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Archive: 2013 June
Food Stamp Funding Presents Biggest Hurdle in Farm Bill Debate
On June 10, by a vote of 66 to 27, the Senate easily passed a five-year reauthorization of the Farm Bill, sending it to the House, where it now faces an uncertain fate. Officially known as the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act, the legislation sets national agriculture, nutrition, conservation, and forestry policy. The last Farm Bill was passed in 2008 and expired in 2012. Congress approved a partial extension on January 1 to continue funding for certain programs. The Senate version of the Farm Bill would end direct and countercyclical payments to farmers, which account for most current commodity…
Court Upholds DNA Testing of Arrestees
On Monday, the Supreme Court upheld Maryland’s DNA Collection Act, which allows law enforcement officials to collect DNA samples on anyone they arrest for a serious crime. In the case, Maryland v. King, Alonzo Jay King, Jr. had been arrested for assault after pointing a shotgun at a group of people. Police took a DNA sample from King, and four months later, after the sample had been sent off to a national crime database, DNA evidence linked King to an open rape case from 2003. King was tried and convicted for rape based on that evidence. He appealed, and Court…