The Idaho Supreme Court on Monday lifted a lower court order that prevented ConocoPhillips from moving giant refinery parts along a rural highway across the state.

In a 3-2 decision, the court said that Judge John Bradbury of Idaho's Second Judicial District Court and the Supreme Court itself, had no authority to rule on a permit issued by Idaho's highway department allowing the movement of giant coking unit parts along the U.S. Highway 12.

"The district court lacked jurisdiction, as does this Court, to consider respondents' petition for judicial review," wrote Justice Warren Jones in the court's opinion announcing the decision.

Residents along Highway 12 had sought to block a contractor for Conoco from moving giant coking unit drums, weighing up to 323 tons (293 metric tons) and stretching 225 feet (68.58 meters), from the port of Lewiston, Idaho, to the state's border with Montana.

Las Cruces, is "The City of the Crosses," the second largest city in New Mexico and the home of New Mexico State University (NSMU), founded in 1888, New Mexico's only land grant university. New Mexico State University began as an agricultural college and now it is a comprehensive institution dedicated to teaching, research, and service at the graduate and undergraduate level. The university also has an extensive international student population from countries in Central America, the Caribbean, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The Total enrollment for NMSU main campus and branch campuses is 26,391. Minority enrollment at the main campus is more than 48 percent (41.4 percent Hispanic, 2.9 percent American Indian, 2.7 percent African-American and 1.3 percent Asian-American).

Obviously, NMSU and Las Cruces have a long and proud history of ethnic traditions; and one would never, ever think that this university – the only research-extensive, land-grant, USA-Mexico border institution classified as Hispanic serving by the federal government – would become a battlefield of racial discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination. But it has, because of the actions and racist attitudes of a very small group of former NMSU faculty and regents – a place where five plaintiffs, Drs. Yelena Bird, Robert Buckingham, John Moraros, Satya Rao and Freedom Cheteni, received anonymous hate letters calling them the "N"-word or "N"-lover and warning them to leave NMSU "or else." Other racist comments included threats to oust these Bird and Moraros from the university because "the academy is not the place for your kind of people" and that "few wetbacks and n*****s have your kind of education." This blatant discrimination against four faculty members and one graduate student has resulted in many major changes at the University: The university president resident is gone; the president of the Board of Regents, too; as well as two other regents and a former associate dean.
Today, The Insider Exclusive goes behind the headlines concerning this incredible story of racism and retaliation at one of America's and the Southwest's most prestigious schools as Christopher Moody and and Julie Fritsch, at the firm at Moody & Warner, P.C., fight for social justice for Drs. Yelena Bird, Robert Buckingham, John Moraros, Satya Rao and Freedom Cheteni.

Christopher Moody is a founder of the employment and labor law firm of Moody & Warner, P.C. He has been practicing employment and labor law since 1983 and represents management in labor relations matters, including collective bargaining, unfair labor practice cases, representation proceedings and grievance arbitrations. Christopher is a frequent presenter on employment law topics. He is a graduate of Duke University School of Law and is licensed to practice law in New Mexico, Colorado, and California. He accepts cases in those states and in other states throughout the United States, where he is able to participate in cases by associating with attorneys admitted to practice in the relevant state.

Julie K. Fritsch is an associate attorney at Moody & Warner, PC. She is a 2003 graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School. She holds a BA from the University of Notre Dame where she received the Notre Dame Scholar Award. After graduating from law school, Julie clerked for three years with United States Magistrate Judge Leslie C. Smith in Las Cruces, NM. She regularly volunteers to mentor current law students and has been active in assisting with mock trial programs, both at the law school and high school levels, in conjunction with the Center for Civic Values.

Moody & Warner, P.C. provides thoughtful and aggressive representation in all areas of labor and employment law. The firm has had significant success representing classes of employees, large groups of employees who work or worked for the same employer, who are victims of discrimination on the basis of race, sex or other prohibited bases, or who have been improperly denied overtime or minimum wage compensation. Moody & Warner also represents individual employees and small groups of employees who are victims or discrimination, wrongful termination or improper pay practices. Moody & Warner represents clients around the nation. The firm's attorneys are licensed in California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma and represent clients in other states by associating with attorneys in those states.

You can contact Christopher Moody, and Whitney Warner at 505-944-0033, or www.nmlaborlaw.com

More than 100 lawyers are battling for the biggest chunks of what is likely to be a multibillion-dollar settlement for Gulf of Mexico oil spill victims, jockeying for spots on the elite team that will control the plaintiffs' cases.

A judge will pick 12 to 15 lawyers to take the lead in lawsuits against BP PLC and other companies filed by thousands of fishermen, restaurateurs, hotel operators, property owners and many others over the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

Competition is fierce: The candidates include a former Cabinet secretary and the lawyer who represented Al Gore in the 2000 presidential recount case. The team could get up to 15 percent of a multibillion-dollar settlement from more than 300 lawsuits that have been consolidated in New Orleans federal court. And that's on top of the typical 30 percent fee that lawyers charge their individual clients.

"This is a very lucrative position," said Brian Fitzpatrick, a Vanderbilt University law professor who has studied how attorney fees work. "You not only control the case but you get a big percentage off the top. This will attract all the big fish."

Applications from 112 attorneys have been filed with U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who will announce his choices in the coming weeks. Top trial lawyers from around the nation are represented, many of them veterans of similar high-profile cases such as Toyota's sudden acceleration problems and the troubled painkiller Vioxx.

Biotech firm Genzyme Corp. on Thursday said its board of directors has rejected Sanofi-Aventis SA's $69 per share offer and has recommended that Genzyme shareholders do not sell their shares to the French drugmaker.

Genzyme, based in Cambridge, Mass., said its board voted unanimously to reject the unsolicited offer.

The move comes three days after Sanofi-Aventis, the world's fourth-biggest drugmaker, initiated a hostile takeover attempt for Genzyme, escalating a three-month battle to acquire the maker of lucrative drugs for rare genetic disorders.

Sanofi, based in Paris, initially made the $69 offer privately in July, then repeated it publicly in late August, but was rebuffed by Sanofi's board twice.

As before, Genzyme said Thursday that the $69 price was too low.

Sanofi-Aventis spokesman Jack Cox said he could not immediately comment on the Genzyme announcement.

Genzyme shares jumped late in the day, rising 61 cents to $72.36 a share in regular trading, as traders apparently expected that Sanofi would be forced to raise its offer. In after-hours trading, shares jumped another 64 cents, to $73.

In a press release, Genzyme said the price "is inadequate and opportunistic, substantially undervalues the company, fails to recognize the company's plan to increase shareholder value, and is not in the best interests of Genzyme or its shareholders."

Pittsburgh-based Reed Smith, which has 150 lawyers in Philadelphia, is in early merger discussions with Dallas-based law firm Thompson & Knight, both firms confirmed Friday to the Pittsburgh Business Times.

"We are in preliminary merger discussions with Texas-based Thompson & Knight," said Reed Smith Managing Partner Greg Jordan in an e-mail. “The discussions are preliminary and no final agreement or partner vote has been reached or taken.”

Reed Smith has more than 1,500 lawyers, while Thompson & Knight has about 350 lawyers with a focus on the energy industry, including oil and gas, Jordan said.

Becky Jackson, chief client services officer at Thompson & Knight, offered the following statement in an e-mail:

“In today’s legal environment, Thompson & Knight’s historical presence in Texas and our outstanding energy expertise are sought after by firms. For several years, we have regularly received inquiries regarding possible mergers. We have had preliminary conversations with Reed Smith, and they are obviously a great firm, but it is premature to characterize these discussions in any detail.”

Under Jordan’s decade-long tenure, Reed Smith has grown from a Pittsburgh-centric 500-lawyer firm to an international firm three times the size through a series of major mergers and acquisitions. In 2001, the firm acquired 60-lawyer Warner Cranston of London. In January 2003, it acquired California’s 220-lawyer Crosby Heafey Roach & May. In 2007, the firm merged London’s 250-lawyer Richards Butler and 140-lawyer Sachnoff & Weaver of Chicago. And in January 2008, Reed Smith acquired 110-lawyer Richards Butler Hong Kong and 55 lawyers from New York’s Anderson Kill & Olick.