Recent Updates
-
Budget woes spark school district merger talks
Court Alerts 09/02/2008Pennsylvania will be shedding a school district by the end of this school year — a significant development even after years of nationwide efforts to nudge and sometimes force school systems to share services or merge.The merger unfolding between two ...
-
Man accused in Obama threat uses crutches in court
Court Alerts 08/31/2008A Colorado man suspected of making racist threats against Barack Obama limped into federal court on crutches Thursday and was formally advised of a methamphetamine-possession charge against him.Therin Gartrell, 28, was arrested Sunday, just before th...
-
Federal judge indicted on sex abuse charges
Court Alerts 08/29/2008A federal judge accused of fondling a former court employee was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on sexual abuse charges.U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent is charged with two counts of abusive sexual contact and one count of attempted aggravat...
-
Battle over faked Holocaust book in Mass. court
Court Alerts 08/26/2008It was a shock to Misha Defonseca's readers this year when she admitted that the best-selling story of her tortured childhood during the Holocaust was false, but her U.S. publisher saw it as an opportunity to undo a stinging, 7-year-old court judgmen...
-
Prosecutors trying to get obese defendant to court
Court Alerts 08/22/2008Prosecutors are trying to decide how to jail and bring to court a nearly half-ton, bedridden woman accused of killing her 2-year-old nephew.A grand jury on Thursday indicted Mayra Lizbeth Rosales, 27, on one count of first-degree murder and on one co...
-
Calif top court: Docs can't withhold care to gays
Court Alerts 08/20/2008California's highest court on Monday barred doctors from invoking their religious beliefs as a reason to deny treatment to gays and lesbians, ruling that state law prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination extends to the medical profession.Justic...
-
Killer of 11 train passengers faces sentencing
Court Alerts 08/20/2008A man who killed 11 people by causing a commuter rail disaster in Glendale faces sentencing, one month after a jury recommended he serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.During the penalty phase of Juan Alvarez's trial, jurors cried o...
-
Texas seeks custody of teen Jeffs allegedly wed
Court Alerts 08/19/2008The mother of a girl allegedly given in marriage at age 12 to jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs refused to answer questions Monday from attorneys for the state child welfare agency who had begun presenting evidence.The state wants to remove the g...
-
Texas seeks custody of teen Jeffs allegedly wed
Court Alerts 08/19/2008The mother of a girl allegedly given in marriage at age 12 to jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs refused to answer questions Monday from attorneys for the state child welfare agency who had begun presenting evidence.The state wants to remove the g...
-
Court protests halt hearing in immigrant killing
Court Alerts 08/18/2008Courthouse protests have caused a brief interruption in the preliminary hearing of three teenagers charged in the beating death of a Mexican immigrant in a small Pennsylvania town.About 40 protesters outside the courthouse in Pottsville have been tol...
-
Appeals court in NYC will rehear torture case
Court Alerts 08/15/2008A federal appeals court will reconsider its decision to toss out a Canadian engineer's lawsuit over torture he says he endured after being mistaken for an Islamic extremist.The move by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan was unusual no...
-
Manchin, DuPont met over appeal of $196M verdict
Court Alerts 08/14/2008Gov. Joe Manchin's office acknowledged Wednesday that he conferred twice with chemical giant DuPont as it planned to appeal a $196 million punitive damage award in a West Virginia pollution case.His office also reviewed a draft friend-of-the-court br...