{"id":8448,"date":"2015-02-22T17:09:42","date_gmt":"2015-02-22T22:09:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/crcl\/?p=8448"},"modified":"2015-02-23T10:15:56","modified_gmt":"2015-02-23T15:15:56","slug":"february-23-2015-weekly-news-roundup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/crcl\/february-23-2015-weekly-news-roundup\/","title":{"rendered":"February 23, 2015: Weekly News Roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Protests Continue Following Police Shooting in Washington State\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The fatal police shooting of Antonio Zambrano-Montes on February 10 has spurred <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/02\/22\/us\/killing-by-police-in-a-washington-town-stirs-protests.html?ref=us\">daily protests<\/a> in Pasco, Washington. The police claim Zambrano-Montes, a Mexican immigrant, was throwing rocks at the officers, but the situation is still <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pasco-wa.gov\/899\/Pasco-Police-Officer-Involved-Shooting-I\">under investigation<\/a>. Protestors have been gathering at the Pasco City Hall every day this week, and people around the nation are drawing parallels between this shooting and the police shootings of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/11\/25\/us\/ferguson-darren-wilson-shooting-michael-brown-grand-jury.html\">Michael Brown<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/12\/04\/nyregion\/grand-jury-said-to-bring-no-charges-in-staten-island-chokehold-death-of-eric-garner.html\">Eric Garner<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Confusion in Alabama\u00a0Continues Regarding\u00a0Same-Sex Marriage Licenses<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Two conservative groups filed an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/02\/19\/us\/fresh-challenge-to-gay-marriage-increases-confusion-in-alabama.html\">emergency petition<\/a> to the Alabama Supreme Court, requesting state and federal courts in Alabama to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses. This comes in the wake of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama deciding\u00a0that the state&#8217;s\u00a0ban on gay marriage was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/aponline\/2015\/02\/11\/us\/ap-us-gay-marriage-alabama.html?ref=topics\">unconstitutional<\/a>. While the conservative organizations hoped this petition would stop gay marriages from taking place in Alabama, many probate judges continue to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Republicans fill every seat on the Alabama Supreme Court, and activists on both sides of this issue are eagerly awaiting a decision.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wal-Mart Raising Wages for Employees to $9 an Hour<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Wal-Mart announced that it is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/02\/20\/business\/walmart-raising-wage-to-at-least-9-dollars.html?ref=topics\">raising its wages<\/a> to at least $9 an hour for a half-million employees. A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/the-press-office\/2015\/02\/19\/press-gaggle-principal-deputy-press-secretary-eric-schultz-en-route-chic\">White House spokesman<\/a> said, \u201cToday\u2019s announcement is another example of businesses, along with cities and states, taking action on their own to raise wages for their workers, recognizing that doing so can raise productivity, reduce turnover and improve morale.\u201d This move could also encourage other retailers to increase wages for their employees.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Incorrect Tax Information Regarding Obamacare Impacting 800,000 Americans<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On Friday, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/the-press-office\/2015\/02\/20\/press-briefing-press-secretary-josh-earnest-2202015\">Obama administration<\/a> announced that the government sent incorrect tax information to 800,000 Americans who had signed up for insurance policies via HealthCare.gov. While the Affordable Care Act has been widely declared a success due to its strong enrollment numbers, this mistake could hurt many low-income Americans who must now wait to file their taxes and receive their refunds. The government decided to postpone the deadline to sign up for health insurance, in order to allow people to avoid any tax penalties. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/02\/21\/us\/incorrect-tax-information-health-insurance.html?ref=us\">Critics<\/a> of the Affordable Care Act have jumped upon this mistake, claiming that \u201cObamacare continues to frustrate and confuse Americans.\u201d However,\u00a0the White House claims this will only impact \u201ca very small fraction\u201d of taxpayers and that they still have plenty of time to file before the tax deadline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Protests Continue Following Police Shooting in Washington State\u00a0 The fatal police shooting of Antonio Zambrano-Montes on February 10 has spurred [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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