Appeals court upholds EPA emission rules
WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s first emission standards for mercury and other hazardous air pollutants from coal- and oil-fired power plants.
In its ruling, the court rejected state and industry challenges to rules designed to clean up chromium, arsenic, acid gases, nickel, cadmium, mercury and other dangerous toxins.
The EPA’s determination in 2000 that regulating emission standards is appropriate and necessary, and the agency’s reaffirmation of that determination in 2012, “are amply supported by EPA’s findings regarding the health effects of mercury exposure,” said the court.
Congress did not specify what types or levels of public health risks should be deemed a hazard under federal law.
Smartphone makers to add kill switches
SAN FRANCISCO – A trade group for wireless providers says the country’s biggest smartphone makers and carriers will soon put anti-theft tools on the devices to try to deter rampant theft.
CTIA-The Wireless Association announced Tuesday that under a “Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment,” the providers agree to install a free preloaded or downloadable anti-theft tool on smartphones sold in the U.S. after July 2015.
The wireless industry has said putting a permanent “kill switch” on phones has serious risks, including potential vulnerability to hackers.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman have demanded that the wireless industry create kill switches.
Muslim-tracking unit disbanded, NYPD says
NEW YORK – A special New York Police Department unit that sparked controversy by tracking the daily lives of Muslims in an effort to detect terror threats has been disbanded, police officials said Tuesday.
NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis confirmed that detectives assigned to the unit had been transferred to other duties within the department’s Intelligence Division.
An ongoing review of the division by new Police Commissioner William Bratton found that the same information collected by the unit could be better collected through direct contact with community groups, officials said.
In a statement, Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, called the move “a critical step forward in easing tensions between the police and the communities they serve, so that our cops and our citizens can help one another go after the real bad guys.”
Associated Press
