The New York legislature signaled Thursday that it would approve of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to ban single use plastic bags that he included in his 2019 state budget proposal. Cuomo proposed following suit with California and Hawaii in banning the use of plastic bags across the state. The move marks a reversal of his [...]

British lawmakers voted against Prime Minister Theresa May’s negotiated deal for the UK to withdraw from the European Union for the third time on Friday. The vote, with 286 Members of Parliament voting in favor of the deal and 344 opposing it, leaves the future of Britain’s membership in the EU in doubt. The same [...]

The European Court of Justice ruled Thursday that Germany did not violate EU law when the member state implemented a renewable energy surcharge to help level the energy market for its domestic renewable energy providers. In 2011 the German Legislature implemented an energy measure aimed at leveling out the competitive play field between convention and [...]

The US Supreme Court stayed the execution of Patrick Murphy, a Texas inmate who was denied a Buddhist spiritual adviser at his execution, late Thursday evening. Previously, under Texas law only spiritual advisers for Christianity or Islam were allowed in the execution chamber. All others would be required to remain in the viewing area. Murphy [...]

Representatives Darren Soto (D-FL) and Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PR-Nonvoting) the Puerto Rico Admission Act of 2019 Thursday to admit Puerto Rico as the fifty-first state to join the union. The Resolution proposes to admit Puerto Rico 90 days after the bill becomes law without requiring a referendum from Puerto Rico’s citizens. The resolution finds the previous [...]

UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard on Thursday called for the investigation and prosecution for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi to be made public nearly a month after she announced that there was evidence the murder was planned by Saudi Arabian officials. A Saudi public prosecutor indicted 110out of the 21 suspects and sought the death [...]

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló signed an executive order on Wednesday, banning the practice of “conversion therapy” for LGBQT+ minors. The order, which took effect immediately, requires the Secretary of Health to promulgate regulations within 90 days that prevents licensed health care professional from administering the practice. The executive order defines “conversion” or “reparative” therapies as “those interventions [...]

The 3rd District of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals on Wednesday stayed a lower court ruling, which held that laws passed and appointments made during the December lame-duck session were unconstitutional, thereby reinstating the some of the laws. The court, in granting the stay, found that plaintiffs’ likelihood of success on appeal and irreparable injury that [...]

A jury awarded $80 million dollars to Edwin Hardeman. Last week, a jury attributed his non-Hodgkins lymphoma to using Roundup weed killer on his property for more than two decades. There has been ongoing litigation surrounding the pesticide. Last summer, Monsanto was originally ordered to pay $289.2 million in damages to a former pest control [...]

On Wednesday, the European Parliament voted to ban single-use plastics. The new law bans certain single-use plastic items, such as plastic cutlery, plastic straws, and plastic plates. This ban is planned to be in place by 2021. The law also states that “ember states will have to achieve a 90% collection target for plastic bottles [...]