Since its introduction of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in 1977, the United States has led the world in efforts to counter bribery and corruption in corporate business that traverses national borders. Now it has gone a full step further with...
CA Board Announces Plan LOCAL FRONT : The LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA County Board of Supervisors announces a plan to install showers and bathrooms for the homeless to use in or near some of the city’s 93 metro train stations. A final plan is expected...
IN Circuit Court of Appeals The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a district court ruling striking down an INDIANA law that barred abortions performed because the fetus was determined to have a developmental or physical disability. Judge William...
TN Senate Approves HB 2315 The TENNESSEE House and Senate approve HB 2315 , which would bar local municipalities from declaring themselves to be so-called “sanctuary cities,” which discourage or prevent authorities from cooperating with...
DE Governor Signs HB 302 DELAWARE Gov. John Carney (D) signs Substitute 1 for HB 302 , a bill that allows police to temporarily seize firearms from someone whom a mental health professional deems a danger to themselves or others. The measure takes...
US Environmental Protection Agency Declares The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declares portions of seven UTAH counties to be in violation of national standards for ozone, an airborne pollutant that is particularly harmful to children. The EPA...
MA Supreme Judicial Court The MASSACHUSETTS Supreme Judicial Court upholds a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Bay State’s charter school cap. The suit argued that caps on charters were arbitrary and denied...
CA Supreme Court The CALIFORNIA Supreme Court rules that businesses seeking to declare a worker an independent contractor must be able to prove that the worker is independent of control and direction from the employer, performs work that is outside...
NJ SUPREME COURT BLOCKS STATE FUNDING FOR CHURCHES The NEW JERSEY Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the state Constitution expressly prohibits the use of public money for the benefit of churches, invalidating Morris County’s practice of giving...
In the two decades from 1991 to 2010, over 100 new stadiums opened across the country. Most of them were financed at least in part with public money. The boom was fueled by demand from sports teams and their fans for a more elevated spectator experience...
With America’s deadly opioid epidemic continuing to spread , state lawmakers are trying out a new strategy to combat it: taxing the manufacturers and distributors of the drugs, which include frequently prescribed painkillers like Vicodin and OxyContin...
REDISTRICTING REFORM BOUND FOR OH BALLOT OHIO voters will consider a single statewide question on their May 8 ballots, asking their approval to establish rules for congressional redistricting. No such rules exist currently, making the process inherently...
After a string of recent Democratic special election upsets , including in deep red states, Republicans fended off a Democratic challenge in a congressional race in Arizona last month. Former state senator Debbie Lesko’s victory over emergency room...
Pennsylvania Democrats celebrated when the state Supreme Court struck down the state’s 2011 congressional district map, drawn by the Republicans who controlled both chambers of the General Assembly as well as the governor’s office at the time...
Less than four years after emerging from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, Detroit has regained full control over its government operations. Last Monday the nine-member state commission that has had the final say on all of the city’s...
AZ GOV SIGNS OFF ON TEACHER PAY RAISE ARIZONA Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed budget legislation last week that will hike the pay of Grand Canyon State teachers by 20 percent over the next three years. The wage increase came after dozens of the state’s...
Decrying a lack of action from Washington D.C., seven state and territorial governors announced plans to launch a multi-state study on gun violence as a health issue. The participants include Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo...
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) announced the Golden State would lead a 17-state coalition and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the agency’s proposed rollback of fuel economy standards....
There is a saying that goes, “beauty is only skin deep but ugly is to the bone.” You could say something similar about stupid, and point to Washington D.C. Councilman Trayon White Sr. as an example. White is the intellectual giant who recently...
Somehow it only seems fitting that an outsized presence like former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie would also want the most absurdly expensive gubernatorial portrait in Garden State history. Yes, as NorthJersey.com reports , Christie’s official...
If you’re anywhere near the tiny Alabama town of Parrish, you might want to bring something to cover your nose. As the Associated Press reports , Parrish has become a dumping ground for a string of train cars filled with human waste sludge from...
Weed legalization
Twenty-nine states have passed laws broadly legalizing the use of marijuana. Twenty of those states allow the use of the drug for medical purposes, such as pain relief or the control of nausea. Nine states have legalized recreational use of marijuana...
Four decades after the notorious Golden State Killer’s crime wave ends, a 72-year-old suspect is wheeled into a Sacramento courtroom, thanks to an investigator’s unswerving determination over 24 years. While it may sound like a movie pitch—and...
Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence whereby computers use algorithms to analyse data to identify patterns and build predictive models. With a minimum of human intervention, the models are automatically adapted to produce increasingly...