2014 Recap --looking Back; Investment & Finance Thread - Dec. 14

Abortion rights advocates might be surprised to learn that, in deep-blue New York, anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers outnumber abortion clinics. There are more than 120 such centers (known as CPCs, though they also go by other names) throughout New York, according to a coalition of abortion rights groups in the state, compared to a little more than 100 in-person abortion providers.

This article is part of The D. C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox. The signage surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris in Jacksonville, Fla. last week was not exactly subtle: “Reproductive Freedom” and “Trust Women” framed the lone woman ever to be within a heartbeat of the presidency, as she laid the blame for Florida’s ban on abortion after six weeks at the foot of former President Donald Trump on the very day it took effect.

DENVER — Colorado lawmakers passed a sweeping bill Monday to overhaul the state’s lax oversight over funeral homes after a series of horrific incidents, including sold body parts, fake ashes and the discovery of 190 decaying bodies. The cases have devastated hundreds of already grieving families, and encouraged lawmakers to pass the bill, which now goes to Democratic Gov.

NEW YORK — Trump Media and Technology Group, the owner of social networking site Truth Social, has fired a Colorado auditor that federal regulators recently charged with “massive fraud.” The former president’s media company dismissed Lakewood-based BF Borgers as its independent public accounting firm on Friday, according to a securities filing — which also notes that Trump Media engaged with Arizona-based accountant Semple, Marchal & Cooper as BF Borgers’ replacement over the weekend. BF Borgers’ dismissal arrived on the same day that the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the firm and its owner Benjamin F.

Lawmakers in the Colorado House and Senate face a time crunch as the end of the legislative session approaches on Wednesday and are working to pass bills on property tax relief, gun regulations, housing, land-use policy, transportation and other priorities. This story will be updated throughout the day. Updated at 1:29 p.m.:  As the belated property tax deal allowed the Capitol to breathe a sigh of relief, lawmakers passed a flurry of bills Monday as they work to blitz through their legislative backlog. In the House, lawmakers fully passed Senate Bills 229 and 230, the bills that formed the oil-and-gas armistice announced late last month.

Why is this even legal?