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A restaurant opened for dine-in service Friday in El Dorado County, California, despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s shelter-in-place orders meant to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. VIDEO: https://youtu.be/6alhP85Padk “I will not survive another month. This place is my livelihood and it’s being taken away from me,” Café El Dorado owner Cherie Baldridge told the Mountain Democrat. Two months behind in rent and facing insolvency, Baldridge and her two employees realized that opening up was their last resort.

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump is expected to relax ambitious Obama-era vehicle mileage standards and raise the ceiling on damaging fossil fuel emissions for years to come, gutting one of the United States’ single-biggest efforts against climate change. The Trump administration is expected to release a final rule Tuesday on mileage standards through 2026, watering down a tough Obama mileage standard that would have encouraged automakers globally to ramp up production of electric vehicles and more fuel-efficient gasoline vehicles. Trump’s Cabinet heads have continued a push to rollback public health and environment regulations despite the coronavirus outbreak riveting the world’s...

A group of 12 states led by California and New York on Friday challenged the Trump administration’s decision to suspend a 2016 Obama administration regulation that more than doubled penalties for automakers that fail to meet fuel efficiency requirements. Automakers protested the higher penalties, which they said could cost the industry up to $1 billion annually, and the Trump administration finalized the regulatory freeze on July 12. The 12 states, joined by the District of Columbia, filed a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to reverse the rule released by the National Highway Traffic Safety...

Buying a new car is almost always a daunting task, with salespeople trying to sell that extra warranty or undercarriage rustproofing. And, to add insult to the process of buying a new car, federal bureaucrats regularly tack on rules that jack up prices for consumers. In fact, average prices for new cars are nearing $40,000. But, that staggering high amount may soon fall due to the Trump administration’s ambitious drive to roll back onerous rules. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the process of freezing, or at least slowing, Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for cars, unshackling vehicles...

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has formally ended talks with California over federal plans to roll back fuel economy rules, the White House said on Thursday, setting the stage for what could be a lengthy legal fight over the state’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. California could be joined in any court fight by 12 other states that have adopted its standards and want stricter rules to fight climate change. Several other states have also demanded the administration abandon its August proposal to freeze federal fuel efficiency standards after 2020 and take away California’s ability to impose stricter emissions...

The Detroit-based company's proposal, modeled after a California program the Trump administration is seeking to undermine, would mandate that manufacturers garner an escalating percentage of total vehicle sales from automobiles powered by electricity or hydrogen fuel cells.

The Trump administration recently proposed the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule. The proposed rule offers modifications to Obama-era Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards with a “preferred alternative” for model years 2021 through 2026. Without a doubt, the Trump administration’s proposed revision is a welcome victory for consumers’ wallets and for consumer choice. The Obama administration implemented fuel-efficiency mandates that would force auto manufacturers to have a fleetwide fuel-economy average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. The new rule’s “preferred” change would maintain the existing fuel-economy mandate through 2020 (increasing to 37 mpg) and keep the level at...

New York Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez portrays herself as "a normal, working person," but one of her positions may have helped 150 people lose their jobs. After enduring mockery for declaring Sunday that a walk in a national park was an example of democratic socialism, Ocasio-Cortez lamented Monday the shutting down of an iconic New York coffee shop that closed mostly due to a higher minimum wage – which Ocasio-Cortez supported. **SNIP** But unlike what Ocasio-Cortez wants you to believe about the closing down, it wasn’t the result of greedy capitalists trying to squeeze the workers, but rather government regulations...

NEW ORLEANS—Sterling Burnett doesn’t always want to sit next to someone he doesn’t know on a train, plane, or bus. But he’s willing to fight for the freedom of those same strangers when it comes time for them to purchase a motor vehicle. “What I care about is … your freedom to choose the vehicle of your choice,” Burnett, an environmental policy expert for the Heartland Institute, said during a panel discussion at the free-market think tank’s America First Energy Conference that took a critical look at fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks. “I don’t think government should be in...

We’re not saying that every time your cat does something weird it’s a signal of an impending natural disaster, but you might want to start paying attention. Because, as this security footage shows, cats apparently have a sense for that kind of thing. This footage was take at the Cat Café Catchy in Japan, when an earthquake struck Osaka in June. Moments before the café started to shake, the cats seem to react to a loud noise or a thump. They jolt awake, looking around as if expecting to see what woke them from their naps. Then the building begins...

Saying the air traffic controller work force was “too white,” the Obama Federal Aviation Administration allegedly replaced hiring standards based on science, math and ability to handle intense pressure with rules designed to increase racial diversity. It’s hard to find a more flagrant example of bureaucrats putting people’s safety and lives so low on their list of priorities. Difficult but not impossible. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standards also play with people’s lives. Enacted in the 1970s amid fears of imminent oil depletion, the rules require that cars and light trucks on average across each manufacturer’s entire smorgasbord of vehicles...

Eighteen states on Tuesday sued President Trump’s administration over its push to “reconsider” greenhouse-gas-emission rules for the nation’s auto fleet, launching a legal battle over one of Barack Obama’s most significant efforts to address climate change. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt in April said he would revisit the Obama-era rules, which aim to raise efficiency requirements to about 50 miles per gallon by 2025. Pruitt’s agency said that the standards are “based on outdated information” and that new data suggests “the current standards may be too stringent.” But in the lawsuit, the states contend that the EPA acted “arbitrarily...

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt on Monday formally scrapped a key piece of the Obama administration’s fuel-efficiency standards for cars and light-duty trucks, throwing the future of the program into doubt. In a statement, Mr. Pruitt said the program, known as the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE standards, fell victim to politics during the final days of the Obama administration. He said his predecessors at the EPA rushed through rules governing fuel economy for model years 2022 through 2025, and that those rules simply aren’t realistic. “The Obama Administration’s determination was wrong,” he said. “Obama’s EPA cut the midterm evaluation...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to use a Virginia car dealership on Tuesday as the setting to tout its rejection of the Obama administration’s landmark vehicle fuel efficiency rules, a move that could put automakers in the middle of a battle between the Trump administration and California. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt plans to sign a declaration by Sunday that the Obama administration’s vehicle efficiency rules for 2022 through 2025 are “not appropriate” and must be revised, Reuters reported last week. Pruitt is expected to speak at an event at a Chevrolet dealership in suburban Washington and will joined...

Police officers are not welcome as customers at one East Oakland cafe, according to a report by local television station. A post to that cafe’s Instagram account Feb. 22 showed a crossed-out Oakland police seal and badge below the words “Habla con tu vecinxs no con la policia.” The post said an Oakland police officer walked into Hasta Muerte, 2701 Fruitvale Ave., on Feb. 16 and was declined service by a worker-owner because “we have a policy of asking police to leave for the physical and emotional safety of our customers and ourselves.”

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U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, took issue Wednesday with reports that the White House will move away from Obama-era fuel economy emissions standards for model year 2022 to 2025 cars and light trucks, saying it's "the wrong way to go for our security, economy and environment." The Massachusetts Democrat, who sits on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, spoke out against the proposed rollback shortly before President Donald Trump was expected to direct the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its conclusion that car makers could meet the strict limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Contending that gas prices are "the...

Cafe X opens in San Francisco, bringing robots to the coffee shop Posted Jan 30, 2017 by John Mannes (@JohnMannes) The world’s first coffee shop opened in Constantinople in 1555. Four hundred and some years later, Cafe X is putting a twist on that old barista model. Opening in San Francisco today, the startup is opting instead to have a large robotic arm craft your caffeinated potions. Founder Henry Hu noticed that baristas spent a majority of their time moving cups around while making espresso drinks. So, much like anyone’s natural reaction to that epiphany, Hu decided to build a...

Regulation: If President Trump wants to help autoworkers and car buyers, he doesn't need to attack imports. All he needs to do is junk the government's misguided 40-year campaign to force consumers into smaller cars. For those who don't know, the federal government first imposed the "Corporate Average Fuel Economy" standard in 1975, in response to the government-caused energy crisis. The standard requires automakers to meet annual fuel economy targets based on the fleet of cars they sell in a year, or pay stiff penalties. By the time the standards started to bite in the early 1980s — which forced...

A workmen’s café in central France was overwhelmed with phone calls from gourmet diners wanting to book tables after it was awarded a Michelin star — by mistake, it later turned out. Reporters, TV crews and prospective customers were astounded when they turned up at the Bouche à Oreille, in the small town of Bourges, to find a cheap and cheerful eatery with red and white polka dot plastic tablecloths. Many patrons wear high-visibility vests, it is often packed at lunchtime and the atmosphere is lively, with customers ordering beers at the bar. It serves its regular clientèle of local...