"America's oil, gas and coal industry has increased its lobbying budget by 50%, with key players spending $44.5 [million] in the first three months of this year in an intense effort to cut off support" for cap and trade legislation to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

A Philadelphia judge has ruled that R.J.

Richard Scott, "a multimillionaire investor and controversial former hospital chief executive, has become an unlikely and prominent leader of the opposition to health-care reform," reports the Washington Post. But the public relations firm promoting Scott and his front group is a usual suspect.