Recent Updates
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Federal court issues new political maps for Texas
Headline Legal News 11/18/2011A federal court on Thursday issued temporary political maps for the 2012 election in Texas that some say will give Democrats a greater chance of winning seats in the Legislature. The maps, which still must be given final court approval, will remain i...
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Missouri Supreme Court upholds strip club restrictions
Headline Legal News 11/17/2011The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld a 2010 state law imposing restrictions on strip clubs and other sexually oriented businesses. In a unanimous decision Tuesday, the court rejected claims from the adult entertainment industry that the law infringe...
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Company pleads guilty to dumping wastewater in Harvey Canal
Headline Legal News 11/14/2011A Louisiana company has pleaded guilty to a charge it illegally discharged more than 1 million gallons of oily wastewater into the Harvey Canal. Oakmont Environmental Inc. of Harvey faces a $500,000 fine following its guilty plea Wednesday to violati...
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Calif high court hears debate over worker breaks
Headline Legal News 11/09/2011The California Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in a high-interest case contending restaurant managers must order meal and rest breaks for tens of thousands of workers rather than leave compliance to their discretion. The case was initially...
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NY investment firm among owners of Maine casino
Headline Legal News 11/07/2011The former owners of the New Hampshire International Speedway and the Oxford Plains Speedway are the largest shareholders in a casino under construction in western Maine, and a New York investment firm also holds a large stake, according to the casin...
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Court to look at life in prison for juveniles
Headline Legal News 11/07/2011The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether juveniles convicted of killing someone may be locked up for life with no chance of parole, a follow-up to last year's ruling barring such sentences for teenagers whose crimes do not include killing...
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Appeals panel sides with CBS over Super Bowl fine
Headline Legal News 11/03/2011In the latest court battle over the steamy 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that CBS should not be fined $550,000 for Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction." The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals held its gro...
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Scandal-plagued former Bell official sues city
Headline Legal News 11/01/2011Public outrage — and changed locks — forced Robert Rizzo out of a job last year, but the former city manager says he's still owed his $1.5 million salary and benefits. In a lawsuit against the city of Bell filed Monday, Rizzo claims he's owed his wag...
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Alabama immigration fight recalls civil rights era
Headline Legal News 10/31/2011The epicenter of the fight over the patchwork of immigration laws in the United States is not Arizona, which shares a border with Mexico and became a common site for boycotts. Nor was it any of the four states that were next to pass their own crackdo...
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Appeals court overturns key Cape Wind clearance
Headline Legal News 10/28/2011A federal appeals court has rejected the Federal Aviation Administration's ruling that the Cape Wind project's turbines present "no hazard" to aviation, overturning a vital clearance for the nation's first offshore wind farm. A decision Friday from t...
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Indiana, Planned Parenthood in court over funding
Headline Legal News 10/21/2011Planned Parenthood of Indiana can end a dispute over a law that would cut some of its public funding if it became two separate entities, with one offering abortion services and the other offering general health services, an attorney for the state tol...
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Artists sue auction houses over royalties law
Headline Legal News 10/21/2011Famed New York painter Chuck Close and other artists are suing Sotheby's, Christie's and eBay, contending the auctioneers willfully violated a California law requiring royalty payments on sales of their works. The three federal suits filed Tuesday se...