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The music industry has lost another rising star. Rapper M-Bone of Cali Swag District, the group that last year brought you “Teach Me How to Dougie,” was pronounced dead late last night at UCLA Medical Center in West Los Angeles. Police have confirmed that the 22-year-old rapper was shot during a drive-by in his hometown of Inglewood, California. M-Bone, born Mante Ray Talbert, was shot at about 10:30 p.m. while seated in the driver’s seat of a black vehicle....

A California law that bans the sale of foie gras made from force-feeding birds has been upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The 2012 California foie gras law prohibits the sale of products made from the force-feeding of birds to enlarge their livers. Foie gras is a delicacy featuring the fatty liver of a force-fed goose or duck. A three-judge panel held that the lawsuit filed by foie gras producers was unlikely to succeed on constitutional grounds....

After last week’s murder in Celebration, Florida residents wondered whether the community was still safe. In an event the Sheriff’s office called “very rare and unusual,” Celebration had its first homicide. Now the case has taken a new turn. A homeless man strangled and used an ax to batter to death a 58-year-old man who had been counseling him, police told CNN. The homeless man, who said the victim “had [it] coming” was arrested days later after trying to sell the victim’s collector coins....

The Chevy Volt’s fire risk may finally be extinguished. General Motors has announced a fix for the Chevy Volt. The fire issue came to light after a Volt lit up while parked in a lot outside a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) facility. The car in question had gone through a crash testing procedure three weeks earlier. The fire was due to the Chevy Volt’s battery pack. The lithium-ion battery was punctured during the collision....

“Avatar” director James Cameron is now facing another copyright infringement lawsuit. Kelly Van is the latest person to file a lawsuit alleging James Cameron, Fox and producers of the science fiction blockbuster “Avatar,” lifted material from her 2003 book, “Sheila the Warrior: The Damned,” according to the Hollywood Reporter’s Legal Blog, THR, Esq. Van’s copyright infringement lawsuit was filed in California district court. She is requesting an injunction and maximum statutory damages from the James Cameron film....

Parents have definitely been concerned for the past month, after the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. But some parents are taking their concerns to the next level. In fact, one father in Texas allegedly tried to “test out” one school’s security by telling staffers at an elementary school that he’d brought a gun into the building. Ronald Miller was unarmed when he told a school greeter at Celina Elementary School that he had a gun and that his target was outside, reports Dallas-Ft....

Even a pizza rivalry can become criminal. Two Lake City, Florida Domino’s Pizza managers set fire to their competitor, a Papa John’s franchise. Bryan Sullivan and Sean Davidson are both charged with felony arson over the crime. The duo allegedly set their rival pizza parlor aflame in order to increase sales in their Domino’s franchise. The Papa John’s franchise was new in the neighborhood, and had only been open for several months....

The former New Orleans police officer who shot and killed a man in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was acquitted by a jury on Wednesday. David Warren, 50, was found not guilty for civil rights and firearm charges in the fatal shooting of Henry Glover in September 2005, although this was Warren’s second time in trial for Glover’s killing, reports NBC News. Warren was convicted of manslaughter in December 2010 and sentenced to 25 years in prison, but that conviction was vacated by a federal appellate court....

A federal appeals court ruled that strip searches of newly arrested inmates are not only constitutional, but necessary. The decision by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco replaces an older ruling that strip searches are so dehumanizing that they violate a person’s constitutional rights. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the ruling justifies strip searches not only for inmates who are suspected of committing violent or drug-related crimes, or of concealing contraband, but all newly arrested inmates, regardless of why they were arrested....

A Florida teenager was shot and killed over his loud music when he refused to turn it down on Friday, police said. Michael Dunn, 45, approached Jordan Davis, 17, at a gas-station convenience store in Jacksonville, Fla., where they had both stopped. Dunn asked Davis to turn down the music in his car. When Davis refused, Dunn got into an argument with Davis and his friends. To resolve the matter, Dunn brandished a gun and fired at least eight times....

Hulk Hogan has settled his lawsuit against Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. Hogan had sued Bubba, a radio personality, over a leaked sex tape of the former pro wrestler having sex with the Love Sponge’s ex-wife Heather Clem. The terms of the settlement are confidential, but following the settlement, the Love Sponge issued a public apology on his radio show. In his apology, the Love Sponge said that Hogan was unaware that he was being recorded and had no role in the video’s public release, reports The Tampa Tribune....

A U.S. District Court Judge in New York dismissed a lawsuit against director James Cameron by an artist who claimed that aspects of Cameron’s movie “Avatar” were based on his artwork. Artist William Roger Dean – the artist behind the iconic logo and many of the album covers of the rock band Yes – had claimed in his suit that the depictions of the planet Pandora in “Avatar,” including some of its alien flora and fauna, improperly infringed on his copyrighted artwork, reports The Hollywood Reporter....

Though allegations of political misconduct have been floating around the state for quite some time, prosecutors have only just charged state Judge Mike Murphy in the ever-present New Mexico political bribe scandal. Indicted on four felony counts, the judge is accused of telling an attorney that she must make large donations to then-Governor Bill Richardson and the Democratic Party if she wished to be appointed to the bench. According to the indictment, in 2007, Judge Mike Murphy allegedly told a fellow judge that, if a person wanted to be selected for a judicial position, that person needed to make a donation to Governor Bill Richardson, reports the Las Cruces Sun-News....

You may not have to worry about smoking pot in Colorado anymore, but you might have to worry about what’s in the pot you’re smoking in Colorado. Two marijuana cultivation facilities in Denver recently recalled an array of pot products after they found traces of three pesticides not approved for use on marijuana plants. The pesticides were discovered as part of testing mandated by the Denver Department of Environmental Health and could involve over 100,000 plants....

Maryland’s death penalty has been repealed, making it the 18th state to abolish executions. Instead of the death penalty, the state’s harshest sentence will now be life without parole. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley pledged to overturn the death penalty, citing a variety of reasons, reports The Washington Post. However, proponents of the death penalty argue that life imprisonment may not be enough in certain circumstances. During legislative debates, lawmakers pointed to some specific flaws with Maryland’s death penalty....

The mortgage crisis has sent millions of homeowners in search of ways to modify their mortgage obligations. Unfortunately, it has also provided a breeding ground for companies bilking distressed homeowners for thousands of dollars in fees for services often available for free. Worse yet, many scam artists simply disappear after collecting their upfront fees from homeowners desperate to prevent foreclosure. As recently reported by the Washington Post, the mortgage meltdown has given birth to an explosion of companies charging thousands for loan modification services that non-profits offer for free....

In order to provide better protection for kids online, the FTC has issued some new child-privacy rules for companies that market to kids or know that children use their products. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) was originally created to protect children under 13 from having their information abused by online services. To keep up with changes in technology, the FTC has been working on new rules that amend COPPA....

Call it Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll Assisted Living: The tale of an alleged senior prostitution ring at a nursing home in Englewood, New Jersey. A long way from a QVC habit, a 75-year-old man and 66-year-old woman allegedly used crack cocaine and ran a prostitution ring out of their apartments at the low-income Vincente K. Tibbs Senior Citizen Building, NorthJersey.com reports. Currently, residents James Parham and Cheryl Chaney are only facing drug-related charges with sparse details on the undercover sting operation....

Toyota has recalled more than 10 million vehicles in the last year, but still, more recalls are under way. On October 21, it was announced that the car maker will recall 740,000 Avalon, Highlander, Lexus GS300, IS250 and IS350 cars in the United States. The recalled vehicles will have the brake master cylinder seal replaced due to the possibility of a brake fluid leak from the cylinder, causing the brake warning lamp to go on....

In an interview with the Associated Press today, Texas trial lawyer Mark Lanier announced that he’s assembled a nationwide ‘Dream Team’ of attorneys to sue Merck & Co., manufacturer of the painkiller Vioxx . In September 2004 Merck voluntarily removed the drug from the market after reporting that the drug increased the risk for heart attacks and strokes when taken over a certain period of time. In August Lanier won a $253....