TEPCO EXECUTIVES NOT GUILTY FOR FUKUSHIMA
» A Japanese court ruled Thursday that three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company were not guilty of professional negligence in the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant because ensuring absolute safety at nuclear plants was not a government requirement at that time.
The ruling by the Tokyo District Court ended the only criminal trial related to the nuclear accident that has kept tens of thousands of residents away from their homes because of lingering radiation contamination.
Lawyers representing the 5,700 Fukushima residents who filed the criminal complaint said they will push prosecutors to appeal the decision.
Trump sues Manhattan DA, seeking to block tax return subpoena.
NE WY
ORK» President Donald Trump asked a federal court Thursday to block an effort by New York prosecutors to obtain his tax returns as part of a criminal investigation, opening another front in the president’s efforts to keep his financial information private.
Trump’s attorneys filed a lawsuit against Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., who recently subpoenaed the president’s accounting firm for eight years of his state and federal returns as part of an investigation into payments made to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump.
They called the subpoena a “bad faith effort to harass” Trump and said Vance, a Democrat, had overstepped his constitutional authority.
Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Glacier parks allow e-bikes.
» National Park HELEN A, MONT .
Service officials say motorized electric bicycles are now allowed in Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Glacier national parks, along with Wyoming’s National Elk Refuge.
The joint announcement Thursday followed an order signed last month by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt allowing pedal bicycles with electric motors wherever traditional bikes can go in national parks.
The guidelines posted on the Yellowstone, Glacier and Grand Teton websites say e-bikes and traditional bicycles are barred from boardwalks, snow routes and nearly all backcountry trails.
Bus carrying singer Josh Turner’s road crew crashes; one dead.
SH A NDON , C A LIF .
» A tour bus carrying members of the road crew for country singer Josh Turner plunged off a cliff in central California, killing one person and injuring seven others, authorities said Thursday.
Turner and his band were not on the bus when it crashed late Wednesday in San Luis Obispo County, the California Highway Patrol said.
The crash followed a concert by Turner at the Vina Robles Amphitheatre in nearby Paso Robles.
The singer postponed the rest of his September tour dates because of the crash.
Feds cite Islam focus in review of Duke-UNC language grant.
The Trump administration is threatening to cut funding for a Middle East studies program run by the University of North Carolina and Duke University, arguing that it’s misusing a federal grant to advance “ideological priorities” and unfairly promote “the positive aspects of Islam” but not Christianity or Judaism.
An Aug. 29 letter from the U.S. Education Department orders the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies to revise its offerings by Sept. 22 or risk losing future funding from a federal grant that’s awarded to dozens of universities to support foreign language instruction.
The consortium received $235,000 from the grant last year, according to Education Department data.
A statement from UNC says the consortium “deeply values its partnership with the Department of Education” and is “committed to working with the department to provide more information about its programs.”