New Orleans social worker continues fight for her right to earn a living
In the fall of 2023, New Orleans entrepreneur Ursula Newell Davis received disheartening news: The Supreme Court had declined to hear her case, signaling the disappointing end to her legal battle against Louisiana. For years, Ursula had been fighting for her right to open her business—Sivad Home and Community Services—to offer in-home respit ...
The Topeka Capital-Journal : How this Kansas law will protect nurses from clerical errors
While Amy Siple, a nurse of 30 years, was on leave to care for her husband during his cancer treatment, her nursing license lapsed over an unpaid fee. That paperwork mistake triggered a disciplinary action that could permanently damage her career.They turned a minor error into a full-blown disciplinary proceeding.Now, Kansas has acted. House Bill 2 ...
New York Post : How NYC’s elite high schools discriminate — on mayor’s orders
Yi Fang Chen's son certainly had the grades to get into New York City's prestigious Stuyvesant High School. Just one problem: He's the wrong race. Chen's son was the victim of the city's Discovery Program, which was meant to be a limited, optional back door into the city's specialized high schools for disadvantaged students who failed to meet ...
The Hill : New York’s race-based STEM programs face constitutional challenges
For nearly 40 years, New York State's Science and Technology Entry Program or STEP has offered middle and high school students extra preparation for college and careers in science, technology and health fields. About 11,000 students participate statewide each year. But STEP's admissions rules did something shocking: They imposed stricter income ...
CON Quarterly : New papers, trends, and an update on the RHT Program
Welcome back to your quarterly dose of Certificate of Need news— As a reminder, in markets where the government requires a certificate of need or CON, those who wish to offer a new service or expand an existing service must first prove to a regulator that the service is needed. As the name suggests, the regulator's primary task is to deter ...
Can the government weaponize an anti-SLAPP statute?
Editor's note: The case concluded in a major victory for Mr. Defty when the California Court of Appeals held that the government cannot weaponize anti-SLAPP statutes against Americans with legitimate legal challenges. The court then dismissed the government's request to reconsider its decision. The victory was finalized on August 19, 2026, when the ...
Ninth Circuit will decide whether Joshua Diemert will have his day in court
Joshua Diemert never intended to be the face of a lawsuit. When he began working for Seattle's Human Services Department (HSD) in 2013, he committed himself to a narrow goal: help Seattle's vulnerable residents find the programs they needed to get back on their feet. Joshua excelled as a program intake representative. He was in high demand acros ...
Orange County Register : California lawmakers try to revive racial discrimination with ACA 7
A number of California legislators are looking to ask the public: "When should racial discrimination be encouraged?" A constitutional amendment currently pending, ACA 7, would authorize a referendum to peel back the California Constitution's strong prohibitions on discrimination in public education. The bill, which has passed the state Assembly, ...
Can California silence a doctor-patient phone call?
Trinidad, California, sits at the edge of the continent, a small coastal town nearly 300 miles north of San Francisco. In many ways, its remoteness is part of its charm. For Shellye Horowitz, who has a rare and potentially life-threatening bleeding disorder, it comes with a serious drawback: a state law that restricts her ability to communicate wit ...