Sexual Assault on College Campuses and the American Law Institute

ALI, Current Events, Exploring HeinOnline, Law Journal Library, Searching
Shannon Furtak

Sexual assault on college campuses, and consent issues in general, have been prevalent topics in the news. CNN reports that 23% of female college students experience some form of unwanted sexual contact. This contact ranges from kissing to touching to rape, and is carried out by force or threat of force, or while the victim is incapacitated due to the effects of alcohol or drugs.

This information sharply contradicts statistics reported by colleges: according to this article in Chronicle of Higher Education, nine out of 10 colleges reported no rapes at all on their campuses in 2014…

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This Year's Most Frequently Accessed Articles

Current Events, Law Journal Library, ScholarCheck
Shannon Furtak

2015 was an incredibly newsworthy year. From a terrorist attack in Paris in the first week of 2015 to the recent attacks in both Paris and San Bernardino, tragic plane crashes at the hands of a co-pilot and suspected terrorism, Donald Trump's controversial Presidential candidacy, multiple mass shootings, and the nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage, there is much to be discussed, debated and remembered about this year.

To see what's been trending over the past 12 months in the world of legal research…

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Who Is Angela Merkel?

Current Events, Exploring HeinOnline, Law Journal Library, U.S. Congressional Documents
Shannon Furtak

Last week, Time Magazine named German Chancellor Angela Merkel as its 2015 Person of the Year. The annual Person of Year issue of Time profiles a person, group, idea, or object that "for better or for worse … has done the most to influence the events of the year."

Angela Merkel is Germany's first female Chancellor, and only the fourth woman since 1927 to receive the Person of the Year designation. What is unique about her leadership and how did she best seven other finalists, including ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Caitlyn Jenner…

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Use HeinOnline to Research the Issues Weighing on Today's World

Current Events, Exploring HeinOnline, Hot Topic News, Immigration
Shannon Furtak

The recent terrorist attacks in Paris have parts of Belgium in a historical lockdown and the rest of the world on edge, and tensions are growing both domestically and globally. When the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility, heated debates about the admission of Syrian and other Middle Eastern refugees began worldwide. Conditions in war-torn Syria are such that millions of people are fleeing, some not surviving the journey to neighboring countries or Europe. For some, including key U.S. political figures, concern for the refugees' plight is outweighed by a fear of future acts of terror.

Run a HeinOnline catalog search for ISIS OR ISIL and receive these results…

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November's Featured Library: American Indian Law Collection

American Indian, Current Events, Exploring HeinOnline, Special Promotions
Shannon Furtak

November is Native American Heritage Month, and we would like to take this opportunity to discuss some of the incredible contributions that Native Americans have made to our daily life in the United States and to various cultures around the world. We would also like to highlight the wealth of material available in HeinOnline's American Indian Law Collection, and offer an unprecedented discount in order to give all of our customers the chance to acquire this valuable collection.

Native American Contributions

Indian governments served as models of federated representative democracy for Europeans and for American colonists; the United States Constitution borrowed many principles from the Iroquois Constitution…

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Women and the Law: Start Your Research in HeinOnline

Current Events, HeinOnline, Women and the Law
Shannon Furtak

In March 2014, HeinOnline released Women and the Law, a collection of books, biographies, and periodicals dedicated to the role of women in society and the law. This collection provides a convenient platform for users to research the progression of women's roles and rights in society over the past 200 years.

Today, the next United States presidential race is underway, and Hillary Clinton is favored to win the Democratic nomination. Carly Fiorina is a contender for the Republican nomination.

Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina are not the first women to run for president; in fact, five women since 1872 have sought the White House, according to this Time article…

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Fantasy Sports, Insider Trading, Legal Questions, and HeinOnline

Current Events, Hot Topic News, Law Journal Library, Searching, Statutes at Large
Shannon Furtak

In addition to providing endless hours of interactive and strategic entertainment and further irritating football widows and widowers, fantasy sports are now sparking nationwide controversy and accusations of behavior akin to insider trading, according to this article from the New York Times.

Thanks to lobbying by professional sports leagues, fantasy sports are exempt from the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act because they are "games of skill" as opposed to games of chance. The games are legal in all but five states, according to this fortune.com article. However, the recent events depicted in these articles is bringing national attention to the fantasy sports industry.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is Title VIII of Public Law number 109-347 in the U.S…

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Happy 15th Birthday, HeinOnline!

Company Info, Current Events
Shannon Furtak

It's difficult to believe that HeinOnline has been serving the electronic needs of the law library community since May 8, 2000. We would like to take this opportunity to celebrate HeinOnline's birthday and to thank our loyal and fantastic customers for their unwavering support and assistance in making HeinOnline the legal research powerhouse that it is today!

In the year 2000, the average cost of a gallon of gas in the United States was about $1.50. Mad Cow Disease was causing alarm in Europe because of its rapid growth, and Hillary Clinton was elected to the U.S. Senate, representing HeinOnline's home state of New York! HeinOnline contained about 270,000 total pages and the content consisted only of law journals…

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Research What's In the News with HeinOnline: Officer Involved Shootings

Current Events, Fastcase, Law Journal Library, MyHein, Searching
Shannon Furtak

Darren Wilson and Michael Brown became household names in 2014 when Officer Wilson shot and killed Brown, who was unarmed, during an altercation that occurred in Ferguson, Missouri. The shooting sparked much controversy and debate about what constitutes justifiable use of force by police.

According to Mother Jones, no agency or database tracks the number of police shootings or killings of unarmed persons in a systematic, comprehensive way. This Washington Post article notes that the Justice Department allows the nation's law enforcement agencies to "self-report officer-involved shootings as part of the FBI's annual data on 'justifiable homicides' by law enforcement."

Are you interested in researching this controversial topic…

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Research Net Neutrality in HeinOnline!

Current Events, Exploring HeinOnline, Federal Register, Law Journal Library, Searching, U.S. Congressional Documents
Shannon Furtak

Net neutrality, also known as network neutrality, Internet neutrality or net equality, is the concept that Internet service providers (ISPs) and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally. It means that ISPs should allow access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites.

On February 26, the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 in favor of net neutrality regulations which ban companies from being able to pay for faster access to web surfers in a practice called "paid prioritization." These new regulations classify ISPs as  "common carriers" or a public utility, like gas or electricity, under Title II of the Communications Act…

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