Search Results for: Vermont

New York Governor Kathy Hochul Saturday signed legislation validating natural organic reduction as a method of burial. Known as “human composting” in common parlance, the process involves placing the body of deceased in a vessel and adding organic material like wood chips, alfalfa grass and straw. Such an arrangement provides conducive environment for natural microbes to act [...]

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Attorneys general in 40 states Monday announced a $391.5 million, multi-state settlement with Google over the company’s location tracking practices. The agreement marks the largest US privacy settlement in history. Authorities allege that Google’s collection of location information violated the participating states’ consumer protection laws because “Google misled its users into thinking they had turned [...]

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Residents of Vermont Tuesday voted to adopt Proposal 2 that amends the state constitution to repeal language permitting slavery and indentured servitude. The final vote was overwhelming with 237,097 in favor of the amendment and 30,255 against. Vermont was the first state in the United States to adopt a constitution in 1777. The constitution prohibited [...]

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Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont Tuesday voted on Election Day ballot measures to end the practice of enslavement after criminal conviction. Under the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, slavery and involuntary servitude may not exist “except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” This language [...]

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US voters in California, Michigan, Kentucky and Vermont Tuesday voted in favor of abortion rights in four state ballot measures. Results from Montana’s vote remain inconclusive, but abortion advocates are poised to win. In June, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with Dobbs v. Jackson Women Health Organization and ruled there is no [...]

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Come November 8, Vermont residents will have the opportunity to amend their state constitution and abolish slavery and indentured servitude for good. To be clear, Vermont does not currently allow either in any form, but there is antiquated language in the state constitution that allows for certain exceptions. In the Founding Era, numerous other states [...]

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Brooke Chmura is a 3L at Vermont Law and Graduate School. She’s covering state ballot measures before Vermont voters in the 2022 midterm elections.  On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the US Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion. This decision delegated power [...]

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Opioid manufacturer Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Tuesday announced a $4.35 billion settlement with state and local governments to resolve lawsuits concerning Teva’s role in fueling the US opioid epidemic. The settlement is not yet finalized. Teva is an Israeli multinational pharmaceutical company which manufactures prescription medication including opioids. In recent years, US states, cities, counties and [...]

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“Defectors often cause more difficulty than disinterested disbelievers” – Neal Ash Maxwell, American scholar, educator, and religious leader. Recent events in the Indian state of Maharashtra reaffirm the existence of glaring loopholes in a law aimed at bolstering political stability in India. The recent fall of the democratically elected government led by the state’s former [...]

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