The US Senate on Tuesday approved a new $480 billion coronavirus relief bill that includes additional funds for small businesses and hospitals short of supplies. This bill follows a $2 trillion stimulus that Congress passed on March 25. This stimulus provided low-interest loans to small businesses along with corporate bailouts and $1,200 to eligible-to-work Americans [...]
The state of Missouri filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the Chinese government and its top institutions, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Emergency Management and the People’s Government of Wuhan City, over their role in the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. The lawsuit states that Missouri is seeking recovery for “the [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld Texas’ COVID-19 pandemic abortion ban Monday. The ban includes medication-induced abortions. Texas has banned the abortions citing concerns over the procedures causing a personal protection equipment (PPE) shortage during the COVID-19 crisis. Texas Governor Greg Abbot issued Executive Order GA-09 on March 22, 2020. The [...]
A federal district court judge on Monday issued a preliminary injunction ordering Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to improve its measures for protecting the health of detainees in the agency’s facilities and consider releasing those most at risk of contracting COVID-19. Numerous individual detainees and two advocacy organizations have sued ICE, arguing that its relative [...]
The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) filed three lawsuits Monday challenging the failure of the New York State Department of Health (DOH) and two hospitals to protect the health and safety of nurses treating COVID-19 patients. The NYSNA claimed that the DOH, Montefiore Medical Center and Westchester Medical Center compromised the health and safety of [...]
The Massachusetts Senate on Friday approved a bill that imposes a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill was then sent to Governor Charlie Baker for approval. “ purposes, which are to establish forthwith a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures during the governor’s COVID19 emergency declaration … necessary for the immediate [...]
Maryland governor Lawrence Hogan signed an executive order on Saturday allowing the expedited release of hundreds of eligible inmates in an effort to enable social distancing and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within the state’s prisons. Hogan’s order authorizes the Commission on Correctional Standards and the Maryland Parole Commission to expedite the release of eligible categories of [...]
A federal judge on Friday blocked Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s executive order to limit surgical abortions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Abortion providers, Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit after Lee promulgated Executive Order 25 on April 8. The order aimed to limit non-essential procedures to ensure abundant personal protective equipment (PPE) [...]
A federal judge on Saturday blocked Kansas from limiting attendance at in-person religious services or activities to 10 or fewer people to prevent the spread of COVID-19, indicating that he believes that the policy violates First Amendment rights. This ruling prevents the enforcement of Executive Order No. 20-18 issued by Governor Laura Kelly, which sought [...]
The UN Security Council on Friday called upon Yemen’s warring factions to end their five-year civil war due to the spread of COVID-19. “Yemen cannot face two fronts at the same time: a war and a pandemic,” said UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths. “We can do no less than stop this war and turn all [...]
