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The position of others including Chief Justice John Roberts was harder to read, raising the possibility of a ruling less broad than the Republican state lawmakers pursuing the appeal seek. The Republican lawmakers are asking the Supreme Court to embrace a once-marginal legal theory that has gained favor among some conservatives called the "independent state legislature" doctrine. The Republican lawmakers have argued that the state court unconstitutionally usurped the North Carolina General Assembly's authority to regulate federal elections. Thompson also argued that state constitutions cannot impose substantive limits on the actions of legislatures on federal elections. A lower state court subsequently rejected the legislature's redrawn map and adopted one drawn by a bipartisan group of experts.

The Supreme Court's eventual decision, due by the end of June, could apply to 2024 elections including the U.S. presidential race. The Republican lawmakers have argued that the state court unconstitutionally usurped the North Carolina General Assembly's authority to regulate federal elections. Kagan noted that in a series of cases over the years the Supreme Court expressed that state courts had a role to play in this area. A lower state court subsequently rejected the legislature's redrawn map and adopted a new map drawn by a bipartisan group of experts. The Supreme Court in March declined a Republican request to put those lower court actions on hold.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear a major case that could upend election law as the justices consider whether to reinstate Republican-drawn congressional districts in North Carolina. The case, which could have a broad impact on an array of election issues, is being closely watched for its potential impact on the 2024 presidential election. Republicans led by Tim Moore, the Republican speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, invoked the theory after the state Supreme Court in February struck down the congressional district map. Activists protest partisan gerrymandering at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on Mar. Moore and other Republicans immediately asked the Supreme Court to reinstate the maps, saying the state court had overstepped its authority.

The Republicans are asking the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, to embrace a once-marginal legal theory that has gained favor among some conservatives called the "independent state legislature" doctrine. The Supreme Court's eventual decision, due by the end of June, could apply to 2024 elections including the U.S. presidential race. The Republican lawmakers have argued that the state court unconstitutionally usurped the North Carolina General Assembly's authority to regulate federal elections. A lower state court subsequently rejected the legislature's redrawn map and adopted a new map drawn by a bipartisan group of experts. The Supreme Court in March declined a Republican request to put those lower court actions on hold.

☆ Gunfire Attack in North Carolina Leaves Thousands Without Power for Third Full Day
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Alyssa Lukpat | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Residents in Moore County, N.C., went a third full day without power Tuesday as the outages continue to upend daily life, forcing schools and businesses to remain closed. Paige Loyd , who lives in the town of Southern Pines, hasn’t had heat or a working stove since Saturday night. Authorities say vandals in Moore County disabled two substations that evening with gunfire.

☆ Supreme Court justices grapple with a Republican challenge that could upend how elections are run: 'This is a theory with big consequences'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Supreme Court heard three hours of oral arguments on a GOP-led challenge from North Carolina. Barrett said adopting the North Carolina Republicans' approach would mean judges would have "notoriously difficult lines to draw." The state supreme court ruled that the map was a partisan gerrymander that favored Republicans, deeming it a violation of the state constitution. Alito noted that in some places, like North Carolina, state supreme court judges are elected by voters. The Supreme Court is expected to hand down its decision in the case by June.

☆ The easiest way to travel full time? See what a 28-year-old paid for an apartment on a cruise ship
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Lucy Handley | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The MV Narrative is now under construction in Split, Croatia, from where it will set sail in 2025. The MV Narrative, the first cruise ship from operator Storylines, is scheduled to set sail from Croatia in 2025. A computer-generated image of the bathroom in a "Global" penthouse residence on board the MV Narrative cruise ship. A rendering of a residents' lounge on board the MV Narrative cruise ship, which is expected to carry around 1,000 passengers. A computer rendering of the living quarters of an "Envision" residence on board the MV Narrative cruise ship.

☆ Investors Yank Money From Commercial-Property Funds, Pressuring Real-Estate Values
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Konrad Putzier | Peter Grant | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Some investors in Blackstone’s flagship real-estate fund won’t be able to cash out before next year. Big and small investors are queuing up to pull money out of real-estate funds, the latest sign that the surge in interest rates is threatening to upend the commercial-property sector. Blackstone Inc. last week said it would limit the amount of money investors could withdraw from its $69 billion flagship real-estate fund following a surge in redemption requests. Starwood Capital Group shortly after notified investors that it was also restricting withdrawals in a $14.6 billion fund, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Under this doctrine, they contend that the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures, and not other entities such as state courts, power over election rules and electoral district maps. The Republican lawmakers have argued that the state court unconstitutionally usurped the North Carolina General Assembly's authority to regulate federal elections. 'CONFUSION AND CHAOS'Jason Snead, a conservative elections expert who embraces the doctrine, said the North Carolina case gives the Supreme Court an opportunity to "shut down a lot of the confusion and chaos" occurring around elections. The North Carolina Supreme Court struck down the map on Feb. 4, finding the districts were crafted to dilute the "fundamental right to equal voting power" of Democrats. A lower state court then rejected a redrawn map by Republican lawmakers and adopted one devised by a bipartisan group of experts.

☆ The clean energy company turning city blocks greener
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN Business —BlocPower, a Brooklyn-based clean energy company, is bringing eco-friendly, all-electric heating and cooling systems to older buildings in lower income communities, with the goal of reducing carbon footprints and energy bills. By replacing dated equipment like gas powered furnaces with heat pump systems, the company says it is able to dramatically change a building’s environmental footprint. Building owners that have turned to BlocPower say they see a real difference. BlocPower lowered bills, made the energy system quieter, cleaned the air and offered cooling solutions that tenants are thrilled with. “What needs to happen now is we need to shift gears and move the entire infrastructure of energy systems and buildings away from fossil fuels to clean energy,” said Baird.

☆ Supreme Court's conservative majority appears sympathetic to Christian graphic designer who refuses to create websites for same-sex weddings
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Supreme Court heard a free-speech challenge from a Christian graphic designer based in Colorado. Lorie Smith, the owner of 303 Creative, refuses to create websites for same-sex weddings. At the heart of the case is a Colorado law that forbids businesses from discriminating based on sexual orientation. "As a Christian, I can't separate my faith from who I am," Smith told Insider in a recent interview. The Supreme Court is expected to hand down its decision in the case, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, by June.

☆ Twitter's clumsy handling of the Hunter Biden laptop story spurred enough bipartisan criticism to risk the existence of the internet as we know it
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Twitter's decision to throttle stories about Hunter Biden's laptop prompted bipartisan criticism. Some lawmakers have since called to repeal Section 230, a law "that created the internet." The criticism has since intensified a movement to repeal Section 230, which could change the Internet forever. Much of Taibbi's thread focused on Twitter's handling of the New York Post's October 2020 story about Hunter Biden's laptop, which the Post reported was left in a Delaware repair shop. Representatives for Khanna did not answer questions about the congressman's current position on whether or not to repeal Section 230.

☆ Dispute over North Carolina congressional districts tees up major elections case at Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Lawrencehurley_Pic.Jpg | Lawrence Hurley | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

WASHINGTON — When the North Carolina Supreme Court struck down the Republican-drawn congressional district maps in February, Rep. Tim Moore, the Republican speaker of the state’s House of Representatives, reached for some potent ammunition. Moore said in an interview that he backed the theory because it is the only way to challenge a state court ruling that he believes was not based on law or precedent. Republicans, led by Moore, immediately asked the Supreme Court to reinstate the maps. Gary D. Robertson / AP fileThe independent state legislature theory claims state legislatures have the final say over election laws, potentially shielding their actions from state courts. He also said he believed that the governor had the power to veto elections legislation, a procedure cast into doubt by at least one interpretation of the independent state legislature theory.

☆ Amazon's cloud unit wants to widen appeal of cashier-less tech
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Jeffrey Dastin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LAS VEGAS, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) hopes to interest a wider range of industries in the technology it developed for cashier-less checkout at brick-and-mortar shops, a vice president said. Since 2020, it has sold these systems to food and retail markets in airports, professional and university stadiums, and a convention center. In India, an area of growth for Amazon, it has bought another cashier-less company called Watasale, he said. TechCrunch in September reported Watasale's founders had moved to the online retailer, but Amazon had no comment on the acquisition at the time. Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in Las Vegas; Editing by Howard GollerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

HAVANA/WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Cuba´s Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio on Thursday accused long-time rival the United States of doublespeak after the Biden administration proposed to scrap a plan to install a new undersea telecommunications cable to Cuba. Cuba has long accused the U.S. of doublespeak, saying a Cold War-era embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba has failed to upend Cuba´s government, and instead, has only caused suffering among the Cuban people. The U.S. government in recent years has been scrutinizing undersea cable connections especially involving China. The existing ARCOS-1 submarine cable system connects the United States with 14 countries in the Caribbean, Central America and South America and sought to expand to a landing station in Cojimar, Cuba. The system's operator argues it would "increase the means through which Cubans on the island can communicate with the United States and the rest of the world."

☆ America may dodge a crippling rail strike. Here’s how we got here
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The House approved two pieces of legislation Wednesday, one to impose the tentative agreements that members of four of the unions have already rejected, keeping 115,000 rail workers on the job and averting a strike. More than just sick daysThe fact that this is still an issue more than two months after an 11th-hour tentative deal was reached goes beyond the issue of paid sick days. All 12 rail unions agreed to the tentative deals that generated so much opposition. But he said the issue of sick days will not be going away. Senator Bernie Sanders, a close ally of the labor movement, tweeted “At a time of record profits in the rail industry, it’s unacceptable that rail workers have ZERO guaranteed paid sick days.

And a freight rail strike could cost the US economy $1 billion in its first week alone, according to a new analysis from the Anderson Economic Group. But that’s nothing compared to what would happen with a prolonged rail strike. CommutingOnly the nation’s freight rail lines face a pending strike, but commuters would likely be affected, too. Many commuter trains travel on tracks maintained and operated by the freight railroads and passenger railroads expect they’ll have to shut down their operations once the freight strike starts. Many commuter railroads also move over freight rail lines and could not operate if a strike was called.

☆ India's first private rocket company looks to slash satellite costs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Nivedita Bhattacharjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Employees pose in front of Vikram-S rocket, India?s first private rocket developed by Skyroot, an Indian Space-Tech startup, at a spaceport in Sriharikota, India, November 18, 2022. The Hyderabad-based company, backed by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, says the $68 million it has raised will fund its next two launches. Skyroot faces both established and up-and-coming rocket launch rivals that also promise to bring down costs. India opened the door to private space companies in 2020 with a regulatory overhaul and a new agency to boost private-sector launches. The Skyroot rocket that reached 89.5 kilometers altitude in last week's test launch used carbon-fibre components and 3D-printed parts, including the thrusters.

☆ Criteo has bet big that e-commerce ads will contribute to $1 billion in revenue by 2025. But a new crop of startups are also coming for those dollars.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Lauren Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Adtech firm Criteo is battling for retailers' ad businesses with new competitors like CitrusAd. E-commerce advertising is driving much of Criteo's growth, with the firm hoping to hit $1 billion in revenue from retail media by 2025. Criteo's technology has moved beyond search ads to include display ads and ads that appear off the retailer's site. Not all retailers outsource their ad businesses, creating more competition with CriteoCriteo also faces competition from retailers themselves. Some retailers don't want Criteo or CitrusAd managing their ad businesses and license technology to build ad businesses that they manage themselves.

☆ ‘Christmas is not canceled’ despite growing risk of rail strike
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN Business —Leading retailers are sounding the alarm about the danger of a national rail strike while simultaneously stressing that a potential work stoppage won’t ruin this holiday shopping season. “Christmas is not canceled,” Brian Dodge, president of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, told CNN in a phone interview on Tuesday. Concerns about a rail strike have mounted after the largest rail union announced Monday its rank-and-file members have rejected the tentative agreement reached in September. A prolonged rail strike could cause product shortages and price spikes as nearly one-third of all freight in the United States moves by rail. “It would utterly upend the supply chain,” Dodge said, adding that concern among retail CEOs is “high” because the risk of a national rail strike is high.

☆ 3 reasons a major health insurer just made a $2.7 billion bet on a Walgreens-backed effort to upend healthcare
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The deal would give it a stake in VillageMD, an annual dividend, and a push toward value-based care. VillageMD said this week that it plans to merge with fellow primary-care provider Summit Health-CityMD in an $8.9 billion deal funded in part by the healthcare giant Cigna. VillageMD CEO Tim Barry Courtesy VillageMD3 reasons why Cigna's investing $2.7 billion in VillageMDEvanko said the investment provides financial and strategic benefits for Cigna. That stake would provide the healthcare company, which reported profits of $5.4 billion in 2021, with an annual dividend of about 5.5% on $2 billion of the $2.7 billion investment, Evanko said, according to a transcript from Sentieo. Evernorth could take what it learns from partnering with VillageMD and extend those capabilities to other healthcare providers it works with, he said.

☆ How did Democrats make it so close in the House midterm elections?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +18 min

While the GOP did still take the House, the close margin of victory was a performance well below what was possible. Here are eight perspectives from across the ideological spectrum on why the Democrats were able to make it so close. And this reality was essential given the defection of Black and Latino voters to the Republican Party and its candidates. America can credit Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s obstruction of a democracy bill and an economic bill for the narrow Republican House majority. But now, America needs to deal with a Republican House, thanks in good part to Manchin’s obstruction.

☆ EXCLUSIVE Evergrande eyes onshore assets as sweetener for offshore debt restructuring -sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Clare Jim | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Once China's top-selling property developer, Evergrande has been at the centre of a deepening property debt crisis that has seen multiple developers default on offshore debt obligations over the past year, leaving many negotiating debt restructuring. Evergrande's $22.7 billion worth of offshore debt, including loans and private bonds, is deemed to be in default after missed payment obligations late last year. Chinese developers including Evergrande - the world's most indebted - typically have few assets abroad that can be used in offshore debt restructuring. It said it expected due diligence work on the group to be completed soon after the update, and aimed to announce a specific restructuring plan before year-end. Evergrande and bondholders are now trying to determine what onshore assets could be offered as credit enhancement, the two people said.

☆ Exclusive: Evergrande eyes onshore assets as sweetener for offshore debt restructuring
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Clare Jim | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

☆ Is it time to return to tech stocks? Here's what Citi, BlackRock and other pros are saying
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Weizhen Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

It's been a brutal year for tech, as markets flee growth stocks in the face of rising interest rates and other headwinds. With inflation figures rising less than expected , however, Big Tech stocks rallied last week on investor hopes that a peak is in sight. BlackRock BlackRock said that 2023 "could well be the year to upend almost three years of growth and tech stocks moving in virtual unison." Because of economic headwinds this year, BlackRock said, relative valuations may now appear more attractive than in recent years, with growth and tech stocks currently undervalued. Others Louis Navellier, chief investment officer at asset manager Navellier & Associates, told CNBC Pro in early November there will be "persistent selling pressure" in tech, since many Big Tech stocks are faltering.

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