Not Coming Here After All?: The Obama administration has all but abandoned plans to allow Guantanamo Bay detainees who have been cleared for release to live in the United States, The Washington Post reports. The decision reflects bipartisan congressional opposition to admitting such prisoners but complicates efforts to persuade European allies to accept them. The number cleared for release is now "substantially higher" than 50, a Justice Department spokesman told the newspaper.
Not a DOJ Priority, But...: A federal judge on Thursday sentenced the owner of a marijuana dispensary to a year in prison, a sign that providers of medical marijuana still face the possibility of prison time despite the Obama administration’s promise not to prosecute them if they comply with state law, The New York Times reports. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. has said the Justice Department will not prioritize such cases unless a defendant violated both federal and state law; the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California said the owner in this case had violated state laws because he was not his customers’ main caregiver and provided no medical services beyond the marijuana sale.
New York Lawyer Showdown: American International Group is set to go to trial Monday against Starr International Co., a holding company controlled by former AIG CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, The American Lawyer reports via Law.com. Ted Wells of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison will be in AIG's corner and David Boies of Boies, Schiller & Flexner will be on Greenberg's side. It will be the first time the two giants have faced off against each other at trial.
Tougher Mining Regs: The Wall Street Journal reports that the Obama administration is tightening oversight of coal mining projects in which the tops of mountains are sheared off, a practice that environmentalists say is harmful but that the coal industry says is essential to local economies. "It is a further tightening down of the process," said Carol Raulston, a spokeswoman for the National Mining Association. "We're very concerned about the impact on jobs."
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