Lift granted: Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC may resume construction of a crude oil pipeline through the Atchafalaya Basin, a project that has been on hold for nearly three weeks, an appeals court ruled late Thursday. A lower-court judge had suspended construction of the Bayou Bridge pipeline in the basin, but a divided three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to lift that order. It remains to be seen, however, how much work Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC will be able to complete before rising water in the basin forces another work stoppage, possibly lasting for months. Read more.
Outraged: U.S. Sen. John Kennedy is vowing to ban the forced storage of pet animals in airline overhead bins after a dog died on a United Airlines flight, prompting critics to wonder why he doesn’t show the same urgency in calling for more gun control. Kennedy tweeted Wednesday that he would file a bill stopping airlines from putting animals in the overhead compartments. But Twitter users quickly jumped on Kennedy for making his proposal on the same day that students nationwide walked out of school to protest gun violence. Kennedy, in the wake of mass shootings, has recently said the government should look more at “idiot control” instead of gun control, adding he doesn’t think “we need more gun control laws.” Read more.
Use it or lose it: If you have a Toys R Us gift card now is the time to spend it. A spokesperson for the bankrupt chain tells USA Today the toy store, which is liquidating all of its U.S. assets, will honor gift cards for the next 30 days. After that, the cards will be worthless. “Gift cards are, technically, unsecured debt of the bankrupt retailer and bankruptcy law gives them no special protection,” says Melissa Jacoby, a bankruptcy law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After the 2011 liquidation of the bookstore chain Borders Group, a group of gift card owners fought for years in court to obtain the value of their assets. They lost. Read more.
