Illinois State

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation announced Tuesday, in addition to modernizing outdated processes, it has reached an agreement to secure a new professional licensing system for individuals whose careers require a license to work in Illinois. The agency has been plagued by lengthy delays in issuing professional...

Illinois quick hits: Licensure modernization underway

(The Center Square) – Consumers and business owners may be dealing with rising costs after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed several bills into law. Friday, Pritzker announced he signed 59 measures into law, impacting education, insurance, employers and more. Taxes are one thing, but National Federation of Independent Business Illinois...

Costs expected to rise with bills Illinois governor signs

Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act has been officially amended, with Governor J.B. Pritzker signing the changes into law on Friday. The amendments included in Senate Bill 2979 include the acceptance of digital signatures for consent, and make each single violation count only ones, even if it repeated. The change...

Illinois heads off a cruel precedent for biometric data privacy damages

Illinois has changed its Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) to dramatically limit the financial penalties faced by companies that illegally obtain or sell biometric identifiers such as eye scans, face scans, fingerprints, and voiceprints. The 2008 law required companies to obtain written consent for the collection or use of biometric...

Illinois changes biometric privacy law to help corporations avoid big payouts

California State

California has become the first state in the United States to prohibit school districts from mandating parental notification when a student changes their gender identification. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the groundbreaking legislation into law on Monday. Implications of the law. The new law specifically bans school rules that require teachers...

California becomes first state to ban rules requiring schools to notify parents of child’s pronoun change

Arizona State

El Paso, TX

(The Center Square) – A multi-agency operation led to the indictment of a major transnational criminal organization based in Guatemala smuggling thousands of foreign nationals through Mexico into New Mexico and throughout the United States. In the U.S., the organization primarily operated in New Mexico, Arizona, California and western...

Feds crack down on half billion-dollar Guatemalan smuggling operation

New York City, NY

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Cheryl E Preston

Yesterday was the third time this year that an ad stating Chelsea Clinton lives in a beautiful Virginia home popped up on my laptop. My computer did not warn me this was a dangerous site, so this time, I clicked on the link.

Chelsea Clinton is rumored to be living in Virginia but probably still in NYC

Variety


				













	The Justice Department sued TikTok and parent company ByteDance, alleging the popular video app repeatedly violated the U.S.’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and related regulations.'House of the Dragon' Season 2 Finale Leaks on TikTok and Twitter/X, HBO Blames 'International Third-Party Distributor'




	The DOJ, together with the FTC, on Friday (Aug. 2) filed the civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against TikTok, ByteDance and their affiliates. According to the complaint, from 2019 to the present, TikTok “knowingly permitted children to create regular TikTok accounts and to create, view and share short-form videos and messages...

TikTok Sued by U.S. Justice Department for Allegedly ‘Knowingly and Repeatedly’ Violating Child Data Privacy Law

The Center Square

(The Center Square) – A state lawmaker said recently passed legislation, touted by the Illinois governor and supported at a national level by the vice president, is just big government trying to provide a ‘solution’ to the problem Democrats created.
                The Illinois legislature \passed a Gov. J.B. Pritzker-Supported measure that eliminates medical debt from an individual's credit report.
                Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris recently spoke in favor...

Harris and Pritzker separately tout erasing medical debt

(The Center Square) — The New York City Council has no legal authority to expand a city housing voucher program, according to a ruling by a state judge, which hands a win to Mayor Eric Adams in a widening intra-party fight with the chamber. The ruling by state Superior...

Adams wins round in court fight over New York City housing vouchers

Texas State

Mission, TX

(The Center Square) – Two recent cases prosecuted by the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas highlight how business owners made millions of dollars orchestrating elaborate human smuggling and stash house operations in south Texas. In one case, a Mexican couple illegally living in...

Feds bust elaborate human smuggling operation stretching from Honduras to Boston

New Jersey State

The LA Insider

As of 2024, several peculiar new laws have taken effect across the United States, showcasing the unique and often quirky nature of local legislation:. In Nebraska, bars are now required to cook a kettle of soup if they wish to sell beer. This law ensures that patrons have a hearty meal option alongside their drinks​ (World Population Review)​.

Odd New Laws in Effect Across the U.S. in 2024

Kansas State

The Independent

 A federal judge in Kansas has refused to block the nationwide enforcement of a Biden administration rule requiring firearms dealers to do background checks of buyers at gun shows, leaving Texas as the only state so far where a legal challenge has succeeded.U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse's ruling this week came in a lawsuit brought by Kansas and 19 other states, three individual gun collectors and a Wichita, Kansas-based association for collectors. They sought an order preventing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from enforcing the rule that took effect in May through the trial of their...

Federal judge refuses to block Biden administration rule on gun sales in Kansas, 19 other states

Chicago, IL

Foodie in Chicago

Shortly before 3 AM, people in the Chicago area may have felt their houses shake as a 3.4-magnitude earthquake occurred about 60 miles west of the city. (CHICAGO) The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported a 3.4-magnitude earthquake around Somonauk, IL. Somonauk is in DeKalb and LaSalle Counties, 64 miles west of Chicago.

Did You Feel the Earthquake?

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The Lens

This year’s area of low oxygen in the Gulf of Mexico is larger than average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Thursday. The “dead zone” is approximately 6,705 square miles , as measured last week. Within NOAA’s 38 years of measuring the dead zone, this year’s assessment marks the 12th-largest area of low to no oxygen, which can kill fish and marine life.

Gulf ‘dead zone’ larger than average, larger than expected for 2024, scientists announce

South Carolina State

Georgia State

Savannah, GA

(The Center Square) — Officials in Georgia and South Carolina are taking action as Tropical Storm Debby is expected to dump rain on the states after making landfall on Monday morning along the Florida coast. Forecasts predict the storm will move across southern Georgia and through the Waycross area...

Georgia, South Carolina officials prep for Tropical Storm Debby

Alabama State

Alabama Reflector

A south Alabama representative has refiled a bill that would require unemancipated minors to receive parental consent for vaccinations. Under current Alabama law, minors aged 14 and above can consent to their own medical treatments without parental approval. The new bill, sponsored by Rep. Chip Brown, R-Hollinger’s Island, would mandate written consent from a parent […]

Alabama lawmaker reintroduces bill requiring parental consent for vaccinations

Florida State

(The Center Square) – Proponents of ballot initiatives that would legalize recreational marijuana and enshrine abortion rights in the Florida constitution have raised millions. The two initiatives are among six that will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot and will require a 60% vote to earn a place in...

Florida recreational marijuana initiative has raised $66M

Salon

In sticky, sweaty Bangkok, there seemed to be more weed shops than there were Buddhist temples — and there were a lot of temples. Some shops were decorated with psychedelic art on the walls, beanbags laid out over the floor and ambient music playing; others were little more than just wooden table stalls in the middle of the street. I found one place selling Scotty Pie hybrid strain blunts for 480 baht (>$13) whereas a simple roll of Thai weed will only set you back 100 baht . The budtender unscrewed a jar to let me sniff the fresh aroma, but since rolling a joint for me is like solving a Rubix Cube, I bought a pre-rolled Thai and went on my merry way.

Why Thailand legalized marijuana — and then almost banned it again

NewsBreak

Illinois’ strict biometric law is tweaked, but some say it falls short

(The Center Square) – Changes to Illinois’ strict Biometric Information Privacy Act, or BIPA, are now on the books. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 2979...

Illinois’ strict biometric law is tweaked, but some say it falls short

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