The US Supreme Court stayed the execution of Patrick Murphy, a Texas inmate who was denied a Buddhist spiritual adviser at his execution, late Thursday evening. Previously, under Texas law only spiritual advisers for Christianity or Islam were allowed in the execution chamber. All others would be required to remain in the viewing area. Murphy [...]
Representatives Darren Soto (D-FL) and Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PR-Nonvoting) the Puerto Rico Admission Act of 2019 Thursday to admit Puerto Rico as the fifty-first state to join the union. The Resolution proposes to admit Puerto Rico 90 days after the bill becomes law without requiring a referendum from Puerto Rico’s citizens. The resolution finds the previous [...]
UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard on Thursday called for the investigation and prosecution for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi to be made public nearly a month after she announced that there was evidence the murder was planned by Saudi Arabian officials. A Saudi public prosecutor indicted 110out of the 21 suspects and sought the death [...]
Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló signed an executive order on Wednesday, banning the practice of “conversion therapy” for LGBQT+ minors. The order, which took effect immediately, requires the Secretary of Health to promulgate regulations within 90 days that prevents licensed health care professional from administering the practice. The executive order defines “conversion” or “reparative” therapies as “those interventions [...]
The 3rd District of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals on Wednesday stayed a lower court ruling, which held that laws passed and appointments made during the December lame-duck session were unconstitutional, thereby reinstating the some of the laws. The court, in granting the stay, found that plaintiffs’ likelihood of success on appeal and irreparable injury that [...]
A jury awarded $80 million dollars to Edwin Hardeman. Last week, a jury attributed his non-Hodgkins lymphoma to using Roundup weed killer on his property for more than two decades. There has been ongoing litigation surrounding the pesticide. Last summer, Monsanto was originally ordered to pay $289.2 million in damages to a former pest control [...]
On Wednesday, the European Parliament voted to ban single-use plastics. The new law bans certain single-use plastic items, such as plastic cutlery, plastic straws, and plastic plates. This ban is planned to be in place by 2021. The law also states that “ember states will have to achieve a 90% collection target for plastic bottles [...]
The US District Court for the District of Colorado held Wednesday that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to take a hard look at the reasonably foreseeable impact of certain aspects of the Bull Mountain Master Development Plan. The Bull Mountain Master Development Plan approved the development of 146 [...]
The Democratic majority House of Representatives passed the Paycheck Fairness Act on a vote of 242-187 on Wednesday. The bill attempts to close loopholes to the 1963 Equal Pay Act by amending the Fair Labor Standards Act. The legislation is intended to close the gender pay gap between men and women working in the same [...]
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) filed a complaint against Facebook Thursday for its targeted housing advertisement tools that allegedly discriminate against certain demographics. The complaint follows a 2018 statement of interest that similarly alleged that the data that Facebook collects from its users including race, religion, zip codes and language capabilities are [...]
