The appeal to the high court was brought by Susan Porter of California, who received a ticket in 2017 for honking her car’s horn in support of a group rallying outside the office of her congressman
Read more at The Hill
Florida lawmakers pass ban on social media for kids under 16 despite constitutional concerns
The bill targets any social media site that tracks user activity, allows children to upload material and interact with others, and uses addictive features designed to cause excessive or compulsive use. Supporters point to rising suicide rates among children, cyberbullying and predators using social media to prey on kids.
Read more at NBC News
Michigan consumers are getting hit hard by fraud: Michigan consumers reported losing $151.7 million in 2023 to all types of fraud and scams, according to the Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book. The median fraud loss was $410.
Read more at Detroit Free Press
Companies could find themselves in federal enforcement crosshairs if bad actors use their AI or payment tools, among other “means and instrumentalities,” to conduct impersonation scams. The Federal Trade Commission last week finalized a rule giving the agency authority to go after entities that impersonate a government body or a business to commit fraud. A second rule, still in a preliminary stage, would extend the authority to fraudsters who impersonate an individual.
Read more at Legal Dive
A loophole got him a free New York hotel stay for five years. Then he claimed to own the building
A man who succeeded in using a New York City housing law to live rent-free in the iconic hotel has been charged with fraud after he claimed to own it.
Read more at AP News
Major junior hockey players, aged 16 to 20, claim the independent leagues colluded to limit competition among themselves for player recruitment, in violation of U.S. antitrust law. According to the players, the anticompetitive agreements span across six hockey leagues and more than 146 clubs, nearly the entire North American ice hockey industry.
Read more at Courthouse News Service
Michigan’s third grade reading law ends with few kids getting held back
Michigan will no longer require school districts to hold back third graders who score too low on reading tests. In March 2023, the Democrats in control of state government threw out the third grade reading law, which went into effect in 2016 under Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration. The repeal went into effect this week.
Read more at Wood TV8
If you work overseas for a U.S. company, you might want to think twice before you step forward to report corporate wrongdoing. It’s a different story when employees are based overseas and work for a foreign subsidiary of a U.S. company, as the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals explained, in a Canadian man’s case against software company Oracle.
Read more at Reuters
Gun, abortion, energy reform among 142 Michigan laws taking effect Feb. 13
Nearly half of the laws passed by the Democratic-majority Legislature last year are set to take effect this week, including sweeping overhauls to the state’s energy and election policies, repeals of Republican-backed labor laws and abortion restrictions and firearm safety measures long sought by gun control advocates.
Read more at Bridge Michigan