I’m suspending the Law News Digest
After writing the Law News Digest for several months, I’ve decided to suspend it.
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Law News Digest – Week of July 12, 2015
Friday, July 17 LGB workers may now be protected from discrimination: The federal agency that handles employment discrimination cases, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, just ruled that current law protects lesbian, gay, and bisexual employees from discrimination across the country. Although sexual orientation is not explicitly protected at the federal level, discrimination based on gender/sex is protected, and the agency found that discriminating
Read moreLaw News Digest – Week of July 5, 2015
Friday, July 10 Charleston shooting may have been avoided if gun background check process worked differently: If someone wants to buy a gun at a gun shop, the shop needs to do a background check on them. The process goes through a national system, often performed by the FBI. But if for some reason the gun shop doesn’t get an answer within
Read moreLaw News Digest – Week of June 28, 2015
Friday, July 3 BP gets closure on oil spill by paying another $18B in fines: The 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the worst offshore oil disaster in history, killing 11 workers and spilling millions of gallons of oil into the ocean and onto the shores of 5 states. BP has now paid dearly, almost $54 billion
Read moreLaw News Digest – Week of June 21, 2015
Friday, June 26 Marriage equality now legal nationwide: In a historic decision, the Supreme Court ruled today that same-sex marriage is a right under the Constitution, and that no state may deny that right to its people. By combining two parts of the 14th amendment, both the “due process” clause and the “equal protection” clause, the Court says same-sex couples across
Read moreLaw News Digest – Week of June 14, 2015
June 19, 2015 EPA proposes new emissions standards for commercial vehicles: The federal Environmental Protection Agency wants to require commercial vehicles to reduce fuel consumption by 24% by 2027. This would affect 18-wheelers, buses, delivery vans, and heavy-duty pickup trucks. The rules would reduce carbon pollution by an estimated 1.1 billion tons. The trucking industry and others are pushing back due to an increase
Read moreLaw News Digest – Week of June 7, 2015
Friday, June 12 Bought something from a Michael Kors Outlet? You may be getting some $$ back (which you will probably spend at the outlets). Story: Shoppers sued MK for deceptive price tags at their outlets, where they would put an “MSRP” price, and then a lower amount labelled “our price.” But the clothes were never intended for sale at the “MSRP” and were
Read moreLaw News Digest – Week of May 31, 2015
6/5 If a friend commits a horrible crime, don’t hide the evidence (or lie to authorities): 3 college friends of the Boston Marathon bomber were sentenced for “obstruction of justice” this week. Two of them threw out some evidence of the crime, and were sentenced to 6 years and 3.5 years in prison. The other one lied to investigators about the incident, and
Read moreLaw News Digest – Week of May 24, 2015
5/29 Animal rights & marijuana: A man in Chicago blew pot smoke in his chameleon’s face and posted a video of it on Facebook. PETA filed a complaint, the man was charged with animal cruelty, but was acquitted (ruled as innocent). (Side note: The man’s name is Bruce Blunt… I mean…) Reproductive rights win: Idaho has a law banning most abortions
Read moreLaw News Digest – Week of May 17, 2015
5/22 License plates and free speech: The New York DMV has a policy of excluding controversial messages from its license plates, and in keeping with the policy, denied an application by an advocacy group to include the words “choose life” on custom plates. A court ruled today that the DMV is allowed to block the message, and that doing so
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