No Britney Spears, no decisions made at closed court hearing

Purdue Pharma asks judge to stop lawsuits against Sacklers

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma on Wednesday asked a bankruptcy court judge to halt all lawsuits against the company and its former directors, including members of the Sackler family, which owns the company. The request is a standard ask for a company that’s filed for bankruptcy , as Purdue did this week in an effort to... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Drugs, News

Opioids, Purdue Pharma

Oregon sees push for strictest gun storage law in US

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Carol Manstrom says she lost her 18-year-old son when he grabbed his father’s unsecured pistol and shot himself. Paul Kemp lost his brother-in-law when a man opened fire with a stolen AR-15 assault-style rifle at a shopping mall. On Wednesday, Manstrom and Kemp helped deliver 2,000 signatures to Oregon’s elections office... Read More

Gun Control, Oregon

Officers sue over firings related to Chicago police shooting

CHICAGO (AP) — Four Chicago police officers fired after being accused of helping cover up the fatal shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald are challenging the decision with separate lawsuits. Former Sgt. Stephen Franko and former officers Janet Mondragon, Daphne Sebastian and Ricardo Viramontes allege the Chicago Police Board’s decision to fire them in July... Read More

Jason Van Dyke, Laquan McDonald

No truce: Trump keeps up feud with California during visit

SAN DIEGO (AP) — President Donald Trump remains on a war footing. With California. Trump’s primary mission during his two-day visit to the state was to raise millions from wealthy Republicans. But he also made a point of deriding the state’s handling of its homeless crisis, and on Wednesday, he issued a long-expected challenge to... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Environment, News

Prosecutors seek trial for man charged with synagogue attack

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Prosecutors will have a recording of a 20-year-old’s call to an emergency dispatcher and his online posts when they try to convince a judge that he should be put on trial for opening fire in a synagogue on the last day of Passover, killing one woman and injuring three people, including... Read More

John T. Earnest

Mexican megachurch leader back in court in child rape case

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors will detail Thursday accusations of child rape and human trafficking against the leader of Mexican megachurch La Luz del Mundo. Naason Joaquin Garcia, who is considered the church’s apostle, and two co-defendants were arrested in June on suspicion of sexually abusing three girls and a woman in Los Angeles County.... Read More

Criminal Justice News, News, Religion, Sexual Abuse

Naasón Joaquín García

Trump threatens EPA action against San Francisco

LOS ANGELES (AP) — President Donald Trump threatened to unleash the Environmental Protection Agency on San Francisco Wednesday after a California visit during which he blamed the homelessness crisis on “liberal” policies. Trump accused the city of allowing a tremendous amount of waste, including needles, to go through storm drains into the ocean. “It’s a... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Environment, News

Appeals court upholds diversion denial for former bus driver

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee appeals court has upheld a decision to deny diversion to a former school bus driver convicted of charges including negligent homicide in a 2016 crashed that killed six children. News outlets report the ruling was issued Tuesday in the case of Johnthony Walker. Judge Don Poole last year sentenced... Read More

Johnthony Walker

North Carolina college shooting suspect set for arraignment

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A man accused in the fatal shootings on a North Carolina college campus last spring is scheduled to make a court appearance. The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s office says Trystan Andrew Terrell will appear for an arraignment on Thursday at around 2 p.m. The DA’s office said in a statement that... Read More

Trystan Andrew Terrell

Dutch men who wanted Area 51 video get jail for trespass

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Two Dutch tourists who told authorities they wanted to take video of Area 51 have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor trespass and illegal parking following their arrests at a different secure U.S. government site in Nevada. A judge on Monday sentenced Govert Sweep, 21, and Ties Granzier, 20, to 10 days in... Read More

Area 51

Roy Moore, Sacha Baron Cohen

Comedian Baron Cohen asks judge to dismiss Roy Moore lawsuit

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen asked a federal judge to dismiss Roy Moore’s defamation lawsuit over a television segment that lampooned Moore in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations. Lawyers for Baron Cohen, Showtime Networks and CBS wrote last week in a joint court filing that Moore signed an agreement waiving all... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Entertainment, News

Judge refuses to free extremists who attacked protesters

A federal judge on Tuesday refused to free members of a white supremacist group on bond while they appeal their convictions for attacking protesters at a white nationalist rally in Virginia. U.S. District Judge Norman Moon ruled that Rise Above Movement members Benjamin Daley, Michael Miselis and Thomas Gillen haven’t adequately shown that releasing them... Read More

Benjamin Daley, Michael Miselis, Thomas Gillen

Convicts in ‘Bridgegate’ asking Supreme Court to toss case

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The so-called Bridgegate fraud case was merely “bare-knuckle New Jersey politics,” attorneys wrote Tuesday in a filing to the U.S. Supreme Court as two onetime allies of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie seek to overturn their convictions. Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly, once Christie’s close associates, have accused the government... Read More