Latest Special interest groups News
Editorial Roundup: New England
Hartford Courant. August 11, 2022. Editorial: Black bears are here to stay. We need to learn to live with them. West Hartford resident Bill Priest said it best: “I was in total shock.” And let’s all be honest with each other, how else would you...
Massachusetts governor signs major climate bill into law
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts' governor signed into law Thursday a major climate change bill that's meant to bring the state closer to its goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The bill signed by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker encourages the development of offshore wind...
Advocacy group sues Ohio panel overseeing state opioid money
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A drug policy reform group has sued the state panel that will decide how Ohio distributes more than half of the money it will receive from a nationwide settlement regarding the opioid addiction crisis. Harm Reduction Ohio filed two lawsuits Monday against the...
NC teachers group critical of proposed license, pay overhaul
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Members of North Carolina's leading teacher advocacy group criticized on Tuesday a proposed overhaul of public school instructor pay and licensing, saying that implementing such changes would make existing classroom staffing challenges even worse. The state...
Judge considers whether to block Georgia abortion law again
ATLANTA (AP) — A judge is considering whether Georgia officials should once again be prohibited from enforcing the state's restrictive abortion law while a legal challenge against it is pending. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney heard arguments Monday from lawyers...
Court sets fall arguments on trans youth treatment ban
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal appeals court will hear arguments in November over Alabama’s efforts to outlaw the use of gender-affirming medications to treat transgender minors. Alabama is asking a federal appeals court to lift an injunction and let it enforce a law that...
Census lawsuit tossed based on definition of 'whereby'
A federal judge on Tuesday tossed out a public records lawsuit on the 2020 census based on a Webster's dictionary definition of one obscure word: “whereby.” The lawsuit was over an even more obscure concept: how a statistical method was used to fill in details when information...
UN experts urge Hong Kong authorities to repeal security law
GENEVA (AP) — Independent human rights experts backed by the United Nations called Wednesday on authorities in Hong Kong to repeal a national security law that squelched protests and criticism over China's tightening grip on the semi-autonomous region. The U.N.-backed Human Rights...
State constitutional challenge to Georgia abortion law filed
ATLANTA (AP) — Abortion providers and advocacy groups filed a new lawsuit Tuesday challenging Georgia's abortion law based on privacy protections in the state Constitution. The law passed in 2019 effectively bans most abortions about six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women...
Partnership keeps private Colorado 14ers open to hikers
MOSQUITO RANGE, Colo. (AP) — Colorado Fourteeners Initiative trail builder Sarah Barringer looked up from her trail work on the switchback heading to the ridge below Mount Bross. A man was taking a shortcut, causing the kind of erosion that she was repairing. “Please stay on the...
