United States Environmental Protection Agency

• First Student, the leading operator of electric school buses, hails the administration announcement of $500M to accelerate the clean school transportation transition
  CINCINNATI, Sept. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- First Student, the largest operator of electric school buses in North America, applauds the Biden-Harris Administration for making available an additional $500 million in grants for electric school buses.
• Electric school bus transportation can provide better learning experiences and healthier futures for children across the country.
• Replacing just one diesel school bus with an electric school bus can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 54,000 pounds each year, improving health outcomes for children and communities.
• School districts that want to learn more about how to deploy electric school buses and the benefits to students and the community, can email [email protected]

• On Tuesday, September 26, the Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority convened its regular monthly meeting after an August break.
• During his opening comments, Port Commission Chairman Ric Campo applauded Commissioner Roy Mease, who is stepping down at month end as Port Commissioner representing the City of Pasadena, Texas.
• View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230928511032/en/
  Congressman Wesley Hunt attends the Port Houston Commission meeting to personally express sincere appreciation for Port Houston and the Houston Ship Channel.
• (Photo: Business Wire)
  Chairman Campo commended Commissioner Mease’s years of service and dedication to Port Houston, and added that the Pasadena City Council had appointed International Longshoremen Association Union leader Alan A. Robb to succeed Commissioner Mease, effective October 1.

• The project is projected to generate 3.2 million kilowatt hours (kWh) per year between the community solar and onsite solar projects.
• The onsite solar portion of the project will supply approximately 10% of the plant's annual electricity, while the community solar portion of the project will provide Jennie-O team members, community members and businesses the opportunity to support green power and receive discounts on their energy bills.
• "We are inspired to do our part to make the world a better place with the completion of this project," said Tom Raymond, director of environmental sustainability at Hormel Foods.
• Additionally, Hormel Foods is an anchor-tenant in community solar projects in Illinois and now rural central Minnesota.

• Both issues reflect a court that has announced revolutionary changes in doctrine and must now grapple with how far the new principles will reach.
• Two years ago, the court began what many consider to be a constitutional revolution.
• The new supermajority of six conservative justices rapidly introduced new doctrines across a range of controversies including abortion, guns, religion and race.

Focus on guns

• Zackey Rahimi is a convicted drug dealer and violent criminal who also had a restraining order in place after assaulting his girlfriend.
• The court will decide whether the federal law prohibiting the possession of firearms by someone subject to a domestic violence restraining order violates the Second Amendment.
• In the 2022 case of New York Rifle & Pistol v. Bruen, the court announced a new understanding of the Second Amendment.
• If the right to carry a gun can be regulated but not eradicated, limited but not eliminated, where is the line?
• The Rahimi case will provide a critical test of this historical approach to the boundaries of constitutional rights.

The power of the administrative state

• The court’s conservatives tend to see the actions of federal agencies as violating the constitutional principle of limited government.
• They fear that the federal government is likely to use its vast power abusively if it is unconstrained.
• In this view, the expansion of the administrative state allowed an end-run around the Constitution’s limits on government power.
• In the last few years, the court has emphasized new doctrines limiting the power of federal agencies.
• Overruling this precedent would strip power from administrative agencies and reallocate decisions to Congress or to courts.