $9.6 million.
The campus TV studio, KNSU radio station and two Talbot Hall classrooms also received technological upgrades to enhance student learning.
Talbot Hall's 5,500-square-foot, 240-seat theater was named for Al Danos, a Larose businessman and leader on the Nicholls Foundation board, and his wife Mary.
Read more: http://www.houmatoday.com/news/20160927/nicholls-celebrates-building-upgrades-lafourche-family-donates-another-1-million
Former president Aguillard suing Louisiana College
Joe Aguillard is suing the private Baptist college he led for nine years, according to documents filed Tuesday in Rapides Parish.
His tumultuous presidency of Louisiana College in Pineville ended in 2014 after two attempts to oust him from the leadership position. But he stayed connected to the school as "president emeritus" and a tenured faculty member until he was stripped of the honorary title April 12 by the LC Board of Trustees.
The action cut ties between the college and Aguillard, who was removed from his tenured faculty position earlier in the spring 2016 semester. The school's Faculty Affairs Advisory Committee had recommended Aguillard be removed after a hearing at which "violations of the LC Faculty Handbook and charges were considered."
A suit for civil damages was filed Tuesday in the 9th Judicial District Court with Aguillard as plaintiff. Named as defendants are Louisiana College; Rick Brewer, who took office as LC president April 7, 2015; Don Benton Connor Sr.; and RSUI Indemnity Company.
Read more: http://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/local/education/2016/09/28/former-president-aguillard-suing-louisiana-college/91229024/
Video: Marksville (La.) scene where 6-year-old fatally shot, father wounded by marshals
Source: AP
MARKSVILLE, La. (AP) — The public is getting its first look at a police body camera video that shows two deputy city marshals opening fire on a car, killing a 6-year-old boy and critically wounding his father in Louisiana.
Prosecutors showed the tape in court Wednesday to support their claim that one of the deputies, Derrick Stafford, had a pattern of using excessive force — including last November's fatal shooting of 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis in Marksville.
Defense attorneys argue the deputies acted in self-defense and claim the boy's father, Christopher Few, rammed into a deputy's vehicle before they fired.
However, state District Court Judge William Bennett said it doesn't show Few using his car as a "deadly weapon" at the time of the shooting.
Read more: http://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/crime_police/article_802167e8-85b9-11e6-8308-331de5010ed7.html
Video at link.
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