Firstenergy Solutions to keep coal-fired plant burning

Firstenergy Solutions has reversed its decision to close a coal-fired power plant in eastern Ohio.

The company said nearly a year ago that it would close all of the W.H. Sammis plant along the Ohio River north of Steubenville in 2022, but Friday it said it has rescinded the move amid efforts to improve the operational reliability of the plant.

Four units of the seven-unit plant remain on track to close in 2020.

The decision comes the same week state legislators approved a bail out of Firstenergy’s two nuclear plants in Ohio.

The Sammis plant is one of the largest coal-fired plants in the U.S. and Firstenergy’s last coal-fired plant in Ohio, producing 1,490 megawatts.

Judge agrees Roundup caused couple’s cancer but cuts award

A Northern California judge has upheld a jury’s verdict that Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide caused cancer in a couple but reduced damages from $2 billion to $86.7 million.

The Alameda County judge ruled Thursday that evidence supports the jury’s conclusion that Roundup was “a substantial factor” in causing non-hodgkin’s lymphoma in Alva and Alberta Pilliod.

The judge said evidence also supported the finding that Monsanto knew the herbicide’s active ingredient, glyphosate, could be dangerous while the Pilliods used it and failed to warn them.

She said the punitive damages awarded were much higher than constitutional limits set by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Monsanto’s parent company, the German pharmaceutical firm Bayer AG, said it would appeal.

Twitter revenue rises 18% in surprising second quarter

Twitter reported surprisingly strong second-quarter user numbers and revenue Friday, as it works to make the platform more user-friendly and eliminate robotic and fake accounts on its platform.

On that front, the social media messaging service said instances of suspicious behavior and spam dropped by 18% during the quarter.

But Twitter’s push to cut down on fake accounts costs money, and its adjusted profit fell 36% to about $37 million, or 5 cents per share. At the same time, revenue surged 18%, to $841 million, better than the $829 million that Wall Street was looking for, according to a survey by Factset. In April, Twitter had forecast revenue of $770 million to $830 million for the quarter.

Twitter’s daily user base rose 14% to 139 million, an increase of 5 million users. Analysts were expecting 134.7 million daily users.