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Pa. high court denies Orie Melvin request
Legal World News |
2012/07/20 18:37
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A Pennsylvania state Supreme Court justice who is fighting political corruption charges has lost a request for her fellow justices to intervene in her criminal court case and require that an out-of-county judge preside over it.
The state Supreme Court issued the one-page order denying the request from suspended Justice Joan Orie Melvin on Tuesday. Melvin had sought to keep Allegheny County judges from hearing her case, complaining that one Allegheny County judge is married to a key prosecution witness, Lisa Sasinoski.
Melvin also had objected to a local district judge presiding over her preliminary hearing, saying the case may be too complex. Melvin asked her colleagues on the state Supreme Court to intervene after an Allegheny County judge denied her initial request. |
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Wash. Senate hopeful sought to seal court files
Law & Politics |
2012/07/18 23:37
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A couple months before Brad Toft emerged as the only Republican in a crucial state Senate race, he pressed officials to seal records from a past court case.
In a signed letter, Toft seemed to suggest that he wasn't the same person cited in the court files, saying that he shared a name with one of the parties but arguing that "the specific identity of the defendant is unclear." He wanted the records blocked from public inspection, declaring that the files might do damage to his reputation.
Toft, however, acknowledged to The Associated Press that he was the defendant in the case, saying he was simply exploring whether an old judgment could be vacated. |
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Wis. town barred from beefing up farm water rules
U.S. Legal News |
2012/07/11 22:51
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The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a rural town lacksthe authority to impose tougher water-quality standards on a livestockfarm than the state requires.Magnolia, a community about 30 miles south of Madison, granted LarsonAcres Inc. a permit in 2007 when it wanted to expand, but included anumber of conditions because residents blamed it for polluting theirwater supply. The farm initially had 1,000 cows and now has about2,900.Among the conditions, the farm had to allow the town to conductmonthly water quality tests on its land, and it had to follow certaincrop-rotation strategies to reduce nitrate buildup.The farm sued, arguing that pollution-control measures are laid out bythe state and can't be modified by individual towns.The state Supreme Court agreed, ruling that the town exceeded itsauthority by imposing additional measures.The case has been watched by rural Midwest communities struggling todeal with the expansion of so-called factory farms. States throughoutthe farm belt have seen big farms get bigger as the agricultureindustry continues to consolidate.Similar cases have been filed in six other Midwestern states, butWisconsin's is believed to be the first to reach a state supremecourt. |
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FBI investigates missing $17M in trust funds
Business Law Info |
2012/07/09 22:44
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The FBI is investigating the apparent theft of $17 million from Northern California trust fund accounts.
The San Jose Mercury News says the money has vanished from the trust funds of dozens of Santa Clara County residents who relied on a money manager to oversee their life savings.
Probate court records show the investigation centers on accounts administered by Christine Backhouse. She handles more than $104 million in assets.
Court records show she doesn't have enough insurance to cover the missing funds.
Backhouse says a boyfriend secretly wired millions of dollars out of the trusts.
The Campbell money manager mostly handled private trusts with no judicial oversight of her fees for service. |
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NY court: Gay marriage caucus didn't break rules
Headline News |
2012/07/06 23:39
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A state appeals court rejected a challenge to New York's year-old same-sex marriage law Friday, ruling closed-door negotiations among senators and gay marriage supporters including Gov. Andrew Cuomo did not violate any laws.
The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court in Rochester ruled against gay marriage opponents who argued that Republican state senators violated New York's open meeting rules ahead of the law's passage last year.
The marriage law was given final legislative approval by the state Senate after weeks of intensive lobbying and swiftly signed by Cuomo, making New York the largest state to legalize same-sex weddings. Same-sex couples began marrying by the hundreds on July 24, 2011, the day the law became official.
"The court's decision affirms that in our state, there is marriage equality for all, and with this decision New York continues to stand as a progressive leader for the nation," Cuomo said after the court's ruling.
New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms said Cuomo and another gay marriage supporter, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, met behind closed doors with the Senate's Republican majority in violation of the open meeting law. |
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Ohio court to hear appeal of teacher in Bible case
Headline News |
2012/07/05 22:03
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The Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear the appeal of a fired public school science teacher who kept a Bible on his desk and was accused of preaching religious beliefs in class.
The Mount Vernon School Board dismissed John Freshwater last year after investigators reported that he preached Christian beliefs in class when discussing topics such as evolution and homosexuality, and was insubordinate in failing to remove the Bible from his classroom.
The Supreme Court's 4-3 decision Thursday to hear Freshwater's appeal of his firing sets the stage for written and oral arguments before the court later this year.
The court said Freshwater can argue that it is unconstitutional to fire someone without clear guidance on what teaching materials or methods are acceptable. Freshwater also can argue that it is unconstitutional to fire someone over the mere presence of a religious text like the Bible in the classroom. |
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