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Appeals court rejects waste storage at nuke plants
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/06/09 18:18
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A federal appeals court on Friday threw out a rule that allows nuclear power plants to store radioactive waste at reactor sites for up to 60 years after a plant shuts down.
In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not fully evaluate the risks associated with long-term storage of nuclear waste. The court said on-site storage has been "optimistically labeled" as temporary, but has stretched on for decades.
The decision puts the Obama administration in a bind, since the White House directed the Energy Department to rescind its application to build a final resting place for the nation's nuclear waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain and cut off funding two years ago. An alternative site has not yet been identified. |
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Court orders woman to stay away from Jeff Goldblum
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/05/26 23:11
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A judge on Friday granted Jeff Goldblum a temporary restraining order against a woman who has been repeatedly ordered to stay away from the actor in recent years.
Goldblum's attorneys obtained the order against Linda Ransom, 49, after she repeatedly went to the actor's home three times this month. A previous stay-away order against Ransom from 2007 has expired and police claim she has told them that she will not stop trying to meet Goldblum unless a restraining order is in place.
The filings state Ransom has been arrested three times for violating previous restraining orders. Goldblum first alerted authorities to her in 2001 after she attended one of his acting classes and then started waiting outside his home.
"Over the past decade, I have experienced substantial emotional distress due to Ms. Ransom's continuous stalking, harassing, and threatening behavior," Goldblum wrote in a sworn court declaration. |
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2nd campaign aide to DC mayor pleads guilty
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/05/24 23:10
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For the second time in three days, a former campaign staffer to District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray has pleaded guilty to a federal offense arising from Gray's 2010 mayoral bid.
Howard Brooks pleaded guilty Thursday to lying to the FBI about payments he made to another mayoral candidate using Gray campaign funds. On Tuesday, former Gray aide Thomas Gore pleaded guilty to making some of the same payments and shredding records of them.
Authorities said the cases makes clear that the Gray campaign engaged in dirty politics.
"Today's guilty plea further reveals the underhanded dealings that tainted the integrity of the 2010 mayoral campaign," U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen said in a statement.
What remains unclear is whether Gray participated in or even knew about the criminal activity. While Gray has suffered politically from the scandal, he has not been implicated in any crimes. He has insisted previously during a long-running federal probe that he knew nothing about the potential misdeeds committed by staffers.
The most serious offenses that arose from the cases against Gore and Brooks occurred after Gray took office and involved attempts to conceal the Gray campaign's schemes. Gore pleaded guilty to shredding records of payments made with Gray campaign funds to Sulaimon Brown, a minor mayoral candidate. And Brooks admitted lying to the FBI about his involvement in giving Brown the money. |
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High court will take up wiretaps lawsuit
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/05/21 23:10
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The Supreme Court says it will consider shutting down a legal challenge to a law that lets the United States eavesdrop on overseas communications.
A federal appeals court ruled last year that a lawsuit filed by lawyers, journalists and human rights groups objecting to the latest version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act could proceed. But the Obama administration appealed, and the justices said Monday they will take up the case in the fall.
The lawsuit was brought by those in jobs that require them to speak with people overseas who are possible targets of the surveillance.
No court has ruled on the merits of the lawsuit. The current legal fight is over whether the law's challengers are entitled to make their case in federal court.
The administration says the lawsuit should be dismissed because the plaintiffs only have a fear of having their communications intercepted — as opposed to citing specific instances — which the administration says is insufficient for asking federal judges to intervene. The law's challengers, however, argue that they already have taken costly and burdensome steps to protect the confidentiality of their overseas communications, based on a reasonable belief that the government could be monitoring their calls. |
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Sexual offences Sydney
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/05/19 05:48
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Anyone charged with a sexual assault or indecent assault will not have settling thoughts at the end of the night. If you are not guilty of such sexual offences, it can be overwhelming and stressful. However, knowing who can help represent your case to get your favorable outcomes will reduce the stress a sexual offence can bring. The Crimes Act now inclues many more sexual assault offences from previous years and like any criminal offence, the penalties for sexual offences have been raised significantly. Areas of sexual assault law in Sydney have changed in the recent years. These inclue laws dealing with consent, prior sexual conduct, cross examination of complainants, and accessing information about complainants. Dealing with a sexual assault case towards a District Court or Supreme Court Criminal Trial can have greater penalties than in the local courts.
It is crucial to get lawyers who specialise in sexual assault cases so they understand the laws and have the experience to get the right results. At Sydney Criminal Lawyers, our experienced sexual assault lawyers will fight for your rights every step of the way. Our attorneys treat every case as if it is their most important case because we know how much is at stake for our clients. Our attorneys have legal costs awarded in favour of our clients and we have been successful in winning complaints made against unfair investigating police. Please call us at (02) 9261 8881 or send us an email at http://www.criminallaw.com.au/sexual-offences |
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Okla. court halts 'personhood' rights for embryos
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/05/01 17:10
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The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Monday halted an effort to grant "personhood" rights to human embryos, saying the measure is unconstitutional.
The state's highest court ruled unanimously that a proposed amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution that would define a fertilized human egg as a person violates a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a Pennsylvania case and "is clearly unconstitutional." Supporters of the personhood amendment are trying to gather enough signatures to put it before Oklahoma voters on the November ballot.
Opponents contend the measure would ban abortions without exception and interfere with a woman's right to use certain forms of contraception and medical procedures, such as in vitro fertilization.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights filed a protest with the state Supreme Court on behalf of several Oklahoma doctors and residents. They asked the court to stop the group Personhood Oklahoma from gathering signatures.
The nine-member court determined the initiative petition "is void on its face" and struck it down.
"The only course available to this court is to follow what the United States Supreme Court, the final arbiter of the United States Constitution, has decreed," the court said. |
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