On January 23, several good-government groups filed this amicus curiae brief in Arizona State Legislature v Arizona State Redistricting Commission, a case that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear on March 2, 2015. The issue is whether Arizona and other states can constitutionally let independent commissions draw boundaries for U.S. House districts. The legislature argues(More)… …read more
Port Arthur, Texas – Epileptic and self-prescribed medical marijuana patient Jeremy Bourque is facing jail time for growing 3 marijuana plants that were intended to be used for personal medical consumption.
Jeremy’s home was raided back in April and he was charged with possession and cultivation of marijuana, and now he is due in court this week to begin his trial.
Jeremy was diagnosed with Epilepsy at the age of 15 and has been hospitalized more than 10 times since his diagnosis, including one time in which he was in a coma for over a week.
Over the years, Jeremy has learned to …read more
Bushwick, NY– Apparently you do not even need to use words to be “making a threat” these days. Seventeen year old Osiris Aristy was arrested on Sunday evening after posting a Facebook status using the police officer emoji and the gun emoji. There was no written threat included in the post we found.
Upon looking at his Facebook, there were seemingly no threats towards police written at all, at least not in any recent public posts, however, he did use over 200 emojis in just three days.
According to the criminal complaint, on January 15, Aristy posted “N***a run up …read more
Six Georgia State House members have introduced HB 58, which lowers minor party and independent petitions for district and county office. The bill lowers these petitions from 5% of the number of registered voters, to 2% of the last vote cast when that office was last voted on. If the bill were in effect for(More)… …read more
On January 22, the sponsors of the upcoming British election debates said they will invite seven parties into two of those debates. See this story. The Green Party had been fighting this battle for several months, and now it appears victorious. …read more
After working closely with Braintree over the past few months, we are excited to announce that Braintree has opened up private beta access to accept bitcoin for all of its U.S.-based merchants. Braintree merchants can now accept bitcoin by creating a Coinbase account and adding a few lines of code to their existing Braintree v.zero integration.
We’re excited to continue working with Braintree to bring the benefits of Bitcoin to merchants and consumers around the world. If you are a merchant interested in joining the private beta, email us at merchants@coinbase.com. …read more
Edwards, MS — A good Samaritan doctor is being punished by the state of Mississippi for helping those less fortunate than him.
With a 2007 Toyota Camry as his Dr.’s Office, 88-year-old Dr. Carrol Frazier Landrum, has been treating poor or disabled people who are unable to travel to seek medical attention for years.
Earlier this month the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure has issued an ultimatum to Dr. Landrum; stop practicing medicine and give up his license, or face a hearing.
Landrum provides an invaluable service to the homeless, to the poor, and to those who are unable to travel, and …read more
The turbine of turbulence (photo by Bruce Bisping) Star Tribune
Orono, Minnesota – Over the past year, we have been following the story of a Minnesota man named Jay Nygard, who is routinely risking jail time because he refuses to remove a wind turbine from his property. Nygard has been in and out of court over the years, and despite a short-lived victory back in October, he is now risking jail time again, and facing an ultimatum from the city yet again.
Jay owns a company called Go Green Energy, which sells wind turbines in other areas of Minnesota, but he isn’t …read more
The Third Circuit will hear Balsam v Guadagno, 14-3882, on Tuesday, March 17, probably in Philadelphia. This is the case in which some voters argue that the U.S. Constitution does not permit states to pay for partisan primaries unless all voters are permitted to vote in those primaries. Some of the voters are independents. Others(More)… …read more
Oklahoma Representative John Montgomery (R-Lawton) has introduced HB 1159, which expands the amount of time for initiative proponents to circulate their petition from 90 days to 150 days. Oklahoma Senator David Holt (R-Oklahoma City) has introduced SJR 13, to lower the number of signatures for statewide initiatives. Currently, initiatives to change the State Constitution need(More)… …read more
