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Supreme Court affirms pipeline value decision
Press Release |
2014/02/20 15:59
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The Alaska Supreme Court on Wednesday handed Alaska municipalities a victory in a dispute over the value of the trans-Alaska pipeline, affirming that the structure for 2006 should have been valued at nearly $10 billion, not the $850 million claimed by pipeline owners.
The justices backed a Superior Court ruling that based the value of the pipeline on replacement costs, not fees paid to the owners for use of the pipeline.
The higher value means more tax revenue for municipalities through which the pipeline runs, especially the North Slope Borough, the Fairbanks North Star Borough and the city of Valdez, the parties in the lawsuit. The municipalities have long argued that pipeline owners have undervalued the 800-mile pipeline and tanker-loading facilities in Valdez.
"I've got a smile on my face today," Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins said. "The Supreme Court validated what our position has been all along."
State Rep. Dave Guttenberg, D-Fairbanks, in a prepared statement praised the municipalities for seeking additional revenue and faulted the state for not intervening. |
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Judge finds Citgo guilty of Clean Air Act felonies
Press Release |
2014/02/06 16:37
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A South Texas judge has fined Citgo Petroleum more than $2 million after finding it guilty of felony violations of the U.S. Clean Air Act by its Corpus Christi refinery.
U.S. District Judge John Rainey handed down his verdict and punishment Wednesday in Corpus Christi.
Dozens of residents near Citgo's Corpus Christi refinery testified that they were sickened by pollution from the refinery. The Corpus Christi Caller-Times reports prosecutors accused the Venezuelan-owned company of not installing roofs on two oil-water separator tanks the company operated between 1994 and 2003.
Dick DeGuerin of Houston, who represented Citgo, said the company will appeal the conviction.
Melissa Jarrell, a Texas A&M-Corpus Christi associate criminal justice professor, predicted the verdict could prompt other air pollution victims to seek similar prosecutions elsewhere. |
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Not guilty plea in Oakland attack on 'agender' boy
Press Release |
2014/02/03 16:20
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A 16-year-old San Francisco Bay Area boy has pleaded not guilty to charges that he set a male teen's skirt on fire on a public bus.
Richard Thomas is facing aggravated mayhem and assault charges with hate crime allegations in connection with the Nov. 4 attack.
Authorities say Thomas told investigators he attacked 18-year-old on Luke Fleischman on a bus in Oakland because he was homophobic. Relatives and friends have said Fleischman identifies as "agender," a designation sometimes adopted by people who see themselves as neither male nor female.
Fleischman was sleeping when he was attacked and suffered second and third-degree burns.
The Oakland Tribune reports that Thomas, who has been charged as an adult, entered the plea on Thursday.
His attorney, William Du Bois, says Thomas was playing a prank that went wrong.
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Viacom, Fox want to run anti-smoking ads too
Press Release |
2014/01/30 15:38
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More TV networks want to gain from tobacco companies' mandate to run anti-smoking ads that will cost tens of millions of dollars.
Fox Broadcasting and the company behind MTV, Comedy Central and BET argue that a court-ordered plan to air anti-tobacco ads on ABC, CBS and NBC won't do a good job reaching young adult and black viewers. Those populations were aggressively targeted by the tobacco industry and are areas of concern for the public health community.
Fox, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox Inc., and Viacom Inc. are asking the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to include its channels in the anti-smoking ad purchase.
The required ads stem from a 2006 ruling that the nation's largest cigarette makers concealed the dangers of smoking for decades. A judge ordered the tobacco companies to pay for corrective statements related to issues such as the adverse health effects of smoking, the addictiveness of smoking and nicotine and the negative health effects of secondhand smoke. The companies involved in the case include Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc., owner of the biggest U.S. tobacco company, Philip Morris USA; No. 2 cigarette maker, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., owned by Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Reynolds American Inc.; and No. 3 cigarette maker Lorillard Inc., based in Greensboro, N.C.
Along with the TV ads, the tobacco companies are also meant to publish statements in newspapers, websites and on cigarette packs.
The tobacco companies and the federal government last month agreed on how to publish the statements. The court must still approve the deal.
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Maryland appeals income tax case to Supreme Court
Press Release |
2014/01/16 15:14
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The Daily Record reports the justices on Monday asked for the Obama administration's views on the constitutionality of barring state residents from deducting income taxes paid to other states from their local city or county taxes owed in Maryland.
Last year, the Maryland Court of Appeals found the state law unconstitutional, saying it violates the Commerce Clause. The court said the law discourages Maryland residents from earning money outside the state.
Maryland law allows residents to deduct income taxes paid to other states from their Maryland state tax. But the state says that provision does not apply to the "piggyback tax" the state collects for local governments.
In a brief to the Supreme Court, Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler said the state has broad authority to "tax all income of its residents, even income earned outside the taxing jurisdiction." He noted that the Court of Appeals' decision could cost local governments $45 million to $50 million annually. If the law is found unconstitutional, Maryland also might have to refund up to $120 million in taxes, Gansler noted in his petition.
The case arose after Brian and Karen Wynne challenged their Howard County tax bill. They had been blocked from deducting $84,550 from their county tax bill that they had paid in income taxes to other states. Brian Wynne's out-of-state income resulted from his ownership stake in a company that operates nationwide. |
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