South Korea’s president declared Tuesday that he has put his country into a state of martial law because his government’s top opposition party is sympathizing with North Korea and anti-government activities.
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Senator JD Vance (R-OH) renewed calls for the passage of his Railway Safety Act on Thursday after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine on February 3.
“Two hundred and fifty days have passed since the disastrous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Yet Congress has still not passed commonsense railway safety legislation to prevent something like this from happening again,” Vance said in a statement. “Enough is enough – it’s time for the Senate to pass the Railway Safety Act.”
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State Representative Brad Roae (R-PA-Meadville) this week proposed legislation to permit small businesses to continue operating during potential future states of emergency in Pennsylvania.
His bill, a version of a measure he sponsored in 2020, would permit small businesses to serve one customer at a time during such periods. The earlier legislation passed the House with nearly all Republicans and some Democrats in support but the Senate did not vote on it.
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A new report on the January 2022 I-95 snow incident says that Virginia agencies failed to apply lessons from a December 2018 snow incident on I-81.
“VDOT needs to improve on applying what is learned from prior events and ensure it is applied to future events,” the Office of the State Inspector General (OSIG) recommended in an August report. “Lessons learned from the 2018 I-81 Snow Incident, as well as those from the 2022 I-95 Snow Incident, should be analyzed and incorporated into each agency’s policies and procedures.”
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In a rare showing of bipartisanship, the entire federal congressional delegation from Tennessee this week signed a letter addressed to President Joe Biden (D) urging him to approve Gov. Bill Lee’s (R) request to declare a major disaster emergency.
An early April wildfire tore through 3,700 acres in Sevier County in early April, prompting the request for the federal declaration.
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Gov. Tim Walz said he plans to extend his COVID-19 peacetime emergency declaration for another 30 days when lawmakers return to St. Paul Monday for a special session.
The governor announced Friday night that he has convened a special legislative session for July 13, the same day his peacetime emergency declaration is set to expire. According to Minnesota law, the governor must convene both houses of the Legislature if he wishes to extend a peacetime emergency when the Legislature is not in session.
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Gov. Tim Walz recently filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought against him regarding his use of emergency powers during the coronavirus pandemic.
The lawsuit was filed on May 28 by four members of the New House Republican Caucus, the Free Minnesota Coalition, and at least eight businesses across the state. The complaint argues that the governor does not have the authority to “suspend the constitutional rights of Minnesotans.”
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Ohio State House Republicans on Wednesday approved a move to limit the Health Department’s emergency declaration powers.
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Governor Bill Lee issued Executive Order No. 14 Thursday afternoon declaring a state of emergency in the state in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 COVID-19 for the purpose of facilitating the treatment and containment of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
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