Category: Law

California immigration policy debate brings local law enforcement role into focus

A California proposal to shield people from deportation by limiting communication between local police and federal agents took on new relevance this week after the Department of Homeland Security revealed it will try to enlist the help of local law enforcement agencies to crack down further on illegal immigration. A two-decade-old program the feds want to expand – which delegates immigration enforcement authority to some local officers – has all but disappeared from California.

Lawsuit Accuses Milwaukee Police Of Abusive Stop And Frisk Practices

Stopping and questioning citizens is a routine police activity but it’s also controversial, especially in communities of color where frisking can quickly follow the questions, and the relationship between police and residents can be tense. Wednesday, the ACLU filed a class-action lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee charging that the police department conducts a “vast stop-and-frisk program” that is unconstitutional and targets black and Latino people.

Gun silencers: Safety device or marketing ploy?

Gun silencers: Safety device or marketing ploy? Ed Hughes attributes a good chunk of his hearing loss to his hobbies: hunting and competitive shooting. Check out this story on eveningsun.com: http://on-ydr.co/2lyKdbS The Freedom Armory Machine Works’ Grenadier suppressor adds 8.5 inches on a .45 pistol.

Bankrate glossary: Medicaid

Medicaid is a government-sponsored health program designed to ensure that low-income citizens receive quality health care. It caters to over 72.5 million U.S. citizens, including children, senior citizens, parents, pregnant women and people with disabilities.

Emails: EPA chief Pruitt cozy with fossil fuel industry

In this Tuesday photo, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt speaks in Washington. While Oklahoma’s attorney general, emails show that new Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt was in frequent contact with fossil fuel companies and special interest groups working to undermine federal efforts to curb planet-warming carbon emissions.

Judge Blocks Texas Cutting Medicaid to Planned Parenthood

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Texas can’t cut off Medicaid dollars to Planned Parenthood over secretly recorded videos taken by anti-abortion activists in 2015 that launched Republican efforts across the U.S. to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider. An injunction issued by U.S. District Sam Sparks of Austin comes after he delayed making decision in January and essentially bought Planned Parenthood an extra month in the state’s Medicaid program.

Deportation nation

The Trump administration on Tuesday moved one step closer to implementing the president’s plans to aggressively rid the country of undocumented immigrants and expand local police-based enforcement of border security operations. In a fact sheet outlining the efforts, the Department of Homeland Security said that though their top priority is finding and removing undocumented immigrants with criminal histories, millions more may also be subject to immediate removal.

Some Lubbock County Detention Center officers getting ICE training

A group of officers at the Lubbock County Detention Center will be trained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify illegal immigrants booked into custody, Sheriff Kelly Rowe said Tuesday in announcing a new LSO policy in working with federal immigration officials. Rowe said he’ll send up to eight officers to the four-week training program at an ICE Academy in South Carolina.

The Latest: Trump blames ‘liberal activists’ for protests

The president’s comments on Twitter Tuesday come as Republicans face angry constituents nationwide, frustrated by Trump’s Cabinet appointments and plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the federal health care law credited with drastically cutting reducing the number of uninsured people while also driving up the cost of monthly premiums. None have faced more scrutiny than Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is managing a narrow majority to push through the president’s agenda and Cabinet appointments.

Judge blocks Texas cutting Medicaid to Planned Parenthood

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Texas can’t cut off Medicaid dollars to Planned Parenthood over secretly recorded videos taken by anti-abortion activists in 2015 that launched Republican efforts across the U.S. to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider. An injunction issued by U.S. District Sam Sparks of Austin comes after he delayed making decision in January and essentially bought Planned Parenthood an extra month in the state’s Medicaid program.

Right to try, right to buy, right to test

Interpretation of the news based on evidence, including data, as well as anticipating how events might unfold based on past events In 2007, Eugene Volokh, the host of this site, published an essay in the Harvard Law Review titled ” Medical Self-Defense, Prohibited Experimental Therapies, and Payment for Organs ” in which he argued that the government should need “a very good reason” to prevent sick people from saving their own lives. That insight impels the Right to Try movement, which seeks to give terminally ill patients the right to try drugs that show promise but not have received FDA approval and which has received sympathetic hearings from President Trump and Vice President Pence .

Missouri man accused of trying to aid ISIS-inspired attack

A 25-year-old Columbia, Missouri, man was charged with attempting to provide material support to people he thought were ISIS-inspired terrorists, according to the US Attorney’s Office. Robert Lorenzo Hester Jr. was actually speaking with undercover FBI agents who had invented a fake plan targeting Kansas City, according to a criminal complaint.

It turns out Obamacare has staying power

House Speaker Paul Ryan listens to questions from reporters during news conference on Feb. Questions included the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. What’s the holdup, House Republicans? During the Obama administration, you passed literally dozens of bills to repeal all or part of the Affordable Care Act – knowing that none had any chance of being signed into law.

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Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has appointed Secretary of State Mike Hunter to replace former Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who was tapped by President Donald Trump as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Fallin appointed Hunter on Monday, four days after Pruitt resigned following his confirmation by the U.S. Senate as EPA administrator.

AARP seeks to protect Medicare

AARP has launched a campaign to protect Medicare in the face of proposals by some in Congress that would hurt West Virginians who have paid into the program their entire working lives, AARP officials said in a news release. Congressional proposals to change Medicare into a voucher system would dramatically increase health care costs and risks for current and future retirees, AARP said.

How to build an autocracy? Obama showed us how

An Atlantic magazine article by Washington journalist David Frum frets about a coming autocracy engineered by President Donald Trump, and the amazing thing is that the author did not notice the past eight years. It’s as if Noah’s Ark had finally landed and the understood message was that a flood was only now on its way.

From auction block to handcuffs: How a couple wasa

“You had the same police department arresting you on questionable charges, and then another officer from that same police department soliciting a bribe from you on recording?” 11Alive’s Brendan Keefe asked. A couple bought a car and ended up in handcuffs — but before long, a police officer would be wearing them.

Photos: Trump rally draws thousands

President Donald Trump on Saturday took part in a campaign rally that mirrored the months leading up to Election Day, complete with promises to repeal the health care law, insults for the news media and a playlist highlighted by the Rolling Stones. Thousands of supporters packed an airport hangar to hear the president, with Trump telling his crowd that “I want to be among my friends and among the people.”

Roundup: Trump’s tax returns, immigration, Dakota pipeline

In a blatant display of partisanship that disregards the wishes of a majority of Americans, House Republicans have rejected an attempt to use their legal power to obtain tax returns for President Trump, who has consistently refused to release them on his own. Under a rarely invoked federal law, House and Senate tax committees can order the Treasury Department to release individual tax returns.

Roseville Man Sentenced to over 21 Years in Prison for Soliciting…

According to court documents, Mora used the online application, Kik Messenger, to encourage girls between the ages of 14 and 17 to send him sexually explicit photographs, engage in sexually explicit conversations, and to meet him to have sex. In some cases, Mora represented that he was younger than his actual age, claiming to be 19 years old, when exchanging messages with his victims.

Sparking ‘The Fight of a Lifetime,’ Senate Puts Fossil Fuel Ally at Helm of EPA

Portending risks to “the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the planet we love,” the U.S. Senate on Friday confirmed Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency . The 52-46 vote comes a day after an Oklahoma judge said Pruitt was in violation of the state’s Open Records Act and ordered the release of thousands of emails between his office and fossil fuel companies.

Senate confirms Trump’s EPA pick

The US Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency over the objections of Democrats and environmentalists worried he will gut the agency. Senators voted 52-46 on Friday to approve Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt.

Trumpa s EPA pick, Scott Pruitt, expected to be confirmed Friday

In this Jan. 18, 2017, file photo,Environmental Protection Agency Administrator nominee, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Senate Republicans are poised to use their majority to confirm Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, despite calls from Democrats for a delay.

Three ways Republicans want to replace Obamacare

House GOP members met Thursday to hear more from committee leaders about efforts to replace the massive health reform law. In a presentation, Representatives Greg Walden of Oregon and Kevin Brady of Texas explained how the party wants to overhaul America’s health care system through the use of tax credits, health savings accounts and changes to Medicaid funding, among other measures.

Senate on track to confirm Scott Pruitt as EPA administrator

In this Jan. 18, 2017, file photo, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator-designate, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. On inauguration eve, five law professors filed a brief in support of a 2015 regulation giving EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers discretion to regulate tributaries and wetlands far upstream from navigable lakes and rivers to protect water quality.

Emerging GOP plan would replace parts of Obamacare as it’s repealed

Developing House Republican legislation to repeal the 2010 health care law would also include replacement provisions that are controversial among GOP rank and file, like a refundable tax credit to help individuals purchase insurance and a plan for dealing with Medicaid expansion. Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden, and Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady on Thursday presented to the Republican Conference their vision for a “repeal plus” health care bill that would undo most of the Affordable Care Act and set up some pieces of a yet undeveloped Republican replacement.