In the controversy swirling around COVID-19-related lockdowns, an early hotspot was the state of Michigan, where Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer took sweeping steps in March to mitigate the spread of the virus. Although numerous other states implemented similar measures, the Michigan stay-at-home orders sparked violent reactions, with anti-lockdown rallies held... Read More »
The family of a U.S. college student arrested in the Cayman Islands for breaking quarantine is appealing to the US government for help. Eighteen-year-old college student Skyler Mack has been sentenced to four months behind bars in the Cayman Islands after she broke the island's COVID-19 quarantine protocol. The teen’s... Read More »
A U.S.House Oversight Committee led by Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-SC, is investigating HHS officials, including the director of the CDC, over the handling of the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic. This week, the committee issued two subpoenas to U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar and CDC Director Robert Redfield. The... Read More »
A China-based employee of a US telecommunications company was charged in federal court in Brooklyn on December 18 with conspiracy to commit interstate harassment and unlawful conspiracy to transfer a means of identification. Xinjiang Jin, also known as Julien Jin, is charged with scheming to disrupt numerous meetings in May... Read More »
Last week, Congress passed legislation on a second stimulus package that would aid Americans with up to $600 in direct payments. The legislation happens to be the longest bill ever passed by Congress, coming in at a whopping 5,593 pages. The legislation is a combination of the second coronavirus relief... Read More »
The Department of Labor announced a finalized rule on December 22, 2020, that will amend section 3(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to protect the tips of employees. This final rule clarifies how businesses must operate under the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2018, an omnibus spending bill... Read More »
When Florida Department of Health employee Rebekah Jones noticed a discrepancy on the state’s COVID-19 statistics published on their website, she immediately told her supervisor. But the data scientist, who had created the COVID-19 portal, was rebuked and told to “manipulate” the figures. Jones, who said she was told to... Read More »
There is a tragic irony to Walmart’s advertising slogan that claims, “Save Money. Live Better.” The hundreds of thousands of people who filled their opioid prescriptions at Walmart’s pharmacies across the nation might have saved some money, but according to a new civil complaint filed by the Department of Justice,... Read More »
On December 4, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made its first charge against a public company for misleading customers and investors on the real impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business finances. The SEC accepted an Offer of Settlement by Cheesecake Factory Incorporated to consent to a Cease-and-Desist... Read More »
The Department of Justice (DOJ), with the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, has charged two pharmacy owners in a $30 million health care fraud and money laundering scheme. The two owners, Peter Khaim, 40, and Arkadiy Khaimov, 37, own more than a dozen pharmacies in... Read More »
New Jersey has some of the most stringent gun laws in the country. Not coincidentally, it also has an attorney general, Gurbir Grewal, engaged in a crusade against firearms. In a 2018 press conference, he stated that “each gun that we take off the streets is a life, or multiple... Read More »
On December 15, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit denied a request to rehear a decision that puts tighter restrictions on abortions in Arkansas. The request was filed by the ACLU and the Center for Reproductive Rights and was done so in an effort to block new... Read More »
Cyber hackers working on behalf of a foreign government that is widely believed to be Russia broke into numerous government agencies and networks, including the Commerce, Treasury Departments, and several national security agencies. The cyber hackers breached the protected email systems in a sophisticated attack that has left the feds... Read More »
In 2019, Michael Cohen testified that the Trump Organization provided false values for property holdings as part of a scheme to obtain loans and avoid taxes. Cohen’s role in protecting the President caused the attorney to serve time in prison. Now, New York’s Attorney General’s office is conducting a probe... Read More »
Former Michigan Assistant Attorney General Brian Kolodziej is facing felony misconduct charges after an investigation into his inappropriate relationship with the victim of a rape case he was assigned to in 2018. In September 2019, Kolodziej resigned from his position during the middle of a child sexual abuse case in... Read More »
