Cuccinelli says state can’t be sued for forced sterilizations

buck v bell

Washingtonexaminer.com:

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is at odds with fellow Republicans over whether victims of the state’s involuntary sterilization program 50 years ago can sue the state for compensation.

The state’s top lawyer released a legal opinion recently that said the state can’t be sued in its own courts and therefore “it is unlikely that a claimant could successfully bring an action against the commonwealth for having been sterilized.”

That runs afoul of Republican lawmakers, who were pushing legislation earlier this year that would give $50,000 to each of the victims of a state eugenics program — at a total cost of $15.5 million. But lawmakers killed the bill, saying eugenics victims can sue the state so there’s no need to offer them payments. Cuccinelli’s opinion that they can’t sue revived prospects for the bill.

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National Weather Service Director attributes some extreme weather to climate change

extreme weather

USAToday.com:

Wild weather in recent years — from Hurricane Sandy and deadly tornado outbreaks to extremes of drought and floods — likely can be traced, in part, to climate change, the National Weather Service director says.

The  onslaught of wild weather that has battered the USA in recent years — from Hurricane Sandy and deadly tornado outbreaks to  extremes of drought and floods — looks to be part of a “new normal” for weather patterns in the U.S.,  new National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellini said Wednesday.

In comments to  the USA TODAY Editorial Board,  Uccellini also cited the “likely” contribution of global warming to the extreme weather.

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