The California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District on Monday reduced the damages that life sciences company Bayer has to pay to a school groundskeeper who developed cancer from being exposed to Roundup. The court upheld the trial court’s finding that Monsanto failed to adequately warn of its products’ potential dangers and that the products [...]
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced sanctions against Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov on Monday due to human rights violations dating back more than a decade. Pompeo said the State Department has “extensive credible information that Kadyrov is responsible for numerous gross violations of human rights dating back more than a decade, including torture and [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday announced the indictment of two hackers, Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi, for attempting to steal COVID-19 research. Both hackers currently work for Guangdong Province International Affairs Research Center in China. The indictment alleges that the two have been stealing terabytes of data over the course of 10 [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted an injunction on Tuesday that prevents Trump appointee Michael Pack, CEO of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), from removing and replacing officers of the Open Technology Fund (OTF) OTFis an independent nonprofit organization that advocates for internet freedom and opposes censorship. [...]
US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on Tuesday that prevents undocumented immigrants from being counted in the redrawing of congressional voting districts following the 2020 census. He provided three core reasons for issuing this order: protecting American democracy, upholding constitutional principles and prioritizing Americans. In his memorandum, Trump stated that he had the authority [...]
The Florida Education Association (FEA), Florida’s largest teachers union, filed a lawsuit Monday against Governor Ron DeSantis, Commissioner Richard Corcoran, the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Board of Education to stop the reopening of schools and in-person classes. Richard Corcoran, Commissioner of the Florida Department of Education, issued an order on July 6, [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled Friday that Amazon’s “last mile” delivery drivers are exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) because they are engaged in interstate commerce. Section 1 of the FAA exempts “contracts of employment of seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or [...]
The city of Oakland, California, on Saturday agreed to pay $32.7 million to victims of the 2016 Ghost Ship warehouse fire. On December 2, 2016, a party was being held on the second floor of a warehouse in Oakland. The warehouse housed an artist collective known as Ghost Ship, and served as a refuge for [...]
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed an executive order on Friday establishing the Pennsylvania State Law Enforcement Citizen Advisory Commission. The purpose of the Commission is to improve policing practices within law enforcement agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction. The Commission is comprised of Pennsylvania citizens focused on promoting transparency, fairness, and accountability among the Commonwealth’s state [...]
The Supreme Court has declined to block a Florida law that prevents convicted felons from voting. Justices Sotomayor, Ginsburg and Kagan all dissented from the majority’s denial of application to vacate stay. The dissent explained: This Court’s order prevents thousands of otherwise eligible voters from participating in Florida’s primary election simply because they are poor. [...]
