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The CPSC announced on June 10 that it was expanding its original recall on Roman shades and blinds. That recall, originally announced in December 2009 applied to these types of window coverings due to the strangulation risk posed to young children who become entangled in the cords. Approximately 3,360,000 window coverings were recalled, including about 790,000 Roman blinds in November 2008 and August 2009, and about 533,000 roller blinds October 2009....

In August, the 9th Circuit issued a stay in the Proposition 8 case, denying the plaintiff’s request for the state to resume same-sex marriages. Last month, attorneys for the plaintiffs in the same-sex marriage appeal requested that the court lift the stay, making way for marriages to resume. The 9th Circuit yesterday declined to do so, stating that the couple had not met its burden under the law “at the time” of filing....

According to formerly top-secret court opinions declassified this week, the National Security Agency has collected thousands of Americans’ emails in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The NSA on Wednesday released three secret U.S. court opinions that revealed how, over the course of three years, agents collected as many as 56,000 emails and other domestic communications between Americans who had no connection to terrorism, The Washington Post reports. The Fourth Amendment guarantees that all U....

Nude housekeeper Thomas Cordero was acquitted of stabbing his client to death with a knife, the New York Daily News reports. Thomas Cordero advertised his nude housekeeper services on the website Rentboy.com. He was hired by paralegal John Conley to clean Conley’s home in the Bronx back in October 2001. Thomas Cordero was arrested in 2007 for the murder and confessed to police in a taped statement that Conley tried to rape him and that he took the knife from the victim and stabbed him....

This week, more banks have eased back on some overdraft fees in the wake of widespread criticism from consumer groups and legislators. As banks scurry to reform their own practices, and Congress thinks about making some rules, here are some terms to watch to know who’s walking the walk when it comes to overdraft reform. As Wells Fargo, Chase and Bank of America did last week; BB&T, Inc. announced today that it too will ease its foot off the overdraft throttle....

In typical tech fashion, Elon Musk announced his divorce from actress Talulah Riley earlier this year via Twitter. Musk, the co-founder of PayPal and Tesla, met Riley at a British nightclub in 2008. The couple wed in September 2010, before divorcing less than a year later in July 2011. Musk reportedly proposed to Riley just weeks after filing for divorce from his first wife, reports The Huffington Post. Musk’s fortune is reportedly worth about $680 million....

For the former President of the Peanut Corporation, 28 years in prison may sound like a good deal. Stewart Parnell was facing a possible prison term of 803 years for knowingly shipping salmonella-tainted peanut butter to consumers, leading to an outbreak that killed 9 people. As it stands, the prison term is the longest ever handed out in a food safety case. And Parnell isn’t the only one headed behind bars in the scandal....

Curiosity will remain unsatisfied for those following the Prop 8 trial. Video of the 2010 federal proceedings will remain sealed, according to an order issued by the 9th Circuit. That video was recorded at the insistence of Judge Vaughn Walker, who ultimately found the same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. He repeatedly promised the parties that it was intended for internal use only – that it would help him when it came time to prepare his order....

The class action lawsuit is one of the few tools consumers and the public have against misbehaving large corporations. They’ve been utilized in environmental protection cases against polluters and consumer safety cases against dangerous products. A proposed new rule would allow similar protections for victims of predatory, deceptive, or unfair business practices by banks and other financial institutions, but that rule was voted down today. Vice President Mike Pence broke a 50-50 tie in the Senate as Republicans continue to roll back Obama-era policies designed to reign in Wall Street....

A Texas jury found a retired firefighter guilty of murder, despite the man’s claim of justifiable homicide under Texas’ version of a “stand your ground” law. Raul Rodriguez, 47, faces up to life in prison for shooting and killing his unarmed neighbor when the two argued over a noisy house party in 2010, the Associated Press reports. Annoyed by the loud gathering, Rodriguez grabbed a flashlight, a handgun, and a camcorder, and decided to crash the party....

One of the tenets of our current capital punishment scheme is that subjecting mentally disabled defendants to the death penalty violates the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the Eighth Amendment. The question then becomes, however, how do we decide if someone is mentally disabled, and just how mentally impaired must a defendant be to avoid the death penalty? The State of Texas had set out a seven-factor test for determining death penalty eligibility, but that was overturned by the Supreme Court yesterday, which ruled that such decisions must be “informed by the views of medical experts....

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed a resolution this week declaring pornography a “public health hazard” and calling for more “education, prevention, research, and policy change … to address the pornography epidemic that is harming the people of our state and nation.” The non-binding resolution is a laundry list of harms allegedly created by the production and consumption of pornography, all of which have led to a “public health crisis.” But if the Utah resolution doesn’t ban pornography, or even earmark state funds to combat it, what does it actually do?...

Vibram, maker of those funky FiveFingers running shoes, has reached a settlement in a suit over the shoes’ supposed health benefits. The shoe manufacturer has agreed to shell out $3.75 million in settlement funds to be distributed to eligible class action members. According to Runner’s World, the average class member will receive between $20 to $50 per pair. What was the issue with the FiveFingers shoes, and how is this settlement going to fix the problem?...

Warren Jeffs is guilty of child sexual assault, according to a jury verdict. Jeffs’ conviction comes after the spiritual leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints acted as his own attorney during the trial, according to the AP. The West Texas jury took only a little more than three hours to deliberate before coming back with the guilty verdict, reports the Christian Post. Jeffs, 55, could face up to 119 years in prison....

Two teens have been charged in the murder of a baby boy and the shooting of his mother in Georgia. The mom, Sherry West, was pushing her 13-month-old son in a stroller in Brunswick, Georgia, last week when two teenagers attempted to rob them at gunpoint, NBC News reports. One of the boys then opened fire. Just a day after the shooting, Brunswick police arrested two teens, ages 17 and 15, and charged them both with murder....

Federal authorities have just made arrests that bring to an end to the largest fraud in the history of Medicare. On October 13, prosecuting attorneys charged members of an organization of Armenian gangsters with using phantom health clinics and other methods to run a major Medicare scam operation. Many of the defendants were caught in raids in New York City and Los Angeles. Other arrests were made in areas as disparate as New Mexico, Georgia and Ohio....

The vast majority of police interactions and criminal charges are settled long before trial and never see the inside of a courtroom. Those that do, however, can be long, complicated affairs. From setting a trial date to deciding who can testify and choosing a jury, criminal trials can be confusing, but they don’t need to be. Here are seven of the biggest questions concerning criminal trials, and where to go for answers:...

UBS, the Swiss government, and the U.S federal government reportedly agreed to resolve their legal dispute over the identity of UBS clients whom the I.R.S. alleged were helped by the Swiss Bank to shield taxable income and assets. The Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police emphasized that the agreement was an “out-of-court settlement” to resolve the dispute, but declined to release further details. Swiss bank accounts are the stuff of legend....

An animal rights group has filed a writ of habeas corpus in New York state court, declaring that a caged chimpanzee is entitled to rights as a legal person. The Nonhuman Rights Project, Inc. filed this legal petition on Tuesday, arguing that the court should grant Tommy, a captive chimpanzee in Gloversville, New York, legal personhood and the freedom that comes with it, reports the New York Times. Although the petition (see below) does not request that Tommy to be set free to roam upstate New York, it does demand his “immediate release to a primate sanctuary” which can adequately provide for his needs....

On the heels of Chicago’s lawsuit last week, and San Francisco’s lawsuit over the weekend, the State of California has filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions regarding President Donald Trump’s executive order threatening to without federal grants from “sanctuary jurisdictions.” The lawsuit claims the threat represents and unconstitutional takeover of state and local law enforcement, and also violates the Constitution’s Spending Clause, and is seeking an injunction against the Department of Justice, barring it from enforcing the executive order....