By Kayla Carr
Local
STATE SENATE KILLS RIDE-SHARING BILL
The bill that would regulate ride-sharing companies such as Uber failed in the Nevada senate on Wednesday, April 15.
Senate Bill 439 required a two-thirds majority to pass, but 10 senators, all Democrats, voted against the bill. The opposition was concerned with the safety of future consumers, an issue that the bill failed to address.
The Nevada Supreme Court heard a lawsuit filed by former Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto in November. The Associated Press reported that Masto argued that ride-sharing companies “infringe on the franchise rights of taxi companies and cabdrivers serving fare-paying passengers under state oversight.”
National
APPELLATE COURT WEIGHS IN ON OBAMA IMMIGRATION POLICY
Does President Barack Obama have the authority to comprehensively reform immigration without involvement from Congress? The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is trying to decide.
Last November, Obama issued the executive order with the intent to protect those living in the country illegally from deportation. A 26-state coalition led by Texas brought on the lawsuit against the Obama administration. The states argue that Congress, not the president, retains the power to alter immigration policy.
The special hearing that took place Friday, April 17 in New Orleans followed the order by the United States District Court Judge Andrew Hanen that blocked the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans programs.
Though the judges did not deliver a decision, Politico expects the special hearing to end in a 2-1 result against the Justice Department’s appeal. The Supreme Court will be left to have the final say in whether the policies can be legally implemented.
International
VIDEO SURFACES DEPICTING ISLAMIC STATE MILITANTS EXECUTING CHRISTIANS IN LIBYA
On Sunday, April 19 the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS or ISIL, released a video purportedly showing militants behead and shoot two groups of Ethiopian Christians in Libya.
The 29-minute video begins by detailing a history of the relationship between Christians and Muslims. Near the end of it, a masked militant standing among the captives and IS executors extends his pistol and addresses Christian viewers in English.
“To the nation of the cross we are back again…telling you the Muslim blood that was shed under the hands of your religion is not cheap. In fact, their blood is the purest blood because their nation behind them inherits revenge,” the masked individual said.
The video alternates between showing IS militants in southern Libya shoot a group of Christians in the head and IS fighters in eastern Libya sawing off the heads of another group of Christians on the beach.
The video has not been verified and the number of victims and their identities is unknown.
The White House released a statement by National Security Council Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan denouncing the act of terror.
“The United States condemns in the strongest terms the brutal mass murder purportedly of Ethiopian Christians by ISIL-affiliated terrorists in Libya,” Meehan said.
Kayla Carr can be reached at rhernandez@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @TheSagebrush.
