By Skylar Laird
COLUMBIA — The state’s prison system does not have to allow interviews with inmates, a federal appeals court decided, echoing a decision from a lower court.
Three federal judges dismissed a lawsuit by the state’s American Civil Liberties Union, upholding a Department of Corrections policy prohibiting in-person and phone interviews with inmates.
By Algernon Austin & Jordan Billngs
Randall Irvin has been waiting for public housing in Chicago for six years, and his situation is not that unusual. For example, there are over 100,000 families on San Antonio’s waitlist for public housing. In Chicago, there were more than 200,000 families on the waitlist in 2023. Public housing waiting lists are extremely long because there is an inadequate supply – and a 1998 amendment to federal housing law is a significant barrier to building new housing.
By Ari Paul
The early morning murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was met on social media with a “torrent of hate” for health insurance executives (New York Times, 12/5/24). Memes mocking the insurance companies and their callous disregard for human life abound on various platforms (AFP, 12/6/24).
Internet users are declaring that the man police believe to be the shooter, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, is certifiably hot (Rolling Stone, 12/9/24; KFOX, 12/10/24). A lookalike contest for the shooter was held in lower Manhattan (New York Times, 12/7/24).
By Alex Rozier
Jackson lawmakers are discussing the future of the city’s water system among other focuses for the next legislative session, but it’s unclear what they might propose, if anything, to counter recent attempts at a state takeover.
State legislators told Mississippi Today late last month that there wasn’t a plan to tackle the water system’s future, but were planning to meet with Jackson officials this month.
By Drew Costley
A federal judge in Baton Rouge heard arguments from news organizations and the state of Louisiana on Wednesday (Dec. 11) on whether a new state law, creating a 25-foot buffer zone around police officers, illegally infringes on First Amendment rights.
The measure, Act 259, which passed the Louisiana State Legislature in the spring and was signed into law by Gov. Jeff Landry in May, makes it a criminal offense to knowingly or intentionally come within 25 feet of a working police officer after being ordered or asked to step back.
The former president, warned a broad rights coalition, "executed more people than the previous ten administrations combined."
By Sameea Kamal
In summary
Few bills fail in the Legislature because lawmakers publicly vote “no.” Instead, most bills die when they are shelved, without lawmakers having to take tough votes.
We know how legislatures work: lawmakers introduce bills, debate on them and vote yes or no.
Right?
Not exactly. Of the 2,403 bills that died in the recent two-year session, CalMatters’ Digital Democracy data found just 25 failed because a majority of lawmakers voted “no.”
Most of the remaining bills disappeared through procedural tactics that leave little trace of responsibility for the policy decisions. Rather than vote no, lawmakers typically find ways to sideline bills they don’t want, causing them to fail when they don’t meet procedural deadlines.
