Other states

ATLANTA — As it looks increasingly likely that the Supreme Court will establish a nationwide right to same-sex marriage later this year, state legislatures across the country are taking up bills that would make it easier for businesses and individuals to opt out of serving gay couples on religious grounds. Many states are now reliving a version of events that embroiled Arizona in February 2014, when Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, vetoed a bill that would have allowed businesses to use their religious beliefs as a legal justification for refusing to serve gay customers. The resurgent controversy is fueled in part by a deep anxiety among many evangelicals and other conservatives that the Supreme Court will make same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states after it takes up the matter in April. “The L.G.B.T. movement is the main thing, the primary thing that’s going to be challenging religious liberties and the freedom to live out religious convictions,” said State Senator … [Read more...] about States Weigh Legislation to Let Businesses Refuse to Serve Gay Couples

For the past four years, the campaign to legalize online sports betting has appeared all but unstoppable. In recent weeks, though, some of the momentum has slowed. In New York, a powerful state lawmaker introduced legislation to restrict some of the promotions that gambling companies use to lure new bettors. In Kansas, the governor, an enthusiastic backer of the state’s legalization of online sports betting earlier this year, said she was now seeking to revisit aspects of the law, citing its “unintended consequences.” In Massachusetts, gambling regulators this week unexpectedly paused consideration of an application for a gambling license by the casino company Penn Entertainment because of concerns about its partnership with the controversy-courting media business Barstool Sports . And at some universities, administrators and students voiced concern about deals the universities had struck to promote sports betting on campus. The sentiment shifted after The New … [Read more...] about State Officials Seek to Revisit Sports-Betting Arrangements

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails The US state of Maryland has banned its agencies from using TikTok and other Chinese and Russian platforms, after reports that China ’s state-backed hackers allegedly stole millions of Covid relief funds in the US. Maryland’s governor Larry Hogan issued an emergency directive on Tuesday prohibiting the use of Chinese and Russian products and platforms including the social media app TikTok, the message app WeChat, as well as Russia ’s Kaspersky cybersecurity software. The governor’s office noted that these products and platforms “present an unacceptable level of cybersecurity risk” to the state, adding that they may be involved in cyber-espionage, and surveillance of government entities, or in the inappropriate collection of sensitive personal information. “There may be no greater threat to our personal … [Read more...] about The US state where TikTok has been banned — but only for certain users

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 9 NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party on Thursday looked set to retain control in his home state of Gujarat following a record state legislature win, but it was trailing behind its rival Congress party in northern Himachal Pradesh state. The landslide win in Modi’s home state is expected to provide a big boost to the party ahead of national elections due in 2024. The BJP has not lost state assembly elections in the western industrial state since 1995. Modi was Gujarat’s top elected official for 13 years before becoming prime minister in 2014. Modi’s party remains popular despite criticism of rising inflation, unemployment and religious polarization. According to India's autonomous Election Commission, the BJP was leading in 158 out of 182 seats in the Gujarat state legislature and the Congress party was … [Read more...] about Indian PM Modi’s party heading for big win in his home state

President Joe Biden on Thursday is announcing the infusion of nearly $36 billion to shore up a financially troubled union pension plan, preventing severe cuts to the retirement incomes of more than 350,000 Teamster workers and retirees across the United States. The money for the Central States Pension Fund is the largest amount of federal aid provided for a pension plan, the Biden administration said, and comes from the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that he signed into law in 2021. Many union retirement plans have been under financial pressure because of underfunding and other issues. Without the federal assistance, Teamster members could have seen their benefits reduced by an average of 60% starting within a couple of years. “Union workers and their families are finally able to breathe a huge sigh of relief, knowing that their hard-earned retirement savings have been rescued from steep cuts,” said Lisa Gomez, assistant labor secretary for … [Read more...] about Biden releasing nearly $36B to aid pensions of union workers

The “revelation” that former President Donald Trump supports the “ termination ” of the U.S. Constitution—if that’s what it takes to make him president again—is hardly worthy of the name. Trump’s comment —which he posted to Truth Social on Saturday and vehemently denied on Monday—is a slightly more explicit rejection of constitutional constraints than he’s ventured in the past. But it’s perfectly in line with his longstanding opposition to any inviolable limits on state power when that power is in his own hands, or at least wielded for his benefit. That Trump has never cared about the Constitution is the most obvious thing in the world. This apathy was evident well before Trump formally entered politics. One early indicator was his disturbing affection for eminent domain, the government’s authority to take private property for public use provided it makes “just compensation” to the owner. Eminent domain is grounded in the Fifth Amendment, so the bare concept … [Read more...] about Donald Trump Doesn’t Respect (or Even Understand) the Constitution

See the article in its original context from December 29, 1997 Section Page Buy Reprints View on timesmachine TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Hoping to build a new bulwark against the flow of illegal drugs from Latin America, the United States is providing the Mexican military with extensive covert intelligence support and training hundreds of its officers to help shape a network of anti-drug troops around the country, United States and Mexican officials say. The officials say the assistance has included training, equipment and advice from the Central Intelligence Agency to establish an elite army intelligence unit that has quietly moved to the forefront of Mexico's anti-drug effort, sometimes ahead of a new civilian police force that the United States is also pledged to support. The effort has proceeded despite growing American concern that it may lead to more serious problems of corruption and human rights in … [Read more...] about DANGEROUS ALLIES: A special report.; U.S. Helps Mexico’s Army Take a Big Anti-Drug Role

A member of Ukraine’s parliament who federal authorities said meddled in America’s 2020 presidential campaign on behalf of Russia’s intelligence services has been charged with money laundering tied to his purchase of two Beverly Hills apartments he used while sowing disinformation. The charges against the member of parliament, Andriy Derkach, 55, grew out of an investigation into whether he and other Ukrainians had interfered in the 2020 campaign — including by using Rudolph W. Giuliani, who was Donald J. Trump’s personal lawyer, to spread misleading claims about President Biden, according to people with knowledge of the matter. That inquiry was first reported by The New York Times last year. In an indictment that was unsealed on Wednesday that also charged him with bank fraud conspiracy, sanctions violations and other crimes, Brooklyn federal prosecutors said Mr. Derkach decades ago was a combat crew commander in the Soviet Union’s Strategic Missile Command. When U.S. Treasury … [Read more...] about Ukrainian Accused of Election Interference Charged With Money Laundering

Among women in the United States who no longer have an abortion clinic nearby, many are turning to abortion pills ordered online, outside the U.S. medical system. As a result, the illicit abortions that were once invisible — the back-alley abortions before Roe v. Wade — are becoming increasingly possible to track and count in post-Roe America. Counting these abortions is important to understanding the full impact of abortion bans. That means knowing how many women in states with bans are finding abortions another way, as well as how many are carrying unwanted pregnancies to term. But researchers are debating how well the existing data captures the full scope of the post-Roe landscape. Abortion pills from overseas are a black market with limited transparency, operating outside the U.S. medical and legal systems. Although one of the biggest sources of abortion pills from overseas is sharing information about its orders, it’s unclear exactly how many women end up using such pills to … [Read more...] about The (Incomplete) Revolution in Counting Abortions

As Georgia Democrats won their third Senate runoff election in two years, the party proved it had crafted an effective strategy for triumphing in a decades-old system created to sustain segregationist power and for overcoming an array of efforts to making voting more difficult. Republicans, meanwhile, were quietly cursing the runoff system, or at least their strategy for winning under a state law they wrote after losing the last election. The various post-mortems over how Georgia’s runoff rules shaped the state’s Senate outcome on Tuesday put a spotlight on a major voting law passed by the Republican-led General Assembly last year. Some Republicans acknowledged that their efforts to limit in-person early voting days might have backfired, while others encouraged lawmakers to consider additional restrictions next year. With Georgia poised to remain a critical political battleground and with Republicans holding gerrymandered majorities in both chambers of its state legislature, … [Read more...] about Losing Another Runoff, Georgia Republicans Weigh an Election Shake-Up