As previously discussed in this blog, the highly publicized hearings on the constitutionality of California’s Prop 8 ban on gay marriage was proposed to be one of the first federal hearings to be filmed by cameras. In a compromise, Judge Vaughn Walker, who is presiding over the courtroom, intended to have the filming not streamed live (except to other courtrooms within the jurisdiction), but posted at a later time on YouTube....
A Texas college police officer shot and killed an unarmed honors student following a traffic stop early Friday that went terribly awry. Friends and family claim the student was a sweet and gentle person, but the officer claims that “a struggle ensued.” Did the officer have the right to fatally shoot the student? Robert Cameron Redus, a 23-year-old student at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, was pulled over by campus police Cpl....
Even though reality stars have an affinity for tweeting, the judge in the “Dance Moms” lawsuit issued a ’no tweeting’ order on Tuesday between “Dance Mom” Kelly Hyland and “Dance Coach” Abby Lee Miller. Hyland is accused of assaulting and harassing Miller, the owner of the show’s dance studio, because Miller allegedly failed to give Hyland’s darling daughters the appropriate amount of attention, reports TMZ. In harassment cases, it’s not unusual for judges to grant a no contact order, or in this case, a no Tweeting order....
A Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling this week was supposed to bring an end to the family feud raging between Jack Link and his sons Troy and Jay, but it appears as though Link Snacks, the nation’s largest purveyor of beef jerky, will keep battling it out in court for some time to come. While the justices unanimously voted to reinstate a jury verdict awarding Jay Link $5 million in punitive damages, they also remanded the case back to the trial court to determine if he should have received more....
You’re already worried about identity theft. And you’re probably worried about your taxes as well. As it turns out, if you’re planning on e-filing your tax return, you might have to worry about someone stealing your data to file a fraudulent tax return. If you’ve already e-filed, you may want to confirm with your tax-preparation company or the IRS that only one return has been filed with your Social Security number on it....
Kanye West pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal mischief this week and caused quite a stir in a Manhattan courtroom. “Kanye! For real?” defendants excitedly said as they checked the docket and recognized the famous name, the New York Post reports. Turns out, it wasn’t hip-hop star Kanye West, but a female street performer from Chicago who legally changed her name to Kanye West last year. When one of those street performances went south, the female Kanye West admits she went bezerk....
Many people might think of the Playboy Mansion as the ultimate “bachelor pad”. This image might take a slight blow, as Fox News reports that Hugh Hefner’s estranged wife, Kimberly Conrad, recently showed up for one of Hefner’s “female-frenzied movie nights”, departing from her practice of only showing up on Tuesday “Family Nights” when other bunnies aren’t around. Kimberly Conrad and Hefner married in 1989 and have two teenage sons together, and while they separated ten years later, the pair have never divorced....
The penalty for criminal hit and run charges can be much more severe than many people expect. In some jurisdictions, serious jail time can be on the table. That’s especially true if a defendant was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or caused an injury. However, in the heat of the moment, people are prone to make bad judgment calls. Frequently, people flee the scene of an accident because they are afraid of the consequences....
The Animal Legal Defense Fund defines animal neglect as “the failure to provide basic care required for an animal to thrive.” But what do state and federal laws have to say on the matter? Just about every state has animal cruelty statutes, but do those also cover cases of intentional or unintentional neglect? Does simply chaining a dog for long periods of time constitute neglect? Here’s a look at what might constitute animal neglect under the law....
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has temporarily blocked Jared Loughner’s forced medication. Loughner’s incompetency had landed him in a federal facility, where forcible medication had begun on June 22. Loughner stands accused of 49 felony counts from the Tucson shootings that killed six people. U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was also seriously injured in the shootings, along with a dozen others. The 9th Circuit’s order is a temporary stay of involuntary medication until the hearing over the forcible medication issue is over, and the court has made its decision....
Jay-Z certainly claims its a hard knock life, but he also seems to be giving out some hard knocks too. After the assault charges against bouncers of his 40/40 nightclub were announced, another lawsuit involving the Jigga Man was recently announced. This lawsuit from Jay-Z deals with copyright licensing. The Examiner reports that Jay-Z and five other artists who are part of Universal Music Group are suing Spot of Tea in Mobile, Alabama....
Another battle has ended between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, but could this be the end of the war as well? After nearly fifty years of playing together, and a game of musical chairs among guitarists and singers, it looks like this could be the final final for Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac. In October, Buckingham brought a lawsuit against his former bandmates for breach of fiduciary duty, breach of oral contract, and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, among other claims, after the band excluded him from their North America tour back in January of 2018....
The most dangerous cities in America list is out and people are anxiously waiting to get their hands on the list to see if their city made the cut. Of course the people in the most dangerous cities are too afraid to leave their own residences to go get the list, so fortunately it is available through the magic power of the internet. The CQ Press annual list is quite long, so we’ll just give you the top 10:...
If you are active on social media maybe you’ve developed a habit of just posting whatever pops into your head, or revealing the latest rumor you read. Don’t do that. You could end up in front of a judge, charged, convicted, and with a criminal record, like a mother in New Mexico. Jeanette Garza Alvarez posted on Facebook a few weeks back, according to Good Housekeeping. The problem with her post is that it was based on a rumor her 8th grade son told her that there would be a shootout at school, sparking a panic among parents and school administrators....
Stephanie Rose Bongiovi, the 19-year-old daughter of rocker Jon Bon Jovi, was arrested this week after she allegedly overdosed on heroin. Bongiovi is a student at Hamilton College in upstate New York, where medics were called to her dorm room after reports of someone who’d overdosed on heroin, reports the Associated Press. Medics found Bongiovi unresponsive, but she has since recovered. While police initially arrested Bongiovi and another student on suspicion of drug possession, those charges have now been dropped....
About one in three children’s toys contain some level of harmful chemical substances like lead, and children’s jewelry continues to show the highest contamination levels, according to researchers with the Ecology Center, a nonprofit environmental organization based in Michigan. In its second annual study, the Ecology Center tested more than 1,500 popular children’s toys for harmful substances like lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic. Among the findings, according to a Press Release from the Ecology Center: “one-third of the toys tested had “high” or “medium” levels of chemicals of concern this year....
Oprah’s best pal Gayle King has been sued by “Orly the Matchmaker,” whose real name is Orly Hadida. Hadida claims she set King up with a number of “attractive, fit and wealthy men” two years ago. Her fee for her professional matchmaking services normally runs for a hefty $500,000. Hadida alleges that she waived the six-figure fee when King promised her a coveted spot on Oprah’s talk show. But it never happened, and now Gayle King has been sued....
A deal for the sale of a new PS4 video game console ended in a shootout Sunday afternoon in Florida, leaving one man dead and another in the hospital. Emmanuel Johnson, 25, died in a “shootout” in what Orlando police believe was a conflict between two men over the sale of the newly released Sony PlayStation 4, Orlando’s WKMG-TV reports. Can a sale gone bad be the basis for a potential murder charge?...
A federal court ruled Wednesday that Illinois’ law requiring a moment of silence in the state’s public schools is unconstitutional. The AP reported the case was brought by atheist talk show host Rob Sherman and his daughter, high school student Dawn Sherman, who challenged the law which requires students to either pray silently or reflect on the anticipated activities for the day. Someone looking at the issue for the first time might understandably be a bit confused....
In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Trinity Church in Missouri should have been awarded public funding for resurfacing their playground with recycled tire rubber. While, at first blush, this may not sound so shocking, the ruling tows the line on the separation of church and state. While seven justices concurred in the result, even among those justices, there was a difference in opinion regarding whether the decision was limited based on the facts of the case....
