Kentucky Committee Passes Bill That Would Place Limits on Drones, Thwart Federal Surveillance Program

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Jan. 11, 2017) – On Wednesday, a Kentucky House committee approved a bill that would require police to get a warrant before engaging in drone surveillance in most situations. Final passage of this legislation would not only establish important privacy protections at the state level, it would also help thwart the federal surveillance…

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Owner of ‘Obama Gas Station’ faces tax evasion charges

"The South Carolina Department of Revenue said Alhanik filed $971,935 in sales tax returns in the period between 2013 and 2016, but after an investigation the agency found the store’s sales was $2.6 million, according to a press release. Alhanik dodged paying more than $136,000 in sales taxes during that four-year period, the department said."

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DC Mandates College Degrees For Daycare Workers

"'Outrageous and tone deaf.' 'Madness.' 'Completely counterproductive and wrong-headed.' And that's just within the first few of more than 400 pages of comments submitted by residents of Washington, D.C., a city where child care costs are already some of the highest in the country, in response to an onerous new licensing requirement for daycare workers. The Office of the State Superintendent for Education (OSSE), which regulates daycares and early childhood education programs in the nation's capital, last year passed a rule requiring all daycare workers to have a college degree by 2020."

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Washington State Bill Would Ban “Material Support” for Warrantless Federal Spying Programs

OLYMPIA, Wash. (Jan. 11, 2018) – A bill introduced in the Washington state House would end state cooperation with warrantless federal spying. Passage of the legislation would not only help protect privacy in Washington, it would help hinder unconstitutional federal surveillance. A coalition of five representatives introduced House Bill 1193 (HB1193) last year and it was reintroduced…

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Florida Bill Would Decriminalize Marijuana Possession, Take Step Toward Nullifying Federal Prohibtion

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Jan. 11, 2017) – A bill introduced in the Florida House would decriminalize marijuana possession. Passage into law would take a step toward nullifying federal cannabis prohibition in effect in the state. Introduced by Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando), House Bill 1203 (H1203) would make possession of 20 grams or less of marijuana…

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New York Bill Would Allow Common Core Opt Out

ALBANY, N.Y. (Jan. 11, 2018) – A bill introduced in the New York Senate would allow some students to opt out of Common Core Standards and testing, a small step toward nullifying nationalized education in the state. If passed, the law would provide additional legal backing to some of the hundreds of thousands of New…

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New Hampshire Bill Would Tie State Definition of Firearms to Federal Statute

CONCORD, N.H. (Jan. 10, 2018) – A bill introduced in the New Hampshire Senate would change the definition of a “firearm” in the state to coincide with federal statute. Passage of this bill would expand regulation of firearms accessories in New Hampshire and empower the federal government to indirectly dictate gun laws in the Live…

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Orgies, devil men, knife-wielding maniacs: A history of cannabis in California

"California was home to the Haight-Ashbury counterculture movement, the Grateful Dead and Cheech & Chong. It’s also the home state of Richard Nixon, who birthed the modern drug war, and Ronald Reagan, the president who made Nixon’s war metaphor all too literal. Today, we’ll look at cannabis in California up until about the late 1960s."

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Supreme Court Refuses To Review ‘Knock-and-Talk’ Police Killings

"Although 'knock-and-talk' policing has become a thinly veiled, warrantless—lethal—exercise by which citizens are coerced and intimidated into 'talking' with heavily armed police who 'knock' on their doors in the middle of the night, the Supreme Court will not make the government play by the rules of the Constitution. The lesson to be learned: the U.S. Supreme Court will not save us. No one is coming to save us: not the courts, not the legislatures, and not the president."

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