By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider expanding President Donald Trump’s power to shape independent agencies by overturning a nearly century-old decision limiting when presidents can fire board members.

The justices have allowed the Republican president to carry out some high-profile firings while lawsuits play out, signaling the conservative majority is poised to overturn or narrow a 1935 Supreme Court decision that found commissioners can only be removed for misconduct or neglect of duty.

The high court agreed to take up the case of Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission who was reinstated by lower courts under a 90-year-old ruling known as Humphrey’s Executor. In that case, the court sided with another FTC commissioner who was fired by Franklin D. Roosevelt as the president worked to implement the New Deal. The justices unanimously found commissioners can be removed only for misconduct or neglect of duty.

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The justices’ decision then ushered in an era of powerful independent federal agencies charged with regulating labor relations, employment discrimination and public airwaves. But it has long rankled conservative legal theorists who argue such agencies should answer to the president.

The Justice Department argues Trump can fire board members for any reason as he works to carry out his agenda. “The President and the government suffer irreparable harm when courts transfer even some of that executive power to officers beyond the President’s control,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote. Courts have no power to order reinstatement, only back pay, Sauer argued.

But Slaughter’s attorneys say that regulatory decisions will be based more on politics than on board members’ expertise if the president can fire congressionally confirmed board members at will. “If the President is to be given new powers Congress has expressly and repeatedly refused to give him, that decision should come from the people’s elected representatives,” they argued.

The court will hear arguments unusually early in the process, before the case has fully worked its way through lower courts.

Two other board members of independent agencies asked the justices to also hear their cases if they took up the Slaughter case: Gwynne Wilcox, of the National Labor Relations Board, and Cathy Harris, of the Merit Systems Protection Board.

The FTC is a regulator enforcing consumer protection measures and antitrust legislation. The NLRB investigates unfair labor practices and oversees union elections, while the MSPB reviews disputes from federal workers.

The court has already allowed the president to fire all three board members for now. The court has suggested, however, that the president’s power to fire could have limits at the Federal Reserve, a prospect expected to be tested by the case of fired Fed Governor Lisa Cook.

By JONEL ALECCIA, Associated Press

A Seattle seafood distributor has recalled more cooked and frozen shrimp sold at Kroger grocery stores across the U.S. because of ongoing concerns about potential radioactive contamination.

Aquastar Corp. on Saturday recalled nearly 157,000 additional pounds of shrimp because of possible contamination with cesium 137, a radioactive isotope. The new recall includes nearly 50,000 bags of Kroger Raw Colossal EZ Peel Shrimp, about 18,000 bags of Kroger Mercado Cooked Medium Peeled Tail-Off Shrimp and more than 17,000 bags of AquaStar Peeled Tail-on Shrimp Skewers.

The products were sold between June 12 and Sept. 17 at grocery stores in more than 30 states. They include Bakers, City Market, Dillons, Food 4 Less, Foodsco, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Gerbes, Jay C, King Soopers, Kroger, Mariano’s, Metro Market, Pay Less Supermarkets, Pick ‘n Save, Ralph’s, Smith’s and QFC.

The company previously recalled shrimp products in August.

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The new recall is the latest action in an ongoing investigation of potential contamination with cesium 137, a byproduct of nuclear reactions, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The risk appears to be small, but the shrimp could pose a “potential health concern” for people exposed to low levels of cesium 137 over time, FDA officials said.

The FDA issued a safety alert in August warning consumers not to eat certain frozen shrimp imported from PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati, an Indonesian company doing business as BMS Foods. Cesium 137 was detected in shipping containers from the company sent to several U.S. ports and in a sample of frozen breaded shrimp.

None of the shrimp that triggered alerts or tested positive for cesium 137 was released for sale, the FDA emphasized at the time. But other shipments sent to stores may have been manufactured under conditions that allowed the products to become contaminated, the agency said.

The FDA posted an import alert to stop potentially contaminated shrimp from entering the U.S. More than 3 million pounds of shrimp exported by BMS Foods has arrived at U.S. ports in September, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection records.

Contaminated metal at the industrial site in Indonesia where the shrimp processor is located may be the source of the radioactive material, officials have said. The International Atomic Energy Agency said evidence suggests that activities at a smelting facility or from disposal of scrap metal could be the cause.

U.S. officials have declined to respond to detailed questions from The Associated Press about the source or extent of the contamination.

Experts in nuclear radiation agree that the health risk is low, but they say it’s important to determine the contamination’s source and share that information with the public.

The level of cesium 137 detected in the frozen shrimp was about 68 becquerels per kilogram, a measure of radioactivity. That is far below the FDA’s level of 1,200 becquerels per kilogram that could trigger the need for health protections.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By ALEX VEIGA, Associated Press

Two of the nation’s biggest real estate services companies are combining in a deal that will bring Century 21, Compass and several other major brokerage brands under the same umbrella.

New York-based Compass has agreed to acquire rival Anywhere Real Estate in an all-stock transaction that will create a combined company with a total value of roughly $10 billion, including debt, the companies said Monday.

Shares in Anywhere Real Estate soared more than 45% in afternoon trading Monday. Compass shares slid about 16%.

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Compass runs a platform for use by real estate agents in customer relationship management, marketing and other tasks. It also operates its namesake real estate brokerage and Christie’s International Real Estate.

Anywhere Real Estate is home to several major real estate brokerage brands: Century 21, Better Homes and Gardens, Coldwell Banker, Corcoran, ERA and Sotheby’s International Realty. The Madison, New Jersey-based company also operates relocation, title and settlement businesses.

The merger, which has the approval of each companies’ board of directors, will boost Compass’ network of real estate agents around the globe from about 40,000 to about 340,000, Compass said. The company also expects to add over $1 billion in revenue from Anywhere’s escrow, title and other businesses, and expects the deal to help lower costs and increase its cash flow.

By sharply increasing the number of real estate agents in its network, Compass will also be able to potentially broaden the use of its platform to market home listings on a limited basis before they hit the broader marketplace, That practice is known as a pocket listing or office exclusive and is currently at the center of a legal tussle between Compass and home listing portal Zillow.

“By bringing together two of the best companies in our industry, while preserving the unique independence of Anywhere’s leading brands, we now have the resources to build a place where real estate professionals can thrive for decades to come,” Robert Reffkin, Compass’ CEO and founder said in a statement.

Under the terms of the deal, Anywhere shareholders will receive about 1.4 shares in Compass, which values Anywhere’s shares at $13.01 each. That translates to a total of $1.45 billion, going by the number of outstanding shares of Anywhere, according to FactSet, and represents a roughly 84% premium over Anywhere’s closing stock price Friday.

The deal is the latest example of consolidation in the residential real estate sector, which has been grappling with a multiyear U.S. housing slump deepened by elevated mortgage rates and rising home prices that have kept many buyers frozen out of the market.

In March, mortgage company Rocket Cos. agreed to acquire competitor Mr. Cooper in an all-stock deal valued at $9.4 billion, just weeks after acquiring real estate listing company Redfin in an all-stock deal valued at $1.75 billion.

By Anna Claire Vollers, Stateline.org

A bipartisan group of Pennsylvania state legislators recently hatched a plan to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in health care.

Four Pennsylvania House Democrats and one House Republican plan to introduce legislation that would require insurers, hospitals and other providers to follow certain rules when using AI for patient care, billing and coding, claims processing and other health-related services.

“As the only physician in the [Pennsylvania] General Assembly, I have seen the rapid growth of AI usage in health care in real time,” said Democratic Pennsylvania state Rep. Arvind Venkat in a statement announcing the legislation. Venkat is an emergency medicine physician in Pittsburgh.

Venkat said that while AI has increased efficiency in administrative tasks for physicians like himself, he’s concerned about its growing use in decision-making about patient care and whether health services are covered by insurance.

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This year alone, more than a dozen states have passed laws regulating AI in health care, according to Manatt Health, a national health services firm.

Arizona, Maryland, Nebraska and Texas now ban insurance companies from using AI as the sole decision-maker in prior authorization or medical necessity denials. Nevada and Oregon prohibit AI from representing itself as a health care provider, while several other states — including Utah and New York— have regulated the use of AI-enabled chat bots in mental health.

State AI legislation has been sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans and has been approved with bipartisan support, a reflection of broad concerns over its expanding use in health care.

The Pennsylvania lawmakers say their proposed legislation would force insurers and health care providers to be transparent about how they use AI; require a human to make the final decision any time AI is used: and mandate that insurers and providers to show evidence of minimizing bias in their use of AI.

“As AI use has grown in the health care industry, we have already seen evidence that AI usage can reinforce bias and discrimination,” Venkat said in a statement. “This will allow us to ensure that insurers, clinicians and hospitals use AI effectively and do not use it to perpetuate potentially harmful biases in the medical field.”

More than half of American patients say AI in health needs more oversight, according to an August poll from the United States of Care, a nonprofit focused on affordable and accessible health care. Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of physicians have reported an increase in AI use for administrative tasks like recording and managing patient information, and nearly half reported using AI more frequently in patient care and clinical decision-making.

National groups including the American Medical Association have also called for more oversight of AI. Last year, physician use of AI more than doubled, according to the latest data from the association.

Stateline reporter Anna Claire Vollers can be reached at avollers@stateline.org

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