Daily Archives: February 6, 2013 - 5 results

  The government and private companies are using automatic license plate readers (LPRs) to gather the license numbers of cars on the streets of cities and towns across the country. These gadgets snap pictures of the plates, time stamp the photos and record the GPS coordinates. You don’t even have to be a criminal suspect. You just have to drive a car. Lawyers.com journalist Ed Alpern investigates how the LPR technology is affecting your privacy rights. Some people say the …

Attorneys for Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) will stop relying on a Colorado law that says human fetuses aren’t people, according to a statement released by the health care group. CHI drew criticism last month after it defended a wrongful death lawsuit involving twin boys who died in utero by citing the Colorado Wrongful Death Act, which says that injured parties are entitled to damages “when the death of a person is caused by a wrongful act.” Under the statute, the …

Two Democratic congressmen introduced bills yesterday that would drastically reform federal policy on marijuana. Colorado Rep. Jared Polis introduced The Ending Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2013, which would allow states to choose whether they want to regulate marijuana similarly to alcohol and tobacco. Oregon Rep. Earl Bluemenauer’s bill is The Marijuana Tax Equity Act, which would establish a federal marijuana excise tax. Polis’ legislation would completely remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and take marijuana enforcement responsibilities away from …

Connecticut is launching two task forces to examine mental health treatment in the state, following last year’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 children and six adults dead. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is leading one task force, and the legislature is heading up the second. A more focused conversation about how people with mental illness get access to care and how to identify people who could become violent is also occurring in other states and at the …

After a 7-year-old boy was accused of taking a $5 bill off the ground in a scuffle with classmates, New York police allegedly interrogated, handcuffed and hassled him at a police station for hours before releasing him to his mother, who is now suing the city.   Overreaction to Playground Scuffle Wilson Reyes, a third-grade student in a Bronx public school, got caught up on Dec. 4 in a playground scuffle with two other boys over the money. Although another …