Politics & Policy

CEO of heavily subsidized Amtrak to resign after it mocks Musk's privatization idea

By Greg Piper

Columbia issues meandering, evasive statement on what it's doing to get $400M federal funding back

Wall Street Journal reported less than an hour before president's noncommital statement that private university associated with anti-Israel chaos was "close to yielding" to President Trump's demands to restore grants, contracts.

Elections

A voting sign in Philadelphia after the 2016 election, December 2016

Michigan local pols resign after election, then quickly replaced by appointment, not new election

Circumventing the democratic process? “Appointments are meant to be a temporary solution to an unexpected vacancy, not a tool for political manipulation,” Jean Zott said.

Energy

North Dakota jury finds Greenpeace liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages

While Greenpeace denied it played more than a peripheral role in the 2016 protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, the pipeline owner claimed the group organized a campaign of misinformation and direct training to the protesters.

Energy

Washington Senate passes bill to speed up carbon emission data updates

The bill’s backers say the change is needed to better set environmental policies and track whether taxpayer dollars spent to meet those goals are spent well.

Energy

Biden-era tax on natural gas repealed, a boon for energy industry

The resolution rescinds that regulation under the Congressional Review Act. The CRA legislation gives Congress the authority to repeal regulations issued during the final months of a previous administration.