Indian state refiners halt oil imports from Chinese companies
By Reuters
NEW DELHI: Indian state refiners have stopped buying crude oil from China-linked companies, three sources said, after New Delhi’s recent regulation aimed at restricting imports from countries that it shares a border with.
The new regulation, put in place on July 23, comes after a border clash between India and China that killed 20 Indian soldiers and soured relations between the two neighbours.
Since the new order was issued, state refiners have been inserting a clause in their import tenders on new rules restricting dealings with companies from countries sharing a border with India, the sources said and the tender documents show.
Last week, Indian state refiners decided to stop sending crude import tenders to Chinese trading firm like CNOOC Ltd , Unipec and PetroChina, among others, one of the sources said.
Porzio, Bromberg & Newman PC opened an outpost in Wilmington, Del. with the addition of Cheryl Santaniello, who will lead the new office, the firm announced Thursday.
Cheryl Santaniello
This is the firm’s first Delaware location and is part of its long-term strategy to expand its services in Delaware and offer access to its widely-used bankruptcy courts.
Santaniello joins Porzio from three years at Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC in Wilmington. She started her legal career three decades ago at a firm in Haddonfield, according to her LinkedIn, and advises clients on complex business transactions and acquisitions.
Along with leading the Wilmington office as its managing principal, Santaniello is a member of Porzio’s Real Estate and Bankruptcy practice groups. She focuses her practice in the areas of business transactions, commercial real estate, lending and creditors’ rights, representing commercial purchasers, sellers, lenders, developers, landlords and tenants in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
“This is an exciting time for Porzio, as Cheryl’s transactional and creditors rights background aligns with our firm’s objective to provide local counsel to our clients’ bankruptcy matters in Delaware,” said Vito Gagliardi Jr., managing principal of Porzio and president of the firm’s three subsidiaries – Porzio Life Sciences LLC, Porzio Governmental Affairs LLC and Porzio Compliance Services LLC –, in a prepared statement.
“We welcome Cheryl to the firm, knowing that our clients will benefit from her significant experience representing regional lending institutions, commercial real estate owners, and developers. In addition, Cheryl’s strong connection to the Wilmington area will guide our bankruptcy clients on financial distress and restructuring matters in the Delaware courts,” he said.
Santaniello also serves as outside general counsel to clients in a variety of industries, helping them navigate their day-to-day operations and providing legal opinions to lenders and rating agencies on entity formation and existence, authority, bankruptcy-remoteness and non-consolidation.
“I am excited to work with my new Porzio colleagues and to be a part of the firm’s overall strategic growth into the Delaware legal community. The wide range of legal services and specialists Porzio offers businesses and individuals is impressive, and I am confident that local and regional clients will find Porzio’s attorneys to be strategic partners and allies,” said Santaniello in a prepared statement.
“I am particularly excited to help launch Porzio’s established bankruptcy practice into this region, offering local Delaware counsel to the firm’s clients on their critically important bankruptcy matters. I look forward to building the Porzio team here in Wilmington,” she said.
In addition to its Morristown headquarters, Porzio now has offices in Princeton and Ocean City; Westborough, Mass.; New York City; and Washington, D.C.; along with its most recent outpost before Delaware in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which came online in October.
The Wilmington office is located at 300 Delaware Ave., Suite 1220.
U.S. Postal Service customers across the country have been receiving a notification that often alarms and perplexes them: The message says packages they expected delivered to their home or business are being held at a post office “at the request of the customer.”
But customers who are receiving these notifications never requested that their mail be held.
The packages are delayed because of broad changes Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has implemented to the nation’s mail delivery operations, including policies that slow down package delivery. When a mail carrier cannot deliver a package on the day it was scheduled because their shift is ending, postal workers say, the system sometimes generates a misleading “held at the request of the customer” message.
Although the reality is that the mail carrier will deliver the package, sometimes the next day, customers say the message has prompted them to visit the post office to claim their items — even if they are concerned about venturing out because of the coronavirus pandemic — and has undermined their faith in mail delivery leading up to the 2020 election.
“Shouldn’t it say that the carrier couldn’t deliver it today because time ran out? … The message is incorrect,” said Jamaal Vetose of Baltimore County, who had lost his mask and visited the post office without it to pick up his package containing a new one after receiving the erroneous notification.
Postal Service spokespeople did not answer questions from The Washington Post about why customers are getting this message. One spokesman said he could not answer without seeing the tracking numbers. When The Post provided tracking numbers from two packages, the Postal Service did not respond.
USPS veteran responds to Trump’s attacks on the Post Office Lori Cash, a 22-year USPS veteran, talks about the Trump administration’s influence on the Postal Service and how it is causing concerns for mail-in ballots. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)
Vetose, who works for an investment firm, teleworks most of the week but goes to the office on Mondays. He was anxiously tracking a mask that was supposed to be delivered on a Friday.
Late Friday evening, he saw the message saying his package was being held at his request. “I’m not sure if the carrier ran out of time, or to be honest they decided they didn’t want to deliver it,” he said. “I definitely didn’t request them to hold it.”
He lined up at his local post office first thing Saturday morning, ashamed of the looks that he got from fellow customers when they saw he wasn’t wearing a mask. “I’m here to pick the mask up. It was supposed to be delivered to my house,” he told a few people in explanation.
Vetose said the USPS employee at the counter told him that he need not have come — the carrier would probably have delivered the mask later that day.
Postal employees in D.C., Maryland and California all told The Post or have told their customers that those who receive the notification do not need to come to the post office in person.
DeJoy, whose cost-cutting measures have provoked congressional hearings and the threat of a lawsuit by more than 20 states against the Postal Service, has said the changes are needed to fix the struggling mail delivery system.
Democrats say the rapidly implemented measures could make it difficult to deliver mail-in ballots to voters this November.
YONG KIM / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERA City of Philadelphia Sanitation worker tosses trash into a trash truck along the 1700 block of Diamond Street near the Temple University campus on Monday, August 3, 2020.
By Laura McCrystal, Philadelphia Inquirer
Amid widespread delays in trash and recycling pickup last month, Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration announced that Philadelphia would hire 120 temporary workers within four weeks to assist existing crews.
But four weeks later, just 45 temporary sanitation employees are on the street helping collect trash and recycling. And it could take at least another month to reach the goal of hiring between 120 and 150 workers, the Streets Department said this week.
“If our current trend rate remains constant, it will take at least another four weeks to get to a sufficient number of hires,” said Streets Department spokesperson Crystal Jacobs.
The city has faced challenges at every step of the hiring process. Issues include finding workers from the city’s existing list of laborer civil service candidates who are interested in taking the job, getting them to show up for and pass medical assessments, and then keeping them at work once they begin.
That slower-than-expected pace of hiring could lead to ongoing delays in trash and recycling collection as the city continues to deal with high rates of absence among full-time sanitation workers and high volumes of trash as residents stay home due to the coronavirus pandemic. This week, city officials said both trash and recycling pickups were one to two days behind schedule.
“I don’t know why it’s taking them so long,” said Councilmember Mark Squilla. “This is urgent. I would think that they should be able to get the 120 temps.”
Janet Borrelli, a part-time clerical technician at the Lehigh County Voter Registration Office in the Lehigh County Government Center, gets absentee ballots ready to be mailed out. (MORNING CALL FILE PHOTO)
The 2020 general election is just weeks away (Tuesday, Nov. 3). Politics aside, this presidential election will be unlike any other in living memory as millions of Pennsylvanians are expected to cast their ballot without stepping into a polling place. But between changes to state law, federal lawsuits over the process and the logistical challenges of voting in a pandemic, countless voters are uncertain about many of the specifics.
That’s why the Morning Call is creating a new series tackling questions Pennsylvania voters may encounter between now and Election Day. If you have questions about the elections process, send them to tshortell@mcall.com or call 610-820-6168.
How do I vote with a mail-in ballot?
With the coronavirus still posing a threat to public safety, many voters are hesitant to go to the polls this November. But months before the virus emerged, the state passed sweeping election changes that gave more Pennsylvanians an alternative. Previously, Pennsylvanians were allowed to mail an absentee ballot if travel or poor health prevented them from reaching the polls. Now, voters can opt to mail in their ballot without having to provide a recognized excuse.
For now, voters have until Oct. 27 to request a mail-in ballot for the general election. Legislators have introduced bills that could set an earlier deadline, but these have not passed into law, and Gov. Tom Wolf has vowed to veto such legislation if it’s passed.
Whatever the deadline is, voters who want a mail-in ballot are encouraged to request theirs early. The United States Postal Service told the state it is experiencing delays in its service.
People who wait to file their request or send in their completed ballots could miss critical deadlines.
How do I get my mail-in ballot?
Registered voters have a few ways to request a mail-in ballot.
Applicants can provide their email address if they want to receive an email confirming when their request has been processed. They will receive their ballot in the mail.
You can acquire a physical application form and turn it in to your county election office
There are a few ways to acquire a paper application.
Applicants can go to votespa.com, download the mail-in ballot application and print it.
Applicants can visit their county’s election office and request the mail-in ballot application form.
Applicants can request the form by contacting the Department of State by emailing ra-voterreg@pa.gov or by calling 1-877-VOTESPA.
Once they have the form, applicants will need to fill it out and turn it in to their local election office, either in person or by mail.
You can receive an “on demand” mail-in ballot from your county election office
Once counties print their mail-in ballots, voters can go to their local election office and get their mail-in ballot in person. The voter requesting the ballot must be present — they cannot send someone to receive it on their behalf. Lehigh and Northampton counties expect to have their mail-in ballots on hand by late September or early October. Voters could cast their vote and turn it in during the same visit.
How do I turn in my completed ballot?
Once voters have their mail-in ballot, they’ll need to complete it and turn it in to their county election office. Under current law, the ballots must be at the county election office by 8 p.m. Election Day to be counted. Ballots need to be placed inside two envelopes — an outer, mailing envelope and an inner envelope designed to protect the secrecy of the ballot.
Voters have several options on turning in their ballot
Mail them to the county election office
Election officials are warning voters not to wait to mail their completed ballots. Delays with the post office could prevent ballots from arriving in time to be counted. For the primary, voters were advised to mail their ballots by the Friday before the election. With the delays, voters will want to mail their ballots at least 10 days before the election.
Turn them in at a ballot drop box
Voters nervous about the post office’s reliability can turn in their ballots at designated drop boxes. Lehigh and Northampton counties each have a drop box in the lobby of their main government buildings.
Lehigh County: 17 S. 7th St, Allentown
Northampton County: 669 Washington St., Easton
The Trump administration has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the use of these boxes, and Republican legislators have proposed bills that would eliminate them. As of now, however, they’re still legal. County officials plan to put them out in late September or early October.
Present them to the county election office
The ballots can also be turned in to the county election office. The person who completed the ballot must be the one to present the ballot.
Voters cannot drop off their mail-in ballots at their polling place
Voters who cannot get their mail-in ballot to the county election office in time may request a provisional ballot at their polling place. This ballot will be counted once election officials confirm they did not receive that voter’s mail-in ballot.
Tom Shortell covers transportation and county government in the Lehigh Valley for The Morning Call. He’s previously covered the Slate Belt, Northampton County Court, Jersey City, NJ and the Jersey Shore. A graduate of St. Bonaventure University, Shortell will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.
Hurricane Laura is rapidly strengthening and is poised to strike the upper Texas coast and western Louisiana with a ferocity that has not been seen in this region in more than a decade.
The storm, which has leaped from a Category 1 to a Category 4 since Tuesday, is forecast to make landfall at this “catastrophic” intensity between Houston and Lake Charles, La., on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. Hurricane and storm surge warnings cover much of this zone.
Beaumont and Port Arthur, Tex., which were severely damaged during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, may be near the point of landfall, where officials have ordered evacuations.
Depending on the timing of the storm, Laura may strike near high tide, inundating coastal areas of western Louisiana to the Texas border under between 15 to 20 feet of water. The Hurricane Center warned of an “unsurvivable” surge with “large and destructive waves” and that areas up to 30 miles inland could be inundated.
Laura is also likely to unleash a narrow swath of destructive winds of more than 120 mph near where it makes landfall, and hurricane-force winds could charge well inland Thursday morning.
Heavy rain is predicted to be widespread across the west-central Gulf Coast with five to 10 inches falling over a broad area, and locally up to 15 inches, leading to areas of flash flooding.
