Dennis Quaid details nightmare of drug mix-up with his newborn twins at US hearingWASHINGTON-Actor Dennis Quaid told the U.S. Congress on Wednesday of a harrowing, near-fatal drug mix-up in which his newborn twins were administered 1,000 times the normal dose of a blood thinner. The 54-year-old actor said his family's brush with tragedy underscores the need to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable through lawsuits, a remedy that is becoming increasingly problematic for ...
Calibre Macro World - May 15, 2008Suit greenlighted by appeal wraps up with settlement: The state supreme court said a hotel has a duty to keep its guests safe.May 15--Ryan Taboada and his family checked into a Roanoke hotel on March 27, 2003. When he went outside to get his luggage, a man shot him eight times and stole his van with his 3-year-old daughter still inside. This week, a Roanoke judge signed an order dismissing the $3 million lawsuit Taboada filed against the owners of Holiday Inn Express on Gainsboro Road, saying the two sides "have ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008State bans Allstate, nine affiliates from selling new policiesMay 15--Allstate Insurance Co. and nine of its affiliates were temporarily banned by the state insurance commissioner from selling new insurance policies in Florida. The suspension followed a ruling issued Wednesday by the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee denying Allstate's request for another hearing in its court case with the state over property insurance prices.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Inmate appeals on lethal injection: He asks court to allow his lawsuit on how Va. performs executionsMay 15--Death-row inmate Christopher Scott Emmett asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday to restore his lawsuit challenging the way Virginia conducts lethal injections. Emmett says U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson erred when he tossed out his case last year before it came to trial. Emmett wants the state to use only the first of three drugs now injected via intravenous lines -- ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Clear Channel Communications Announces Settlement of Litigation and Amended Merger Agreement with Private Equity Group Co-Sponsored by Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. and Bain Capital Partners, LLCShareholders Now Offered $36.00 Per Share in Cash in Deal Valued at $17.9 Billion Shareholders May Still Elect to Invest in New Corporation Formed to Acquire Clear Channel Board of Directors Unanimously Approves Settlement of Litigation and Amended Merger Agreement New Special Meeting of Shareholders to Be Held SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Clear Channel Communications, Inc.
Business Wire via Yahoo! - May 15, 2008Death penalty documentary drives pleas for more scrutinyMay 15--Rep. Rick Glazier and others called on leaders across the country Wednesday to scrutinize the death penalty and its application to help prevent executing innocent inmates. Glazier, a Cumberland Democrat, spoke in the legislative auditorium as part of a panel that included legal scholars, a filmmaker, a minister and a Chicago Tribune investigative journalist.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008BRIEF: News Tribune seeks quick ruling on plea for documents on judgeMay 15--After striking out with the state Supreme Court, The News Tribune has asked the state Court of Appeals to speed up its review of a case involving Federal Way Municipal Court Judge Michael Morgan. The newspaper filed the motion Tuesday after the Supreme Court denied The News Tribune's request to take up and decide the Morgan case in an expedited manner.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Polar bears added to list of threatened speciesMay 15--The Bush administration added polar bears to the list of threatened species because of fast-melting sea ice but took steps to ensure the decision would do nothing to slow greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the dizzying loss of Arctic habitat. It was the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's first addition to the list of threatened and endangered species in two years and one of the ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Lawyers pressured Nickels to say Seattle won't miss the SonicsMay 15--Lawyers for Sonics owners tried to get Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels during a deposition last month to admit that the team's departure would have little impact on the city -- and would even have the benefit of improving traffic around KeyArena. In a further sign of an apparent legal strategy of downplaying the Sonics' importance, the team's lead local attorney, Brad Keller, repeatedly asked ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Kern attacks gay-rights groups over planned eventMay 15--OKLAHOMA CITY -- State Rep. Sally Kern renewed her criticism on Wednesday of "radical homosexual rights groups" that are planning a national day on Thursday to promote their civil rights in the workplace. Kern, R-Oklahoma City, said Oklahomans who support traditional families need to get more involved in policy fights "or we will cede the victory to groups seeking special rights based on ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Senate sets hearing on GMA's 'secret visit': Palace confirms that President Arroyo had meeting with ZTE officials in 2006May 15--The Senate blue-ribbon committee has set a hearing for the new witness in the national broadband scandal, who has photos of President Gloria Arroyo's "secret visit" to ZTE headquarters in Shenzhen, China six months before she witnessed the signing of the firm's $329-million contract for the scandal-plagued project. Malacanang confirmed Wednesday that President Arroyo met with officials ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008EDITORIAL: Jelac meets en bancMay 16--ONE good that comes from the Judiciary, Executive and Legislative Advisory Consultative Council (Jelac) is that the Supreme Court gets the full attention of Congress for the monies, judges and personnel badly needed by the courts. Malacanang last year invited the Supreme Court to join the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) whose main function is to prepare, review ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 16, 2008EDITORIAL: Palm Beach County jurists show judges are human, tooMay 15--No, judges aren't mean A game show-like format for an educational program sponsored by the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office brought teens and state judges eye-to-eye recently for a learning and fun experience. One of the kids in the event said she thought the judges, including the outgoing and incoming chief justices of Florida's Supreme Court, would be "mean." She learned they ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Blumenthal Appeals No Child Left Behind Suit DismissalMay 15--Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on Wednesday appealed a federal judge's dismissal of the state's lawsuit challenging the No Child Left Behind Act, pledging to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. The lawsuit, filed in 2005, challenged the way the 2002 school reform law is funded. Blumenthal argued that the law imposes costs on the state and towns that violate the ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Jay Ambrose: China, Russia protect brutal Myanmar juntaMay. 13, 2008 re: 'Melanie Scarborough: Colorblind government a joke' Examiner Reader said: Melanie Scarborough: Colorblind government a joke 2008-05-12 07:00:00.0 shows an apalling lack of research. First, none of the organizations are anything but membership organizations - they are not federally funded. Second, when they put on training they are just as any other vendor - ...
Examiner-WashingtonDC - May 15, 2008Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro: Nation's Largest Title and Escrow Companies Accused of Bilking ConsumersToday a group of consumers filed a series of class-action lawsuits against the nation's largest title and escrow companies, claiming they engaged in a series of schemes and deceptions designed to bilk customers out of millions of dollars in excessive fees, among other allegations. The companies named in the suit are Fidelity National Title Company, First American Title Insurance Company (NYSE: ...
Calibre Macro World - May 15, 2008Gas exploration rules fuel lawsuit: Company contends Nockamixon Twp.'s restrictions are illegal.May 15--The Michigan company hoping to extract natural gas from deep beneath Nockamixon Township has filed a lawsuit asking Bucks County Court to pre-empt two township ordinances that restrict gas and oil exploration. The suit, filed by Arbor Resources and three related legal entities, seeks an injunction prohibiting the township from enforcing the ordinances, which put a variety of regulations ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Legislation would cut six St. Louis circuit judge positionsMay 15--JEFFERSON CITY -- St. Louis judges, already buried in a backlog of criminal cases, are holding their breath this week as the Missouri Legislature considers a proposal to eliminate six of their jobs. The measure, which would add two associate judges in St. Louis County, was spurred by a recent workload study of Missouri trial judges. Researchers found that courthouses in growing areas ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008State court rules Dallas chief should be reinstated to postMay 15--Commonwealth Court judges on Wednesday issued a ruling upholding a Luzerne County Court order to reinstate Dallas Borough's police chief and give him back pay and benefits possibly amounting to approximately $250,000. Borough officials appealed Luzerne County President Judge Michael Conahan's Aug. 8, 2007, ruling that upheld arbitrator Thomas G. McConnell Jr.'s April 26, 2007, decision ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Protesters say RNC route is problematic, time frame is unfair: Police say they've struck a difficult balance, but marchers say they want to be seen in prime time.May 15--St. Paul police have mapped out the long-awaited route that war protesters will be expected to use to march on the Republican National Convention Sept. 1: a 2-mile trek the city contends strikes the "difficult balance" between security and free-speech rights. With marchers passing within 300 feet of the convention site at the Xcel Energy Center, Deputy Chief Matt Bostrom said Wednesday, ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008ABCP plan opponents assail lack of authorityTORONTO (Reuters) - The judge overseeing a massive restructuring plan for Canada's nonbank asset-backed commercial paper market doesn't have the jurisdiction to give banks immunity from lawsuits, a lawyer told a court hearing on Tuesday. A sticking point in the $32 billion court-approved restructuring plan is that it prevents corporate noteholders from suing the banks and brokerages that sold ...
Calgary Herald - May 15, 2008Financial incentives suit still in worksMay 15--DURHAM -- Attorneys this week were still preparing the pros and cons of a novel financial-incentives lawsuit, which alleges that Durham County unconstitutionally offered an electronics company up to $100,000 to lure it here from the Raleigh area. The chief executive officer of Nitronex Corp. provided a sworn deposition to the lawyer for the Raleigh-based plaintiff, the Institute for ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Blumenthal Sues Two Travel CompaniesConsumer Watchdog: George Gombossy Article tools E-mail Print Reprints Text size: Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has filed a civil suit against two Rocky Hill travel companies that charged as much as $9,000 for memberships that promised, but failed to deliver, great savings on exotic trips. Blumenthal filed the lawsuit on behalf of Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell ...
Hartford Courant - May 15, 2008Byrd wants city to pay for lawsuitMay 15--BRADENTON -- Councilman Harold Byrd Jr. wants the city to reimburse him for legal fees he's paid to fight a lawsuit filed against him and the city's canvassing board. Byrd made the request at Wednesday's City Council meeting, saying he shouldn't have to pay nearly $10,000 in legal fees for an ongoing case that centers around a city election. "I'd like to formally request some financial ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Man posing as lawyer ordered to repay customersMay 14--April Delledonne and Richard Hipp thought they would be married by now. But four years after hiring a Lindenhurst legal service to handle Delledonne's divorce, the Levittown couple still hasn't walked down the aisle. That's why Hipp was pleased yesterday when Arthur Chisolm Jr., 61, was ordered to close the business after he did not contest state charges that he practiced law without a ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 14, 2008June 5 arraignment set for alleged 9-11 conspiratorsMIAMI _ The chief judge of the Guantanamo Bay war court has set June 5 for the first court appearances of reputed 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators. The judge, Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, notified military defense attorneys by e-mail Wednesday afternoon that he would preside over the case himself. He scheduled arraignment of the five men at the U.S.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 14, 2008Judge rules for teen: Holmes School Board violated student's right to free speechMay 14--PANAMA CITY -- Heather Gillman can wear her T-shirts. U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak decided Tuesday the Holmes County School Board violated Gillman's right to free speech in November and ordered the board to alert students in writing that they are allowed to express their support for the equal treatment of gays in an appropriate and non-disruptive way.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 14, 2008Plea for Alzheimer's funds: Former Justice O'Connor shares her family's storyMay 15--WASHINGTON -- Sandra Day O'Connor has said little publicly about the disease that has robbed her husband of his memory. On Wednesday, the former Supreme Court justice broke her silence, sharing her family's personal story with Congress in an attempt to focus its attention on Alzheimer's disease. About 5.2 million Americans live with the brain disorder, a number that is expected to grow ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Bishop's 1978 letter in priest abuse case revealed: Missive says DA agreed to keep case out of courtMay 15--Newly filed court documents provide details involving a meeting between then-prosecutor David Prosser and the bishop of the Green Bay Catholic diocese regarding a sexual abuse investigation against a priest in 1978 that could raise more questions about Prosser's closeness to the church. The new documents, including a letter from then-Green Bay Bishop Aloysius J.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Child support lawsuit against Bears' Briggs close to settlementChicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs may be close to settling a child support lawsuit that the mother of his 8-month-old daughter filed against him last year, lawyers for both sides said Wednesday. But the case continues to provide legal fireworks. The lawyer for Brittini Tribbett, the mother of Briggs' child, said Wednesday he thinks Briggs was not truthful at a deposition about four months ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 14, 2008Lawsuit claims negligence in balcony's collapseMay 14--A man who fell three stories from a Port Royal balcony in February filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming that the building's contractor, engineer, architect and landlord were negligent by allowing the accident to occur. On Feb. 12, Donald Witfield, 72, of Montgomery, N.Y., fell 22 feet after the balcony of a Paris Avenue townhouse collapsed under him. The home Witfield was renting is part ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 14, 2008Hollinger Reaches Settlement With Significant Secured Creditor and Sun-Times Media GroupHollinger Inc. ("Hollinger") (TSX: HLG.C)(TSX: HLG.PR.B) announced today that it has entered into a term sheet (the "Settlement") with Davidson Kempner Management LLC and certain of its affiliates (collectively, "DK") and Sun-Times Media Group, Inc. ("Sun-Times"). DK is the holder of approximately 42% of the outstanding principal amount of Hollinger's secured notes (the "Notes") issued pursuant ...
MarketWire - May 14, 2008IBM Attorney to Moderate Panel on Peer Reviewed Patent Examination ProcessAt the American Intellectual Property Law At the American Intellectual Property Law Association's Spring meeting being held in Houston, Texas, IBM's Associate General Council of Intellectual Property Law, Manny Schecter, will moderate a panel on the Peer-to-Patent project; a historic effort to improve patent quality by opening the examination process to community review.
MarketWire - May 14, 2008EDITORIAL: Kaine makes it hard to say no on roadsMay 14--THE VALUE of Gov. Tim Kaine's new transportation plan lies less in its particulars than in its author's willingness to find a consensus among lawmakers, commuters and taxpayers, Republican and Democrat, House and Senate, Southside and Peninsula. He has stitched together a package of familiar tax increases and policy proposals that lawmakers either approved last year or expressed a ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 14, 2008Atlanta: Gov. Perdue signs border talks resolutionMay 14--Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue this afternoon signed a resolution from the General Assembly that urges him to negotiate with Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen for a re-examination of the Georgia-Tennessee state line. "He supports the intent and looks forward to having the conversation," said Marshall Guest, spokesman for Gov. Perdue. The resolution claims the border was incorrectly marked in a ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 14, 2008Protest causes a stir: Students upset over juvie caseMay 14--HANOVER TWP. -- About a dozen teenagers upset over the handling of their friend's case in juvenile court showed their displeasure by wearing "Free Kev" T-shirts to school on Tuesday. The protest in support of 17-year-old Kevin Williamson was short-lived, however, after a Hanover Area High School official ordered the teens to remove the shirts or face suspension.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 14, 2008Family of New Year's shooting victim files wrongful-death suitMay 14--The family of Abebe Isaac, who died a week after being shot New Year's Day, has filed a lawsuit against the officer accused of firing the fatal shots, the city and another partygoer at the East Germantown house where it happened. The wrongful-death suit, filed last month in Common Pleas Court, names as defendants Police Officer George Marko, the City of Philadelphia and Dontate Mitchell, ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 14, 2008Ground floor shops in DDA flats permittedMay 15--NEW DELHI -- It's raining sops for Delhi's residents in an election year. Succumbing to pressure from the traders' lobby, the union urban development ministry has decided to regularise all existing commercial establishments on the ground floor of DDA flats located in mixed land use stretches. However, commercial activity will not be allowed in upcoming DDA flats.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Students of failed helicopter school sue lenderMay 14--When Silver State Helicopters flight training school in El Cajon suddenly shut its doors and filed for bankruptcy in February, it left dozens of students owing loans, some totaling nearly $70,000, for classes they hadn't completed. Now a Bay Area law firm has filed a proposed class-action suit against Cleveland-based KeyBank seeking to bar the financial institution from collecting on the ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 14, 2008Calcutta HC stays OBC quota at PG level, Centre to appealMay 15--KOLKATA -- Calcutta High Court on Wednesday stayed the union HRD ministry's memorandum on 27 per cent OBC quota in postgraduate courses in centrally run institutions. The interim order means that IIMs, IITs and all central institutions offering postgraduate courses will not be able to go ahead with the quota in these courses. The Centre is likely to move the Supreme Court against the ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Senate sets hearing on GMA's 'secret visit': Palace confirms that President Arroyo had meeting with ZTE officials in 2006May 15--The Senate blue-ribbon committee has set a hearing for the new witness in the national broadband scandal, who has photos of President Gloria Arroyo's "secret visit" to ZTE headquarters in Shenzhen, China six months before she witnessed the signing of the firm's $329-million contract for the scandal-plagued project. Malacanang confirmed Wednesday that President Arroyo met with officials ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Bar council gets SC nod for surveyMay 15--NEW DELHI -- The Bar Council of India can now go ahead with its controversial nationwide "confidential survey" among lawyers on judicial corruption, appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts and certain other issues confronting the judiciary. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan refused to entertain a petition seeking to restrain the BCI ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 15, 2008Did the Pentagon drop charges against Mohammed al-Qahtani because he was tortured?Jack's recent post suggests a good task for science-fiction authors who write counterfactual histories eliminate the Supreme Court's power to strike down statutes as unconstitutional and rerun history. No Brown v. Board of Education and no Dred Scott v. Sandford. No Roe v. Wade and no United States v. Morrison. No Gideon v. Wainwright and no Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States.
Slate - May 13, 2008Payday Lawsuit Back in Court: Woman harassed by collectors claims firm's demand for arbitration over trial was unfairThe loan collectors wanted their money, and it seemed to Laura Cordova that nothing she said or did could make them understand she was doing the best she could to pay them back, that she was ill, that she could lose her job -- and thus her best chance of paying them back -- if they didn't stop calling. 'I felt scared,' the Las Vegas, N.M., social worker said.
Calibre Macro World - May 13, 2008Craigslist countersues eBay: BITTER FEUD BETWEEN BAY AREA COMPANIES HEATS UPMay 13--Battling back in a different courtroom on its home turf, Craigslist on Tuesday sued its part owner eBay, accusing the San Jose-base online auction giant of false advertising, trademark infringement, "phishing attacks" and "unfair and unlawful competition." The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court in San Francisco, represents an escalation in a bitter feud between the pioneer of free online ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 13, 2008EDITORIAL: It's rough on the Internet, and rules keep changing: When the law finally catches up, some might be surprised.May 13--SOMEBODY -- we don't know who yet, and that is the point -- created a phony profile of Ronacalli High School Dean of Students Tim Puntarelli for the Facebook social networking Web site. The profile, to say the least, was unflattering. The fake Puntarelli was even contacting students, writing things no educator should say to young people, things that have gotten educators in legal trouble. ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 13, 2008Kaine pitches highway program GOV. KAINE'S ROADS PLAN: Gov. Tim Kaine presents proposals to raise money for transportation maintenance and improvements; sets special legislative session for next monthMay 13--RICHMOND -- Gov. Tim Kaine unveiled a transportation plan yesterday that would raise about $1 billion a year for roads. His proposal requires increasing the sales tax on cars, boosting the annual vehicle registration fee, increasing a tax on home sales and applying an extra sales tax in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Lawmakers will take up the proposal in a special session Kaine is ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 13, 2008High court race offers contrast: Bradbury takes on appointee HortonMay 13--BOISE -- Idaho's May 27 election is not just the primary election -- it's also the final say on the nonpartisan contest for the Idaho Supreme Court. Two seats on the high court are up for a vote this year, and one is a contested race, between recently appointed Justice Joel Horton and court-reform advocate and state District Judge John Bradbury of Lewiston.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 13, 2008House hears from police critics in Sean Bell caseMay 13--A congressional committee yesterday heard civil rights crusaders, academics and frustrated Sean Bell supporters demand a massive overhaul to police departments in New York and nationwide to end excessive force deaths. "This is not a New York matter anymore -- it is international," said Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which held a public forum on ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 13, 2008Sprints WiMax venture under attackMay 13--An Illinois wireless company is seeking a court order to block Sprint Nextel's new $14.5 billion WiMax spinoff venture. The company iPCS, a smaller carrier that sells Sprint service over its own network, said in its lawsuit that Sprint intends to offer new high-speed wireless services that would compete unfairly against iPCS. The company already has been successful in another lawsuit ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 13, 2008Clear Channel, banks, buyers in settlement talksSAN ANTONIO (AP) Clear Channel Communications Inc. and its prospective buyers are talking with banks to try to settle a dispute over whether the banks must fund promised loans for the $19.5 billion takeover, the radio and outdoor advertising company said Monday. Clear Channel shares jumped $2.87, or 9.6 percent, to $32.87. The company and its private equity buyers, Bain Capital and Thomas H.
Fresno Bee - May 13, 2008Another Supreme OutrageWashington, DC (scoop.co.nz via APJ) They wear their robes but leave the hoods off, the polite justices of the Supreme Court. They write decisions then issue them in a formal setting, behind the columns of a capitol monument, with a history that confers a dignity not deserved. The Court embodies the dilemma of our modern culture. The most awful acts are committed with bland justification by ...
American Politics - May 13, 2008Justice for sale in Texas?We all expect our courts to offer a fair and impartial trial. It is, after all, one of the basic demands we make of our society in America. But are the scales of justice in Texas tipping against you and instead, in favor of big corporation? Whats worse, experts say you may be paying the price with lower safety standards. Jose Herrera liked working at the CITGO refinery, sometimes spending 80 ...
KHOU - May 13, 2008McCain and the 'Unitary Executive'To put the matter differently, if a President McCain replaces one of the moderate justices with another Samuel Alito as McCain has vowed to do then Justice Department lawyer John Yoos extreme vision of an all-powerful Executive could well become the new law of the land. On May 6 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, during a speech aimed at appeasing conservatives, McCain promised to appoint justices ...
Consortium News - May 13, 2008EDITORIAL: ... And wine shipments are a problem, tooMay 13--There is no shortage of illustrations of how badly things go when the commonwealth persists in a business that is better left to the private sector, alcohol sales. Consider the matter of how to handle the transaction between buyers who want sellers to send wine to their homes. The problem arose because Pennsylvania used to let in-state wineries ship directly to customers who lived in- ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 13, 2008Scandal clouds W.Va. court race as 3 states votePhotos of West Virginias top jurist vacationing with the chief executive of a massive coal producer have transformed an otherwise run-of-the-mill election into that states most closely watched race, while voters in two other states prepared to cast ballots on key congressional seats. In right-leaning Nebraskas Senate primary, Democrats were battling for the right to take on the GOP to replace ...
MyMotherLode.com - May 13, 2008Broker sentenced for mortgage fraudA Springdale mortgage broker was sentenced to 15 months in prison Monday for his role in a mortgage-fraud scheme that cost lenders more than $2 million. Jay Sullivan, former owner of Airline Union's Mortgage Co., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court earlier this year to mail fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors say he conspired with Troy Clements, owner of American Funding, to falsify ...
Cincinnati Enquirer - May 13, 2008Charter service challenging wrongful death suitSANDPOINT The family of an Illinois woman who was seriously injured after a fishing trip on Lake Pend Oreille has filed a wrongful death suit against the charter service. Counsel for Diamond Charters in Hope contend the allegations are baseless and a vigorous defense is in the works. Attorneys representing the husband and daughter of Marie C. Masliotti allege the woman died of a leg injury she ...
Bonner County Daily Bee - May 13, 2008BRIEF: Kentucky Supreme Court elects chief justiceMay 12--The Kentucky Supreme Court elected Justice John B. Minton on Monday to be the next chief justice. Minton, 56, from Bowling Green, will replace outgoing Chief Justice Joseph Lambert, who is retiring on June 27. Minton has been on the court since July 2006, and was previously a state Court of Appeals judge from November 2003 to July 2006. "I am honored by the vote of my colleagues," Minton ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 12, 2008Saudi Takeover of GE Plastics Flies Under RadarMiddle East, by market value, would be acquiring a division of the world's second-largest corporation, by market value, and based in the United States, could not have been any less publicized. But in the world of corporate governance, the largest transaction ever completed in the Persian Gulf, seemingly trumps all laws of reason. However, there is little precedence established for a foreign ...
Elites TV - May 12, 2008Longtime judge receives state awardMay 12--Mon, May 12 2008 Circuit Court Judge Billy J. Landrum has been named the recipient of the 2008 Justice Achievement Award presented by the Mississippi Association of Court Administrators. Landrum, who has served the citizens of the 18th Circuit Court and County Court for 34 years, is the senior judge of the state. He has the longest tenure of all the judges in the state still seated on ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 12, 2008Ron Paul on the new Libertarian Party candidate.Libertarian Party. The first name that pops to mind is . Republicans fear a repeat of 2000, with Barr siphoning votes from (although it's also possible he'd ). Others wonder how Barr's candidacy will play with supporters. The Republican, who has slowed his candidacy to a crawl in recent months-but hasn't dropped out!-has come under pressure to make a third-party run for the presidency.
Slate - May 12, 2008Online extra: Commentary: What to do when marriage ruling is announcedOscar De La O, Maya Harris, Delores A. Jacobs, Lorri L. Jean, Kate Kendell, Geoffrey Kors, and Andy Wong The clock is ticking down on the California Supreme Court's ruling on whether same-sex couples can marry. The court heard oral arguments on March 4 and can issue a decision between now and June 2. Meanwhile, anti-gay groups aren't waiting on the decision to mobilize.
Bay Area Reporter - May 12, 2008AG's record as lawyer scrutinizedAttorney General Marc Dann, the self-styled scourge of predatory lenders, made a rare personal appearance Jan. 24 in a Cincinnati courtroom to test-drive a legal strategy intended to slow foreclosure actions. According to the magistrate who heard the case, Dann crashed the strategy into a wall. In an unusually pointed ruling, Magistrate Michael Bachman wrote that Dann was 'using this court to ...
Columbus Dispatch - May 12, 2008U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Deals Important Blow to Cigarette Industry's Preemption Defense in "Light" Litigation.FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Edward L. Sweda Mark Gottlieb (617) 373-2026 e-mail to media[at]tplp.org (use @sign) September 4, 2007 U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT REVERSES THE DISMISSAL OF A LIGHT CIGARETTE LAWSUIT FROM MAINE; RULING BRIGHTENS PROSPECTS FOR SIMILAR LAWSUIT IN MASSACHUSETTS The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on August 31 issued a comprehensive, 68-page ...
Tobacco Control Resource Center - May 12, 2008Hiding the moneyTwo 2008 initiatives financed by mysterious sources of cash PIERRE Thirty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations couldn't be barred from contributing to ballot issue campaigns. Now that decision has become an open door for non-residents to spread their political views in South Dakota, by trying to pass new laws through two ballot initiatives that will be up for statewide votes ...
Black Hills Pioneer - May 12, 2008John Boehner: Follow the money trail to see why Dem Congress shields trial lawyersMay. 9, 2008 re: 'Timothy Carney: Big Government churns out more Democrats' Examiner Reader said: All major , big cities run by democrats are sinking big time start in Philadelphia, and go from there. 2 agree | 2 disagree Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree 12:31 PM MST on Sat., May. 3, 2008 re: 'Roger Severino: Legalizing gay marriage will spark lawsuits against churches' Examiner Reader ...
Examiner - May 12, 2008Couple's Lotto dispute headed for courtDiggdel.icio.us AIM reprint print email Some husbands shower their wives with gifts when they win the Lotto. Arnim Ramdass kept the good news to himself. And when Donna Campbell found out on her own, her husband went AWOL, leaving the former beauty queen emotionally drained and financially desperate. So she sued. Campbell v. Ramdass, the lawsuit, comes to a Miami-Dade courtroom this week.
Miami Herald - May 12, 2008TALES: Justice Department shut down Port Arthur electionsMay 12--Candidates vying for six Port Arthur City Council seats Saturday included a diverse mix of white, black and Hispanic. Women were in the race, too. But 30 years ago, the spring City Council elections were halted days before Election Day, when the U.S. Department of Justice objected to the city's plan to redraw district boundaries, according to The Enterprise archives.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 12, 2008Migrant Workers at Bottom of Food Chain Face Abuse, Growing Economic DisparityThe recent story in the New York Times about the loot taken home last year by hedge fund managers provides us with the starkest - and most obscene - evidence yet about the growing disparity between the rich and the poor in our country. Topping the list was John Paulson, the founder of Paulson & Company. His payday: $3.7 billion. Let's compare that to the pay and benefits of those at the bottom ...
Southern Poverty Law Center - May 12, 2008Should paint makers pay?Lawsuits filed by Columbus and others seek billions for widespread cleanup | THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH When she was 2, Ladeja Ross tested positive for lead poisoning. Lead was removed from her home, and now, at age 5, she has a low lead level. But many other Ohio children aren't getting the lead-poisoning tests that the law requires. Story, Page G2 Renee Sauer | Dispatch photos ...
Columbus Dispatch - May 12, 2008Gov't turns once more to Gaza gas field: Israel Corp. denies talks to buy a BG Group stake in the natural gas concession.AM May 11--The government's policy regarding the purchase of natural gas from the natural gas reserves of BG Group plc (NYSE: BRG: LSE: BG) located offshore from Gaza is continuing to zigzag. Sources inform 'Globes' that the ministerial committee for legislation is due to discuss today an amendment to the Natural Gas Law to allow the state or a government company to market and sell natural gas.
Macro World Investor - May 12, 2008SoCal grape grower settles suit for $500,000A grape grower in the Coachella Valley agreed to pay nearly $500,000 to farmworkers who claimed they were denied breaks and forced to taste unwashed grapes. More than 1,000 workers from the 2001 and 2002 harvests could share in the settlement signed by Richard Bagdasarian Inc. The company also will pay about $100,000 in legal costs. The company did not acknowledge wrongdoing in the settlement, ...
Sacramento Bee - May 12, 2008Solomon Announces Patent Case DecisionDANBURY, Conn., May 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Solomon Technologies, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SOLM) today announced that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC generally affirmed the previously announced decision in the case of Solomon Technologies versus the Toyota Motor Corporation, and certain of its affiliates. The decision was rendered by a three judge panel of ...
PR Newswire - May 12, 2008Missouri legislators look for common ground as session enters final weekThe list of bills still considered in play is shorter than in recent years, but it still includes several hot-button issues, ranging from immigration and property taxation to campaign finance and voter identification requirements.
Both chambers will spend significant time hammering out compromises, including the final touches on agricultural tax breaks and a utility bill that helps Aquila ...
Kansas City Star - May 12, 2008
Group urges court to okay ABCP restructuring plan
(Reuters) - The group spearheading a C$32 billion ($31.7 billion) restructuring plan for Canada's nonbank asset-backed commercial paper market said in court on Monday that overwhelming approval should be enough to see the plan through. The plan still needs the approval of Ontario Superior Court Judge Colin Campbell, who will hear challenges from those who oppose the plan during a two-day sanction ...
Reuters - May 12, 2008
From the ground up
Anti-crime program builds communityBy DANI McCLAINdmcclain@journalsentinel.comPosted: Oct. 20, 2007 A new crime-fighting initiative in Milwaukee Police District 5 is expected to unite the three C's - community, clergy and cops - to help reduce gun violence and open-air drug markets on a large stretch of the north side. The plan, called the Common Ground approach, has produced results in such ...
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - May 12, 2008
HILLARY IS RIGHT: BUST OPEC!
Hillary Clinton is having a really bad week, what with Tim Russert, George McGovern, and assorted other political experts finally saying, after her worse-than-expected showing in North Carolina and Indiana, that a Clinton nomination is no longer plausible. Before Hillary departs the stage, though, I would like to defend her against NOPEC nay-sayers. Clinton has been getting a lot of criticism, ...
New York Post - May 12, 2008
Loaded for Bear
In late January, Jim Sims, the president and CEO of the Western Business Roundtable, an industry trade group that represents mining and energy interests, told his colleagues to prepare for the worst: The polar bear was almost certain to receive 'threatened' status under the Endangered Species Act. 'The negative implications of this to business and industry [are] breathtaking,' he wrote in an ...
Mother Jones - May 12, 2008
Brower Piven Informs Investors That They Have Only Until May 16, 2008 to Move for Appointment as Lead Plaintiff in NeuroMetrix, Inc. Class Action Lawsuit
Brower Piven, A Professional Corporation Brower Piven, A Professional Corporation announces that shareholders of NeuroMetrix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NURO) ("NeuroMetrix" or the "Company") who purchased shares of NeuroMetrix between October 27, 2005 and March 6, 2007, inclusive (the "Class Period") have only until May 16, 2008 to move for appointment as Lead Plaintiff in a securities class action lawsuit ...
MarketWire - May 12, 2008
Tim O'Hare wins Farmers Branch mayor's race, but hardline anti-immigration candidates fail in other cities
May 11--Tim O'Hare, who made a name leading Farmers Branch's efforts to drive out illegal immigrants, was elected mayor of the Dallas County suburb Saturday. Meanwhile, incumbent mayors and city council members beat challengers who wanted more immigration enforcement in Irving -- where campaigns were highly heated and often personal. Carrollton Mayor Becky Miller, beset by questions about her ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 11, 2008
Middle school students suspended for not standing during Pledge of Allegiance
MINNEAPOLIS _ Three small-town eighth-graders in Minnesota were suspended by their principal for not standing Thursday morning for the Pledge of Allegiance, violating a district policy that the principal now says may soon be reworded to protect free speech rights. "My son wasn't being defiant against America," said Kim Dahl, mother of one of the students, Brandt, who attends ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 11, 2008
EDITORIAL: Speaking in code
May 11--Many conservatives still burn at the thought of John McCain joining the Gang of 14. He did so in 2005, the bipartisan group of senators ending a dangerous stalemate over the confirmation of federal judges. The result protected the right of the minority to filibuster and opened the way to John Roberts and Samuel Alito sitting on the Supreme Court, a classic Capitol Hill compromise.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 11, 2008
ACLU opposes towns' sign fees: Residents of Silver Lake, Bath pay a $5 deposit for each election display
May 11--The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio has put two Summit County communities on notice for making residents pay a fee to display political signs. Silver Lake and Bath Township require $5 deposit fees for each sign residents want to display. "It's a violation of the First Amendment," said attorney Jeff Gamso, legal director of the ACLU of Ohio, which is based in Cleveland.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 11, 2008
Apple offers store credits in iPod suit settlement
SAN FRANCISCO Apple Inc. has agreed to settle a pair of class-action lawsuits in Canada alleging it misled customers about the staying power of their iPods, the latest courtroom truce over the dwindling battery life of early generations of the device. According to a court document, the Cupertino-based company is offering credits for its online store of about $44.75 to people who live in ...
Register-Guard - May 11, 2008
Gov't turns once more to Gaza gas field: Israel Corp. denies talks to buy a BG Group stake in the natural gas concession.
May 11--The government's policy regarding the purchase of natural gas from the natural gas reserves of BG Group plc (NYSE: BRG: LSE: BG) located offshore from Gaza is continuing to zigzag. Sources inform "Globes" that the ministerial committee for legislation is due to discuss today an amendment to the Natural Gas Law to allow the state or a government company to market and sell natural gas.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 11, 2008
Choosing the Best Umbrella Policy: Case Study
This is the third and final part of my series on comparing personal umbrella policies. The premise for all three articles is the importance to the personal risk management process of knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the umbrella policies you have access to. In , I introduced you to many common liability exposures not covered by primary auto and homeowners polices, and the four-step ...
IRMI - May 11, 2008
Pakistan's constitutional shenanigans
INVOKING the non-existent powers of the army chief last November under a declaration of emergency rule, Pervez Musharraf dismissed sixty high court judges and implanted the dismissal order in the constitution as an amendment. The order/amendment reads: 'A Judge including the Chief Justice, of the Supreme Court, a High Court or Federal Shariat Court who had, not been given or taken oath under the ...
Bangladesh Daily Star - May 11, 2008
EDITORIAL: State Supreme Court was right about drink specials
May 11--A Wisconsin Supreme Court decision might be helpful in the fight against binge drinking and alcohol abuse. A few years ago, Madison city regulators threatened to crack down on late-night drinking specials in the bars around the University of Wisconsin campus. To avoid a city crackdown, some Madison bar owners got together and decided to voluntarily eliminate their drink specials on ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 11, 2008
Olmert to appeal early testimony decision: "Ma'ariv" claimed Olmert aide Uri Messer said, "I gave Olmert envelopes full of cash."
May 11--"IDF Radio" (Galei Zahal) reports that the attorneys of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last night decided to appeal to the Supreme Court the decision of the Jerusalem District Court to allow law enforcement agencies to collect early testimony from US businessman Morris Talansky, who is a key witness against Olmert. The attorneys said that, so long as the Israel Police investigation against ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 11, 2008
Randall Lee Smith remains a mystery
KYLE GREEN The Roanoke TimesThis was the home of Randall Lee Smith, who was suspected in the shootings at a campsite off Lions Den Road near Dismal Creek, just more than two miles from Wapiti Shelter, where Smith committed an infamous double murder in May 1981.PEARISBURG -- Disturbed loner. Harmless liar. Confused. Cunning. Killer. Who was Randall Lee Smith? The decades of mystery surrounding ...
Roanoke Times - May 12, 2008
Wild hogs a hot topic in Pennsylvania
May 11--There's no evidence that Pennsylvania Game Commissioners are considering nuclear weapons to get rid of Pennsylvania's feral hogs. They seem willing to try just about anything else, though. Free-roaming feral hogs are an invasive species, and a harmful one at that. They compete with native wildlife like deer, bears and turkeys for food, destroy habitat when rooting for food and eat fawns. ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 11, 2008
Uma Thurman sues Lancome in advertising dispute
NEW YORK Uma Thurman responded to French cosmetics giant Lancome's lawsuit against her with one of her own Friday, taking their contract dispute over the use of her name and face in an advertising campaign to federal court. The 'Kill Bill' star said in her lawsuit that Lancome Parfums et Beaute & Cie boosted its worldwide sales and enhanced its 'prestige, stature and bargaining power' by helping ...
AccessAtlanta - May 11, 2008
Khan Resources Announces Offer for Western Prospector
Khan Resources Inc. (TSX: KRI) announced today that it will make an offer to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Western Prospector Group Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: WNP) in order to consolidate its position in the Saddle Hills district of Mongolia and achieve significant synergies from the joint development of Khan Resources' Dornod uranium deposit and Western Prospector's Gurvanbulag uranium ...
MarketWire - May 11, 2008
Ejected homeowner 'vindicated' by appeals court ruling in her favor
May 8--For one year, Alice Krengel lived at the Dorothy Day homeless shelter in St. Paul, banned from her West St. Paul home by a district court. After a series of public-nuisance violations, city officials had obtained an injunction to keep Krengel away. She's been back home now for 10 months, but on Tuesday the Minnesota Court of Appeals overturned the lower court's decision, concluding she ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 8, 2008
EDITORIAL: Clinton can't win
Hillary Rodham Clinton has run a long and admirable campaign for president of the United States. The prospect of her presidency has energized voters, particularly but not exclusively women, and offered working people a champion for their cause in this time of economic malaise. She has demonstrated resolve and character. And yet, she has lost. We do not venture that observation because we're ...
Los Angeles Times - May 8, 2008
Teach about judiciary, O'Connor urges: Retired justice says public is becoming cynical about courts
May 8--Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor urged more than 700 members of the legal and business community Wednesday afternoon to help educate the public about the need for an accountable and independent judiciary. Speaking at the Midwest Airlines Center at the 150th anniversary luncheon of the Milwaukee Bar Association, the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court decried the ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 8, 2008
Talking out of school: Public blogs, private problems
Free expression is an essential guarantee of the First Amendment the freedom to speak and write as we will, without censorship by the government. But the freedom to express oneself doesn t necessarily provide a buffer against the reaction to what is said or written. For public employees like schoolteachers, that s increasingly an issue in the Internet Age, when off-campus postings easily ...
Northeast Herald - May 8, 2008
Glitches mar debut of Guantnamo war court
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- The Pentagon tested its new $12 million war court complex Wednesday with the arraignment of an alleged al Qaeda propagandist -- and the state-of-the-art facility was plagued by technical tribulations. Audio was at times inaudible in the soundproofed observers gallery. The video feed froze in the media room, leaving the judge in freeze-frame for several moments, ...
Miami Herald - May 8, 2008
Dan Rather files amended lawsuit against CBS over his firing
Dan Rather files amended lawsuit against CBS over his firingBy SAMUEL MAULL Thursday, May 8, 2008Dan Rather has filed an amended lawsuit against CBS that says other TV networks refused to hire him because of the damage executives at his former company did to his reputation after a disputed 2004 report on President Bush.Rather's lawyer, Martin R. Gold, said new papers were filed because a judge ...
Town Hall - May 8, 2008
Did contributions influence court ruling?
Texas Supreme Court decision in favor of Houston home-builder raises questions More Opinion SHARE THIS STORY STORY TOOLS The most emailed stories in the last 3 days Carroll principal: Elizondo not reassigned (57) Two suspects caught after shots fired Wednesday night (40) Police: Man assaults wife, smashes vehicle into dune (35) Mom says her son falsely confessed to murder (26) '07 Carroll grad ...
Corpus Christi Caller-Times - May 8, 2008
Ark. court: Cancer claim against poultry firms can proceed
LITTLE ROCK (AP) - Arkansas poultry producers are again the targets of a lawsuit claiming the chicken litter they used caused a man's leukemia. The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a lower-court ruling from two years ago and found Michael Green and his parents presented sufficient evidence to pursue their case against Tyson Foods Inc., George's Farms Inc., Peterson Farms Inc., and ...
Sharewatch - May 8, 2008
Out-of-State Marriages OK For Now
In a cryptically worded one-sentence order issued on May 6, the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest, declined, for the time being at least, to review a February 1 appellate court ruling out of Rochester that a lesbian couple, Patricia Martinez and Lisa Ann Golden, who married in Canada in 2004 are entitled to legal recognition of that marriage by Monroe Community College, Martinez's ...
Gay City News - May 8, 2008
Ottawa to review Kearl again: lawyer
CALGARY - The federal Cabinet will have to conduct a new review of the environmental impact of Imperial Oil Ltd.' s Kearl oilsands project before re-issuing a key water permit, a lawyer for the federal justice department said yesterday. Kirt Lambrecht said the Department of Fisheries and Oceans pulled the plug on the permit, which governs management of fish habitat, after a federal court ordered ...
Financial Post - May 8, 2008
The Attributes of Los Angeles Lawyers
There are several subjective misconceptions regarding the role of lawyers in society. Many conceived that a lawyer only deals matters of law at all times. There were also suspicions that lawyers are expert in the unfamiliar underground world of red tape in government. To some, they unfavorably settle that lawyers are the creator of trouble that aggravated issues.
Search Articles.net - May 8, 2008
AP IMPACT: An islands tax haven for US defense contractor
When the Pentagon announced an obscure California company had won a lucrative military contract, no one mentioned any plans for a Caribbean outpost _ a tropical shell the company quickly created that allowed it to duck millions in taxes and deflect U.S. lawsuits. Its legal, at least for now. Contractors large and small have been heading offshore to shield piles of taxpayer dollars, according to ...
MyMotherLode.com - May 8, 2008
Feds 'pursuing' Dougherty
Federal prosecutors said in a court filing yesterday that they are 'pursuing an ongoing investigation' of electricians-union honcho John Dougherty, who they said is a 'subject' of a criminal investigation. As a result, they said, a federal judge should not grant him immunity to testify in the upcoming trial of electrical contractor Donald 'Gus' Dougherty Jr. Assistant U.S.
Philadelphia Inquirer - May 8, 2008
The Obama campaign softens on the Florida/Michigan question.
Now that Barack Obama has all but secured the Democratic nomination, his campaign appears to be softening a bit when it comes to Michigan and Florida. Today, the Michigan Democratic Party settled on its final proposal for divvying up the state s delegates: Clinton gets 69 delegates, Obama gets 59. (That s about half-way between a 50-50 split and the state s Jan.
Slate - May 8, 2008
Six Steps to Ease the Pain of an Audit
April 15 is long gone, but now is a good time to plan for next tax season. Avoiding an audit may be impossible, especially since the Internal Revenue Service has stepped up scrutiny of companies with assets of less than $250 million. But receiving an IRS letter should not spell the end of your business. Here are six steps experts say you should take to make the experience less painful.
TheStreet.com - May 8, 2008
Lawsuits over losses in U.S. mortgage market could hit a wall
Finding someone to sue over losses in the U.S. mortgage market and the credit crisis is easy. Winning in court, lawyers say, will be hard. Shareholders in big financial firms have accused UBS, Merrill Lynch, MBIA and Morgan Stanley, among others, of trying to hide their home loan problems, which later led to declines in their stock prices. Institutional investors have sued investment firms, ...
International Herald Tribune - May 8, 2008
BRIEF: Sacramento skycaps join in suit over wages
May 8--US Airways skycaps at Sacramento International Airport are part of a class-action lawsuit that alleges the airline, based in Tempe, Ariz., and its contractor have violated federal minimum wage law. The suit, filed April 11 in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, claims US Airway's year-old $2 curbside luggage check-in fee drastically cut into skycaps' tips, leaving some earning less than ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 8, 2008
BRIEF: Good news in poll year: Cong
May 9--NEW DELHI -- The Supreme Court order asking the Centre to consider an archaeological survey to ascertain whether the Ram Setu can was an ancient monument and to consider pushing the venture through other alignments came as a relief to the Congress. "It gives us time in an election year," said a party leader. Officially, though, the Congress said it would not comment on a court decision.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 9, 2008
Clinton cares about Oregon, and she has the compact to prove it
In 2006, President Bush allowed the expiration of the county payments law, a 100-year-old federal obligation that provides desperately needed funds for our rural communities. In 2005, he and Vice President Dick Cheney pushed through an energy bill that stripped Oregon's right to determine whether and where to site liquefied natural gas terminals and lines. And in 2001, the Bush Justice ...
Register-Guard - May 8, 2008
Nuclear option: Congress should settle waste debate
Just when we thought importing radioactive waste from Italy was out, EnergySolutions tries to pull it back in. The Utah-based disposal firm has asked the U.S. District Court in Utah to determine if the eight-state Northwest Interstate Compact on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management has the power to regulate the source of waste dumped at the company's facility at Clive.
Salt Lake Tribune - May 8, 2008
Ramadoss gets a dose of judicial treatment: BJP
'It is a judicial treatment for the unhealthy attitude of the Health Minister,' BJP Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said. 'From the very beginning, the Health Minister has been acting in an unhealthy manner. The passage of the AIIMS Amendment Act was politically motivated and to satisfy his ego,' he said. Naqvi alleged that Ramadoss even made the Parliament to pass the bill which damaged the ...
Express India - May 8, 2008
Game Commission Removes Protection on Feral Swine
First step in effort toward eradication of invasive species 'We are maintaining protection on feral swine in Butler, Bedford and Cambria counties to facilitate trapping by the U.S. and Pennsylvania departments of Agriculture,' Roe said. 'Trapping is the most effective way to remove feral swine from the wild, because it limits their dispersal into new areas. If funding is not available for ...
Macro World Investor - May 8, 2008
This Nation Is An Island
Japan's insularity is becoming a drag on its economy and threatening its future. To understand Japan's economic milieu, you could do worse than to look at the current battle between famed British hedge-fund manager Christopher Hohn and the Japanese government. In January, Hohn, an activist investor who runs the London-based Children's Investment Fund, decided to double its stake in J-Power, ...
MSN UK - May 8, 2008
The spread of autonomous lawnmowers.
The point of the robot, it seems, is to take the physical risks formerly taken by its human owner. Any guns that might previously have been stuck in his face now have to be pointed at his tank instead, which doesn't have quite the same effect. There's no report of the tank having been shot, but, as the story says, it has taken its share of rocks and bricks. That's fine.
Slate - May 8, 2008
Murderer put to death: William Earl Lynd first man to die by lethal injection in 8 months
May 7--Convicted killer William Earl Lynd had no last words Tuesday evening for the brutal 1988 Berrien County murder of Virginia "Ginger" Moore. Asked by Warden Hilton Hall if he wished to make a final statement, Lynd said, "Nope." Asked if he wished to have a prayer offered on his behalf, Lynd said, "no." Fifteen minutes later, Lynd was silenced forever as he was pronounced dead by lethal ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 7, 2008
New York governor wants to tax tribal cigarette sales
May 7--ALBANY, N.Y -- New York Gov. David Paterson, just a few weeks after taking office, is already thinking about collecting sales taxes on cigarettes sold by tribes. It's a path many of his predecessors have unsuccessfully pursued, and several tribal leaders predict Paterson, too, will likely face challenges. In a late April appearance on a Syracuse radio station, Paterson said the state's ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 7, 2008
Dann could be 1st nonjudge to be impeached
May 7--COLUMBUS -- Attorney General Marc Dann has not been charged with a crime, let alone convicted of one, but that may not stop Ohio lawmakers from proceeding with plans to impeach him if he remains firm in his refusal to resign. Ohio lawmakers presided over several impeachments during the state's infancy and none alleged a criminal violation, including the sole case that resulted in a Senate ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 7, 2008
Bankruptcy: Generation gap extends to handling of financial woes
From Lansing State Journal Share this article: The stress of a home foreclosure or bankruptcy filing at any age is often a life-changing event. Yet, financial problems are treated differently by different generations. More often, bankruptcy is something I see happening to people who have reached their retirement years. It is not that unusual to see couples ages 65 and older who have worked for ...
Lansing State Journal - May 7, 2008
Defense industry tax havens under fire
WASHINGTON - When the Pentagon announced an obscure California company had won a lucrative military contract, no one mentioned any plans for a Caribbean outpost - a tropical shell the company quickly created that allowed it to duck millions in taxes and deflect U.S. lawsuits. It's legal, at least for now. Contractors large and small have been heading offshore to shield piles of taxpayer dollars, ...
MSNBC - May 7, 2008
The Clinton family tableaux.
Emily, you are right that the Clinton family tableaux at each of these speeches has proven a sort of still life in public social anguish but given that it s historically been the task of the presidential wife to look like a medicated groupie in a good suit, maybe it s fair to say that Bill was doing a decent male impression of just that last night. Filed under: Barack Obama, Hillary ...
Slate Magazine - May 7, 2008
Two issues in move vs Lopezes
MANILA, Philippines-In the fight of the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo against the Lopezes on the rates of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), I think the public, which has long suffered steep power rates, would be sympathetic to the administration. The public perception is that there are a lot of hidden costs being loaded into the very complicated customer's bill by the power ...
Philippine Daily Inquirer - May 7, 2008
AP IMPACT: An islands tax haven for US defense contractor
WASHINGTON -- When the Pentagon announced an obscure California company had won a lucrative military contract, no one mentioned any plans for a Caribbean outpost - a tropical shell the company quickly created that allowed it to duck millions in taxes and deflect U.S. lawsuits. It's legal, at least for now. Contractors large and small have been heading offshore to shield piles of taxpayer ...
Miami Herald - May 7, 2008
Showdown In The Oval Office
The battle over President Truman's decision to recognize Israel Special to the Jewish Week Note: From the first chapter of Counsel to the President, the memoirs of Clark Clifford with Richard Holbrooke, published in 1991, telling the dramatic inside story of how young Clifford 'took on' Secretary of State George C. Marshall, perhaps the most admired man in America, over Israel.
The Jewish Week - May 7, 2008
Clinton's Best Oil Idea
Poor Hillary. It must be tough trying to pass yourself off as a working-class, beer-drinking populist who refuses to kowtow to elite opinion or put her lot in with economists when, deep down, you're still that same solid middle-class kid who went to Ivy League schools, made partner at a corporate law firm, speculated in hog futures and real estate development, reveled at Renaissance Weekends, ...
Washington Post - May 7, 2008
Candidates for state's high court say public's faith shaken
HUNTINGTON -- While on the campaign trail for a seat for the state's highest court, candidates say they are learning voters have trust issues. Recent scandals and perceived conflicts of interest are at the top of citizens' lists of things to correct when two justices are elected to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals in November. One justice at the center of recent controversy must first ...
Herald Dispatch - May 7, 2008
Georgian's execution ends moratorium
JACKSON, Ga. A Georgia man who killed his live-in girlfriend was executed yesterday, the first inmate put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injections. William Earl Lynd was pronounced dead at 4:51 p.m. PDT. The execution came less than an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected efforts to block it. California and other states that use lethal ...
SignOn San Diego - May 7, 2008
The Obama Bubble Agenda
Obama phenomenon has been likened to that of cults, celebrity groupies and Messiah worshipers. But what were actually witnessing is ObamaMania (as in tulip mania), the third and final bubble orchestrated and financed by the wonderful Wall Street folks who brought us the first two: the Nasdaq/tech bubble and a subprime-mortgage-in-every-pot bubble. To understand why Wall Street desperately needs ...
CounterPunch - May 7, 2008
Wave of Lawsuits Over Losses Could Hit a Wall
Finding someone to sue over losses in the mortgage market and the credit crisis is easy. Winning in court, lawyers say, will be hard. Shareholders in big financial firms have accused UBS, Merrill Lynch, MBIA and Morgan Stanley, among others, of trying to hide their home loan problems, which later led to declines in their stock prices. Institutional investors have sued investment firms, including ...
New York Times - May 7, 2008
No end to foreclosure boom
As bad as the housing crisis is in the United States, thanks to loan defaults and foreclosures from unpaid subprime mortgages, national housing and neighborhood activists expect it to get far worse. Meeting at the Duke Energy Center downtown today, more than 350 housing activists heard a panel of national experts, including bankers, housing advocates and government regulators, detail how hundreds ...
Cincinnati Enquirer - May 7, 2008
Oil Giants to Settle Water Suit
Some of the nations largest oil companies have agreed to pay about $423 million in cash to settle a lawsuit brought by more than a hundred public water providers, claiming water contamination from a popular gasoline additive. The terms of the settlement were submitted for approval in the federal court for the Southern District of New York. Under the terms of the deal, the companies also agreed ...
New York Times - May 7, 2008
EDITORIAL: Bad prosecutors should face prison
May 6--Craig Watkins has had a few misses amid many hits in his first term as Dallas County district attorney, but it's hard to argue with his there-oughta-be-a-law sentiment on prosecutorial misconduct. Mr. Watkins has pushed as hard to free the innocent as he has to convict the guilty. In that spirit, he now wants Texas to increase punishments -- up to and including prison time -- for ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 6, 2008
I-35W victims bill heads to governor: House, Senate OK two-tier $38M plan
May 6--For months, survivors of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse have followed every legislative twist and turn on a bill for a fund to compensate them for their losses, and much of the time their expressions have been solemn, even grim. On Monday, their faces broke into grins, and they exchanged hugs and handshakes after the House and Senate passed a bill by wide margins.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 6, 2008
Why no one opposed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.
Mildred Loving, who along with her husband Richard, was a plaintiff in the 1967 case of Loving v. Virginia, passed away on May 2nd. Her obituary is here. In Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court held that laws banning interracial marriage violated the Equal Protection Clause both because they violated principles of racial equality and because they abridged a fundamental right to marry.
Slate - May 6, 2008
With no photo IDs, nuns denied ballots in Indiana
WASHINGTON _ At least 10 retired nuns in South Bend, Ind., were barred from voting in Tuesday's Indiana Democratic primary election because they lacked photo IDs required under a state law that the Supreme Court upheld last week. John Borkowski, a South Bend lawyer volunteering as an election watchdog for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said several of the retired nuns had been ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 6, 2008
Free speech takes a hit with ruling
THE ISSUEU.S. Court of Appeals upholds the state's tax-supported campaign financing system for Supreme Court justices and justices on the N.C. Court of Appeals POINTS OF DEBATEThe fund provides dollars for appellate judicial campaigns to candidates who agree to spending limits; The candidates who accept the offer are at an advantage THE STAR'S VIEWThe system uses the power of government to ...
Shelby Star - May 6, 2008
McCain vows to appoint judges like Alito and Roberts
WASHINGTON _ Sen. John McCain sought to burnish his conservative credentials Tuesday with a broadside against "the common and systematic abuse of our federal courts by the people we entrust with judicial power" and a promise of "better judges" in the mold of Supreme Court justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito. In a speech on his judicial philosophy delivered in a chapel on the campus of Wake ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 6, 2008
Uma Thurmans Pursuer Is Found Guilty of Stalking
Jack Jordan, a graduate turned drifter who lived in his car, was found guilty on Tuesday of stalking the actress Uma Thurman, the star of edgy, violent movies like Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction. He was also found guilty of one count of second-degree aggravated harassment, but was acquitted of two additional counts of second-degree aggravated harassment. During the jury trial in State Supreme Court ...
New York Times - May 6, 2008
Opponents call for end to fish farms
Vancouver - Some of the most vociferous critics of fish farming on the West Coast say they will ask a B.C. court to prevent the provincial government from renewing leases on existing fish farms. Biologist Alexandra Morton said she and an association of gillnetters, the Vessels Owners Association and the Wilderness Tourism Association filed a petition Tuesday in B.C. Supreme Court.
Globe and Mail - May 6, 2008
School district settles with 8th molestation victim for $500,000
May 6--The Beaufort County Board of Education voted Tuesday to settle a lawsuit with the eighth victim of convicted child molester and former teacher Philip Underwood-Sheppard for more than $500,000. The board voted 9-0 to pay $563,500 out of the school district's budget, which will not require a tax increase. Reading from a prepared statement at a school board meeting, board Chairman Fred ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 6, 2008
Inmates exposed to 'superbug,' lawsuits say
Lonnie Napier says he was infected with the flesh-eating bacteria at the Laurel County Detention Center, and that his wound grew so gangrenous that a portion of his scrotum had to be removed. Martel Chapman said she was infected in the Hardin County jail after being forced to share a cell with women who had draining sores and boils.Scott Wooler said he caught it in the Hickman County Detention ...
Louisville Courier-Journal - May 6, 2008
Kentucky Speedway appeal labels NASCAR as 'monopolist'
Kentucky Speedway has filed legal arguments in its appeal of a federal court's January ruling to throw out its antitrust claims against NASCAR. The threshold issue as the District Court saw it was whether NASCAR's Nextel Cup stock car racing series (formerly Winston Cup, and now Sprint Cup) constitutes a distinct 'relevant market' for the purposes of federal antitrust law.
East Bay Business Journal - May 6, 2008
Pants Update: Pants Man Sues City
Pearson, who has been keeping to himself since losing both his lawsuit against Custom Cleaners and his job last year, has emerged from his Northeast home to demand a cool million from the city that pushed him out of a job last fall. You may recall that in the pants case, Pearson styled himself as the 'private attorney general' representing all of the people of the District of Columbia in the ...
Washington Post - May 6, 2008
Obama wins N.C. primary, Clinton leads in Indiana
Obama wins NC, says near nomination; Clinton leads Indiana 55 mins ago: Obama wins NC, says nomination close; Clinton leads Indiana 1 hr 49 ago: Obama wins NC Democratic primary; Clinton leads in Indiana 3 hrs ago: Obama wins in North Carolina, but trails Clinton in Indiana 4 hrs ago: Obama wins North Carolina primary 4 hrs ago: Clinton leads in Indiana, battles Obama in North Carolina 5 hrs ago: ...
Examiner-LasVegas - May 6, 2008
Utah high court may settle Draper route
Draper resident Jennifer Schaerer poses for a portrait on her back porch. With plans for commuter rail, she thinks a TRAX extension is redundant. DRAPER - This city has long been enmeshed in a heavy light-rail controversy, but the state's high court could finally put the issue back on track toward resolution Tuesday. At issue: TRAX currently dead ends in Sandy at 10000 South, and the Utah ...
Salt Lake Tribune - May 6, 2008
What's a democratic vote worth in theocratic Iran?
Real change can result from elections in Iran as long as there is a homegrown democratic heart beating within the theocratic republic. But for how long will that be the case? Iran may not be a liberal democracy but it is certainly a far cry from those fake democratic republics that littered the world before 1989. A representative democracy grafted onto a theocracy, the Islamic Republic is a ...
Lebanon Daily Star - May 6, 2008
North Carolina case claims financial calamity from Bayer drug
RALEIGH - North Carolina could become a battleground in the fight over Bayer Corp.'s embattled bleeding-control drug Trasylol, but for a different reason than safety. A lawsuit filed April 11 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina claims no physical injury from the drug. Instead, plaintiff Jerry Saine of Catawba County claims he suffered 'economic injury' ...
Business Journal of Milwaukee - May 6, 2008
Sioux urged to take Hills payment
Attorney seeks Native people willing to accept lawsuit settlement As a young Lakota man, Gary Montana's elders told him about the Black Hills. (153) Tribal constitution election declared null and void (147) It's official: Abortion ban to be on the ballot (141) Daschle comes to Hills to support Obama (112) Police officer, student collide at Sturgis intersection (90) $150,000 Mortgage for ...
Rapid City Journal - May 6, 2008
New twist to old issue of 'taking' of property
SACRAMENTO Dueling initiatives on the statewide ballot June 3 are being framed as a showdown over government's power to seize private property, but the outcome could turn on the underlying issue of rent control. Both campaigns play up iconic images to sway voters, pitting the mom-and-pop shopkeeper forced to sell by a city hungry for more tax receipts against the fixed-income senior citizen ...
SignOn San Diego - May 6, 2008
Kelly prosecutors bear heavy burden: Alleged victim's lack of cooperation cited
May 5--As jury selection begins later this week in the R. Kelly child pornography trial, the high-profile case will be missing a key component of most criminal prosecutions: A victim. The 41-year-old singer, whose real name is Robert Kelly, faces charges stemming from a 15-minute videotape that authorities say was made with a girl as young as 13 sometime between Jan. 1, 1998, and Nov.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Congress asked to spare condemned killer by enforcing treaty
WASHINGTON _ Texas death-row inmate Jose Ernesto Medellin, the central figure in an international dispute over U.S. treaty obligations, has been sentenced to die on Aug. 5, but the Mexican citizen's attorneys sought congressional intervention to stall the execution. District Judge Caprice Cosper of Houston set the execution date for Medellin, who has been on death row for nearly 15 years for the ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Clemens story takes yet another twist with apologetic statement
NEW YORK _ It played out like a movie script, kicking off like a secret-agent flick and concluding like the biopic of a religious leader. Roger Clemens awoke in his Houston-area home a year ago this morning, boarded a plane to New York with his agent Randy Hendricks and sneaked into Yankee Stadium. During the seventh-inning stretch of that day's Yankees-Mariners game, venerable Stadium ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
In the footsteps of Lincoln
May 5--Abraham Lincoln grew from frontiersman to president of the United States in the mid-section of Illinois. He held his first public office as postmaster in New Salem, where he became a lawyer. He rode the vast 8th Judicial Circuit that stretched from the Illinois River to the Indiana border until it was carved into smaller pieces -- in a move engineered by Lincoln the lobbyist.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Music marketing is in throes of digital transformation
May 5--TAMPA -- If the MP3 was a shot across the music industry's bow, Radiohead's "In Rainbows" may have been the torpedo that sank the ship. The English art-rock quintet initially released its latest album as a pay-what-you-want download. The set-your-own-price angle captured the most headlines, but the secondary story was more important. As the old TV pitch used to go, Radiohead cut out the ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Thunder Valley officials mystified by wrongful death lawsuit
May 5--Thunder Valley Casino officials are angered that the casino is being sued in connection to the murder of a woman in 2005. The wrongful death lawsuit was filed by the family of Christie Wilson, the 27-year-old Sacramento woman who was last seen leaving the Lincoln casino in October 2005 with the man later convicted of her murder. Mario Flavio Garcia is serving a sentence of 59 years to ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
An unfair plays against fair pay
Lilly Ledbetter worked in a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. plant in Gadsden, Ala., for 19 years before she received some valuable information from an anonymous tipster: She learned that she was making $6,500 less than the lowest-paid guy who had her job. She did what anybody might do. She sued. She was in for a surprise. So were a lot of civil rights experts.
Detroit News - May 5, 2008
Court mulls death for child rapists: Ruling could affect Bonifay trial
May 5--Christopher Powers asked for the death penalty for his lengthy sexual abuse of an 11-year-old boy. The U.S. Supreme Court could make that a possibility. The high court justices are contemplating a return to a system of death sentences for people convicted of raping children. Two weeks ago, the court heard oral arguments in the case of Patrick Kennedy, who is opposing his death sentence ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
EDITORIAL: Free speech takes a hit with ruling
May 5--THE ISSUE U.S. Court of Appeals upholds the state's tax-supported campaign financing system for Supreme Court justices and justices on the N.C. Court of Appeals POINTS OF DEBATE The fund provides dollars for appellate judicial campaigns to candidates who agree to spending limits; The candidates who accept the offer are at an advantage THE STAR'S VIEW The system uses the power of ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
BRIEF: Supreme Court: HomeGold witnesses can testify
May 5--The S.C. Supreme Court today has reversed a lower court ruling that had barred five former company leaders from testifying against former HomeGold Financial chairman John Sterling. The witnesses are key to the state's case because they have testified in previous trials that Sterling, a Greenville venture capitalist, misled them about HomeGold's declining financial health -- a charge ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Boy Scouts push for new relevance
HOUSTON _ The scene on a recent weekend at Camp Strake, a Boy Scout overnight camp in the woods north of Houston, looked ageless and familiar: A group of teenage scouts, their tan uniforms neatly buttoned as they emerged from their tents, lined up eagerly to watch several fathers demonstrate skeet shooting. But this was not a scouting tableau as Norman Rockwell might have pictured it.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
EDITORIAL: Shoddy workmanship: Give Texas homeowners better tools to force irresponsible builders to fix construction defects
May 5--The mounting numbers of unresolved complaints make increasingly clear that the Texas Residential Construction Commission Act, passed in the 2003 Legislature, has become for buyers of poorly constructed homes the nightmare many feared it would. Adding insult to this injurious legislation is how the law is falsely touted as an aide to homeowners stuck in shoddily built houses.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Supreme Court's Web site includes new features
May 5--Mon, May 05 2008 -- Staff Report In conjunction with the commemoration of Law Day, the Illinois Supreme Court has announced a new feature on its Web site to help increase awareness about how Illinois government operates and the interrelationship among the three branches. The materials, available on the Web site at a new "Student Learning Center," are designed for middle school pupils but ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
BJP weighs 'options' against Speaker move
May 5--DELHI -- Amid indications of a fresh round of confrontation between the Opposition and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, senior NDA leaders are to discuss on Monday ways to show their disapproval of his act of referring the cases of 32 MPs, all from the Opposition and BSP, to the privileges committee for their "unruly behaviour" when they were protesting against a serious issue like ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Supreme battling: Justice Horton seeks first win after joining high court last year
May 5--Idaho Supreme Court Justice Joel Horton -- who was appointed to the bench last September by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter -- disagrees with nearly all of the fiery contentions made by his opponent in an upcoming election. It's not that Horton, for example, rejects the principles behind 2nd District Judge John Bradbury's calls for overhauling the district courts.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Big day in court for open space tax: $56 MILLION TIED UP IN LONG LEGAL BATTLE
May 5--Over the past seven years, Santa Clara County's open space agency has collected more than $50 million from property owners as part of Silicon Valley's quest to preserve land and stem the unrelenting pressures of development. But the money has just been sitting there, a tantalizing, untapped reservoir of funding during a time when most government agencies are tapped out.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Suit seeks to prevent rate cut for health care providers
May 5--Doctors, hospitals and health care providers filed a class-action lawsuit Monday seeking to block the state from cutting payments to them for treating the poor. The lawsuit argues that an upcoming 10 percent rate cut to Medi-Cal -- the state-run health insurance program serving 6.5 million low-income residents -- will exacerbate a shortage of doctors, dentists and pharmacists willing to ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Yahoo! Shareholders to File Amended Complaint in Pending Class Action; Will Seek Redress for Yahoo Board Thwarting Microsoft's Merger Proposal Announces Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP
Two public pension funds represented by Two public pension funds represented by Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP and Bouchard Margules & Friedlander, P.A., the Court-appointed Co-Lead Counsel for the proposed class of all Yahoo!, Inc. ("Yahoo") (NASDAQ: YHOO) shareholders, will pursue their consolidated class action lawsuit against Jerry Yang and the other members of the Yahoo ...
MarketWire - May 5, 2008
Rising to the top: Highly regarded
May 5--C EDAR RAPIDS -- State Appellate Judge David Baker of Cedar Rapids is known as an avid golfer, bowler and fan of the Grateful Dead. He competes in many ugly golf and bowling shirt contests and confesses his attendance at Dead concerts is in the double digits. But his real passion is the law. His other interests take a back seat to his lifelong aspiration of being appointed to the Iowa ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Ping lashes at Alan over ZTE comments
May 5--SEN. Panfilo Lacson on Sunday rapped Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano for declaring that he would come out with a report on the aborted $329-million national broadband network (NBN) scandal even before members of the Senate blue ribbon committee could meet and discuss the matter. "The procedure I know is that a committee will meet to discuss a report, but there has been no such meeting.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Public inquiry into Taser use begins on Monday
A public inquiry into the use of the controversial Taser in B.C. begins Monday. Headed by retired B.C. Supreme Court judge Thomas Braidwood, the first of two phases of the inquiry is a study into the use of the conducted energy weapons. After reviewing written submissions and public forums to be held until May 23, Braidwood will make recommendations on the appropriate use of the weapons by B.C. ...
The Province - May 5, 2008
Bias suit faces fight to be heard: Churches exempt from hiring laws
May 5--The Rev. Derrick Gomez alleges that in his job with the North Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America he was subjected to an intolerable pattern of racial discrimination that ultimately led him to resign. It's not clear whether the allegations -- contained in a lawsuit in federal court -- have merit. And it may not matter. The suit may never be heard because of a ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
EDITORIAL: Our View -- Monday
May 5--SMALL VICTORIES FOR GUN RIGHTS: Court, official act to protect Second Amendment: Second Amendment supporters got a couple of pieces of good news last week. One, perhaps the most important in a while, was that a federal appeals court didn't buy New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's argument that firearms manufacturers should be held responsible for firearm violence in his city.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Scrabble surges back, thanks to upstart Scrabulous
May 5--Scrabble is nothing if not a retro game, one that conjures up images of the canasta and bebop generation, and brings back memories of fussing with wooden alphabet tiles, as high-scoring crosswords marched across the pastel grid of the game board and Frank Sinatra, perhaps, crooned in the background. So it's a bit of a surprise to discover a new generation has quietly become addicted to ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Guilty until proven innocent: Parents accused of child abuse by DCFS fight to clear their names
May 5--The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services wrongly placed more than 3,000 people on the state's official list of child abusers over a five-year period, a News-Democrat investigation found. That's an error rate of one in four, based on more than 11,000 cases where people appealed to have their names removed from the list. Parents and foster parents accused of child abuse or ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Voters and ID cards
The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Friday, May 2: ___ You show your ID at the grocery store to cash a check. You show your ID at the airport to get on a plane. Why not be required to show an ID at the precinct on Election Day? That's what Indiana and many other states require. Doesn't sound unreasonable. But opponents challenged a 2005 Indiana law, arguing that it could ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
No photo to vote, for now: Officials debate need for photo ID
May 5--DENVER -- You may need a driver's license to get a beer, but you don't need one to get a ballot. When voters go to the polls this year, they will be able to show they're eligible to vote by presenting a copy of their birth certificate, pay stub or utility bill. The Legislature has debated whether Colorado needs stricter standards, and the parties are split on the issue.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
EDITORIAL: Poisoning Rover
May 5--The Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to rehear part of a case about a subject far from everybody's heart: e-mail spam. In February a divided court upheld the conviction of a notorious spammer, Jeremy Jaynes, under Virginia's anti-spam law. That law prohibits sending unsolicited, bulk e-mails beyond a certain threshhold. Although the court ruled the law was applied to Jaynes in a ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Greater legal aid sought for poor: Proposed center would offer help by volunteer lawyers
May 5--Linda Paddock was beside herself. She was being sued for nearly $12,000 after defaulting on a car loan -- seven years after the auto had been repossessed. Paddock earned enough money to pay the rent and put food on the table by working two jobs. She earned slightly too much, however, to qualify for a lawyer's assistance from the Legal Aid Society, a not-for-profit agency that represents ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 5, 2008
Brain maturation may be defense in teen's murder trial
May 4--Blame the brain. A growing field of neuroscience research suggests teenagers take more risks, don't focus on consequences and tend not to reason things out because there's too much going on in their heads. The studies show brain maturation continues many years longer than scientists once thought. Researchers think an overabundance of gray matter and still-strengthening connections between ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 4, 2008
Top court takes area gun case: Marion man seeks to clear his name
May 4--The case of a Marion County man barred from owning a gun because of a conviction for simple battery will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court later this year. Randy Hayes, of Mannington, pleaded guilty to simple battery, a misdemeanor, in 1994 for a dispute with his then wife, said his attorney, Troy Giatras. He was sentenced to one year of probation. In 2004, Marion County police officers ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 4, 2008
Houston Chronicle Rick Casey column: Lawyer who undid DA is after sheriff
May 4--The lawyer who brought down District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal is setting his sights on Sheriff Tommy Thomas. Rosenthal's demise came from deleting more than 2,000 e-mails after being ordered by a federal judge to produce them. Attorney Lloyd Kelley had sought the e-mails in connection with a suit that accused five of Thomas' deputies of violating the civil rights of two brothers.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 4, 2008
A TRIBUNE SPECIAL REPORT: Health & death behind bars
May 4--Lack of care Health assessments are supposed to be done within 14 days of an inmate's admission, and inmates are supposed to receive medical care upon request. Out of 57,105 inmates booked with length of stay at least four days: More than 60 Maricopa County jail inmates have died since 2004, many from illnesses that would be treatable in normal medical settings.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 4, 2008
Guilty until proven innocent: Parents accused of child abuse by DCFS fight to clear their names
May 4--The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services wrongly placed more than 3,000 people on the state's official list of child abusers over a five-year period, a News-Democrat investigation found. That's an error rate of one in four, based on more than 11,000 cases where people appealed to have their names removed from the list. Parents and foster parents accused of child abuse or ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 4, 2008
'Taking On The Trust' By Steve Weinberg
May 4--Ida Tarbell and John D. Rockefeller both embraced hard work and the value of careful analysis. "Like Rockefeller, Tarbell grounded her decision-making in hard evidence, not in emotionalism," Steve Weinberg writes in "Taking on the Trust." The clash between these two strong people, Weinberg writes, changed journalism and American business. Tarbell, born in 1857, was raised in the nation's ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 4, 2008
What's on a winning resume?: Experts say no job is like governor's Selling points
May 4--North Carolina will see not only a new governor next year but, the candidates say, a new style of governing. Gov. Mike Easley's remote management style is campaign fodder for Republican candidates who paint him as disengaged. The two Democrats who want the job, while not mentioning Easley, join Republicans in promising accessibility and hands-on leadership.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 4, 2008
Dallas County district attorney wants unethical prosecutors punished
May 4--The Dallas County district attorney who has built a national reputation on freeing the wrongfully convicted says prosecutors who intentionally withhold evidence should themselves face harsh sanctions -- possibly even jail time. "Something should be done," said Craig Watkins, whose jurisdiction leads the nation in the number of DNA exonerations. "If the harm is a great harm, yes, it should ...
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 4, 2008
EDITORIAL: Class Actions: Absurd and sublime
May 4--This month, the Missouri Supreme Court gave a swift boot to one of those irritating class-action lawsuits that drive business executives up the wall. The court's prudent decision shows there's little need for a harsher crackdown on class actions now under consideration in the Missouri Legislature. Class-action cases range from the ridiculous to the justified.
McClatchy Tribune Business News - May 4, 2008
EDITORIAL: Democracy's loss: The U.S. Supreme Court sets the bar discouragingly low for states' efforts to discourage legitimate voters
May 4--Up in Washington, the Supreme Court made a mountain out of a molehill -- verified instances of people voting with fraudulent intent -- and then leveled the molehill with a bulldozer. By a 6-3 margin the court upheld an Indiana law that requires voters to present an official photo ID card at the polls. Yes, the ruling may help deter fraud -- although Indiana hasn't