WJI's Daily Reads for Feb. 22, 2022

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Dispute escalates between city attorney and alderman over Couture contract provision.

The city attorney is the legal representative of the city, its employees and officials. It is uncommon for an attorney to recommend an inquiry into his or her own client.

USA Today: Outdated marijuana laws put Americans in danger; federal reforms needed.

Fox8 WGHP: Federal court considers settlement in challenge to North Carolina law suspending drivers' licenses for unpaid fines.

The case is Johnson v. Jessup, a class action suit filed on behalf of motorists who lost licenses because they failed to pay traffic fines and court costs in full within 40 days, as required by North Carolina statute. . . .

​The suit sought to have North Carolina’s law declared unconstitutional, to prevent NC DMV from revoking licenses without a hearing and without establishing options to repay the fines and fees and to require the DMV to restore any licenses that were revoked solely because fines and fees weren’t paid on time.

Science Advances: Study looks at employment barriers as more than half of unemployed men in their 30s have arrest records. 

We investigate what portion of the pool of unemployed men in the United States have been arrested, convicted, or incarcerated by age 35. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997, we estimate 64% of unemployed men have been arrested, and 46% have been convicted. Unexpectedly, these rates vary only slightly by race and ethnicity. Further investigation of other outcomes such as marriage, education, household net worth, and earnings shows large differences between unemployed men who have a criminal history record and those who do not. 

Axios: Study links stand-your-ground laws and increased firearm homicides.

The Guardian: Two Native American nations sue North Dakota over voting map.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month, claims the map packs some Indigenous voters into one House subdistrict, while putting other “nearby Native American voters into two other districts dominated by white voters who bloc vote against Native Americans’ preferred candidates”. It adds that complying with the Voting Rights Act would mean placing the two nations in a single district, where they would “comprise an effective, geographically compact majority”.