A federal judge on Friday rejected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s bid for a new trial and ordered him to pay victims of the deadly attack more than $101 million in restitution. The restitution order, issued by Judge George O’Toole ...
Read More »Texas lawyer files federal ‘birther’ suit against Ted Cruz
A veteran attorney in Ted Cruz’s hometown of Houston has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Canadian-born senator’s eligibility to be president — hoping that the nation’s high court will settle the “birther” question that has grabbed attention during the ...
Read More »In tight race, Democrats debate passion versus practicality
With just two weeks to go before the first votes of the 2016 race for president, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders engaged in their most contentious debate match-up to date, underscoring their tightening primary race as the Iowa caucuses ...
Read More »Restricting lobbyist gifts next target for state lawmakers
Missouri lawmakers pushing to change the state’s loose ethics laws next will turn to ways to clamp down on the flow of unlimited gifts from lobbyists to lawmakers. Lobbyist gifts “are probably going to be the biggest meat” of upcoming ...
Read More »Koster keeps financial lead in Missouri governor’s race
Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster maintains a fundraising lead in the race for Missouri governor, though some Republicans are cutting into his cash advantage as the candidates accelerated their spending, reports filed Friday with the Missouri Ethics Commission show. Koster, ...
Read More »St. Louis united against common enemy: Stan Kroenke
St. Louis football fans don’t have the 49ers or Seahawks to hate anymore. They have a new nemesis: Rams owner Stan Kroenke and the NFL executives who helped take away the team. It wasn’t exactly moving trucks sneaking the Colts ...
Read More »Missouri sees many options, little consensus on road funding
Missouri lawmakers say boosting transportation funding will be a top priority this year, but there’s little agreement on how to do it. A proposal to increase the state’s fuel tax, sponsored by the Republican chairman of the Senate’s transportation committee, ...
Read More »Appeals court refuses to reconsider Beatrice 6 decision
A federal appeals court has refused to reconsider its decision last month giving six people wrongly convicted of a 1985 murder another chance at suing officials who prosecuted them. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday denied without comment the ...
Read More »SEC visa fraud case rocks Florida city’s downtown dream
Port St. Lucie, Florida, a disparate series of residential developments and strip malls, had little to boast beyond its proximity to a nuclear plant and its fame as the spring training home of the New York Mets. Then Lily Zhong ...
Read More »Legislative panels approve bills to keep Kansas courts open
Kansas legislators moved quickly Thursday to see that the state’s courts remain open despite a legal dispute that’s threatening the judiciary’s entire budget. The House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee approved separate but identical bills to repeal a ...
Read More »Should lottery winners’ names be secret? States debate issue
Even a jackpot isn’t enough to buy anonymity for many lottery winners, whose names are often made public by state law. But now it’s becoming increasingly possible for big winners to hide their identity, and lottery executives are trying to ...
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