Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.law From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: law Fri, May 29 1992 Date: Fri, 29 May 92 05:20:41 EDT Message-ID: 05-29 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update May 29-31, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network O&Y PROJECT RECEIVES PROTECTION: Real-estate developer Olympia & York Thursday received court protection in England for its Canary Wharf project in London. A High Court judge approved O&Y's appointment of two partners in accounting firm Ernst and Young to be administrators of the 71-acre office development project. The administrators can find a new investor, approve new construction or perhaps sell Canary Wharf. BILL SLOWS BELL EFFORTS: A House subcommittee approved a bill Thursday that would slow efforts by the seven regional Bell telephone companies to offer electronic information, make telecommunications equipment or offer long-distance service. The legislation is supported by the newspaper industry which claims the Bell companies would have an unfair advantage in delivering information over phone lines. BILL FACES POSSIBLE VETO: Bush administration officials say they will ask the president to veto a bill passed by a House subcommittee Thursday that would slow regional phone companies from offering new services and making telecommunications equipment. Supporters of the bill say it is needed to prevent monopolistic abuses by the seven regional Bell telephone companies. DRILLING BANS DIFFER: Among differences in congressional energy bills is the issue of offshore drilling. The House bill calls for no new oil or gas lease sales before 2002, other than on the Gulf of Mexico from Alabama to Texas. Leases off North Carolina, the Florida Keys and Alaska's Bristol Bay would be canceled. The Senate bill bans drilling for southern Florida, New Jersey, New England and the West Coast. TICKET TAX STARTS MONDAY: Ticket taxes take effect Monday five airports at - including Minneapolis-St. Paul and Las Vegas - that will add $3 per airline ticket. Nine more airports begin collecting the new fees this summer and dozens of others are expected to quickly follow. Flyers will pay a maximum of $12 per round trip. The money will pay for airport projects. CHEVRON TO PAY $8M FINE: Chevron will pay an $8 million fine for 68 criminal and civil violations of the Clean Water Act. The violations, including dumping untreated waste water and sandblasted waste into the ocean, occurred between 1982 and 1987 at Platform Grace, an oil drilling platform in the Santa Barbara Channel off southern California. FINE IS THIRD LARGEST: The $8 million fine Chevron has agreed to pay to settle 68 violations of the Clean Water Act is the third largest such fine in U.S. history. As part of Chevron's agreement with the U.S. attorney and the Environmental Protection Agency, Chevron President Raymond Galvin must appear in court to formalize the deal. LABOR RULES FOR JENKINS: The Labor Department ruled this week that EPA Agent Orange expert Catherine Jenkins was unjustly punished for alerting the public that dioxins are more dangerous than the agency claimed. The ruling said the EPA should reinstate Jenkins to her old job and pay any costs related to her complaint. Two years ago she asserted that studies on dioxin had been falsified by Monsanto Chemical Corp. NO-ALCOHOL BEER BILL CONSIDERED: The New York legislature is considering banning the sale of non-alcoholic beer to people under 21. A bill under consideration would outlaw the sale of non-alcoholic or low alcoholic beer to minors. An official of Anheuser-Busch said there is no evidence that non-alcoholic beer contributes to drinking by minors and said ads for the products target adults. PATENT COUNTERCLAIMS FILED: Chips and Technologies Inc. has filed a series of counterclaims against Intel in the microprocessor and math co-processor patent lawsuit which was brought against Chips in February by Intel. In the counterclaims, Chips alleges Intel's 386SL microprocessor architecture relies on integrated memory controller techniques which violate a key Chips paged memory access memory patent. NO RETRIAL FOR MACDONALD: Ex-Navajo Chairman Peter MacDonald won't be retried on 14 counts of extortion and other charges on which a jury in Phoenix deadlocked Wednesday, a federal prosecutor said Thursday. MacDonald, who was convicted on 16 other counts, was accused of taking bribes and kickbacks to help business associates gain control of a computer firm operating on the reservation. PANEL MAKES RECOMMENDATIONS: In Illinois, stricter penalties against offenders, punitive damages for victims and quicker assignment of cases to an investigator were among recommendations given by the Advisory Group on Sexual Harassment - a special state panel - to a Senate committee. The panel was created after the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings last year. Business Law Editor: Jason P. Smith. (919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. 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