Appeals court halts sale of Calif. state buildings

CA Court halts sale of state assets to close budget gap
 With a growing state Deficit and and unbalanced Budget, the state of California decided to hold a going out of business sale, and unload some of its inventory of Real Estate in order to narrow the distance between the state’s appetite for spending and financial reality. Governor Schwarzenegger, in a rare display of Free Market thinking and political fortitude, asked the legislature for the authority to sell some of its assets, in an attempt to balance the state’s Budget, as is ...

Justice Dept. to appeal health care reform ruling
Stumble This! WASHINGTON — The Obama Administration said Tuesday it would appeal against a Federal Judge's ruling that a key provision of the landmark Health Care reform law was Unconstitutional. "We intend to appeal the District Court's ruling in Virginia to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals," a spokesman for the Department of Justice told AFP. Judge Henry Hudson of the Eastern District Court in Richmond, Virginia, found on Monday that the new law's mandate that Americans must buy insu...

Federal powers
A Federal Judge's ruling that a key part of the Health Care overhaul is Unconstitutional will have no immediate impact on the law. In fact, the restraint shown by District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson will allow the government to move ahead with implementing the sweeping changes mandated by President Obama's signature domestic initiative. Judge Hudson rejected administration arguments that the Commerce Clause gives the government authority to require all Americans to buy health insuranc...

Warrant Needed to Get Your E-Mail, Appeals Court Says
The government must obtain a court warrant to require Internet service providers to turn over stored e-mail to the authorities, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was the first time an Appellate Court said American’s had that Fourth Amendment protection. “The government may not compel a commercial ISP to turn over the contents of a subscriber’s emails without first obtaining a warrant (.pdf) based on Probable Cause,̶...

Facebook CEO youngest in California Hall of Fame
San Francisco | Tue Dec 14, 2010 7:45pm EST San Francisco (Reuters) - Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg becomes the youngest member of the California Hall of Fame on Tuesday when the state museum in Sacramento also honors singer Barbra Streisand, "Titanic" filmmaker James Cameron and others. Outgoing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver created the Hall of Fame, now in its fifth year, and have loaded it up with Hollywood and Silicon Valley stars as well as men and women wh...

SJC ruling extends reach of DNA cases
The long arm of the law just got longer. The state’s highest court ruled yesterday that prosecutors can indict suspects known only by their DNA profiles and bring them to justice years later when police identify who the genetic material belongs to, even if the statutes of limitation have lapsed. In the Supreme Judicial Court’s first decision of its kind, the justices unanimously concluded that a DNA profile is an “indelible ‘bar code’ that labels an individual̵...

End of Schwarzenegger era draws new media interest
When movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger became Governor of California seven years ago, the world's media descended on Sacramento to chronicle what they saw as a startling, only-in-California event. Dozens of television crews and newspaper reporters covered Schwarzenegger's election and inauguration - including those from Austria, his native country, and from as far away as Indonesia. By and by, global media interest in Schwarzenegger waned but as he enters the last days of his governorship, it's...

Breaking News on EFF Victory: Appeals Court Holds that Email Privacy Protected by Fourth Amendment
In a landmark decision issued today in the criminal appeal of U.S. v. Warshak, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the government must have a search warrant before it can secretly seize and search emails stored by email service providers. Closely tracking arguments made by EFF in its amicus brief, the court found that email users have the same reasonable expectation of Privacy in their stored email as they do in their phone calls and postal mail. EFF filed a similar amicus brief wi...

Breaking News on EFF Victory: Appeals Court Holds that Email Privacy Protected by Fourth Amendment
In a landmark decision issued today in the criminal appeal of U.S. v. Warshak, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the government must have a search warrant before it can secretly seize and search emails stored by email service providers. Closely tracking arguments made by EFF in its amicus brief, the court found that email users have the same reasonable expectation of Privacy in their stored email as they do in their phone calls and postal mail. EFF filed a similar amicus brief wi...

Kobe Bryant to represent Turkey, Armenians displeased
Kobe Bryant has agreed to be a "global ambassador" for Turkish Airlines. Kobe's sudden interest in Turkey is unexpected, although it may be linked to the airlines first direct flights from Los Angeles to Istanbul. (No doubt it's also linked to a fat Endorsement fee.) It was probably inevitable that the local Armenian community would take a dim view of the matter, for predictable reasons. Turkey's stubborn refusal to admit any responsibility for what it refuses to call the Armenian Genocide ...

Warrant needed to snoop on your emails, court finally rules
Stumble This! After many years of legal uncertainty, a federal appeals court has finally declared that emails have the same Fourth Amendment protections as regular mail and telephone calls. "Given the fundamental similarities between email and traditional forms of communication, it would defy common sense to afford emails lesser Fourth Amendment protection," the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (PDF). If the ruling is not overturned by the Supreme Court, it will put an end to the practice o...

Dad Thanks Stranger Who Spotted Daughter
(NewsCore) - The father of a 12-year-old Virginia girl who was allegedly abducted last week after the Murder of her mother, said Monday the San Francisco woman who spotted his daughter and alerted authorities was a hero, WTVR-TV reported. Brittany Mae Smith was found unharmed in San Francisco on Friday after Theresa Shanley spotted her and her alleged captor, 32-year-old Jeffrey Scott Easley, at a store in the city and called Police. Easley, the live-in boyfriend of Brittany's mother Tina Smith,...

California State Agency Leaves San Francisco Because It's Expensive and the Workforce is Too Dumb
We could have told them that a long time ago. (SF Gate) — After almost 100 years, the State Compensation Insurance Fund is pulling 755 of its 830 jobs out of town, having determined that San Francisco is just too expensive - and its Workforce too dumb - for the agency to continue doing most of its business here. Workers called to a recent meeting at the Herbst Theatre were told that 293 jobs will move to Pleasanton, 422 to Vacaville and 40 to Sacramento, with 75 employees rema...

San Jose's North San Pedro housing project may get go-ahead from council
After years of watching The Economy wipe out development plans for the North San Pedro area, the San Jose City Council today will consider selling one of the last major chunks of undeveloped downtown land. Long known as the Brandenburg property, the 7.3 acre site has been earmarked over the past decade for a concert hall, a Baseball stadium and a Supermarket. Now, it's envisioned as the site of 736 units of affordable and market-rate housing, including three high-rise towers. The site is genera...

For Cuccinelli, defiance pays off
A Virginia Attorney General is supposed to strike a defiant pose with the Federal Government. In the 1950s, Old South Democrats J. Lindsay Almond Jr. and Albertis S. Harrison Jr., both of whom later were elected Governor, made a futile effort to stop blacks and whites from sharing Public School classrooms, as mandated by Brown v. Board of Education. That was among the last Titanic legal clashes between Virginia and Washington to unfold in the courts. Until Monday. A half-century after the strugg...

The Secret Side of Dianne Feinstein
Back in the day, when I considered myself to be a Centrist Democrat, I admired people like Bob Kerry and Dianne Feinstein. That was then and this is now. Peter Byrne's excellent profile proves once again that the Progressive Party represents the most ethically challenged among us. Senator Warbucks confirms that the Boxer/Pelosi/Schwarzenegger insanity is homegrown and widespread. Perhaps Jerry Brown sprinkles moon dust into the water. Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum, also turns up in all the...

No bidding war for Jerry Brown buttons, but memorabilia 'holding its own'
Lot No. 13 at the Political Collectibles Show & Sale on Sunday was a collection of 24 buttons, including "California needs a Brown out," from Gov.-elect Jerry Brown 's lengthy Political Career. Adam Gottlieb , president of the Northern California chapter of American Political Items Collectors, stood on a chair at Sacramento's Sierra 2 Center and started the bidding at $60. Then $50. Then $25. "Do I see $20 for the Jerry Brown collectibles?" he said. Finally, a hand went up. Then another. When ...

Justice Department to Appeal Virginia Judge's Ruling Against Health Care Law
WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department said Tuesday it intends to appeal to a U.S. District Court judge's ruling declaring a key part of President Obama's Health Care law Unconstitutional. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals would get the case that originated in Virginia when the state filed a Lawsuit saying the Individual Mandate is Unconstitutional. Judge Henry E. Hudson ruled Monday that the provision requiring people to buy health Insurance violates the Commerce and General Welfare clauses. He...

VA district court judge says Obamacare is unconstitutional
… because the government can not compel people to buy it: U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson found that Congress could not order individuals to buy Health Insurance. In a 42-page opinion, Hudson said the provision of the law that requires most individuals to get Insurance or pay a fine by 2014 is an unprecedented expansion of federal power that cannot be supported by Congress’s power to regulate interstate trade. “Neither the Supreme Court nor any federal Circuit Court...

With repeal's fate uncertain, new suit challenges 'don't ask'
Three former service members discharged under the Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy filed suit in Federal Court on Monday, asking for reinstatement and arguing that the ban on gays serving openly is Unconstitutional. The case, filed in San Francisco, is the first of several that are expected if efforts to Repeal the law fail in Congress during the lame-duck session. Legislation that would end the ban failed for the second time this year to move forward in the Senate. The th...

Miller appeals to Supreme Court
Republican Joe Miller is taking his challenge of the Alaska Senate race to the state Supreme Court. On Friday, a state judge ruled against Miller's complaints about how the state conducted the election and counted write-in ballots. But Miller said Monday that the lower court ruling allowing thousands of "exceptions" to the ballot counting law needed to be challenged. Sen. Lisa Murkowski leads Miller by more than 10,000 votes, but Miller's suit contested at least 8,000 ballots. &quo...;

Some crash suits moved to state court
Published: Dec. 14, 2010 at 8:18 PM Buffalo, N.Y., Dec. 14 (UPI) -- A Federal Judge has moved five Lawsuits against the flight school that trained the pilot and co-pilot in a crash near Buffalo, N.Y., to state court. Other Lawsuits filed by relatives of the people killed when a Continental Express plane from Newark, N.J., crashed during its approach to the Buffalo airport will remain in U.S. District Court, The Buffalo News reported. U.S. District Judge William Skretny ruled Monday that the five...

Brown wants to complete budget in 60 days, predicts cuts to education
Source: LA Times Brown wants to complete Budget in 60 days, predicts cuts to education Gov.-elect Jerry Brown said Tuesday that he wants to complete a Budget agreement within two months, an accelerated timeline that would allow a late-spring Special Election for potential Tax Increases or other revenue generation. “I’m going to try to get the Budget agreements done within about 60 days. I don’t think we have a lot of time to waste,” he said. It's unclear whether the 60 days begins now, w

Jerry Brown warns educators to brace for more cuts
Source: San Francisco Chronicle Gov.-elect Jerry Brown said Tuesday that public schools in California should brace for more Budget cuts when he presents his spending proposal in the next few weeks to solve the state's $25.4 billion Budget Deficit. The Democrat called education and Public Safety the pillars of a civilized society but warned that the magnitude of the deficit problem facing California is "unprecedented in my lifetime" and that the state must prepare for drastic changes. "I can't pr...

Alaska Parental Notice Law Takes Effect
Despite an effort by Planned Parenthood to have the law enjoined, the Alaska parental notification law (approved by voters in August 2010) will go into effect during litigation. However, Superior Court Judge John Suddock did enjoin portions of the law’s enforcement mechanism; namely, he blocked the portions of the law enumerating criminal penalties and civil liability if an Abortion provider fails to abide by the parental notification law. He allowed a provision providing for license revoc...