Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, Universityof Wisconsin - Green Bay
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Having problems getting around that pesky 4th amendment? Reclassify your police officers as "code enforcement" officers who can condemn houses and need no search warrant to enter Aug 27 2008
The city replaced civilian code enforcement officers with police officers after finding that residents tended to ignore civilian officials, who must go through a lengthy process to force compliance, said George Fuller, city director of community development. Police officers can issue a ticket on the spot or make an arrest if needed, Fuller said.
Officers never use strong-arm tactics and will leave if refused entrance to a home, he said.
Police Cpl. Derrick Grandstaff, who is permanently assigned to code enforcement, said officers can condemn abandoned houses that are being used for drugs, prostitution and other criminal activity. Once a house is condemned, patrol officers do not need a search warrant to enter, Grandstaff said.
The man who was smart enough to cure Polio, but couldn't get out from under Salk's shadow, is dead at 93 Aug 25 2008
Dr. Weller won the prize along with two Children's Hospital colleagues, John F. Enders and Frederick C. Robbins. In 1949, they discovered a way to grow the polio virus in safe tissue cultures. Their discovery led to the development of the Salk and Sabin vaccines against the disease. It also underlay the development of vaccines for other viral diseases such as measles and chicken pox and has proved to be a crucial aid to cancer research
There's a big difference between developing a technique to culture the virus, and developing a vaccine. That's why Salk and Sabin get the credit. They cured polio. Weller didn't, however valuable his contribution may have been.
Woman facing federal charges and up to six months in Federal Prison after refusing to pay for a Diet Coke and pouring it out on a counter at a cafeteria Sept. 18, 2008
The second I saw this one I wondered, "was this on a Federal property?" Yup, a VA center. So that's why it's a Federal case.
Sarah Palin and Barack Obama have something in common. They both have no answer as to why nearly 1 million Americans are arrested and jailed for simple pot possession each year, while they should be forgiven for their youth indiscretions Sept. 18, 2008
Duhh, because they're breaking the law? We don't hassle Palin and Obama over past pot use any more than we hunt down other people who toked ten years ago. But if they were still using, yes, they would be unqualified for office. The difference between Palin and Obama and people still being arrested is that Palin and Obama stopped using.
Either pot is trivial, or it's not. If it's trivial, then being asked to abstain from it is not a serious infringement on personal liberty. If it isn't trivial, then maybe it makes sense to regulate it.
Authorities want to deport man wrongly convicted of rape before he can win his lawsuit against the police department Oct. 9, 2008
(From the Boston Globe) A federal district court judge implored immigration authorities yesterday not to deport a man who spent 19 years in prison after a wrongful conviction in three rapes. She said the deportation should wait until his civil rights lawsuit against the Boston Police Department goes to trial in April.
His conviction was overturned in May 2001 and he was freed after DNA testing revealed that semen found on a robe and bedsheet of one of the victims belonged to two other men and that his DNA wasn't found in the apartment.
Suffolk County prosecutors declined to retry the criminal case, saying two decades had passed since the rapes, evidence had been lost, and investigators had died. But they insisted that the DNA evidence did not clear Charles because jurors had been told the rapist did not ejaculate.
In addition, two of the women who were attacked told the Globe after the conviction was overturned that they had no doubts: They said Charles was the man who put a screwdriver to the throat of one of them, forced his way into their apartment, threatened to kill them, and raped them.
After Charles was freed, he was immediately taken into custody by immigration authorities who sought to deport him for other convictions, including one in 1989 for trafficking heroin in prison. But a federal judge released him in August 2002 pending a ruling by an immigration judge.
To me, "wrongly convicted" means you are factually innocent of the crime. Given that there's good reason to doubt whether DNA evidence matters in this case, this guy is a long way from factually innocent. Especially when two victims stick to their original identification.
If only there were some way that a person could be represented in court even if he's outside the country. By someone specially trained in the law. We could call them "lawyers."
Florida treasure company finds ship that sank in 1744 with 4 tons of gold, in international waters, off British coast. Huge payday for salvagers? No. Brits say they never abandoned ship so it's theirs February 2, 2009
Well, it's a warship. And under maritime law, sunken warships remain the property of their nations. So yes, it is theirs. And don't worry, the salvagers will make a tidy sum. People who salvage treasure for a living know maritime law.
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Created 18 July 2008; Last Update 24 May, 2020
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