“Iryna’s Law” passes in North Carolina after refugee’s killing, a bill that could restart executions in state

[ad_1] In response to the stabbing death of a Ukrainian refugee on Charlotte’s light rail system, the North Carolina legislature gave final approval Tuesday to a criminal justice package that limits bail and seeks to ensure more defendants undergo mental health evaluations. The Republican-penned bill, called “Iryna’s Law,” could also help restart executions in the…

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U.S. comic Tim Dillon says Saudi Arabia fired him from comedy festival over jokes about slavery

[ad_1] American stand-up comedian Tim Dillon says he has been dropped from the bill of Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Festival because of remarks he made about the country’s alleged use of forced labor. Dillon was one of many high-profile American comedians set to perform at what organizers have promised will be the “world’s largest comedy festival,” in…

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Amid confusion over federal vaccine recommendations, states become laboratories of public health

[ad_1] When the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, met last week, confusion filled the room.  Members admitted they didn’t know what they were voting on, first rejecting a combined measles-mumps-rubella-chickenpox vaccine for young toddlers, then voting to keep it funded minutes later. The next day, they reversed themselves on the funding.  Now…

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Barbara Kingsolver wrote a bestseller on opioids in Appalachia. Now she helps women fight addiction.

[ad_1] Pennington Gap, Va. — On a Saturday evening in June, people of this rural region gathered at the historic Lee Theatre to celebrate the founding of Higher Ground Women’s Recovery Residence. Author Barbara Kingsolver opened the facility in January with royalties from her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “Demon Copperhead,” whose plot revolves around Appalachia’s opioid…

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