Free Republic

Local and state investigators have stepped up their efforts to crack down on illegal street racing events in recent months.AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Department of Public Safety is helping the Austin Police Department investigate at least four illegal street takeover events that happened in Austin late Saturday night. Multiple takeover events were reported across town Saturday night into Sunday morning. KVUE's media partners at the Austin American-Statesman reported car meetup and takeover events at 8601 Research Blvd., 9900 S. IH-35, the 400 block of Center Ridge Drive and at the intersection of Barton Springs Road and South Lamar Boulevard.

Two Alabama men are accused of inciting or encouraging a riot after authorities said messages were spread online encouraging the spring break “takeover” of a Florida beach town, authorities said. More than 160 people were arrested, about 75 illegal guns were confiscated and several businesses closed during a wild weekend late last month in Panama City Beach, police said. Social media influencers and others promoted “Panamaniac” on Facebook and other social media platforms, authorities said. Demarion Ty’Quan Cooper, 20 and Rashad Boyce Glasper, 25, were arrested Thursday at their homes in the Alabama cities of Troy and Wetumpka, police said.

The left exploits the Green Revolution to further its ecological agenda of destroying the present economic system. Its special target has long been Big Oil, which plays a dominant role in the global economy. Bolstered by the support of Big Media, Green activists are trying hard to bring the present system down. The Greens’ relentless war on oil and gas usually involves a battle of data and reports. For decades, the left has presented the inconvenient truth of dire hockey-stick-graph predictions that are constantly pushed back when doomsday fails to arrive. The oil companies defend themselves by pointing to their...

Angela Merkel’s cabinet agreed on Wednesday to tighten scrutiny on takeovers of companies in strategic industries by buyers outside the EU, the Economy Ministry said, reacting to Europe-wide disquiet over Chinese takeovers. New regulations will allow Berlin more time to probe takeover bids, especially in sectors affecting critical infrastructure, and extend the range of deals eligible for examination by the authorities. “We remain one of the most open economies in the world, but we also have an eye on fair competition. We owe that to our companies,” Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said in a statement. “In the future, reporting requirements...

With three banks that were shuttered Friday, there have been 133 U.S. bank and thrift failures this year, more than five times as many as in 2008. Tougher regulations may accelerate the pace next year. The implosion of several large residential mortgage lenders in 2008 gave way to troubled community lenders, which were hobbled by commercial-construction and real-estate loans that soured. During 2009, many failed institutions were sold to healthier banks, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. agreeing to share in losses on acquired assets. Holding companies taking advantage of generous terms include New York Community Bancorp(NYB Quote), which took...

In the late eighties the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of state takeover laws, the most important being Delaware's merger moratorium law. This law prohibits a hostile acquirer from formally merging with the target for at least three years after buying a controlling interest. Widely regarded as a major deterrent, the Delaware law has an exception if the hostile bidder can acquire more than 85 percent of the target's stock, excluding shares held by inside managers and by certain kinds of employee stock-ownership plans. Since the law passed, Delaware-incorporated companies (which account for the majority of medium-size and large public...

Fresh strains are threatening relations between the US and European Union after a warning from Washington against a "fortress Europe" in which it would be harder for US companies to carry out takeovers. US concerns have been raised by a new compromise version of the EU's takeover directive, which was originally intended to make takeovers easier in Europe but has been changed extensively because of Germany's objections. This comes on top of conflicts between the EU and the US over government subsidies for the US steel industry. The US has made its objections about the takeover directive known to all...

How did executives obtain such drastically increased compensation over the last 10 years? Why did boards allow it? The answer lies in regulatory and court decisions that have impeded hostile takeovers over the last 12 years. These decisions took away one layer -- a most important one -- from the checks and balances controlling boards' and CEOs' behaviour. The elimination of this layer and its unintended consequences were, in themselves, unintended effects of events in previous years, especially some taking place between 1982 and 1992. Following the Williams Act passed by U.S. Congress in 1968, American states passed so-called "first...