Monthly archives: October, 2018

There’s microplastic in that table salt

Quartz: “A study published Tuesday (Oct. 16) in the journal Environmental Science and Technology found microplastics in more than 90% of the packaged food-grade salt—also known as table salt—for sale in stores. The team, from South Korea’s Incheon National University and Greenpeace East Asia, sampled 39 brands of salt harvested in 21 countries. Only three …

Subjects: Environmental Law, Food and Nutrition

A rare peek inside the FBI’s internal video-streaming service

Quartz: “Internal FBI documents released last week provide an intriguing peek at its private intranet for agents and other personnel. The system—called BU|NET, an apparent portmanteau of “bureau” and “network”—includes FBI.tv, a homegrown YouTube channel of sorts that includes live commercial programming (Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, and the Department of Justice’s in-house legal training network, …

Subjects: E-Government, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Knowledge Management

A Conservative Group’s Closed-Door ‘Training’ of Judicial Clerks Draws Concern

The New York Times: “The closed-door “training academy” was aimed at a select group: recent law school graduates who had secured prestigious clerkships with federal judges. It was organized by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative group that has played a leading role in moving the courts to the right, and it had some unusual requirements. …

Subjects: Courts, Education, Legal Research

SEC Launches New Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology

“The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the launch of the agency’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub). The FinHub will serve as a resource for public engagement on the SEC’s FinTech-related issues and initiatives, such as distributed ledger technology (including digital assets), automated investment advice, digital marketplace financing, and artificial intelligence/machine learning. The FinHub …

Subjects: E-Government, Legal Research, Securities Law

USDA’s enforcement of animal welfare laws plummeted in 2018

Washington Post: “Two years ago, the Agriculture Department issued 192 written warnings to breeders, exhibitors and research labs that allegedly violated animal welfare laws, and the agency filed official complaints against 23, according to agency data. This year, those figures plummeted: The department had issued 39 warnings in the first three-quarters of fiscal 2018, and …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

FOIA Suits Filed by Nonprofit/Advocacy Groups Double Under Trump

“Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suits filed by nonprofit and advocacy organizations seeking access to federal government records have more than doubled since President Trump assumed office. This sudden burst in FOIA activity is a marked departure from the slower rise that had prevailed during much of the previous two presidential administrations. In FY 2001, …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Environmental Law, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Felony Disenfranchisement Reforms in 23 States Restored Voting Rights to 1.4 Million People

Sentencing Project: “As Florida voters consider an Election Day initiative to end the state’s lifetime ban on voting for citizens with a felony record, a new report from The Sentencing Project finds that since 1997 changes to state felony disenfranchisement laws across the country have restored voting rights to 1.4 million people. Expanding the Vote: …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

Records Show DHS Ignored Privacy, First Amendment Threats of Media Monitoring Program

“EPIC has obtained records concerning “Media Monitoring Services,” a controversial DHS project to track journalists, news outlets, and social media accounts. The records, released in EPIC’s FOIA lawsuit against the federal agency, reveal that the DHS bypassed the agency’s own privacy officials and ignored the privacy and First Amendment implications of monitoring the coverage by …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy

The people who moved to Chernobyl

BBC: The Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 left a ring of ghost villages as residents fled, fearing radiation poisoning.  But now people are choosing to live in the crumbling houses on the edge of the exclusion zone. “…Today it is still illegal to live inside the exclusion zone. Despite this, about 130 to 150 people …

Subjects: Environmental Law

Legal Analysis: There’s a Template for that!

White, Nancy J., Legal Analysis: There’s a Template for that! (September 12, 2018). ALSB Journal of Business Law & Ethics Pedagogy, Volume 2, Forthcoming . Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3248471 “Legal analysis is often one of the more difficult skills to teach undergraduate and first-year law students. This skill, related to what is called “legal frame …

Subjects: Education, Legal Research