Group was wrong not to rent out property for couple's civil union, state says
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. - A church group that owns beachfront property discriminated against a lesbian couple by not allowing them to rent the locale for their civil union ceremony, a New Jersey department ruled Monday in a case that has become a flash point in the nation's gay rights battle.
The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights said its investigation found that the refusal of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association to rent the oceanfront spot to the couple for their same-sex union in March 2007 violated the public accommodation provisions of the state's Law Against Discrimination.
While the ruling is decisively in favor of the couple, Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Paster, it does not end the case. An administrative law judge still must decide on a remedy for the parties.
Read full stroy MSNBC
Posted by Personal Injury Lawyers in Phoenix, Arizona
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Dad charged after girl, 11, dies walking in snow
Daughter was sent on 10-mile trek after truck got stuck on Christmas Day
TWIN FALLS, Idaho - The father of an 11-year-old girl who died, likely of hypothermia, after trying to walk 10 miles in the snow on Christmas Day has been charged with second-degree murder and felony injury to a child.
Robert Aragon, 55, of Jerome, made an initial appearance Monday in 5th District Court, where Judge Mark Ingram appointed a public defender for him. The judge denied Aragon's request to lower his $500,000 bond. He was being held in the Blaine County Jail.
Aragon was emotional during the short hearing. He banged his head on the defendant's table as Ingram read the charges against him, The Times-News reported. After Ingram noted that second-degree murder carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, Aragon said "Oh my God" as he banged his head on the table one final time.
Read full story MSNBC
Posted by Personal Injury Lawyers in Phoenix, Arizona
TWIN FALLS, Idaho - The father of an 11-year-old girl who died, likely of hypothermia, after trying to walk 10 miles in the snow on Christmas Day has been charged with second-degree murder and felony injury to a child.
Robert Aragon, 55, of Jerome, made an initial appearance Monday in 5th District Court, where Judge Mark Ingram appointed a public defender for him. The judge denied Aragon's request to lower his $500,000 bond. He was being held in the Blaine County Jail.
Aragon was emotional during the short hearing. He banged his head on the defendant's table as Ingram read the charges against him, The Times-News reported. After Ingram noted that second-degree murder carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, Aragon said "Oh my God" as he banged his head on the table one final time.
Read full story MSNBC
Posted by Personal Injury Lawyers in Phoenix, Arizona
Monday, December 22, 2008
Sex slavery: Living the American nightmare
Shadowy multibillion-dollar industry far more widespread than expected
When FBI and immigration agents arrested a 28-year-old Guatemalan woman three months ago in Los Angeles, they announced that they had shut down one of the most elaborate sex trafficking rings in the country. It was also the family business.
The woman, Maribel Rodriguez Vasquez, was the sixth member of her family to be rounded up in the two-year multi-agency investigation. Vasquez, five of her relatives and three other Guatemalan nationals were charged with 50 counts, alleging that they lured at least a dozen young women — including five minors as young as 13 years old — to the United States with promises of good jobs, only to put them to work as prostitutes. All remain in custody as investigators attempt to unravel the complex case.
Read full story MSNBC
Posted by Personal Injury Lawyers in Phoenix, Arizona
When FBI and immigration agents arrested a 28-year-old Guatemalan woman three months ago in Los Angeles, they announced that they had shut down one of the most elaborate sex trafficking rings in the country. It was also the family business.
The woman, Maribel Rodriguez Vasquez, was the sixth member of her family to be rounded up in the two-year multi-agency investigation. Vasquez, five of her relatives and three other Guatemalan nationals were charged with 50 counts, alleging that they lured at least a dozen young women — including five minors as young as 13 years old — to the United States with promises of good jobs, only to put them to work as prostitutes. All remain in custody as investigators attempt to unravel the complex case.
Read full story MSNBC
Posted by Personal Injury Lawyers in Phoenix, Arizona
Bush v. Gore Still Influencing Court Decisions
The Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore, issued eight years ago this month, was widely understood to work like that tape recorder in “Mission: Impossible.” It was meant to produce a president and then self-destruct.
“Our consideration is limited to the present circumstances,” the majority famously said, “for the problem of equal protection in election processes generally presents many complexities.”
That sentence, translated from high legal jargon into English, was generally taken to mean this: The decision was a ticket for one ride only. It was not a precedent. It was a ruling, yes, but it was not law.
But now, as the petitioner leaves the national stage, Bush v. Gore is turning out to have lasting value after all. “You’re starting to see courts invoke it,” said Samuel Issacharoff, a law professor at New York University, “and you’re starting to see briefs cite it.”
Read full story New York Times
Posted by Personal Injury Lawyers in Phoenix, Arizona
“Our consideration is limited to the present circumstances,” the majority famously said, “for the problem of equal protection in election processes generally presents many complexities.”
That sentence, translated from high legal jargon into English, was generally taken to mean this: The decision was a ticket for one ride only. It was not a precedent. It was a ruling, yes, but it was not law.
But now, as the petitioner leaves the national stage, Bush v. Gore is turning out to have lasting value after all. “You’re starting to see courts invoke it,” said Samuel Issacharoff, a law professor at New York University, “and you’re starting to see briefs cite it.”
Read full story New York Times
Posted by Personal Injury Lawyers in Phoenix, Arizona
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Police: 1981 murder of Adam Walsh solved
Boy's father later gained fame as the host of 'America's Most Wanted'
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Authorities in South Florida planned to announce on Tuesday that they've finally solved the 1981 killing of a little boy whose father later gained fame as the host of "America's Most Wanted."
Hollywood police scheduled a news conference to close the case of the abduction and homicide of 6-year-old Adam Walsh.
Adam's parents, John and Reve Walsh, long ago derided the investigation as botched. Both were expected to attend the news conference.
Read full story MSNBC
Posted by Personal Injury Lawyers in Phoenix, Arizona
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Authorities in South Florida planned to announce on Tuesday that they've finally solved the 1981 killing of a little boy whose father later gained fame as the host of "America's Most Wanted."
Hollywood police scheduled a news conference to close the case of the abduction and homicide of 6-year-old Adam Walsh.
Adam's parents, John and Reve Walsh, long ago derided the investigation as botched. Both were expected to attend the news conference.
Read full story MSNBC
Posted by Personal Injury Lawyers in Phoenix, Arizona
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Graves at reform school investigated
Former inmates of Florida institution think abused boys are buried there
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating what lies beneath more than 30 unidentified graves near a reform school where boys were abused in the 1950s and '60s.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist wrote the head of the law enforcement agency Tuesday, asking authorities to determine the origin of the graves and whether any crimes were committed. The agency said it will immediately begin investigating.
A group of former inmates, now in their 60s, believe the graves contain the bodies of boys who were beaten to death at the detention center. The men say they were severely beaten when they were there.
Read full story MSNBC
Posted by Personal Injury Lawers in Phoenix, Arizona
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating what lies beneath more than 30 unidentified graves near a reform school where boys were abused in the 1950s and '60s.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist wrote the head of the law enforcement agency Tuesday, asking authorities to determine the origin of the graves and whether any crimes were committed. The agency said it will immediately begin investigating.
A group of former inmates, now in their 60s, believe the graves contain the bodies of boys who were beaten to death at the detention center. The men say they were severely beaten when they were there.
Read full story MSNBC
Posted by Personal Injury Lawers in Phoenix, Arizona
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Supreme Court to Consider Pensions and Pregnancy Leave
In the 30th anniversary year of the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the "second generation of pregnancy discrimination" has arrived at the U.S. Supreme Court, say some civil rights and women's rights lawyers, in a case that could affect thousands of female workers, retired or about to retire, as well as company pension plans.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act treats discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions as unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the nation's major job bias law.
The act has helped "to change the nation's mindset about childbearing and working moms, and it continues to provide significant civil rights protections for women," said Linda D. Hallman, executive director of the American Association of University Women, adding it also has helped "to pave the way for a generation of working women and strengthened the American work force in the process."
Read full story Law.com
Posted by Personal Injury Lawyers in Phoenix, Arizona
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act treats discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions as unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the nation's major job bias law.
The act has helped "to change the nation's mindset about childbearing and working moms, and it continues to provide significant civil rights protections for women," said Linda D. Hallman, executive director of the American Association of University Women, adding it also has helped "to pave the way for a generation of working women and strengthened the American work force in the process."
Read full story Law.com
Posted by Personal Injury Lawyers in Phoenix, Arizona
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