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Owners of new homes may have more to worry about than the mortgage. In a Press Statement released November 23rd, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced results from a 51 home study it has completed regarding the effects of Chinese drywall. Homeowners in states across the country have reported both health problems and corrosive effects on metals and wiring in their homes which may now be linked to the presence of drywall imported from China....

A California death penalty abolishment measure has made it onto the state’s November ballots. If voters pass it, California will be the 16th state to no longer have a death penalty statute in its books. In addition, the 725 inmates currently on the state’s Death Row will have their sentences converted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. That sentence will also be the harshest punishment California prosecutors will be able to seek....

For people who get angry when they hear about someone suing for getting burned by their morning coffee, or getting injured undertaking an extreme sport, etc., etc., a story came out yesterday that might add to their frustration. CNN reports that a Manhattan jury awarded $2.33 million to Dustin Dibble, who lost his leg after drunkenly stumbling onto the path of an oncoming subway train. The story gave the following background, stating that Dibble fell and “landed in the subway tracks after a late night watching a hockey game at a bar with friends April 23, 2006....

Is Ecstasy a controlled substance? You’re probably thinking “yes,” but according to a California appellate court, it’s not that simple. The court ruled that Ecstasy is not automatically a controlled substance under state law. Instead, prosecutors must prove this fact through expert testimony and scientific evidence. Popular culture and common sense are not part of the state’s evidentiary rules. This bizarre argument was raised on behalf of Richie Quang Le, who was convicted of selling and possessing a controlled substance....

Flavor Flav may have some legal sparks to extinguish after an allegedly illegal fireworks display got him cited at his Las Vegas home. The former Public Enemy rapper, born William Drayton Jr., has reportedly spent thousands of dollars each year since 2009 to set off fireworks for his annual Fourth of July celebration. But the festivities ended with Las Vegas Metro Police slapping Flav with two citations Friday night, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal....

Know any good recall jokes? We’re running out of material around here. As we have reported, 2010 was a busy year of recalls. Toyota had recalls involving the Prius, RAV4, Corolla, Matrix, Camry, Highlander, Tundra and Sequoia vehicles. But they weren’t the only ones to get in on the recall action, and now Ford has issued another recall. The F150 truck recall is expected to begin on February 14. This time, Ford is recalling 365,000 2009 and 2010 F150 trucks in North America....

Consumers may experience a warmer than average winter this year according to the latest forecasts. But even if furnaces, space heaters, or fireplaces aren’t working as hard, consumers still need to remain vigilant against carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and fires in their home. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are urging consumers to schedule a professional inspection of all fuel-burning heating systems, including furnaces, boilers, fireplaces, wood stoves, water heaters, chimneys, flues and vents....

Being arrested and charged for public intoxication, while not as serious as a DUI charge, can still have severe consequences. Depending on the state or locality, the charge for being drunk in public can be a misdemeanor or even simply an infraction, like a speeding ticket. But, unlike a speeding ticket, a public intoxication charge can result in being arrested and taken into custody by the police. Typically, a first or second offense will not have severe consequences, unless a person already has a criminal history, or is being charged with many other drunken crimes....

Jessica’s Law is the informal name given to a 2005 Florida law, as well as laws in several other states, which restricts how close a sex offender can live to parks and schools. The law has recently been blocked by a California judge out of concern that many offenders are “becoming homeless or are forced to go to prison because the law gives them few housing options.” The 10-page ruling by Judge Peter Espinoza is not permanent, but rather a temporary solution while the courts sort through a sea of lawsuits filed on behalf of sex offender parolees, according to the Associated Press....

The Lindsay Lohan-Pitbull defamation battle is heating up, and the rapper is taking no prisoners. Lohan sued Pitbull back in August over his song, “Give Me Everything.” In it, he cheekily raps that he’s “got it locked up like Lindsay Lohan.” He apparently hurt her Ms. Lohan’s feelings. But chances are his just-filed court response will hurt her even more. It includes a very long list of her legal troubles, which the rapper says justify his lyrics....

Merck and Co., Inc. and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have announced a recall of about 1.2 million doses of a children’s vaccine. The affected lots of haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) vaccine were distributed in the U.S. starting in April 2007, and are being recalled because manufacturer Merck and Co., Inc. cannot assure the sterility of these specific vaccine lots, based on suspected contamination of equipment used in the vaccine’s production....

You don’t usually think of nurses as criminals but sometimes their actions can be so cruel as to rise to a crime. That is what grand jurors in New York decided when they indicted two nurses this week for ignoring a bleeding disabled patient who fell, leaving him crawling around in distress for more than ten minutes. The nurses are accused of having ignored the patient and failing to treat him, reports the New York Daily News....

Violent crime rates may be down, but New York City still has some of the dangers of being, well, a city. That lesson is abundantly clear given the story of a tourist who was raped on her trip to NYC. The 20-year-old woman was visiting from Australia and checked out a popular nightclub. She left and got into a cab, but got out of the cab after an argument. Then she was grabbed and pulled into an alley where she was raped....

Financial reform is one step closer after the House passed legislation concerning new regulations, agencies and oversight on a 223-202 vote. As Nancy Pelosi remarked, “We are sending a clear message to Wall Street, the party is over. Never again will reckless behavior on the part of the few threaten the fiscal stability of our people.” This bill overall appears to be good news for the financial consumer, but there were a few things left undone as well....

A gym teacher in Pasadena, Tex. has been arrested for having an affair with a 14-year-old student. Rebecca De La Garza, 26, met the 8th grade girl while teaching at Thompson Intermediate. The two exchanged 22,400 text messages and 2,400 phone calls over an 8 month period, according to probable cause documents. Police also allege that the two engaged in sexual contact while at school–in both De La Garza’s office and the locker room storage closet....

Valerie Harper was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009, and had been silently fighting her battle with the disease until she disclosed it in her autobiography in 2013. As if having cancer weren’t bad enough, now Harper is facing a $2 million lawsuit filed by Broadway producer Matthew Lombardo, The Associated Press reports. How did the situation unravel and get this bad? Here’s a breakdown of the lawsuit: Playwright Matthew Lombardo wrote “Looped,” a play about Tallulah Bankhead and starring Valerie Harper, who headlined several productions in California, Florida, and Washington, D....

The California Supreme Court ruled that couples must be living apart before they can be considered legally separated. Whether going through a divorce or choosing a legal separation instead of a divorce, the new definition can have a huge impact on each spouse’s property and finances. The court attempted to simplify matters by creating a bright-line rule based on the establishment of individual residences as creating a legal separation. In the Dog House Under California’s marital property laws, both spouses are entitled to half of their community property – meaning all income, assets, and property accrued during the marriage....

A New York man accused of lobbing Frappuccino firebombs at Muslim and Hindu religious sites faces arson and hate-crime charges. Police arrested Ray Lazier Lengend, 40, of Jamaica, Queens, in connection with a series of attacks on Sunday, the website Gothamist reports. The firebombings targeted five buildings, including a mosque and a home used for Hindu religious services. Lengend confessed to the attacks and made “broadly anti-Muslim statements” during questioning, a police spokesman tells Reuters....

Since June 19, former Real World troublemaker Puck, arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence, has been living the high life in a Los Angeles County jail, unable to post a $30,000 bond before his July 6 court date. Known only for his title as one of the most obnoxious and contentious reality television personalities of all time, Puck, born David Rainey, has a long history of run-ins with the law....

If you think about the phrase “ivory smuggling,” “Philadelphia” is not the first locale that probably comes to your mind. Victor Gordon, the owner of a Philadelphia African art store, was arrested for illegally importing African ivory. Gordon paid another man to travel to Africa to get elephant ivory. The elephant ivory was then carved to Gordon’s specifications, and then stained and dyed to make it appear older than it really was, reports The Wall Street Journal....