OR Senate Approves HB 155 The OREGON Senate approves HB 155 , which would strengthen the authority of the state’s teacher licensing agency to investigate educators who engage in sexual misconduct. The measure, which passed both chambers unanimously...
PA governor Signs SB 712 PENNSYLVANIA Gov. Tom Wolf (D) signs SB 712 , a budget bill that has a provision which bans state and local governments from regulating or banning single-use plastics until the completion of two government studies on the matter...
California Senate Health Committee Held SB 347 The CALIFORNIA Senate Health Committee holds SB 347 , a bill that would have required sugar-sweetened beverages to contain a warning label advising consumers of their associated health risks like diabetes...
Federal Court Upholds Kentucky Law A federal court upholds a KENTUCKY law requiring doctors who perform abortions to first complete an ultrasound and attempt to show and describe the image to the patient, as well as to play an audible heartbeat of...
After decades of false dawns, the age of artificial intelligence (AI) is finally upon us. AI has talked its way into consumer consciousness via Alexa and Siri, while unprecedented access to big data sources and the cloud computing power needed to analyse...
Seattle City Council Votes Unanimously The SEATTLE City Council votes unanimously to enable the construction of more and larger backyard cottages in all neighborhoods. Council members also endorsed removing requirements that property owners live on...
Back in the 70s’s, Chicago news icon Mike Royko famously dubbed then-California Gov. Jerry Brown “Governor Moonbeam” for the brash young governor’s appeal to young progressive voters, or what Royko called “the moonbeam vote...
If feelings of being disrespected were currency, America wouldn’t need a single other consumer product to remain the richest country on the face of the earth. Case in point comes from the town of Needles, a tiny town in the Mojave Desert area of...
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey was mad, mad, mad! Angry! Perturbed! Vexed! That commie pinko lefty wussbomb Nike had crumbled to PC pressure and cancelled plans to produce sneakers bearing the iconic Betsy Ross version of the American flag. But Nike bailed after...
With the legislative session in its usual summer lull, California Sen. Scott “Salmon Salad” Wilk and Asm. Tom “Turkey Burger” Lackey have taken on a new goal: losing weight. As Wilk announced on his Facebook page, he and Lackey...
Analytics experts from Fortune 500 companies, along with other top data practitioners, will converge on Las Vegas this month—and that's not the only stop on the Predictive Analytics World tour, now in its 10th year. Washington DC, London and...
When San Francisco-based Lyft driver Roosevelt Thomas recently got a message from the company urging him to sign a petition opposing California Assembly Bill 5 – which would turn rideshare drivers from independent contractors into employees –...
At least 189 bills dealing with independent contractors have been introduced in state legislatures this session, according to LexisNexis State Net’s legislative tracking system . Fifty of those measures have been passed by one or both chambers of...
On May 29 Riviera Beach, Florida, a city of roughly 35,000 people near West Palm Beach was hit by a ransomware attack that took down all of the city’s computer networks, along with its water utility pump stations. “Anything that was...
Honolulu’s City Council passed a pair of bills that will impose some of the toughest regulations on the island of Oahu’s vacation rental industry in decades. Bill 89, approved unanimously, will allow the permitting of as many as 1,715...
NJ GOV AGAIN FAILS TO OBTAIN PASSAGE OF MILLIONAIRE’S TAX For the second year in a row, NEW JERSEY Gov. Phil Murphy (D) has failed to get a tax on the state’s top earners through the state’s Legislature, controlled by lawmakers of...
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a pair of decisions last month with major implications for the country’s political landscape. In one 5-4 ruling - with Chief Justice John G. Roberts joining the four members of the court’s liberal wing ...
Last month, Oregon’s 11 Republican senators walked out of their chamber to block a vote on a bill ( HB 2020 ) aimed at reducing carbon emissions. Last week, with just days left in the state’s legislative session, those GOP lawmakers still...
SCOTUS UPHOLDS REDRAWN LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS IN VA In a 5-4 decision, with liberal justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan joining conservative justices Thomas and Gorsuch, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a challenge by VIRGINIA House Republicans to...
Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed a series of far-reaching bills last week aimed at reducing the rising cost of prescription drugs and boosting the use of renewable energy across the Pine Tree State. Mills called the rising cost of prescription...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) issued a long-awaited plan for addressing the state’s chronic challenges from wildfires and the role the state’s largest utilities play in those catastrophes. The plan Newsom put forth would create a...
ABBOT VETOES TX CHILD PROSTITUTION BILL Saying the bill could have “unintended consequences,” TEXAS Gov. Greg Abbott (R) vetoed HB 1771 , which would have barred minors forced into the sex trade by human traffickers from being charged as...
MA House Endorses HB 3904 The MASSACHUSETTS House endorses HB 3904 , a bill that would establish a framework for licensing and regulating appraisal management companies in the Bay State. It is now in the Senate (STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE [BOSTON]. ...
FL Governor Signs HB 7071 FLORIDA Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signs HB 7071 , which requires Sunshine State school districts to allow students to fulfill some high-school graduation requirements by completing two credits in work-based learning programs and...
IL Governor Signs SB 1852 ILLINOIS Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signs SB 1852 , which requires Prairie State sterilization facilities to prevent leaks of ethylene oxide into surrounding neighborhoods and reduce legally allowable pollution emitted through...