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If famous children’s author K.P. Bath is writing a new book, he will have to write it from prison. Bath, known for The Secret of Castle Cant and Escape From Castle Cant was sentenced to six years in prison, five years of supervised probation and having his name added to the sex offender registry permanently. Bath also stands to see his career as a children’s author all but over. His newest book, Flip Side, was slated to be released last year, but his publisher pulled the plug after the child pornography charges....

When speaking to the unemployed, discrimination is usually the last thing on their mind. After all, they’re not employed, right? But once they settle in and start browsing the web for that next job, things change. Inevitably, they come across a promising ad, only to be devastated when the ad lists “currently employed” under qualifications. Discrimination has taken on new meaning. Discrimination against the unemployed has finally come to the attention of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which has just announced that it is now investigating whether the practice is as widespread as anecdotal evidence suggests, and whether the practice of requiring current employment is illegal....

Gabriel Johnson is a missing baby with a trail of custody and adoption disputes that may have led to his disappearance. ABC News reports that his mother, Elizabeth Johnson, allegedly ran away with her son Gabriel when his biological father, Mr. Logan McQueary, refused to sign off on an adoption of their son to Mr. Jack Smith and his wife Tammi. The Smiths claim that Ms. Johnson informed them that she left the baby with a young couple in San Antonio, Texas....

It is August and we are now entering the “Red Zone” period for EEOC lawsuits against employers. The federal government’s fiscal calendar ends at the end of September and these final two months have been described as the Red Zone as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) cranks into overdrive. Last year, 175 of the agency’s 261 discrimination lawsuits were filed during the Red Zone, with the busiest day coming the very last day of the fiscal year, reports Corporate Counsel....

Fort Lauderdale, Florida has instituted a new homeless bus ticket program. It’s dubbed the “Homeless Reunification Program.” Eligible participants will receive a one-way bus ticket out of town. The program is intended to reunite homeless individuals with their friends and family. Homeless who want to take advantage of the free bus tickets must show they will have someone waiting for them when they arrive in their new city. The program was funded using $25,000 confiscated from criminals....

Unfortunately for those who have replaced hips, being unattached to body parts is a familiar notion. Still, no one expects a hip replacement to have to be replaced due to defects. Yet it happens a lot. The materials in hip replacements are not exactly ideal for general physical health when they leach into people’s systems, which is what they can do. Complaints about leaching metals, hip corrosion, fretting, and other issues have led to lawsuits over numerous types of hip systems used to replace old and worn bones....

Times are tough and getting stuck in a long-term lease can complicate things when you need to relocate, or simply cannot make your monthly rent payments anymore. To understand how to break a lease, here is a quick primer on the rationale behind long-term rental contracts … Most residential lease agreements are for a duration of 6 months to 1 year, which provides security for both the landlord and the tenant....

We all know that Carrie Prejean was involved in making a sex tape that proved the undoing of her legal battle with the Miss California USA Pageant. What we don’t know is what implications that this may hold for the former Miss California USA, her ex boyfriend, the pageant and anyone else who distributed or showed the video. There may be something more than just a simple violation of privacy. The tape could actually be criminal....

A Utah mom is speaking out after a judge asked her to cut her daughter’s hair in court in exchange for a lighter sentence. In a hearing, Kaytlen Lopan, age 13, admitted that she and an unnamed 11-year-old friend befriended a three-year-old and cut several inches off her hair. She also admitted to making harassing phone calls to another teen over several months in a separate case. Judge Scott Johansen sentenced Lopan to pay restitution to the victims, and to serve 30 days in detention and serve 276 hours of community service....

The large number of recusals may result in the cases being combined and heard before a judge from outside the region, Bloomberg reports. Lawyers for the BP oil spill victims have requested that the cases be combined and heard by a judge in New Orleans. The judges have recused themselves for reasons including owning mutual funds and shares, to having friends or relatives at the companies involved. In light of the sheer volume of cases, as well as the mass recusals, it seems that attorneys for both plaintiffs and defendants agree that the federal cases need to be consolidated....

A Charlottesville, Virginia jury recommended life plus 419 years in prison, to be served consecutively, for the self-avowed neo-Nazi who ran his car into a crowd of counter-protesters at a white supremacist rally last year, killing one and injuring 35 others. James Alex Fields, Jr. of Maumee, Ohio, was found guilty of murder for the killing of Heather Heyer, as well as aggravated malicious wounding, malicious wounding, and leaving the scene of a fatal crash....

Non-toxic nail polishes are actually toxic. This disturbing conclusion comes from the California Department of Toxic Substance Control, which tested 12 nail products that claim to be free of formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalate. These chemicals, known as the “toxic three,” have been linked to an increased rate of cancer and birth defects. At least 10 of the products contained toluene, while 5 contained a significant amount of at least one of the chemicals....

Domestic violence knows no racial boundaries. Evidently “stand your ground” laws do. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), nearly half of all female homicide victims are related to intimate partner violence. Take that staggering statistic, and place it in a stand your ground jurisdiction, and you would think that a large majority of women that are attacked in a domestic violence situation would not be prosecuted for shooting their assailant....

Orthodox Jewish groups have brought a lawsuit against New York City over the city’s new oral suction circumcision rule. In some of New York’s Orthodox Jewish communities, the circumciser will engage in the ancient tradition of using his mouth to draw blood from a baby’s penis during the circumcision ritual, reports Reuters. The New York City Board of Health has linked this practice to spreading herpes to children. Health officials say that at least 11 boys have contracted herpes through this type of circumcision between 2004 and 2011....

Much ado about nothing? A small Massachusetts down put in place a swearing ordinance that would allow police officers to issue a $20 fine to individuals caught cursing in public. The ordinance replaces a little enforced (and little known) town bylaw that criminalized swearing that had been in place for decades So protesters from around the country descended upon the small town of Middleborough to express their outrage. Earlier this week, about 100 protesters showed up in Middleborough to protest....

Ryan Ferguson’s attorney has filed a $100 million civil rights lawsuit on behalf of the Missouri man wrongly convicted and imprisoned for nearly a decade. As you may recall, Ferguson, 29, was freed in November after spending more than eight years in prison for the murder of Missouri newspaper editor Kent Heitholt in 2001. The court overturned his conviction because the case was rife with evidentiary problems. On the 10th anniversary of his arrest, Ferguson is at the center of a legal dispute again, but this time as a victim in a civil lawsuit....

The whole point of a safe deposit box is to ensure that certain items are, well, safe, meaning not easy to access. Still, not everything that needs safeguarding ought to be kept in a safe, so before you lock away your precious items – hiding the only existing copy of some critical documents – check out this guidance from Safe Bee on what exactly goes in a safety deposit box and what does not....

The City and County of San Francisco has joined the host of other cities around the country suing big pharma for the opioid epidemic in federal court. Years ago, opioids would only be prescribed for severe post-surgery or end-of-life pain relief. But a major change in medical education by opioid manufacturers lowered that bar considerably a decade ago. And now, according to San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, local citizens are dying by the thousands....

Snapchat, which achieved notoriety for its disappearing picture messaging app, has pulled off a different kind of vanishing act, but this time in court. The app company was being sued as a result of their speed filter for photos that the plaintiffs alleged encourages unsafe driving. Snapchat managed to have the case against it dismissed recently via a court motion, although the driver that caused the car accident while Snapchat-ing was not so fortunate and remains in the lawsuit....

A 96-year-old store owner thwarted an attempted robbery with nerves of steel and a fist of sass. But police say that’s not the safest way to handle such a situation. “I said I’m not opening up that cash register and that’s it, I’m not opening it,” Margaretta Wolf, owner of Wolf’s Grocery Store in Marshfield, Wisconsin, told WAOW-TV. “I said you can have all the Tootsie Rolls you want but I am not opening that cash register....