Mornings on the El
 |
| #BILLYPENNGRAM OF THE DAY Mornings on the El (photo by @midatlantic_transitwatch) |
Mornings on the El Read More »
GOP Senator Toomey Calls On Trump To Concede
Pat Toomey, a Republican from PA, has called upon Trump to “accept the outcome of the election” and facilitate the transition process.
By Kara Seymour, Patch Staff
PENNSYLVANIA — Republican Senator Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania has called upon President Trump to “accept the outcome of the election and facilitate the presidential transition process” following Saturday’s ruling in federal court.
Toomey’s statement came after U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Brann tossed the Trump campaign’s most significant lawsuit contesting the election results in Pennsylvania. Brann said the suit, which sought to stop Pennsylvania from certifying its election results, was both legally flawed and lacking in evidence.
In blistering ruling, judge throws out Trump suit in Pa.
Toomey said Brann is “a longtime conservative Republican whom I know to be a fair and unbiased jurist.”
In light of Brann’s ruling, “President Trump has exhausted all plausible legal options to challenge the result of the presidential race in Pennsylvania,” Toomey said.
Care to share? Use icons at bottom to share this post on social media
GOP Senator Toomey Calls On Trump To Concede Read More »
Beer brewer Yuengling begins big Florida redevelopment project
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer, Tampa Bay Business Journal
D.G. Yuengling & Son is moving forward with a redevelopment of its Tampa brewery — though plans to add a hotel to the property are on hold.
The Pottsville, Pennsylvania brewery held a “ceremonial” groundbreaking on Monday. Actual construction is slated to begin next month, said Jen Yuengling, the brewery’s vice president of operations.
The Yuengling family acquired the Tampa brewery in 1999. The redevelopment comes as business and civic leaders try to rouse private sector interest in the area around the University of South Florida. Yuengling said that the brewery has been a partner to USF for years, from the naming rights of the former Sundome to funding scholarships for the brewery arts program at the St. Petersburg campus.
“I think this is just the next step in that relationship,” she said.
Yuengling declined to disclose a total investment in the project or construction costs on the first phase.
Try our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics, FREE for a full month
Beer brewer Yuengling begins big Florida redevelopment project Read More »
As Trump plans Arctic oil lease sale, opponents target insurers
Alastair Marsh and Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Bloomberg Green
A group of investment firms, conservationists and indigenous groups have called on some of the world’s biggest insurers to cease supporting oil and gas projects in the U.S. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, even as the Trump administration advances plans to auction drilling rights in the Alaska wilderness.
The Gwich’in Steering Committee, a group representing indigenous tribes that live in Alaska and Canada and opposes efforts to drill in the refuge, coordinated the letter with investment firms, including Boston Common Asset Management LLC and Domini Impact Investments LLC, which collectively manage more than $47 billion of assets. Recipients of the letter, including American International Group Inc. and Allianz SE, are being asked to stop insuring or investing in oil and gas projects in the refuge. Officials from AIG and Allianz weren’t immediately available for comment.
The rugged and remote territory in northeast Alaska, which is home to polar bears, caribou herds, Arctic foxes and more than 200 species of birds, has become a focus of environmental activists and an embodiment of the vastly different climate policies of President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden. While the Trump administration has set the stage for a possible sale of oil and gas leases in the refuge’s 1.56-million-acre (6,313 square kilometers) coastal plain before Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration, Biden has promised to permanently protect the land.
The Alaskan wilderness also serves as a reminder of how proactive investors and pressure groups can force financial giants to change the way they operate. Most major U.S. banks have said they won’t finance oil drilling projects in the Arctic, after a similar pressure campaign. And the one major holdout, Bank of America Corp., was the target of a shareholder resolution filed this week by Trillium Asset Management asking how it will deal with the business risks of backing Arctic oil ventures.
If you liked this post you’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Try it free for an entire month.
As Trump plans Arctic oil lease sale, opponents target insurers Read More »
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka orders 10-day lockdown as pandemic surges
By Daniel J. Munoz, NJBIZ
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said Friday he will shut down the state’s largest city the day before Thanksgiving, as the region becomes ground zero for the weeks-long surge of COVID-19.
The 10-day shutdown will begin on Nov. 25, as the city leads New Jersey in new cases and the positivity rate among tests.
“We are, from Wednesday before Thanksgiving to Dec. 4, going to lock the city down,” Baraka said during a Thursday evening radio appearance on WBGO 88.3 FM’s Newark Today.
Try our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics, FREE for a full month!
“We want people to shelter in place. We only want folks to come out for essential purposes. Do not go outside if you don’t have to. Don’t mingle with other people if you don’t have to. Stay (with) your family in your immediate household.”
The shutdown orders could conflict with the much looser orders that Gov. Phil Murphy signed in a bid to reverse the recent statewide surges.
Although Murphy allowed local governments to shut down non-essential businesses at 8 p.m. – which Newark and other major cities have done – his orders prohibit local town, city and county governments from implementing their own stricter restrictions.
Casinos, malls, sit-down restaurants, non-essential retail, indoor amusement, indoor theaters, many forms of construction, gyms, nail and hair salons all had to shutter their doors in March. As the pandemic worsens, indoor dining and elective surgeries could be in the next round of reinstated restrictions.
The governor cautioned this week against a “patchwork” of potentially conflicting orders that vary from town to town.
But Murphy has been widely hands-off with how Baraka, a major ally of the governor, has handled the city’s response to the pandemic, both in the past month and during the first wave this spring. The mayors of Orange, Irvington and East Orange are considering similar measures.
Care to share? Use icons at bottom to share this post on social media
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka orders 10-day lockdown as pandemic surges Read More »
50 House Democrats endorse Deb Haaland to lead Interior Department
Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) joins fellow House Democrats for a news conference. | Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
By Kelsey Tamborrino, Politico Morning Energy
More than 50 House Democratic lawmakers formally backed their colleague Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) for Interior secretary in a letter to President-elect Joe Biden. Haaland, who is already being vetted for the position, would be the first Native American Cabinet secretary in the nation’s history.
If you’re not receiving our free updates, sign up here
“You can make history by giving Native Americans a seat at the Cabinet table for the first time,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter, obtained by POLITICO on Thursday.
The letter, led by House Natural Resources Chair Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), was delivered to the Biden transition team this week, POLITICO’s Sarah Ferris and Theodoric Meyer report . ME readers will recall Grijalva also endorsed Haaland for the post this week in a letter to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Haaland is a citizen of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, a federally recognized tribe near Albuquerque, N.M., and she is one of only two Native American women ever elected to Congress.
Signing on: The letter was signed by progressives such as Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), as well as members of the moderate Blue Dog Caucus, such as Reps. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) and Ed Case (D-Hawaii).
50 House Democrats endorse Deb Haaland to lead Interior Department Read More »