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Hail Storms Are Getting More Expensive, and No One Is Sure Why

In 2008, the year the stock market crashed and Barack Obama won the presidency, the U.S. was hit with a weather phenomenon little noted by anyone beyond the insurance industry. The country’s losses from hail breached $19 billion in inflation-adjusted …

Dairy Industry Wants You to Know Vegan ‘Butter’ Isn’t Actual Butter

Miyoko Schinner is a perfect illustration of the American dream. To the U.S. dairy industry, however, she is something altogether different. A Japanese immigrant, Schinner started a small company that blossomed into a wildly successful vegan cheese maker, one with …

Boeing’s Decision on New Jet Is Critical in Rivalry With Airbus

Boeing Co. is coming to this year’s Paris Air Show with some hard choices that will go far in determining who comes out on top in the jetliner duopoly it shares with Airbus SE. Reeling from the grounding of its …

Tesla and NIO Fires in China Spur Electric-Car Safety Checkups

China is ordering carmakers to conduct checks on electric vehicles after cars made by Tesla Inc. and NIO Inc. caught on fire, spurring anxiety over the safety of battery-powered automobiles. Companies need to check for potential safety hazards with battery …

Court Addresses Burning Question: Is a Coke Oven a Product or a Structure?

In a lengthy 12-page decision that touches on nearly every aspect of product liability, the New York Court of Appeals addressed whether the defendant met its burden on summary judgment that the large, industrial coke ovens located in decedent’s workplace …

Federal Lawsuit Charges Amazon’s Alexa Violates Children’s Privacy

If Big Brother isn’t watching, maybe his little sister is listening. An international law firm has filed a federal lawsuit against Amazon.com Inc., alleging that the company’s Alexa virtual assistant product violated privacy laws in Massachusetts and seven other states …

California Court: Marijuana OK in Prison, but not for Use

SACRAMENTO, Calif.– A California appeals court says it’s legal to have small amounts of marijuana in prison — so long as inmates don’t inhale. The 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled that California voters legalized recreational possession of less than …

Lawyers Pitch Plan to Include Entire U.S. in Opioid Settlement Talks

Lawyers representing county and municipal governments accusing drug manufacturers and distributors of fueling the U.S. opioid epidemic proposed a novel plan on Friday that would allow every community nationally to participate in negotiating billions of dollars in settlements. The proposal …

Crime App Citizen Draws 1 Million New Yorkers and Some Controversy

One afternoon in late October 2017, hundreds of students from the elite Avenues private school in Manhattan were loaded onto buses, ready to head home. Suddenly, school principal Abby Brody got a disturbing smartphone alert. The crime-tracking app Citizen buzzed …

Bayer Dangles $5.6 Billion Olive Branch to Roundup Critics

Bayer AG will pump about 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) of its research and development budget into alternatives to its weedkiller glyphosate over the next decade as it battles more than 13,000 lawsuits claiming the herbicide causes cancer. Trying to …

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