The First Appellate District Court of Appeals of California on Monday affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the public’s use of Martin’s Beach is a permissive right. The battle for public access at Martin’s Beach began in 2012 when Vinod Khosla initially purchased the land. Khosla closed the only public access road to the beach [...]
Groups including Brazil’s Human Rights Advocacy Collective and the Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns Commission for Human Rights on Wednesday submitted a written recommendation to Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (“ICC”), reporting the need for a preliminary examination into genocide and systematic attacks against indigenous people by President Jair Messias Bolsonaro in [...]
The Prime Minister of Iraq, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, on Friday announced his resignation after nearly two months of increasingly violent protests. Earlier on Friday, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a key religious figure in Iraq and one of the nation’s most respected Shiite clerics, condemned the violence against protestors and called for a shift in government. Abdul-Mahdi’s [...]
The Supreme Court of the State of Oregon on Wednesday confirmed an appellate court’s decision, finding that the sale of a parcel of the Elliott State Forest was illegal. This case arose when the State Land Board voted to sell a parcel of the Elliott State Forest, which is part of the common school lands [...]
The Sixth District Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that charter cities such as San Jose must use surplus public land for the purposes of public housing. This requirement was created by the Surplus Land Act, which states that California municipalities must offer disposable land to low income residents before giving it away to companies [...]
The Department of Justice announced Wednesday the completion of its two-year antitrust investigation into the GSMA, a global trade association for mobile network operators. The GSMA is comprised of around 1,200 companies worldwide, including AT&T and Verizon, and has been responsible for developing standards in mobile technology. The organization is headquartered in London, but has [...]
The Supreme Court of Alabama ruled Wednesday that the City of Birmingham (“City”) violated the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act (“Preservation Act”) by erecting a plywood barrier around a Confederate monument in August 2017. The order to erect the barrier came from then-Mayor William Bell and was intended to obscure inscriptions honoring Confederate veterans. The Confederate [...]
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker on Wednesday signed a new tobacco control law which substantially restricts the sale of e-cigarette and nicotine vaping products and flavored tobacco products. House Bill 4196, or “An Act Modernizing Tobacco Control,” will impose a 75% excise tax on e-cigarettes. It also will restrict the sale of all flavored nicotine vaping [...]
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law the “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019” (the “Act”), reaffirming and amending the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992. The Act allows sanctions to be imposed on individuals undermining fundamental freedoms and autonomy in Hong Kong. The president is authorized under the [...]
The Ohio State House of Representatives on Friday introduced HB 413 that, if passed, would severely restrict abortion care and require unproven medical practices. HB 413 would outlaw abortion in almost all circumstances. A physician would be allowed to perform an abortion only if they: (A) Using reasonable medical judgment, believe[] it is highly probable [...]
