New York City releases baseline for its emissions
NEW YORK – New York City produces nearly 1 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions – an amount that puts it on par with Ireland or Portugal – according to a city study.
The study, released Tuesday, was ordered by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to assess the city’s progress in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030. It was conducted by the mayor’s Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability.
The study found that the buildings, subways, buses, cars and decomposition of waste in America’s most populous city produced a net emission of 58.3 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2005. The report said the city’s emissions “are currently as much as those of Ireland or Portugal.”
The U.S. total was 7.26 billion metric tons for that year.
The founder of the risque “Girls Gone Wild” empire was indicted Wednesday on two counts of federal tax evasion by a grand jury in Nevada, the latest in a series of legal woes for the Santa Monica, Calif., entrepreneur. The indictment in Reno of Joe Francis, 34, followed by one day his arrest by federal marshals on a contempt of court citation stemming from a civil case in Florida, where he is being held without bail. Wednesday’s charges alleged that Francis deducted more than $20 million in false business expenses on corporate income tax returns filed in 2002 and 2003 by two of his companies, Mantra Films Inc. and Sands Media Inc.
The North Carolina House formally apologized Wednesday “for the injustice, cruelty and brutality of slavery,” becoming the latest state to offer its regret. The House passed the apology resolution 117-0, along with a resolution that previously passed in the Senate apologizing for the state’s Jim Crow laws and other legalized segregation. Both resolutions recount a long history of discrimination against North Carolina’s black population starting with the practices of “involuntary servitude” while a British colony in the 17th century.
The Tropicana Casino Resort has settled all civil litigation stemming from the 2003 collapse of its Atlantic City parking garage that was under construction, killing four people, the casino said Wednesday. Another 20 workers were injured in the collapse, which came less than an hour after a city inspector had visited the site and found nothing was wrong. The families of the men who died sued Tropicana, its parent company, Aztar Corp., and several contractors on the job. The plaintiffs will share $101 million under the settlement, said Robert Mongeluzzi, one of the group’s lawyers. He called it the largest settlement amount involving a construction accident case in U.S. history.
California: Beached whale buried
After three days of alleged poaching attempts, the carcass of a 30-foot sperm whale was buried on the beach where it washed ashore in Santa Barbara. The whale turned up dead on the Isla Vista beach over the weekend and was quickly targeted by people seeking to remove the leviathan’s teeth, which are valuable for use in a type of handiwork called scrimshaw. Sperm whales are an endangered species, and tampering with a dead marine mammal is a violation of federal law.
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