Articles by Tom Brown

Judge Stays Healthcare Ruling, Gives White House Appeal Deadline

A U.S. judge Thursday put on hold his ruling that President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul was unconstitutional, allowing the White House to continue implementing the landmark legislation for now. But U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson failed to dispel widespread uncertainty …

Federal Judge in Florida Rules Healthcare Law Must Be Voided

A federal judge in Florida struck down President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare overhaul as unconstitutional Monday in the biggest legal challenge yet to federal authority to enact the law. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled that the reform law’s so-called …

Judge Lets States’ Suit Against Obama Healthcare Law Proceed

U.S. states can proceed with a lawsuit seeking to overturn President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare reform law, a Florida judge ruled Thursday. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson had said at a hearing last month that he would block efforts by …

U.S. Avoids Major Landfall So Far in Active Hurricane Season

The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season has been very active in the number of storms but is likely to go down as a non-event for most people in the United States, which has so far dodged a major landfall, the top …

Recent Patterns Heighten Threat of Active Atlantic Hurricane Season

The threat of an above-average 2010 Atlantic hurricane season has heightened over the past month and it now promises to be “a hell of a year,” a leading U.S. forecaster said Wednesday. William Gray, the hurricane forecast pioneer who founded …

U.S. Hurricane Center Director Says Haiti is ‘Biggest Concern’

U.S. National Hurricane Center director Bill Read said Tuesday that earthquake-ravaged Haiti was his biggest concern as another Atlantic hurricane season gets under way. He also acknowledged that a powerful storm could wreak havoc with efforts to fight the massive …

Gulf Oil Spill May Reach North Carolina Islands, Miami Beach

Crude from the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill could eventually slosh ashore on Miami Beach or North Carolina’s barrier islands, if it connects with a powerful sea current, an oceanographer said Tuesday. Robert Weisberg, a physical oceanographer at the …

Lawsuits Over Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Expected to Increase Dramatically

Companies linked to the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill are facing a flood of lawsuits, as legal actions from the disaster spread faster than the crude gushing from BP Plc’s blown-out undersea well. Nearly 100 lawsuits have already been …

BP CEO: Oil Claim Waivers a ‘Misstep,’ Will Not Be Enforced

BP Plc said Monday that waiver clauses in contracts it offered to Alabama fishermen to help fight the Gulf of Mexico oil spill had drawn allegations that it was trying to buy them off to give up the right to …

Georgia Joins Lawsuit Against Healthcare Overhaul

Georgia is joining a Florida-led group of states in a lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama’s overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system, Florida’s attorney general said Tuesday. Bill McCollum, who is seeking the Republican nomination to run for Florida governor, said …