Government

Reports: Judge Pulls Gun on Crutch-Swinging Defendant, Who Is Then Shot By Cop in Ala. Courtroom

Unhappy about a judge’s jail sentence or fine in a misdemeanor harassment case, a defendant recovering from a broken hip with a cast on his leg reportedly began swinging his crutches in a courtroom at the Goodwater, Ala., city hall today and was shot in the abdomen and side by…

Feb 3, 2011 11:50 PM CST

Report Shows Fort Hood Massacre Could Have Been Prevented By FBI and Army, Senator Says

A November 2009 massacre at the U.S. Army’s Fort Hood military base in Texas “could have and should have been prevented” by the Army and the FBI, said Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) at a news conference today about a Senate committee’s new investigatory report on the tragedy. According the report…

Feb 3, 2011 9:25 PM CST

Snow Holiday to Extend Through Thursday at Cook County Courts After Chicago Blizzard

A snow holiday today will extend through tomorrow at Cook County Circuit Court following a major blizzard in Chicago, announces a notice on the circuit’s website. “Due to inclement weather, by an order of Chief Judge Timothy Evans, the Circuit Court and the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit…

Feb 3, 2011 12:51 AM CST

6 Brothers Allegedly Left in Abusive Home for 8 Years Despite 33 Complaints Get $6.55M

Despite 33 complaints, it took eight years for child protection authorities in Washington state to remove six brothers from a family home in which their lawyer says they were starved, locked in closets and physically abused. Now the state has agreed to settle for $6.55 million the case they filed…

Feb 2, 2011 5:13 PM CST

Colo. Secty of State Changes Mind, Won’t Moonlight at Former Law Firm After All

Sharply criticized after he announced a plan to moonlight at his former law firm to supplement his government salary, the newly elected Colorado secretary of state has changed his mind. Scott Gessler announced today that he won’t be taking a second job putting in 20 hours per month at the…

Feb 2, 2011 12:35 AM CST

Federal Judge Strikes Health Care Reform Act, Calls Insurance-Purchase Mandate Unconstitutional

Finding that an unconstitutional provision requiring most individuals to purchase insurance is central to the entire Health Care Reform Act championed by the Obama administration, a federal judge in Florida struck down the entire statute today. “Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire act must be…

Jan 31, 2011 8:58 PM CST

Officials Don’t Play; They Say: Remove Grand Piano from Fla. Sandbar! But Salvager Gets There First

A baby grand piano gained fleeting global fame when it suddenly showed up on a sandbar in the midst of Biscayne Bay, off the coast of Florida. It reportedly became the backdrop for at least one fashion shoot, and gained a touch of elegance when someone set a candelabra on…

Jan 28, 2011 10:14 PM CST

Hours After Appeal Filing, Top Ill. Court Rules Emanuel Stays on Ballot, Rebukes Appellate Panel

Capping an action-packed appellate week for the Illinois courts, Chicago election officials and a well-known city mayoral candidate, the state’s top court has just ruled—little more than 48 hours after an appeal was filed Tuesday—that former White House aide Rahm Emanuel will stay on the ballot. In a sharp rebuke…

Jan 28, 2011 12:19 AM CST

Slapping Teen and Making Her Pay Cable Bill Isn’t Basis to Remove Her from Home, Says Top NJ Court

Slapping a teenage child isn’t admirable. But it also falls short of establishing a basis for removing the girl from her home, even when that home has a broken furnace and part of her earnings are taken to pay the cable bill, the New Jersey Supreme Court says. In a…

Jan 27, 2011 10:18 PM CST

Could Deaths of 2 Police Officers in Armed Standoff Have Been Avoided by Calling the SWAT Team?

As police in St. Petersburg, Fla., mourn two fallen officers who were slain as they tried to arrest a violent suspect and rescue a colleague who had already been shot down this week, observers are wondering whether the tragedy might have been avoided if authorities had taken a more hands-off…

Jan 27, 2011 7:47 PM CST

Stanford Can’t Assist in Own Defense

Onetime billionaire R. Allen Stanford has been found incompetent to stand trial. Either because of a head injury he suffered while in custody or because of over-medication, Stanford is unable to assist in his own defense, Reuters reports. The Associated Press says Stanford, who is accused of operating a $7…

Jan 27, 2011 12:09 AM CST

Maricopa County to Sue Ogletree re Legal Services Provided to Sheriff Joe Arpaio & Others

In what could be one of the final chapters of a long-running power struggle between Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former in-house legal counsel of Maricopa County, Ariz., and its governing body and judges, the county board of supervisors voted today to sue a private law firm that represented the sheriff’s…

Jan 26, 2011 9:54 PM CST

Tiny Calif. City that Paid Its Attorney $1.65M Also Has a Big Budget for Law Firms

The tiny California town that paid its officials six-figure salaries—and $1.65 million to its one-time city attorney—has also been generous with its outside law firms. The city of Vernon, with a population of less than 100 residents, paid the law firms more than $54 million over a five-year span, the…

Jan 26, 2011 2:27 PM CST

US Panel Blames Corporate Greed, Fed and SEC, Among Others, For 2008 Financial Meltdown

Corporate greed, excessive risk-taking on Wall Street and a failure by key government regulators to do their jobs were among major factors that led to the financial meltdown of 2008, a congressional panel has found. In a report expected to be released Thursday as a 576-page book, the Financial Crisis…

Jan 25, 2011 11:29 PM CST

‘Looking for Evidence,’ Authorities Demolish House Where 2 Cops Were Fatally Shot Yesterday

A relatively routine attempt to make an arrest yesterday ended in tragedy and a dramatic gunfight between hundreds of officers from multiple police forces and a single suspect, as officers fought to rescue fallen members of their teams from a single-family home in St. Petersburg, Fla. Two city police officers…

Jan 25, 2011 8:47 PM CST