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White House wins court fight on e-mail disclosure
Headline Topics |
2009/05/22 09:07
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A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the office that has records about millions of possibly missing e-mails from the Bush White House does not have to make them public.
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The appeals court in Washington ruled that the White House Office of Administration is not an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act, allowing the White House to keep secret documents about an e-mail system that has been plagued with problems./ppDuring its first term, the Bush White House failed to install electronic record-keeping for e-mail when it switched to a new system, resulting in millions of messages that could not be found. The Bush White House discovered the problem in 2005 and rejected a proposed solution./ppA group known as Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sued to get documents about the office's electronic record-keeping, including reports analyzing system problems, plans to find the missing e-mails and create an improved system and records of any retained messages./ppIn response to court orders in the case, the White House disclosed that it has located nearly 3,500 pages of documents about problems with its e-mail system. But the Bush administration argued in this case for the first time that the office's records are not subject to public disclosure, even though it had responded to hundreds of other FOIA requests in the past decade and even included instructions on its Web site for filing them./p |
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California voters soundly reject budget measures
Legal Business |
2009/05/20 09:07
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California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers are facing the arduous task of closing a state budget gap of more than $21 billion after ballot measures aimed at bolstering the state's finances were soundly defeated by voters.
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Results for Tuesday's special election posted on the California's secretary of state's website showed more than 60 percent of voters rejected the five fiscal measures on the ballot./pspan id=midArticle_1/spanpA sixth measure barring pay increases for state officials amid deficits was approved by about 74 percent of the voters.
Surveys in recent weeks had found little support for the fiscal measures, and Schwarzenegger all but conceded defeat by joining President Obama in Washington on Tuesday for his announcement on auto emission rules instead of campaigning for the measures through election day./p |
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2 convicted killers executed in Okla., Ala.
Headline Topics |
2009/05/15 09:36
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A man convicted of battering his girlfriend's 8-year-old son and stuffing the body in a freezer was put to death Thursday in Oklahoma, while a man in Alabama was executed for fatally stabbing a mother of six.
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Donald Lee Gilson, 48, proclaimed his innocence in the death of Shane Coffman before he was injected in Oklahoma with a lethal combination of drugs./ppI'm an innocent man but ... I get to go to heaven and I'll see Shane tonight, he said in his final statement. He was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m./ppGilson's parents, sister, a friend and a pastor witnessed the execution, and about a dozen members of the victim's family watched from behind a one-way glass./ppHe became the second person to be executed this year in Oklahoma./ppIn 1998, Gilson was convicted of first-degree murder in Shane's death in 1995. An autopsy showed fractures to the boy's skull, his collarbone, shoulder blades, ribs, legs and spine and a tooth missing from his jaw./ppCourt records indicate that four other children who lived with Gilson and girlfriend Bertha Jean Coffman in a mobile home in Cleveland County showed abuse, and two of the children were emaciated. One of the children told investigators that Gilson beat the boy with a board and then placed him in a bathtub as punishment for going to the bathroom on a rug./p |
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Key player in sports-bribery case appears in court
Headline Topics |
2009/05/15 09:32
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Two former University of Toledo football players charged in a point-shaving scheme were arraigned in federal court Wednesday, including an ex-running back from Canada who is described as a key contact for Detroit-area gamblers.
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Not guilty pleas were entered on behalf of Adam Cuomo of Hagersville, Ontario, and Quinton Broussard of Carrollton, Texas./ppThe FBI says Cuomo, 31, incriminated himself during an interview in December 2006. Authorities also have recordings of phone calls between him and Ghazi Gary Manni of Sterling Heights./ppIn December 2005, the talk turned to how a reluctant basketball player had agreed to shave points./ppCuomo responded by saying that money will overcome all, FBI agent Stephen Ferrari said in a court document unsealed last month./ppCuomo is charged with conspiring with Manni, Mitchell Ed Karam and others to fix the results of Toledo football and basketball games, from late 2004 through 2006./ppHe met Manni through the owner of a phone shop in Toledo, Ohio, the FBI says./p |
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ND Supreme Court upholds Internet provider probe
Headline Court News |
2009/05/07 10:28
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North Dakota's Supreme Court says the attorney general may continue a probe into the marketing practices of an Internet service provider.
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Simple.net Inc. of Mesa, Ariz., has tried to block investigations by North Dakota and other states. It contends the investigations are barred because of a settlement between the company and the Federal Trade Commission./ppIn a unanimous ruling, the North Dakota Supreme Court says the FTC agreement does not prevent the North Dakota attorney general from looking into Simple.net's business practices./ppAttorney General Wayne Stenehjem got complaints about Simple.net because the company was sending out incentive checks./ppWhen customers cashed the checks, they started getting billed almost $20 a month for Internet services. Stenehjem says the sales pitch was misleading./p |
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Music executive who faked his death pleads guilty
Court Watch News |
2009/05/06 10:28
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A music executive has pleaded guilty to faking his own death and pretending to be his killer.
WSMV-TV reports 62-year-old William Grothe pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempting to defraud his life insurance company and creating the false impression of his own death.
Grothe disappeared Nov. 19. His car was found in Nashville near the Cumberland River boat ramp, and his wallet and cap were nearby.
Assistant District Attorney Rob McGuire says Grothe took out $1 million in life insurance policies.
His attorney, Richard Tennent, says Grothe, an attorney who worked for a Music Row company that collects royalties for songwriters, was living as a homeless man in Arizona.
Tennent said Grothe has been diagnosed with bipolar disease and depression. |
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CSI commander facing lawsuit in Neb. murder case
Headline Topics |
2009/04/28 08:45
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| Less than a week after being indicted for allegedly tampering with evidence in a homicide investigation, a crime scene investigator is being sued in federal court by one of the men who was wrongfully charged in the double-murder case.pOn Sunday, Nicholas Sampson filed paperwork to add David Kofoed, commander of the Douglas County CSI unit, and the Douglas County Sheriff's Office to a 2007 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court against the Nebraska State Patrol and the Cass County Sheriff's Office./ppThe amendment says Kofoed violated Sampson's constitutional rights by planting a speck of blood in a car Sampson had driven./ppSampson spent five months in jail after being wrongfully charged in the deaths of Wayne and Sharmon Stock. The couple were found slain in their Cass County farmhouse on April 17, 2006. Both had been shot in the head at close range with a shotgun./ppLaw enforcement involved with the Stock investigation insists that the case against Nick Sampson remains an open case, said Sampson's attorney, Maren Chaloupka. I find that ironic, given that the only person currently under indictment is one of their own./ppKofoed, 52, was charged Wednesday in Cass County Court with evidence tampering and was indicted a day later on four federal charges, including falsifying records./ppHis attorney, Steve Lefler, has said Kofoed may have made some mistakes in the case, but they did not rise to the level of criminal misconduct./p |
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