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060120

Wash. county summons dead man to jury duty

by Rebecca Fiss Aug 19 2009, 05:29 AM A letter came in the mail on May 28 summoning Arlington resident Thomas Sebastiani for three days of jury duty at the Cascade District Court, but he already had a fool-proof excuse for deflecting it: a death certificate. But before you prick your ears for news on how to get a magical ticket out of jury duty, there’s a catch: you have to ...

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Detroit’s justice system in bigger trouble than its criminals

by Rebecca Fiss Aug 18 2009, 06:15 AM If the current economic mess continues, those with a flimsy wallet and a weak moral compass might feel a tug towards Detroit, a city known for its higher-than-normal crime rate. Why? Because thanks to a proposed 20 percent budget cut to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, the city might stop prosecuting some “low-priority” crimes like small ...

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N.Y. legislator: Wealthy inmates should pay their stay

by Rebecca Fiss Aug 17 2009, 04:00 AM New York State Assemblyman Jim Tedisco’s sympathy for wealthy prison inmates, if he had any, reached its “tipping point” when multi-billionaire Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff landed a 150-year sentence. Madoff’s jail term will cost the North Carolina government about $70 per day until the 71-year-old kicks the bucket (which, as suggested by a ...

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Los Angeles rushes to ban 'digital' billboards

by Rebecca Fiss Aug 14 2009, 09:32 AM The commercial capital of the world is aiming a punch at commercialism. The result? Lawsuits, of course. The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved an emergency ordinance on Friday that will ban new digital billboards, multistory “supergraphics” and certain freeway-facing signs in a rat-race effort to beat down any possibility that ...

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Energy Dept. fails its own energy audit

by Rebecca Fiss Aug 13 2009, 12:47 PM Imagine a scenario in which thousands of households in your community teamed up to following the energy-saving suggestions of the federal government... setting thermostats low in winter and high in summer ... turning off lights and exhaust fans when not in use ... air-drying dishes ... opening and closing draperies to take advantage of ...

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Palin's 'death panels' countered by White House healthcare site

by Rebecca Fiss Aug 12 2009, 12:47 AM Former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin doesn’t seem to have as much common sense about what not to post on Facebook as the average high school student. Last Friday, Palin published a posting in which she described a “death panel” set up by President Obama’s health care proposal that would have the power to decide whether or not her elderly ...

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Cash for Clunkers program off to mixed start

by Rebecca Fiss Aug 11 2009, 11:15 AM The new “Cash for Clunkers” program is a big deal. A bigger deal, in fact, than the lawmakers who created it could forecast: they expected the initial $1 billion, which was exhausted in less than a week, to last until about November 1. Since then, the operation has tripled in size—and Congress approved an additional $2 billion to keep the ...

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Mass. law makes drivers pay to fight traffic tickets

by Rebecca Fiss Aug 07 2009, 02:30 PM Ask almost anyone outside the U.S. what he thinks of Americans, and he’ll tell you one thing: they like to go to court. American lawsuits aren’t all frivolous—then again, only in America will you hear of a woman attempting to sue a police dog for biting her in the buttocks. Our legal obsession is indisputable and a big reason why courtroom TV ...

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NYC reduces homeless population by giving it away

by Rebecca Fiss Aug 07 2009, 01:23 PM How do you reduce the number of homeless people roaming around in the streets? Ship them out of town, of course. That is exactly what New York City is doing in a new program. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been promising to address homelessness in the Big Apple since the beginning of his tenure. Now, he and the NYC Department of Homeless ...

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Abortion debate starts to overshadow healthcare

by Rebecca Fiss Aug 05 2009, 02:00 PM When politics and insurance coverage get involved, the right for a woman to have an abortion is no longer a “yea” or “nay” issue. Now the debate involves taxpayer money, insurance premiums, intra-party splits and whether or not the Obama administration’s new healthcare legislation is really all that concerned with any of it. Last week, ...

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