Author: Ed Cohen

Fossil-fuel billionaire Kelcy Warren is about to land a knockout punch on Greenpeace. The pipeline magnate’s company, Energy Transfer, is behind a lawsuit that Greenpeace says could bankrupt the environmental group’s U.S. affiliate. A courtroom victory, which some Greenpeace officials fear is likely, would be a coda in the nearly decadelong battle between the two sides over one of Warren’s signature projects: the Dakota Access Pipeline. In 2016, Greenpeace, Native American tribal groups and thousands of other activists camped in a remote corner of North Dakota to block the project. The monthslong protests impeded the oil pipeline’s completion and became…

District of Columbia Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb is suing Curbio, a company that rehabs owners’ homes to prepare them for sale, alleging it targets financially disadvantaged seniors and traps them in contracts so unfavorable they can lead to financial ruin. Curbio offers to renovate homes for sale, allowing their owners to defer payment for the services until after they sell their homes. “Preparing a listing for market is a big lift. Let us take care of it for you,” Curbio’s website reads. The company also claims in marketing materials that its clients’ homes typically spend fewer days on the…

JACKSON, Miss. — The chair of a congressional committee with oversight of U.S. federal elections says ballot shortages in Mississippi’s largest county could undermine voting and election confidence in 2024 if local officials don’t make changes. Rep. Bryan Steil, a Republican from Wisconsin who chairs the Committee on House Administration, sent a letter, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, to the five-member Hinds County Election Commission, all Democrats. He demanded information on what steps local officials will take to prevent polling precincts from running out of ballots in future elections. The ballot shortages, which sowed chaos and confusion on the evening of the November…

Hundreds of people were arrested Friday when police broke up a large demonstration of mostly Jewish New Yorkers who had taken over the main hall of Grand Central station in protest of Israel’s war with Hamas, police and organizers said. Wearing black T-shirts saying “Jews say cease-fire now” and “Not in our name,” at least 200 of the demonstrators were detained by New York Police Department officers and led out of the train station, their hands zip-tied behind their backs. The NYPD said the protesters were taken briefly into custody, issued summonses and released, and that a more exact number…

LAKELAND, Fla. — A flock of swans that grew from a gift nearly 70 years ago from Queen Elizabeth II has been rounded up in Florida to ensure they are all healthy. On Tuesday, there were 50 swans collected in Lakeland, which is east of Tampa. Park supervisor Steve Williams said the birds are a cherished part of the city. “I mean, they are a city icon. They are. And we take very good care of them,” he said. The roundup each fall enables veterinarians to conduct health examinations of the city-owned swans, with those scheduled for Wednesday morning. Lakeland’s…

Turtles are once again proving that slow and steady wins the race. Decades after initiating protections for the turtles that nest on Florida’s southeast coast — the densest nesting region in the world — conservationists are now witnessing the fruits of their labor as the number of turtle nests increased exponentially all over the state. While the entire state is seeing a record number of sea turtle nests this season, the numbers have tripled since last year in Space Coast, Florida, a 72-mile span of beach on Florida’s central east coast near Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral, experts told…

YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenian leaders in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh on Thursday met with Azerbaijani officials to discuss the dissolution of their unrecognized state, in the wake of a lightning offensive that they say left them with no choice but to surrender. Following a two-hour summit in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh on Thursday, the office of Azerbaijan’s president issued a statement saying that the meeting had been held “in a constructive and positive environment, discussions were held on the issues of reintegration of the Armenian population of Karabakh, restoration of infrastructure and organization of activities based on the Constitution and laws…

Qualifying has ended and civic-minded Butts County residents have stepped up to run for the host of seats open on the Jackson, Flovilla and Jenkinsurg city councils. In Jackson, incumbent Theodore Patterson will be challenged by Christy Jo Suthard and Jerry Smith for the District 1 seat. Patterson has represented Jackson’s District 1 for the past 37 years. Incumbent Don Cook will be challenged by Stephen Vasil for the District 4 seat. Cook has held the seat for the past 10 years. Incumbent Beth Weaver will be challenged by Jeanette Riley for the District 5 seat on the City Council.…

The U.S. state of Mississippi is accepting applications for financial relief from commercial fishermen hurt by the 2019 Mississippi Bonnet Carre Spillway disaster. The spillway is designed to divert floodwater away from the city of New Orleans and into the Mississippi Sound, but the surge of freshwater spillover into the ocean can shock oysters, crabs, and other aquatic life. When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the Bonnet Carre Spillway twice in 2019 – the first time it was ever opened twice in one year – it severely damaged area fisheries. In 2020, the Department of Commerce declared the…

Starting this month, Covenant House Florida — located in Orlando — said it will begin phasing out its emergency shelter. The organization said it has been providing resources to housing insecure youth since 1995. Covenant House said the closure is associated with the cost to operate the shelter. In a statement, Covenant House said it “made the difficult decision to close its emergency residential shelter due to financial considerations, but will continue serving young people experiencing homelessness in Orlando and Central Florida by providing other critical outreach, workforce, and supportive housing services. The restructuring will allow CHF to effectively meet…