By Kajon Pompey
Edited by Elissa D. Hecker
Below, for your browsing convenience, the categories are divided into: Entertainment, Arts, Sports, Technology/Media, and General News:
Entertainment
Senators Seek to Break Up Live Nation After Swift Concert Ticket Fiasco
Live Nation Entertainment came under fire during a Senate Judiciary hearing, where committee members from both parties criticized the entertainment giant for its botched sale of Swift tickets/ They called the company a monopoly that hinders competition and harms consumers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/24/arts/music/ticketmaster-taylor-swift-senate-hearing.html
Arts
Stolen Art Returns to Italy
Well-preserved marble statutes, red-figure vases, a silver drinking bowl, and rare bronzes, all worth more than $20 Million were seized from U.S. officials over then past 14 months and are back on Italy soil. Some of these works were on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MoMa) in New York as well as in private homes and auction houses. This was a part of collaboration between Italian and American enforcement officials with the full cooperation of MoMa.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/23/world/europe/italy-art-stolen-us.html
Sports
PGA Lawsuit Update
The PGA Tour has added Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund to a lawsuit between LIV Golf and PGA Tour over matters including antitrust law and contract interference. The judge will soon decide whether to allow the addition of another party to the ongoing case as well. Much of the tour's purported evidence involving the fund is sealed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/24/sports/golf/liv-pif-lawsuit-pga.html
Five Indian Cricket Teams Sell for $570 Million
The Board of Control for Cricket in India sold five new teams of the Women's Premier League to local investors for a combined price of more than $570 Million. The Board has revolutionized how cricket is played and has since attracted high-figure investors ranging from billionaires to overseas privacy equity groups.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/01/sports/cricket/indian-cricket-us-investors.html
International Olympic Committee to Allow Athletes from Russia and Belarus
Individual athletes from Russia and Belarus will compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics. "No athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport," says the I.O.C. in a statement after a meeting of its executive board.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/25/world/russia-ukraine-news/olympic-officials-prepare-the-way-for-russian-and-belarusian-athletes-to-compete-in-the-paris-games
Media / Technology
Justices Delay on Social Medial Laws in FL and TX
The Supreme Court has delayed hearing two major First Amendment challenges to the states' laws combating social media censorship. The laws' supporters are objecting to the decisions of some social media platforms to bar President Donald J. Trump. Gov. Ron DeSantis, another supporter, states that the point of the law is to promote conservative viewpoints. The Court has asked the Biden Administration whether the Constitution allows Florida and Texas to prevent large social media companies from removing posts based on the views they express. More to come.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/23/us/scotus-internet-florida-texas-speech.html
Justice Department Shuts Down Ransomware Group
The Justice Department dismantled the computer networks of a criminal organization that demanded hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom from schools, hospitals, and other critical infrastructure. The F.B.I. in many parts of the world all worked together to gain covert access to the servers and websites run by the organization, Hive.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/us/politics/justice-department-ransomware-hive.html
Google Accused of Abuse
The Justice Department and a group of eight states have sued Google, accusing it of illegally abusing a monopoly on online advertising. The lawsuit asserts that Google has engaged in a systemic campaign to seize control of the wide swath of high-tech tools used by publishers, advertisers, and brokers to facilitate digital advertising.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/24/technology/google-ads-lawsuit.html
Meta Board Decides to Revise Standard Policies Against Nude Photos
Meta's policies surrounding content creators' body parts, such as nipples, came into question for gender-nonconforming users. An oversight board recently reviewed the case of a nonbinary couple's photos depicting their nipples and where the couple asked the public to donate for one member of the couple to have top surgery. Instagram removed the photos, saying that the photos depicting breasts violated the company's Sexual Solicitation Community Standard. Meta's board, made up of 22 academics, journalists, and human rights advocates, have struggled with this debate and suggested clarifications be made to the Adult Nudity and Sexual Activity Community Standards and for a comprehensive impact assessment on the policy change by mid-March.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/20/technology/meta-nudity-standards-overhaul.html
University of Texas Officials Offers A.I. Degree
University of Texas at Austin is said to start a large-scale, low-cost online Master of Science degree program in artificial intelligence (AI). The first of its kind, the new program could expand the A.I. workforce in the U.S., as tech giants like Microsoft are rushing to invest billions in the field.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/technology/ai-masters-degree-texas.html
Times Seeks Documents in Fox Defamation Lawsuit
The New York Times asked a judge to unseal legal fillings that contain evidence in the defamation case against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems, an organization targeted by conspiracy theories about rigged machines and stolen votes in the 2020 election. The evidence of the case consists of text messages and emails taken from the personal phones of Fox executives. The Times argued that the public has a right to access such evidence, but Fox claims that the commentary of their employees and guests are protected under the First Amendment.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/business/media/times-fox-news-dominion.html
Meta to Lift Trump Account Suspension
Trump can now return to Facebook and Instagram in the next few weeks. Apparently, he had the most followed account on Facebook when he was barred. It's been over two years since his accounts were suspended.
Meta to Reinstate Trump's Facebook and Instagram Accounts
Trump can now return to Facebook and Instagram in the next few weeks. It has been over two years since his accounts were suspended.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/technology/trump-facebook-instagram-accounts-meta.html
Putin's War Breathes a Symbol of Freedom
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is a news network, which was originally set up as a U.S. government operation early in the Cold War, is now making a case for its independence as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/24/world/europe/rfe-russia-ukraine.html
Russia Bans Independent News Site
Russia bans Meduza, a popular news site, and will prosecute anyone who aids or promotes it. Russia claims that the news site poses a "threat to the foundations of the Russian Federation's constitutional order and nation's security." Even before the war, the site was seen as a "foreign agent."
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/27/world/europe/russia-meduza-news-organizations.html
General News
Overworked and Dispirited Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is stretched thin trying to write a dozen of new highly complex rules and regulations that are central to President Biden's climate goals. The regulations are already past the EPA's self-imposed deadlines, as the Agency experienced a staff exodus during the Trump administration, while its workload increased. The Biden administration officials insist that the EPA has delivered more protection than any previous presidency.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/23/climate/environmental-protection-agency-epa-funding.html
National Archives Asks Former Leaders to Review their Files
The National Archives asked former presidents and vice presidents to check their personal records for any classified or presidential records that are mistakenly still in their possession without their knowledge.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/us/politics/presidents-classified-files-national-archives.html
Bill Passed to Study F.A.A. Outage Grounded Flights
The House passed legislation that would create a task force to study the current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) alert system that failed in January. The legislation would direct the F.A.A. to create a task force to consider improvements to the current system. This comes after an outage caused departures nationwide to be halted one more this month.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/us/politics/faa-outage-legislation.html
Biden Set Mining Ban on Wilderness Waters
The Biden Administration said it will establish a 20-year moratorium on mining from Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness -an area that has been heavily disputed over its proposed copper and nickel mine.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/climate/mining-ban-boundary-waters-copper.html
Long Covid and the Workforce
Long Covid has significantly affected the American work force by preventing a large number of people from going back to work, while others continue to need long term medical care.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/24/health/long-covid-work.html
Schiff and Swalwell are Ousted from House Intelligence Committee
Speaker Kevin McCarthy sought to punish two Democrats who played key roles in Trump's impeachments. McCarthy used his unilateral powers to exile the representatives, making good on his promise to expel the California Democrats in his first major act as retribution.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/24/us/politics/mccarthy-schiff-swalwell-committee.html
Prosecutor Seeks to Keep Trump's Grand Jury Findings Private
Local Prosecutor, Fani T. Williams, asks the Atlanta judge to not make public the findings of a special grand jury hearing as she seeks to protect the future of the defendant's rights.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/09/us/trump-georgia-election-grand-jury.html
Former F.B.I. Official Charged with Aiding an Oligarch
A former senior F.B.I. official in New York was in charge of the agency's most secret and sensitive counterintelligence investigations is accused from taking money from former Albanian intelligence employees and from a representative of Oleg Deripaska. Deripaska is associated with acts of bribery, extortion, and violence.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/23/world/russia-ukraine-news#a-former-top-fbi-official-is-charged-with-aiding-a-russian-oligarch
Four Oath Keepers Connected to Jan. 6 Riot Convicted in Second Trial
Federal prosecutors argued that the four men were prepared to support Trump as an armed militia. The government depicted them as lower ranked members in the second trial and more readily employed soldiers for the group. Their defense attorney reiterated arguments made in the first trial -that they only discussed the possibility of a war but never put together clear or practical plans to enter the Capitol or stop lawmakers from certifying the 2020 election results.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/23/us/politics/oath-keepers-convicted-sedition.html
Man with Boot on Pelosi's Desk Sentenced
Barnett, a former window salesman, whose image messing with Nancy Pelosi's desk went viral, faces up to 47 years. His attorney plans to appeal the conviction based on his clien'ts love of God and claim that he was "involuntarily" pushed into the Capitol by the surging crowd.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/23/us/politics/richard-barnett-pelosi-jan-6-convicted.html
Experts Believe Government Should Make Standard COVID Shots
Committee members of the F.D.A. hope that a standard vaccination would reduce confusion caused by the different versions of the vaccines and to boost vaccination rates. Only about 40% of adults 65 and older, and only 16% of people aged 5 and older, have received the updated September - booster shot.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/health/covid-vaccines-boosters.html
Scion Murdaugh Trial Beings
Alex Murdaugh, a South Carolina lawyer whose family of lawyers have built a dynasty over many generations in South Carolina has been dismantled due to the killings of his wife and son stands trial. The killings went unsolved for more than a year before Murdaugh was charged with two counts of murder and disbarred.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/23/us/alex-murdaugh-trial.html
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Elissa Hecker
Law Office Of Elissa D. Hecker
Irvington NY
(914) 478-0457
[email protected]------------------------------