
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and the ONC launched nine pilot programs across nine jurisdictions, involving 45 organizations, to test behavioral health data‑exchange standards using the USCDI+ dataset and FHIR profiles, backed by roughly $20 million from SAMHSA. The pilots run through the end of 2026 and will inform a 2027 Behavioral Health Information Resource. Separately, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an advisory opinion extending the 2023 ban on gender‑transition procedures to mental‑health providers, warning that facilitation of such services could bar them from Medicaid and other public funds.

Financial institutions must reconcile the data‑intensive demands of anti‑money‑laundering (AML) programs with the privacy‑first mandates of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Non‑compliance can trigger fines up to €20 million or 4 % of global revenue, making integrated compliance a financial...

The FDA released draft guidance on flavored electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) that seeks to clarify evidentiary expectations for pre‑market tobacco product applications. The article argues the guidance should better reflect Section 910 of the Tobacco Control Act, which requires an...

In Hollingsworth v. Swales, the Texas Court of Appeals held that an arbitration provision embedded in a 2020 codicil is enforceable because beneficiaries who accepted benefits manifested mutual assent. The court ruled that disputes over will construction and trustee actions...

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has issued updated recommendations that require countries to maintain accurate, current beneficial‑ownership information for legal entities. Central registries should collect this data and make it readily accessible to competent authorities and financial institutions. The...
The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, in what the lab’s leadership says is retaliation for Colorado officials imprisoning a Trump‑aligned county clerk. The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)...

Ford Motor Company is being sued over alleged sexual harassment at its Chicago Assembly Plant, where a worker says a supervisor made explicit remarks from 2021 and retaliation followed after she reported it. The complaint, filed March 13, alleges the...

Oklahoma’s Senate Bill 546 cleared the House 84‑4, moving the state toward becoming the 21st jurisdiction with a comprehensive consumer privacy law. The bill adopts a Virginia‑style “Consensus Privacy” framework, applying to entities that process data of at least 100,000...

Mars Petcare US faces a federal lawsuit alleging it terminated a forklift driver just days after he submitted a request for FMLA leave and reasonable accommodations for a lumbar spine condition. The complaint claims the company failed to engage in...

The Trump administration has filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the termination of Haiti's temporary protected status (TPS) while ongoing litigation proceeds. Lower courts have blocked the February 2026 termination, keeping Haitian TPS holders protected...
Former Krispy Kreme driver Tyshawn Robinson has filed a federal lawsuit alleging the doughnut chain ignored two disability‑accommodation requests and then terminated him in retaliation. The complaint, filed March 13, 2026 in the Eastern District of North Carolina, cites violations...

Harper Coté, a former apprentice at Panasonic Energy’s Kansas plant, filed a federal lawsuit alleging sexual harassment by a coworker and her production supervisor, along with inadequate HR investigations and retaliation. The coworker remained on site for weeks after the...

The Alberta Court of Appeal set aside the robbery and weapons convictions of Wynden Bremner after discovering he died while his appeal was pending. The appellate court found the trial judge erred by dismissing alternative scenarios that could explain the...

South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission has asked the Ministry of Science and ICT to reconsider its plan to mandate facial‑recognition authentication for all new mobile phone numbers, set to launch on March 23. The watchdog recommends three fixes: a...

The General Services Administration’s latest Section 508 assessment reveals that fewer than half of federal agencies’ public‑facing ICT—webpages, documents, hardware and software—meet accessibility standards, with only 37% of top‑viewed sites fully compliant. The report highlights a testing bias toward websites and...
The European Union has built a layered anti‑money‑laundering (AML) framework that began with 1AMLD in 1990 and now comprises six directives. Each revision expanded the scope of obliged entities, introduced risk‑based approaches, and tightened reporting obligations. The latest 5AMLD and...

Ecuador has ignored a 2025 Inter‑American Court of Human Rights order to stop oil drilling in Block 43 of Yasuní National Park, where the isolated Tagaeri and Taromenane peoples live. The court ruled the extraction violates collective property, health, and cultural...
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department refused a judge's order to release repeat offender Joshua Sanchez‑Lopez onto high‑level electronic monitoring, prompting a petition to the Nevada Supreme Court. The sheriff argues state law gives law‑enforcement final authority over GPS‑monitoring eligibility, citing...

The Department of Labor’s January 2026 Opinion Letter reminds employers that non‑discretionary bonuses must be factored into the regular rate of pay for FLSA overtime calculations. Unlike discretionary bonuses, these payments are tied to predetermined criteria such as attendance or safety...

The article warns that rising employee unease—driven by AI layoffs, economic uncertainty, and geopolitical tensions—creates a hidden legal risk for employers. It argues that traditional policies alone won’t mitigate this risk when emotions run high. Companies that prioritize perspective‑taking communication...
The Live Nation‑Ticketmaster antitrust trial resumed in Manhattan after the Justice Department struck a surprise settlement, but more than 30 states chose to keep the case alive. State attorneys and a hired law firm now lead the prosecution, questioning Live...

The SEC announced the immediate resignation of Enforcement Division Director Margaret Ryan, naming Principal Deputy Sam Waldon as acting director. Under Ryan, the division cut enforcement actions 27% and settlements 45% in fiscal 2025, shifting focus toward high‑impact fraud cases....
Texas sees some of the nation’s highest commercial‑truck traffic, making it a hotspot for fatal crashes. Unique to Texas, about 25% of employers opt out of workers' compensation, allowing injured drivers to pursue direct negligence suits that bypass traditional caps....

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced a new centralized platform, the IDR Gateway, to manage independent dispute resolution (IDR) operations under the No Surprises Act. The system will replace the current single‑use web forms, allowing users to initiate...

A California appellate court exposed a bizarre chain of AI‑hallucinated legal citations that traveled from a Reddit blog post to a dog‑custody case and ultimately appeared in a signed court order. Both parties’ attorneys copied the fictitious cases without checking...
Lowey Dannenberg P.C. announced an investigation into OneMain Holdings (NYSE: OMF) for possible violations of federal securities laws following a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James and 12 other state AGs. The lawsuit alleges OneMain misled borrowers...

Use Postal’s analysis of Office of Management and Budget data shows Americans will spend 11.6 billion labor hours completing federal compliance forms in 2026. The effort translates to roughly $738 billion when labor value and out‑of‑pocket expenses are combined. Treasury‑related filings dominate,...

The National Academies of Sciences (NAS) refused to delete the climate‑change chapter from its Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, despite a coordinated demand from a coalition of red‑state attorneys general. The Federal Judicial Center had already removed the chapter from...
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee sent letters to ten major tech firms, demanding they preserve and produce all communications with European Commission officials related to the EU Digital Services Act, including auto‑deleting messages. The subpoena, issued in February, targets companies...

At Legalweek, a panel of partners, e‑discovery leaders and expert‑witness coordinators warned that “cowboy” attorneys—those who ignore agreed litigation playbooks—undermine collaboration. They highlighted that seamless coordination among counsel, vendors and internal stakeholders hinges on frequent communication and crystal‑clear expectations. While...

Call recording is essential for modern sales, but U.S. regulations split states into one‑party and two‑party consent regimes. Ten states—California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington—require all parties to agree before a call can be recorded....

A Virginia federal court partially dismissed Window Gang’s counterclaims in a franchise dispute with Willett Exterior Services, allowing unjust enrichment, quantum meruit, and narrowed trade‑secret claims to proceed while rejecting others. The court required more specific identification of alleged trade secrets,...
Recent Title VII rulings highlight evolving standards for same‑race harassment, DEI training, religious accommodation, and comparator analysis. The Sixth Circuit reversed a dismissal, holding that Black supervisors can still use racial slurs against Black employees, while the Second Circuit found...
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that federal workplace drug‑testing panels will continue to screen for marijuana metabolites, despite President Trump’s December executive order directing the rescheduling of cannabis to Schedule III. The rule makes no changes to...
Florida lawmakers approved CS/CS/SB 422, prohibiting airports from using ADS‑B surveillance data to calculate landing fees or related charges for Part 91 aircraft weighing 12,499 pounds or less. The bill, cleared by both chambers, heads to Governor Ron DeSantis and would...

The Federal Court of Appeal will decide whether the CRTC must explicitly assert jurisdiction over long‑distance call rates charged by correctional facilities. Bell and the Ontario government contend that the regulator’s practice of "forbearance from regulation" is itself a regulatory...

The One Big Beautiful Bill (OB3), enacted in July 2024, reshapes renewable energy tax credit eligibility by adding prohibited foreign entity (PFE) and foreign entity of concern (FEOC) restrictions. Treasury’s interim guidance (Notice 2026‑15) introduces a material‑assistance cost ratio (MACR) for...

Earnout provisions are increasingly used in private‑company M&A to bridge price gaps, but they often spark post‑closing disputes over performance targets. The article outlines practical steps—selecting clear revenue‑based metrics, defining accounting methods, involving CPAs, attaching detailed financial models, and establishing...

India’s central bank has fined fintech payments platform Cashfree Payments ₹3.1 lakh for breaching payment aggregator and gateway regulations. The RBI’s inspection of Cashfree’s activities from April 2024 to June 2025 uncovered an impermissible debit from the company’s escrow account, prompting a show‑cause...
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a proposal to amend Exchange Act Rule 15c2-11, limiting its scope exclusively to equity securities. The rule, originally designed to curb manipulative practices in the over‑the‑counter (OTC) market, will now clarify that its...

Cloudflare appealed a €14 million fine imposed by Italy’s regulator AGCOM for refusing to register with the controversial Piracy Shield scheme. Piracy Shield forces service providers to block sites within 30 minutes based on private right‑sholder requests, without judicial oversight, transparency,...

The FDA has rebranded 21 CFR Part 820 as the Quality Management System Regulation (QMSR), effective February 2 2026, and formally incorporated ISO 13485:2016 by reference. The revision trims the regulation to only Subparts A (General Provisions) and B (Supplemental Provisions), directing manufacturers to the ISO standard...
The FCC’s Media Bureau has upheld a construction permit for La Familia De Fe Corp to launch a low‑power FM station (WFRH(LP)) on 99.5 MHz in Miami, rejecting Doral Voice Corp’s challenge. The dispute centered on local‑service eligibility and allegations of pirate broadcasting, which...

On February 24, 2026, a federal court in Massachusetts granted Amgen summary judgment that invalidated OssiFi‑Mab’s U.S. Patents 8,877,196, 11,608,373, and 11,807,681, which were asserted against Amgen’s osteoporosis drug Evenity®. The court found the patents failed the written‑description and enablement...

The food and beverage sector faces heightened regulatory pressure as South Dakota imposes a five‑year moratorium on cell‑cultured protein and the EU moves to ban 31 meat‑related terms for plant‑based products. At the same time, the GRAS safety loophole is...
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission imposed an $11.5 million civil penalty on Shimano for its delayed reporting of a hazardous defect in HollowTech II crankarms. The recall, affecting more than 750,000 units across the United States and Canada, stems from over...

The Texas Business Court issued its second trade‑secret ruling in the Mesquite Energy Inc. v. Sanchez Oil & Gas Corp. case, focusing on ownership rather than misappropriation. The court concluded that the parties jointly developed the proprietary technology, creating co‑ownership...

On March 2, 2026, inventor Gilbert Hyatt petitioned the Supreme Court to review the Federal Circuit’s use of the equitable doctrine of prosecution laches, which the USPTO applied to deny his patents despite compliance with statutory deadlines. The petition argues...

The FCC Media Bureau announced that it has completed the automatic modification of TV translator call signs to comply with the rule adopted on December 19, 2025. The new convention requires a K or W prefix, the channel number, two...

Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has issued official guidance confirming that its digital identity credentials, including the Pak ID, are legally equivalent to physical CNICs. Under the NADRA Digital Identity Regulations 2025, public authorities and service providers are...