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Tag: LAW

  • Mexico passes electoral overhaul that critics warn weakens democracy

    Mexico passes electoral overhaul that critics warn weakens democracy

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    MEXICO CITY, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Mexican lawmakers on Wednesday approved a controversial overhaul of the body overseeing the country’s elections, a move critics warn will weaken democracy ahead of a presidential vote next year.

    President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador argues the reorganization will save $150 million a year and reduce the influence of economic interests in politics.

    But opposition lawmakers and civil society groups have said they will challenge the changes at the Supreme Court, arguing they are unconstitutional. Protests are planned in multiple cities on Sunday.

    The Senate approved the reform, which still needs to be signed into law by Lopez Obrador, 72 to 50.

    The changes will cut the budget of the National Electoral Institute (INE), cull staff and close offices.

    The INE has played an important role in the shift to multi-party democracy since Mexico left federal one-party rule in 2000. Critics fear some of that progress is being lost, in a pattern of eroding electoral confidence also seen in the United States and Brazil.

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    Lopez Obrador has repeatedly attacked the electoral agency, saying voter fraud robbed him of victory in the 2006 presidential election.

    The head of the INE, Lorenzo Cordova, has called the changes a “democratic setback” that put at risk “certain, trustworthy and transparent” elections. Proposed “brutal cuts” in personnel would hinder the installation of polling stations and vote counting, Cordova said.

    The changes, dubbed “Plan B,” follow a more ambitious constitutional overhaul last year that fell short of the needed two-thirds majority. That bill had sought to convert the INE into a smaller body of elected officials.

    Mexico will hold two state elections in June and general elections next year, including votes for president and elected officials in 30 states.

    Reporting by Adriana Barrera and Diego Ore; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Stephen Eisenhammer, Sandra Maler and William Mallard

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • POLICE REPORTS: LPD: Man points gun at girlfriend while in possession of cocaine, marijuana | Police Report – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    POLICE REPORTS: LPD: Man points gun at girlfriend while in possession of cocaine, marijuana | Police Report – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

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    A Lufkin man pointed a gun at his girlfriend around 1 a.m. Sunday during an argument in the 500 block of Lubbock Street, according to a Lufkin police report.

    Police located and arrested Mathew Ray Sandoval, 25, after he left the scene. He also was found to be in possession of cocaine and marijuana, the report states.


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  • What’s next for city CBD amid firms’ exodus? – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    What’s next for city CBD amid firms’ exodus? – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

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    What's next for city CBD amid firms' exodus? Original Author Link click here to read complete story.. … Read More

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    MMP News Author

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  • Justice Department Concurs With Matt Gaetz Defense That 17-Year-Olds Pretty Much Ready To Roll

    Justice Department Concurs With Matt Gaetz Defense That 17-Year-Olds Pretty Much Ready To Roll

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    WASHINGTON—Announcing the decision to end its sex-trafficking investigation into the Republican congressman, the Justice Department stated Friday that it concurred with Rep. Matt Gaetz’s defense that 17-year-olds were pretty much ready to roll. “After two years of pouring over every detail within this highly sensitive case, we have concluded that Mr. Gaetz was correct when he pointed out that come on, at that age, a girl is all but cleared for landing,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland, who added that the women Gaetz is alleged to have paid for sex—at least one of whom was a girl under 18—were mature for their age, and that they were “pretty much fair game” if they wanted to accept cash in exchange for sleeping with a member of Congress. “The Justice Department took this case extremely seriously, and by all accounts, the witnesses and the evidence point to the fact that these girls were definitely old enough to give the green light. If anything, we agree with Gaetz that they’d also have been ready to do that at an even younger age, like 14 or 15. Seriously, just look at them.” Garland went on to announce that any underage woman who came forward to accuse Gaetz of sex-trafficking would face federal charges of being a ho-bag slut.

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  • Americans Explain Why Assault Weapons Must Stay Legal

    Americans Explain Why Assault Weapons Must Stay Legal

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  • Sony Accuses Microsoft Of ‘Harassment’ In Court Battle

    Sony Accuses Microsoft Of ‘Harassment’ In Court Battle

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    Screenshot: Phoenix Wright (PS4)

    Microsoft’s struggles to get its proposed $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard over the line aren’t just playing out at government watchdogs and in the public eye, but in courtrooms as well. And in one of those battlegrounds, Microsoft is making demands of its rival Sony that the latter say constitute “obvious harassment”.

    Via Axios’ newsletter, a series of court documents have been filed over the last couple of weeks detailing some of the legal skirmishes currently playing out between Microsoft, who want to complete the blockbuster deal, and Sony, who are one of a number of companies and organisations who absolutely do not want this to happen.

    These particular filings are about Sony’s attempts to fight the proposed sale, and that as part of their defence Microsoft is entitled to “discovery”, which is basically just letting them get hold of a load of documents and emails from certain Sony executives. Both companies have been haggling over the number of executives this will include and the scope of the discovery for ages, but things took a turn earlier this month when Microsoft accused Sony of first stalling, and then not providing all the information they might need:

    Sony Interactive Entertainment (“SIE”)—whose gaming business has dwarfed Xbox’s for 20 years—is not an ordinary third party in this action. At great expense and over an extended period, SIE has deployed delegations of executives, large teams of outside lawyers, and highpriced economists to persuade regulators here and around the world to block Microsoft Corp.’s

    (“Microsoft’s”) proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard King. SIE’s efforts are paying off: The FTC’s complaint in this action is chock-full of allegations about the effects the deal will have on SIE’s business. This case is as much about SIE as it is about Xbox and Activision. Timely discovery from SIE is therefore critical to Microsoft’s defense.

    Though SIE’s motion for an extension of time complains about the breadth of the subpoena and the length of the extensions already granted for it to respond to that subpoena, Microsoft already told SIE it would consent to a fourth extension of time to negotiate issues related to the scope of the subpoena’s requests. But Microsoft believes that court intervention is required now on one issue: whether SIE will collect and produce documents from certain custodians.

    In response, Sony said that they hadn’t supplied all the information Microsoft were requesting because they were being asked for way too much, including things like access to internal performance reviews, something Sony say “is obvious harassment”, and that “even in employment cases courts require a specific showing of relevance before requiring production of personnel files.”

    Judge D. Michael Chappell has agreed with Sony, saying the company “has demonstrated good cause for the requested relief” and agreeing that the scope and depth of Microsoft’s requests had gone too far.

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    All of which is only mildly interesting, I know, but I bring this up mostly so we can just link to both Microsoft and Sony’s motions, which are full of some incredible self-owns, like Microsoft saying PlayStation’s success “has dwarfed Xbox’s for 20 years”, along with some very funny wordage in Sony’s filing, like the way they say Microsoft’s subpoena was, like, “truly massive”.

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  • Court Rules Domestic Abusers Cannot Be Barred From Owning Instrument Of Vengeance

    Court Rules Domestic Abusers Cannot Be Barred From Owning Instrument Of Vengeance

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    WASHINGTON—Claiming that previous laws were inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that domestic abusers could not be barred from owning an instrument of vengeance. “According to the court’s historical interpretation of the Second Amendment, Americans cannot legally be prevented from purchasing or wielding a method with which to carry out a violent act of retribution,” Judge Cory Wilson wrote in the court’s opinion, adding that per the founding fathers original intent, every American, including domestic abusers, had a God-given right to enact lethal vengeance against whoever they felt was worthy of their ire. “Be it the ex-girlfriend who so heinously wronged you, a coworker who looked at you in a weird way, or a sonuvabitch judge who ruined your life, all Americans have the right to bear whatever arms they need to destroy their enemies once and for all. Without the right to dole out justice and reckoning, we are nothing as a country. This type of senseless violence is what we were built on.” At press time, the court also struck down a mandatory waiting period that Judge Wilson claimed made it take too long for those who had been wronged and were blinded by rage to finally get sweet, sweet revenge.

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  • Explainer: What guns were used to attack a Lunar New Year party in California?

    Explainer: What guns were used to attack a Lunar New Year party in California?

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    Jan 23 (Reuters) – A 72-year-old man fatally shot 11 people celebrating the Lunar New Year at a ballroom near Los Angeles on Saturday night, according to the county sheriff.

    Here is what is known so far about the weapons involved and the regulations that govern them:

    WHAT GUNS WERE USED?

    The shooter, identified as Huu Can Tran, used a semi-automatic pistol with an “extended large-capacity magazine” attached to it to attack people in the Star Dance Ballroom Studio in Monterey Park, California, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. This is a type of handgun that fires one bullet with each pull of the trigger and automatically loads the next cartridge from the magazine.

    Luna said the gun was a semi-automatic 9 mm MAC-10, which is a civilian type of pistol based on a fully automatic military-use submachine gun. He did not disclose the capacity of the magazine attached, although under California law a “large-capacity magazine” is defined as one that holds more than 10 rounds.

    The shooter used a second gun to kill himself after fleeing the ballroom. Luna said that one was a Norinco 7.62 x 25mm handgun.

    Investigators also found a .308-caliber rifle at the shooter’s home, along with hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

    HOW WERE THE GUNS OBTAINED?

    Officials said they were still investigating how and when Tran obtained the weapons. Luna said the Norinco handgun was registered to the shooter.

    WHAT GUN REGULATIONS APPLY?

    California has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the United States, the country with the highest rate of private gun ownership in the world.

    The state bans many kinds of guns that are legal in other states, and obtaining a required California gun license is relatively difficult. However, a California resident intent on breaking the law can illegally obtain banned weapons from parts of the country where guns are sold more freely.

    Semi-automatic pistols are the most widely carried guns in the country, and some kinds are legal in California. But the state bans what it defines as “assault weapons,” which is determined by the gun’s features and includes semiautomatic MAC-10 guns. A Californian can continue to legally possess an assault weapon that was legally owned and registered before the 1990s or early 2000s, depending on the type.

    The assault weapons ban was ruled unconstitutional and thrown out by a federal judge in 2021, but remains in effect while legal appeals are heard.

    California also bans the buying and selling of large-capacity magazines, although a Californian can legally continue to possess any large-capacity magazine he or she obtained before Jan. 1, 2000.

    The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Americans have a fundamental right to have weapons, including many kinds of guns, at home and, in a landmark ruling last year, in public for self-defense under the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment “right to keep and bear arms.”

    Reported by Jonathan Allen; Edited by Colleen Jenkins and Bradley Perrett

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • High On Life And Rick And Morty Creator Facing Domestic Violence Charges

    High On Life And Rick And Morty Creator Facing Domestic Violence Charges

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    Image: Greg Doherty (Getty Images)

    Justin Roiland, creator of TV series Rick and Morty and the recently released High on Life game, has been charged with domestic violence against a former girlfriend.

    NBC News reports that it obtained Orange County Superior Court records stating that a criminal complaint was filed against Roiland back in May 2020 by the Orange County District Attorney. The complaint charges Roiland with “one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury and one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud and/or deceit.” Roiland was arrested and released with a $50,000 bond in August 2020 and pleaded not guilty to both charges in October of that same year.

    According to NBC News the victim says the incident between herself and Roiland occurred around Jan. 19 of that year. A protective order was filed in October 2020, which states that Roiland can not harass, threaten, surveil, or be within 100 feet of an unknown person protected under the order. The order also made Roiland relinquish ownership of any firearms he owned or possessed. The order lasts until October 2023. According to NBC News, Roiland is scheduled to appear in court Thursday for a pre-trial hearing.

    Read More: Rick And Morty Creator Used Controversial AI Art, Voice Acting In New Shooter

    This news comes shortly after the release of High on Life, a first-person shooter game created by Roiland’s video game company, Squanch Games. Despite the game’s popularity on Game Pass, Xbox’s Netflix-like game subscription service, it’s been at the center of controversy for its use of an AI generator to create poster art and vocal performances. Prior to High on Life’s release on December 13, Roiland launched two NFT projects in 2021 and 2022 called The Best I Could Do and Art Gobblers.

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    Kotaku reached out to Squanch Games and Roiland’s lawyer but did not receive a comment by the time of publication.

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  • Coinbase Strikes a Massive Blow to Bankman-Fried and FTX

    Coinbase Strikes a Massive Blow to Bankman-Fried and FTX

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    Coinbase Chief Executive Brian Armstrong does not mince words. 

    Nearly two months after rival Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire went bankrupt, he’s just delivered a massive blow to what until recently was the institutional face of crypto.

    Bankman-Fried’s empire consisted of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange. Before its rout, it was the third largest cryptocurrency exchange based on volume after Binance and Coinbase. FTX last February was valued at around $32 billion.

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  • Internet Misogynist Andrew Tate Back In Custody Following Brief Hospital Visit

    Internet Misogynist Andrew Tate Back In Custody Following Brief Hospital Visit

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    No God’s coming to save you, Taintman.
    Photo: Daniel Mihailescu (Getty Images)

    Self-professed misogynist and noted internet jackass Andrew Tate is back in Romanian custody after a short reported stint in the hospital. Although rumors are flying every which way, it appears Tate has “certain medical problems” that constituted a doctor check-up, according to a quote from CNN’s Romanian news branch, Antena 3.

    Tate, who’s well-known for his gross takes on women, was arrested on December 29 following an exchange with prominent climate activist Greta Thunberg on Twitter. During that dispute, in which he basically doxxed himself by ordering pizza from a Romanian restaurant chain, Tate argued he wasn’t owned by Thunberg (he was) while talking about the myriad cars he has that “run on dead dinosaurs” and create lots of carbon emissions. Cool. However, not long after he got bodied by the teenage Thunberg, Romanian police rolled up to Tate’s mansion and booked him and his brother Tristan Tate on charges of human trafficking and organized crime. Sucks to suck, huh?

    After being detained, Tate, who had something of a routine check-up, was transported to a hospital after the prison doctor asked if “he was suffering from certain ailments.” According to Antena 3 CNN’s reporting, Tate was “taken to a specialist consultation in a hospital in the capital.” Tate has been released and is back in custody.

    It seems he’ll be in prison for a bit longer. As reported by several outlets, like AP News and The Guardian, Tate lost his legal appeal to the Romanian courts to get let out early. This means he has to serve the full 30-day detention while an investigation gets underway.

    Kotaku reached out to Tate for comment but, considering he’s currently incarcerated in international prison, did not receive a response before publication. Weirdly, though, his Twitter account is still very much active.

    Tate allegedly used a “loverboy method” to lure victims in, only to subjugate them to intimidation and surveillance as a means of control. He’s also been accused of coercing these victims into lurid pornographic actions that were intended for monetary purposes. Hopefully, he gets a longer sentence.

     

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    Levi Winslow

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  • Hardliner Jim Jordan emerges as a Republican alternative for U.S. House speaker

    Hardliner Jim Jordan emerges as a Republican alternative for U.S. House speaker

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    WASHINGTON, Jan 3 (Reuters) – For much of the last 16 years Republican Jim Jordan’s combative, in-your-face style of politics made the former college wrestler a constant source of trouble for his party’s leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives.

    Now his party is deciding whether the hardline co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus will lead the chamber in challenging Democratic President Joe Biden and the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate for the next two years.

    The 58-year-old congressman from Ohio emerged on Tuesday as a potential alternative to Kevin McCarthy for the House speakership, a powerful job that is second in line to the Oval Office after the vice president.

    With McCarthy opposed by enough Republicans to deny him a House majority on vote after vote, a group of fellow hardliners nominated Jordan, who nonetheless backed McCarthy and gave an impassioned speech on his behalf.

    Twenty Republicans voted for Jordan – fewer than a tenth of those backing McCarthy, but enough to stop his progress. The House recessed after three votes without giving McCarthy the House majority he needed on Tuesday and adjourned until noon ET (1700 GMT) on Wednesday to try again.

    Being elected speaker would be a huge step up for Jordan, known for eschewing suit jackets at congressional hearings and news conferences, potentially making him the successor to, and a sharp break from, liberal predecessor Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat.

    Now in his ninth term and 17th year in the House, Jordan would likely push hard for steep cuts to domestic programs including popular social services and be a voice against abortion and LGBTQ rights, while advocating greater parental roles in public school education.

    While raising his profile on House committees over the years and especially during Republican Donald Trump’s presidency, Jordan also found himself fending off accusations that as a wrestling coach at Ohio State University in the 1980s and 1990s he was aware of sexual harassment plaguing the college team but did nothing to stop it.

    A champion wrestler in high school and college before becoming a college coach, Jordan denied the accusations and thrived in Congress.

    TRUMP DEFENDER

    During Trump’s first impeachment in late 2019 and early 2020, it was Jordan who stood before the cameras reciting the mantra over and over: “There was no quid pro quo.”

    He was referring to charges by Democrats, who then controlled the House, that Trump held back U.S. military aid to Ukraine while asking its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a phone call to launch an investigation into Joe Biden’s son Hunter. The call took place at a time when the elder Biden was emerging as Trump’s likely opponent in the 2020 presidential race.

    In 2011, with a newly installed Republican majority in the House, Jordan made President Barack Obama’s life miserable by demanding deep budget cuts opposed by Democrats. He helped lead the government to the precipice of an historic default on government debt by insisting on the cuts.

    Jordan ignored pleas, including from the U.S. business community, to relent and allow for more government borrowing. Global financial markets were rocked by the uncertainty.

    With the House once again controlled by Republicans, and the party’s far-right wing ascendant, concerns about a possible government default later this year have re-emerged.

    On immigration, Jordan was a key player in blocking what had been long negotiations toward comprehensive immigration reform.

    A bipartisan bill passed in 2013 in the Senate would have vastly increased spending on border security. But it also would have granted a path to citizenship for immigrants living in the United States illegally for years and had committed no serious crimes.

    With then-Speaker John Boehner maneuvering to bring a similar bill to a vote in the House, Jordan told Reuters at a key moment that it was dead. He turned out to be right in an embarrassment to Boehner.

    In his speech nominating McCarthy on Tuesday for the speaker’s job, Jordan spelled out his own priorities.

    “We have a border that is no longer a border. We have a military that can’t meet its recruitment goals. We have bad energy policy, bad education policy, record spending, record debt and a government that has been weaponized against ‘we the people’; against the very people that we represent,” he said.

    Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Unbelievable facts

    Unbelievable facts

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  • Argentina president rejects Supreme Court ruling, sparking backlash

    Argentina president rejects Supreme Court ruling, sparking backlash

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    BUENOS AIRES, Dec 23 (Reuters) – Argentina’s leftist President Alberto Fernandez has sparked a battle with the country’s top court and something of a legal crisis after he said he would reject a ruling it made to give a larger proportion of state funds to the city of Buenos Aires.

    The South American country has a system to regulate how state funds are distribute between the country’s regions, including the capital city area, which is controlled by a conservative mayor and had been pushing for a larger slice.

    In a ruling on Wednesday the Supreme Court said the level should be raised from 1.4% of the total pool of funds to 2.95% after it was cut by government decree during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The city is the wealthiest and most populous area of the country.

    Fernandez, in a statement late on Thursday, said the ruling was unjustified and pledged to ignore it.

    “It is an unprecedented, incongruous, and impossible-to-enforce ruling,” he said, calling the decision politically motivated ahead of general elections next year and adding that it would hurt the other provinces.

    Fernandez, who has seen his popularity slide and whose ruling coalition was badly defeated in midterm congressional elections last year, said that the state would “challenge the members of the Supreme Court” and seek to have the ruling revoked.

    His remarks sparked off a backlash on both sides, some agreeing with the president that the ruling was unjustified and others saying the rejection of a Supreme Court decision set a dangerous precedent and undermined the justice system.

    “The president decided to break the constitutional order, completely violate the rule of law and attack democracy,” said Buenos Aires city mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, who is seen as a potential 2023 presidential candidate.

    Various industry groups criticized the move as dangerous to the rule of law, while a number of regional governors sided with the president.

    “This measure is, under current conditions, impossible to comply with,” said Buenos Aires province Governor Axel Kicillof.

    “There are already 18 governors who denounce the partisan decision of the Supreme Court to benefit the head of the city government against all the provinces.”

    Reporting by Adam Jourdan and Marta Lopez
    Editing by Frances Kerry

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • ‘I Knew What I Was Doing Was Wrong,’ Says FTX Co-Founder

    ‘I Knew What I Was Doing Was Wrong,’ Says FTX Co-Founder

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    The situation is getting worse for Sam Bankman-Fried, whose crypto empire went bankrupt just days after being at the center of the crypto sphere. 

    The regulators, who are trying to piece together what happened, and especially how the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, which was valued at $32 billion in February, could implode overnight. 

    In addition to FTX, Bankman-Fried, known by the initials SBF, also founded Alameda Research, a hedge fund that also served as a trading platform for cryptocurrencies and other crypto-related financial products for institutional investors.

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  • Husky Boy Relegated To Standing Next To Santa

    Husky Boy Relegated To Standing Next To Santa

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  • ‘Fortnite’ Maker Fined $520 Million For Invading Kids’ Privacy And Tricking Players

    ‘Fortnite’ Maker Fined $520 Million For Invading Kids’ Privacy And Tricking Players

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    Fortnite creator Epic Games will pay a record $520 million to settle allegations that it illegally collected children’s personal information and used “dark patterns” to encourage accidental in-game purchases. What do you think?

    “I hope they have a creepy way of making that money back.”

    Cliff Zarley • Unemployed

    “I blame parents for letting their kids have personal information.”

    Mandy Lee • Chief Enunciator

    “We let these companies babysit our kids for free, and they betray us like this?”

    Skyler McManus • Excuse Investigator

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  • Sam Bankman-Fried will now reverse his decision to fight extradition to the U.S.: Report

    Sam Bankman-Fried will now reverse his decision to fight extradition to the U.S.: Report

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    Sam Bankman-Fried could soon be headed for a U.S. prison to face fraud charges. The former CEO of FTX—the cryptocurrency exchange that went abruptly bankrupt last month—is currently being held in a jail in the Bahamas.

    Bahamian authorities arrested him on Monday following a formal notification by the U.S. government that it had filed criminal charges against him and would likely request his extradition. The U.S. and the Bahamas have had an extradition process in place since 1994, when a treaty signed by both countries came into force.

    On Tuesday, a Bahamian judge denied him bail, deeming him a flight risk. During the arraignment proceedings, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer said he would fight plans to send him to the U.S., and an extradition hearing was set for Feb. 8.

    But now Bankman-Fried is expected to appear in a Bahamian court on Monday to reverse his decision to contest extradition, Reuters reported.

    Federal prosecutors in New York have charged Bankman-Fried with eight criminal counts, including conspiracy and wire fraud, for allegedly misusing billions of dollars in customers’ funds. He faces up to 115 years in prison if convicted on all eight counts.

    ‘Open and shut case for fraud’

    Last month, billionaire Mark Cuban said he’d “be afraid of going to jail for a long time” if he were Bankman-Fried.

    And earlier this month, Brain Armstrong, CEO of the U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase, said it was “baffling” why Bankman-Fried wasn’t already in prison.

    “The DOJ or somebody should be able to make—just based on his public statements, I think there’s a very open and shut case for fraud,” Armstrong said at the a16z crypto Founder Summit.

    FTX’s implosion last month surprised many inside and outside of the crypto sector. The $32 billion exchange had established itself as a leader in the field, having enlisted star athletes like Tom Brady and other celebrities to bolster its image. 

    Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO on Nov. 11, the same day that FTX filed for bankruptcy. A key accusation leveled against him is that he used customer funds from his crypto exchange to fund risky bets at Alameda Research, his misleadingly named crypto hedge fund.

    FTX is based in the Bahamas, where Bankman-Fried reportedly enjoyed a luxurious penthouse lifestyle. 

    He’s now being held at Fox Hill prison in the Bahamas, according to Reuters, a jail described as “harsh” by the U.S. State Department last year, with overcrowding and a rodent infestation at the time.

    Our new weekly Impact Report newsletter examines how ESG news and trends are shaping the roles and responsibilities of today’s executives. Subscribe here.

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    Steve Mollman

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  • Puerto Rican independence bill goes to U.S. House vote on Thursday

    Puerto Rican independence bill goes to U.S. House vote on Thursday

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    WASHINGTON, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Puerto Ricans could move a step closer to a referendum on whether the island should become a U.S. state, an independent country or have another type of government when the House of Representatives votes Thursday on a bill outlining the process.

    A House committee approved the Puerto Rico Status Act on Wednesday, paving the way for the full House vote.

    The legislation lays out terms of a plebiscite as well as three potential self-governing statuses – independence, full U.S. statehood or sovereignty with free association with the United States. The latter is in place in Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands.

    Puerto Rico, which has about 3.3 million people and high rates of poverty, became a U.S. territory in 1898. Activists have campaigned for greater self-determination including statehood for decades.

    There have been six referendums on the topic since the 1960s, but they were nonbinding. Only Congress can grant statehood.

    “After 124 years of colonialism Puerto Ricans deserve a fair, transparent, and democratic process to finally solve the status question,” Representative Nydia Velazquez, a Democratic cosponsor of the bill, said on Twitter.

    The Caribbean island’s citizens are Americans but do not have voting representation in Congress, cannot vote in presidential elections, do not pay federal income tax on income earned on the island and do not have the same eligibility for some federal programs as other U.S. citizens.

    If the bill passes the House, it will need 60 votes in the closely divided Senate and Democratic President Joe Biden’s signature to become law.

    The legislation has the support of lawmakers of both parties and Puerto Rican officials.

    But time is running out as lawmakers have a full agenda before a vacation at the end of next week. A new Congress with a Republican-controlled House will be sworn in on Jan. 3, at which point any legislative process would have to start over.

    Reporting by Moira Warburton in Washington; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Bill Protecting Same-Sex Marriage Signed Into Law

    Bill Protecting Same-Sex Marriage Signed Into Law

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    President Biden has signed into law the Respect for Marriage Act, mandating federal protections to same-sex and interracial couples, amid fears that the conservative Supreme Court might revisit the right to same-sex marriage after it rescinded the right to an abortion. What do you think?

    “Yet another law that reminds me of how alone I am.”

    Connor Drysdale, Can Tab Collector

    “How do I explain to my kids that this threatens the sanctity of marriage when it’s my turn with them next weekend?”

    Juliana Paben, Transit Specialist

    “This will only make the Supreme Court angrier.”

    Milo Porter, Needlepoint Instructor

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