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 »
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is suing a California biotech company after it made false statements about a Coronavirus blood testing kit. The company, Decision Diagnostics Corp (DECN), and its owner and CEO Keith Berman are accused of allegedly misleading investors throughout March and June by promoting a... Read More »
The debate goes on. Should judges be allowed to grant early release to felons who committed crimes when they were young adults with immature brains, or would their early release let hundreds of violent criminals go free? The D.C. Council unanimously agreed with proponents of the first theory and passed... Read More »
In 2018, President Trump signed the First Step Act. This bipartisan criminal justice legislation reduced mandatory sentences formerly required by federal firearms law 18 U.S.C. Section 924(c). The First Step Act also prevented the sentences issued under 924(c) from being mandatorily “stacked” to run consecutively. Prior to The First Step... Read More »
About a year ago in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, George Russell Kayer was taken off of death row where he had been sent for killing his friend over a gambling debt. He had argued that he did not receive effective counsel, in violation of his 6th Amendment rights.... Read More »
Alaskan environmental groups have filed a request with the federal courts to block the Interior Department from moving forward with an auction of oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR or Refuge). The environmental groups who have filed the request include the National Audubon Society, the... Read More »
