Source: United States Department of Justice News
On Dec. 23, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma entered a consent decree between the United States and Jeffrey and Lauren Lowe permanently prohibiting them from exhibiting animals, terminating their interests in 97 endangered or threatened animals seized from their facility, and affirming that they have legally abandoned their rights to an additional 41 animals covered by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).
Source: United States Department of Justice 2
Speaking at a White House event focused on competition in agriculture, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack expressed their shared commitment to effectively enforcing federal competition laws that protect farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural producers and growers from unfair and anticompetitive practices, including the antitrust laws and the Packers and Stockyards Act. The Department of Justice and Department of Agriculture (USDA) are already working together to support their respective enforcement efforts under these laws. As one step in that continuing process, today they released the following statement of principles and commitments:
Source: United States Department of Justice News
The Justice Department announced today that it has obtained a settlement agreement with the Housing Authority of the Town of Lone Wolf, Oklahoma, and two of its former employees to resolve allegations that they violated federal law when they denied housing to a Black mother and her young daughter because of their race. Under the settlement, the Housing Authority and former employees David Haynes and Myra Hess must pay $75,000 in damages and take other actions to remedy their violations of the Fair Housing Act and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Source: United States Department of Justice News
The Department of Justice today announced a new rule to help enable the safe and secure storage of firearms and published a Best Practices Guide for federal firearms licensees (FFLs). This new rule implements the existing Gun Control Act requirement that federal firearms licensees that sell firearms to the general public (non-licensees) must certify that they have available secure gun storage or safety devices.
Source: United States Department of Justice News
U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber announced today that the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) collected $48,454,99.23 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2021. Of this amount, $24,547,719.25 was collected in criminal actions and $23,907,277.98 was collected in civil actions.