Health In Washington The WASHINGTON D.C. City Council gives initial approval to so-called ‘death with dignity” legislation that would allow doctors to prescribe a terminally ill patient drugs they could use to end their own life. The Council...
What a difference a year and even a week makes. When we started tracking the presidential election coverage a year and a half ago, we aimed to test a few theories: Higher media coverage would lead to better poll results Social media would play...
Back in September Alexander K. Zakharov, the Russian consul general in Houston, wrote letters to officials in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, requesting permission to monitor polling locations in those states on Nov. 8 “for a short period of time...
VW Settlement to Offset Budget Cuts in MO MISSOURI Gov. Jay Nixon (D) said the state will use the first $8.7 million share it received from Volkswagen as part of a settlement over the German carmaker’s emissions cheating scandal to offset earlier...
Most of us are used to polling stations being located in schools, firehouses and the like. But what about a Vietnamese restaurant? Or a laundromat? If that isn’t high end enough, would the Beverly Hills Hotel do? Too hoity-toity, you say? Perhaps...
During President Obama’s time in office, over 800 Democratic state legislators have lost their seats to Republicans, which is reportedly one of the Democratic Party’s worst records under any president in over a century. But due in part to...
Social Policy In Virginia The VIRGINIA Board of Health votes to not require hospital building requirements for clinics that provide abortion services in the Old Dominion. The vote comes months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a TEXAS law imposing...
Potpourri In New Jersey A NEW JERSEY appellate court upholds the legal use of enclosed foothold animal traps. The court rejected a claim made by animal rights groups that the devices, generally used by some Garden State residents to trap opossums and...
Atlantic City Recovery Plan Rejected by State The state of NEW JERSEY has rejected Atlantic City’s recovery plan, setting up a possible takeover of that city by the state. New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Charles Richman...
On October 14, the International Standards Organization published a new standard that companies and organizations can use to certify their anti-bribery and corruption compliance procedures. Companies can meet the ISO 37001 standard if they implement a...
The temptation to use Halloween and the entire month of October as a tie-in to new product launches is great for brands, as the season's themes are wide-ranging, fun and unabashedly commercial. That said, PR firms and departments need to be careful...
Both undergraduate and graduate students rely on credible, accessible and diverse content to complete their coursework. In our journey to deliver a new research solution that’s uniquely aligned to their needs, we discovered a few key pain points...
Citing legal precedent is part and parcel to most any lawsuit. But one might think that a savvy legal beagle would avoid citing decisions more infamous than laudable. When it comes to Kansas Solicitor General Steven McAllister, one would be wrong. As...
Business In West Virginia A federal court rules that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not adequately considered potential job losses when establishing regulations governing the coal and other industries. Judge John Preston Bailey of the...
In an effort to fight his state’s ongoing epidemic of opioid abuse and deaths, Vermont Gov. Pete Shumlin (D) proposed limiting the prescription of painkiller medications. Under his plan, doctors would have to consider the severity and duration...
Ohio voters who were removed from the state’s voter rolls due to inactivity will be allowed to vote in the November general election by provisional ballot, according to a U.S. District Court ruling last week. That decision comes a little less than...
Along with 156 statewide ballot measures that will be considered in 35 states on Nov. 8 (see Citizen Initiatives Push Ballot Measures Left This Year in the Oct. 14 issue), numerous local ballot measures will also be contested. Among the more notable of...
Most states effectively bar unauthorized immigrants from obtaining a driver’s license by requiring a Social Security number for doing so. But 10 states allow undocumented immigrants to obtain a driver’s license with a foreign passport or birth...
As Election Day nears, Democrats seem on track to regain some of the ground they have lost to Republicans in statehouses during the Obama years. But celebrations by the victors, whether Democrats or Republicans, are likely to be muted as states confront...
If you believed this awful campaign season couldn’t get any worse, I have news for you – it can always be worse. Earlier this year an activist artist group began placing statues of a bloated, naked Donald Trump in New York City. Now, as the...
Crime In Florida The FLORIDA Supreme Court rules that death penalty verdicts must be unanimous. The ruling strikes down a Sunshine State law that allowed for capital punishment verdicts when just 10 of 12 jurors agree. It is yet to be determined how...
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) proposed new regulations that would require parole boards to consider both an inmate’s personal needs as well as his or her risk to the public before being released. “Confidence in the criminal justice...
Arkansas’ Supreme Court has disqualified a measure aimed at legalizing casinos in Boone, Miller and Washington counties from the state’s November ballot and ordered election officials not to count any votes cast for the measure ( Issue 5 ...
Over 80 local governments, including Los Angeles County and the City of San Francisco, will ask voters next month to approve sales-tax increases, the highest number ever recorded. Some of the measures would provide funding for roads and other projects...
Speaking of elections plagued by a bloviating blowhard – no, not that one – we hear that former major league pitcher Curt Schilling is planning to challenge U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts in 2018. For non-sports fans, Schilling...