Daily Business Report: Thursday, June 12, 2025
California Bill Permitting Gasoline Blend With More Ethanol Passes Assembly
By Jane Yang | The Epoch Times
A California bill aiming to make what it described as a “cleaner, cheaper” blend of gasoline available at pumps passed the state Assembly and now awaits hearings in the Senate.
Assembly Bill 30 would authorize the sale and use in California of E15 gasoline, which is gasoline blended with up to 15 percent of ethanol.
“AB 30 is the Cleaner, Cheaper Fuels Act,” the bill’s lead author, Assemblyman David Alvarez of San Diego, said before the floor vote on June 4. “California drivers could see up to 20 cents per gallon reduction in their cost of gasoline.”
Nation’s 2nd-Largest Wine and Spirits Distributor Exits California Market Over Costs, Suppliers
By Kimberly Hayek | The Epoch Times
Wine and spirits distributor Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) is leaving the California market.
RNDC cited increasing costs and changes among suppliers as one of the reasons it has decided to stop operating in the state.
“This decision follows years of increasing costs, industry headwinds, and supplier shifts that have made it difficult to operate sustainably in the state,” its leadership said in an emailed statement to its customers on June 4. “We are incredibly proud of our California team and all of their hard work over the years. Please know that our commitment to you during this transition remains unwavering.”
Wuhan Researcher Charged With Smuggling Biological Materials Into US Lab
By Eva Fu | The Epoch Times
U.S. prosecutors have charged another Chinese national for smuggling biological materials into the United States and lying about the scheme.
Han Chengxuan, a doctoral candidate from Wuhan in central China, was arrested upon landing at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on June 8. An FBI agent said authorities had intercepted four packages of biological materials that Han allegedly sent to members of a University of Michigan laboratory.
She was the third Chinese national within a week to be charged with smuggling materials for biological research. The previous two, accused of smuggling a crop-killing fungus, include a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan’s Molecular Plant-Microbe Interaction. The criminal complaint said Han was a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) member who has shown loyalty to the Chinese regime.
The Justice Department said that Han admitted to shipping an estimated five to 10 packages, while claiming several were lost in transit. She said that her professors at both the Chinese and U.S. universities, as well as the recipients, had no knowledge of what she sent, characterizing them as a “surprises,” according to the FBI agent.
