One of the largest student loan companies Thursday agreed to a settlement that will forgive $1.85 billion in debt after allegations of widespread deceptive practices. 39 state attorney generals accused loan servicer Navient of encouraging students to enter into predatory forebearance instead of more affordable income-driven repayment plans. Forebearance allows borrowers to pause payments, but interest [...]

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill Thursday guaranteeing abortion rights in the state. Murphy also signed legislation to expand contraception coverage under private insurance and Medicaid. The new legislation comes amid concerns that the US Supreme Court may overturn Roe v. Wade, leaving it up to individual states to regulate abortion. The court [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has ruled that there is no constitutional right to an adequate civics education, denying an appeal by students in Providence, Rhode Island. The lawsuit was filed in 2018 on behalf of 14 students arguing that the US Constitution entitles all public school students to a civics [...]

The US House of Representatives Friday approved H.R.5746, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, as President Biden made his way to Capitol Hill to push for progress on voting rights. The bill passed on a slim margin of 220-203 votes. The bill, initially the NASA Enhanced Use Leasing Extension Act of 2021, was amended [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Thursday charged 11 defendants with seditious conspiracy related to January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. One of the defendants includes Stewart Rhodes, leader of the American far-right anti-government militia group the Oath Keepers.  Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers was arrested in Texas on Thursday morning. Nine [...]

The Australian Minister for Immigration Alex Hawke formally canceled Friday Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic’s temporary visa to Australia, only days after an Australian judge had ordered Djokovic’s visa reinstated and his passport returned. Hawke stated that the decision to cancel Djokovic’s visa was made on “health and good order grounds” and that it was in [...]

A German court in Koblenz Thursday sentenced Anwar Raslan, a former Syrian colonel who directed operations at a civil prison in Damascus, to life in prison. This unprecedented trial was the world’s first trial prosecuting state-sponsored torture in Syria. German human rights lawyers argued for the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, allowing crimes committed in [...]

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Regional Director John J. Walsh of the Second District Wednesday directed for a union election to be held for over 500 tech workers at The New York Times. The NewsGuild of New York represents workers at media organizations, including writers, reporters, journalists, advertising employees, sales representatives, and security guards. It [...]

The US Supreme Court Thursday stayed the Biden administration’s recent COVID-19 business vaccine mandate, but it permitted the vaccine mandate for facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs. In staying the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) business vaccine mandate, the court reasoned that OSHA can “regulate occupational dangers” but lacks “the power to regulate public [...]

The Austrian Data Protection Authority (DPA) Thursday ruled that an Austrian website provider’s continuous use of Google Analytics and the resultant transfer of personal data to Google violated the European Union’s (EU) privacy law, the General Data Protection Rules (GDPR). The ruling responded to a series of representations filed by the Austrian privacy advocacy group [...]