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The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is again urging all parents and caregivers to immediately stop using many convertible “close-sleeper/bedside sleeper” bassinets made by Simplicity, Inc. Since an August 2008 recall, the CPSC has learned of two more infants who died by suffocation and strangulation in the bassinets. This alert applies to 3-in-1 and 4-in-1 convertible bassinets manufactured by Simplicity, including those rebranded with the Graco logo and Winnie the Pooh logo licensed by Disney....

The Supreme Court has struck down a federal law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, opening the door for married gay couples to be eligible for federal benefits. The 5-to-4 ruling (attached below) on the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) deemed the law unconstitutional under the equal protection clause. The power to regulate marriage falls to the states, not the federal government, wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy, the critical swing vote....

Taylor Swift is once again making sure nobody profits from her name. The singer bought up TaylorSwift.porn and TaylorSwift.adult domain names before the new internet address suffixes become available to the general public in June. It’s not that the singer will be expanding her business into the adult entertainment business – it is just a savvy business move if she doesn’t want Internet trolls profiting from her name and likeness. Plus, who wants to have their name associated with a porn site?...

Some parents are understandably concerned with their kids’ use of the Internet, but the AP reports that Google is reaching out to parents and others with a new feature called “Latitude” that enables “people with mobile phones and other wireless devices to automatically share their whereabouts with family and friends.” CNN wrote about how Latitude functions, as well as what types of devices can use it: The privacy implications the come along with a tool such as Latitude are clear....

This is appropriate, considering today is Law Day, and the ABA’s theme for 2104 is voting rights. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Ohio Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the League of Women Voters of Ohio, and several African-American churches, after state officials passed a law and issued a mandate ending multiple early voting opportunities for Ohio voters in advance of the 2014 election....

When does an online rant cross the line from free speech to being a criminal threat? That’s the issue the nation’s highest court will soon be taking up. As reported by SCOTUSblog, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal of a lower court’s ruling in Elonis v. United States, in which a disgruntled ex-husband’s angry Facebook posts got him arrested on federal charges. What will the Supreme Court be looking at in this case?...

Bullying is not just a national issue, it’s an international one. In June, an Australian former judge said that parent liability for bullying should be the law in Australia. That raises the question of parent liability for bullies in the United States. The issue of bullying is a big one as more and more states regulate what the term “bully” really means and how and when a bully can be liable for their actions....

Three UMass-Dartmouth students are facing federal charges for allegedly interfering with the Boston bombing investigation. The men – Dias Kadyrbayev, Azamat Tazhayakov, and Robel Phillipos, all 19 – are friends of alleged bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, an FBI special agent said in an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. The three did not plan or help to carry out last month’s deadly Boston Marathon bombing, Reuters reports. Instead, they’re being charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements....

In an incredibly bizarre incident, a 10-year-old boy from Aiken, S.C. is accused of using a gun to protect his candy on Halloween night. The 28-year-old victim had recognized some neighborhood boys amongst a group of 10 trick-or-treaters. She approached and jokingly told the group that she planned to steal their candy. The 10-year-old pulled out a 9mm handgun and responded with, “No you’re not.” Police located the boy, who was also found to have a loaded clip in his backpack, reports the Augusta Journal....

Heavily armed SWAT teams combed through homes near Boston on Friday in a massive manhunt for one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects. But what allows police to search door-to-door for a suspect on the loose without a warrant? Tamerlan was killed overnight, but his brother remained on the loose Friday afternoon. Officers went door-to-door in several neighborhoods, looking for Dzhokhar. Generally speaking, the Fourth Amendment protects residents’ privacy by typically requiring police to knock and announce their presence before they can enter people’s homes, and get a search warrant before they can conduct a search....

Most of us are worried about what can get added to our criminal record. And we’re right to think that – background checks for jobs, applications for schools, and even rental or lease applications can bring our criminal history to light and we don’t want past transgressions, like a DUI for instance, messing up our future. Perhaps this is why most jurisdictions allow people to expunge their criminal records. While an expungement doesn’t completely erase your record from law enforcement, it can hide it from potential employers, schools, and landlords....

We usually think of criminal charges and our credit score as two separate issues. But when a store is coming after you over a shoplifting incident, you might be worried that one indiscretion could wind up on your criminal and financial record. Here’s what you need to know about the affect a shoplifting charge could have on your credit score. Civil Demands Most crimes won’t affect your credit score. Your credit report is a record of your financial history, including adverse judgments against you for late or unpaid debts....

Convicted mass murderer Dylan Roof had his motion for new attorneys granted last week ahead of his expected appeal. Roof was sentenced to death this past January. Since motions for a new trial have been unsuccessful, it is expected that Roof will file an appeal. It is no secret that Roof was not happy with his attorneys. In fact, reports have surfaced claiming that Roof believed his attorneys are evil. During the sentencing phase of his federal trial, after a jury returned a conviction, Roof chose to represent himself, against the advice of his attorneys and the court....

It turns out that the last stop on the FastTrain education is a federal prison for the founder. No, it’s not for failure to put a space between Fast and Train, although that’s criminal for a college name! Last week, NPR reported that Alejandro Amor was sentenced to eight years in prison on fraud charges after his for-profit college in Miami, Florida was found to have obtained millions of dollars in federal funding based on false claims....

Getting convicted for a DUI can be career ending. The key term here, however, is convicted, because as most of us learned in grade school, a person charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. But, even a DUI arrest can have a negative impact on your job. Generally, nearly all employment in the US is “at-will” employment. This means that an employer can fire an employee for pretty much any non-discriminatory, or non-retaliatory, reason....

Lindsay Lohan could go to jail for a jewelry theft last year if it’s determined that she lied to police about a car accident this year. The 26-year-old actress could be in trouble again as Santa Monica police want to question Lohan about an accident in June, when her car crashed into an 18-wheeler, reports the New York Daily News. Lohan initially told police her assistant was driving when the crash happened....

A man who captured video of a Honolulu police officer attempting to knock an iPhone out of his hand has settled his lawsuit with the city for $37,500. On New Year’s Day 2013, Randy Salazar Jr. was recording Honolulu police arresting a man outside an apartment complex. Video taken by Salazar’s iPhone shows an officer taking a swipe at his camera as he walks past, reports Honolulu Civil Beat. According to Salazar’s lawsuit, the officer shown in the video hit Salazar with a Taser, breaking a bone in his hand....

The Netflix/Facebook bill has won a preliminary battle. Netflix’s bill, backed by Facebook, has cleared the House Judiciary Committee. What exactly is the bill about? The bill was introduced in order to ease the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), passed in 1987. The act protects the privacy of video rental customers. This decades-old law puts a damper on Netflix and Facebook’s plans to integrate their services. Netflix recently announced plans to allow users to share their streaming history with their Facebook friends....

Samuel L. Jackson made a political statement by supporting the Obama campaign but he never expected to be called the ‘New Uncle Tom’ for doing it. Randall Terry, a man so ambitious he’s running both for President and for Congress representing Florida, went after Jackson with an ad that accuses Jackson of supporting racists. The ads also make specific claims about the organizations Jackson supports. He’s also gone so far as to call Jackson the ‘New Uncle Tom’ for allegedly supporting racists....

The Senate’s proposed immigration law would cut close to $1 trillion from the federal deficit over the next two decades and lead to more than 10 million new legal residents in the country. The findings came in the long-awaited report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Tuesday. It marked a major victory for the “Gang of Eight” senators who have spent months negotiating sweeping immigration reform. Conservatives have said the bill would cost the nation billions of dollars....