The doors of Planned Parenthood are often surrounded by some form of conflict but that generally involves protesting, not violence. That wasn’t the case on Tuesday when a protester at a Planned Parenthood in Oregon got into a fight and pulled out a knife. Christopher Tolhurst had an argument with Kailah L. Clair earlier in the day but when she returned later that afternoon with her father, Ted Clair, the incident became physical....
A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Obamacare subsidies are only authorized for eligible participants in “State”-established healthcare exchanges, and not for participants in the federally established exchange. The ruling arises from an IRS interpretation of the laws underpinning Obamacare, specifically allowing taxpayers to take advantage of premium tax credits regardless of whether a state or federal entity created the insurance marketplace. Law professor Jonathan Adler writes for The Volokh Conspiracy that he believes this ruling is truer to the text of the law, though it may not mean the healthcare system many reformers had hoped for....
Texas rappers Paul Wall and Baby Bash were arrested in El Paso on Sunday. And, like most celebrities, Paul Wall took to Twitter to discuss his run-in with the law. Wall tweeted that he had just spent some time “in the same tank they held Willie Nelson/Johnny Cash,” and included a photo of him in the back of a police car in handcuffs, MTV reports. The two rappers were busted for possession of 2 ounces of marijuana in a drug-free zone, reports Billboard....
A settlement has been reached in the three year-old class action lawsuit with the Screen Actors’ Guild Union over actors’ European royalties. The suit, which sought royalties for money made through the sale of video rentals and blank media cable transmissions in Europe, was brought by Leave it to Beaver actor, Ken Osmond. CBC News reports that tens of thousands of actors, writers, and directors will reap the financial benefits of the multi-million dollar settlement....
It’s been a cruel, cruel summer, at least for celebrity couples. Not even our favorite fictional characters were spared the celebrity divorce. Here are a few of the cruelest breakups this summer and the mashed-up names we’ll miss the most: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner Ben & Jen. Jen & Ben. Jaffleck and Barner. OK, we’re terrible at celebrity couple names. But after 10 years of seemingly idyllic marriage (almost suspiciously exactly 10 years), the two split up in June....
Many U.S. consumers don’t check their homes for products that have been recalled and linked to food contamination, despite the amount of media attention paid to recent high-profile food recalls that have been tied to a salmonella health scare. The study by the Food Policy Institute at Rutgers University was conducted via phone interviews with 1,101 consumers in 2008. While most consumers in the survey reported paying a “great deal of attention” to food recalls, “40 percent of these consumers think the foods they purchase are less likely to be recalled than those purchased by others, appearing to believe that food recalls just don’t apply to them,” according to a Press Release from Rutgers University....
Text message evidence can be valuable, but according to a Pennsylvania appellate court, it may also be inadmissible hearsay. Defendant Amy Koch was convicted of possession with intent to distribute marijuana. At trial, prosecutors introduced drug-related text messages sent from her phone. The goal was to show that Koch intended to sell the drugs. That conviction was overturned after the court concluded the text messages had been improperly admitted. Text message evidence can be troublesome for two reasons: authentication and hearsay....
Trailers on a movie set are a star’s home away from home, and celebrities spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to ensure that they are as comfortable in between filming as possible. Twilight star Taylor Lautner is no exception. The 19 year-old tween heartthrob spent close to $300,000 on his custom-designed trailer, hoping to have it in place during the filming of his latest movie, Abduction. When Taylor’s trailer did not arrived on the scheduled delivery date, he became very distressed....
The holidays are here, and “The Good Wife” is celebrating with some good ol’ fashioned legal issues over contested wills. Prepare for some festive cheer – and steely gazes – as we dive into the early Christmas/on-time Hanukkah present that is “The Decision Tree.” This episode really presents two different shows. And one of them is about Kalinda’s sexy dangerous life as a speedy, devil-may-care private investigator who tails sketchy guys with Irish accents and has hot girl-on-girl pillow talk about guns....
Arizona immigrants celebrated a victory in court Monday, when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked enforcement of a policy that prohibits young immigrants from receiving Arizona driver’s licenses. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA, also known as the “Dream Act”) gives certain residents who were brought to the United States without documentation as children a chance to legally remain in the country and work. But under Arizona’s policy, these “Dreamers” couldn’t use their federally authorized employment documents as proof of their legal presence in the country....
In a decision that will no doubt be a to blow citizen journalists in that state and beyond, an appeals court in New Jersey held that the shield laws applying to journalists do not extend to bloggers. Arising out of a defamation suit against a blogger, Shellee Hale, Too Much Media, LLC, a company supplying software to online porn sites, claims the mom of five sullied their reputation with the comments she posted on a forum on Oprano....
Singer Bruno Mars’ cocaine possession case has been dismissed by a Nevada judge. This means no jail time for the popular star. It seems Mars managed to dodge a huge Grenade. Mars was busted back in September 2010. He was found with 2.6 grams of cocaine in a bathroom at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. It was right after one of his performances. Mars admitted that night to a guard that he’d done something wrong....
Gun control laws are a controversial topic that generally focus on the possession and sale of the guns themselves. But what about the bullets the guns fire? Proponents for stricter gun control laws also support regulating the types of ammunition available to the public, as well as who can sell and purchase ammunition. The idea of bullet control has been around since at least Chris Rock explained his solution to the gun violence problem (WARNING: linked video contains Adult Language)....
States all over the country are being sued by civil rights groups for aggressive debt collection by their courts. This has led to much discussion of what is being called a new debtor’s prison system in the US, and also to some confusion. Technically, you cannot go to jail for failure to pay a civil fine, like a loan. But in some states where consumer protections are not very strong, creditors can ensnare debtors in the court system....
Children’s bath products, including shampoos, soaps, lotions and bubble baths marketed as safe and gentle actually contain cancer causing chemicals, according to a report released by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (CSC). The report found that widely used brands of bath products for kids contain formaldehyde and a chemical called 1,4-dioxane. The “No More Toxic Tubs” report was based on independent testing of 48 children’s bath products for 1,4-dioxane and testing of 28 products for formaldehyde....
An Arizona dad who police allege threw his 23-month-old daughter into a pool to teach her a lesson about water safety ended up getting taught a lesson of his own. Why do authorities feel like this dad’s pool punishment was more akin to water torture? The entire incident was captured on surveillance video. The video shows a young girl who police say is McCarthy’s daughter wandering by herself near a swimming pool....
Facebook and the New York Attorney General have formed a prolific crime-fighting partnership. The two have teamed up to find missing children and curb illegal gun sales. Now the Batman and Robin of Gotham justice are working on a new plan to battle online sex trafficking. The latest partnership hopes to use Facebook’s mountains of user and ad data to identify human traffickers and child victims of sex trafficking. Officer Facebook Facebook has never been a company to shy away from police assistance....
The antibiotic Ketek should no longer be used for the treatment of sinusitis and bronchitis, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning patients and health care providers. The new warnings came as part of an FDA announcement of changes to Ketek’s label, including stonger warnings regarding the drug’s side effects, and the addition of a “black box” warning stating that Ketek should not be used to treat patients who have myasthenia gravis, a condition that causes muscle weakness....
In the latest in the string of grim news coming from retailers across the nation, Home Depot has announced that 7,000 jobs will be cut and four dozen stores closed. The cuts constitute 2% of its total workforce, and the shut-downs involve the company’s high-end EXPO stores, YardBIRDS stores, Design Center stores, and a bath remodeling business known as HD Bath. CNN Money quoted a statement by Home Depot’s CEO:...
First Target, then Home Depot, now, everybody’s favorite government agency, the IRS has been attacked by data thieves. The IRS has admitted this week that 100,000 taxpayer files have been accessed by hackers in the last couple months. While 100,000 people is a small amount compared to the millions affected by Target’s data breach, this theft is more worrisome because of how the thieves got the information. How it Worked Unlike other data breaches, the attackers never infiltrated the IRS’ security system....
