California Law

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that regulation of the nation's slaughterhouses is exclusively up to the federal government and struck down a California law that required immediate euthanization of livestock that are too sick or weak to walk. The justices agreed with the National Meat Association that California's 2009 law violates a federal statute that sets national standards for meat safety and gives federal inspectors the final word on what to do about "nonambulatory" livestock.

europe Euro-zone recession is longest in history The euro zone is now in its longest-ever recession — a stubborn slump that has surpassed even the calamity that hit the region in the financial crisis of 2008-9. The European Union statistics office said Wednesday that nine of the 17 EU countries that use the euro are in recession, with France a notable addition to the list. Overall, the euro zone's economy contracted for the sixth straight quarter, shrinking by 0.2 percent...

The national battle over the best way to fix failing schools is ripping through this desert town like a sandstorm, tearing apart a community that is testing a radical new approach: the parent takeover. Parents here are trying to become the first in the country to use a trigger law, which allows a majority of families at a struggling school to force major changes, from firing the principal to closing the school and reopening it as an independent charter. All they need to do to wrest control is sign a...

LOS ANGELES — A California law that created an agency to oversee national health care reforms granted it broad authority to conceal spending on the contractors that will perform most of its functions, potentially shielding the public from seeing how hundreds of millions of dollars are spent. The degree of secrecy afforded Covered California appears unique among states attempting to establish their own health insurance exchanges under President Barack Obama's signature health law. ...

LOS ANGELES — A California law that created an agency to oversee national health care reforms granted it broad authority to conceal spending on the contractors that will perform most of its functions, potentially shielding the public from seeing how hundreds of millions of dollars are spent. The degree of secrecy afforded Covered California appears unique among states attempting to establish their own health insurance exchanges under President Barack Obama's signature health law. ...

California became the first state in the country to ban artery-clogging trans fats yesterday when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a measure to phase them out in restaurants beginning in 2010 and from baked goods by 2011. "California is a leader in promoting health and nutrition, and I am pleased to continue that tradition by being the first state in the nation to phase out trans fats," Schwarzenegger (R) said. Trans fatty acids, or trans fats, are commonly found in partially hydrogenated oils,...

Arizona, the state at the forefront of efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, may revoke the business licenses of companies that knowingly employ undocumented workers, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In a 5 to 3 vote , the court rejected arguments that control over illegal immigration is solely a federal responsibility and endorsed narrowly drawn state efforts to regulate the employment of those in the country illegally. Eight other states — Colorado, Mississippi,...

THE SUPREME COURT has decreed that the government is on solid ground when it bans the sale of "girlie" magazines to a minor but tramples on the Constitution when it tries to block that minor from buying a violent video game in which he can (virtually) mutilate and murder a realistic depiction of a woman. The distinction makes no sense — in the real or the virtual world. Monday's decision came in the case of a California law that sought to ban stores from renting or selling violent video...

SINCE THE SENATE failed to pass a climate bill in 2010, environmentalists have looked to the states to cut the country's greenhouse-gas emissions, and their gaze has been fixed most firmly on California. Continuing its tradition of pioneering green policies that others copy, the Golden State is implementing a landmark greenhouse-gas law that would do what Congress didn't — put a price on carbon-dioxide emissions through a cap-and-trade program, at least in California. But in San Francisco this month, the 9th...

The Supreme Court yesterday made it easier for fired workers to pursue claims that they lost their jobs because of age discrimination. The court ruled 7 to 1 that when older workers are disproportionately affected by employment decisions, the company bears the burden of showing there are reasons other than age discrimination that produced the outcome. The decision was one of several workplace-related rulings from the court yesterday that yielded mixed results for business organizations.

Whatever your position on Tuesday's election results, this cannot be disputed: 2012 has been a great year for big money in politics, and an even greater year for secret big money in politics. At least $213 million for which no source has been identified has gone into independent campaigns for the presidential and congressional candidates, according to Sunlight Foundation estimates, with about $4 going to Republican candidates for every $1 going to Democrats. Thanks to several Supreme Court rulings, organizations that proclaim...

SINCE THE SENATE failed to pass a climate bill in 2010, environmentalists have looked to the states to cut the country's greenhouse-gas emissions, and their gaze has been fixed most firmly on California. Continuing its tradition of pioneering green policies that others copy, the Golden State is implementing a landmark greenhouse-gas law that would do what Congress didn't — put a price on carbon-dioxide emissions through a cap-and-trade program, at least in California. But in San Francisco this month, ...

PHOENIX The federal government is a bull that has found yet another china shop, this time in Arizona. It seems determined to inflict, for angelic motives and progressive goals, economic damage on this state. And economic and social damage on Native Americans, who over the years have experienced quite enough of that at Washington's hands. The gain from this pain? The most frequently cited study says "research to date . . . is inconclusive as to whether" there would be "any perceptible improvement in visibility at the Grand...

And now for the finger-pointing and recriminations, the scenarios unseen and legal arguments unadvanced that could have saved what many say is the most significant social policy change in half a century. That 1792 law requiring all men older than 18 to buy a musket! Why didn't the Obama administration latch on to that to salvage the individual mandate? That blind spot about broccoli! Wait, what's that you say? The Supreme Court has not yet handed down its decision in the ...

The national battle over the best way to fix failing schools is ripping through this desert town like a sandstorm, tearing apart a community that is testing a radical new approach: the parent takeover. Parents here are trying to become the first in the country to use a trigger law, which allows a majority of families at a struggling school to force major changes, from firing the principal to closing the school and reopening it as an independent charter. All they need to do to wrest...

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that regulation of the nation's slaughterhouses is exclusively up to the federal government and struck down a California law that required immediate euthanization of livestock that are too sick or weak to walk. The justices agreed with the National Meat Association that California's 2009 law violates a federal statute that sets national standards for meat safety and gives federal inspectors the final word on what to do about "nonambulatory"...

PHOENIX The federal government is a bull that has found yet another china shop, this time in Arizona. It seems determined to inflict, for angelic motives and progressive goals, economic damage on this state. And economic and social damage on Native Americans, who over the years have experienced quite enough of that at Washington's hands. The gain from this pain? The most frequently cited study says "research to date . . . is inconclusive as to whether" there would be "any perceptible improvement in visibility at the Grand Canyon and other...

Some movies prove so eye-opening that a viewer may feel the urge to recount the story, start to finish, to friends and acquaintances. "Crime After Crime" is that kind of film. The shocking, emotional documentary follows an abused, incarcerated woman whose quest for freedom meets a never-ending series of outlandish obstacles. Deborah Peagler was 15 when she started dating Oliver Wilson, a man with a magnetic personality and good looks to match. He also had a dark side: Wilson was a pimp, and for years he forced Peagler to prostitute...