The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) submitted a court filing Monday arguing that states cannot sue over changes they claim make school lunches less healthy. The memorandum of law was filed in response to a complaint by several states over changes to the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs. The complaint alleges that a [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Missouri on Tuesday blocked Missouri’s 8-week abortion ban from going into effect. Missouri’s governor signed the law in May of this year, making it illegal to for any pregnant individual in the state to have access to an abortion after eight weeks, unless [...]

The US Department of Justice on Monday asked the Supreme Court to stay an injunction blocking a July 15 Trump administration asylum rule requiring most asylum-seekers to ask for protection in another country before reaching the US-Mexico border. Under the new rule, people from countries like Honduras and El Salvador, where one would have to [...]

An Oklahoma judge on Monday ordered Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to pay $572.1 million to the state for their role in the state’s opioid crisis. The first trial of an opioid manufacturer, the decision is also the first holding a drug-maker culpable for the opioid epidemic. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter alleged that J&J’s false [...]

The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) on Monday announced plans to continue to expand marijuana research and confirmed that some products containing cannabidiol (CBD) are now legal. The DEA plans to allow more applications from those who applied to manufacture marijuana for research, and they anticipate that this will increase the variety of marijuana available [...]

The Clean Air Council sued United States Steel Corporation Monday for violations of pollution reporting requirements stemming from a fire at the company’s Clairton Coke Works last December. In their complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, the Clean Air Council alleges that US Steel failed to [...]

Federal prosecutors on Monday stated their intent to seek the death penalty against Robert Bowers, the man responsible for the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, last October. The death sentence, in particular is being sought for the crimes of obstruction of free exercise of religion resulting in death, use and discharge of [...]

A three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has denied an appeal from a defense contractor to halt a lawsuit over their involvement in the 2004 Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The lawsuit was filed by a group of Iraqi citizens who alleged that numerous US military and civilian contractors conspired [...]

Chinese legislators on Monday approved a new law that will allow local governments to tax up to 164 resources at their own discretion. The new law is set to be implemented in September of next year. The rationale behind the new law is to provide local governments with the ability to assist their communities, especially [...]

Nineteen states, led by California, announced a lawsuit Monday challenging the Trump Administration’s attempt to alter federal agreements that limit the length of detention for immigrant children. The Trump administration announced these plans last week. The administration’s stated rationale for the new rule includes the desire to keep families together, combat child smuggling and respond [...]