Author: Ring of Fire Staff

In a recent attack on women’s rights, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R) has signed a number of abortion restrictions into law, including a 6-week abortion ban and a measure that would force the last abortion clinic in the state to close. Dalrymple is determined to open a legal battle against abortion in the state, and has stated that the constitutionality of the law is questionable. In fact, he has asked the state legislature to set up a cash fund for the law’s legal defense and told the Associated Press that money wasn’t an issue. While most legal fights...

At the request of its Chancellor, the University of North Carolina (UNC) Honor Court has suspended proceedings against sophomore Landen Gambill. Gambill was accused of “intimidating behavior” towards her rapist after speaking out about her assault, despite the fact that she never publicly identified her assailant. She filed a lawsuit on Monday, alleging that the University unlawfully retaliated against her for speaking out. After reporting her case, UNC’s student-led Honor Court decided that Gambill’s assailant was not guilty, and later charged her with violating the honor code, after her rapist filed a complaint accusing her of intimidation. UNC’s Chancellor,...

In a trial that had the potential to uncover the corruption in the Florida Republican Party, Jim Greer, the former chairman of the Republican Party in Florida, plead guilty to four counts of theft and one count of money laundering.  Greer was sentenced to one-and-a-half years in prison for stealing $125,000 dollars of party funds. Prosecutors say that Greer and his cohort, Delmar Johnson, channeled over $200,000 of party funds into a company he formed, and that Greer kept $125,000 of the funds for himself. Johnson was scheduled to be the prosecution’s star witness and was granted immunity for...

The sequester might be saving money for the government, but the cuts are risking lives of U.S. miners. The federal agency for mine safety has been informing states that much of their grant money for safety will soon cease to exist due to budget cuts. In a letter to stakeholders  Joe Main, the assistant secretary of Labor for Mine Safety, told state officials to brace themselves for a substantial cut in funding. Though the letter did not specify how much of the grant money would be cut, state officials are expecting as much as two thirds of their funding....

California’s same-sex marriage ban, Proposition 8, which has been in effect since 2008, was challenged in front of the Supreme Court today. This begins the arguments for the first of two cases being presented this session on same-sex marriage. Two couples in the landmark Hollingsworth v. Perry case gave their testimony in front of the Justices, saying that the ban “excludes gay and lesbian couples from an institution with a deep and distinctive meaning and thus violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection”. Lawyers for the plaintiffs encouraged the nine Justices to strike down Proposition 8 and to overturn...