Effective March 15, 2020, HHS Secretary Alex M. Azar waived certain penalties and sanctions under the HIPAA Privacy Rule against hospitals in its March 2020 COVID-19 and HIPAA Bulletin. These waivers followed the Secretary’s declaration of a public health emergency on January 31, 2020 and President Donald J. Trump’s declaration of a national emergency due …
One of the key factors hindering widespread development of renewable energy is inconsistency. The sun is not always shining, and the wind cannot be timed to blow at peak energy demands. The bridge to expanding the use of renewable energy lies in storage, specifically battery storage. However, there have been issues in the development of batteries. …
The spread of COVID-19 will almost certainly have negative impacts on the United States and world economy. It will likely also test the bounds of state and federal quarantine and inspection laws, and the government’s authority to respond to public health disasters. What do we know about the government’s authority to respond to epidemics and threats …
With tens of thousands of confirmed cases of coronavirus globally and more than 2,200 deaths in mainland China,“wartime” measures have been implemented. China has locked down several cities in the Hubei province and more than 50 million people are under quarantine. The healthcare system in Wuhan, where the outbreak was first detected, has been flooded …
This past weekend, popular social media accounts, all managed under the group Meme2020, helped Mike Bloomberg go “viral” dropping memes relating to his Presidential campaign. This type of branded content, also known as “sponcon,” is not a new phenomenon. Over the last few years influencers, social media personalities with significant followings, have become the frontlines …
Vaping has become increasingly common in the United States, especially among young people. When popular vaping company Juul entered the e-cigarette market in 2015, it faced little (if any) federal oversight. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not finalize its policy for regulating e-cigarettes as tobacco products until 2016, and even then, companies were given until May 2020 …
In signing the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act merely two months ago, President Donald Trump gave rise to the first new military service branch in over seventy years, “the world’s new war-fighting domain,” the U.S. Space Force. The introduction of the Space Force served as the response by the administration to the recent report by the …
In December 2019, Facebook announced an initial commitment of $130 million to launch its new Facebook Oversight Board. The Board, which has been called Facebook’s Supreme Court, is designed as a way for users to appeal decisions made by Facebook about its enforcement of community standards, which prohibit “activity and content like violence and criminal behavior, …
The Arizona Supreme Court, which has been a hotbed for reproductive technology debates, decided in late January that a “woman cannot use frozen embryos fertilized by her ex-husband to have children.” Case Background: Terrell v. Torres This case came about when an Arizona woman, Ruby Torres, fertilized her eggs before undergoing cancer treatments that would reduce …
Why do buyers choose to purchase Tesla vehicles? One notable reason is that Tesla vehicles are electric and sold exclusively online. Tesla chose this business model in order to remain “financially stable.” To purchase a Tesla, a buyer only needs to visit the Tesla website and can customize a vehicle to their own specifications. The company website …
