Author: Eliza

New York City officials have filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the owners of a brownstone in Midtown for illegally renting their units on Airbnb.

The lawsuit comes under a relatively recent New York City law that requires rental platforms like Airbnb to give information about short-term listings to the major’s office — such as the identity of the host and which bank accounts payments were made to. The city was able to discover the identity of the host from data obtained by Airbnb. The suit was filed as New York City is in the grip of a tight housing market, with critics blaming Airbnb for the squeeze by reserving units exclusively for tourists.

Hosts can only offer rentals for less than 30 days and only if they stay with their guests, with a limit of up to two guests, according to New York city and state law.

“We’re not going

A heated exchange between Mon. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Berkeley Law professor Khiara Bridges over whether men can get pregnant drew strong reactions online from both sides of the political aisle.

The Republican senator’s Twitter account shared the clip from a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on abortion Tuesday.

In the clip, Hawley asked Bridges if she meant “women” after she repeatedly referred to “people with a capacity for pregnancy.” Bridges said that “trans men and non-binary people” were also capable of carrying pregnancies. The senator then asked Bridges if abortion was still a “women’s rights issue.” Bridges responded by saying that abortion affected women as well as other people.

HAWLEY,

Several Colorado cities are suing the state over a new law that would keep them from collecting sales and use tax on building materials for public schools.

HB22-1024 passed the legislature this year with bipartisan support in both chambers. Gov. Jared Polis signed it into law in April and it is slated to go into effect in August. In short, lawmakers said they wanted to keep taxpayers from paying extra on school buildings.

“Most times you levy a tax on yourself to build the school and pay off the bond,” sponsored Rep. Shannon Bird, a Westminster Democrat, said. “If there’s another tax on that, you’re now taxing yourself to pay off another tax over 25 or 30 years, and with interest.”

She noted that a sales tax of even just a few percentage points can add millions to projects. A 4% sales tax on $25 million worth of building material

The independent state legislature theory was first invoked by three conservative US Supreme Court justices in the celebrated Bush v. Gore case that handed the 2000 election victory to George W. Bush.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The independent state legislature theory was first invoked by three conservative US Supreme Court justices in the celebrated Bush v. Gore case that handed the 2000 election victory to George W. Bush.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a case that could dramatically change how federal elections are conducted. At issue is a legal theory that would give state legislatures unfettered authority to set the rules for federal elections, free of supervision by state courts and state constitutions.

The theory, known as the “independent state legislature theory,” stems from the election clause in Article I of the Constitution. It says, “The times, places