A McKinney, Texas, police officer has been put on administrative leave after a video surfaced of him forcing a 14-year-old girl in a bikini to the ground and kneeling on her back and then drawing his gun on others who came to her aid. In the seven-minute clip posted to YouTube, the girl can be…
Open carry handguns will soon be legal in Texas
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas lawmakers on Friday approved carrying handguns openly on the streets of the nation’s second most-populous state, sending the bill to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who immediately promised to sign it and reverse a ban dating to the post-Civil War era. Gun owners would still have to get a license to…
Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio asks public’s help with legal fees
With his legal fees mounting and a trial turning increasingly personal, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is turning to the public for money and the legal system for a new judge. Arpaio said in a letter to supporters that he doesn’t have the money to continue paying for attorneys out of his own pocket, adding…
Legal exposure: Wyoming law could mean jail for sunset picture, claims critic
A new Wyoming law theoretically could land a nature lover in prison simply for taking a picture of a Cowboy State sunset and proudly entering it in a photo contest, at least according to one critic’s reading of it. The law, dubbed the Data Process Bill, makes it illegal to “collect resource data” from any…
Court ruling boosts case for ending collection of U.S. phone records
For months, the debate around the future of the National Security Agency’s collection of millions of Americans’ phone records was framed as a stark choice between ending the program completely or continuing it exactly as is. Thursday’s landmark ruling by a federal appeals court in New York — which found that the once-secret program was…
Freddie Gray: Curfew enforced after protesters’ celebration over charges
Baltimore (CNN)After a day of jubilation following charges against six Baltimore police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, protesters cleared the streets early Saturday to observe a curfew. A few protesters scuffled with police after 10 p.m., when the curfew went into effect. Authorities used a megaphone from a helicopter to warn protesters to…
Kleiner Perkins is Seeking Nearly $1 Million in Legal Fees from Ellen Pao
Silicon Valley venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers filed legal paperwork Wednesday seeking $972,814 in legal costs from Ellen Pao, the former partner who recently lost a high-profile sex-discrimination case against the firm. In its filing, Kleiner also revealed it offered to settle the case with Ms. Pao before it went to trial, offering…
Legal Battle Begins Over Obama Bid to Curb Greenhouse Gases
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s most far-reaching regulation to slow climate change will have its first day in court on Thursday, the beginning of what is expected to be a multiyear legal battle over the policy that Mr. Obama hopes to leave as his signature environmental achievement. In two separate but related cases to be jointly…
Anti-abortion battleground broadens as US states fight on ‘non-medical’ grounds
Two arch-conservative states in the American Bible belt have this week formed a new “non-medical” front in the battle over reproductive rights, with laws that sharply restrict a method routinely used to perform second-trimester abortions. Anti-abortion politicians crafting and passing the new restrictions in Kansas and Oklahoma have reactivated a broader state-by-state campaign, mirroring similar…
Indiana law appears to permit discrimination
It didn’t take long. Once Indiana’s Republican Gov. Mike Pence appeared on national television to defend the indefensible, people from Apple CEO Tim Cook to the band Wilco to Wal-Mart executives to NCAA officials joined civil rights groups in condemning what Pence was defending. And within hours, the governor who had done so badly on…