Latest Statutes News
Declaration of Juneteenth holiday sparks scramble in states
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Congress and President Joe Biden acted with unusual swiftness this week in approving Juneteenth as a national holiday. That shifted the battle to the states, where the holiday faces a far less enthusiastic response. Nearly all states recognize...
Biden's silence on executions adds to death penalty disarray
CHICAGO (AP) — Activists widely expected Joe Biden to take swift action against the death penalty as the first sitting president to oppose capital punishment, especially since an unprecedented spate of executions by his predecessor ended just days before Biden took office. ...
GOP needs new health care target; 'Obamacare' survives again
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court's latest rejection of a Republican effort to dismantle “Obamacare” signals anew that the GOP must look beyond repealing the law if it wants to hone the nation's health care problems into a winning political issue. Thursday's 7-2...
High court backs Nestle, Cargill in child slave labor suit
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court sided with food giants Nestle and Cargill on Thursday and threw out a lawsuit that claimed they knowingly bought cocoa beans from farms in Africa that used child slave labor. The justices ruled 8-1 that an appeals court improperly...
2 South Carolina executions halted until firing squad formed
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked the planned executions of two inmates by electrocution, saying they cannot be put to death until they truly have the choice of a firing squad option set out in the state's newly revised capital punishment law. ...
Wyoming lawmakers pursue 2 hate crimes bills for 2022
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming lawmakers are pursuing two possible hate crimes bills for next year's legislative session. One bill to be drafted would require law enforcement to report hate crimes. The other would extend protections to more groups. ...
South Carolina inmates want deaths delayed during appeal
Days before what could be South Carolina's first execution in a decade, the two inmates scheduled to die this month under the state’s recently revamped capital punishment statute want an emergency order to stop their planned electrocutions while they appeal their cases. ...
South Carolina inmates to appeals court: Halt electrocutions
The two South Carolina inmates scheduled to die this month under the state's recently reconfigured capital punishment statute are asking an appellate court to halt their deaths by electrocution. On Monday, Brad Sigmon and Freddie Owens filed a notice of appeal to the 4th...
New Mexico governor urges limits on fireworks amid drought
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is urging cities and counties across New Mexico to consider banning the sale of fireworks ahead of the July Fourth holiday. She issued an executive order Monday, pointing to the drought that has blanketed much of the...
France drops emblematic probe into incestuous sexual abuse
PARIS (AP) — French prosecutors have dropped an investigation into incestuous sexual abuse of a 14-year-old by a prominent French political commentator, a case that unleashed an online movement against similar abuse. The Paris prosecutor's office had been investigating...
