Nice, nice. When and where first orbital laser?

I don't know about an orbital laser, but the above linked article did say this:

Neither the Office of the U. S. Secretary of Defense nor Air Force Space Command would comment on the attack, which followed by several months the alleged illumination of a U. S. military spacecraft by a Chinese ground based laser.

The US wants a space based laser but so far it doesn't seem likely one will be funded any time soon. There's a large model (more of a wet dream) of a space based laser hanging inside the Air Force Space Command building. That seems to be about the extent of it.