The Colorado Supreme Court updated the definition of common-law marriage to include LGBTQ+ individuals with three rulings handed down on Monday. The decisions also retroactively recognize same-sex common-law marriages entered into before the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision. Common law marriages are relationships that resemble marriage but lack official records to verify that union. Whether [...]

Kentucky legislators passed Saturday two anti-abortion bills. Despite the ongoing pandemic, these bills were among the first to gain full support in the state legislature. House Bill 2 gives the state attorney general the power to hand down criminal and civil penalties for violations of state abortion laws. Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron has expressed his [...]

Corey Johnson, who is set to be executed by the federal government on January 14, filed Friday for a stay of execution with the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. His lawyers argue that his upcoming execution is unconstitutional because significant evidence of his intellectual disability was not considered at trial. In 1993, Johnson was convicted [...]

Two Louisville police officers were fired Wednesday for their roles in Breonna Taylor’s death, which sparked protests against police racial violence last summer. Taylor was killed last March when officers performed a no-knock warrant on her house. Neighbors testified that they did not hear police announce themselves before breaking in. Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker thought [...]

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) backed off a plan to delist three Chinese telecommunications companies on Monday, a move that was incited by an executive order from US President Donald Trump. Trump’s November 12 order claimed that the Chinese companies were “exploit United States investors to finance the development and modernization of its military.” [...]

The new year means new rules for the 2021 Congress. House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who narrowly won reelection Sunday, revealed a set of proposed ethical and legislative reforms on Friday. Pelosi said these proposed changes seek to “ accountability for the American people, and this House of Representatives the most inclusive in history.” Under the [...]

A federal appeals panel reinstated Lisa Montgomery’s execution date after a stay was placed on her sentence. Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row, is set to be executed on January 12. Montgomery was originally scheduled to be executed on December 8, 2020. Her lawyers contracted severe cases of COVID-19 just days before the [...]

Several new Tennessee state laws take effect on January 1. The new rules include protections for pregnant workers, changes to tobacco laws, an expansion of the emergency alert system and tax regulations for sharing platforms. Pregnant workers at companies with more than 15 employees will be guaranteed some accommodations including extra restroom breaks and decreased [...]

Seven lawsuits were filed Monday in Arizona against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for allegedly covering up sexual abuse in church-sponsored Boy Scouts of America (BSA) troops. The allegations span more than 30 years, ranging from 1972 to 2009. The lawsuits claim that church officials were told about instances of abuse [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Thursday that the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) unlawfully rescheduled Lisa Montgomery’s execution while a stay on her sentence was in place. Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row in the US, was originally scheduled to be executed on December 8 [...]