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Kids are growing up faster and faster these days, and I’m not talking about puberty. Sex, drugs and alcohol may have become permanent fixtures in the nation’s middle schools, but are they also making their way into our elementary schools? Last week, at Washington D.C.’s Thomson Elementary School, that question became reality when an elementary student, cocaine in hand, walked through the doors. Parents were shocked to learn Thursday that a fourth grader had brought a bag of cocaine onto the Thomson Elementary School campus....

A U.S. District Judge has ruled that the Florida drug law is unconstitutional. Judge Mary Scriven declared that the drug law violates the constitution because the Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act has no intent requirement. In 2002, the Florida legislature essentially eliminated the “mens rea,” or intent requirement of the drug law. Essentially, the Florida drug law made it so that offenders could be convicted of a drug offense such as possession or distribution regardless of their mental state....

General Motors has had to recall millions of vehicles in recent years as news that a faulty ignition switch was causing car engines to shut off during operation. Now, nearly two years since the recalls began in Fberuary, 2014, General Motors continues to take potentially defective cars off the market. The company announced more cars will be recalled on ignition switch issues earlier this month. It now appears that defective ignition switches impact the operation of airbags....

Thousands of products – from ice cream to car steering wheels – get recalled every year. And the FDA has a classification for those recalls, based on the injury risk posed by a defective product. Class I recalls are reserved for the most dangerous of defective products: “a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death....

Rapper DMX has filed a lawsuit over lost music royalties from a jail cell, claiming that an entertainment company pocketed funds from a contract signed a decade ago. The troubled rapper, DMX, is currently behind bars at an Arizona jail serving a six-month sentence after pleading guilty to charges of probation violation (by failing a drug test). He is suing executives at Rich Kid Entertainment, the Associated Press reports. Rapper DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, has spent time in jail on charges of drug possession, animal cruelty and theft....

As many as 4,000 Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder are expected to be impacted by the PTSD settlement reached with the Department of Justice and military on Thursday. Still requiring court approval in this class action lawsuit, the settlement will provide at least 1,000 soldiers discharged between 2003 and 2008 with lifetime disability benefits, while also increasing disability compensation and retirement benefits for at least another 1,000....

Cargill announced a second recall of ground turkey products Sunday. A Cargill ground turkey plant in Arkansas has again showed evidence of salmonella. The Minnesota-based Gargill recalled about 185,000 more pounds of ground turkey, the AP reports. The voluntary recall comes about a month after the company recalled 36 million pounds of fresh and frozen ground turkey that health officials believe made more than 100 people sick in 26 states and caused at least one death....

A new clinical trial on the drug Avandia has been halted. The FDA is asking GlaxoSmithKline to halt the enrolment of new participants in its study until researchers can be brought up to speed on the controversial drug’s risks. Last week, an advisory committee for the FDA found that the drug Avandia, used to treat diabetes, did cause an increase in heart risks. The FDA advisory committee reviewed the risks associated with Avandia with an eye to recommending pulling it from the market....

Since October of 2009, the CPSC has been investigating the many reports from homeowners relating to problems in homes built using drywall imported from China. Homeowners in many states, but most notably in the Southeast, have suffered wire and metal corrosion problems in their homes and many have reported health issues they also believe may be linked to the drywall as well. On April 2, HUD and the CPSC have announced their new guidelines for homeowners who have Chinese drywall in their homes....

Hopefully you know by now that police need a search warrant to conduct most searches. There are however several exceptions to the warrant requirement, and some police activity that doesn’t constitute a search. Most warrantless searches fall under one of a few main exceptions: if contraband is in plain view, searching a person after he or she has been lawfully arrested, if there is an emergency or an officer is in hot pursuit, and at some checkpoints like airports or international borders....

BB and pellet guns may seem like toys to some, but legally, they may be treated more like weapons. Police in Ohio certainly considered the BB/pellet rifle being carried by 22-year-old John Crawford inside a local Walmart to be a dangerous weapon. Beavercreek Police officers fatally shot Crawford after Crawford allegedly refused to comply with officers’ commands, reports the New York Daily News. The Crosman MK-177 rifle Crawford was holding when he was shot is sold at Walmart....

If you google ‘AARP elder abuse,’ your first 30 or so results are pages of the American Association of Retired Persons’ efforts to combat the emotional and financial abuse of elderly people. But the same non-profit that touts its efforts to protect elders is now being sued for defrauding them. A new class action lawsuit filed in California accuses AARP of elder financial abuse, claiming it has been taking kickbacks from UnitedHealth Group for selling AARP-branded health insurance plans, overcharging its members in the process....

A federal appeals court has struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s indecency rule. The ground breaking case is a major win for Fox Television, CBS Broadcasting, ABC and broadcast stations in general. The case is titled Fox Tel. Stations, Inc. v. FCC, 06-1760. The court found that the FCC indecency rule is unconstitutional as it violates the First Amendment. The case revolves around so called, “fleeting expletives,” when a person says an expletive in an unscripted way....

Health officials in Iowa and Nebraska have identified bagged salad mix as the source of a Cyclospora outbreak. However, federal authorities say it’s not clear whether Cyclospora outbreaks elsewhere in the United States are also linked to bagged salads. Cyclospora is a rare parasite that causes lengthy gastrointestinal illness and other flu-like symptoms. Outbreaks of the illness have sickened scores of people in Iowa, Nebraska, and beyond, reports CNN. Nationwide Outbreak The U....

A Long Beach man who allegedly killed multiple adopted cats will spend two years in jail after agreeing to a plea deal with prosecutors. Steven Ullery, 25, pleaded guilty to one count of animal cruelty in December, reports the Los Angeles Times. He was sentenced Tuesday to two years in Los Angeles County Jail. Ullery had faced up to five years in prison if convicted at trial. What led to the charges against Ullery and his plea deal with prosecutors?...

Like it or not, cancelled flights are part of the airport experience. The gate agent gets on the microphone and announces: “We’re sorry but your flight has been cancelled. We value your business and appreciate your understanding and cooperation. We know you have a lot of choices when it comes to selecting an airline and we thank you for choosing us. Please have a nice day.” Such words offer little comfort to the passenger stranded at an airport all day long due to a canceled flight....

The Real Housewives franchise is like the show that just keeps giving. Legally speaking, that is. The New Jersey cast has been especially generous in their legal lessons, teaching the audience about everything from restraining orders to assault to drunk driving to bankruptcy. Let’s now add defamation and settlement to the list. New Jersey Housewife Danielle Staub settled with her ex-husband Kevin Maher over a defamation lawsuit he brought against her when she called Maher a wife-beating rapist, among other things in various press interviews....

The Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) makes it illegal for app developers and third-parties to obtain the personal information of children under 13 years of age without first obtaining verifiable consent from their parents. The law was designed to keep companies from tracking kids online and targeting ads to unsuspecting children. But a San Francisco mother claims Disney is using over 40 apps to spy on children, secretly collecting their personal information and sharing data illegally with advertisers....

Mortgage lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will work with struggling homeowners to modify the terms of overly-burdensome home loans, in an attempt to stem the foreclosure tide and help stabilize the nation’s economy, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Tuesday. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other participating lenders and mortgage servicers will “fast-track certain loan modifications” to make monthly payments more affordable for “hundreds of thousands of homeowners who have fallen at least 90 days behind in their payments,” according to the Chicago Tribune....

A traffic stop should be reasonably short, but often drivers are subjected to what may seem like hours of detention. Sitting behind the wheel interminably with a cop’s spotlight pointed directly in your side view mirror, you may feel like something unlawful is going on. There are legal standards for judging how long a police officer may hold a driver during a traffic stop, but it doesn’t come down to minutes or seconds....