Posts

A recent soccer study has found that “heading” a ball may cause brain damage to some players, reports CBS News. Researchers found that players who frequently headed balls - more than 1,000 or 1,500 times a year - displayed some abnormalities in MRI scans that appeared similar to brain damage caused by car accidents. For some players, this may means it may be possible that you could suffer damage to your brain if you head a ball more than a few times a day....

You have answered the critical question, “should you adopt”, and are ready to continue researching and finding out more about the process. The next step is learning about the two broad types of adoption. Open vs. Closed Adoption: How much interaction you wish to have with the child’s biological parents determines how “open” the adoption is, and it becomes an important factor as you consider types of adoption. Domestic vs. International Adoption: Whether you want to venture outside the United States to adopt is something to consider early in the process....

President Obama arrived in Savannah, Georgia this week. When he did arrive, he discussed the Homestar program. The Homestar program is named after Energy Star, which is the labeling system used by the government for energy efficient items. The program is intended to help homeowners with their own energy efficient plans in the form of government rebates. USA Today reports that these government rebates for home energy efficient plans are estimated to be rebates ranging from $1,000 to $1,500 dollars, or 50% of the cost for upgrades that are simple, for up to $3,000 per home....

It is a hole in 750. That is $750 million, for Elin Nordegren, the soon to be former wife of golfer Tiger Woods. Since the Tiger Woods divorce story and all that lead up to it has been played out ad nauseum, (in the truest sense of the words) we will briefly outline the monetary and legal details of the remains of the marriage. While most news sources seem to sight the British tabloid the London Sun for their numbers, $750 million seems to be the agreed upon amount....

Ever since the April 20 Transocean and BP oil spill in the Gulf, which killed 11 men and started the worst oil disaster in U.S. history, people have been asking questions. How could this have happened? Who is at fault? What went wrong? As many suspected, the answers to these questions are slowly emerging, and they don’t look good for those involved. To avoid crew being woken up in the middle of the night by false alarms, fire and gas leak alarm systems were allegedly disabled, according to Mike Williams, chief engineer tech who worked aboard the Deepwater Horizon....

In a continued effort by the US government to fight terrorism by preventing would-be terrorists from taking action, two homegrown terrorists were sent to prison on terrorism charges. A federal federal judge sentenced Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, 23, to 17 years in prison for terrorist offenses, the Atlanta Journal and Constitution reports. U.S. District Judge Bill Duffey sentenced Sadequee’s co-defendant, Syed Haris Ahmed, to 13 years in prison. Sadequee’s family claimed his First Amendment rights were violated and he was only “exploring” the idea of a jihad....

Ultrahazardous activities involve a risk of injury that cannot be eliminated even by the exercise of the utmost care. Those engaged in these activities are held strictly liable when something does go wrong. What that means is that whoever engages in abnormally dangerous activities has to pay for injuries caused as a result even when they were not negligent. The fact of engaging in the inherently dangerous or ultrahazardous activity and causing injury is enough to trigger liability....

Introduced in the late 1980’s as part of the war on drugs, school drug testing has become commonplace in public schools across the country. Still, some think school drug testing polices go too far and violate a student’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Though a perfectly reasonable assertion, it is incorrect. The U.S. Supreme Court has articulated three ways in which drug testing does not violate the constitutional rights of students who attend public junior high and high schools....

If you’ve recently been stopped for speeding, you may be wondering: Why are speeding tickets so expensive? Getting a speeding ticket has never been anyone’s idea of a good time. But the dramatic rise in the fines associated with speeding violations has made getting a ticket even more of a pain, both in the neck and in the wallet. In some states like California, fines for speeding violations are now as much as eight times more expensive than they were in 1993, reports Los Angeles’ KCAL-TV....

Many people have been surprised to hear that the US Patent and Trademark Office has not only been accepting applications to patent various strains of marijuana, but it has actually been granting some patents. With numerous states legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational use by adults, speculators are predicting that the big business of marijuana is going to continue getting bigger. There’s nothing new about patenting plants. However, researchers had more to be concerned about before states started legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational use....

There are myriad concerns with getting divorced: child custody and support issues, marital property divisions, and spousal support decisions. One of the last you might think about is your credit rating. And that’s OK! In the grand scheme of things, there are bigger things you should be worried about right now. But when it comes to getting your life back in order (buying new furniture, a car, or even a house), your credit will be important....

Former Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson was convicted yesterday on an assortment of bribery related charges. He faces a maximum sentence of 150 years in prison and forfeiture of almost half a million dollars plus stock certificates. His lawyer says he will appeal the decision. The 11 charges on which Jefferson was convicted included solicitation of bribes, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, racketeering and conspiracy. “Honest services fraud” is when an employee fraudulently deprives his employer of the employer’s right to honest services....

There are now a thousand reasons to fix your lawn mower. In this depressed real estate market, sellers need granite countertops and new stainless steel appliances just to compete. And sellers better hope they live on a street with white picket fences and ornate gardens to obtain fair market value. But what happens if you have neighbors who just refuse to tidy up their lawn? A town in New York thinks it found the solution with a lawn mowing fine....

It sounds so good on paper: you’ve got money and resources and your partner has ideas and technical expertise. Or you both share the passion and now you want to share the business. Going into business with a partner can make your small business dream a reality. It can also turn into a nightmare. So while a 50/50 partnership with a friend, spouse, or colleague may sound fun, you may want to rethink that plan....

Employers often prey on the naivete of employees when shorting them on pay, refusing benefits, or even firing them. An employment attorney can make sure that you’re protected from any legal shenanigans your employer tries to pull, as well as clue you in to rights you didn’t know you had. Check out these five things an employment attorney can help you with, that you probably can’t do on your own:...

Guest post by Jennifer K. Halford, Esq. Having your identity stolen is a horrible experience. It can take months of corresponding with the three credit bureaus to fix your credit report. Plus, you feel violated and vulnerable. Yet, it is even more heartbreaking when identity thieves take advantage of the deceased. The increase of identity theft for deceased individuals is alarming. And it is the last thing you want to worry about when grieving the loss of a family member....

The decision to declare bankruptcy is never entered into lightly but one of the drawbacks that isn’t often considered is the long term effects. Declaring bankruptcy is by no means a quick fix. It’s a complicated process and requires a lot of paperwork and time going through the proceedings. But several years after the case closes you can hope to have put the debt behind you and moved on. Not so fast....

Facebook is a known problem when it comes to divorce, but personal blogs aren’t any better. Dorothy McGurk has learned this the hard way. The belly dancing blogger is in hot water after her ex-husband discovered that she isn’t actually disabled–a claim that netted her $850 a month and the house during their divorce. McGurk was injured in a 1997 car accident which left her with two rods in her back, reports Gothamist....

The mixed messages continue coming from the White House on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, this time with DACA recipients getting some good news. Although the Trump administration already announced plans to end DACA protections next year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is giving a second chance to immigrants whose renewal applications were rejected for missing the deadline. If yours was one of those, you may resubmit the renewal request....

Last week, Congress cleared the way for states to start drug testing people applying for unemployment benefits. A new measure, expected to be enacted by President Trump, would repeal Obama administration guidance from the Department of Labor which limited the kinds of unemployment benefits for which states could drug test applicants. So what was the old rule? And how will the new rules work? Previously, the Labor Department only allowed states to test applicants for unemployment benefits in industries that require drug testing for employment....