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The whooping cough vaccine–commonly given as part of the DPT/Tdap trio (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus)–loses its effectiveness after about three years, says a preliminary medical study. Focusing on last year’s whooping cough outbreak in California, the Associated Press reports the study showed that children who received the fifth dose within the last three years were less likely to be infected with the sometimes-fatal disease. It is recommended that children receive five doses of the whooping cough vaccine between the ages of 2 months and 6 years, with a booster shot to be administered at the age of 11 or 12....

Jeffrey Jones is best known for his role as an over the top principal in the cult classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. He also starred in Beetlejuice and Ed Wood. In between his acting jobs, Jones added a new credit to his name: sex offender. Now, ABC News reports that Jeffrey Jones plead guilty to failing to update his sex offender status. In 2003, Jones plead no contest in a case that charged the actor with “employing a teenage boy to pose for sexual explicit photos....

Jamal Trulove – a former contestant on VH1’s “I Love New York” – had his murder conviction overturned based on a prosecutor’s poor decisions in closing arguments. A California Court of Appeal overturned Trulove’s conviction when it found that a prosecutor wrongfully suggested that the reality star’s crew threatened to retaliate against a key witness, reports Bay City News. Trulove may have lucked out because overturned criminal convictions are as rare as a reality star having a long term acting career....

Voter laws in Arizona and Kansas requiring proof of citizenship when registering by mail were upheld by a federal judge Wednesday. A U.S. District Court judge in Witchita, Kansas, ruled that because Congress had not acted to outlaw these sorts of “proof of citizenship” rules in the states, the two states were free to add those requirements to voter registration forms, reports Reuters. This ruling overturned a decision by the U....

“Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Teresa Giudice is having second thoughts about her guilty plea now that she’s facing prison time. It seems strange, but several months after Teresa and Joe Giudice pleaded guilty to bankruptcy fraud, Teresa is ready for a do-over. According to E! News, the reality show mother and wife told Bravo’s Andy Cohen that she “didn’t understand” the part of her plea agreement where she’d be sent to prison....

Sometimes justice comes late. The “West Memphis 3,” Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, were convicted of killing three Cub Scouts 16 years ago. Thanks to newly available DNA evidence, they may now receive a new trial. Echols was sentenced to death and Baldwin and Misskelley received life sentences. Their cases will be reviewed in a court hearing, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled. Prosecutors secured a confession from Misskelley, although the validity of it is questionable....

If you receive an email announcing you’ve received Bitcoins, you may be at risk for a phishing scam. Emails purporting to be from Coinbase, a San Francisco-based tech company that provides virtual “wallets” for the virtual Bitcoin currency, are the key to scammers gaining access to your data and personal information. How can you avoid Bitcoin phishing attacks? Look for these three red flags: 1. An Email Beginning With ‘Hi.’ As Slate reported on Friday, their office received a number of these Bitcoin emails which all began with “Hi,” but were not addressed to anyone....

The California State Assembly has passed a bill with a vote of 43-31 which would ban BPA or Bisphenol-A from all baby bottles and any other items that frequently are used by small children. The bill, SB 797, is called “The Toxin-Free Toddlers and Babies Act.” BPA has been tied to health problems including autism, asthma, infertility, hyperactivity and cancer, although the potential link is still being researched and is far from conclusive....

A Connecticut bill that originally focused on simply banning all weaponized drones recently had a controversial exemption carved out that’s garnering national attention. That controversial legal exemption to the ban on weaponized drones would only apply to law enforcement agencies, allowing only police in the state to use weaponized drones. While it may seem logical to only allow police to use weaponized drones, if the bill passes, it would be the first law in the nation that actually authorizes police to use drones equipped with lethal weapons....

Personality person Dan Bilzerian is suing personality website TheDirty.com, claiming that STD rumors are false. (If you, like me, need a primer on Mr. Bilzerian, here you go.) The lawsuit stems from an allegation from a commenter on one of the site’s stories, claiming she contracted chlamydia from Bilzerian. Mr. Clean According to TMZ, the comment in question reads, “I ended up getting super drunk and sleeping with Dan. I got tested two weeks later and lucky me I found out he gave me chlamydia....

Ah, the good old Deep Friend Turkey. Are you considering deep-frying a Christmas or holiday turkey this year? Did you know that setting your house on fire while attempting to cook deep fry turkey seems to have become something of a national pastime. There were 1,400 such house fires in 2006 alone. This time of year, crazy turkey fireball incidents pop up like crazy. So let’s learn from our previous mistakes, and here’s how to avoid burning down your castle in the quest for the perfect poultry....

Ford has sent out an auto recall for over 10,000 Escapes sold in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico in response to a braking problem in the 2013 model. Employees found that the carpet interferes with braking according to a report sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The problematic carpet makes it possible for a driver to catch their foot on the back of the brake pedal when lifting off the accelerator....

Manhattan prosecutors in the G. Dep murder trial warned jurors that they would be given two conflicting accounts of the crime. Born Trevell Coleman, G. Dep was once an up and coming rapper signed to Bad Boy Records. When he tried to relaunch his career in 2010, he decided he needed to do so with a clear conscience. He walked into a local police precinct and confessed to a 1993 murder....

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is set to announce a new plan for drug offenders, ordering prosecutors to ease up on low-level drug cases to avoid overcrowding in federal prisons. (Head to FindLaw’s Strategist blog for live updates from the speech as it happens.) Attempting to correct “unfairness in the justice system,” Holder’s plan for the Department of Justice (DOJ) seeks to avoid the harsh imposition of strict mandatory minimum sentences for minor drug offenders by encouraging alternatives to incarceration and “compassionate release” for non-violent, elderly offenders, reports The New York Times....

Rapper Jay-Z has 99 problems, and workers’ compensation insurance is one. Jay-Z’s insurance woes have netted him a legal headache and an $18,000 order to pay by a New York court. Jay-Z’s worker’s compensation troubles started out mild. Like any multimillionaire, Jay-Z employs individuals to help out around the house. He has a driver, cooks, and maids. He is required by law to pay worker’s compensation insurance for his household staff....

You may have heard of a lawsuit against Hollywood’s major talent agencies, blaming them for stifling diversity. But discrimination is not the real claim in the lawsuit, The Hollywood Reporter complains. Bruce Lenhoff, an agent, sued major talent management agencies last year – his competition – for poaching his clients. Since filing, he has amended his complaint to allege discrimination results from lack of competition, a conspiracy by a cartel in Hollywood....

The National Transportation Safety Board wants every state to adopt laws that would require even first-time DUI offenders to get an ignition interlock device installed in their cars. The non-binding NTSB recommendation is aimed at the 33 states that do not currently have an ignition interlock law in place, reports the Associated Press. The recommendation comes on the heels of a study of wrong-way driving accidents and the finding that many of these accidents are caused by drunken drivers....

The Weinstein Company may have thought it handled the matter of serial sexual harassment and abuse by its founder by firing him. But the ouster of Harvey Weinstein from his eponymous film studio didn’t stop the New York Attorney General’s Office from opening a civil rights investigation into the company, to determine what, if any, antidiscrimination laws had been broken. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office issued a subpoena to the Weinstein Company seeking any records regarding harassment complaints and legal settlements the studio may have entered into regarding Weinstein’s behavior....

Officials are warning consumers to be on the lookout for online dating scams. Scammers commonly target single women over the age of 40, wooing them with practiced words. They then ask the target to wire them money. The federal government receives thousands of these complaints each month, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellyn Lindsay. Unfortunately, most of these online dating scams originate in Asia or Africa, making prosecution unlikely. It’s not that difficult to be duped by a scammer, explains Business Insider....

A Piper PA-46 Turbo Prop aircraft flying from Indiana crashed late Sunday night near Milton, Florida, and although indications appeared to indicate some kind of accident, now it’s far less clear what exactly is going on. According to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, when the plane was just southwest of Birmingham, Alabama the pilot indicated that the plane’s windshield had imploded and that he was “bleeding severely.” Thereafter, “an attempt was made to divert the pilot” to another airport in Alabama but the “pilot did not respond to radio calls” from the FAA Atlanta Center....