#federal-lawsuit

#federal-lawsuit

Federal investigators sought and were granted access to Northwest Side Ald. Jim Gardiner's text messages a little over a year after he took office, as part of an investigation into whether he accepted a $5,000 payment from a developer in exchange for stalling a housing development in the ward, according to a search warrant application unsealed this week.

Two Black men, one of whom said he was shot in the mouth by a deputy while handcuffed, plan to sue a local sheriff's department in Mississippi, claiming that deputies beat them and used waterboarding techniques and a stun gun on them during a raid in January, according to their lawyer.A letter of intent to sue, sent to Rankin County officials in February by their lawyer, Malik Shabazz, said that the men, Michael Corey Jenkins, 32, and Eddie Terrell Parker, 35, were at Mr. Parker's house in Braxton, a mostly white community about 25 miles south of Jackson, on Jan. 24, when six or seven sheriff's deputies raided the home without a warrant.

The city of Torrance has paid a Redondo Beach man $750,000 after two city police officers allegedly spray-painted a swastika inside his car in 2020.The investigation into that incident led to the discovery of a trove of racist and homophobic text exchanges among Torrance police officers.The resulting scandal prompted prosecutors to toss dozens of felony cases.

A freight train that derailed in western Arizona on Wednesday night was carrying corn syrup, its operator said, hours after a report indicated that hazardous materials were on board.The accident near the town of Topock, Ariz., occurred less than six weeks after a train derailment in Ohio released toxic chemicals and prompted a national conversation about railroad safety.

A growing debate over the possible environmental damage caused by fireworks shows, especially over waterways, recently erupted in federal court where climate activists are pushing for stronger regulations of a popular Independence Day celebration in Southern California.While fireworks have for years been known to cause significant air pollution - with July 4 and 5 recording some of Southern California's worst air quality days - activists and attorneys with the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation want officials to help minimize the damage fireworks pose to waterways when the pyrotechnics debris and chemicals sink into the ocean or other water sources.

AUSTIN, Texas Editor's note: The above video is the initial KVUE Defenders report on the allegations against Betsy Cornwell, published in September 2022.There are now new allegations against long-time Austin ISD teacher Diane "Betsy" Cornwell.In September, the KVUE Defenders first reported claims that the Bowie High School theatre director created an unsafe and toxic environment for students.

The vote by a Manhattan grand jury to indict former President Donald J. Trump raises novel legal and political questions because he is running for the Republican nomination for president again.Any indictment or conviction would not bar Mr. Trump from running.A clean criminal record is not among the criteria the Constitution sets for who is eligible to be president.

The National Archives will give personal tours to two activists who sued the federal records agency, resolving a days-old lawsuit the pair brought after staff at the museum told them cover up anti-abortion attire during a recent visit.A federal lawsuit filed last Wednesday said that the activists were visiting the Washington, DC, museum the same day as the national March for Life in January and were subject to a pattern of ongoing misconduct by federal government officials, specifically National Archives security officers who targeted plaintiffs and intentionally chilled their religious speech and expression by requiring plaintiffs to remove or cover their attire because of their pro-life messages.

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Medication abortions in the United States usually involve two different drugs.In the latest effort to limit abortion access, opponents of the procedure are seeking to ban one of those medications.

A California Supreme Court ruling brought an end to one chapter of an ongoing legal battle between a San Jose church and county officials that could have wide-ranging implications for religious activists and public health authorities.Wednesday's ruling denied a final bid by Santa Clara County to force Calvary Chapel to pay more than $200,000 in fees after the church was found in contempt of court.

A group of students at West Texas A&M University have announced a new venue for their charity drag show, which was initially set to take place on campus before it was canceled by the school's president.The performance, titled A Fool's Drag Race, will occur at the Sam Houston Park in Amarillo, according to a flyer posted by Spectrum WT, the university's student-led LGBT+ organization.

Anti-transgender activist Riley Gaines led a protest outside of the NCAA convention last Thursday, denouncing the college sports organization for working to allow transgender students to participate in school sports.A hate group lawyer even promised to sue the NCAA for allowing transgender students an opportunity to participate in school sports.

Last December, Call of Duty gamers sued Microsoft, seeking to block its merger with Activision, partly because they alleged that the merger would set up Microsoft to dominate industry rivals, drive up prices, and reduce consumer choice.Yesterday, a California judge, Jacqueline Corley, granted Microsoft's motion to dismiss the suit, saying that the gamers didn't "plausibly allege" that the merger "creates a reasonable probability of anticompetitive effects in any relevant market."

Former Barclays CEO Jes Staley allegedly exchanged sexually suggestive emails with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, some of which included photos of young women, according to newly unsealed passages of a federal lawsuit.Those email exchanges allegedly continued long after Epstein was convicted of sex crimes in 2008, the US Virgin Islands government wrote in its complaint against JPMorgan Chase, where Staley previously served as a top executive.

A judge has dismissed model Ashley Morgan Smithline's 2021 federal lawsuit in which she alleged musician Marilyn Manson had assaulted her.U.S. District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha dismissed the lawsuit on Tuesday without prejudice, according to court documents obtained by The Times, which means Smithline can still sue Manson over the same allegations.

A Chicago police officer was fired late Thursday for his role 18 years ago in one of the biggest scandals in department history.The Police Board decided todismiss Officer Thomas Sherry in a five to one decision for his alleged actions in the disgraced Special Operations Section, a specialized unit that was disbanded when some of its officers committed home invasions and robberies in the 2000s.

For the second time, a federal judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit related to the way Hubbard Radio Chicago handled misconduct allegations against onetime star host Eric Ferguson.A former assistant producer for Ferguson, Cynthia DeNicolo, had alleged the company defamed her last year by stating it found no evidence to corroborate her allegations that Ferguson engaged in illegal workplace conduct at WTMX-FM 101.9.

Governments often claim covering gender-affirming care is too expensive, but analyses show the costs are relatively low.Sgt.Anna Lange in a video for Houston County's Sheriff's Department.Houston County 911 / YouTube When a transgender sheriff's deputy in Houston County, Georgia, requested that the department's health insurance plan cover gender-affirming surgeries, local officials refused to cover them, claiming it was too expensive.

Ohio filed a lawsuit against railroad Norfolk Southern to make sure it pays for the cleanup and environmental damage caused by a fiery train derailment on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border last month, the state's attorney general said Tuesday.The federal lawsuit also seeks to force the company to pay for groundwater and soil monitoring in the years to come and economic losses in the village of East Palestine and surrounding areas, said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

The J. Marvin Jones Federal Building and Mary Lou Robinson United States Courthouse in Amarillo, Texas, where U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk will decide on a lawsuit over the abortion drug mifepristone.Justin Rex/AP Court officials in Amarillo, Texas, have released the transcript from this week's closely watched hearing in a federal lawsuit that could curb access nationwide to a drug that's used in nearly all medication abortions in the U.S.

Oak Lawn denies police officers pummeled a teen following an arrest last July in which video provided by police as well as video taken by witnesses show officers repeatedly punching the youth as he was pinned down on a village street.Responding to a federal lawsuit filed last summer by the Bridgeview teen, Oak Lawn is asking a judge to dismiss the complaint, although talks aimed at settling the lawsuit are underway.

Survivors of the fatal mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, have filed a $27 billion class action lawsuit against multiple law enforcement agencies in Texas, according to court documents.The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Austin, names the city, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, the school district's police department, the Uvalde Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety and a number of persons who are members or former members of the agencies listed as defendants.

(CNN)A father and his middle-school-aged daughter have filed a federal lawsuit against a former school security guard in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after he put his knee on the child's neck while trying to break up a cafeteria fight last year.The security guard, Shawn Guetschow, also was a Kenosha police officer but was not on police duty at the time of the incident at Kenosha's Lincoln Middle School on March 4, officials have said.

Aurora Pride, organizers of the annual Pride Parade in the city, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging the city ordinance that they said led to the event's permit being revoked last summer before the parade was eventually held.The lawsuit seeks, among other things, an injunction preventing the city of Aurora from using the Special Events Ordinance that was applied to Aurora Pride, and an assurance that what happened in 2022 will not be repeated in the future, according to a news release from the American Civil Liberties Union.

An Oak Lawn police officer pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of aggravated battery and official misconduct for his allegedly striking a then 17-year-old Bridgeview teen more than 10 times in the face and head as he was laying face down in the street during an arrest captured on video last July.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks about Gmail features at the Google I/O conference in Mountain View, Calif., in May 2018.(Jeff Chiu/AP)Google plans to discontinue a pilot program that allows political campaigns to evade its email spam filters, the latest round in the technology giant's tussle with the GOP over online fundraising.

SPRINGFIELD - Downstate attorney Thomas DeVore, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for attorney general last year, has filed a second lawsuit challenging Illinois' recently enacted ban on high-powered guns and high-capacity magazines.The latest lawsuit was filed in downstate White County and lists more than 1,000 plaintiffs, including former state senator and GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey and some 70 firearms dealers, who allege the new law violates the state constitution.

"Oh, it's absolutely troubling, but I'm just a lawyer, I'm not the family who lost a loved one," said Izaak Schwaiger, an attorney representing the family of David Pelaez Chavez in a federal lawsuit against the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office and the deputy who shot him."And for those folks out there who are relying on some oversight ... to just get turned a cold shoulder like this is indefensible, and it's a misapplication of the attorney general's duty under the law."

Disneyland employees laughed and snickered at a disabled woman trying to climb out of a ride moments before she fell back and broke her leg, a lawsuit against the park alleges.The federal lawsuit alleges 66-year-old Joanne Aguilar had to spend days in a hospital and then weeks at a rehabilitation clinic after her injury on Aug. 22, 2021.

The first federal lawsuit filed against the city of Portland for its officers' actions against demonstrators during the city's racial justice protests of 2020 has come to a close.On Monday, lawyers representing five demonstrators and the advocacy group Don't Shoot Portland reached a $250,001 settlement with the city over a June 2020 lawsuit, which accused Portland police for the "indiscriminate use" of tear gas and impact munitions against nonviolent protesters.