While in Texas on Wednesday, President Trump signed two executive orders that will make it easier for companies to build oil and gas pipelines.
At the same time, the orders make it more difficult for state agencies to intercede in the projects. Oil and gas companies have been complaining about delays in building pipelines, and Trump said his orders "will fix this, dramatically accelerating energy infrastructure approvals." He blamed "special interest groups, entrenched bureaucracies, and radical activists" for the delays.
One of the orders requires the Department of Transportation to change its policies so liquified natural gas can be shipped by rail and tanker truck, and also "seeks to limit shareholder ballot initiatives designed to alter companies' policies on environmental and social issues," The Washington Post reports. The second order says that the president is the only person responsible for approving or rejecting pipelines and other infrastructure that cross international boundaries; previously, this fell on the secretary of state.
Gov. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) called this a "dangerous attack" on the government, and said his state will challenge Trump. "No amount of politicking will change the facts — states have full authority under the Clean Water Act to protect our waters and ensure the health and safety of our people," he said in a statement. "Washington will not allow this or any presidential administration to block us from discharging that authority lawfully and effectively." Catherine Garcia
The Log Cabin Republicans, a national organization for LGBTQ members of the GOP, lost a board member over the group's decision to endorse President Trump.
"There is no world where I can sit down at the dining room table and explain to my children that I just endorsed Donald Trump for president," Jennifer Horn told The Washington Post. "It is contrary to everything that I have ever taught them about what it means to be a good, decent, principled member of society."
Horn sent her resignation letter on Monday, after the Log Cabin Republicans' chair and vice-chair announced in a Post op-ed that the group was endorsing Trump because he's taking "bold actions that benefit the LGBTQ community," including enacting tax cuts and pledging to "end the spread of HIV/AIDS in 10 years." In her letter, Horn said, among other things, she opposed Trump's "regular verbal assaults against women, immigrants, elected members of Congress, [and] party members who do not agree with him on policy or principle."
Prior to joining the Log Cabin Republicans' board, Horn was chairwoman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, and she told the Post she was disappointed in 2016 when Trump did not remove language from the party's platform that advocated against equal rights for LGBTQ people. Horn remains hopeful that more Republicans will start speaking out against Trump. "People have to know, our party is dying because of the silence of those who oppose this president," she said. Catherine Garcia
Police officers in Phoenix must now fill out a form every time they point a gun at a person, with a supervisor then reviewing the incident, a policy the city has been considering for several years.
City officials announced the new rule on Monday, with Police Chief Jeri Williams saying, "When a gun is pointed at someone, that's a traumatic event. I think this is a first step in being ... that accountable, transparent organization that is willing to share what we do and how we do it."
This was first recommended in 2015 by a community panel, and again in April by the National Police Foundation, which studied a spike in officer-involved shootings last year; there were 44 incidents in 2018, up from an average of 21 from 2009 to 2017, CNN reports. Other major cities also document when officers point their guns, including Dallas, New Orleans, and Chicago.
The city did not say if this new policy is in response to a video released two months ago, which showed an officer pointing a gun at a family during a shoplifting investigation. Police say the woman did not listen when officers told her to lift her hands, and they were concerned she might be hiding a weapon. Catherine Garcia
By the end of 2022, Hasbro products will be mostly free of plastic packaging, the toymaker announced Tuesday.
The company now uses plastic bags, elastic bands, and shrink wrap for its board games, including Monopoly, and some other toys. This move does not affect toys made out of plastic, like Mr. Potato Head, but Hasbro said it is trying to find an alternative material that is safe for kids and still looks like plastic. Hasbro does offer a recycling program, with customers able to send in their old plastic toys.
Because of its harmful environmental impact, more companies are trying to stop using plastic, and many cities are banning plastic bags and eliminating plastic straws. The company said it will start phasing out plastic in 2020. Catherine Garcia
Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good...
Just after being crowned the next Iron Man in this summer's Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man's involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe may be over. Deadline reported on Tuesday that Disney and Sony were unable to reach an agreement that would keep Marvel Studios and its president, Kevin Feige, involved in future Spider-Man movies.
To recap, Marvel Studios did not have access to Spider-Man when it began the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008 with Iron Man, as Sony had exclusive rights to the character and was releasing movies in its own universe. But after the financial disappointment of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony and Marvel Studios reached a deal whereby Sony and Disney would essentially share the character, with Sony continuing to make Spider-Man movies that crossed over with the Marvel universe. After appearing in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, this summer's Spider-Man: Far From Home sets up Spider-Man as a crucial character for the rest of the series, and he's established as effectively being the successor to Tony Stark.
But that may be quickly retconned, as now, Deadline reports that Feige won't produce the next two Spider-Man movies that are planned with Tom Holland, meaning they are unlikely to have any connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe at all, and Spider-Man probably wouldn't appear in any Avengers movies, either. According to the report, Disney was looking for a 50-50 co-financing arrangement for future Spider-Man movies, but Sony turned it down. "Sony so far has decided that as valuable as Feige is, Disney is asking too high a price," Deadline writes. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the news, adding that as a result, "Tom Holland's Spider-Man is likely to disappear entirely from the Marvel Cinematic Universe." Far from home, indeed. Brendan Morrow
President Trump's Scottish golf courses are raising some eyebrows, but not because of the beauty of their design.
HuffPost reports that Trump filed financial disclosure statements that appear to misstate the value and profitability of his Turnberry and Aberdeen resorts. For example, in 2018, Trump claimed in his U.S. filing that the resorts were each worth more than $50 million. Meanwhile, he filed balance sheets with the British government covering the same time period that showed the resorts' combined debt exceeded their assets by 47.9 million British pounds, which was equivalent to $64.8 million at the time.
In the U.S., his public disclosure pegged the income he earned from the resorts at $23.8 million, while his filings with the U.K. Companies House office in Edinburgh, Scotland, showed Turnberry and Aberdeen lost 4.6 million pounds, or $6.3 million in that timeframe. Finally, HuffPost notes that Trump's U.S. disclosure statement did not mention the $199.5 million in loans the president made to the resorts.
HuffPost reports that knowingly providing false or incomplete information on the form is a violation of the Ethics in Government Act and is punishable by up to a year in jail, while signing the form — and subsequently making a false statement — could result in a maximum of five years' imprisonment.
However, Virginia Carter, an ethics law expert with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told HuffPost that the Office of Government Ethics does give filers quite a bit of leeway in determining asset value, though she added Trump's numbers raise "legitimate questions," as it's unclear as to how the $50 million mark was reached. "The numbers don't appear to add up," she said. Read more at HuffPost. Tim O'Donnell