US Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) introduced a constitutional amendment Tuesday that would abolish the electoral college and provide for direct election of the president and vice president. Since 2000, two presidential elections differed in the outcome of the popular vote versus the Electoral College, including the most recent election in which Hilary Clinton won the popular [...]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Monday that the US government will increase by 2.53 percent on average 2020 payments to health insurers that manage Medicare Advantage insurance plans for seniors and chronically ill beneficiaries. The changes reflect an increase cost in medical care and align with the Trump administration’s efforts to increase competition [...]
The Colorado House of Representatives approved a “red flag” gun law Monday that will heighten safety measures for high-risk individuals thought to be a threat to themselves or others. The bill passed in the house by a 38-25 vote and in the Senate last Thursday by a 18-17 vote. Democratic Senate President Leroy Garcia opposed [...]
The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday agreed to release former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from detention for eight weeks to seek proper medical treatment. The court granted his request, saying the medical records and Sharif’s health history show he is in need of greater medical treatment. The Additional Prosecutor-General opposed the request, saying Sharif is [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday in two partisan gerrymandering cases. The first, Rucho v. Common Cause, asks the court whether North Carolina’s 2016 congressional map is unconstitutional, as the US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina found. The district court first found that the issue over the map was [...]
A US judge on Monday sentenced ex-Hong Kong government official Chi Ping Patrick Ho to three years in prison and a $400,000 fine following his December conviction violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, money laundering and conspiracy. Ho was arrested in 2017 for crimes committed while acting as the secretary-general of the China Energy Fund Committee. Ho was convicted [...]
Duke University agreed to pay the US government $112.5 million Monday to settle a lawsuit relating to a technician’s fabricated and falsified research data used to obtain funding from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and other federal agencies. The settlement amount represents reimbursement of federal grant money and appropriate penalties for False Claims Act violations. [...]
A Myanmar court in Sittwe on Tuesday sentenced prominent Rakhine leader Aye Maung to 20 years in prison for treason and defamation stemming from a January 2018 speech made one day before deadly riots broke out. Maung, a member of parliament and former chairman of the Arakan National Party, along with writer Wai Hin Aung, were arrested [...]
A jury in a San Fransisco federal court on Tuesday found that Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based Roundup weed killer caused a man’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This lawsuit is only the second of 11,200 Roundup lawsuits to be tried against Monsanto Company and Bayer for cancer-causing Roundup. The first verdict was rendered in August for $289 million against Monsanto. This [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from a Hawaii bed and breakfast owner who turned away a lesbian couple due to her Christian beliefs, thus leaving open the question of what protections are afforded public business owners who act in violation of anti-discrimination laws but in accordance with closely held religious [...]
