Red Wing Post: May 16, 2024
"the more you know ..."
Arkansas
Employers and abortion: AG Tim Griffin and Tennessee AG Jonathon Skrmetti lead a coalition of 17 states challenging a new EEOC rule that alters the 2022 Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to include abortion. Under the new rule, Griffin says, business owners will face federal lawsuits if they don't accommodate employees' abortions, even if those abortions are illegal under state law.
Arkansas Cannabis: “Medicinal” marijuana has been legal in Arkansas for five years, and the sales figures set records each year. Since 2019, “more than three dozen storefronts have opened, at least 102,000 residents have registered for patient cards and revenue has topped $1.1 billion.” This is another “DECLINE TO SIGN” issue: petitioners want to put recreational marijuana on the ballot here in November… and a lawsuit resulted in Judge Chip Welch suspending many parts of the earlier law, throwing much of the industry into confusion.
Speaking of Judge Welch, the Arkansas Supreme Court removed him, a Pulaski County Circuit Judge, from a case dealing with whether attorneys can be armed while in a courthouse. The Supreme Court “found Arkansas lawyers are entitled by law to bring firearms into … courthouses;” however Judge Welch ignored the Court’s ruling to issue an order following the Supreme Court ruling. He’s been accused of violating judicial rules as the Supreme Court upheld a “request by attorneys Chris Corbitt of Conway, Clint Lancaster of Benton and Robert Steinbuch of Little Rock to remove Welch from the case.” Read more to see what Welch called the Supreme Court’s ruling…
It’s harming our kids! Governor Sanders drew national attention when she sent a letter last week to all U.S. governors calling for a limit on children’s access to smartphones and social media. Sanders also sent a book detailing how social media is harming our kids, pointing out that “spending three or more hours a day on social media doubles kids’ risk of mental health problems…”
National
Rebuilding Francis Scott Key Bridge: Congressmen Rick Crawford and Steve Womack will both be heavily involved in the rebuilding of Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge. Womack is a member of the House Appropriations Committee while Crawford sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Maryland says rebuilding the bridge could cost around $1.9 billion, and the Biden Administration says the federal government will step in with funding.
Cryptomines & “Data centers”: Both state and national: Some states are rethinking their early approaches to data centers, now that the country’s energy grid is under greater scrutiny from both a supply viewpoint and the cyberattack angle. Cryptomining is a kind of a data center, which are being eyed for their impact on the grid’s ability to supply needed energy in the near future.
Tech
Ouch! $6.5 million will hurt: “Ring has settled with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over charges that the company allowed employees and contractors to access customers’ private videos, and failed to implement security protections which enabled hackers to take control of customers’ accounts, cameras, and videos. … it turned out that every single person working for Amazon Ring, whether they were an employee or a contractor, was able to access every single customer video, even when it wasn’t necessary for their jobs.”
WHAT’S YOUR VOTE? (We read the bills.)
