Court Orders US Agency to Protect Wild Horses, Not Kill Them

By Edward Zuckerman, Talk Media News

October 25, 2016

Court tellsBLM: Law protects wild horses

TheU.S. 10thCircuit Court of Appealscame straight to the point: the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act instructed the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to protect wild horses from extinction, not to speed their demise by killing them. Thus, the court reversed a district judge who upheld aBLMplan that called for the “removal” of wild horses fromfederal landsin southwestern Wyoming. The challenge againstBLM’s plan was brought by the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation).

Out-of-state money dominates U.S.Senateraces

Areportfrom theU.S. Public Interest Research Groupcalculates that 77% of the money being spent in the contests for 34 U.S.Senateseats has come from out-of-state sources; and, in seven of the nation’s most hotly contestedSenateraces, out-of-state funds account for 81% of the spending. States with large infusions of out-of-state cash toSenatecandidates were: New Hampshire (94.6%), Indiana (91.3%), Pennsylvania (87.2%), North Carolina (85.5%), Nevada (82.2%) and Ohio (82.0%).

FOIA seeks EPA water radiation data

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibilityfiled a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to compel disclosure of Environmental Protection Agency documents relating to an increase in permissible radiation in the nation’s drinking water. PEER contended in the lawsuit that EPA will allow vastly greater radioactive contamination than allowed by the Safe Drinking Water Act. The lawsuit follows EPA’s refusal to disclose information on grounds that it needs to conduct extensive “intra-agency coordination” before revealing the allowable water radiation level, PEER said.

Protection from climate change can’t start too early

TheU.S. 9thCircuit Court of Appeals, reversing a district judge, upheld a National Marine Fisheries Service decision to start providingendangered species protectionto Arctic seals, even though it was based on a climate change prediction that the seals won’t be endangered until 2095. The NMFS concluded that two species of bearded seals were likely to become endangered species “within the foreseeable future.”

Florida sex and drug trafficker pleads guilty

Shaquana Brookins, 31, of Jacksonville, Fla., faces a possible life prison sentence after pleading guilty to sex and drug trafficking charges. Brookins admitted that she distributed crack cocaine and heroin in Jacksonville, and had been engaged in commercial sex trafficking. According to theDepartment of Justice, Brookins used crack cocaine to compensate an attorney for legal services, and to purchase a .357 Magnum revolver.

Nursing home chain accused of bilking Medicare

Life Care Centers of America Inc., which operates more than 220 skilled nursing facilities throughout the U.S. from its headquarters in Cleveland, Tenn., will pay $145 million to settle charges that it submitted false claims to Medicare and TRICARE for services that were not reasonable, necessary or skilled, theDepartment of Justicesaid. It is the largest settlement ever reached with a skilled nursing chain, DOJ said. Two of the company’s employees will share a $29 million reward for bringing a whistleblower’s lawsuit.

Border agents seize $3.6 million cocaine shipment

Border agents working in the air and on water intercepted a wooden “yola” vessel with two persons onboard in waters near the northwestern coast of Puerto Rico, and seized 283 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $3.6 million,U.S. Customs and Border Protectionsaid. The drug smugglers’ boat, powered by a single outboard engine, was easily overtaken by a CBP marine unit. Two Dominican Republic nationals were taken into custody.

Helping America Vote Act: A primer

TheCongressional Research Service, in preparation for questions that will come from the coming presidential election, issued a background report on the Helping America Vote Act (HAVA).Congressenacted the law in 2002 to prevent legal collisions such as the one that gripped the nation in the wake of the deadlocked 2000 election that relied on a U.S. Supreme Court decision for its ultimate resolution.

Rip ‘n Readis a daily compilation of press releases found on hundreds of websites that are maintained by the federal government, think tanks, watchdog groups and other nationaladvocacyorganizations. Press releases selected for this feature are, in the opinion of the editor, exceptionally newsworthy, interesting or just plain curious.

Originally posted by Talk Media News