Press Releases

LOS ANGELES, May 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorney Charles J. Harder of Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter's 7th annual list of the Top 100 Power Lawyers.  The list, published May 22, 2013, features the nation's most influential entertainment attorneys of the year.  Harder's success as an entertainment litigator has made him a natural choice for the coveted list.

The Hollywood Reporter explains: "[Harder] has filed about 30 right-of-publicity cases against various retailers that have tried to capitalize on the name and likeness of such heavy hitters as Clint Eastwood, George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Jude Law . . . [and he] recently won
 an injunction for Hulk Hogan against Gawker Media over its posting of a sex tape."

In addition, Mr. Harder serves as Editor of ENTERTAINMENT LITGIATION, the definitive law text in this area, published by LexisNexis.  His expertise in all areas of entertainment law has made him one of Hollywood's most notable attorneys.  "For seven years now, the Power 100 list has featured exceptional attorneys in the entertainment field," says Harder.  "It's an honor to be included."

As a co-founding partner of Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP, Mr. Harder has handled entertainment and intellectual property litigation for the firm's clients in matters of motion pictures, television, music, internet, video games, advertising and more.  Mr. Harder also was featured in The Hollywood Reporter's Power 100 list of 2012.For more information, please visit http://www.HMAfirm.com/

SOURCE Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif., May 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Advanced Prenatal Therapeutics (APT), a privately held company, is developing a medical device that will help alleviate the high blood pressure and other symptoms associated with preeclampsia. APT's targeted apheresis cartridge is expected to be the first medical device specifically designed to treat preeclampsia, a leading cause of maternal and fetal death.

Every year, preeclampsia affects approximately 300,000 pregnant women in the United States. It is characterized by high blood pressure and proteinuria induced by pregnancy. Treatment currently consists of bed rest and other supportive measures such as closely monitoring the patient. To avoid the life-threatening complications of preeclampsia, the baby is often delivered prematurely at the first signs of distress. Unfortunately, premature delivery is also a primary cause of infant death and life-long disabilities.

APT's patent-pending technology uses a process called "targeted apheresis" to remove harmful proteins that are involved in the disease process from the mother's blood while preserving the blood components that are healthy and viable. In preeclampsia, the placenta produces harmful proteins that prevent the action of certain growth factors that regulate blood vessel growth. These harmful proteins are believed to contribute to maternal high blood pressure and other symptoms of preeclampsia. Removal of these harmful proteins using targeted apheresis could alleviate maternal high blood pressure and other symptoms of preeclampsia. It could also help extend the duration of the pregnancy – and perhaps even lead to healthy babies born on time.

Apheresis is a common procedure similar to kidney dialysis in which the patient's blood is passed through a device that separates and removes a particular substance from the blood and returns the cleaned blood back to the patient. "Preeclampsia is a completely unmet medical need," explains Dr. James Smith, President and CEO of APT. "We are extremely proud to be developing what we expect to be a very viable and low-risk therapy for preeclampsia."

About Advanced Prenatal Therapeutics, Inc. (www.advancedprenatal.com) Advanced Prenatal Therapeutics, Inc.'s mission is to develop treatments for preeclampsia that will safely prolong pregnancy. To accomplish this goal, APT is developing a novel therapeutic device for preeclampsia that specifically removes harmful factors from the mother's blood. This press release may contain forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that development efforts will succeed, or that the novel therapeutic products will receive regulatory clearance, or achieve commercial success.

Investor Relations:Dan Thiel949.340.7261dthiel@advancedprenatal.com

SOURCE Advanced Prenatal Therapeutics

ST. LOUIS, May 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Laclede Group (NYSE: LG) (the "Company") announced today that it has priced a public offering of 8,700,000 shares of its common stock at $44.50 per share.  In addition, the Company has granted the underwriters an option for a period of 30 days to purchase up to 1,305,000 additional shares of the Company's common stock. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to fund a portion of the cash consideration payable in connection with the pending acquisition of Missouri Gas Energy, a division of Southern Union and for general corporate purposes.  

Wells Fargo Securities, BofA Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley are acting as book-running managers of the offering.  Copies of the prospectus and prospectus supplement relating to the shares of common stock in this offering may be obtained from the offices of 1) Wells Fargo Securities at 375 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10152, Attn:  Equity Syndicate Dept., by calling toll free 1-800-326-5897, or by e-mail at cmclientsupport@wellsfargo.com, 2) BofA Merrill Lynch at 222 Broadway, New York, NY 10038, Attn:  Prospectus Department, or by e-mail at dg.prospectus_requests@baml.com, 3) J.P. Morgan at 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, Attn: Broadridge Financial Solutions, or by calling toll free 1-866-803-9204, and 4) Morgan Stanley at 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10014, Attn: Prospectus Department, by calling toll free 1-866-718-1649, or by e-mail at prospectus@morganstanley.com.  

A shelf registration statement relating to the securities in this offering has been filed previously with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is effective.  This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction to any person to whom it is unlawful to make an offer, solicitation or sale in such jurisdiction.  The offering of these securities will be made only by means of the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus.

ABOUT THE LACLEDE GROUPThe Laclede Group, Inc. (NYSE: LG), headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, is a public utility holding company.  Its subsidiary, Laclede Gas Company, the regulated operations of which are included in the Gas Utility segment, serves approximately 630,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in St. Louis City and parts of 10 counties in eastern Missouri. Laclede's primary non-utility business, Laclede Energy Resources, Inc., included in the Gas Marketing segment, provides non-regulated natural gas services. Laclede Group is committed to pursuing growth through 1) developing and investing in emerging technologies; 2) investing in infrastructure; 3) acquiring businesses to which the Company can apply its operating model, and 4) leveraging its current business unit competencies. For more information about Laclede and its subsidiaries, visit www.TheLacledeGroup.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The Company's future operating results may be affected by various uncertainties and risk factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, including weather conditions, economic factors, the competitive environment, governmental and regulatory policy and action, and risks associated with the Company's pending acquisition. For a more complete description of these uncertainties and risk factors, see the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2013.   

SOURCE The Laclede Group

VALDEZ, Alaska, May 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The words of an Alaskan tribal elder, "We watched our family and friends die," represent the tearful feelings of many about the use of chemical dispersants in their waters.  Used by workers during the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup and more recently on the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Corexit dispersants brought severe illness and early death to many tribal member's relatives working to save their life-supporting ecosystems according to documentation in a formal submission compiled by the Alaskan Change Oil Spill Response Alliance Delegation presenting at the Alaska Regional Response Team (ARRT) semi-annual meeting today.  

Despite mounting opposition, the ARRT, consisting of federal and state agency officials responsible for protecting and safeguarding Alaskan lands and waters, is ready to give the green light to Corexit/chemical dispersant preauthorization plans presented at their May 22 meeting in Valdez, Alaska. The Alliance Delegation submitted a formal demand to completely eliminate dispersant use in the ARRT Unified Plan and to enact an alternative plan requesting immediate preauthorization of a "Bioremediation Agent—Enzyme Additive Type" nontoxic oil spill cleanup technology to replace their chemical methods.

The lobby and federal emergency response planners asking for "dispersant preauthorization" apparently continue to discount the track record of toxic environmental impacts lingering thirty-plus years after Exxon Valdez and three years after BP's deepwater drilling spill in the Gulf. One wonders why and how, since this seemingly ignores scientific studies consistently revealing the long-term lethal effects of chemical dispersants used in oil spill response.[i]

Citing the statutory rights of federally recognized tribes over the management of Alaskan natural resources as equal to the powers of federal agency trustees, the formal request cautioned officials stating: "It is clear that the pre-authorization, advocacy of, or continued use of chemical dispersants in Alaskan waters—given the significant number of scientific studies showing negative human health, wildlife, natural resources and other environmental impacts—would constitute a willful and conscious act of environmental harm and, in some instances, damages and lethal harm to human life residing within or near said waters….Anyone serving on the ARRT could be held culpable because, after all, it doesn't come down to 'government' making the decision, it comes down to individuals who assess the data and make the decisions." 

While this feud with federal agencies has been ongoing for years, the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council requested the assistance of the internationally renowned conservation group, the Lawrence Anthony Earth Organization (LAEO), whose founder is famed for entering war zones to save human and animal life from certain death.  "The delicate balance and way of life for the indigenous peoples of Alaska is, in essence under threat of extinction. We are offering a solution that makes it possible for industry, federal agencies, and the tribes to move forward in a way that all three groups can prosper and win," said Barbara Wiseman, LAEO International President heading up the Alliance. The newly-formed regional partnership for Alaska—part of LAEO's Change Oil Spill Response (COSR) Global Alliance initiative is headquartered at www.protectmarinelifenow.org.

Carrying their Change Oil Spill Response Now mantra, the Alaska Delegation presented hundreds of pages of documents supporting their bioremediation technology plan, including a pivotal document entitled A Call for a Twenty-First-Century SOLUTION in Oil Spill Response, released last month by LAEO's Science and Technology Advisory Board outlining an entirely new approach to oil spill problems associated with drilling, transport, pipelines, and storage mishaps.

The Alaska Inter-tribal Council's (AITC) ARRT seat was abruptly retracted in 2008, which has effectively removed tribal trustee involvement.  Over the past several weeks, fearing the vote of approval for dispersant plans, Alaskan tribes led by the (AITC) began enacting statewide, legally binding tribal resolutions opposing the use of chemical dispersant substances in oil spill contingency planning throughout Alaska.  With more than 200 indigenous tribes living in remote wilderness with no direct representation at the ARRT table, a decision to apply chemical dispersants to mitigate oil spills has untenable trade-offs impacting their fisheries and polluting their food and water sources.

Inclusive in the Alliance submission the AITC coalition of Alaskan tribal representatives and groups delivered 18 Tribal Council Resolutions to the committee co-chairs: Mr. Mark Everett, U.S. Coast Guard, and Chris Field, EPA Coordinator. "Instead of just protesting and saying 'no', we will participate in the policy making process and offer constructive solutions to the problems oil spill response agency authorities face in this region.  Not only are we asking them to disapprove the preauthorization of dispersants in our waters, but we want more effective spill response plans and are bringing a solution to the table to replace their dependency on these toxic dispersants", said Nikos Pastos, Environmental Sociologist and now acting spokesperson for COSR Alliance delegation.

[i] http://www.whistleblower.org/program-areas/public-health/corexit/ http://www.protectmarinelifenow.org http://www.wwltv.com/news/Some-oil-spill-cleanup-workers-say-exposure-to-chemicals-left-them-sick-207820271.html

For More Information: www.protectmarinelifenow.org

Alaska-Change Oil Spill Response Alliance Delegation

Contact:

Nikos Pastos:  Delegation Spokesperson 907-764-2561 or 406-459-1829 Center for Water Advocacy 

Delice Calcote:  907-563-9334  Alaska Inter-Tribal Council   (executive director)

Carl Wassilie: 907- 382-3403 Alaska's Big Village Network (Biologist)

Jess Lanman: 907-903-6223  I.C.E. (President, hunter, fisherman)

Hal Shepherd: 907-764-2561  Center for Water Advocacy   (Executive Director)

Emily Murray: 907-299-8821  Norton Bay Inter - Tribal Watershed Council (board member)

Michael Stickman: 907-563-9334  International Chairman of Arctic Athabascan Council

Barbara Wiseman: 818-769-3410 International President, Lawrence Anthony Earth Organization (LAEO) 

Diane Wagenbrenner: 858-531-6200 LAEO Advisory Board.

STATEMENTS FROM SCIENTISTS AND PROFESSIONALS – ALLIANCE MEMBERS:

Chief Michael Stickman of Nulato, International Chair of the Arctic Athabascan Council and a leading member of a newly established Arctic Council task force working to substantially improve procedures for combating oil spills in the Arctic, endorsed the alliance formation, stating: "Committing to clean up oil spills after they happen is insufficient. Precaution and nation-to-nation Tribal Government Consultation and free prior informed consent must be enacted before hasty implementation of a policy of preauthorizing toxic chemical dispersant substances in oil spill contingency planning. Why have less toxic bioremediation methods with a 20-year track record of effectiveness been ignored by the Alaska interagency Regional Response Team?"

"Our waters, fish, peoples, wildlife, and productivity of subsistence resources are threatened by imminent oil spills in harsh Arctic conditions; the government pre-authorizing toxic chemical dispersants adds to the toxicity in the water column after an accidental release of hazardous oil , and the intentional use of chemical dispersant substances is a malicious action threatening to harm subsistence use of the environment for future generations." Carl Wassilie, Yupiaq Biologist with Alaska's Big Village Network.

"Committing to clean up oil spills after they happen is insufficient. Precaution and nation to nation Tribal Government Consultation and free, prior, informed consent must be enacted before hasty implementation of a policy of pre-authorizing toxic chemical dispersant substances in oil spill contingency planning. Why have less toxic bioremediation methods with a 20-year track record of effectiveness been ignored by the Alaska inter-agency Regional Response Team? Prevention of the potential of oil pollution in the Arctic marine environment is crucial for Tribal Governments in Alaska and throughout the Arctic. The Nuuk Declaration established a task force to develop, and I'm quoting: "an international instrument on Arctic marine oil pollution preparedness and response…"The Senior Arctic Officials and Permanent Participants of the Arctic Council have discussed this at length. We are aware of the prospect of a blow out or major tanker accident. "Chief Michael Stickman of Nulato–International Chair of the Arctic Athabascan Council

"Federal pre-authorization of toxic chemical dispersants coupled with the State of Alaska's legally questionable water right permitting process could only be seen as a bold attack on the rights of citizens and Tribes to protect inherent sovereign pre-existing and human water rights throughout Alaska." - Hal Shepherd Executive Director Center for Water Advocacy

"Altitude, vegetation, good climate and rich soils have combined to contribute to the development of subsistence livelihood as the most vibrant sector of the economy and the sector from which most of the Alaskan population derives their sustenance, nourishment and means of support for their families and communities. " There is no need or purpose for pre-authorizing the use of toxic chemicals where we harvest our foods!" - Emily Murray Norton Bay Inter-Tribal Watershed Council

"Pre-Authorizing Chemical Dispersants in oil spill contingency planning anywhere within Alaska is unconstitutional and legally questionable. Our Tribal indigenous rights in Alaska to fish are protected like in no other State Constitution. The first consideration for the waters of the lakes, the rivers and oceans are to be reserved to protect and promote healthy fisheries, forever. Fisheries and wildlife are considered to be of esthetic, ecological. Educational, historical, recreational, scientific value to the Nation and its peoples, and our peoples have rights of first in time and first in line to the resources we use and hold with spiritual, cultural and historical value." Alaska Inter-Tribal Council: Delice Calcote, Executive Director

SOURCE Lawrence Anthony Earth Organization