Ryan Farrick is a freelance writer and small business advertising consultant based out of mid-Michigan. Passionate about international politics and world affairs, he’s an avid traveler with a keen interest in the connections between South Asia and the United States. Ryan studied neuroscience and has spent the last several years working as an operations manager in transportation logistics.
Attorneys for the monthly magazine Prison Legal News have taken their First Amendment lawsuit to the Supreme Court, arguing that corrections officials are unfairly barring inmates from accessing the publication. The magazine filed a petition last week, asking the Supreme Court to hear its case against the Florida Department of Corrections. Florida, says Prison Legal
Ruling in on tips, a U.S. appeals court determined that restaurants must pay bartenders and waitstaff minimum wage when they’re doing work that’s not related to their primary positions. Exemptions to what would have been considered gratuity-based compensation include cleaning toilets and washing dishes. The decision, brought by an 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S.
Despite the Trump administration’s insistence on an immigrant-driven crime wave, the government has been arresting many migrants with no criminal record at all. NBC News reports that the phenomenon has been picking up its pace in the past year. Even as the president draws attentions to atrocities like the killing of 20-year old Iowan Mollie
Visa and MasterCard have agreed to pay close to $6.2 billion as part of the nation’s largest-ever antitrust settlement. The agreement, writes CNNMoney, concludes a 13-year old lawsuit brought against Visa, MasterCard and several commercial merchants. Plaintiffs, comprised largely of local retailers and chains, claimed the companies were foisting unfair ‘card swipe’ fees on businesses.
A Michigan judge said he’d expedite a lawsuit challenging the closure of Ojibway Correctional Facility in the state’s upper peninsula. According to the Detroit Free Press, Marenisco Township is suing the state Department of Corrections over its decision to close Ojibwe. Township Supervisor Richard Bouvette said the department didn’t pay proper mind to the devastating
A Chicago City Council committee recently approved a $16 million payment for the family of a woman who was accidentally shot dead by police. The New York Times reports that city corporation counsel Edward Siskel told members of the financial board that a payment to Bettie Jones’ family was the most sensible outcome. Taking the
The Trump administration is planning to cap the number of refugees admitted into the United States at 30,000, the lowest limit set in more than 38 years. The Monday announcement sets refugee quotas for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins October 1st. NBC News reports that cutting down on refugee entries has been a hallmark
A federal judge ruled that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s decision to rescind protections for students defrauded by for-profit colleges should be reversed. But, reports the New York Times, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss put the ruling on hold for 30 days, to give the Education Department time to respond. Moss’s decision could drastically alter
Canadians who work or invest in the country’s booming marijuana industry risk a lifetime ban on travel to the United States. The statement, writes POLITICO, came from a ‘senior official’ overseeing U.S. border operations. The announcement could complicate Canada’s move toward marijuana legalization. Starting on October 17th, the country is set to move its cannabis
Three Virginia sheriffs are being sued for refusing to take inmates out of Hurricane Florence’s path. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District off Virginia, accuses of Norfolk Sheriff Joe Baron, Chesapeake Sheriff Jim O’Sullivan and Portsmouth Sheriff Michael Moore of irresponsibly ignoring mandatory evacuation orders. Between the three law