A proposed class action lawsuit has been filed in B.C. Supreme Court which, if successful, could mean every ICBC-insured motorist and crash victim will be in line for a share of almost $1 billion. 

Avid curler Dale Kohlenberg, 64, got a lucky break when he was seconded to Iqaluit — and was quickly scouted for Team Nunavut.

A Toronto law firm has filed to launch a class action lawsuit against a Niagara Falls long-term care home where 18 residents have died from COVID-19, saying the home had a pub night in the midst of the pandemic.

Central Bank of Chile Working Papers by Carlos Madeira

Denver Newsroom, Apr 24, 2020 / 03:32 pm (CNA).- A Catholic lawyer says his arrest last Saturday is part of mainland China’s wide-ranging efforts to tighten control over Hong Kong.

His ordeal follows his participation in months of pro-democracy protests on the island, which have been slowed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Hong Kong police arrested 81-year-old Martin Lee, along with 14 other pro-democracy protestors, on April 18. Lee has been demonstrating for universal suffrage in Hong Kong for nearly 40 years, and this is his first arrest, the Washington Post reports.

CNA spoke with one of Lee’s close friends, who said Lee and those arrested with him are currently bailed out of prison, and are safe.

Lee, the founder of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, wrote in an April 21 column in the Washington Post that he was arrested for taking part in protests last year against an extradition bill— now withdrawn— which would have allowed the Chinese government to extradite alleged criminals from Hong Kong to the mainland to stand trial.

Hong Kong is currently facing two plagues from China, Lee wrote: the coronavirus (COVID-19) and “attacks on our most basic human rights.”

“We can all hope a vaccine is soon developed for the coronavirus. But once Hong Kong’s human rights and rule of law are rolled back, the fatal virus of authoritarian rule will be here to stay,” Lee wrote.

He said that the free press in Hong Kong was vital for alerting the world to the dangers of the coronavirus, even as Chinese state media sought to repress information about the outbreak.

Now, Chinese authorities are attempting to pass legislation to increase their influence over Hong Kong, Lee said.

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. Hong Kongers enjoy freedom of worship and evangelization, while in mainland China, there is a long history of persecution for Christians who run afoul of the government.

In January, China appointed Luo Huining as the head of the powerful Central Liaison Office in Hong Kong. Luo last week intensified calls for Communist China to exercise more control in Hong Kong by passing “national security legislation.”

The legislation would outlaw “sedition, subversion and the theft of state secrets,” Lee wrote.

This is not the first time the legislation has been introduced— in 2003, widespread protests against the measure led China to withdraw it.

The passing of such a “subversion” law would give China even more power to quash Hong Kongers’ freedoms, Lee warned.

“These vague standards are designed to protect the Chinese Communist Party and undermine core freedoms of Hong Kong, such as freedoms of religion, assembly and the press — including the reporting of pandemics that embarrass Beijing,” he wrote.

The Justice and Peace Commission of the Diocese of Hong Kong released a statement condemning the arrests April 18, calling for an end to all arrests until an independent commission can be established, and for the police to return the mobile phones of all arrested persons in order to ensure their privacy.

The diocese also reiterated that the government must respond to the demands for which the pro-democracy demonstrators have been calling for months, which include an independent inquiry into police tactics.

A Hong Kong friend of Lee, who declined to be identified for safety, said they believe Sun Li Jun— the deputy public security minister for Hong Kong who oversees the Chinese secret police— wanted to send a message of power ahead of Chinese Workers’ Day celebration on May 1.

The friend believes Sun— who is reportedly under investigation by China for corruption— ordered the arrests to show that the authorities have control of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.

“As the followers of God, we will keep praying for [Hong Kong] and let our Lord lead the way,” Lee’s friend told CNA.

“In HK we all love China and Chinese people but we are against CCP [Chinese Communist Party] for what they did to all of us now and before.”

An estimated 1 million protesters turned out at the first major pro-democracy demonstration in Hong Kong on June 6, 2019.

Catholics have played a major role in the protests, which continued after the extradition bill was revoked. Protestors largely called for the resignation of chief executive Carrie Lam— herself a Catholic— more open elections in the region, and an investigation into police brutality allegations.

In October, the legislature of Hong Kong completed the process of officially withdrawing the controversial extradition bill.

“Had the extradition bill been passed, we could have faced trial already in China instead of Hong Kong,” Lee noted in his column.

The impetus for the bill was a case involving a young Hong Kong man whom Taiwan requested be extradited for an alleged murder. Hong Kong previously has no formal extradition agreements with mainland China or Taiwan.

Christians and advocates widely opposed the bill, fearing that the Chinese government, which already seeks to control and suppress Christianity on the mainland, would use it to further tighten its grip on free exercise of religion in Hong Kong.

 

OM Malawi endeavours to make its projects and workers self-sustainable, while transforming lives and communities at the same time.

Over an eight-day period, 18 Ride2Transform cyclists travelled 690 kilometers, participating in a personal journey with the Lord and praying for the country of Malawi.

WHAT a difference a Prime Minister makes. There used to be a time, back before it wasn’t an obstacle to promotion, that Jackson Carlaw was aghast at the idea of a no-deal Brexit.

In the wake of the 'Janus' Supreme Court case, teachers' unions are facing more than a dozen legal challenges backed by right-leaning groups that could further dampen their membership numbers and finances.

Lynn Faulds Wood, Journalist and TV presenter

An Illinois judge has dismissed the nation's first class-action lawsuit against a state high school association over its handling of concussions, ruling that it had made strides in that regard since the filing of the lawsuit.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts signed a bill into law Wednesday that expands the state's anti-hazing regulations to elementary, middle, and high schools rather than just post-secondary institutions.

A Los Angeles judge ruled that a teenage football player may proceed to trial against the national Pop Warner organization, four years after he suffered an on-field injury that left him a quadriplegic.

Rep. Luke Messer, R-Ind., has introduced legislation to allow money in 529 savings plans to be used for home-schooling expenses, a proposal that was stripped out of a late version of the recent tax-code overhaul.

Indiana's state Senate has approved a measure that would create access for middle-income families for private-school vouchers. As it stands, it's one of the most ambitious voucher proposals ever offered in the states.

The Houston school district has settled a federal lawsuit brought by the teacher's union over the school system's controversial teacher evaluation system, which involved a secret algorithm.

The new law overturns a nearly 15-year-old law that had eliminated bilingual education in most of the state's public schools.

Arizona is expected to repeal its longstanding ban on bilingual education, following similar moves in California and Massachusetts in recent years.

Prior to the Affordable Care Act of 2010, 34 states enacted laws extending eligibility for parents’ health insurance to adult children. Few studies have examined their impact; a single study found no change in insurance 1 year after enactment.

States that expanded parents’ insurance eligibility to young adults were associated with higher rates of insurance coverage, identification of a personal clinician, physical exams, and lower forgone care due to cost. The Affordable Care Act may similarly improve access to care. (Read the full article)

There is evidence from both developed and developing countries that antiretroviral treatment significantly reduces mortality in HIV-infected children. However, in sub-Saharan Africa, numerous health system, financial, and human resource obstacles make delivering quality pediatric HIV care a challenge.

We describe the experience of the Baylor International Pediatrics AIDS Initiative in Malawi, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Despite challenges delivering pediatric treatment in these countries, mortality and clinical outcomes approaching those from developed countries are feasible. (Read the full article)

Previous studies have demonstrated that booster seat legislation decreased fatalities in children. However, these studies have not accounted for confounding factors such as other legislation and temporal trends in safety.

This study demonstrates that state booster seat laws are associated with decreased rates of fatalities and injuries in children 4 to 7 years of age in the United States, with the strongest effects in the older children. (Read the full article)

Several of the already existing restrictions on U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos' authority to waive federal education law deal with school funding.

Congress should not grant flexibility from the federal special education law's key components due to the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has told federal lawmakers.

On 15 June 2011 the Congolese Parliament adopted, after nearly three months of de-bate, the new electoral law. The Senate, or upper house, controlled by the opposition, and the National Assembly, or lower house, controlled by the ruling coalition, both voted for an electoral law which ultimately remains very similar to that governing the 2006 elections. Parliament took three months of debate to reject most of the amend-ments proposed by the ruling party (PPRD). In doing so it demonstrated that the ex-ecutive could not simply trump its interests.

The United Nations Security Council decided on 10 April to deploy a peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) which will take over the mission of the African Union (MISCA), which itself succeeded the mission of the Economic Community of Central African States (MICOPAX).

Security researchers are demonstrating how you can use the Windows 10 flaw, CVE-2020-0601, to spoof the trusted digital certificates for official website domains on Google's Chrome browser. These same certificates can warn you about hacking attempts.

Congress should not grant flexibility from the federal special education law's key components due to the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has told federal lawmakers.

Until now, providing your own router didn't stop ISPs charging you a router rental fee.

Arizona's ambitious expansion of its school voucher program has officially been put on hold after opponents filed enough signatures to at least temporarily block the new law.

When people can’t leave their houses to attend an event, you bring the event to them. With residents across Pennsylvania sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, Penn State Dickinson Law’s Business Law Society is converting two upcoming entrepreneur pop-up clinics to virtual sessions, allowing people to participate from their homes.

D. Brooks Smith, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, will deliver the Penn State Law in University Park 2020 commencement address on May 16 in Eisenhower Auditorium.

Penn State Law in University Park will host "A Take on the Term" with Sarah Harrington and Erin Murphy, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 5, in the Sutliff Auditorium of the Lewis Katz Building.

Penn State Law in University Park will have a mandatory credit/no-credit grading system for the spring 2020 semester in order to be supportive of students during the novel coronavirus public health crisis.

The Penn State Law in University Park Civil Rights Appellate Clinic recently filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court. Biel v. St. James, a religious liberty case that was granted certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court.

When Penn State Law in University Park transitioned its annual Careers in the Law event to a virtual one due to COVID-19 concerns, Assistant Dean of Career Services Magen Mihok offered the sponsoring firms a choice: to receive a full refund of their registration fee, or to consider a donation to Penn State Law’s Future Fund to support students impacted by COVID-19. The result was a true embodiment of the "We Are" spirit.

Rebecca Mattson, head of faculty and research services for the H. Laddie Montague Jr. Law Library, Penn State University Libraries, and professor of legal research at Penn State Law at University Park, has been elected vice chair/chair elect of the Research Instruction and Patron Services Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries.

Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar and Clinical Professor of Law at Penn State Law in University Park, has written a chapter on immigration law in a new legal textbook covering issues surrounding the current global COVID-19 pandemic, published by Columbia Law School.

The Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee is backing Scottish Government plans to change the law on deciding parent-child contact in family breakdown cases.

Wisconsin lawmakers have established a new rural school task force to figure out how to address challenges such as declining enrollment and increasing transportation costs.

The lawsuit, filed in 2014, alleges that the state was severely underfunding schools, forcing school districts to lean heavily on property taxes, which especially disadvantages students in property-poor areas.

Governor Jack Markell, Delaware State Housing Authority, and their partners are pleased to announce the launch of a free housing locator website providing information about rental housing across the First State.

Governor Markell and the Delaware State Housing Authority announced the launch of a free housing locator website providing information about rental housing across the First State.

Loans for Heroes, which provides veterans with reduced mortgage rates, has funded $3.3 million in mortgage loans since it launched in May of 2012.

The new Manufactured Housing Assistance Program (MHAP) has been made available through Delaware Homeowner Relief — a partnership of the Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) and the Delaware Attorney General’s Office.

Governor Jack Markell joined Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) Director Anas Ben Addi and other federal, state and local officials to celebrate Delaware Homeownership Month and to announce a new program that will allow first-time homebuyers to claim a credit on their federal income taxes.

The Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) and the Delaware Attorney General’s Office joined forces to launch “Delaware Homeowner Relief”, an initiative created using a portion of funds Delaware received through the Multistate Mortgage Foreclosure Settlement between the federal government and five of the nation’s largest mortgage-servicing banks.

Governor Markell will attend the ribbon cutting ceremony at Heron Run Apartments in Smyrna.

DSHA has partnered with the Department of Education (DOE) to offer reduced interest rates on mortgages for teachers in the Delaware Talent Cooperative, a group of high performing educators who have committed to work in schools with a significant proportion of disadvantaged students

The Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA), in partnership with The Money School and the Delaware Federation of Housing Counselors, held its annual Homebuyer Fair on Saturday, April 5, 2014, at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington, Delaware. The Fair – geared toward providing prospective homebuyers with the opportunity to learn about the steps in purchasing a home – was a great success for the fourth year in a row.