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Biden declares ‘America will not default,’ says he’s confident of budget deal with GOP lawmakers
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is declaring he’s confident the U.S. will avoid an unprecedented and potentially catastrophic debt default, saying talks with congressional Republicans have been productive. Biden made his remarks as he left for a global summit in Japan. He’ll return Sunday in hopes of approving a final deal. “I’m confident that we’ll get the agreement on the budget and America will not default,” Biden said from the Roosevelt Room of the White House. He said he and lawmakers will come together “because there’s no alternative.” Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed, though he was more combative, saying Biden had “finally backed off” and come to the negotiating table.
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BP subsidiary agrees to record $40M penalty and pollution-cutting steps at Lake Michigan refinery
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Federal officials say a BP subsidiary will pay a $40 million penalty and install technology to control the release of benzene and other contaminants at its Whiting oil refinery in northern Indiana. The actions announced Wednesday will settle a civil case against BP Products North America Inc. It was filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency. They describe the penalty as the largest ever under the Clean Air Act for pollution from a structure. Additionally, the company will invest around $197 million in improvements. Officials said the refinery on Lake Michigan near Chicago violated pollution limits.
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Twitter is purging inactive accounts including people who have died, angering those still grieving
WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk announced last week Twitter would be “purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years.” The move caused outrage among people fearing they could lose tweets from now-inactive accounts, including those belonging to users who have died. Some users reported seeing profiles of late loved ones disappear — or have an “account suspended” message listed on it. Musk said that impacted accounts would be archived, and that pointed to freeing up abandoned handles as a reason behind removing the accounts. But most details remain unknown. In 2019, Twitter tried to implement a similar policy and received the same backlash.
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Target wrestles with pullback in spending and theft that may cost retailer more than $1B this year
NEW YORK (AP) — Target has reported another quarterly profit decline and issued a cautious sales and profit outlook for the current period. The discounter is dealing with rising costs and consumers who are more cautious about their spending. Still, Target’s fiscal first-quarter results Wednesday beat Wall Street expectations and the company reiterated its annual sales and profit forecasts. Target is among the first major U.S. retailers to report first-quarter earnings. Retail industry analysts will be looking to see how stubbornly high inflation and tightening credit are impacting shoppers.
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Elizabeth Holmes will start 11-year prison sentence on May 30 after losing her bid to remain free
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes will remain free through the Memorial Day weekend before surrendering to authorities on May 30. That would be the start of her more than 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors in a blood-testing scam. A federal judge set Holmes’ revised prison-reporting date after her lawyers proposed it in a Wednesday filing. It came after a federal appeals court late Tuesday rejected her bid to remain out of prison while she attempts to overturn her conviction on four felony counts of fraud and conspiracy. The punishment also includes a $452 million restitution. The 39-year-old Holmes will leave behind her two young children when she reports to prison.
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EPA rule would force clean-up of toxic waste dumped near coal-fired power plants
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is strengthening a rule aimed at controlling and cleaning up toxic waste from coal-fired power plants. A proposal Wednesday would require safe management of coal ash dumped in hundreds of older landfills, “legacy” ponds and other inactive sites that currently are unregulated at the federal level. EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the plan would hold polluters accountable for controlling and cleaning up coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal that can pollute groundwater, drinking water and air and has been linked to cancer and other health problems. The plan follows an EPA proposal last week to impose new limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants.
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Minnesota lawmakers bolster quota protections for warehouse workers
Minnesota lawmakers have passed a bill that would provide more protection for warehouse workers who have to meet productivity quotas, a move aimed at helping employees at companies like Amazon. The protections were included in a broader omnibus bill passed 34-33 on Tuesday evening by the Minnesota Senate. The House passed the bill 70-61. Under the bill, employers are required to provide each warehouse worker with a written description of any quotas. Among other protections, it prohibits employers from firing or taking any adverse actions against workers for failing to meet a quota that has not been disclosed to them.
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Abortion pill case moves to appeals court, on track for Supreme Court
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Appellate judges with a history of supporting abortion restrictions are hearing arguments over access to a drug used in the most common method of abortion. The case is likely to wind up at the Supreme Court. The high court already intervened to keep the drug, mifepristone, available while the legal fight winds through the courts. Three 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges were hearing what was expected to be at least two hours of arguments Wednesday afternoon. At issue are the Food and Drug Administration’s initial approval of mifepristone in 2000, and FDA actions making the drug more accessible in later years. The judges won’t rule immediately.
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Biden administration invests in carbon capture, upping pressure on industry to show results
The Biden administration is announcing an investment of $251 million in carbon capture and storage projects in seven states. The aim is to reduce pollution that drives climate change. The announcement comes a week after the Environmental Protection Agency released new limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that could force them to deploy carbon capture and storage to decrease emissions. Though the EPA has said carbon capture has been “adequately demonstrated” to control pollution, some still question whether the technology can work at scale, including U.S. climate envoy John Kerry.
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The S&P 500 rose 48.87 points, or 1.2%, to 4,158.77. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 408.63 points, or 1.2%, to 33,420.77. The Nasdaq composite rose 157.51 points, or 1.3% to 12,500.57. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 38.32 points, or 2.2%, to 1,774.50.
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