Domestic Glance
Of some 700 child sexual abuse cases brought in an average year, few involved members of the ultra-observant Orthodox Jewish community But in the past year, there have been 26. District Attorney Charles J. Hynes has brought charges against a variety of men — yeshiva teachers, rabbis, camp counselors, merchants and relatives of children. Eight have been convicted; 18 await trial.
If the sudden spike in prosecutions is startling, even more surprising is the apparent reason: ultra-Orthodox Jews, long forbidden to inform on one another without permission from the rabbis who lead them, are going to the police and prosecutors on their own.
Orthodox Jews Relying More on Legal Prosecution of Sex Abuse
U.S. contracts meant for small businesses in Florida often go to huge companies
What do Dell Computer, General Electric and Boeing have in common? These massive corporations were all counted as ``small businesses'' doing work in Florida last year.The three firms -- along with a dozen other billion-dollar companies -- soaked up at least $76 million in federal contracts that were recorded as going to small businesses during fiscal year 2008, according to government data. While the federal government is obliged to put 23 percent of all direct, or prime, contracts in the hands of small firms, it has missed that mark for the past three years.
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Justice Dept. to Review Bush Policy on DNA Test Waivers
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has ordered a review of a little-known Bush administration policy requiring some defendants to waive their right to DNA testing even though that right is guaranteed in a landmark federal law, officials said.
Criminalizing everyone: the rapid and dangerous expansion of federal criminal law
Kathy and George Norris lived under the specter of a covert government investigation for almost six months before the government unsealed a secret indictment and revealed why the Fish and Wildlife Service had treated their family home as if it were a training base for suspected terrorists. Orchids.
That's right. Orchids. By March 2004, federal prosecutors were well on their way to turning 66-year-old retiree George Norris into an inmate in a federal penitentiary - based on his home-based business of cultivating, importing and selling orchids.
G20 protesters blasted by sonic cannon
US police spark outrage by using wartime acoustic weapon to disperse G20 protesters in Pittsburgh.
Only a few hundreds protesters took to the streets of Pittsburgh to mark the opening day of the G20 summit of world leaders, but the police were taking no chances.
Sonic weapons or long-range acoustic devices have been used by the US military overseas, notably against Somali pirates and Iraqi insurgents.
But US security forces turned the piercing sound on their own citizens yesterday to widespread outrage. Pittsburgh officials told the New York Times that it was the first time "sound cannon" had been used publicly.
There's no denying Obama's race plays a role in protests
"Anyone who's looked at some of the signs at the various 'tea parties' knows perfectly well that race is a significant part of this backlash," he said. " . . . I'm not suggesting that every person angry about health care or immigration is a Klansman in disguise, but at the back of this white-hot rage that we've been seeing are people who are genuinely furious about the way the country is changing and changing racially."No one symbolizes the changing face of America more than Obama does. "I think hundreds of thousands of whites are taking these very real changes and attributing them to the race of the president."
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Court Strikes Down Regulations Limiting Nonprofits' Campaign Funds
A federal appeals court has struck down regulations that strictly limited how nonprofit groups raise and spend money for political campaigns.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit made the ruling in a lawsuit brought by Emily's List, which backs women Democratic candidates who support abortion rights. The group had challenged the regulations, which went into effect in 2005, as being an unconstitutional infringement on its free speech rights.
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