Laws

FILE - In this March 31, 2020, file photo President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, as Vice President Mike Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, listen. Trump in recent days has grumbled that American companies such as 3M and GM are not doing enough to provide American medical workers and first responders with vital equipment they need. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
April 05, 2020 - 5:57 am

Trump Uses Coronavirus Crisis To Push His Broader Agenda

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is taking an old political adage to heart: Never let a crisis go to waste. The coronavirus is projected to kill more than 100,000 Americans. It has effectively shuttered the economy, torpedoed the stock market and rewritten the rules of what used to be...
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wearing a face mask to protect against coronavirus speaks during an extraordinary parliamentary session in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 30, 2020. Ukraine has been under quarantine since March 12. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo)
March 31, 2020 - 1:28 am

Ukraine Approves Legislation In A Bid For Imf Aid

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's parliament has voted to lift the ban on the sale of farmland in a move that would allow the country to get $8 billion worth of aid from the International Monetary Fund. The bill, long pushed by economists to stimulate investment in agriculture, was approved by 259...
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March 30, 2020 - 6:36 pm

Idaho Governor Signs Into Law Anti-Transgender Legislation

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Monday signed into law two anti-transgender bills, making Idaho the first among states that introduced some 40 such bills this year to enact them. The Republican governor approved legislation that prohibits transgender people from changing the sex...
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March 25, 2020 - 11:47 am

Judge Orders Environmental Review Of Dakota Access Pipeline

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a full environmental review of the Dakota Access pipeline, nearly three years after it began carrying oil. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote that the easement approval for the pipeline remains...
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FILE - In this March 23, 2020, file photo, a U.S. National Guard member stands beside crates of medical supplies at the Jacob Javits Center, in New York. The use of National Guard units around the country to help with the response to the coronavirus pandemic is prompting rumors of a national lockdown or even martial law. Guard units are now helping to transport medical supplies, distribute food and even help direct traffic at drive-through testing sites. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
March 24, 2020 - 9:05 pm

In Pandemic, Rumors Of Martial Law Fly Despite Reassurances

NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of Americans have been ordered to stay home. Businesses and schools are shuttered. And National Guard units have been activated in more than half the states. Yet despite what you may have read in a text message or on social media, there are currently no plans for a national...
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This 2016, photo shows Margaret Sparrow at her daughter's home in Greytown, New Zealand. Sparrow was delighted Wednesday, March 18, 2020 when New Zealand lawmakers have voted in favor of a landmark bill that treats abortion as a health issue rather than a crime. (Courtesy of Margaret Sparrow via AP)
March 18, 2020 - 1:47 am

New Zealand Passes Landmark Law To Decriminalize Abortion

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Margaret Sparrow was 21 years old when she drank a concoction to induce an abortion, at a time when the procedure was both illegal and socially unacceptable in New Zealand. Now age 84, Sparrow was delighted Wednesday when lawmakers passed a landmark bill that treats...
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A nurse holds swabs and test tube to test people for COVID-19 at a drive through station set up in the parking lot of the Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich., Monday, March 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Associated Press
March 17, 2020 - 2:32 pm

US Slashes Testing Rules To Speedup Coronavirus Screening

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is slashing regulations governing test development in a bid to ramp up screening for the coronavirus amid nationwide frustration with the slow pace of the effort. The unprecedented steps by the Food and Drug Administration could boost testing capacity at...
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March 13, 2020 - 10:33 am

Tax On Internet Ads Gets Traction In Maryland

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A measure to make Maryland the first state in the nation to tax companies like Facebook and Google for money they make from digital ads on the internet is making steps forward in the state's legislature. Opponents, however, say the state would have a hard time enforcing it and...
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Del. Delores McQuinn, D-Richmond, right, gives an impassioned speech for passage of HB 1537, her bill that would allow the removal, relocation or altering memorials to war veterans, during the floor session of the Virginia House of Delegates inside the State Capitol in Richmond, VA Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. The bill passed, 53-46. Looking on are, from left, Del. Jeff Bourne, D-Richmond, Del. Rip Sullivan, D-Fairfax and Del. Kathleen Murphy, D-Fairfax. (Bob Brown/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)
March 08, 2020 - 8:39 pm

Lawmakers Pass Bill Allowing Confederate Monument Removals

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Some of Virginia's scores of Confederate monuments could soon be removed under legislation state lawmakers approved Sunday. The Democratic-led House and Senate passed measures that would undo an existing state law that protects the monuments and instead let local governments...
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Poland's President Andrzej Duda addresses supporters during a ruling Law and Justice party convention that backed his re-election bid in the May 10 presidential vote in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
March 07, 2020 - 3:54 am

Polish President Oks $510M For Public Media Amid Campaign

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's president has signed a bill earmarking nearly 2 billion zlotys ($510 million) to fund public television and radio, broadcast outlets that have become mouthpieces for the country's right-wing government and given the president positive coverage as he campaigns for...
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