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☆ Biden promised 'no more drilling on federal lands, period.' He just broke that pledge to approve a massive oil project in Alaska.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

On the campaign trail in 2020, Biden promised to ban all new oil drilling on federal land. But he just broke a key campaign pledge to stop all new oil drilling on federal land in a major way. A Biden administration official insisted that the government's hands were tied by leases granted to ConocoPhillips by prior administrations. Despite these protections, the Willow project is expected to come with significant environmental costs, aside from contributing to planet-warming emissions. March 13, 2023: This story has been updated with comment from a Biden administration official.

Then came the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train on February 3, releasing toxic chemicals into the air and nearby water, and he fears crashing the value of his home. There are too many unknowns.”Stewart, 65, recently voiced his fury and sadness about what he lost to Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw on a February 22 Town Hall about the derailment on CNN. Homeowners are worried that in addition to any health risks from the chemical release, the derailment has greatly diminished the value of their homes. I think they’re going to be in the crosshairs of the accountants of Norfolk Southern saying ‘We’re not going to pay full compensation.’”Norfolk can afford to compensate homeownersPaying the homeowners and businesses wouldn’t necessarily be difficult for Norfolk Southern. Those values are only a fraction of the money that Norfolk Southern earns.

☆ Sen. Markey on Norfolk Southern: You don't have a product till you've invested enough in safety
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSen. Markey on Norfolk Southern: You don't have a product till you've invested enough in safetyCNBC's Margaret Brennan with Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) join 'Closing Bell: Overtime' to discuss Norfolk Southern train derailments and what the company needs to do to improve safety.

☆ Mark Zuckerberg wants to let teens into the metaverse—2 U.S senators say that's a huge mistake
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Two U.S. senators are less than impressed with Meta's reported plans to open up its Horizon Worlds metaverse platform to users as young as 13 — so, they're urging Mark Zuckerberg to reconsider. and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) published excerpts from a letter they sent to Zuckerberg. In those excerpts, they accused Meta of trying to "target young people" specifically to "maximize profit," noting the company's struggles to attract users to its flagship metaverse product, Horizon Worlds. Horizon Worlds is an app where users can build and explore virtual worlds while playing games and interacting with other users. Meta declined to comment on the senators' letter, pointing instead to a statement to the Journal last month, which said bringing younger users onto Horizon Worlds would come with "age-appropriate tools and protections."

☆ Democratic Senators Call on Meta to Stop Plan to Release Metaverse App to Teens
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Salvador Rodriguez | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Meta says the company in June released supervision tools for its Quest headsets. Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg should halt the company’s plan to release its fledgling Horizon Worlds metaverse app to teens ages 13 to 17, according to a letter to him sent Thursday from two U.S. senators. “In light of your company’s record of failure to protect children and teens and a growing body of evidence pointing to threats to young users in the metaverse, we urge you to halt this plan immediately,” the letter from Sens. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) wrote.

☆ US senators reintroduce bill to make daylight saving time permanent
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of 12 U.S. senators on Thursday reintroduced legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent, nearly a year after the Senate voted unanimously to end clock switching. But the bill failed to get a vote last year in the U.S. House of Representatives because lawmakers could not agree on whether to keep standard time or permanent daylight saving time, said Representative Frank Pallone. Some sleep experts say daylight savings time makes it harder to be alert in the morning. Daylight saving time has been in place in nearly all of the United States since the 1960s after being first tried in 1918. The bill would allow Arizona and Hawaii, which do not observe daylight saving time, to remain on standard time.

☆ Democratic senators urge Meta not to market its metaverse app to teens
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Washington CNN —Two Democratic senators urged Meta this week to suspend a reported plan to offer Horizon Worlds, the company’s flagship virtual reality app, to teens between the ages of 13 and 17, arguing the technology could harm young users’ physical and mental health. The lawmakers, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey and Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, called Meta’s plan “unacceptable” in light of the company’s “record of failure to protect children and teens,” in a letter dated Wednesday to company CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Horizon Worlds is already available to adults 18 and older. The calls for caution come as social media platforms have faced years of scrutiny over their impact on young users, including their potential to lead teens down harmful rabbit holes. Other platforms, including Instagram and Snapchat, have similarly rolled out additional parental controls and features that encourage teens to take a break and set boundaries.

☆ Democratic Senators urge Meta to halt launch of Metaverse app for teens, citing company's 'failure to protect' young users
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Meta is preparing to open its app 'Horizon Worlds' to teens as early as this month. "Meta's plan to target young people with offerings in the metaverse is particularly concerning in light of your consistent failures to protect young users," the Senators wrote. According to the Wall Street Journal, Meta plans to release the Horizon Worlds app to teens in order to expand its user base. "Any strategy to invite young users into a digital space rife with potential harms should not be driven by a goal to maximize profit," the Senators wrote. "We call on you to immediately halt Meta's plan to bring teen users onto Horizon Worlds."

☆ Warren Buffett slams critics of stock buybacks as economically 'illiterate'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett calls stock buyback critics economically '"illiterate". He pushed back against criticism against share repurchases his widely read letter to shareholders released Saturday. His scathing pushback on Saturday was aimed toward opponents of stock buybacks, which include high-profile critics such as fellow Democrat President Joe Biden. Biden and other Democratic lawmakers say stock buybacks benefit corporations and their executives at the cost of shareholders. As for Berkshire, it cut its share repurchases this year to $8 billion, but its cash stockpile still declined.

☆ Biden telecom board nominee says industry out to block her from position
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Gigi Sohn, who was nominated in October 2021, will have her third hearing for the job before the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday. Her written remarks said she will seek to answer the question, "Why am I still President Biden’s nominee for the 5th seat on the FCC?" In July 2021, Biden signed an executive order encouraging the FCC to reinstate the open internet net neutrality rules. Republicans have questioned Sohn's role as a board member of a nonprofit that operated a transmission service called Locast. "The work of the Commission - from net neutrality to closing the digital divide - is too important for this nomination to be delayed any further," said Senator Ed Markey.

☆ 1870 pin meaning: What the buttons and crayon lapel pins Congress wore to the State of the Union stand for
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Taiyler Simone Mitchell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

President Joe Biden gave his second State of the Union address on Tuesday. Two pins — one that reads '1870' in white text atop a round black pin and various colored crayon-shaped pins with the Crayola logo — have garnered attention. 1870 PinRep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., conducts a television interview before President Joe Biden's State of the Union address in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, February 7, 2023. "153 years after the murder of Henry Truman, the Black community is still waiting for justice," Rep. Watson Coleman said. Crayola Crayon PinA lawmaker wears a pin of a white Crayola crayon during the State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on February 7, 2023.

☆ John Fetterman's picture-taking, buddy-making, convention-breaking first month on Capitol Hill
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Delegation-mate Sen. Bob Casey told Insider that Fetterman is “off to a great start.”Top editors give you the stories you want — delivered right to your inbox each weekday. Insider spoke to Fetterman's colleagues, his staff, and congressional reporters about the newcomer's first month in Washington, and what to expect from him as Congress gets rolling. "I know Sen. Fetterman is interested in nutrition, and I share his concerns there, so I look forward to collaborating to get things done for folks in Pennsylvania and Vermont," Welch said. Food issues definitely fall under their purview as newly minted members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. 'Off to a great start'Sen. Casey told Insider that Fetterman has already hit the ground running.

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - A group of U.S. Senate Democrats will introduce legislation on Thursday directing the Federal Trade Commission to create rules banning the marketing of firearms to children, including the JR-15, which has become a target of gun control advocates. The planned legislation comes roughly a week after Democrats publicly called on the FTC to probe the marketing techniques of gun manufacturer Wee 1 Tactical, maker of the JR-15 .22 Long Rifle. The legislation, known as the Protecting Kids from Gun Marketing Act, would in practice give the FTC the tools to go after gun manufacturers. Neither the FTC nor Wee 1 Tactical immediately responded to a request for comment. The company has previously said its JR-15 rifle was designed to allow adults to safely introduce shooting and hunting sports to the next generation.

☆ U.S. senators press Southwest to answer questions on holiday meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - A group of 15 U.S. senators on Friday demanded Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) Chief Executive Bob Jordan answer questions about the low-cost carrier's holiday meltdown that led to nearly 16,000 flight cancellations. "The airline must examine the causes of this disaster and ensure it never happens again," said the letter led by Democratic Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal asking for answers about the software it uses for crew scheduling and why did the company "fail to invest funds to modernize these systems to ensure that it could effectively coordinate crew and flight schedules after major storms and during major travel periods?" Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ A columnist easily tricked Elon Musk's new Twitter verification system by posing as a US senator
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Posing as US Senator Ed Markey, he paid $8 for a Twitter Blue account. Instead, he wanted users to be able to pay for verification through Twitter Blue. At that time, Fowler created his first fake verified Markey account, saying it took mere "minutes." In November, Twitter put Twitter Blue on hold, with Musk saying the platform needed more time to safeguard against impersonation with "high confidence." To help ensure the credibility of paid users, Twitter now asks them to connect a phone number to their accounts, among other requirements.

☆ Premarket stocks: Wall Street's biggest winners and losers in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The S&P 500 is down nearly 20% and with two trading days left in the year, investors’ hopes of a miraculous recovery have been dashed. The energy sector has so far returned more than 60% this year, significantly outperforming every other S&P 500 sector. Occidental Petroleum has been the biggest gainer of the year in the S&P 500, up 122% year-to-date. The energy sector reported the highest year-over-year earnings growth of all 11 sectors, at 137.3%. Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA) is also down about 70%, making the auto tech company the third worst performer this year.

☆ Analysis: Southwest got billions of dollars in taxpayer aid. Why is its service still a mess?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Southwest Airlines received more than $7 billion from that program. However, analysts say, Southwest’s service meltdown is unrelated to the taxpayer assistance the airline received in 2020. Cancelled Southwest Airlines flights are seen on the flight schedules at LaGuardia Airport, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022, in New York. In April 2020, airline passenger traffic plummeted 96% and stayed 60% below 2019 levels in 2020, according to the US Government Accountability Office. “The problems at Southwest Airlines over the last several days go beyond weather,” she said in a statement.

☆ Why the Taylor Swift debacle could lead to renewed scrutiny of the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Lawmakers and Swifties are calling for the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger to be reexamined. The Department of Justice was reportedly investigating the merger prior to the Eras Tour madness. Now, the Department of Justice is reportedly investigating the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger, a probe that began even before the Eras Tour debacle. That's the kind of merger critics argue happened with Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Live Nation has not incurred any of those penalties.

☆ It's not just Taylor Swift. Musicians describe the 'demented struggle' of touring in a shrinking industry where one giant company sells the tickets for most major venues.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

On top of that, the Justice Department is reportedly investigating the 2010 merger of industry leaders Ticketmaster and Live Nation. Live Nation Entertainment said in a statement that it owns and operates just over 100 of the nearly 4,000 total live music venues in the United States. "Put simply, artists, venues, and consumers should no longer be at the mercy of a single seller," Sens. At the same time, Live Nation Entertainment is seeing a record year due to more shows than ever. "We always welcome the opportunity to discuss important issues facing the live entertainment industry," Live Nation said in a statement.

☆ Upset the sun sets so early? Blame the House for not voting to make daylight savings time year-round.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The House could have voted this year to make daylight savings time permanent. The chair of the relevant House committee told Insider he still wants to find "consensus" on the issue. "It's polarizing as hell," Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a key sponsor of the bill, told Insider at the Capitol in December. "I'm just trying to reach a consensus," he told Insider at the Capitol. "The problem is, half the people want standard time, others want daylight [savings time], others don't want to change it at all."

☆ Elizabeth Warren slams the Fed's Jerome Powell for 'pushing hard to get more people fired' as he continues to aggressively fight inflation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates again today, but not at the same fast pace as past months. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve announced it would be increasing interest rates yet again, raising them 0.5 percentage points. "He's pushing hard to get more people fired because he thinks that is one way to help bring down inflation," Warren told HuffPost's Arthur Delaney, referencing Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell. This isn't the first time Warren has sounded the alarm on continued interest rate hikes. The Federal Reserve isn't the only body that could take action: Congress could step in with legislation aimed at lowering prices.

Airport workers across the country are rallying and walking off the job Thursday to draw attention to their current working conditions and legislation that could improve them. Workers at 15 U.S. airports, including ones in Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City and Phoenix, plan to participate in on-site rallies. Formal strikes — which could disrupt operations — are planned at Boston's Logan International Airport, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and the Newark Liberty International Airport. The rallies are in support of the Good Jobs for Good Airports Act, introduced in June by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. It would set a minimum wage of $15 for airport service workers, as well as ensure the workers have paid time off, holidays, adequate health care and other benefits.

☆ Workers at 15 major US airports are gearing up to picket and rally on December 8
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Airport service workers are planning a day of action on December 8 to demand better conditions. Airport service workers are gearing up for a day of action, rallying, picketing, and marching to demand better conditions on the job. Airport service workers, such as janitors, security guards, and baggage handlers, will call on Congress to pass the Good Jobs for Good Airports Act. "Airport service workers all across this country help make our airports run. Now, airport service workers are the latest essential group to ask for more.

☆ How an arcane 96-year-old law stopped the rail strike
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The Railway Labor Act was passed in 1926 as one of the very first labor laws in the nation. Because of the law, the House was able to vote Wednesday to impose unpopular contracts on four rail unions whose members have already rejected the terms, followed by a vote by the Senate vote late Thursday that did the same. The Railway Labor Act, passed in 1926, is the reason Congress could intervene this week to block a strike by freight railroad unions. But under the Railway Labor Act, management can fall back on hopes that Congress will give them the deal it wants. When he served in the Senate, Biden voted against an earlier effort to impose a contract on the rail unions to keep them on the job.

☆ 3 senators call for DOJ to potentially unwind the Ticketmaster and Live Nation merger: 'High prices and labyrinth-like ticketing process for Taylor Swift's Eras tour are clear examples of the harms co
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

"The high prices and labyrinth-like ticketing process for Taylor Swift's Eras tour are clear examples of the harms consumers face in an anti-competitive ticketing market," the senators write. Live Nation Entertainment has said that it "does not engage in behaviors that could justify antitrust litigation, let alone orders that would require it to alter fundamental business practices." The DOJ and Live Nation Entertainment did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on the letter. UMAW is also pushing for the merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster to be unwound. Put simply, artists, venues, and consumers should no longer be at the mercy of a single seller."

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