Free Republic

CLAY COUNTY, Ill. (NEXSTAR) — Governor J.B. Pritzker’s emergency powers to issue executive orders to close businesses or order people to stay at home expired 85 days ago on April 8th, 2020, a judge in Clay County Circuit Court ruled on Thursday afternoon. The ruling did not find the state has no power to forcibly close businesses or to restrict a citizen’s movements, but rather that those powers are derived from the Illinois Department of Public Health Act, not under the Illinois Emergency Management Act. Pritzker’s administration has at times cited both portions of state law to enforce his orders....

On Monday, the Sheriff of Crook County, Oregon, John Gautney, issued a statement that went viral for all the right reasons. In announcing that the county was ready to get back to work, he said that the sheriff’s office would not cite businesses that chose to reopen. Sheriff Gautney said that it didn’t make sense for small businesses to remain closed when large retailers could continue to operate with proper safety measures in place. He noted that Crook County has had a grand total of one case of CCP coronavirus, and that it was time to get back to work....

A spokesperson from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services told Fox News early Saturday that open enrollment for Affordable Care Act’s health insurance will continue despite the federal judge's ruling that the law is unconstitutional and must be "invalidated in whole.” U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor, a federal judge in Texas appointed by President George W. Bush, ruled that last year's tax cut bill knocked the constitutional foundation from under Obamacare by eliminating a penalty for not having coverage. The rest of the law cannot be separated from that provision and is therefore invalid, he wrote. The decision came...

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has attended the launch of a $300m (£187m) industrial park in the Haitian town of Caracol. The project is part of US efforts to help Haiti recover from the devastation it suffered in the 2010 earthquake. The US has invested $124m (£77m) in the project, which it hopes will create thousands of jobs. At a grand opening ceremony Haiti's President Michel Martelly said the country was "open for business".

WASHINGTON — Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi terrified the oil industry late last year when she outlined her priorities for the new Democratic majorities in Congress. Within the first 100 hours, she promised, they would "roll back the multibillion-dollar subsidies for Big Oil." Last week, however, when Pelosi (D-San Francisco) won House approval of the much-touted bill socking it to the oil companies, it turned out to be considerably less drastic than many in the industry originally feared. Out of an estimated $32 billion in subsidies and tax breaks that the oil companies are scheduled to receive over the next...