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According to data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a smaller percentage of weekend drivers are drunk, however many of them appear to be on drugs. Over the last 40 years, the NHTSA has conducted four in-depth roadside surveys into the level of drunkenness on American roadways on weekend evenings. Survey participation is voluntary, and measures drivers in each of the lower 48 states. Recently, the NHTSA released the results of its fourth such survey, conducted in 2007....

When it comes to Facebook, small business owners may soon have a new incentive to operate on the site. Targeting an estimated 9 million member entrepreneurs, the company will announce a plan this week to offer $50 in free Facebook advertising to 200,000 small businesses. As with all freebies, there are some things–both legal and not–that you should consider before signing up. 1. Your Customer Base If your answers are a resounding “no” to the following questions, the offer is probably not worth the hassle....

The United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a recent crackdown on criminal aliens in California. In a press release, ICE stated that the crackdown resulted in 286 arrests of criminal aliens. The arrests were made in an attempt to protect the public from criminal aliens. “Criminal aliens” refers to illegal aliens who have committed other non-immigration related crimes. The ICE press release quotes Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary John Morton as saying, “Enhancing public safety is at the core of ICE’s mission....

As time goes on, life situations change. You may divorce, get remarried, or have children. If you already had a will before these changes occurred, it’s probably a good idea to revise your will. One method of revising a will is to simply revoke the old will and draft up a new one. Another way to revise a will is to create what’s called a “codicil.” This is essentially an amendment to your will....

You probably know a number of legal terms that begin with the letter “T”: trial, transcript, and trespass, just to name few. But what about tenancy by the entirety? Or when was the last time you invoked an action for trover? If you’re scratching your head, don’t worry. These terms are prime examples of legalese, the unique language used by those who work in the legal field. Each week, we pick a letter of the alphabet and break out five legal words or phrases worth knowing for our series, Legalese From A to Z....

The Federal Reserve Board released a press release that announced that proposed rules to restrict fees and expiration dates would also apply to gift cards. The rules were put in place in order to protect consumers from hidden costs in gift cards. The rules also require that the terms and conditions must be stated on the gift cards. Will These Rules Affect My Small Business? As a small business owner, please be aware that these gift card rules may apply to you....

Walmart has been hit with another discrimination suit, this time from Anne Squatrito of Long Island, New York. The 73-year-old grandmother is accusing the big box store of conspiring to fire her in violation of age and disability workplace laws. More specifically, her Walmart age discrimination suit claims that managers altered her responsibilities shortly after she returned from disability leave. Though they were aware that she had a heart attack, they instructed her to move 200 loads of merchandise....

Law student Sandra Fluke can “definitely” sue Rush Limbaugh for slander over the talk-show host’s ugly remarks on his radio program, legal experts say. Fluke seems to be leaving her options open. “I’ve certainly been told I might have a case,” Fluke, 30, told The Daily Beast on Friday, “but it’s not something I’ve made any decisions about at this point.” The next day, Rush Limbaugh apologized for calling Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” over the air....

Someone should probably take away Spike Lee’s Twitter account. Never one to shy away from racial controversy, the longtime director took to the microblogging site to voice his opinion on the Trayvon Martin shooting. But instead of engaging in political discourse, he seems to have caused a big mess. He retweeted what he thought to be George Zimmerman’s address. The home actually belongs to an elderly couple, one of which currently suffers from a heart condition....

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger regarding the state’s court ordered prison plan to reduce the inmate population by 2011. The justices agreed to hear the state’s appeal of the federal court order to cut its prison population by 46,000 in order to relieve its problems with prison overcrowding, the Associated Press reports. The court will review the case and decide whether the state must trim its prison population....

In the wide panorama of human rights violations, the question just presented before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals may not be that urgent, but it sure is interesting. The essence of the case of Anderson v. Hermosa Beach is this question: is tattooing a form of free expression granted protection under the First Amendment? Or, as the City of Hermosa Beach, Ca, argues, is it just a “service” like scooping ice cream, or silk-screening T-shirts, devoid of constitutional guarantees?...

Washington became the latest state to outlaw the death penalty in the Washington Supreme Court ruling of State v Gregory, in furtherance of Governor Jay Inslee’s vow in 2014 to never have another execution while he was in office. In the case that brought this issue before the court, Allen Eugene Gregory was convicted of raping, robbing, and killing Geneine Harshfield, a 43-year-old woman, in 1996. Gregory’s lawyers claimed that the death penalty was arbitrarily applied and that it was not proportional to the crime, which is required by the Washington State Constitution....

Presidents are powerful people – obviously – and not just while they are in office. Executive policies, legal cases, and judicial appointments will live on long after a president’s term ends, and it is often difficult to determine what legacy and administration will leave until years or decades after the Commander-in-Chief has left office. So what will that legacy be with Obama? It’s often been contentious, with Supreme Court rulings on Obamacare and Supreme Court nominees languishing in limbo for nearly ten months....

When is a contractor not a contractor? According to the law, it’s when the worker is actually an employee. With the advent of the gig economy, (Uber, Door Dash) this issue is more prevalent than ever. This trend doesn’t just apply to small or fledgling companies. In fact, this year, for the first time in its 20 year history, Google employed more contractors than employees. Employers may be quick to jump on the contractor bandwagon, but beware....

Just as U.S. citizenship can be granted, it can also be revoked. The process, called denaturalization, only applies to naturalized citizens, as natural-born U.S. citizens cannot have their citizenship revoked against their will. Denaturalization can be a frightening experience, as former citizens who have been denaturalized can be subject to deportation. So why can a person be denaturalized? And how does the denaturalization process work? Reasons for Denaturalization The grounds for denaturalization generally fall into one of three categories:...

Foreclosure is bad news for a homeowner, but if you’re a tenant in a home or apartment building that’s facing foreclosure, it can be a nightmare. Your landlord may not make it clear, but tenants do still have some rights to their living space even if the owner is in the process of losing it. While banks are quick to post eviction notices, there are a few things tenants can do....

A recent airplane crash landing of American Airlines Flight 331 in Jamaica scared passengers, but did not cause any deaths. According to the AP, the airplane crash landing occurred on the runway of Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport amid pounding rain on Tuesday December 22. The reasons for the crash landing are not yet known. What is known is the landing overshot the runway and could have caused the airplane to fall into the ocean....

People who have been sued will often ask their attorneys if their assets, income, and money in the bank can be taken from them due to the lawsuit. Unfortunately, after a court judgment has been issued against a person, the court can then order enforcement of the judgment. If you don’t have the cash on hand, or insurance, to cover a judgment, court ordered enforcement is a possibility. But if a person is “judgment proof,” a court judgment could be worth less than the paper it’s printed on....

The Baltimore Police Department has a lot of sorting out to do as the city’s rape statistics and investigations have drawn concern. Baltimore has the largest percentage of rape cases that police conclude are false or baseless of any city in the country, the Baltimore Sun reports. In addition, the increase in unfounded cases comes as the number of rapes reported by Baltimore police has plunged – from 684 in 1995 to 158 last year, a decline of nearly 80 percent....

A Utah woman is fighting for her life after drinking sweet tea contaminated with a toxic cleaning solvent. The 67-year-old woman was eating lunch at a Dickey’s Barbecue restaurant near Salt Lake City, and filled her cup with sweet tea from a self-serve drinking fountain, reports The Associated Press. After taking one sip of the drink, she told her husband, “I think I just drank acid.” She was taken to a local hospital where she remained in critical condition for four days after the incident....