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Teen Mom Amber Portwood lied. Shocker. Or not. The reality star will be spending this Mother’s Day behind bars, apparently for violating the terms of her drug court program. She was placed in the diversionary program in February in lieu of serving a jail term. Now gossip website TMZ reports she lied to her case worker about having a medical condition so she could skip her obligatory weekly appointments. Attorney Evan Broderick confirmed at least some of these allegations to the Herald Bulletin....

Congress is attempting to work out a bill that would eliminate payment of the alternative minimum tax (AMT) by millions of Americans in 2008, according to a report from National Public Radio (NPR). The NPR story states that “if Congress doesn’t pass a fix soon, the AMT could hit 20 million more taxpayers than it did last year, and millions of others could have their refunds delayed.” Because tax laws give preferential treatment to certain income, and allow special deductions and credits for certain expenses, the alternative minimum tax (AMT) tries to ensure that anyone who benefits from these tax advantages pays at least a minimum amount of tax....

Federal and state courts in Ohio on Monday issued separate rulings allowing Ohio citizens to register to vote and submit an absentee ballot on the same day. Those court decisions open a seven-day Ohio “early voting” window that starts today, in what is seen as a key battleground state for this year’s Presidential election. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Monday’s court decisions concerned “an overlap period between the start of absentee voting today and Monday’s voter-registration deadline for the Nov....

You saw something you wanted. It was small and you were tempted, so you took it. Is that bad? Yes, especially if you got caught and are charged with petty theft. Criminal cases are always a big deal even if the charge you pick up is relatively minor. If you got caught shoplifting and have been charged criminally, then yes, you do need a lawyer. Any criminal charge has consequences beyond the potential punishment associated with the offense, and a good defense attorney can make the state work to prove its case against you or negotiate a favorable resolution....

The FDA has issued a safety warning about increased blood clot risk and Yasmin birth control pills. Certain birth control pills that contain drospirenone, a female sex hormone, are now under scrutiny. The safety alert focused on two new studies that seem to demonstrate that women who take these birth control pills are 2 or 3 times more likely to develop blood clots, published in the British Medical Journal. The blood clots, or venous thromboembolism (VTE), are potentially dangerous....

Alfonso Portillo, the former President of Guatemala, was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York on charges that he embezzled $1.5 million that was donated to buy books for Guatemalan school libraries, approximately $3.9 earmarked for the country’s Ministry of Defense, and took other money from the public financed reserves of a Guatemalan national bank. According to Portillo’s indictment, none of the $1.5 in money given by Taiwan’s government to purchase books for the countries ‘Libraries for Peace’ program wound up in Guatemalaan school libraries....

Lawyers for a group of Florida psychics accused of fraud have enlisted the First Amendment’s free exercise clause in their defense. The group is a family of gypsies headed by Rose Marks. They’ve been telling fortunes in the Ft. Lauderdale area for nearly 20 years. In August, federal prosecutors filed charges against the Marks family, accusing its members of preying on vulnerable individuals. They reportedly earned $40 million in exchange for telling fortunes, curing people of diseases, cleansing souls and chasing away evil spirits....

Occupy protestors nationwide have been the subject of increased police presence and action in the last two weeks. Where law enforcement and protestors have clashed, there have been reports of violence and arrests. But something even stranger has been reported. Protestors and supporters have taken to the net, alleging that police officers are hiding badges and nameplates. Officers are making themselves anonymous, potentially to avoid any individualized complaints. Can officers do this?...

It is not illegal to join Anonymous because you cannot join. Officially, there is nothing to join, although the collective does provide instructions on joining. Confused? That’s because you’re supposed to be. Anonymous is a collective of computer coders, hackers, protesters, and geeks who are loosely linked on the web and are, well, anonymous. They do not use their real names. But Anonymous does instruct on affiliation, and following these instructions is not illegal per se....

A Jay-Z lawsuit seeks $7 million in allegedly unpaid royalties over the iconic Roc-A-Fella Records logo. It’s apparently been a hard-knock life for New York City clothing designer Dwayne Walker, who claims he came up with the Roc-A-Fella design when the record label began making its mark in 1995, the New York Daily News reports. But despite an alleged deal, the designer claims he’s been short-changed by Jay-Z and the other fellas behind Roc-A-Fella....

It’s hard to describe Lil Wayne’s deposition video. Some words that come to mind include “weird,” “funny,” “completely out of touch,” and “menacing.” The videotaped deposition came as part of Lil Wayne’s lawsuit against producer Quincy Jones III over a documentary about the rapper, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. Jones had a production team chronicle Lil Wayne’s life for months as he was putting together the album “Tha Carter III....

Has there been another Lindsay Lohan probation violation? For Lohan, alcohol probation, court dates and hearings, and court-mandated drug and alcohol tests have been a reality since her two drunk driving arrests back in 2007. She most recently pled guilty to stealing a necklace, and was sentenced to 120 days in jail which was reduced and converted to a home confinement. And now, she may have failed a court-ordered alcohol test, reports CNN....

Lindsay Lohan claims the “milkaholic” baby in the latest E-Trade talking babies commercial allegedly used her name and parodied her life for profit. According to the New York Post, Lohan is suing for $100 million over the E-Trade commercial that debuted during this year’s Super Bowl. The lawsuit is filed in New York state court. Lohan’s attorney, Stephanie Ovadia, said many celebrities including Lohan are known by one name only and E-Trade used that knowledge to turn a profit....

Lately Madonna and her New York neighbors have not been getting along, as evidenced by a lawsuit she filed against her co-op last week. The international pop icon sued the Upper West Side property group, claiming it changed her proprietary lease without notice, blocking her from using her apartment as she intended. Madonna’s suit says no one notified her of the vote on the co-op’s lease change, according to Courthouse News Service....

More than 70,000 children are sent to the ER each year for injuries relating to medical devices. While this may not sound like something most people should be concerned with, please note the most common medical device causing injury to kids: the contact lens. Nearly one fourth of the problems caused by the lenses were often preventable health issues such as infections and eye abrasions. But according to a report by the Associated Press, other problems were also reported by the researchers at the Food and Drug Administration as well....

A Colorado college student who “glitter-bombed” Mitt Romney faces criminal charges and possible jail time if convicted. The case against Peter Smith, 20, could set a national precedent for punishing “glitter bombers” who dump glitter on a person in protest. The practice is mainly used by gay-rights activists who target conservative politicians, Reuters reports. Glitter bomb incidents seem to be on the rise as the 2012 campaign season picks up steam....

A Pennsylvania judge has halted enforcement of the state’s new voter identification law in time for the upcoming November 6th election. At issue was whether the controversial law, which requires all voters to present a valid photo ID at the polls, would lead to “voter disenfranchisement,” as argued by opponents. Judge Robert Simpson, who upheld the law in August, and was later instructed by the state’s Supreme Court to hold further hearings, was not convinced that the law was merely a method to ensure proper voter identification, yet indicated that the law was a method to significantly reduce elderly and minority voter turnout during election time....

British actor Sean Bean, stabbed Sunday night outside a pub in North West London, has proved that he takes his tough guy image a little too seriously–on and off the screen. Not only did he spend his night smoking cigarettes and being on the receiving end of a stab to the arm, the star of HBO’s Game of Thrones indulged in his white knight fantasies and skipped the hospital in favor of another drink....

No one could accuse Sean Kingston of not sporting enough bling. The 24-year-old rapper is well known for sporting hefty amounts of diamond and gold jewelry. He is, however, being accused of failing to pay for all that bling in a lawsuit filed in a Manhattan federal court reports the New York Daily News. How large is Kingston’s alleged bling debt? According to the lawsuit, filed by well-known hip hop jewelry maker Avi “Da Jeweler” Davidov, Kingston has failed to pay for over $200,000 worth of diamond-covered watches and necklaces, and failed to return a $12,000 ring he borrowed from Davidov for a television appearance....

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that spyware on rental computers are not allowed. The FTC’s announcement comes on the heels of a lawsuit brought by a Wyoming couple. The couple claims that the furniture rental company Aaron’s Inc. took photos of the couple on their rented Dell laptop without their knowledge or permission, reports Forbes. The FTC ordered Aaron’s and six other furniture rental companies to stop putting the spyware on unsuspecting customers’ computers....