6/28/2015 Satellite Radio industry leader Sirius XM agreed on Friday to pay five record labels $210 million for the company’s use of pre-1972 recordings, potentially resolving a two-year legal battle in Los Angeles Superior Court. Due to federal copyrighting laws were not established for recordings until February 15th, 1972, separate from longstanding protections for songwriters,
6/26/2015 In a dramatic press briefing in Tokyo following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting, the president of embattled Japanese airbag manufacturer, Takata, Shigehisa Takada, made his first public apology for the faulty airbags responsible for at least 8 deaths and over 100 injuries. First bowing to the media, Takada said, “I apologize for not having
6/26/2015 The U.S. Justice Department along with Michigan’s Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit on Thursday, alleging that four Southern Michigan hospital systems violated antitrust laws by agreeing not to compete with each other. The civil suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, claiming that the hospitals conducted a “hands-off” marketing arrangement, with each
6/26/2015 Many beer drinkers may be shocked to find that their favorite “import” beer is actually brewed in the U.S., including popular brands like Stella Artois, Red Stripe, Foster’s, and Killian’s Irish Red, among others. In fact, many of these brands are brewed by the same companies that make Budweiser, Coors, and Miller. Among these
6/25/2015 On Tuesday, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge, John Bates, upheld regulations set to begin July 1st restricting the conduct of for-profit colleges and career-training programs. The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced rules last fall that could potentially restrict federal funding for schools that saddle students with markedly high tuition
6/24/2015 Despite countless attempts to block the measure, including a dramatic standoff in the House of Representatives earlier in the month, President Obama will get his Fast Track Authority (FTA) in order to unilaterally negotiate the terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on behalf of the U.S. government. The Senate approved FTA today following Tuesday’s
6/24/2015 For the first time in nearly 40 years, significant reforms to the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) may finally take place as the House of Representatives passed a bill on Tuesday by a 398-1 vote on HR 2576, offering major changes to the law. The passage comes as a Senate panel advanced another
6/23/2015 The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee alternated flaying both Japanese airbag manufacturer Takata, and the U.S.’s top auto regulator, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) during a contentious hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday. The hearing accompanies two separate reports that highlight extreme failings by both the manufacturer and the agency. The hearing
6/18/2015 Following the June 8th midnight deadline to file claims involving British Petroleum’s (BP) Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, 10 claims centers operating through the country will be closing on Friday, June 19th. The offices opened shortly after the 2012 settlement was announced, and have remained open past the claims deadline
6/18/2015 The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled that the government acted illegally when it acquired stock during its $85 billion bailout of insurance giant, American International Group (AIG). Although a win for AIG’s former longtime CEO, Maurice R. “Hank” Greenberg, he considers it to be only a moral victory, as Judge Thomas C. Wheeler