What can happen to a person who makes a bomb threat? Bomb threats are taken very seriously by local and federal law enforcement, as San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith learned Sunday. Smith was arrested after allegedly making a false bomb threat during a dispute at Los Angeles International Airport. Responding to a fake bomb threat is costly to law enforcement, and the legal system doesn’t look too kindly upon it either....
Banned from receiving state and federal funds distributed under the North Carolina budget, a federal judge ordered the state legislature to restore Planned Parenthood funding on Friday while a lawsuit over the issue continues to progress. Pursuant to an existing contract, North Carolina was set to provide the family planning organization and its affiliates with $212,000 during the 2011-12 fiscal year, but as a result of a June law, the Department of Health and Human Services was prohibited from transferring the funds....
Groups supporting religion, drugs, guns, the environment, and digital rights have sued the National Security Agency over collecting their phone records. Nineteen organizations including Unitarian church groups, gun ownership advocates, and a broad coalition of political advocacy organizations filed suit over violations of their First Amendment rights of association. The attached lawsuit “challenges an illegal and unconstitutional program of dragnet electronic surveillance, specifically the bulk acquisition, collection, storage, retention, and searching of telephone communications information....
A naked man in a cemetery? Not your average crime. But Robert Hurst, 47, was caught by motion-senor cameras doing an interesting activity at a local Mississippi cemetery. In an effort to photograph orbs, or the spirit of the dead, he went to the cemetery late at night and took all his clothes off. The rationale behind the naked cemetery photographing was simple: skin is the best canvas to show spirits orbs of energy....
What happens when you leave a convicted sex offender in a hospital without monitoring him? It’s a question people don’t often think about, but it’s an important one to ask. Authorities in Brooklyn, N.Y., are asking that question and many more after Gregory Campfield, 52, allegedly molested a female patient in the Kings County Hospital emergency room, New York’s WNBC-TV reports. Campfield himself was a patient at the hospital. According to the New York Daily News, hospital staff alerted security guards and Campfield was detained....
New York City no longer plans to appeal the “stop-and-frisk” ruling handed down by a federal judge last summer, opting instead to carry out reforms. As this issue had been a plank in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign, the new mayor – who’s been in office for less than a month – spoke Thursday about his administration taking a “major step toward resolving the polarizing dispute” surrounding the police custom, The New York Times reports....
Did Alexis Knapp give birth to Ryan Phillippe’s daughter? Knapp and Phillippe previously dated, but have since broken up. Knapp gave birth on July 1st, with Phillippe at her side, reports Today. And, maybe the baby girl’s name is an indication of who her mother thinks the father is: Kailani Merizalde Phillippe Knapp, according to People Magazine. But, there hasn’t been much in the way of indicating who the father is legally....
If a thing sounds too good to be true, then chances are good that it is. But who isn’t sometimes tempted by the promise of an easy win or a quick buck? Who wouldn’t love to know the secret to luck? There are plenty of people trying to make fast money off you with scams that purport to deliver the impossible and give you the secret scoop. Do not fall prey to con artists....
Walmart wins a nine-year-old lawsuit brought by a class of janitors that claimed that the retailer engaged in immigration violations, unfair labor practices, and even falsely imprisoned its workers. The janitors worked for a variety of contractors that provided janitorial services to Walmart. They accuse Walmart of trying to clean its stores “on the cheap” by hiring illegal immigrants that would be more willing to put up with unfair working conditions and lower pay, reports Reuters....
Eli Lilly and Co., manufacturer of the anti-psychotic medication Zyprexa, has reached a $62 million settlement with 32 states and the District of Columbia, to resolve claims that the company engaged in improper marketing and sales of the drug. The investigation into Lilly’s promotion of Zyprexa was spearheaded by the attorneys general of Illinois and Oregon, who alleged that Eli Lilly and Co. made unsubstantiated claims about Zyprexa’s benefits and promoted the medication for unapproved uses, including the treatment of dementia in elderly patients....
Guess who’s in the news yet again? It’s those crazy kids from Jersey Shore, America’s favorite family. This time it is Jwoww, who is fighting her ex-boyfriend and manager, Thomas Lippolis. Now a judge has temporarily ruled that Lippolis does not have the right to sell or distribute the photos, according to TMZ. The New York judge apparently agreed that the the photos were taken “while she was under the effects of pre-surgical and post-surgical anesthesia....
California passed a first-of-its-kind state law outlawing “revenge porn,” the distribution of private, explicit photos or video of other people on the Internet to humiliate them. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the law (attached below) that makes it a misdemeanor to post images online after breakups. Offenders may face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for a first offense. Senate Bill 255, which takes effect immediately, makes it a misdemeanor to post identifiable nude pictures of someone else online without permission with the intent to cause emotional distress or humiliation....
Joe Giudice, who you may know as Teresa Giudice’s husband from “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” took a plea deal on Wednesday and may face deportation for yet another fraud case. Joe would hate to one-up his wife in the criminal department, but it turns out he had a charge for driver’s license fraud pending while the two were dealing with charges for mortgage fraud. TMZ reports that Joe was initially threatened with a 10-year prison sentence for the driver’s license fraud, but he copped a plea to serve an 18-month sentence concurrently with his 41 months in prison on other charges....
Sources are reporting that Justin Bieber has settled the assault lawsuit against him and his bodyguard stemming from the January 2014 assault of photographer Manual Munoz in a Subway restaurant. Recently, Bieber was ordered by the judge in the case to appear for a deposition or face arrest. It appears that rather than sit for the deposition, Bieber settled the case to make the judge’s order moot. While the details of the settlement are confidential, it doesn’t take much to recognize that Bieber and his body guard were on the losing end of it....
As the largest bank in the United States, the newly announced BofA debit card fee has a lot of consumers unhappy. Beginning next year, customers who make debit card purchases will be charged a $5 monthly fee. Use of Bank of America ATMs will be free, and there will be no charge if no purchases are made. Cards tied to Merrill Lynch brokerage accounts will also not be charged. The move is part of an industry-wide bid to weather the ailing economy and new regulation....
The California Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to hear a legal challenge to California’s Proposition 8 gay marriage ban, a ballot measure approved by state voters on November 4th. The state’s top court also issued an order Wednesday that will keep the ban in place at least until any ruling is issued. The court’s deliberation and decision on Proposition 8 could rest on whether the gay marriage ban is a mere “amendment” to the state’s constitution, or rises to the level of a constitutional “revision” (see “The Law and Prop....
Everything seems automated these days. And the amount of data out there seems infinite. This is especially true in the investment world, where computer programs can execute trades in nanoseconds and the smallest piece of information can make the difference between profits and pitfalls. So it only seems natural that, at some point, robots would replace humans as financial advisors. So-called “robo-advisors” are the hot new thing, and, as with any new invention, the regulators are on their way....
Attention home improvement enthusiasts. Please put down your wire clippers and take note of the following product recall announcement from the CPSC. The agency, in conjunction with the Oxmoor House, Inc., of Birmingham, Ala., has announced a voluntary recall on home improvement books. The CPSC believes that the issues under recall contain diagrams that would lead those of us hungry for a little DIY home repair, to incorrectly install or repair electrical wiring leading to shock or fire hazards....
The Department of Justice just reinstated their policy to assist local law enforcement in civil asset seizures. What does this mean? Well, it means that law enforcement will now have more incentive to just take your stuff, even your home and cold hard cash, if they suspect any of it was purchased with illegally-earned money. Civil asset forfeiture is real, and incredibly frightening. If police suspect your property is involved in a crime, or is the proceeds of a crime, then law enforcement can seize it....
Concerns over possible Salmonella contamination have led to a several-state egg recall. Eggs produced by Wright Country Eggs are under a voluntary recall by the company. The wholesalers, distribution centers and foodservice companies the recalled eggs were sold to are in the following states: California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin. These companies distribute eggs nation-wide. The brand names the Wright Country eggs were sold under the include the following: Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps....
