The Utah House of Representatives passed the Concurrent Resolution in Support of Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technology on Wednesday. The resolution “supports the procurement of energy from advanced nuclear facilities as well as the construction and operation of advanced nuclear facilities within the state of Utah.” The use of the advanced nuclear facilities are deemed to be [...]
The UN Human Rights Council released a Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Thursday, finding potential crimes against humanity committed by Israel. The report focuses on May 30, 2018-December 31, 2018, when the Gaza protests known as the “Great March of Return and the Breaking of [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of an Ohio woman’s defamation lawsuit against actor James Woods. The suit comes as a result of an exchange on Twitter during the 2016 election. In 2016 James Woods reposted a tweet that had side-by-side comparisons of Portia Boulger, the plaintiff [...]
The New Hampshire House of Representatives on Wednesdayapproved a bill to legalize marijuana. The bill seeks to allow law enforcement to “focus on violent and property crimes.” It also seeks to generate “revenue for education and other public purposes,” and additionally cites individual freedom as an interest that the New Hampshire House of Representatives is [...]
US District Judge Fred Biery on Wednesday blocked an initiative led by Acting Texas Secretary of State David Whitley to flag registered Texas voters suspected of being non-citizens. In January the Texas Secretary of State’s office issued an election advisory that conferred with the Department of Public Safety records to confirm Texas voters’ citizenship status. This [...]
US District Judge Leonie Brinkema on Wednesday allowed a lawsuit brought by three former inmates of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq against military contractor CACI Premier Technology to proceed. The case, originally filed in 2008 by the Center for Constitutional Rights, alleges that military police (MPs) tortured the prisoners at the direction of civilian contractors [...]
The US House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday focused on closing loopholes in the current background check process by requiring that all firearm sales include a background check. Current gun control law only mandates that licensed gun dealers conduct background checks for individuals wanting to buy a firearm. The Bipartisan Background Check Act, passed [...]
US Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) introduced HR 1384 Wednesday, proposing a sweeping national health insurance reform plan. The bill proposes a new system called Medicare for All, which would overhaul the current Medicare scheme and make it available to all residents of the US. The Secretary of Health and Human Services would be given broad [...]
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday struck down a provision of the Texas Open Meetings Act as “unconstitutionally vague.” The provision in question makes it a crime in Texas for public officials to meet in small group for the purpose of having secret deliberations. A local judge Craig Doyal, the appellee in the [...]
The UN expert on foreign debt and human rights Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, is stressing the necessity of treating human rights as a top priority in recent economic reforms. After Bohoslavsky investigated in both Ukraine and Sri Lanka last year, his reports focused on the importance of striking a balance between implementing measures to ensure all [...]
