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☆ Alex Murdaugh is scheduled to be sentenced today for nearly 2 dozen financial crimes
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Dakin Andone | Dianne Gallagher | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —A federal judge on Monday is scheduled to sentence Alex Murdaugh – the 55-year-old former attorney already serving two life sentences for the murders of his wife and son – for nearly two dozen financial crimes following his guilty plea last year, according to the US Department of Justice. Murdaugh denies the claim, and his attorneys asked the judge to disregard the government’s motion during sentencing Monday. In a filing last week, prosecutors recommended Murdaugh be sentenced to between 17.5 and almost 22 years in prison. While Murdaugh insists he is innocent of the murders, he has admitted to the financial crimes, saying he was maintaining a yearslong opioid addiction. In exchange for his guilty plea, federal prosecutors agreed to recommend Murdaugh’s sentence be served concurrently with the one imposed in South Carolina, court filings show.

Persons: Alex Murdaugh –, –, Murdaugh, Maggie, Paul –, “ ‘, ’ confiding, Van der Sloot, Natalee Holloway, ”, Richard M, Gergel Organizations: CNN, US Department of Justice, US, Office, District, FBI Locations: District of South Carolina, South Carolina, Murdaugh

☆ More than 60 dead as fire engulfs building in South Africa's Johannesburg
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

South African firefighters and South African Police Service officers work at the sceen of a fire in Johannesburg on August 31, 2023At least 63 people were killed and 43 injured on Thursday in a fire in the central business district of South Africa's biggest city of Johannesburg, the municipal government said. Search and rescue efforts were going on, the city administration said on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter. "The City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services can confirm that the number of fatalities has gone up to 63," it said. Firefighters and emergency vehicles were at the scene, while bodies lay covered in emergency blankets on a street near the site of the early morning blaze, Reuters photographs showed. Media said the fire engulfed a five-storey building that had been abandoned at one stage but where people had been living.

Organizations: South African Police Service, Johannesburg Emergency Management Services, Firefighters, Media Locations: Johannesburg, South Africa's, City

Signage is seen at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 14, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies CURO Group Holdings Corp FollowAug 22 (Reuters) - A U.S. consumer finance regulator sued a subsidiary of fintech lender Curo Group Holdings Corp. (CURO.N) on Tuesday, alleging it pushed struggling borrowers to refinance short-term loans to keep them in debt and reap fees. Curo acquired Heights Finance for $360 million in late 2021 from private equity firm Milestone Partners. The agency said Heights Finance generated 40% of its net revenue from repeated refinances. The case is CFPB v. Heights Finance Holding Co. et al., No.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Rohit Chopra, Curo, refi, Jody Godoy, Mark Potter Organizations: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Washington , D.C, REUTERS, CURO Group Holdings, Curo Group Holdings Corp, U.S, Finance Holding Co, Heights Finance, Milestone Partners, Finance, Heights Finance Holding, District of, Thomson Locations: Washington ,, U.S, Greenville , South Carolina, Texas , Oklahoma , Alabama, Georgia , Tennessee, South Carolina, District of South Carolina, New York

☆ How much water is left in the Colorado River? Scientists and officials are scrambling to find out
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Ella Nilsen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

It’s a remarkable turnaround that will give back billions of gallons of Colorado River water to millions of people in the Southwest, primarily in Arizona and Nevada. Snow-covered peaks near the headwaters of the Colorado River outside Winter Park, Colorado, in March. Scientists estimate that Colorado River flows have decreased by about 20% compared to the early 20th century. “There are tough choices ahead,” Becky Mitchell, the Colorado commissioner for the Upper Colorado River Commission, told CNN. Bill Hasencamp, the manager of Colorado River Resources for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Persons: It’s, Brenda Burman, “, Will Lanzoni, Jessica Lundquist, ” Lundquist, Jason Connolly, Jonathan Overpeck, ” Overpeck, you’ve, Brad Udall, Udall, ” Udall, We’ve, haven’t, “ What’s, ” Becky Mitchell, “ It’s, ” Burman, ”, Bill Hasencamp Organizations: CNN, Southwest, Central Arizona Project, of Reclamation, University of Washington, Rockies, Getty, University of Michigan’s School for Environment, Sustainability, Biden, UCLA, Colorado State University, Scientists, The Central, Commission, Colorado River Resources, Metropolitan Water Locations: Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Rocky, University, Winter, , Colorado, AFP, Lake Mead, The Central Arizona, Scottsdale , Arizona, Phoenix, Metropolitan Water District, Southern California, Los Angeles

[1/2] The 3M Global Headquarters in Maplewood, Minnesota, U.S. is photographed on March 4, 2020. 3M was scheduled to face trial in South Carolina federal court on Monday in a lawsuit brought by the Florida city accusing the company of manufacturing PFAS, or per- and polyflouroalkyl substances, despite knowing for decades that the chemicals can cause cancer and other ailments. The company and lawyers for the city did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 3M announced in December that it would stop producing PFAS by 2025, amid increased legal and regulatory scrutiny. Bloomberg News reported last Friday that 3M had struck a tentative $10 billion deal with U.S. cities and towns to resolve the PFAS water pollution lawsuits it is facing.

Persons: Nicholas Pfosi, Stuart, Maria Ponnezhath, Clark Mindock, Kim Coghill, Sonali Paul Organizations: 3M Global, REUTERS, 3M, U.S, District, District of South Carolina Charleston Division, DuPont de Nemours Inc, Corteva Inc, Bloomberg News, Thomson Locations: Maplewood , Minnesota, U.S, Stuart, Florida, South Carolina, District of South, Bengaluru, New York

☆ Three chemical giants agree to pay more than $1 billion to settle ‘forever chemical’ claims
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

New York CNN —The companies Chemours, DuPont and Corteva announced on Friday they have agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle claims that “forever chemicals” contaminated public US water systems. The three chemical giants are facing thousands of lawsuits from across the country alleging the toxic chemicals were utilized in manufacturing and then polluted the environment. The three companies said they have agreed to contribute a total of $1.185 billion to a settlement fund. Chemours will contribute 50 percent (about $592 million), and DuPont and Corteva will together contribute the remaining 50 percent, at about $400 million and $193 million, respectively. So far, the three companies reached an agreement in principle.

Persons: Corteva, Dupont, “, ” Organizations: New, New York CNN, DuPont, ” CNN, Court, District Locations: New York, District of South Carolina

Another atmospheric river storm brought strong winds, rainfall and flooding to California this week, prompting levee breaches and mudslides and breaking decades-old rainfall records across the state. Only about 36% of California now remains in drought, according to data from the U.S. Drought Monitor released on Thursday. Since the storms have eased some water supply shortages, the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California recently lifted water restrictions for nearly 7 million people. The governor noted that widespread damage across the state from the winter storms was an indication of how climate change is triggering worsening weather extremes. The state's emergency agency and private weather forecasters in January estimated that damage from California's winter storms could surpass $1 billion.

☆ Explainer: Why weeks of rain in California will not end historic drought
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Daniel Trotta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

But the state's water infrastructure, mostly built in the 20th Century when the population was barely half of today's 40 million, is ill-equipped for the new situation. On Dec. 14, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California declared a drought emergency for all 19 million people in the region. Despite a deluge that by one estimate has been expected to dump more than 20 trillion gallons (80 trillion liters), the state's major reservoirs remain well below their historic average. INFRASTRUCTURE DEFICITThe state's infrastructure, largely a network of cement canals, lacks the capacity to capture excess stormwater. Even as the Colorado River basin faces its own drought, and the atmospheric rivers provide no relief, the Colorado River suffers more from overuse than from a lack of precipitation.

☆ GOP Rep. blasts 'backroom' deals to get Kevin McCarthy the speakership: 'Matt Gaetz is a fraud'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Taiyler Simone Mitchell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rep. Kevin McCarthy became House Speaker Saturday morning after conceding to far-right lawmakers. On CBS's "Face The Nation," Rep. Nancy Mace condemned Rep. Matt Gaetz for capitalizing on the vote. "I ran out of things I could even imagine to ask for," Gaetz told CNN after the 15th vote. "We don't know what they got or didn't get," Mace told Brennan, condemning the "backroom" deals. Representatives for Mace, Gaetz, and McCarthy did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ Redrawn South Carolina Congressional District ‘Exiled’ Black Voters, Judges Rule
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Jennifer Calfas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The panel said ‘race was the predominant motivating factor’ in how the state’s General Assembly drew its first congressional district. A panel of federal judges ruled South Carolina must redraw its U.S. congressional district map after finding lawmakers’ redrawing of the state’s first district discriminated against Black voters. In a decision Friday, the three-judge panel in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina said “race was the predominant motivating factor” in how the state’s General Assembly drew its first congressional district. The court ordered lawmakers to bring a new map to the court by March 31 and halted elections in the district until future court orders.

☆ Remaking the River That Remade L.A.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Michael Kimmelman | Photographs Adali Schell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +33 min

Remaking the River That Remade L.A.February 1938 was a wet month in Los Angeles. Reservoirs overflowed, dams topped out and floodwaters careered down Pacoima Wash and Tujunga Wash toward the Los Angeles River. The Los Angeles River was never a storybook river of the kind that, like the Hudson or the Seine, we associate with great cities. Among the naysayers is a venerable organization called Friends of the Los Angeles River, founded by the Texas-born poet and performance artist Lewis MacAdams. “With all the problems L.A. is facing,” he said, “even if it costs $50 billion to fix the river, we should just effing do it.”The headwaters of the Los Angeles River aren’t easy to find.

☆ Amid historic drought, California expected to approve $140 mln desalination plant
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Daniel Trotta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Oct 13 (Reuters) - A $140 million desalination plant is expected to be approved by California regulators on Thursday as the U.S. state contends with how to convert ocean water into drinking water amid the worst drought in 1,200 years. Instead of relying on water pumped from hundreds of miles (km) away, through the State Water Project or the Colorado River, the South Coast Water District would now have its own water supply. The Doheny plant would produce 5 million gallons of drinking water per day, more than enough to meet the needs of the district's 35,000 people. The Coastal Commission staff, which recommended rejecting Poseidon, favors building Doheny, which would be the 12th desalination plant approved by the regulator. The Doheny plant will use a sub-surface intake that creates a barely perceptible current.

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