[Yahoo! News: Entertainment Industry News] Reuters - The U.S. Congress could craft laws
to regulate violent programming on television without running
afoul with free speech rights, communications regulators said
on Wednesday.
[Theresa Chaze, Wiccan Writer] Awakening the Dragon–Book One of the Dragon Clan Trilogy–an excerptWhere JK Rowlings left off with the Harry Potter series, Theresa Chaze picks up with real magic and a modern day setting. More for adults than for a young children, Awakening the Dragon gives a more comprehensive view and of what Wiccans and Pagans believe. Ms Chaze’s goals are not only to entertain, but to dispell the long standing bigotries and misconceptions of Wicca and Paganism.CHAPTER SEVENRachael pulled up and was able to park directly in front of the Dragon’s Den. …
[Wonkette] Every week, our Anonymous Lobbyist answers your questions about how laws get made and why they probably shouldn’t. If you have a question about the dirty business of doing business in Washington, ask her.
This week: people of all races, creeds, and colors, working together to buy you your own congressman. …
[Boston.com — Rhode Island news] A member of an economic development board was indicted by a statewide grand jury Wednesday on charges he bribed a building official to give his land surveying business preferential treatment.
[AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth] The sitting Governor of Kentucky is considering calling the state legislature into a special session to pass a law preventing the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville from providing domestic partner benefits for unmarried and same-sex partners of their employees. The Governor is in a difficult primary (he was indicted last year) and is apparently holding this out as a reward for the mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging base if they support him. It’s ironic that he used the Terri Schiavo “special session” excuse for addressing yet another religious right “emergency. …
[Boston.com — News of the odd] A man who walked out on jury duty before he was dismissed was sentenced to 30 days in jail unless he writes a letter apologizing to the court. “It’s not certainly a landmark case but it was an education,” Alexander T. Harvey said Wednesday.
[TalkLeft] Amnesty International has issued a report with alarming statistics on Native American women and rape. The figures said more than one in three Native women would be raped in their lifetime, although that figure may in fact be substantially higher because of a traditional reluctance to report sex crimes. “Native women are brutalized at an alarming rate, and the United States government, a purported champion of women's rights, is unfortunately contributing to the problem,” said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA. Amnesty's press release is here. More… …
[Boston.com — Connecticut news] A grand jury has indicted a New Haven police lieutenant and three bail bondsmen on corruption charges, a month after they were arrested by federal agents.
[TalkLeft] The Supreme Court today threw out three Texas death sentences. The cases all stem from jury instructions that Texas hasn't used since 1991. Under those rules, courts have found that jurors were not allowed to give sufficient weight to factors that might cause them to impose a life sentence instead of death. The cases were decided by a 5-4 majority, with Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter and John Paul Stevens voting to overturn the sentences. Via How Appealing: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.” You can access the opinion in Smith v. …
[gay news blog] HART'S LOCATION, N.H. — The champagne is on ice at the Notchland Inn on Route 302. Proprietors and longtime partners Ed and Les are ready to raise their glasses to New Hampshire later today, when the state is set to pass a broad civil union bill granting gay and lesbian couples virtually all the same legal rights as married heterosexuals. Supporters and opponents of the measure agree that it will be approved, and last week Gov. John Lynch, a moderate Democrat, said he will sign it. …