U.S. Supreme Court accepts health care challenge, subpoenas reported for MF Global, first fines for violating tarmac delay rule, and more.
- The Supreme Court agreed to review the 11th Circuit’s decision striking down the individual mandate portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. See related The Regulatory Review essay.
- The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA), the European Union’s cyber-security agency, issued a report on the dangers to personal privacy from new technologies that continuously capture information about individuals. See related The Regulatory Review essay.
- Officials at the Department of Energy (DOE) apparently requested the currently bankrupt solar energy company Solyndra delay announcing planned layoffs until after the November 2010 elections, according to a House committee staff memo.
- The U.S. Senate voted down a resolution to overturn the net-neutrality regulations adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in December 2010. See related The Regulatory Review essay.
- A report issued jointly by the majority staff on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and Committee on Oversight and Government Reform called the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) a “bloated” agency plagued by significant problems.
- The Department of Transportation (DOT) imposed civil penalties of $900,000 on American Eagle Airlines in the first assessment of fines for violating the three-hour tarmac delay rule.
- The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a proposed rule to adjust the size definition of small businesses in twenty-nine industrial sectors.
- The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a proposed rule to make more uniform the standards for determining when discriminatory housing practices violate the Fair Housing Act.
- The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disciplined eight agency employees for poorly handling investigations related to the Madoff Ponzi scheme.
- United States Attorneys in Chicago and New York have reportedly issued subpoenas in the probe of the collapse of MF Global Holdings Limited.
- The Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug to treat myelofibrosis, a rare bone marrow disease.
- The New York Times published an article on the “maneuvering” that led up to President Obama’s September decision rejecting an EPA revision to its ozone standard. See related The Regulatory Review essay.
