The government stuck Yukos with a large back-tax bill, then sold off its main assets in a shady closed auction to a state-controlled company.
The millions in this country who have climbed from poverty into the middle class, they could not do so in a closed economy controlled by the state.
One of several wildfires raging in California temporarily closed a section of the state's coastal highway.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, has declared a state of emergency and called in the National Guard, and Baltimore schools were closed.
For instance, the number of mentally ill in Santa Clara County's jails jumped by 300% in the four years after a nearby Californian state hospital closed down.
Banks are in private hands, a good number of state monoliths have been closed or revamped, corruption may be less pervasive than it was in the earlier post-communist period.
Authorities dismantled Yukos in a closed auction, and its key assets were ultimately acquired by state-controlled Rosneft, which is slated to go public on the London Stock Exchange this summer in one of the largest initial offerings ever.
Schools and legislatures in multiple states were closed on Thursday, and Missouri Governor Jay Nixon announced a state of emergency.
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In the wake of last year's presidential election, some media organizations, such as CNN, adopted a policy of not projecting the outcome in any single state until the polls had closed in that state.
Grain and commodities export terminal 5 was closed as well as import terminal 6, a hub for Asian imports in the state as well as U.S. exports.
But the end of apartheid opened up a once-closed authoritarian state, enabling hundreds of criminal syndicates to move in, from places as far flung as China, Colombia and Nigeria.
While the interior ministry has said it's unlikely roads will be closed off or a curfew will be imposed, the capital already appears to be in a state of lockdown.
But with a state of emergency still in effect through most of Massachusetts, public transportation shut down and the roads closed by a storm that dumped as much as a yard of snow on some areas, the NHL decided to postpone Saturday's game between the Lightning and the Bruins.
In 2008, a state-of-the-art driverless car could go two blocks on its own on a closed course at 25mph.
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The law was passed in a flurry of closed-door negotiations, without public hearings or a three-day review required of bills under the state constitution.
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