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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Despite dozens of allegations of neglect and sexual abuse over the years, the U.S. State Department has scrapped a plan to require FBI-based fingerprint searches for people hosting foreign high school exchange students, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It might be dismissed as an election year gimmick by the big shots who run Capitol Hill, but frustration over Congress' failure to pass a budget since 2009 has given surprising momentum to a bill that would cut off lawmakers' pay if they can't - or won't - pass a budget blueprint....

CHICAGO (AP) — Hours after Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. announced it will stop publishing print editions of its flagship encyclopedia for the first time in more than 200 years, someone among the editing minions of free online rival Wikipedia made an irony-free note of that fact.

"It was announced that after ...

CHICAGO — Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich embraced the public spotlight one last time Wednesday, claiming on the day before he reports to prison that he always believed what he did was legal and expressing faith that an appeal of his corruption convictions will succeed.

The famously talkative Blagojevich seemed ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron are starting a day of both policy talks and celebration with an elaborate welcome ceremony at the White House....

“Espada was the resident of the searched premises, while Cruz was a temporary guest who admitted that he had no control over the residence. In leaving the residence with his belongings still in the bedroom, unlocked and exposed in a doorless closet, Cruz assumed the risk that Espada would consent to a search of her residence.” United States v. Cruz, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 4986 (3d Cir. March 9, 2012) (unpublished). [This is tenuous at best, and it deserved a better, more detailed analysis than brushing it off without much in a per curiam. A guest has standing, but are their personal belongings subject to the whim of the host? Not usually. Why would the police even think that the host had apparent authority over the guest's stuff? This is just wrong as written. Hopefully the defense will ask for rehearing or try for cert.]

Defendant being a known drug dealer in an area where there might have been a drug deal 2-3 hours earlier in a vehicle that only might have matched the color of the one they were looking for wasn’t probable cause. United States v. Allen, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32707 (M.D. La. March 12, 2012).*

NEW YORK (AP) -- AT&T is offering to discuss a settlement to an iPhone user who won a small-claims case that alleged the company was slowing down his "unlimited" data service....

Following CA7 (United States v. Reed, 539 F.3d 595 (7th Cir. 2008)) and CA8 (United States v. Hudspeth, 518 F.3d 954 (8th Cir. 2008) (en banc)) and not CA9 (United States v. Murphy, 516 F.3d 1117 (9th Cir. 2008)), CA5 finds that an absent cotenant who refuses to consent is not what was contemplated in Randolph. Defendant was in jail and refused to consent, so officers went to his house and got it anyway. [There is also a curtilage issue under Dunn.] United States v. Cooke, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 5269 (5th Cir. March 13, 2012):

We agree with the Seventh and Eighth Circuits that the objection of an absent cotenant does not vitiate the consent of a physically present cotenant under Randolph. First, as both courts noted, Randolph self-consciously emphasized the importance of Randolph's presence by repeatedly noting it when declaring and reiterating the holding. See Randolph, 547 U.S. at 106, 114, 121, 122, 123. Justice Breyer's concurrence confirms the importance of physical presence. Id. at 126 (Breyer, J., concurring). Second, the Randolph Court seemed to have structured the holding as an exception to the general rule of Rodriguez and Matlock that a cotenant may consent to the search of a residence, id. at 106, and that this exception was narrowly drawn along a "fine line." Id. at 121-22. Third, although it is a close question, social convention normally allows for a visitor to feel invited into a home when invited by a physically-present resident, even if an absent cotenant objects to it, rather than the visitor's assuming he is verboten forever until the objector consents.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Despite dozens of allegations of neglect and sexual abuse over the years, the U.S. State Department has scrapped a plan to require FBI-based fingerprint searches for people hosting foreign high school exchange students, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press....

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- A 3-year-old boy shot and killed himself with a gun he found in a car as a family made a stop early Wednesday at a gas station, police said....

Defendant was indicted for mail fraud for sending threatening letters. Investigators found threads under a stamp on the envelope. That and other things showed a nexus for a search warrant for defendant’s house. The fact that there had been a prior consent search did not mean that the police could not seek to come back if something had been overlooked. United States v. Carlson, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32734 (D. Minn. March 12, 2012), R&R 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32727 (D. Minn. February 7, 2012):

The prior consent search — during which no evidence was seized — is irrelevant. First, there is nothing to suggest the scope of the prior search was exactly the same as the search authorized by the warrant. Second, failure to find items during a prior search does not destroy probable cause for a subsequent search, if there is reason to believe the evidence could have been overlooked. See United States v. Blom, 242 F.3d 799, 807 (8th Cir. 2001). Here, the affidavit indicated that the home was extremely cluttered, making it likely that relevant evidence was overlooked. Third, even if the evidence was not in Carlson's home at the time of the prior search, that absence is immaterial. See United States v. Tagbering, 985 F.2d 946, 950 (8th Cir. 1993) (holding that evidence does not need to be at the location to be searched at the time the warrant issues, so long as there was probable cause to support a belief that it will be there when the warrant is executed). The Court finds that the affidavit as a whole supported a conclusion that the items listed were likely to be in Carlson's home at the time the warrant was executed, and the warrant was, therefore, supported by probable cause.

By not securing the occupants of a rental car that was subject to impoundment for lack of an authorized driver, the need for a search incident was akin to the situation in Belton rather than Gant. United States v. Harmon, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 153996 (M.D. Fla. November 4, 2011).* [So, the officer can simply not secure the persons arrested and use that as an excuse for search incident? Better yet, the car was subject to impoundment for lack of a licensed driver. Period. This was deciding something that didn't need to be decided. Don't count on this case being good law.]

Defendant’s suppression motion was denied in 1998 and he appealed. He since had post-conviction hearings. “His repetitive frivolous motions and appeals will not change this court's ruling on the issue. It was determined more than a decade ago that the January 2, 1998, search of Claude Bellamy's house was by consent.” Bellamy v. United States, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32458 (E.D. N.C. March 12, 2012)

Defendant was arrested in Belize for immigration violations and child pornography was found. He makes no showing whatsoever that American authorities had anything to do with it. United States v. McVicker, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33164 (D. Ore. March 13, 2012).*

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- The comedian who made his name on the "Axis of Evil Comedy Tour" made one thing clear when he opened a recent set at Michigan State University: "Tonight, it's not Islam 101."...

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- The comedian who made his name on the "Axis of Evil Comedy Tour" made one thing clear when he opened a recent set at Michigan State University: "Tonight, it's not Islam 101."...

NEW YORK (AP) -- AT&T is offering to discuss a settlement to an iPhone user who won a small-claims case that alleged the company was slowing down his "unlimited" data service....

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Friendly arguments aren't hard to find in a barbershop, but try cutting in on a hallowed symbol - that red, white and blue pole - and it may be time to hide the scissors....

CHICAGO (AP) -- Boaters cruised along the river in downtown Chicago. Golfers smacked balls in Minnesota....

NOME, Alaska (AP) -- Mushers always pose with their lead dogs under the burled arch in Nome, Alaska, after winning the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race....

CHICAGO (AP) -- Hours after Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. announced it will stop publishing print editions of its flagship encyclopedia for the first time in more than 200 years, someone among the editing minions of free online rival Wikipedia made an irony-free note of that fact....

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan (AP) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Wednesday told Afghan officials that recent violence - such as the incident last weekend in which a U.S. soldier allegedly went on a deadly shooting spree - will not deter the United States from carrying out its mission in Afghanistan....