Dear friends,
Senator Schumer promised to force a vote altering the filibuster if Senate Republicans continue to block votes on the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. He has given them two weeks, which is too long. Still, I do like a deadline.
Sign this petition from Common Cause to remind the Senate that we need voting rights legislation now.
Between Christmas and New Years, a New York jury found Teva Pharmaceuticals liable for misleading Americans about the nature of opioid painkillers.
The suit accused drug companies of breaching their legal duties "to profiteer from the plague they knew would be unleashed." The state and counties said that drug manufacturers collaborated to mislead people and downplay the serious risks of opioid addiction, and that drug distributors skirted systems meant to limit orders for painkillers.
A separate trial will set the amount of damages, which could reach tens of billions of dollars.
It is a major new consumer protection, covering nearly all emergency medical services, and most routine care.
In a society in which too little health care is covered and medical debt can be crippling, this is some good news.
If you had a good year, financially, consider buying up some medical debt for pennies on the dollar, to spread the wealth around.
Mariah Lopez, a 36-year-old transgender activist, won a settlement from New York City requiring that it provide
dedicated, separate housing for homeless trans and gender non-conforming people in city shelters in four boroughs.
Lopez pursued the case as a pro se litigant, which means that she prepared all of the legal documentation without the aid of a lawyer. Mariah Lopez was a protege of Sylvia Rivera. When Lopez and other trans and gender non-conforming people were confronted by abuses in the shelter system, she asked herself,
What would Sylvia do?
The Department of Homeless Services must provide 30 beds in settings with access to single-stall toilets and showers or private bathrooms by December of this year.
A court ruling in South Africa is a victory for South Africa’s wild coast. Indigenous plaintiffs won protection of their “customary rights to undertake small-scale fishing in the area, as well as a cultural and spiritual connection to the ocean” against Shell Oil, which
will be forced to halt oil exploration in vital whale breeding grounds along South Africa’s eastern coastline after a local court blocked the controversial project.
The court order calls for an immediate halt to Shell’s seismic tests which involve blasting sound waves through the relatively untouched Wild Coast marine environment, which is home to whales, dolphins and seals.
A previous legal claim — that Shell’s exploration could cause irreparable damage to the environment — failed. Nonetheless, we can celebrate the protection of human rights.
[A]n important pattern has emerged of conservationists and Indigenous people working together by way of land transfers. The effect has been twofold: protecting ecologically vital spaces while helping to right historic injustices by returning properties to their original caretakers.
In the biggest land transfer of its kind, to date, Conservation Northwest, a non-profit group, facilitated the transfer of privately-held ranchland to the Okanagan Tribe. The ranch had been part of the Colville Reservation until the federal government seized the land in the 1890s Washington gold rush.
The area is a wildlife corridor between the Cascade and Rocky mountains. This is good news for the Colville people and for lynx, wolverine, wolves, and grizzly bears.
Governor Jared Polis of Colorado commuted all but ten years of Rogel Aguilera-Mederosa’s draconian 110-year prison sentence. Aguilera-Mederosa drove the truck that crashed and killed four people in 2019. The original sentence was based on mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines.
Were the case tried in Texas, however, it’s doubtful that appeals for clemency would have been heard. The Brennan Center for Justice has reported persuasively about the many problems with mandatory minimum sentencing — it is discriminatory, dehumanizing, and fails to improve public safety.
There is legislation before Congress to reduce mandatory minimums; almost incredibly, the Smarter Sentencing Act has bipartisan support. While this is not a sweeping reform, it would be a modest and important step toward a more just system.
Call on your Senators to support the Smarter Sentencing Act. I made it easy!
The crash occurred when the truck’s brakes failed. The truck drivers who refused to drive in Colorado and the millions of people who signed petitions on behalf of Aguilera-Mederosa point to
the negligence of the truck company, Castellano 03 Trucking LLC, based in Houston, Texas. . . . [T]here were 19 vehicle inspections that resulted in 30 violations at the company over the two years prior to the crash.
Obviously, corporate liability is an important dimension in this case. The trucking company is facing a lawsuit from one of the survivors of the crash. The day following the crash, the owner of Castellano 03 registered a new company in Texas, Volt Trucking. As the lawyer for the crash survivor noted:
“It is also extremely difficult for victims to understand how the State of Texas ever allowed these same people to reopen and operate under another trucking company under a different name after they destroyed so many families. . . .Frankly, it’s disgusting.”
Regulating business in the fifty states is a hairy problem for which I do not have an answer. Your suggestions are always welcome.
NYS will no longer prosecute children under 12 for criminal activity, except in cases of murder. This important new legislation addresses the racial application of criminal charges, since around 90 percent of children charged with crimes in 2019 were Black or Brown. Until now, children as young as seven could be charged with crimes.
Under the new law, local social services departments will be required to set up what’s known as a differential response program for those under the age of 12 who may have otherwise been charged as a juvenile delinquent.
Those programs, which are subject to state review, are meant to connect children with proper mental-health care and other services rather than enter them into the juvenile justice system.
Unfortunately, the law does not take effect for a year.
Gender-neutral school uniforms have been introduced in Kerala, India. The uniforms feature knee-length shorts in shades of blue and green.
While it’s true that there is still one color for boys and one for girls, the larger spirit of the initiative is to create a practical, comfortable, and freeing outfit for school children. The uniforms have met with wide acceptance among many of the Muslim students and their families.
I think two weeks at home is a smart move, given the high rates of positive cases, the shortage of substitute teachers, and the increase in children with COVID in the city’s ICUs. This is a great opportunity to push for increased vaccination among the city’s children, a message the mayor has embraced.
Contact the mayor and your city council rep to let them know what you think about a short-term remote option for the public schools.
New York State’s MTA Bike Access Bill is now in effect. Jessica González-Rojas, who sponsored the bill in the Assembly, stressed the need
"to center access and equity in infrastructure. Increasing bike and pedestrian access to MTA bridges are essential to that goal."
She added, "This is important for deliveristas trying to do their work and for cyclists who want to sustain their health during a global pandemic. It’s an immigrant justice issue and an environmental justice imperative."
France has begun implementing a law to end the practice of plastic-wrapping fresh produce. Spain is set to follow in 2023. The US is pitifully late on plastic bag and wrap reduction. Still, good news from elsewhere is still good news!
Have a good day!
with love,
L