More than a century after his death, Frederick Douglass and July 4 remain profoundly intertwined. Douglass was one of the greatest public speakers of the Civil War era, a conscience of the abolitionist movement and beyond and a popular choice ...
Read More »$270,000 settlement approved in inmate wrongful-death suit
A federal judge has approved a $270,000 settlement of a wrongful-death lawsuit that alleged jailers in southeastern Missouri didn’t offer proper medical care for a woman during an overdose. Under the settlement signed last week, the city of Charleston will ...
Read More »California high court: Yelp can’t be ordered to remove posts
Online review site Yelp.com cannot be ordered to remove posts against a San Francisco law firm that a judge determined were defamatory, a divided California Supreme Court ruled Monday in a closely watched case that internet companies warned could be ...
Read More »Evangelical leaders downplay potential Roe v. Wade reversal
For evangelical Christian leaders like Jerry Falwell Jr., this is their political holy grail. Like many religious conservatives in a position to know, the Liberty University president with close ties to the White House suspects that the Supreme Court vacancy ...
Read More »Shot in the back: When can police fire on fleeing suspects?
In decades past, police officers who shot suspects as they ran away were more likely to expect praise than criminal charges. And while the legal landscape and public opinion have shifted in recent years, it’s never a certainty that such ...
Read More »Supreme Court change may limit, not kill, abortion rights
Is Roe v. Wade really in peril? The worst fears — and highest hopes — excited by the prospect of a new Supreme Court justice may well be overblown. Democrats and liberal interest groups, gearing up for President Donald Trump’s ...
Read More »Suspect in Maryland newspaper rampage denied bail
A man with a long grudge against Maryland’s capital-city newspaper was ordered held in jail Friday on five counts of first-degree murder after police said he blasted his way into the newsroom with a pump-action shotgun, killing five people in ...
Read More »Where pot is now legal, no-longer-criminals seek forgiveness
Despite its name, hippie reputation and liberal spirit, Vermont hasn’t always been kind to pot smokers. Now, as the state moves to legalize weed beyond medical use, those punished in the past for marijuana misdemeanors are seeking forgiveness. Effective July ...
Read More »Lawsuit alleges Hormel, other companies inflated pork prices
A federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Minnesota alleges Hormel Foods Corp. and other companies colluded to inflate consumer pork prices on such popular products as Ball Park Franks, Spam and Nathan’s Famous. Defendants in the proposed class-action lawsuit included Hormel, ...
Read More »Gorsuch shows how much 1 vote matters on Supreme Court
Justice Neil Gorsuch’s role in his first full term on the Supreme Court offers a striking illustration of the difference a single justice can make, and why both sides are gearing up for a titanic fight to replace retiring Justice ...
Read More »Justice Kennedy retiring; Trump gets 2nd Supreme Court pick
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement Wednesday, giving President Donald Trump the chance to cement conservative control of the high court. The 81-year-old Kennedy said in a statement he is stepping down after more than 30 years on ...
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