Month: November 2016

Fate of Obama legacy initiatives in hands of courts, successor

Your Health Matters

File photo of U.S. President Barack Obama signing into law S. 337: FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 and S. 2328: Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act at the Oval Office of the White House in WashingtonBy Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) – When President Barack Obama leaves office on Jan. 20 after eight years, several of his major initiatives will still hang in the legal balance, meaning the U.S. courts and his successor will play a major role in shaping his legacy. Ongoing legal challenges by Republican-governed states and business groups are targeting Obama's signature healthcare law, his plan to combat climate change, a key immigration initiative, his transgender rights policy, his "net neutrality" internet rules, overtime pay for workers and other matters. Most of the cases are awaiting rulings by trial judges or regional federal appeals courts and could be bound for the U.S. Supreme Court, but are unlikely to get there until after the winner of Tuesday&039;s election, pitting Democrat Hillary Clinton against Republican Donald Trump, is sworn in.

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Swiss court upholds refusal of permit for Islamic kindergarten

Your Health Matters

Switzerland’s highest court has upheld the canton of Zurich’s decision to refuse permission for an Islamic society to open a religious kindergarten, saying its plans did not fulfill the legal requirements for such schools. The Federal Court’s ruling highlights increasingly tense relations between traditionally Christian Swiss society and a Muslim minority that makes up around 5 percent of the population. The “al Huda” society had sought since 2013 to open a kindergarten and appealed against local authorities’ refusal to grant permission.
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Soda taxes may spread if voters check ballots in California, Colorado

Your Health Matters

A sign for the "Yes on D" campaign in the window of the Measure D election headquarters in BerkeleyAs Americans vote for a new president on Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of voters in California's Bay Area and Boulder, Colorado, will also decide whether they want levies on sugary drinks, another step toward making soda taxes a norm. Three cities in California – San Francisco, Berkeley and Albany – and Boulder, Colorado, have become the latest battleground in a so-called "War on Sugar" that centers on sweetened drinks. Over 800,000 voters will decide on ballot measures to introduce taxes of 1 or 2 cents per ounce on soft drinks on Nov. 9, just weeks after the World Health Organization (WHO) advocated that governments should impose these types of levies.

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