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School residency arrests raise fairness questions
Legal News Digest |
2011/05/10 03:19
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A homeless single mother's arrest on charges she intentionally enrolled her son in the wrong school district by using her baby sitter's address is raising questions about uneven enforcement of residency rules as budget-conscious cities nationwide crack down on out-of-towners in their classrooms.
Tanya McDowell's arrest in Norwalk last month came a few months after Kelley Williams-Bolar of Akron, Ohio, was convicted of falsifying records for using her father's address to send her children to safer suburban schools.
Yet in Connecticut, Ohio and elsewhere throughout the U.S., officials acknowledge parents are routinely caught doing the same thing but rarely face criminal charges.
McDowell and Williams-Bolar are low-income black single mothers, a fact that disturbs civil rights activists who question whether they are being singled out unfairly.
McDowell returns to court Wednesday in Norwalk, where she is charged with felony larceny for allegedly stealing $15,686 of educational services by enrolling her 5-year-old in kindergarten last fall under her baby sitter's Norwalk public housing unit address. The baby sitter was later evicted. |
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Speaker Boehner: Tax hikes are 'off the table'
Legal World News |
2011/05/09 09:20
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div id=bg_contentdiv class=padding10div class=entrydiv class=articlepHouse Speaker John Boehner is insisting tax increases are off the table in negotiations with the Obama administration and congressional Democrats on extending the federal debt limit./ppThe Ohio Republican tells NBC's Today show everything else is on the table. Boehnernbsp; appeared a day after telling the Economic Club of New York he wants trillions of dollars in spending cuts as part of legislation allowing the government to continue borrowing beyond the current $14.3 trillion cap./ppBoehner says he doesn't think Congress can take money from some who would invest in our economy and hand it over to the government. He said, You can't raise taxes./ppBoehner said mandatory spending programs like Medicare and Social Security must be addressed because now they're unaffordable for our kids and our grandkids./p/div
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Calif Supreme Court lifts tobacco suit deadlines
Legal News Digest |
2011/05/06 08:43
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The California Supreme Court has lifted legal deadlines for smokers who later develop diseases like lung cancer.
Lawyers who filed the lawsuit say Thursday's unanimous ruling in San Francisco will likely allow new smoker suits to be filed against the tobacco industry and keep alive lawsuits that may have been thrown out because of expired legal deadlines.
The case before the court involved former smoker Nikki Pooshs, who was diagnosed in 1989 with smoking-related chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 1989 and a couple of years later with periodontal disease.
But Pooshs didn't sue the tobacco industry until she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2003.
Cigarette makers argued the suit should be dismissed because California law gives people two years to file suit after discovery of an injury. |
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Discrimination suit against Pa. law firm settled
Headline Legal News |
2011/05/06 06:43
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A lawsuit that accused Pittsburgh's second-largest law firm of discriminating against women has been settled.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports a dismissal notice was filed in federal court Thursday, ending the case brought by attorney JoEllen Lyons Dillon.
Dillon alleged in a December lawsuit that women at Reed Smith are paid less than men and that females are pressured to have sex with male superiors to get work.
She also said her pay was nearly halved during maternity leave, and that she was asked if she was done having babies when she inquired about a promotion.
Dillon's lawyer, Sam Cordes, would say only that the matter is resolved to our mutual satisfaction.
Reed Smith declined comment. Dillon no longer works there. |
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RI lawyer confirmed as US judge; GOP block fails
Legal Business |
2011/05/06 03:43
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A trial lawyer nominated by President Barack Obama to be a federal judge in Rhode Island was confirmed on a party-line vote Wednesday just hours after a Senate GOP filibuster attempt failed.
The Senate voted 50-44 to confirm lawyer John McConnell to the bench after a more significant 63-33 tally to advance the nomination past a filibuster orchestrated by GOP leaders.
Eleven Republicans joined with Democrats in the earlier vote to break the filibuster. GOP leaders opposed McConnell, citing his record as a trial lawyer in cases against businesses. Republicans also said McConnell was less than truthful in his testimony to the Senate.
Wednesday's vote comes six years after the Republicans then in control of the Senate considered a change in procedures to make it impossible to filibuster judicial nominations, citing numerous Democratic efforts to stall former President George W. Bush's nominees. Democrats said Republicans were being hypocritical in now trying to filibuster a Democratic nominee. |
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