Regulations Archives - The Ohio Star

36 States Sue Google over Alleged Anticompetitive Practices in Play Store

July 9, 2021July 8, 2021 Ohio Star Staff

State attorneys general of 36 states and the District of Columbia filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google on Wednesday alleging the company engaged in anticompetitive practices in its Play Store for Android.

The complaint argues Google holds and unlawfully maintains a monopoly in the market of “Android app distribution,” using anticompetitive tactics such as blocking competitors from accessing the Play Store, discouraging the creation of competing app stores, and acquiring smaller app developers. The complaint also alleges Google charges app developers up to a 30% commission when customers purchase their products through the Google Play Store.

“Google has taken steps to close the ecosystem from competition and insert itself as the middleman between app developers and consumers,” the plaintiffs argue.

Commentary: It is Time to Fight for the Rights of Independent Businesses

July 5, 2021July 5, 2021 Ohio Star Staff

As a very young man, I was fortunate enough to start my own company out of my apartment using a small amount of investment capital from friends and family. Over time, that business grew to have over 6,000 employees and revenues in excess of $2 billion. Over nearly a 40-year span, my team and I built what some would consider a remarkable track record, as measured by both sales and profits.

Because of my experience growing that business, I feel a special kinship with small, privately owned businesses and their owners. I also come from a middle-class background, one that shaped me into the person I am today. It is through both the lens of entrepreneur and member of the middle-class that I look through when reflecting upon this Independence Day.

Whistleblower Document Appears to Show Microsoft Helped Write Big Tech Bills

June 25, 2021June 24, 2021 Ohio Star Staff

Screencap of meeting. Mr. Tiffany speaking

Microsoft was given an advance copy of major antitrust legislation, a document given to Republican Rep. Thomas Massie by a whistleblower appeared to show.

The document is the original version of the Platform Competition and Opportunity Act, one of Democrats’ six pending antitrust bills targeting Big Tech, according to Rep. Thomas Massie. Every page of the document, which the Daily Caller News Foundation obtained on Wednesday, is watermarked with the text “CONFIDENTIAL – Microsoft.”

“I just came into possession of a document that everyone needs to know about,” Massie said during the Judiciary Committee markup of the legislation on Wednesday. “It’s marked ‘CONFIDENTIAL – Microsoft.’ A whistleblower provided this. It’s the first draft of one of these bills that would’ve covered Microsoft. This begs the question: did Microsoft have this bill and the other bills that we are voting on today before I had this bill?”

Study Finds Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine 90 Percent Effective

June 15, 2021June 14, 2021 Ohio Star Staff

Novavax announced on Monday that its two-dose COVID-19 vaccine is 90% effective, according to a press release on Novavax’s website.

The phase-3 trial enrolled 29,960 participants ages 18 and older in the U.S. and Mexico. The study found that 77 of the participants tested positive for COVID-19, with 63 testing positive in the placebo group and 14 in the vaccine group, according to the press release.

“Today, Novavax is one step closer to addressing the critical and persistent global public health need for additional COVID-19 vaccines. These clinical results reinforce that NVX-CoV2373 is extremely effective and offers complete protection against both moderate and severe COVID-19 infection,” Stanley C. Erck, President, and CEO of Novavax said in the press release.

Arizona House Passes Bill Banning Abortions Based on Genetic Abnormality

April 3, 2021April 2, 2021 Ohio Star Staff

Susan B. Anthony List State Policy Director Sue Liebel

The Arizona House passed a bill Thursday that bans abortions based on diagnosis of genetic abnormality, such as Down syndrome.

S.B. 1457 states that the rights of “an unborn child at every stage of development” must be acknowledged and prohibits abortions based on the sex, race, or genetic abnormality of the child. The bill makes exceptions for medical emergencies.

“A person who knowingly” performs such an abortion “is guilty of a class 3 felony,” according to the legislation.

For Every One New Regulation Created in Washington, D.C., Seven Have Been Rolled Back

July 20, 2020July 19, 2020 Ohio Star Staff

President Donald Trump announced the preliminary results of his administration’s efforts to deregulate the federal government.

Before taking office, Trump pledged to roll back two regulations for every new regulation added in Washington, D.C. However, that ratio has since increased to seven regulations rolled back for every new one created, Trump said.

Buckeye Institute Calls for Ending Regulations So Nurses Can Use Their Skills to Treat COVID-19 Patients

April 9, 2020April 8, 2020 Jason M. Reynolds

The Buckeye Institute says Ohio should end the collaborative supervision requirements that prevent advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) from offering the medical care they have been trained and licensed to provide.

Trump Rolls Back Another Obama-Era Enviro Rule as Impeachment Trial Drags On

January 26, 2020January 25, 2020 Ohio Star Staff

The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule Thursday afternoon scaling back an Obama-era regulation farmers and energy producers said saddled them with unnecessary burdens.

Ohio’s Jim Jordan Calls for Restraints on Federal Government’s Use of Facial Recognition Technology

January 20, 2020January 19, 2020 Ohio Star Staff

A prominent Ohio congressman is calling on new regulations to restrain the federal government’s use of facial recognition technology.

Commentary: The Seven Worst Ideas for Regulation This Century

June 15, 2019June 14, 2019 Ohio Star Staff

by David R. Henderson Many good things have happened both in the United States and worldwide this century. In the U.S., we have the lowest unemployment rate in half a century. Worldwide prosperity is growing so fast that the rate of extreme poverty fell by half between 1990 and…

More Local Governments in Colorado Pass Moratoriums on Oil and Gas Development Because of New Regulations

May 21, 2019May 20, 2019 Ohio Star Staff

by Derek Draplin Berthoud and Broomfield are the latest local governments in Colorado to implement a moratorium on oil and gas development following passage of new industry regulations signed into law last month. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the state’s regulatory body, issued “objective criteria” that will require…

Pressure Builds on Government Agencies to be More Transparent in Research

November 26, 2018November 25, 2018 Ohio Star Staff

by Robert Romano In 1963, Karl Popper proposed that the central criterion of the scientific method should be its testability, or the ability to falsify a theory. Absent that, he wrote that such a theory could not be considered scientific. Popper wrote, “A theory which is not refutable by…

President Trump’s New Rule Aims to Expand Health Coverage and Lower Costs

October 26, 2018October 25, 2018 Ohio Star Staff

by Robert Moffit The Trump administration just announced a major regulatory change, effective Jan. 1, 2020, that could significantly expand access to affordable health coverage and increase the choice of health plans, particularly among workers and their families in small businesses. The proposed rule, jointly developed by the Department…

Trump is Cutting Regulations Between the West And its Water Supply

October 22, 2018October 21, 2018 Ohio Star Staff

by Tim Pearce President Donald Trump signed a memorandum Friday ordering Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to cut regulations slowing water supply and hydroelectric projects. The Trump administration’s memo is aimed at speeding up environmental reviews and simplifying the approval process for building permits in…

How the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law Chose Its Name and Why It Matters to Ohioans

September 17, 2018September 19, 2018 Gregory Watson

Ohio entered the Union in 1803 as America’s 17th state and — as has been routine practice for freshly-added states — Ohio established a state constitution by which to govern itself in harmony with the U.S. Constitution. For decades, things generally seemed to function well. But by 1851, Ohioans began…