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National Stories
A lingering mystery in the August 2011 helicopter crash that killed 30 U.S. servicemen in Afghanistan is why some bodies were cremated and some were not. Larry Klayman, who runs the nonprofit watchdog group Freedom Watch, has sued the Defense Department under the Freedom of Information Act to force disclosure of details about the downing of the Chinook helicopter by a Taliban-fired rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan’s Tangi Valley.
Washington Times
A group of illuminated signs that have popped up near D.C. Superior Court touting the rights of jury members to “nullify” a law they disagree with has sparked a debate over whether the sign is an expression of free speech or an improper attempt to tamper with the legal system. The Montana-based Fully Informed Jury Association funded the signs, which read: “Good jurors nullify bad laws” and “You have the right to ‘hang’ the jury with your vote if you cannot agree with other jurors.” The signs are strategically placed so prospective jurors arriving at the city’s downtown Judiciary Square and Archives Metro stops pass right by them as they report for duty, and that has prosecutors and judges worried about their possible impact on jury deliberations.
Washington Times
Overall spending on federal lobbying is at its lowest level since at least 2010, with a third consecutive quarter of declining government advocacy expenses, according to a new Center for Responsive Politics analysis. Organizations spent about $760 million during the third quarter of 2013 (July 1 to September 30). The sum is an almost $40 million decrease from the second quarter of 2013 and nearly $200 million less than the total for the first quarter of 2010. The $956.2 million tally for the first quarter of 2010 is the highest quarterly figure analyzed by the nonprofit organization, which studies the effect of money on the U.S. government.
Blog of LegalTimes
A South Carolina police chief has come under fire after he suggested that a man who took to Facebook to criticize the department's law enforcement tactics might be a criminal. "Thank you for sharing your views and giving us reasonable suspicion to believe you might be a criminal," interim Police Chief Ruben Santiago in Columbia, South Carolina posted in response to a man who had complained that police should concentrate on violent offenders instead of arresting marijuana users. "We will work on finding you," Santiago added.
Reuters
Despite a California law requiring assisted-care facility licensing reports to be easily viewable to the public, access to important background information on the facilities can be difficult to find, a newspaper reported Sunday. Records detailing elder care home evaluations were locked behind a security checkpoint at a state Department of Social Services regional office in Oakland, and access to case files were denied over concerns about confidentiality, the Contra Costa Times reported.
Sacramento Bee
News organizations asked a Massachusetts judge Monday to lift an order barring public viewing of documents in the case of a 14-year-old boy charged with killing his math teacher. Lawyers for the Associated Press, The Boston Globe and other news outlets argued in Salem District Court that a search warrant affidavit and related documents should be made public in the case of Philip Chism, who has been charged with the Oct. 22 murder of Colleen Ritzer, a 24-year-old math teacher at Danvers High School.
USA Today
The attorneys for a man facing felony charges for texting a picture of his tattooed penis to a woman told the Georgia Supreme Court the law he is said to have broken violates his free speech rights. The lawyers argued that the statute, which prohibits sending unsolicited material containing nudity or sexual conduct without including a written warning, is unconstitutional as written and cannot apply to a text message anyway.
Daily Report
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