Posts

MySpace, the wildly popular social networking site used by millions of people, announced Tuesday that it has identified approximately 90,000 registered sex offenders who are also registered users of the site, and has been deleting the MySpace accounts and access priveleges of those individuals over the past two years. According to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who co-chairs the state attorney general task force on social networking, the current number of sex offenders identified as MySpace users (90,000) is 40,000 more than MySpace acknowledged in an earlier report....

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee is recommending that diabetes medication Avandia remain on the market despite evidence that use of the drug increases the risk of heart attacks. According to the New York Times, “[t]he votes - 20 to 3 on the heart attack risk and 22 to 1 on the marketing - were cast after an extraordinary meeting in which officials from the Food and Drug Administration, which brought the committee together, openly disagreed with one another on the course to take....

Remember that time you thought you bought some weed from that shady kid in high school, but it turned out to be oregano? Or scored some dank nugs late night on Haight Street, but got home to find out it was just balled up pieces of the yellow pages rubbed in the grass? This is just like that, only with more money. Michael Cone’s Greenview Investment Partners took in $3.3 million “to purportedly finance cannabis-related businesses and promising investors massive returns....

A meager $35 per person tax for residents of Portland, Oregon, used to fund art and music education for school children, has been ruled constitutional by the state’s Supreme Court. Despite the state’s constitution banning head taxes (taxes that are imposed on everyone uniformly regardless of the ability to pay), the state’s highest court ruled that the law’s many exemptions allowed it to pass constitutional muster. Ordinarily, under Oregon law, a head tax would be ruled unconstitutional....

Irvine, California-based online real estate company, RealtyTrac, issued a report on Thursday indicating that California’s foreclosure activity jumped 81 percent in 2008, with one in every 54 households getting at least one filing notice. As reported by Reuters, the figure suggests that various state laws and private programs to slow the process have been ineffective. Last month news reports indicated that the federal “Hope for Homeowners” program was also a flop....

More money, more problems. You hear that time and time again regarding rich celebrities. But perhaps that’s because there’s a little bit of truth to that saying. In this week’s Kar-Jen news, Rob Kardashian is claiming he’s broke, and not only wants to eliminate his child support payments to Blac Chyna, but he also wants to discuss Black Chyna paying him support. Currently Rob must pay Blac Chyna $20,000 per month, based on the $1 million per season he was formerly making on Keeping Up with the Kardashians (KUWTK)....

African-American and Hispanic drivers were more likely than white drivers to be searched by police and were more likely to experience police use of force during traffic stops in 2005, according to a study released Sunday by the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) Bureau of Justice Statistics. Data also showed that, of persons issued a ticket as a result of a traffic stop, black drivers were twice as likely as white drivers to be arrested....

The Supreme Court’s 2011 term was a busy one as usual. Several high-profile decisions were handed down, including one that may define President Obama’s presidency. Along with the Obamacare decision, other major Supreme Court cases involved state immigration powers, lying about military medals, prisoner rights, and GPS tracking. Here are our top five cases from the 2011 term: These are some of the most important Supreme Court cases from 2011. A mixed bag of cases that affects just about every American....

Can the police decide not to arrest someone who has committed a crime? Yes, and approximately 250 California teens are probably very happy that such police discretion exists. The group of high school students was pulled over while recently en route to Utah for a ski weekend. A convenience store clerk had spotted them smoking pot. Though Elko Police Chief Don Sumwalt found pipes, bongs and several pounds of marijuana on the 5 buses, he offered them a choice:...

The first settlement in the long running controversy and ensuing lawsuits over Chinese made drywall was reported on May 17. According to the law firm which represents it, Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. has entered into a joint settlement with homebuilding company Beazer Homes USA, Inc. Details of the settlement will be made public later this week. According to CBS News, Knauf is also in confidential settlement talks with as many as ten other homebuilding companies who used the drywall in their building projects and then had to pay owners for the damage to their homes that resulted....

Embry Call, you can’t shapeshift yourself out of this one: the actor who plays Embry in the Twilight series, Kiowa Gordon, was arrested early Monday as a result of outstanding warrants in Arizona. Gordon was the passenger of a car that was stopped for a registration check. Earlier reports had stated that Gordon had a DUI. In reality, the Twilight star was busted because during the registration check the police officer discovered that Gordon had active warrants out for his arrest, reports TMZ....

In an attempt to draw attention to plastic surgery safety, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) launched a new safety campaign last week. The goal? To teach patients about the importance of reviewing a surgeon’s credentials prior to going under the knife. The unofficial spokeswoman? Dinora Rodriguez, a 40-year-old California woman whose surgeon left her with a “uniboob.” Rodriguez’ surgeon had been recommended by a friend, reports HealthDay. But the surgeon turned out to be anything but professional....

Gay marriage opponents got their first victory in a federal appeals court Thursday, as the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld same-sex marriage bans as constitutional in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. Two judges on the 6th Circuit’s three-judge panel determined that the issue of defining marriage should be left to the states, not judges, reports the Detroit Free Press. Meantime, the lone dissenting judge blasted her colleagues, calling the opinion more of a “TED talk” than a constitutional analysis....

For Alanis Morissette’s former business manager, Jonathan Todd Schwartz, formerly of GSO Business Management, everything isn’t gonna be fine fine fine. In an un-ironic twist, months ago Schwartz admitted to embezzling nearly $7 million from GSO clients, as well as covering up his thefts. Recently, a federal court judge sentenced Schwartz to 6 years behind bars as a result of his plea bargain. In addition to the lengthy prison sentence, Schwartz has been ordered to pay restitution totaling nearly $9 million....

The Obama Administration has vetoed a ban on imports of some Apple iPads and older iPhones – a rare move that undercuts a legal victory for smartphone rival Samsung. Froman’s formal decision (attached below) to veto the ITC ban cited concerns about patent holders gaining “undue leverage” as well as potential harm to consumers and competitive conditions in the U.S. economy. The action is the first time since 1987 that a presidential administration had vetoed an import ban ordered by the ITC, reports The Wall Street Journal....

Look, we’re not saying that you cheated on your spouse. We’re not even saying that you’ve thought about it, received a steamy email, or had a stranger’s number burn a hole in your smartphone. All we’re saying is that some unsavory scam artists are playing the odds that your marital history is less than pristine, and hoping your insecurity will lead you to paying some big bucks to keep them quiet....

Perhaps you were not aware that there was a creature called the Middle Class Task Force roaming the halls of the nation’s capital. This Task Force is a White House mandated group responsible for reporting on ways to improve the standard of living for America’s beleaguered middle class. Reuters reported Friday the task force is announcing, in conjunction with their annual report, new regulations on workers’ savings, aimed at protecting employees, their 401(k)’s and IRA retirement savings plans from the potential conflicts of interest of financial advisers....

For lovers of old, analog tunes, the wave of digital remastering has presented an audiophile conundrum. Sure, some of the tracks sound better, especially since they’re mostly being broadcasted and played in a digital format, but the original is the original – should we really be messing around with these songs without the artists or producers around? For broadcasters, however, digital remastering presented an opportunity to skirt copyright protections for older tunes....

Kayne West and Kim Kardashian’s new baby is being introduced to the world as “North West” – a name that just begs for someone to change it. While Kim and Kanye’s daughter was born Sunday, she remained a nameless mystery to the media until it was revealed five days later that she’d been given the cardinal direction “North” as her moniker, reports ABC News. Not that North West isn’t a fantastic name, but what if a future North (aka “Nori” to her parents) wanted to ditch her name and maybe just become another Ashley or Emily?...

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that police officers usually need a warrant before they can search an arrested suspect’s cellphone. The 9-0 opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts held the right of police to search an arrested suspect at the scene without a warrant does not extend in most circumstances to data held on a cellphone. Still, there are some emergency situations in which a warrantless search would be permitted, the court said....