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Judge approves $179M settlement for AK Steel retire
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2011/01/12 08:02
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pU.S. District Judge Timothy Black has approved a previously disclosed $179 million settlement and entered a final judgment in a dispute between AK Steel and retirees at its Butler, Pa., steel plant./ppThe AK Steel retirees had filed a class-action lawsuit in June 2009 to stop the company from making changes to their health insurance benefits. It had started making retirees pay a portion of their premiums in January 2010./ppWest Chester-based AK Steel is the largest Dayton-area company, with more than $4 billion in revenue./ppUnder the terms of the settlement, AK Steel will continue to pay for the benefits through 2014 and also pay $91 million to two trusts to cover future benefits for hourly and salaries retirees./ppIn return, the company has been relieved of liability for any benefits after 2014, and the lawsuit was dismissed.
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Judge Rules Teacher Performance Ratings Should Be Public
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2011/01/12 03:59
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| pA State Supreme Court judge ruled yesterday that New York City can make teacher performance ratings public. The United Federation of Teachers has vowed to appeal the decision./ppThe suit, which was launched by the UFT against the Department of Education, argued that the move by the city to release the ratings was “arbitrary and capricious.”/ppThe data reflected in the Teacher Data Reports (TDRs) should not be released, because the TDRs are so flawed and unreliable as to be subjective and without merit, argued a union representative./ppState Senator Velmanette Montgomery, a longtime champion of children’s education, expressed some concern around the test methodology which, she says, should be independently verified by a recognized authority. If it is flawed, the actions taken could ruin the careers of valuable educators and hurt the school system and our children, said Montgomery./p |
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Appeals Court judge lobbies for high court spot
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2011/01/09 09:02
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| pAppeals Court Judge Jane Markey of Grand Rapids says Gov. Rick Snyder should name her to the Michigan Supreme Court because she'd bring a west Michigan perspective. /ppSnyder could name a replacement as early as Monday for Justice Maura Corrigan, who steps down Friday to become Human Services director. /ppThe 59-year-old Markey said in a release that current justices are from southeast Michigan or the Lansing area. She adds no one from Grand Rapids has been a justice since 1946. /ppMarkey hoped to run for the high court in 2010, but Republicans nominated Wayne Circuit Court Judge Mary Beth Kelly, who beat Justice Alton Davis. /p |
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Mass. man accused of killing kin pleads not guilty
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2010/09/02 13:53
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pA Massachusetts man accused of killing his wife, two children and mother-in-law pleaded not guilty Thursday to four counts of first-degree murder as a prosecutor described how he left two copies of a letter confessing to the slayings./ppThomas Mortimer IV was arraigned in Woburn Superior Court on Thursday following his indictment last week. He had previously entered not guilty pleas in district court and has been held without bail since his arrest following the killings in June./ppMortimer frowned as he listened to a clerk read an indictment charging him in the murders of his wife, 41-year-old Laura Stone Mortimer, mother-in-law, 64-year-old Ellen Stone, and two children, 4-year-old Thomas Mortimer V, and 2-year-old Charlotte Mortimer. He did not look at his wife's family members, seated in the front row of the courtroom./ppThe family was found beaten and stabbed to death in their Winchester home./ppDistrict Attorney Gerard Leone has said that the slayings followed a fight and ongoing marital discord. Leone said there were signs that Mortimer attempted suicide at the home.
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Thousands sign on for $10 billion BP suit
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2010/08/30 08:23
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| pThe revelation that BP's Texas City refinery emitted toxic benzene for more than a month has ignited a furor in the port community that has suffered its share of deadly industrial accidents and toxic spills./ppThousands of residents who fear they may have been exposed to the known carcinogen released at the oil refinery from April 6 to May 16 have been flooding parking lots and conference halls where local trial attorneys hosted information sessions and sought clients for class-action lawsuits against the oil giant./ppBP faces the new challenge just as it is reaching a key milestone in another crisis — plugging the Gulf of Mexico well that blew out in an oil spill disaster that is costing the company billions of dollars./ppOn Wednesday, more than 3,400 people lined the hallways and sidewalks around the Nessler Center to sign on to a $10 billion class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in Galveston federal court by Friendswood attorney Anthony Buzbee. /ppThe lawsuit alleges the release of 500,000 pounds of chemicals - including 17,000 pounds of benzene - has jeopardized the health and property values of people who live and work in the area. At the nearby College of the Mainland, a separate town hall meeting drew a crowd of 600. /p |
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Doctor charged in Jackson's death due in court
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2010/08/23 08:54
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pThe doctor charged in Michael Jackson's death is due back in court for a scheduling hearing that will determine when prosecutors will publicly present some of their evidence./ppDr. Conrad Murray is required to attend Monday's hearing, during which a Los Angeles judge is expected to schedule a preliminary hearing for later this year./ppThe judge will decide at that hearing whether there is enough evidence for the involuntary manslaughter case against the cardiologist to continue. Murray, who maintains offices in Las Vegas and Houston, was charged in February for administering a lethal dose of anesthetic propofol to Jackson./ppMurray has pleaded not guilty and his attorneys have said the physician did not give Jackson anything that should have killed him.
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BP Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over Release of Benzene
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2010/08/09 08:47
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pA $10 billion toxic tort class action lawsuit has been filed against BP over alleged emissions from its troubled Texas City oil refinery, alleging that workers and residents in the area were exposed to benzene and other chemicals. nbsp;
More than 2,200 workers at the refinery and residents from the surrounding area filed the BP class action lawsuit on August 3 in the Galveston Division of the Southern District of Texas. The complaint alleges that for 40 days earlier this year, the company illegally released the chemical benzene into the atmosphere./ppThe benzene lawsuit comes just as BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, was finally able to stop the flow of oil from a well a mile under the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, which has caused a massive oil spill that is expected to cost the company tens of billions of dollars in oil spill lawsuits and clean up costs. /ppPlaintiffs in the BP Texas City refinery class action lawsuit say the company has been releasing benzene into the atmosphere at the plant due to a hydrogen compressor that broke down on April 6. The 2,212 plaintiffs allege that they suffered serious injuries and illnesses from benzene exposure./ppBenzene is an industrial chemical that has been linked to the development of cancer, leukemia and other life-threatening health problems. It is a known carcinogen used as an industrial solvent in the production of plastic and synthetic rubber, as well as drugs and dyes./ppBP’s Texas City Refinery is the third-largest oil refinery in the United States, and has been the subject of several major safety incidents. As recently as September, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration hit BP with an $87.4 million fine for not complying with a safety agreement made after a March 23, 2005 explosion and fire that killed 15 workers and injured more than 170 others./ppIn February 2009, BP Products North America agreed to pay $180 million to resolve a separate environmental lawsuit over benzene emissions at the oil refinery. That case involved violations of a 2001 consent decree and Clean Air regulations which were identified during inspections by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) following the March 2005 blast./p |
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