Recent Updates
-
States increasingly put criminal records online
National News 12/15/2008Worried your daughter's new boyfriend might have a nefarious past? Want to know whether the job applicant in front of you has a rap sheet?Finding out can be a mouse click away, thanks to the growing crop of searchable online databases run directly by...
-
Financially 'struggling' gov had big legal bills
National News 12/12/2008Rod Blagojevich is the third-highest-paid governor in the country, but you wouldn't know it from conversations recorded by federal authorities.He is heard on six weeks of recordings saying he is "struggling" financially, even though he makes $177,412...
-
Obama legal team meets with anti-torture generals
National News 12/03/2008A dozen retired generals met with President-elect Barack Obama's top legal advisers Wednesday, pressing their case to overturn seven years of Bush administration policies on detention, interrogation and rendition in the war on terror."President-elect...
-
Court upholds $156M Palestinian terror verdict
National News 12/03/2008A federal appeals court has upheld a $156 million judgment against three Palestinian charities accused of bankrolling terrorism, but dropped a Chicago man from the long-running civil suit.The opinion was filed over the killing by Hamas terrorists of ...
-
Bally Total Fitness again files for Chapter 11
National News 12/02/2008Bally Total Fitness Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday for the second time in less than two years, hindered by debt and limited refinancing options amid the credit crunch.The Chicago-based gym operator will use existing cas...
-
Clintons' ex-NY neighbor gets 25 years for murder
National News 12/02/2008A man who lived a few doors down from Bill and Hillary Clinton was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years to life in prison for shooting and killing his wife.Carlos Perez-Olivo, 60, listened impassively as Westchester County Judge Barbara Zambelli imposed the...
-
Hawaiian Telcom files for bankruptcy protection
National News 12/02/2008Hawaiian Telcom Communications Inc., the largest telephone company in Hawaii, said Monday that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.The company had been working with creditors since October on a debt-restructuring agreement and said it d...
-
Calif. high court asked to hear gay marriage cases
National News 11/17/2008The state attorney general and sponsors of the ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage in California urged its Supreme Court to hear a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn the ban, saying the matter is too urgent to be unsettled."The petiti...
-
US appeals court hears arguments in ND hemp case
National News 11/13/2008An attorney for two North Dakota farmers argued they should be able to grow industrial hemp under state regulations without fear of federal criminal prosecution.Attorney Joe Sandler told a panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday t...
-
Payday lending law violated constitution
National News 11/06/2008A 1999 state law allowing so-called payday lenders to charge high fees for short-term loans violates the state constitution, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday.In a 6-0 decision, the court said the fees permitted under the 1999 Check Cashers A...
-
Hall & Oates sue in NY over `Maneater' recording
National News 11/05/2008Daryl Hall and John Oates have filed a lawsuit saying their music publisher failed to protect their rights to their 1982 hit "Maneater."The pop duo's lawsuit says they learned in April 2007 that an unidentified singer-songwriter had used "Maneater" i...
-
Court to decide on convict's right to test DNA
National News 11/03/2008The Supreme Court will decide whether, years after his conviction, a defendant has a constitutional right to test genetic evidence found at the crime scene.The justices, in an order Monday, accepted the appeal of prosecutors in Alaska. They asked the...