PSJD Public Interest News Digest – July 21, 2023
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello, interested public! Thanks for bearing with me these last couple of weeks. This digest covers last week’s news; you can expect the Friday issue to be up-to-date with current events. There were some real bombshells last week, as the Justice Department threatened the Texas Government over its decision to deploy a floating barrier into the Rio Grande and the Alameda County DA’s office accused a former employee attorney of passing confidential work product information to a defendant.
As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Take care of each other,
Sam
Student Loans & Student Debt
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Also in the United States, “[y]oung Americans are piling the blame for their student debt balances on conservatives, according to a poll by Generation Lab provided exclusively to Axios.”
Eye on AI
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MIT Technology Review observed that “[i]t’s becoming increasingly clear that courts, not politicians, will be the first to determine the limits on how AI is developed and used in the US.”
Environmental Crisis
Immigration & Refugee Issues
Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring
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In Broward County FL, a federal appeals court has ruled that “Broward County’s former chief public defender was justified in firing an assistant PD who trashed him while running to succeed him…citing the damage her remarks threatened to office cohesion.”
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
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In Pennsylvania, “Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Aid and Laurel Legal Services are merging[.]”
Access to Justice – Criminal
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In Cook County IL, an inspector general’s investigation reported that “Cook County’s former top public defender Amy Campanelli ‘misused confidential information’ by routinely releasing names and details of children defended by her office…According to a six-page summary included in the quarterly report of interim Cook County Inspector General Steven E. Cyranoski, Campanelli entered into an information-sharing agreement with Lawndale Christian Legal Center without the required court authorization.”
Prosecutorial and Public Defense Office Hiring Crises
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In Kenosha County WI, “Kenosha County is getting state funding to pay for two assistant district attorneys as part of the 2023-25 state biennium budget.”
Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform
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In Cook County IL, “state’s attorney Kim Foxx has released…aa list containing the names of cops who are deemed so unreliable prosecutors refuse to call them as witnesses.”