Declarations
“This bill is not about getting high. This bill is about getting well.”
— Dr. Alan Shackelford, a Colorado doctor who described the success of using medical marijuana on people with seizures and cancer at the Alabama Statehouse. Shackelford is one of many advocates who urged Alabama lawmakers to pass medical marijuana legislation this year. The bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in February. It would allow use of medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation for 15 conditions, including cancer, anxiety and chronic pain.
“This is a crucial piece of legislation that helps survivors of violent crimes receive the full measure of compensation awarded to them by the jury.”
— Ohio state Rep. Allison Russo, co-sponsor along with Rep. Kristin Boggs, of HB 518, which would lift caps on pain-and-suffering awards in rape victims’ lawsuits. The bill stems from a 2016 Ohio Supreme Court ruling that tossed out a $3.6 million jury award to a woman raped by her pastor at age 15. The court reduced the award to about $385,000 based on a 2005 law meant to limit lawsuit awards.
“What we’ve seen time and again is the District’s willingness to throw caution to the wind and as a result put children and educators at risk.”
— The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Jerry Jordan said in a statement regarding the union’s lawsuit against a Philadelphia school district. The union, representing public school teachers in Philadelphia, is suing the district over its handling of asbestos contamination in schools.
“It’s just probably best not to put things into the tsunami zone at all, no matter how strongly they build them.”
— Chris Goldfinger, an Oregon State University professor and an earthquake geologist, says lawmakers are making a big mistake by allowing the construction of critical facilities in tsunami inundation zones.
“The damage was caused by Hurricane Harvey, and such a hurricane is an Act of God, which the government neither caused nor committed.”
— U.S. Judge Loren A. Smith of the Court of Federal Claims ruled the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers isn’t liable for flood damage to thousands of Houston homes after Hurricane Harvey, because they would have flooded anyway. Smith said property owners downstream of the Addicks and Barker dams had no grounds to sue given the unprecedented nature of Harvey’s flooding in 2017.
“We’re raising the bar for safety technologies in our new vehicles.”
— Acting National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief James Owens says his agency will make changes this year to a testing program that assigns safety grades to new and future vehicles, such as those using semi-automated driving technology. His announcement came after the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board chided regulators for lagging their European counterparts in efforts to ensure consumer and road safety.