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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Speaking to the microphones intentionally this time, President Barack Obama on Tuesday assured he had no hidden agenda with Russia for a second term, seeking to contain a controversial gaffe that bounded all the way to the campaign trail at home and back again....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sharp questioning by the Supreme Court's conservative justices cast serious doubt Tuesday on the survival of the individual insurance requirement at the heart of President Barack Obama's historic health care overhaul....

DETROIT — A federal judge dismissed the most serious charges Tuesday against seven members of a Michigan militia who were rounded up as homegrown extremists accused of plotting war against the U.S., saying their expressed hatred of law enforcement didn't amount to conspiracy against the government.

The decision is an ...

WASHINGTON — Conservative justices on Tuesday sharply questioned whether the government can force Americans to carry health insurance, wondering in arguments over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul if Congress might next force people to buy broccoli or burial insurance.

"If the government can do that, what else can it" ...

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — Students taking college entrance exams this fall will have to submit photo IDs with their applications — a key security upgrade following a widespread cheating scandal at a number of high schools on New York's Long Island, a prosecutor and testing officials announced Tuesday.

The security ...

CONIFER, Colo. — State forest officials had conducted a prescribed burn last week in the same area where a wind-driven wildfire has destroyed at least 15 homes and left one person dead, authorities said Tuesday.

Ryan Lockwood, a spokesman for the Colorado State Forest Service, said his agency conducted the ...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A witness in a landmark priest abuse trial told a jury on Thursday she felt "helpless and trapped" as a 13-year-old because a priest was fondling her when she worked weekends at the rectory....

HARDY, Ark. (AP) -- Jason and Racheal Downs have a 4-year-old son Kaleb, so when they heard another Caleb, also 4, had gone missing at a nearby Boy Scout camp, they felt compelled to help look for him....

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- An AWOL soldier's simple scheme to defraud one of the richest men in the world has landed him in federal custody, according to a criminal complaint....

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) -- More than 1,000 private abortion records from a defunct clinic have been found discarded in a recycling bin outside an elementary school near Kansas City, Kan., prompting a police investigation and outrage from people on both sides of the abortion debate....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Conservative justices are sharply questioning whether the government can force Americans to carry health insurance or pay a penalty. That's the key question as the Supreme Court turns to the heart of President Barack Obama's health care law....

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) -- Students taking college entrance exams this fall will have to submit photo IDs with their applications - a key security upgrade following a widespread cheating scandal at a number of high schools on New York's Long Island, a prosecutor and testing officials announced Tuesday....

CHICAGO (AP) -- Older patients with clogged heart arteries may have a little lower death risk over time if they have bypass operations instead of angioplasty and stents to fix the problem....

NORFOLK, Va. — Milky white chemical clouds were briefly visible in much of the night sky along the Eastern seaboard on Tuesday after NASA launched a series of rockets to study the jet stream at the edge of the earth's atmosphere.

The five sounding rockets began blasting off just before ...

Defendant was found to have consented. Sure, there were a lot of police there, but he wasn’t yet arrested, and they talked casually for 20 minutes before consent was asked for. There was no evidence of overt coercion, and he was informed of his right to refuse the search in writing. United States v. Cochran, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40505 (S.D. Fla. February 8, 2012).*

A wire on a cooperating codefendant-to-be was sufficient to show nexus to defendant’s house because the house was connected to the alleged drug deal. The good faith exception would support the search anyway. United States v. Bell, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40770 (D. Minn. February 6, 2012).*

Police had fairly specific information (which was couched in terms of what they knew and didn’t know) and overhead the CI on a wire talking with a man in a silver Jetta and a drug deal was arranged. When a silver Jetta showed up, the police identified themselves, and the defendant ran from the Jetta. They had probable cause, and flight alone wasn’t all they had. United States v. Bazzle, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40236 (E.D. Pa. March 23, 2012).*

Officers followed tracks in the snow from the scene of a burglary to defendant’s house, and defendant’s father consented to a search of computers in the house that were likely stolen. His father, a retired police officer, appreciated the significance of what was going on and wanted the computers gone. He had apparent authority to consent to a search of these computers. United States v. Clutter, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 6139 (8th Cir. March 26, 2012):

When determining whether a third party exercised actual or apparent common authority over the contents of a computer, courts typically examine several factors -- whether the consenting third party in fact used the computer, whether it was located in a common area accessible to other occupants of the premises, and -- often most importantly -- whether the defendant's files were password protected. See United States v. Stanley, 653 F.3d 946, 950-51 (9th Cir. 2011); United States v. Stabile, 633 F.3d 219, 232-33 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 132 S. Ct. 399 (2011); Andrus, 483 F.3d at 719-20; United States v. Buckner, 473 F.3d 551, 554-55 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 550 U.S. 913 (2007); United States v. Morgan, 435 F.3d 660, 663-64 (6th Cir. 2006). Clutter argues it was error to deny his motion to suppress because the government presented no evidence "that Joel Clutter used or had electronic access to the computers."

The primary flaw in this argument is that the only Fourth Amendment issue with any factual support is whether the three computers were validly seized at the Clutter home on January 22. There is no evidence that the officers searched the computers before obtaining an unchallenged warrant authorizing the search. The distinction, though often overlooked, is important: ....

[Maybe intentionally] Overlooked is a more fundamental question: Is there a reasonable expectation of privacy in stolen computers?

CONIFER, Colo. (AP) -- Investigators are trying to determine what killed a person whose body was found amid a Colorado wildfire that destroyed an estimated 15 to 25 structures in the mountains southwest of Denver. At least five of those are homes....

Business Week: Big Brother Wants Your Facebook Password by Claire Suddath:

If you want to become a state trooper in Virginia, you should probably delete any indelicate information you have on Facebook. During the job interview process, the Virginia State Police requires all applicants to sign into Facebook, Twitter, and any social-networking site to which they regularly post information in front of an administrator.

“You sign a waiver, then there’s a laptop and you go to these sites and your interviewer reviews your information,” says Corinne Geller, spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police. “It’s a virtual character check as much as the rest of the process is a physical background check.” Geller says the practice has been around for only three months and is just one of many ways the state makes sure its law enforcement officials are ethically sound. (Potential troopers also have to submit to a polygraph test).

Officers came to defendant’s house for a knock-and-talk about child pornography traced back to his IP address. He wasn’t home but his parents were. Because the computers were used by all, sitting in the dining room, and his parents paid the internet bill, his parents had apparent authority to consent to a search of the computers. The fact he had an individual profile was not enough to create a reasonable expectation of privacy because it was not password protected. United States v. Trejo, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 6113, 2012 FED App. 0315N (6th Cir. March 22, 2012) (unpublished).

Officers found a marijuana patch outside defendant’s curtilage and followed footprints in the mud to defendant’s house. Officers came close to the curtilage, in making their observations, and they actually entered an outbuilding within the curtilage arguing protective sweep because of fresh footprints. That incursion, however, never was revealed to the issuing magistrate, so it was valid under inevitable discovery. United States v. Witherspoon, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 6115, 2012 FED App. 0321N (6th Cir. March 23, 2012) (unpublished).*

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- An AWOL soldier's simple scheme to defraud one of the richest men in the world has landed him in federal custody, according to a criminal complaint....