Happy Wednesday, muggles. There’s a battle brewing off the coast of Sardinia on a tiny island where an 81-year-old man has been living alone for the past 30 years. The owners of the island say his hut is illegal and want him off, but Mauro Morandi says he is the caretaker of the island he stumbled upon on accident — and has no plans to leave. While we wait to see the fate of Morandi’s island home, we uncovered more stories that you don’t want to sail past.

House passes bill to use oil and gas royalties to save the great outdoors

Wed Jul 22

Leslie Knope would be proud: The House and Senate have now approved the Great American Outdoors Act, which is being called the “most significant conservation legislation in a generation.”

The bill combines two bills that might not have passed on their own. The new, joint bill will:

• Fully and permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund* at $900 million annually
• Sidenote: This funding comes from offshore oil revenue and gas royalty payments (not taxpayers)
• Dedicate billions for backlogged maintenance on federal lands over a five-year period 

*What does the Land and Water Conservation Fund do?

• Protect national parks, areas around rivers and lakes, national forests, critical drinking water supplies, and national wildlife refuges from development and overuse
• Provide matching grants for state and local parks and recreation projects

The bill now goes to Trump to sign, who has said he would make it a law.

SOURCES: Huffpost, CNN, The Hill, Land and Water Conservation Fund Coalition

Startup founders accuse Amazon of investing in and then competing with their products

Thu Jul 23

This isn’t the first time Amazon has been accused of predatory practices. In April, the Wall Street Journal reported Amazon used data from third-party sellers to then create competing products at lower prices. 

Now, more than two dozen entrepreneurs, investors, and advisors are accusing Amazon of using this same type of practice to wipe out competing tech and startups. 

How is Amazon doing this?

Amazon gains privileged access to data and information from other companies a couple of different ways:

• Investing in a startup through the Amazon or Alexa Fund
• Investors are trusted to help the startup’s growth and success, since they have a stake in the company
• Through the deal-making process 
• Many companies engage with the assumption they will either partner or become acquired by Amazon 

Is any of this illegal?

It depends. Some companies have sued Amazon for using proprietary technology. Others said they can’t afford to go up against the tech giant in court. Many of these shady practices might be hard to prove in our current legal system, but Congress, the FTC, and the Justice Department are looking into some of Amazon’s business practices.

SOURCES: The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance,  Fox Business