Altria, née Philip Morris, is probably looking at a big dip in sales following a voluntary recall of some of its smokeless tobacco products after consumers found sharp metal objects in some cans. Although the company insists no users were injured from the foreign metal objects, the recall includes products from some of the corporation’s most recognizable brands: Skoal and Copenhagen. Here’s what you need to know: U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co....
Car booster seats should properly position child passengers so that safety belts intended for adults can provide adequate restraint in a car accident. But a number of booster seats on the market don’t do an adequate job of improving the fit of lap and shoulder belts, according to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The IIHS study – conducted with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute – did not focus on crash protection, but evaluated 41 popular car booster seats based on the safety belt fit they provided....
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a passenger in a vehicle may challenge the constitutionality of a traffic stop. For purposes of the Fourth Amendment’s “search and seizure” protections, the Court did not limit a “seizure” to the time of an arrest, but instead held that “[w]hen police make a traffic stop, a passenger in the car, like the driver, is seized for Fourth Amendment purposes and so may challenge the stop’s constitutionality....
Don’t use Symantec’s pcAnywhere. Disable it now. That’s a request from the security software firm itself. The company suspected someone had broken into its network back in 2006, but was unable to confirm it until earlier this month. Members of hacktivist group Anonymous have recently begun talking publicly about Symantec’s source code, which it claims to have stolen. The code affects the 2006 versions of its Norton security software and newer versions of pcAnywhere, which allows users to remotely access their computers....
The real-life jail that was used as the set for Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black” is being sued for being even more disgusting than the prison depicted on the show. The series has been shot in part at Suffolk County Jail in Riverhead, New York, which is being sued by the New York Civil Liberties Union for water and sewage problems that might make you re-think what happened in Season 2....
Late last night, Dylann Roof opened fire on a bible study group at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Roof killed nine parishioners, including Reverend Clementa Pinckney, the church’s pastor and a state senator, and wounded three others. Roof was apprehended in North Carolina this morning, and the Justice Department has already announced it will open a hate crime investigation into the shooting. Some are calling for the mass shooting to also be considered an act of domestic terrorism....
The rapper known as The Game was apparently kicked out of a restaurant, and he feels it’s because of his tattoos. E! Online reports the rapper was denied service at a restaurant called Houston’s in Pasadena, California, and was asked to leave by the manager. The Game claims it was because his body art was apparently threatening to other patrons in the restaurant. The rapper sent out several incredulous tweets following the incident....
It’s the topic that won’t die: Donald Sterling is a racist. Of course, those of us who paid attention to the L.A. sports scene have known this for years – there was the refusal to rent to African Americans, and the time he brought women into the locker room to view his players’ “beautiful black bodies,” relays Deadspin. His former general manager, NBA legend Elgin Baylor, who admittedly had a bone to pick with him (litigation was ongoing at the time), compared Sterling’s management of the team to a plantation, reports Yahoo....
As the murder trial of accused theater gunman James Holmes gets underway in Colorado, the court has reportedly gathered the largest jury pool in U.S. history. About 9,000 juror summonses were issued to potential jurors in the case, reports Fox News. The judge in the case has said in court filings that he asked for such a large jury pool because of the high-profile nature of Holmes’ death penalty case. Holmes is accused of walking into an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater in 2012 and opening fire on the crowd....
This is not exactly the kind of family gathering you ever hoped to attend, but it is happening. You have to go to the county jail to visit a family member and you are wondering what will happen and how to handle it. Jail regulations will vary from state to state and county to county – and federal prison is yet another story – so you must check the local rules as well as inquire with the jail....
Rihanna’s house is worth $6.9 million - or is it? A “moderate rainstorm” left Rihanna’s home flooded as a result of undisclosed structural defects, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. The pop-R&B singer is suing Prudential California Realty, LaRocca Inspection Associates, Landmark Design Group, and the former owners of the Beverly Hills mansion, alleging negligence, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of implied warranty, and breach of contract....
Another use of excessive force from police officers on unarmed black civilians. Another citizen-recorded video, uploaded to the Internet. Another round of outrage. And another police officer suspended. This time it was in McKinney, Texas, a Dallas suburb, and it was a white officer throwing a young black girl in a bikini to the ground, pulling his gun on other teens nearby, and then slamming her face into the ground while kneeling on her back....
The so-called “gun show loophole” is at the center of a renewed debate about gun control. For those unfamiliar with firearms, you may be scratching your head and wondering what the gun show loophole actually is. As you may know, federal laws and some state laws are in place to require criminal background checks and detailed record-keeping relating to the purchase of firearms. However, what you may not be aware of is that these laws typically apply only to licensed firearms dealers....
A federal judge in Kentucky sentenced Steven D. Green, an ex-U.S. soldier, to five (5) life terms in prison today for raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl, and murdering her 6-year-old sister, father, and mother when he was stationed in Iraq near the village of al-Mahmudiyah (see map). Steven D. Green, a former PFC with the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, was convicted of these charges on May 7, 2009 after a jury trial....
Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has been indicted today for the execution-style murder of his friend. The Aaron Hernandez indictment (attached below) charges him with first-degree murder and weapons violations in connection with the June 17 killing of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd. A Fall River, Mass. grand jury indicted Hernandez, 23. Hernandez has been held without bail since his arrest June 26. If convicted, Hernandez faces a possible sentence of life in prison without parole....
A New Jersey babysitter sexually assaulted a 5-year-old girl in her care and streamed videos of the abuse online, prosecutors allege. Jennifer Mahoney, 32, faces three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in connection with her alleged sex-assault videos, the Associated Press reports. The charges are “shocking in their depravity,” a federal prosecutor told the AP. Mahoney and the 5-year-old girl allegedly appeared in three pornographic videos, sent by video chat and by cell phone....
Your dishwasher is overflowing; your clothes dryer is on the fritz; your refrigerator isn’t running. A malfunctioning appliance can turn your home upside down, and worse, cause more damage than some dirty dishes. So, we trust that when we call a business calling itself “A Plus Appliance Repair” or “Rescue Appliance,” that we’ll get a competent repair person who can fix what’s wrong. But that’s not what was happening in Cincinnati, according to a lawsuit filed by the Ohio Attorney General....
A 4/20 marijuana celebration in Colorado took a terrifying turn when a shooting broke out, leaving two people with gunshot wounds, and a third grazed. The gunfire scattered thousands of revelers attending the festival, the first since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana, reports Denver’s KCNC-TV. Police have interviewed a possible accomplice, but have yet to identify the primary suspect. The hazy roots of the “4/20” phenomenon can be traced to a group of teenagers in California who would gather to smoke pot at 4:20 p....
A grand jury in Escambia County Florida just indicted seven (7) suspects on charges of murdering Melanie and Byrd Billings, the husband and wife who adopted a host of special needs children into their family. The seven indicted suspects (shown below), who were arrested last month, are: Gary L. Sumner, Jr. (30) Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Jr. (35) Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Sr. (56) Donald R. Stallworth (28) Wayne Coldiron (41) Rahkeem Chavez Florence (17) Fredrick Lee Thornton (19) Each was charged with two (2) counts of First Degree Murder and one count of Home Invasion Robbery under Florida law....
The Kardashian sisters now have a reason to celebrate - the Kardashian card lawsuit that was brought against them after the sisters broke off promotional ties and spoke out about the “Kardashian Kard” prepaid debit card has been tossed out by a judge. Revenue Resource Group LLC had brought the $75 million lawsuit against the sisters when they pulled their support for the Kardashian Kard just three weeks after the product launched, reports CBS News....
