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Convicted members of an international child-pornography ring will spend the rest of their lives in prison, but a lower court will reconsider a child victim’s restitution award, a federal appeals court has ruled. The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday affirmed life sentences for seven men convicted in a widespread child-porn operation that involved more than 60 people in at least six countries. But the three-judge panel vacated a $3.2 million restitution award against one of the men, for a 4-year-old girl depicted in the illegal images....

There’s no doubt our smartphones can be distracting. There’s no doubt that distracted driving is dangerous, even deadly. And there’s no doubt smartphones, or at least some alerts, could be disabled while we’re driving. So does not automatically disabling distracting smartphone functions while we’re driving mean that smartphone manufacturers are liable for distracted driving accidents? Not according to a California Superior Court in Santa Clara, California. The father of a man killed by an 18 year old who was texting and driving, sued Apple, claiming the company knew the dangers of texting and driving, possessed a “lock-out mechanism” capable of disabling functions like texting while someone is driving, and failed to provide the feature for users....

The issue of police violence has been on everyone’s mind lately. (To the point that the NYPD can’t run a simple social media campaign without everyone pointing out their alleged misconduct.) And while prominent cases like Freddie Gray’s get national attention, many smaller cases of abuse may slip through the cracks. This is mostly due to the cost of litigating a police brutality claim: good lawyers aren’t cheap and cases against cops rarely pay off....

Greyhound Lines will pay at least $375,000 and implement nationwide reforms as part of a settlement agreement with the United States Department of Justice. The DOJ sued Greyhound alleging a systematic failure to provide equal access to transportation for passengers with disabilities. The full value of the settlement won’t be known until all the potential passengers who suffered disability discrimination have been identified. Repeated Violations The DOJ’s lawsuit charged Greyhound of repeatedly violating the Americans with Disabilities Act....

The above sounds like a strange question, but with Halloween on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to get a little bit freaky. Well, as long as you’re safe. Which is why it’s important to ask whether a designated driver can wear a mask while driving. And whether the benefits (Amusement? Convenience?) of doing so outweigh the risks. Take a look at the section regulating reckless driving. It probably says that it’s illegal to drive in such a way that demonstrates a willful disregard for the safety of others....

The first thing that pops into most people’s minds when they think about homemade drugs is Walter White, or some less glamorous meth lab in someone’s kitchen. And it’s true that quite a few folks are cooking up illegal drugs at home using completely legal ingredients they bought online or in stores. But is it possible you could be making a homemade drug and not even know it? At first glance, the FDA’s guidance on distinguishing between a cosmetic and a drug seems pretty laughable....

A North Carolina grand jury has declined to indict Jonathan Ferrell’s killer, a police officer, on voluntary manslaughter charges. But prosecutors aren’t giving up just yet. Because not all members of the grand jury were present, the state Attorney General’s office says it will ask a full panel of grand jurors to reconsider charges against Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Randall Kerrick, The Associated Press reports. Kerrick, 27, shot and killed Ferrell, a 24-year-old ex-football player for Florida A&M, as Ferrell was seeking help after a car crash in September....

The legal maneuvering surrounding a landmark climate change lawsuit has been coming fast and furious the past few weeks. The claims, brought in 2015 by 21 children and young adults against the president and various government agencies, were set to go to trial this Monday, October 29. And while a federal judge has allowed the lawsuit to proceed last week, the Supreme Court may have delayed the progress of the suit this week....

The escalation of promposals – elaborately staged settings for asking a high school sweetheart to the biggest dance of the year – went a few steps too far at Sandstone Peak in Southern California. The highest point in the Santa Monica Mountains, and part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, was defaced with one word in white paint: “Prom?” Park rangers say this is the second year in the row they’ve discovered the same graffiti on the red rocks near the peak, so it apparently bears repeating: vandalize a national park, go to jail....

Ralph Ullum, a Pennsylvania resident, has been implicated in a dog show drugging. Facing up to a year in jail, it has been alleged that, in order to give his girlfriend’s dog a leg up in a Wheaton, Illinois dog show, Ullum drugged a rival dog with Benadryl and Protonix. Indeed, the seedy underbelly of the dog show world has been revealed. Tagging along with his girlfriend and her Siberian husky named Diana, Ralph Ullum was spotted by the kennel of rival husky, Pixie, petting and feeding the dog....

A Connecticut paramedic accused of raping an unconscious woman in an ambulance is due back in court next week. Mark Powell, 49, of North Haven, Conn., turned himself in Jan. 5 in connection with the alleged ambulance rape early Christmas Day, the Associated Press reports. Powell was alone in the back of an ambulance with the 22-year-old woman, who had suffered a concussion at a holiday party about 3 a.m., police told the AP....

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, passed away today in Los Angeles. He was 50 years old. He leaves behind three children, a legacy of pop music classics, as well as a level of fame and controversy reserved for very few. As reported by the AP, Jackson died this afternoon in a Los Angeles hospital. Reuters reports that he suffered a cardiac arrest. The exact cause of death has not yet been reported....

They say that there is a time and a place for everything. If there is a time and place for having your daughter pick you up when you’ve been out drinking, it’s probably after she has her driver’s license. But that didn’t stop Audrey Willoughby, 33, from having her 10-year-old pick her up in their Toyota Corolla after a night of drinking and partying. So any guesses how it turned out?...

It is well known that scam artists tend to focus their efforts on the more vulnerable members of our society. The elderly frequently get conned due to failing mental health, or by being easily tricked, or physically intimidated. However, recently, due to changes in immigration policy, scammers have been turning their attention to immigrants. Immigrants that are worried about their undocumented status, have immigration paperwork pending, or even those with legal status, have been targeted though various schemes and cons....

Thomas Daniel (inset) the lawyer hired by Alaska’s Personnel Board to investigate an ethics complaint involving Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s legal defense fund set up to help pay the cost of defending allegations of misconduct while in office, confirmed to FindLaw that a copy of his confidential report had somehow become public. Daniel said “I suspect the complainant released it, but don’t know for sure.” Eagle River, Alaska resident Kim Chapman filed the ethics compalint against Gov....

The 2009 Nissan Murano has earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s “Top Safety Pick” award for mid-size sport-utility vehicles (SUVs). The 2009 Murano performed best in front, side, and rear impact tests of nine 4-door midsize SUVs. Among the SUVs tested by IIHS, the Mazda CX-7, Mazda CX-9, and Mitsubishi’s Endeavor earned ratings of “good” for front and side impact protection. Hummer’s H3 received the lowest rating (“acceptable”) for front crashes, while the 2008 Jeep Liberty, Jeep Wrangler, and Kia Sorento received the lowest ratings for side-impact crashes....

Your mother used to say, “taste it first before you put salt on it,” right? Now the federal government would like to you to do the same thing. The FDA is planning a major undertaking which will limit the amount of sodium in the American diet by placing federal limits on the amount of salt that can be added to processed foods. At this time, since salt is “generally recognized as safe” there are no limits on the amount manufacturers may add....

Tweeting jurors in California will be facing steep punishments as a result of new legislation signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on Friday. California trial judges must now inform all jurors that they risk being jailed on charges of criminal contempt for up to six months if found to be using electronic and wireless communications to conduct research or disseminate information about the trial. This includes use of Twitter, Facebook, the internet, and texting....

A federal appeals court has ordered Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to face a class action lawsuit that accuses the company of engaging in a pattern of discrimination against female employees in terms of pay rates and promotions. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court’s finding that a class action was appropriate for the case, which could affect as many as 1.5 million current and former female Wal-Mart employees....

Don’t be fooled by the term ‘date rape – it’s not any less serious than rape by a stranger. The general distinction between rape and date rape is that date rape occurs during the course of a date. Despite the distinction, however, it’s important to remember that both the rape of a stranger and date rape carry the same punishments. Although date rape can occur with or without the use of date rape drugs, these types of drugs are often used to commit date rapes – hence being dubbed “date rape drugs....