NBC News

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a crippling blow Wednesday to unions representing millions of the nation’s public employees.

The justices said in a 5-4 opinion that state government workers who choose not to join a union cannot be compelled to pay a share of union dues for covering the cost of negotiating contracts. Unions had said such an outcome would cut off a source of income and diminish their political clout in the 23 states where they bargain for both members and non-members alike.   Continue reading “Supreme Court ruling deals major blow to public worker unions”

Fox News

A federal judge in California on Tuesday ordered the U.S. Border Patrol to stop separating families at the U.S.-Mexico border and to reunite families already separated within 30 days.

Any children younger than 5 must be reunited within 14 days of Tuesday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego ruled.   Continue reading “Federal judge orders end of family separations at US border”

Business Insider

The Supreme Court just quietly overturned a decision that upheld the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II as part of a ruling upholding President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban that primarily targets majority-Muslim countries.

During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which led the US government to force more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent into detention camps.   Continue reading “The Supreme Court just quietly overturned a decision that allowed the US government to place Japanese-Americans in ‘concentration camps’ during World War II”

Fox News

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld President Trump’s controversial travel ban affecting several mostly Muslim countries, offering a limited endorsement of the president’s executive authority on immigration in one of the hardest-fought battles of this term.

The 5-4 ruling marks the first major high court decision on a Trump administration policy. It upholds the selective travel restrictions, which critics called a discriminatory “Muslim ban” but the administration argued was needed for security reasons.   Continue reading “Supreme Court upholds Trump travel ban on some Muslim-majority nations”

The Hill

Border patrol agents have stopped referring adult immigrants who cross the southern U.S. border illegally for criminal prosecution, raising questions about the future of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy.

The Associated Press reported Monday that Kevin McAleenan, the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said he ordered his staff to halt referrals after President Trump signed an executive order last week to stop the separation of migrant families.  Continue reading “Border agents suspend prosecution referrals for illegal border crossers”

NBC News

The Food and Drug Administration approved the prescription cannabidiol medicine Monday to treat rare and severe forms of epilepsy.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb also issued an immediate statement saying this wasn’t an approval of marijuana, in general — and said anyone wanting to use cannabis-based products to treat disease must prove they are safe and that they work.   Continue reading “FDA approves cannabis-based drug CBD for epilepsy”

Yahoo News

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) — With Gary Ramey’s fledgling gun-making business taking off in retail stores, he decided to start offering one of his handguns for sale on his website.

That didn’t sit well with the company he used to process payments, and they informed him they were dropping his account. Another credit card processing firm told him the same thing: They wouldn’t do business with him.  Continue reading “Gun industry sees banks as new threat to 2nd Amendment”

Yahoo News

The board of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, made the unanimous decision to remove the name of author Laura Ingalls Wilder from a major children’s book award at a meeting in New Orleans on Saturday.

The name of the prize has been changed from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award to the Children’s Literature Legacy Award, the Guardian reports Continue reading “Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name removed from award over racism concerns”

Yahoo News

El Paso (United States) (AFP) – For volunteer activists working with immigrants, those who profit from the migrants’ plight are “sick.”

But illegal migration is big business in the border state of Texas, generating jobs for private prison operators, money lenders and storefront lawyers.  Continue reading “In Texas border towns, illegal immigration is big business”

The Hill

Harley-Davidson will move the production of motorcycles bound for European countries out of the United States, citing rising costs from European Union (EU) tariffs on their products.

The company said in a filing Monday that the EU tariffs on motorcycles exported from the U.S. rose from 6 percent to 31 percent, the Associated Press reported. Motorcycles bound for European countries will now be produced in overseas factories.   Continue reading “Harley-Davidson to move production for some motorcycles out of US after EU tariffs”

Yahoo News

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Friday that police generally need a search warrant if they want to track criminal suspects’ movements by collecting information about where they’ve used their cellphones, bolstering privacy interests in the digital age.

The justices’ 5-4 decision marks a big change in how police may obtain cellphone tower records, an important tool in criminal investigations.   Continue reading “Justices adopt digital-age privacy rules to track cellphones”

Washington Post – by Michael Anton

As Capitol Hill Republicans attempt for — what, the eighth? ninth? — time in the past two decades to jam through an amnesty that their voters have explicitly, loudly and repeatedly said they do not want, it’s worth asking a question that is rarely raised:

Does the United States — population 320 million and rising — need more people? If so, why?   Continue reading “Why do we need more people in this country, anyway?”

MSN

Immigrant children are being forced to take drugs to manage the trauma after being detained and separated from parents, it has been claimed.

According to a lawsuit, youngsters are being routinely and forcibly given a range of psychotropic drugs at US government-funded youth shelters.   Continue reading “Immigrant children ‘forcibly given drugs’”

CNN

Hundreds of migrant children forcibly separated from their parents were transferred thousands of miles away from the border and some already have been placed in foster care, officials said.

After crossing the southern border, some children were taken to facilities along the southern border, including a new temporary shelter in Tornillo, Texas, while others were sent to facilities as far away as New York City.   Continue reading “These are the distant states where migrant children are being sent”

CNBC News

The Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy for illegal immigration is shining a spotlight on U.S. detention efforts.

Recent government handout images show children lying on the ground with Mylar blankets in kennel-like wire cages. Audio obtained by ProPublica captures children crying after being separated from their migrant parents.   Continue reading “This is how much it costs to detain an immigrant in the US”

CBS News

First Lady Melania Trump has arrived at a detention center in Texas housing immigrant children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“First Lady Melania Trump has arrived in Texas to take part in briefings and tours at a nonprofit social services center for children who have entered the United States illegally and a customs and border patrol processing center,” the White House’s Office of the First Lady said in a statement. “Her goals are to thank law enforcement and social services providers for their hard work, lend support and hear more on how the administration can build upon the already existing efforts to reunite children with their families.”  Continue reading “Melania Trump visits detention center in Texas”

The Hill

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a South Dakota law requiring certain out-of-state retailers, including those that operate remotely online, to collect its sales tax.

In a 5-4 ruling, the court overturned a 1992 court precedent barring states from requiring businesses that have no physical presence in the state to collect their sales taxes.

Delivering the opinion of the court, Justice Anthony Kennedy said the physical presence rule in that former case, known as Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, is unsound and incorrect.  Continue reading “Supreme Court rules states can require online sellers to collect sales tax”

Jerusalem Post

Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit charged the prime minister’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, for fraud with aggravated circumstances and breach of public trust in the “Prepared Food Affair,” in an explosive development which shook the country on Thursday.

When Leah Rabin was about to be indicted in 1977, then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin resigned from office due to his wife’s scandal.   Continue reading “Sara Netanyahu Indicted For Falsely Charging State $100k For Meals”

Fox News

Firefighters responding to a blaze in a San Antonio, Texas, apartment found the burned remains of a 20-year-old man who had been missing for three days, authorities said Monday.

A medical examiner’s office identified the body as that of Jared Vargas, the San Antonio Express News reported.   Continue reading “Missing man’s burned body found by firefighters; suspect may be illegal immigrant, ICE says”

Fox News

The shooting massacre in February at a Florida high school has unleashed a plethora of what experts say are questionable statistics that stoke confusion regarding gun violence in America.

One recent story by CNN, for example, states that there have been 23 school shootings so far this year where someone has been hurt or killed, and 288 since 2009.   Continue reading “Experts shoot holes in CNN’s report on school gun violence”