List of All Articles with Tag 'virus'

A U.S. appeals court has halted a lower court ruling that would have shut down southeast Alaska’s Chinook salmon troll fishery for the summer to protect endangered orca whales that eat the fish

A Senate subcommittee is asking executives from the PGA Tour, Saudi golf interests and LIV Golf to testify as Congress investigates the shocking business deal that upended the sport

A U.S. appeals court has halted a lower court ruling that would have shut down southeast Alaska’s Chinook salmon troll fishery for the summer to protect endangered orca whales that eat the fish

Oregon lawmakers have passed amended versions of the two bills that were at the center of a six-week Republican walkout

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by journalists and open government advocates who sought to require her office to respond to public record requests, and a state panel agreed Wednesday to pay more than $100,000 in attorney fees. Reynolds settled the lawsuit about two months after the Iowa Supreme Court refused to dismiss the case filed by two media organizations and a nonprofit advocacy group. The court unanimously rejected the governor's argument that her office wasn't required to respond in a timely manner to record requests and that she could bypass the state's open records law by simply ignoring the requests. The organizations filed the lawsuit in 2021, claiming the governor had violated Iowa’s open records law by ignoring government record requests. The reporters had emailed the governor’s office with eight different open-record requests between April 2020 and April 2021 and renewed each request at least once. In each case, they received no response until filing a lawsuit in December 2021. In a statement, the governor's office acknowledged the settlement but said problems stemmed from demands during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The COVID-19 response put unprecedented demands on the governor’s team to meet the immediate needs of Iowans," Kollin Crompton, the governor's deputy communications director, said in a statement. "As a result, responses to requests were unintentionally delayed, which is not acceptable. Our office has assessed our internal processes and we continue to reevaluate the process to improve timeliness.” Earlier Wednesday, the State Appeal Board approved $135,000 to cover legal fees for the organizations, though the one Democrat on the three-member board objected. Auditor Rob Sand said state law intends that those who violate the open records law should pay fees related to the violation and a fine. The settlement, he noted, pays the fees with public money and doesn't include a fine. “These insiders have no shame," Sand said in a statement. “They abuse your rights, and then want to use your money to pay for having abused you.” The organization are the liberal-leaning Bleeding Heartland blog, Iowa Capital Dispatch and Iowa Freedom of Information Council, which focuses on open government issues. The ACLU of Iowa, which represented the organizations, said the settlement will be official later this month when the court accepts the agreement. The ACLU said the agreement also required a year of judicial oversight over the governor's office's compliance with the state open records law as well as court fees. The governor also settled separate lawsuits filed by an attorney who sued after not receiving records about COVID-19 testing contracts. The State Appeal Board approved about $40,000 to settle that case. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

The laws governing Wisconsin's multibillion-dollar liquor industry has passed the state Assembly

The Biden administration on Wednesday increased the amount of biofuels that must be blended into the nation’s fuel supplies over the next three years, but held production totals steady for corn-based ethanol, disappointing the biofuel industry and farm advocates

Veteran Associated Press journalist Jack Stokes has died

A federal appeals court says a government agency cannot enforce anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination employment rules against a Texas company owned by a conservative Christian

Talon Metals Corp. has filed papers with Minnesota regulators to launch the environmental review process for its proposed underground nickel mine that would supply nickel to Tesla for electric car batteries

Hospitals and other health care providers in New York would be banned from reporting medical debt to credit agencies under a bill passed this week by the state’s legislature

President Joe Biden’s three nominees for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors pledged to fight inflation during a confirmation hearing that drew only modest pushback from Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee