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"The US government can listen to my phone calls and read my emails, detain me indefinitely without charge, and incinerate me with a drone while I am abroad -- but to force me to buy health insurance would be to shred the Constitution and take away my freedom."
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The Crips, one of the largest and most violent street gangs in the United States, has spread its network of crime into high schools across the country, including Virginia, where gang leaders recruited young girls as prostitutes with promises of "lots of money" and then maintained their allegiance through beatings, ...

A Missouri school district has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union over student access to pro-gay websites.

The Camdenton R-III School District in central Missouri will ensure that nonsexual websites on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues will be put on a customized ...

ATLANTA (AP) — Autism cases are on the rise again, largely due to wider screening and better diagnosis, federal health officials said Thursday.

The rate of U.S. cases of autism and related disorders rose to about 1 in 88 children. The previous estimate was 1 in 110.

The new ...

BECKLEY, W.Va. (AP) — The former superintendent of a southern West Virginia mine where an explosion killed 29 workers pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal fraud charge.

Gary May of Bloomingrose, W.Va., the highest-ranking Massey Energy official charged in connection with the blast, faces up to five years in prison when sentenced ...

DETROIT (AP) — A Michigan militia leader and his son each pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally possessing a machine gun, ending a six-week trial that took a dramatic turn this week when a judge dismissed more serious charges of conspiring to rebel against the government.

The gun charges were the ...

RICHMOND HILL, Ga. (AP) — No one recalls JetBlue Airways Capt. Clayton Osbon coming unhinged before. Not the airline that let him fly for 12 years, the neighbors in his secluded waterfront community or the friends he tried selling weight-loss shakes to on the side.

Now federal prosecutors have charged ...

The state constitution does not impose a reasonable suspicion standard before a drug dog can be used on a vehicle. People v. Esparza, 2012 CO 22, 2012 Colo. LEXIS 224 (March 26, 2012).

Sobriety roadblock was set up by a supervisory officer two days earlier by surveying in the area. The fact only two officers manned the roadblock was not an issue to make it unreasonable. State v. Brown, 2012 Ga. App. LEXIS 337 (March 26, 2012).*

The district court didn’t find probable cause for arrest, but the appellate court does, so the false arrest claim is foreclosed. “In this case there was certainly arguable probable cause. The undisputed evidence showed that within seven minutes of being informed of a possible break-in and assault, Turner spotted Fleming in an alleyway approximately one-half block from the crime scene. Fleming was the only person in the area and he substantially matched the description of the intruder that one of the victims had given to Turner—he was wearing a baseball cap, t-shirt, and camouflage cargo shorts. From this evidence, a police officer could have reasonably, if mistakenly, believed that probable cause existed to arrest Fleming. This is true even if Haleigh had described Turner's t-shirt as ‘light-colored’ because witnesses often have minor details incorrect.” Fleming v. Livingston County, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 6268 (7th Cir. March 28, 2012).*

WNYC News Blog: NYPD Conducts Suspicionless Stops in Private Buildings: Suit by Ailsa Chang:

A federal class action was filed against New York City and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly on Wednesday for what plaintiffs allege are suspicionless stops within private residential buildings.

Under the NYPD's enforcement of a program known as Operation Clean Halls, a landlord enters into an agreement with the NYPD, which grants officers permission to patrol inside the building at any time they choose.

SARASOTA, Fla. — In a case that generated blaring tabloid headlines in the U.K. press, a Florida teen is facing life in prison without parole for murdering two young British tourists who got lost and wandered into a housing project where their convicted killer lived.

After an eight-day trial, a ...

Trayvon Martin's supporters pack churches, swarm rallies and wear hooded sweat shirts in solidarity while friends and family of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot the unarmed teen to death, remain largely out of sight. The few who have defended Zimmerman have done so reluctantly, most fearing public ...

So far, researchers using aborted fetal cell lines haven't been able to cure paralysis or reverse the effects of Parkinson's disease, but they may be able to make diet sodas taste better.

PepsiCo has come under intense pressure from pro-life groups for contracting with Senomyx Inc., a San Diego biotech ...

RICHMOND HILL, Ga. — A JetBlue Airways captain who sprinted through the cabin of a Las Vegas-bound flight screaming about terrorists, Jesus and Sept. 11 was charged Wednesday with interfering with a flight crew, federal authorities said.

Capt. Clayton Osbon told his co-pilot that "things just don't matter" shortly ...

FLORIDA

MIAMI — A judge has dismissed a murder charge against a man who chased and fatally stabbed a theft suspect, citing the same self-defense law at the center of the Trayvon Martin case.

The "stand your ground" law gives a lot of leeway to use deadly force instead ...

The hooded sweatshirt — or hoodie — has emerged as an unlikely symbol of political division and racial tension as the controversy over the shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Florida by a neighborhood watch captain last month continues to simmer.

Critics piled on the National Rifle Association on ...

PITTSBURGH — God is going green.

With a Bible in one hand and a protest sign in the other, many religious activists are now moving in lockstep with the environmental movement in the fight against oil and gas drilling.

Stewardship of the Earth is hardly a new concept in ...