President Donald J. Trump, joined by Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman, shows informational boards showing how much business the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia generates in the United States economy, at their meeting in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, March 20, 2018, in Washington, D.C. (Public Domain) The Trump … [Read more...]
When the President and the Law Collide
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the federal agency responsible for auditing the actions of the Federal Government and ensuring that Congress and all agencies within the government are meeting their duties and spending taxpayer dollars according to law. In May of this year, the GAO released its report on the Federal … [Read more...]
Trump Administration Attacks Rules Meant to Protect Against Discrimination
The Fair Housing Act has suffered blows under the Trump Administration, with HUD Secretary Ben Carson leading the charge against certain Obama-era regulations requiring equitable treatment in the housing market. One rule, entitled the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing provision, was introduced in 2015 after several years of concerted studies … [Read more...]
Supreme Court Weighs-In on State Taxes and Online Retailers
On April 17th, the highest court considered a case involving some hairy questions around states’ sales tax and whether certain online retailers should collect it. The case before the court, South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., involves over 40 states, who argue that the Supreme Court should overturn a 1992 ruling that prohibits the collection of sales … [Read more...]
Nursing Home Company Files for Bankruptcy
After a slew of personal injury lawsuits, the senior care conglomerate, Preferred Care Group, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a step that owner, Thomas Scott, hopes will keep the company afloat while it focuses on restructuring. The group owns over 100 facilities in Texas, Kentucky, New Mexico, Kansas, Iowa, Florida, Mississippi, Colorado, … [Read more...]
Assisted Living Facilities Receive Very Little Oversight, Says GAO Report
A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that nearly half of the 48 states offering Medicaid-covered assisted living services could not provide basic data pertaining to issues of abuse and neglect. In 2014, to fund these services, states spent nearly $10 billion in state and federal funding, making the recent report even more … [Read more...]
GAO Report Says Climate Change Comes With Great Costs
Ever since January, Donald Trump and his acolytes have been cutting regulations in great numbers. In the first five months alone, the administration chucked or delayed 860 rule proposals. A fair number of those rules were meant to protect the environment from unfettered fossil fuel companies. Republicans often justify major deregulation by … [Read more...]
DHS Will Start Monitoring Immigrants’ Social Media Activity
A new rule published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will effectively expand the surveillance capabilities of the US government, adding "social media handles, aliases, associated identifiable information, and search results" to all immigrant files. The rule, first reported by Buzzfeed, will go into effect on October 18th. As noted by … [Read more...]
Actemra Lacks Much Needed Warning Label
In 2010, Actemra was approved by the FDA, lauded as the first medication designed to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) without the usual side-effects. Many drugs treating RA, an autoimmune disease mainly affecting the joints, have been known to induce certain medical conditions and adverse events (AE) – namely heart attacks, cardiac failure and … [Read more...]
