Petition to FAA Calls for Seat-Shrinkage Pushback
sent a petition containing the names of over 30,000 flyers to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Michael Huerta calling for set limits for airline seating.
News & Politics
Louisiana, Missouri Exemplify America’s Public Defender Funding Crisis
Neither a state-level funding crisis, nor the restriction of public defender services are issues reserved for Louisiana and Missouri alone. Like Missouri, Florida’s Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that the state’s public defenders’ offices can apply to refuse appointments based on overwhelming caseloads. At the time, Miami’s public defenders were averaging about 400 felony cases apiece, including up to 50 cases set for trial per week. Lawmakers in Tennessee are considering a bill to repeal a law in place since 1992 that mandates that public defenders receive a 75 percent match of every dollar of increased funding for prosecutors in the state.
Virginia to Conduct New Testing of ET-Plus Guardrails
The tests come as several critics dispute the validity of eight road tests that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) claims that the ET-Plus passed in March. The ET-Plus guardrail is designed to act as a shock absorber when a vehicle collides with it, but many believe that the guardrail can buckle and splinter instead, spearing the vehicle and possibly drivers with jagged pieces of metal piercing through the door or window. Currently, there are over 200,000 ET-Plus guardrails installed throughout the U.S. highway system.
Judge Berman Overrules NFL’s Suspension of Tom Brady
The NFL has already announced that they will appeal the ruling; however it means that Brady will be permitted to start the first game of the NFL season, which begins next week. Depending on the success of the NFL’s appeal, it is still possible that Brady will have to serve the suspension at a later time.
California Joins Solitary Confinement Prison Reform Trend
As per terms of the agreement, those who have been in solitary due to gang-affiliations will have to undergo a two-year program that allows for some privileges before entering the general population. The agreement also calls for restructuring of the SHU facilities for those who are deemed too dangerous to return to the general population. These include prisoners with histories of extreme violence including murder, narcotics possession, attempted escape, and those with severe mental health problems.
Graduate Transfer Rule is Reshaping College Football
Without exception, players who earn a degree, yet have playing eligibility remaining are allowed to transfer to a different school and play immediately. Normally, transfer students must sit out a year before being permitted to play for a different school. The remaining eligibility could come from being red-shirted (usually as a freshman), requiring the player to sit and practice for a season before being permitted to play in regular season games. Other causes for remaining eligibility could stem from medical/injury reasons, as well as by taking summer classes and graduating early.
USDA Approves Second-Generation Genetically-Engineered Potato
Simplot is hoping that the FDA will approve the blight-resistant potatoes by early 2017, enough time for crops to be ready for consumers by the fall of that year. Since hitting the market, Simplot has sold about 400 acres worth of the first-generation potatoes to supermarkets in 10 Midwestern states.
Appeals Court Rules Supreme Court Plaza off-Limits for Demonstrations
The appeals ruling involved the civil rights of protestor Harold Hodge of Southern Maryland. In January 2011 after ignoring three warnings by Supreme Court police, Hodge was arrested while wearing a sign inside of the plaza near the front of the Court’s entrance that read, “The U.S. Gov. Allows Police to Illegally Murder and Brutalize African Americans and Hispanic People.”
Hello Denali!
Needless to say, several Ohio lawmakers are really bent out of shape by the name change. House Speaker John Boehner said he was “deeply disappointed” by the decision, and Republican U.S. Representative Bob Gibbs said, “This political stunt is insulting to all Ohioans, and I will be working with the House Committee on Natural Resources to determine what can be done to prevent this action.”
9th Circuit to Debate California’s Death Penalty
The hearing also comes as California begins resuming executions this fall, introducing a new single-drug lethal injection procedure. The state had issued a defacto suspension of executions since 2006, joining many states’ concerns over the effectiveness and pain level of the established injection substances. It also comes just weeks after Connecticut’s Supreme Court commuted all of its condemned prisoners’ death sentences to life without parole. Voters in that state abolished the death penalty in 2012; however the law that was adopted only abolished it for future crimes, not for those already sentenced.