Daniel Farber, Richard Frank Predict EPA Will Prevail in Texas GHG Suit

The New York Times, January 5, 2011 by Lawrence Hurley
http://nyti.ms/i7qhjh

“The short answer is that, at least in the long term, EPA is quite likely to win the legal battle,” said Richard Frank.

Daniel Farber, an environmental law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, also noted that the 12 other states that objected to the EPA rules have all been able to reach an interim agreement. He accused Attorney General Abbott of being “willing to sacrifice jobs and industry in Texas just in the hope of harassing EPA.”

Franklin Zimring Says Crime Drop Unexpected

-San Jose Mercury News, January 1, 2011 by Sean Webby and Mark Gomez
http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_16983897?nclick_check=1

The homicide rate in San Jose is “as low as American big cities ever go,” Zimring noted. “More important, it’s way down during a year when nobody had any reason to expect that.

-United Press International, January 2, 2011
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/01/02/Murder-rate-falls-in-Chicago/UPI-20571293977546/

Chicago’s murder rate for 2010 was the lowest in 45 years, with 435 recorded homicides…. “That is an astonishing and big drop,” said Franklin Zimring.

Stavros Gadinis Questions Revolving Door Between Regulators and Firms

The Washington Post, December 30, 2010 by Zachary A. Goldfarb
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/29/AR2010122902721.html

“They’re building relationships with the people on the other side of the table,” said Stavros Gadinis, an assistant law professor at the University of California at Berkeley…. “If you’re an SEC official prosecuting a case against Goldman and at the end of the table you have the general counsel of Goldman, you might be thinking that in a few years you will want to be able to call the general counsel and ask for a job.”

Robert Bartlett Thinks SEC May Pressure Facebook to Go Public

Los Angeles Times, December 29, 2010 by Jessica Guynn
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-1230-facebook-20101230,0,4981671.story

“There is no question that the SEC is going to be concerned by the fact that you have a private company that makes no financial disclosures and yet has a relatively large trading volume,” UC Berkeley law professor Robert Bartlett said. “The SEC may push Facebook as much as it has the authority to do so to become a public company.”

Steven Weissman Notes Hidden Threat of Pipeline Ruptures

San Francisco Chronicle, December 26, 2010 by Demian Bulwa and Jaxon Van Derbeken
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/26/MNNV1GL4FQ.DTL

It can be difficult to prepare for big events that happen rarely, such as a terrorist attack or levee breakor a pipeline rupture in a neighborhood…. “The natural gas system is largely outside of public consciousness—unless something goes terribly wrong,” said Steve Weissman.

Stanley Lubman Decries China’s War on Dissent

The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, December 24, 2010 by Stanley Lubman
http://on.wsj.com/gzFbbW

The ferocity of the Chinese party-state’s war on protesters, dissenters and activists will continue in the near future, and recent events demonstrate that it is increasingly determined to seek international support for its domestic actions.