Over 400 sex abuse suits filed as litigation window opens

A time-out for the NFL in ‘NOLA no-call’ lawsuit

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana’s Supreme Court has ruled that the NFL can hold off, for now, on providing documents and answering questions in a New Orleans Saints fan’s lawsuit over referees’ failure to call crucial penalties in a January playoff game won by the Los Angeles Rams. Attorney Anthony LeMon says the state’s highest... Read More

Criminal Justice News, News, Sports

New Orleans Saints, NFL

Prosecutors lose bid to seek death penalty against immigrant

PHOENIX (AP) — Prosecutors have lost another bid to seek the death penalty against an immigrant from Mexico charged with murder in the 2015 shooting death of a convenience store clerk in metro Phoenix. The Arizona Court of Appeals denied a request by prosecutors to reinstate their effort to seek the death penalty against Apolinar... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Guns, Immigration, News

Apolinar Altamirano

Federal appeals court grants Texas inmate stay of execution

HOUSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court granted a stay of execution Wednesday to a Texas inmate just one day before he was scheduled to die for the fatal shooting of a 23-year-old woman during a carjacking in Houston. In an 18-page opinion filed Thursday, a three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Execution, News

Dexter Johnson

Catholic Church, George Pell

Timeline of Cardinal George Pell’s career and accusations

An Australian court will rule next Wednesday on the appeal for Cardinal George Pell on his five convictions for molesting two choirboys in a cathedral more than two decades ago. Some events in Pell’s career and the criminal case: July 16, 1996: Auxiliary Bishop George Pell is appointed Archbishop of Melbourne. He molests two choir... Read More

Criminal Justice News, News, Religion, Sexual Abuse

Novelist Sparks defends decision on former head of NC school

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Author Nicholas Sparks says keeping the private Christian school he founded in his North Carolina hometown headed in the right direction was tough during a 2013 spell before cutting ties with the new headmaster he deemed unfit for the job. The author of “Message in a Bottle” and “The Notebook” is... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Entertainment, News

Nicholas Sparks

California counties sue over public benefit immigration rule

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco and Santa Clara counties filed the first lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s new rules to deny green cards to migrants who use Medicaid, food stamps, housing vouchers or other forms of public assistance. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, came after the Department of Homeland Security’s announcement Monday of its expanded... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Immigration, News

Immigration

Trial delayed for Mar-a-Lago trespassing trial

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge delayed the trial of a Chinese woman charged with trespassing at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and lying to Secret Service agents after accusing her of trying to “play games” at a Tuesday hearing as she acted as her own attorney against the judge’s strong advice. U.S.... Read More

Yujing Zhang

Judge orders FBI informant to wear a disguise in terror case

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana judge has ordered an FBI informant to wear a wig or hat, false eyeglasses and fake facial hair when testifying against a man who prosecutors say wanted to avenge the death of Muslims killed in shootings at two New Zealand mosques. The confidential informant, who helps the FBI in... Read More

Fabjan Alameti

GOP congressman set to go to trial weeks before 2020 primary

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter won’t go on trial until next year on corruption charges that involve the spending of campaign cash on vacations, extramarital affairs and other items, a U.S. judge decided Tuesday. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Whelan changed the trial date from Sept. 10 to Jan. 14 after defense... Read More

Duncan Hunter

Court rules for US in fight over Nevada plutonium shipment

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled against Nevada in a battle with the U.S. government over its secret shipment of weapons-grade plutonium to a site near Las Vegas but the state’s attorney general says the fight isn’t over yet. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Environment, News

Friend of Ohio shooter due in court for detention hearing

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — A longtime friend of the Dayton gunman is due in court after authorities accused him of buying the body armor and helping assemble the weapon used in last week’s mass shooting. A judge scheduled a detention hearing for Ethan Kollie of Kettering in suburban Dayton on Wednesday afternoon. Investigators say there’s... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Guns, News

Ethan Kollie

Flurry of suits emerge as NY opens door to old abuse claims

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — It was the early 1950s and Peter Vajda was a little boy attending a Catholic boarding school in the Bronx when he says a religious brother molested him. The brother is likely long dead, but the church survives. Just after midnight Wednesday morning, Vajda, now 75, filed a civil lawsuit naming... Read More

Brian Toale, Peter Vajda