In late December, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into a law a moratorium on the use of facial recognition in New York’s public k-12 schools. The two years mandated by the bill will allow the New York legislature to undertake an official study into the technology to explore all... Read More »
A fire that broke out at a black church in Springfield, Massachusetts, earlier this week is being investigated by local and federal authorities as a possible hate crime. The fire started at around 5 a.m. on Monday at the Martin Luther King Jr., Community Presbyterian Church. Local firefighters spent roughly... Read More »
In an odd lawsuit that parallels the surreal 2020 presidential election, Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert and a group of Republican Electors from Arizona have filed a lawsuit against Vice President Mike Pence. Their argument, in part, is that the Electoral Count Act is unconstitutional. Plaintiffs in the all-Republican lawsuit include... Read More »
A federal judge denied bail a second time to Ghislaine Maxwell, whom the media has called Jeffrey Epstein’s procurer, pal, pimp and partner. Despite offering a $28.5 million bail package and strict monitoring measures, the court concluded there was nothing new in the latest request that “can reasonably assure the... Read More »
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a new ruling last week that requires law enforcement to have a warrant for conducting a vehicle search. This new ruling overturns the 2014 case of Commonwealth v. Gary in which police were allowed to conduct warrantless searches. In 2014, police were given the authority... Read More »
Niki Williams, 46, a former employee of the Houston Independent School District, has been sentenced with one year of probation for her role in the 2019 “Operation Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal. The college admissions scandal rocked the nation last year when wealthy parents, including the likes of fashion designer... Read More »
On October 20, 2020, the Department of Justice, abetted by eleven states’ attorneys general, filed suit against Google for violating section 2 of the Sherman Act and operating a monopoly. The result is probably the DOJ’s biggest antitrust case since it took on Microsoft in 1998. Nearly two months later, on... Read More »
A recent court decision finds that Senior Executive Service (SES) employees cannot appeal their dismissal within the federal courts. After the US Army demoted SES Employee Maria Esparraguera for unethical hiring practices, she sought to appeal the decision with the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court decided on December... Read More »
A Miami family that was allegedly known locally for popular though illegal cockfights were all sentenced to jail time after being convicted of ID theft, creating counterfeit checks, and bank fraud in a national scheme built inside the hiding places of the Dark Web. When the Miami police raided the... Read More »
Popular wedding dress designer Hayley Paige Gutman has announced her resignation from JLM Couture after a year-and-a-half-long battle with the company regarding the terms of her new contract. Gutman addressed the controversy in an emotional Instagram video where she explains in the caption, "It is with a heavy heart that... Read More »
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a proposed revision on how federal agencies prioritize workers when implementing reduction-in-force (RIF) policies, or federal layoffs. The proposed amendment will “prioritize performance over length of services when determining which employees will be retained in a RIF.” OPM is the federal agency responsible... Read More »
The individual responsible for bombing downtown Nashville on Christmas morning has been identified as 63-year-old Anthony Quinn Warner of Antioch. Warner, who lived in a nearby suburb, was a self-employed IT services contractor who worked predominantly from home. The explosion happened around 6:30 am early Christmas morning and was accompanied... Read More »
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has reached out to President-elect Biden and the world with an urgent plea to retract the new Trump Administration Executive Order on Federal Buildings. President Trump wants to “Make Federal Buildings Beautiful Again” and has issued a directive to allow no new designs... Read More »
On December 15, 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) concluded implementing the Asylum Cooperative Agreement (ACA) with El Salvador. Nicknamed the “Safe Third Country” program, the agreement will return certain migrants apprehended at the U.S. southern border to apply first in El Salvador for asylum or select other... Read More »
Texas U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen has not delivered a ruling on a hearing that will determine the fate of DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The case was brought on by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. His office is representing nine other states that are seeking... Read More »
