Texas college students will carry concealed guns into classes when the fall semester begins Wednesday, as a federal judge refused three professors' request to keep concealed handguns out of their classrooms. The professors claimed the law was unconstitutionally vague, violated their academic freedom and due process, and could endanger people in their classrooms. "We will continue to fight for lethal weapon-free learning environments at U.T. and in the state of Texas," said Prof. Carter.   read more

Dismissing the Democratic Party and minority voters' disenfranchisement claims, the court upheld Ohio's elimination of a week of early voting. Critics claimed Republicans placed an undue burden on black voters when they passed Senate Bill 238 and eliminated early voting in 2014. "Both the [evidence and testimony] and the substantial support found in the record stand in opposition to the majority opinion's blithe assertion 'that it's easy to vote in Ohio,'" Judge Stanch wrote in her dissent.   read more

The drier, warmer autumn weather that's becoming more common due to climate change may extend summer smog well into the fall in the Southeastern U.S. in the years ahead, according to a study published on Monday. Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences also suggests a culprit for the smog that many people might not expect: It's the lush woodlands that give much of the South a lovely green canopy.   read more

Two weeks ago, members of the Dakota, Lakota and Yankton Sioux set up tipis in camps on a tributary of the Missouri River to fight a crude oil pipeline they fear will poison the Missouri River. For the moment, they have stood off the pipeline company and the Army Corps of Engineers. Two hearings are set in North Dakota Federal Court this week: on Wednesday, the court will consider the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's July 27 lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers.   read more

An investigation by The New York Times into the financial maze of Trump’s real estate holdings in the United States reveals that companies he owns have at least $650 million in debt — twice the amount than can be gleaned from public filings he has made as part of his bid for the White House. The Times’ inquiry also found that Trump’s fortunes depend deeply on a wide array of financial backers, including one he has cited in attacks during his campaign.   read more

New York prosecutors attempting to shore up a case against an accused baby killer have subpoenaed a reporter the suspect spoke to. The action will test the state’s press shielding law, which tends to side more heavily with confidential sourcing versus named sourcing. “This is all a show to make it look like the police have credibility and are not the thugs they are when they are doing these interrogations,” attorney Michael Croce said.   read more

New Illinois rules, signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner this month, extend sexual harassment protections as well as minimum-wage pay and a guaranteed one day off in a seven-day work week to the domestic workforce, which is mostly female and immigrant heavy. Six other states have similar laws, but Illinois is now the first in the Midwest and advocates say they hope to expand their efforts into the southern states.   read more

The National Marine Fisheries Service has authorized the Navy to continue harming protected marine mammals with low frequency sonar, despite a court ruling against the practice. The notices for the four Letters of Authorization, published Thursday, are surprising in that the agency has virtually ignored the July 15 U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision that the Navy’s peacetime use of sonar is not in compliance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act   read more

The prosecution of current and former state of Michigan employees for their role in Flint’s lead-contaminated water crisis likely will face an early test over whether one of the most serious charges can even be levied against the middle- and lower-level government officials. All eight workers charged so far face a misconduct in office charge. But there is no statute clearly defining official misconduct.   read more

A federal judge Friday referred Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his second-in-command for criminal prosecution, finding that they ignored and misrepresented to subordinates court orders designed to keep the sheriff’s office from racially profiling Latinos. The referral does not mean the sheriff will face criminal charges; it is up to federal prosecutors to decide whether to pursue the case.   read more

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled 7-2 on Friday to put Jeffery Wood’s execution on hold. Wood, 43, was scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday. Wood and his friend Daniel Reneau were convicted in the shooting death of a 31-year-old store clerk during a robbery. Wood waited in a car while Reneau shot the clerk in the face. Wood was convicted of capital murder under what’s known as the Texas law of parties, which makes a participant in a capital murder case equally culpable.   read more

An average of 50 children a day end up in hospital emergency rooms because of stroller or baby carrier accidents, and it appears far more of them are suffering brain injuries than previously believed. The data showed that the majority of the injuries occurred in children who were younger than 1 year old, and most of the injuries occurred when children fell from a stroller or carrier or when they tipped over. The head and face most commonly took the brunt of the falls.   read more

Two damning reports were released on Florida's 5,310 public drinking water systems. One in 8 were in violation, with contaminants like fecal coliform and chemicals exceeding levels safe for human consumption. Phillips said the decline began in 2010, when Gov. Rick Scott was first elected. The EPA had the authority for years to force the state's hand on violators, but hasn't. "More or less the EPA has become a toothless tiger — just look at how the EPA handled Flint, Michigan," Phillips said.   read more

After an outcry from older Americans, as well as a letter from two U.S. senators, the agency backed off the cellphone-based code requirement. “Our aggressive implementation inconvenienced or restricted access to some of our account holders,” said the agency's Mark Hinkle. Many people, especially older ones, complained that the requirement was unreasonable; fewer older Americans use cellphones, and some said they found texting difficult. Also, technical glitches hampered access to the site.   read more

"This is a long overdue step by the federal government, said PLN editor Paul Wright. "But for the federal government's bailout of the private prison industry in 2000 they would have long ago collapsed under the weight of their own mismanagement, ineptitude and corruption. We can now expect a flurry of lobbying, as the industry cannot survive without its federal handouts." Several states canceled their contracts with CCA after its abuses were revealed in civil lawsuits.   read more

The new audit confirmed findings of a 2013 AP investigation, which said EPA never conducted studies to determine whether air and water quality benefits from adding corn-based ethanol to gasoline. AP described the ethanol era as far more damaging to the environment than the government predicted. As farmers rushed to find new places to plant corn, they wiped out millions of acres of conservation land, polluted water supplies and destroyed habitat.   read more