The Fighting Sioux nickname is gone for good at the University of North Dakota.

On Thursday, decisions by North Dakota's Supreme Court and Board of Higher Education led to the retirement of the long-disputed nickname.

The court ruled that the board had the authority to dump the nickname at any time. The court rejected an appeal that sought to delay action.

The board had voted last May to retire the nickname. A motion Thursday to reconsider that vote died.

Board president Richie Smith says he thinks no further action is required to end the nickname.

The court agreed to hear an expedited appeal after university officials pleaded with the board to decide the issue quickly so the school could pursue admission to the Summit League.

The temporary absence of a federal estate tax is expected to be addressed by the U.S. House and Ways Committee this month. Rep. Sander Levin, incoming chair of the committee, indicated action could begin as early as April 12, just after Congress returns from spring recess.

Many predicted Congress would take action last year, long before changes – which also include a zero percent generation-skipping transfer tax and dramatically reduced gift tax rate – took place. Instead, a lengthy delay, combined with little direction on what the future tax structure might be, left estate plans across the nation in jeopardy of failure and families unsure how to address potential problems.

“The uncertainty affects all our clients,” said Boston area attorney Hank Whittenberg, a tax and estate planning specialist. Whittenberg suggested many families don’t know how to structure estate plans with so many variables in play. Some consider taking advantage of the lowered gift tax rate – the lowest it’s been since it was enacted in the 1930s – but fear a retroactive penalty if they do. Others face troubling tax challenges with investments and division of assets. “The ambiguity is terrible,” Whittenberg said. “We need something, anything to pass. Just give us some clarity,”

The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 phased the estate tax out over a 10-year period, resulting in a zero percent estate tax in 2010. If unaddressed, the tax will jump back to 2001 levels with a maximum individual exemption of $1 million and top tax rate of 55%. In 2009, the exemption was $3.5 million and rate capped at 45 percent – a far better scenario for taxpayers.

The House is thought to favor a return to 2009 levels and subject estate transfers in 2010 to a retroactive tax. But doing so may pose larger issues. “Constitutional litigators aren’t going to let this fly by without a fight. The notion of enacting a new tax is different than adjusting an existing tax,” Whittenberg said. “But whatever Congress decides, it will impact our clients and the sooner we know what to expect, the better we can meet our clients’ objectives.”

Recognized nationally for expertise in tax planning, Attorney Whittenberg began practicing law more than 15 years ago. He is a partner of Whittenberg Knudsen, LLP, a founding member of WealthCounsel (a national attorney organization of approximately 1,500 estate and wealth strategies attorneys), and a former elected board member of the Member Advisory Board of the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys. Serving clients throughout the Northeast region, attorneys at Whittenberg Knudsen, LLP focus primarily on estate planning, business law, and probate and trust administration and litigation.

BeBevCo announced today they have hired a new legal team: McMullen Associates LLC from Charlotte, North Carolina. McMullen Associates LLC is a Securities and Corporate Law Firm that specializes in Securities Regulation, Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Finance, Business Law, Private Placement Memorandums, Exchange Listings, Franchising, as well as all general securities law practice and corporate law matters. "After a five-hour meeting that included four of our staff and five of theirs, it was by far the most educational as well as convincing that McMullen Associates team of experts will get the job by helping us develop short and long term strategies to move BeBevCo along a path to the Bulletin boards and then on to the AMEX," said CEO Brian Weber.

About BeBevCo - BeBevCo (Bebida Beverages Company) develops, manufactures and markets several beverages including Koma Unwind "Chillaxation Drink ™," Koma Unwind Sugar-free "Chillaxation Drink ™" and Koma Unwind "Chillaxation Shot™" as well as Potencia Energy Drink and Potencia BLAST energy shot, Piranha Water.

The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday that it intends to move forward quickly with key recommendations in its national broadband plan — even though a federal appeals court this week undermined the agency's legal authority to regulate high-speed Internet access.

The FCC needs that authority to push ahead with many parts of the broadband plan, which it released last month. Among them: a proposal to expand broadband by tapping the Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes telephone service in poor and rural areas.

The FCC laid out its 2010 "broadband action agenda" without indicating how it will proceed in light of the court ruling. But the agency says it will ensure it has the legal authority it needs for its sweeping plan to increase broadband usage and Internet speeds.

Leading Massachusetts health insurers and state regulators squared off in court Thursday in their dispute about acceptable health insurance premiums for a pivotal sector of the local economy: small-business owners.

The insurers argued the state's decision last week to reject nearly all of their proposed 2010 premium increases will cause "destabilizing" losses for them. The state said the insurers fundamentally misunderstand both the rate rejection and the way to resolve their dispute.

During a two-hour hearing in Suffolk Superior Court, an attorney for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and five members of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans asked Judge Stephen Neel to issue a temporary injunction overruling the state's decision.

Attorney Dean Richlin also asked that the companies be allowed to collect the new premiums they had proposed be effective April 1 while a trial is held on the matter.

He said that requiring them to collect premiums at April 2009 rates, as he contended the state has ordered them to do, was "grossly unsound" and would create losses of more than $100 million in the next eight months.

"These are losses that will quickly mount up, and for some number of companies, the immediate losses will be destabilizing," Richlin said.

Senate Democrats have rejected a Republican effort to delay a hearing for a liberal appeals court nominee, making clear they are ready for a partisan fight.

A hearing for University of California-Berkeley, law professor Goodwin Liu will go on as scheduled April 16, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said Wednesday. He said Republicans were unwilling to "put political rancor aside" to debate the nomination, which will test President Obama's ability to fill court seats with liberals as well as moderates.

All seven committee Republicans had asked for a delay. In a letter sent Tuesday, they wrote Leahy arguing Liu's belated responses to a committee questionnaire justified a delay in the hearing for the nominee to a San Francisco-based appeals court.

But Leahy, D-Vt., wrote the panel's senior Republican, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, that he had already postponed the hearing twice — once due to a Republican request and then because of GOP stalling tactics.

The chairman said he was disappointed that "we have seen the same delays and obstructionist approach toward these nominees on the Senate floor extend to the committee's consideration."

If confirmed, Liu would serve on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals serving California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Hawaii and Montana.

Argentina quickly said it would file a court appeal after a U.S. federal judge ruled Wednesday that bondholders can seize $105 million in Argentine central bank deposits held in the United States.

A bank spokesman told The Associated Press that Argentina was optimistic because similar rulings had been overturned.

The decision, nevertheless, drove down Argentine bond prices just as the cash-strapped government prepares a $20 billion debt-swap offer in hopes of satisfying the bondholders and ending the lawsuits.

Argentina has been in a seemingly endless legal battle with bondholders who refused to accept about 30 cents on the dollar for debt they bought before the country's record $95 billion default in 2002.

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Griesa in New York said Argentina is willfully defying its legal obligations and "has thus enmeshed the court in years of wasteful litigation with no end in sight."

More threatening for Argentina is the basis for his ruling: that President Cristina Fernandez has proven through her actions that the country's Central Bank lacks independence. That could expose Argentina's funds to other seizures, and increase the perception around the world that the country is a risky place to invest.

The judge issued the order at the request of the hedge fund firm Elliott Management Corp. and an affiliated company, NML Capital Ltd.