All posts tagged: n

US will provide .1 billion to Micron Technology for chip plants in NY and Idaho, Schumer says

US will provide $6.1 billion to Micron Technology for chip plants in NY and Idaho, Schumer says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has reached an agreement to provide $6.1 billion in government support for Micron Technology to produce advanced memory computer chips in New York and Idaho. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., personally courted Micron to build what would ultimately be a set of four chip factories near Syracuse in the town of Clay. He noted in a Wednesday interview that the announcement was a sign to voters about how Democrats were reviving the manufacturing sector. ”It will be the biggest memory chip plant in America,” said Schumer. “For the Syracuse area, this is the best thing that’s happened probably since the Erie Canal.” The comparison to the 1825 infrastructure project that connected the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean is audacious, but it gets at the possible magnitude of the economic impact as well as the national security stakes in an increasingly digital world. Including the government support, Micron plans to invest $100 billion in upstate New York over the next two decades. The investment would lead to an …

A lawmaker wants the public to know who owns businesses in California

A lawmaker wants the public to know who owns businesses in California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California lawmaker wants to require business owners and landlords to disclose their identities under legislation aimed at cracking down on opaque ownership structures that have enabled some companies to skirt state laws without facing consequences. Limited liability companies and similar corporations in the United States are often formed to protect a business owner’s personal assets. In California, the world’s fifth largest economy, such businesses are already required to register with the Secretary of State and share information including the name of the business, its address and the names of its executives or representatives. But Democratic state Sen. Maria Elana Durazo said that that’s not enough. She also wants the public to know who actually owns the company. Her bill would require these companies to list anyone who owns at least 25% of the company’s assets on its registration with the state. It would apply to all LLCs and similar corporations regardless of the size. Durazo said the lack of that crucial information has allowed people to set up business structures …

Biden vows to block US Steel acquisition by Japan’s Nippon Steel

Biden vows to block US Steel acquisition by Japan’s Nippon Steel

PITTSBURGH (AP) — President Joe Biden suggested to cheering, unionized steelworkers on Wednesday that his administration would thwart the acquisition of U.S. Steel by a Japanese company, and he called for a tripling of tariffs on Chinese steel, seeking to use trade policy to win over working-class votes in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. The Democratic president’s pitch comes as Donald Trump, his likely Republican opponent, tries to chart a path back to the White House with tough-on-China rhetoric and steep tariff proposals of his own. During a visit to the Pittsburgh headquarters of United Steelworkers, Biden said U.S. Steel “has been an iconic American company for more than a century and it should remain totally American.” Administration officials are reviewing the proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel, and Biden said last month he would oppose the deal, saying it was “vital for it to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated.” But in front of a union audience, he went much further in pledging he may block …

Voting technology company settles lawsuit against far-right news outlet over 2020 election claims

Voting technology company settles lawsuit against far-right news outlet over 2020 election claims

WASHINGTON (AP) — A voting technology company targeted by bogus fraud claims related to the 2020 presidential election settled a defamation lawsuit Tuesday against a conservative news outlet. The settlement between Florida-based Smartmatic and One America News Network is the latest development in a larger legal pushback by voting equipment companies that became ensnared in wild conspiracy theories falsely claiming they had flipped votes and cost former President Donald Trump reelection. In a statement, the company said it had “resolved its litigation with OANN through a confidential settlement.” The dismissal of its lawsuit was filed in federal court in the District of Columbia. Chip Babcock, a Houston-based attorney representing the news outlet, confirmed the case had been resolved but said he was unable to disclose any of the settlement terms. Smartmatic was an odd target for the conspiracy theorists because use of its voting technology and software was so limited. It was used only in Los Angeles County, a Democratic stronghold in a state that was not a presidential battleground and where Trump did not …

Coal miners have long faced risk of black lung disease. Now they’re getting new protections

Coal miners have long faced risk of black lung disease. Now they’re getting new protections

WASHINGTON (AP) — Coal miners will be better protected from poisonous silica dust that has contributed to the premature deaths of thousands of mine workers from a respiratory ailment commonly known as black lung disease, the Labor Department said Tuesday as it issued a new federal rule on miners’ safety. The final rule, announced by Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, cuts by half the permissible exposure limit for crystalline silica for an eight-hour shift. Mine workers, community advocates and elected officials from Appalachian states have pushed for the stricter rule, noting that health problems have grown in recent years as miners dig through more layers of rock to gain access to coal seams when deposits closer to the surface have long been tapped. The increased drilling generates deadly silica dust and has caused severe forms of pneumoconiosis, better known as black lung disease, even among younger miners, some in their 30s and 40s. “It is unconscionable that our nation’s miners have worked without adequate protection from silica dust despite it being a known health hazard …

Michigan Democrats win special elections to regain full control of state government

Michigan Democrats win special elections to regain full control of state government

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Democrats won back a majority in the Michigan House and restored their party’s full control of state government Tuesday thanks to victories in two special elections. Mai Xiong won the special election in the 13th District, which covers Warren and part of Detroit, while Peter Herzberg won in the 25th District, which contains the cities of Wayne and Westland. Both candidates were favorites in the heavily Democratic districts. The lower chamber has been tied 54-54 between Democratic and Republican lawmakers since November, when two Democratic representatives vacated their seats after winning mayoral races in their hometowns. Democrats flipped both chambers in the 2022 midterms while maintaining control of the governor’s office to win a trifecta for the first time in 40 years. They moved quickly to roll back decades of Republican measures and implement the party’s agenda in their first year, including overhauling the state’s gun laws. Since the House deadlocked, Republicans have pushed to pass legislation they say is bipartisan, such as a government transparency package, which would open the …

Indiana limits abortion data for privacy under near-total ban, but some GOP candidates push back

Indiana limits abortion data for privacy under near-total ban, but some GOP candidates push back

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana allows so few abortions that health officials stopped releasing individual reports to protect patient privacy — a move some Republicans are now fighting to reverse. The Republicans, including prominent candidates for office this year, want access to reports detailing each abortion still performed in the state. Advocates for abortion rights and some state officials warn that would jeopardize the privacy of physicians and patients who can only receive abortions under strict circumstances. The state bans abortions except within limited time frames in cases of rape, incest, lethal fetal anomaly and serious health risks to the patient. Like many states, Indiana has long collected data on abortions, but the Department of Health last year decided to keep the individual reports from public record and only release its regular summary data four times a year to make it harder to potentially identify patients. Indiana law requires physicians to submit “terminated pregnancy reports” with demographic and medical history information to the health department. The reports do not name patients but can list their zip …

Noncitizen voting isn’t an issue in federal elections, regardless of conspiracy theories. Here’s why

Noncitizen voting isn’t an issue in federal elections, regardless of conspiracy theories. Here’s why

Former President Donald Trump turned to one of his favorite themes on Friday — the specter of immigrants improperly voting in federal elections. House Speaker Mike Johnson came to the former president’s Florida compound to announce that he would introduce a bill to stop those who are not citizens from voting in elections. Trump has made baseless claims about this subject before, like in 2016, when he blamed his loss of the popular vote on voting by immigrants, and then appointed a commission to investigate the issue. It disbanded without identifying a single case of a noncitizen casting a vote. He and other Republicans have recently revved up their conspiratorial claims about the issue with the influx of migrants across the southern border under Biden, contending Democrats are letting them in to add them to the voter rolls. The theory involves two complicated subjects, immigration and voting, but it’s actually very simple. There isn’t any indication that noncitizens vote in significant numbers in federal elections or that they will in the future. It’s already a …

First Muslim American appellate court nominee faces uphill battle to salvage nomination

First Muslim American appellate court nominee faces uphill battle to salvage nomination

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nominee who could become the first Muslim American to serve as a federal appellate court judge is fighting back against characterizations of his work by law enforcement groups that are jeopardizing his nomination. The White House and Senate are doubling down on their efforts to win over lawmakers on the fence, but it may be too late. Adeel Mangi received law degrees from Oxford and Harvard. He works in a prestigious law firm and has secured significant legal victories. But his limited volunteer work with two outside groups has imperiled his nomination. Some law enforcement groups have told lawmakers that Mangi’s work as an advisory board member for the Alliance of Families for Justice is disqualifying. That’s peeling off support — not only from key Democrats but from some Republicans who have been at times willing to support President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees. Mangi has taken the unusual step of writing his home state senator to explain his work with the alliance. To counter the police groups in opposition, he and …

Retired wrestler, ex-congressional candidate challenging evidence in Vegas murder case

Retired wrestler, ex-congressional candidate challenging evidence in Vegas murder case

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A retired professional wrestler and former congressional candidate in Nevada and Texas is challenging evidence in the case accusing him of killing a man during a Halloween Party last year at a Las Vegas Strip hotel. Daniel Rodimer, 45, who now lives in Texas, was not asked to enter a plea during his initial court appearance Wednesday on an open murder charge in the death of 47-year-old Christopher Tapp of Idaho. Rodimer surrendered to Las Vegas police for his arrest March 6 and remains free on a $200,000 bail. Defense lawyers David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld submitted documents arguing that prosecutors improperly relied on privileged conversations between Rodimer and his wife for evidence that Rodimer fatally punched Tapp. The judge did not immediately decide the evidence question. Rodimer, a Republican, lost bids for Congress in Nevada in 2020 and in Texas in 2021. Tapp served more than 20 years in prison in a 1996 killing before receiving an $11.7 million settlement from Idaho Falls in 2022 in a wrongful conviction lawsuit. …