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YORBA LINDA, Calif. — Long before Richard Nixon rose to power and fell from grace, the future president was just another man in love.

Decades before he became known to some as "Tricky Dick," Nixon was the one coining nicknames (sweet ones) for his future bride, in gushy love notes ...

MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin judge on Monday struck down the state's voter identification law less than a week after another judge temporarily stopped it, complicating plans for state officials who want the law in place for the upcoming presidential primary.

Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess issued the permanent ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A computer specialist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is going to court over allegations that he was wrongfully terminated because of his belief in intelligent design.

Openings statements in the lawsuit by David Coppedge were expected Monday afternoon in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Mr. Coppedge, who ...

GENEVA (AP) — The World Trade Organization has ruled that Chicago-based Boeing received far fewer illegal government subsidies than its European arch-rival Airbus over more than a quarter-century, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Monday.

Mr. Kirk called the ruling "a tremendous victory for American manufacturers and workers" after a ...

NEW BRUNWSICK, N.J. — Jurors in the trial of a former Rutgers University student accused of using a webcam to spy on his roommate's intimate encounter with another will not hear directly from the defendant.

Indian-born Dharun Ravi's defense lawyer rested his case Monday without calling Ravi to testify.

The ...

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Penn State trustees, faced with continued alumni and student criticism for firing football coach Joe Paterno, released a statement Monday intended to underscore their rationale for his ouster: "failure of leadership" for his actions following a reported sex assault involving former assistant Jerry Sandusky.

The ...

YORBA LINDA, Calif. — Long before Richard Nixon rose to power and fell from grace, he was just another man in love.

Decades before he became known to some as "Tricky Dick," Nixon was the one penning nicknames (sweet ones) to his future bride in gushy love notes that reveal ...

OYSTER BAY, N.Y. — War correspondent Marie Colvin is being laid to rest in the Long Island community of her childhood where she first decided to become a reporter.

A funeral is being held Monday at St. Dominic Roman Catholic Church for the Sunday Times of London journalist killed while ...

BELLEFONTE, Pa. — A judge heard arguments Monday but opted not to rule immediately on how much information former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky should get in advance of his trial on child sex abuse charges.

Judge John Cleland gave no indication when he would rule on arguments ...

Defendant took his computer to a friend who was going to do a software and hardware upgrade on it. While the friend was working on the computer, defendant volunteered there was child pornography on the computer and asked him to destroy it. Instead, he copied it for the police. If anything, defendant had a reasonable expectation that it would be disclosed to the police rather than destroyed when he gave the computer to another. State v. Ballard, 2012 N.M. App. LEXIS 10 (March 8, 2012).*

Defendant admitted he was speeding, so the officer had probable cause for a stop, and it ripened into reasonable suspicion for a longer stop based on what was observed and from information from other officers. United States v. Mudgett, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31720 (D. Minn. February 22, 2012).*

Proposed new pension system is a metaphor for how California is run -- for the benefit of the government class, which occasionally throws a few crumbs to the rest of us when we get a little unruly.

The advocates of women's rights assault First Amendment rights.

A question often asked is whether Republicans generally and Romney in particular can run well among blue-collar whites.

Use of defendant’s husband’s probation status to conduct a “probation search” led by the police was unreasonable and violated Griffin and Knights. Hensley v. State, 2012 Ind. App. LEXIS 89 (March 8, 2012):

This evidence reveals that the search was not conducted as a probation search, nor was it truly conducted for probation reasons. Instead, the police were pursuing their own agenda and conducted an investigatory search under the guise that it was a probationary search. The search was prompted by the police officers, not by the probation officer. Stuckey agreed that the police could join her in the search, as officers often do for the reason of safety. Instead of acting as Stuckey's backup, however, the police entered the home and left Stuckey alone with Hensley, without conducting a safety sweep of the home that purportedly contained a firearm. The police did not ask Hensley about the ownership of the home and failed to follow the lead of Stuckey, from whom they could have learned that Robert slept in the living room and not the bedroom. This search did not meet the guidelines for a valid search under Griffin.

. . .

To qualify as a constitutional search under Knights, the police would have needed to have reasonable suspicion that Robert had engaged in criminal activity. In the State's response to Hensley's motion to suppress, the State makes no mention of the reasoning in Knights, nor does it contend that these unsubstantiated tips provided "reasonable suspicion" to believe that Robert was engaging in criminal activity. Furthermore, the evidence found in Hensley's home was discovered under her bed and in her dresser drawer. Hensley was not on probation nor was she the person suspected of criminal activity. The search by Officer Tharp, which uncovered the marijuana and generic Xanax violated her Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure under Knights.

Officers went to defendant’s property to conduct a knock-and-talk suspecting a commercial marijuana grow operation. After smelling growing marijuana and actually seeing it, one officer left to get a search warrant. While they were waiting, defendant came home and seemingly but equivocally consented, but the consent came into dispute. In the meantime, the search warrant issued, and this was an independent basis for the search. Starkey v. State, 2012 Alas. App. LEXIS 38 (March 9, 2012):

This distinction is explained by Professor LaFave: "[T]he inevitable discovery [doctrine] is hypothetical in nature, [and] it does not apply if [an] alternative, legitimate source is actually used to seize the evidence". Wayne R. LaFave, Search and Seizure: A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment (4th ed. 2004), § 11.4(a), Vol. 6, p. 265, n. 55. 1 This distinction was also addressed by the Alaska Supreme Court in Smith v. State, 948 P.2d 473 (Alaska 1997):

[P]roperly applied, the "independent source" exception [to the exclusionary rule] allows the prosecution to use evidence only if it was, in fact, obtained by fully lawful means. ... The "inevitable discovery" exception ... differs in one key respect[:] ... the [challenged] evidence ... [was] not actually ... obtained from an independent source, but rather would have been discovered as a matter of course if independent investigations [had been] allowed to proceed.

Smith, 948 P.2d at 479-480 (emphasis added, and citations omitted).

One further aspect of the "independent source" doctrine must be emphasized: the doctrine applies to situations like the one in Starkey's case — situations where the police initially discover the evidence unlawfully, but ultimately take possession of the evidence through a lawful means that is untainted by the prior illegality. ...

Search incident of defendant’s vehicle was invalid because it was for a traffic offense and there was no evidence of the crime. Since this arrest was custodial, the vehicle was improperly impounded because it was lawfully parked and the officer made no effort to see if the passenger would drive the vehicle, thus obviating impoundment. Canino v. State, 2012 Ga. App. LEXIS 252 (March 7, 2012).*

A visitor to a house ran the risk that the host would consent to admitting the police who came in and saw the visitor’s suitcase and seized it. The police got a search warrant for the seized suitcase on probable cause. United States v. Cruz, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 4986 (3d Cir. March 9, 2012) (unpublished).*

The officer’s seeing defendant cross the center line was credited as the basis for the OVI stop, and the fact the video didn’t catch it didn’t make the stop unreasonable. State v. Lemaster, 2012 Ohio 971, 2012 Ohio App. LEXIS 846 (4th Dist. March 2, 2012).*

SAN FRANCISCO — The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. The Fallingwater home in southwestern Pennsylvania. But a child's doghouse?

Frank Lloyd Wright designed hundreds of landmark buildings and homes during a prolific career that spanned more than seven decades. But in what is widely considered a ...

A Planned Parenthood affiliate in Texas knowingly sent in about $6 million in false claims to Medicaid and took steps to cover up its acts, says a federal "whistleblower" lawsuit that was unsealed Friday.

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast submitted more than 87,000 reimbursement claims for services that were "false, fraudulent, ...

CALIFORNIA

Crystal Cathedral readies for relocation, name change

GARDEN GROVE — The Crystal Cathedral is getting a new name, and the congregation of the financially struggling Orange County megachurch will relocate, its senior pastor announced Sunday.

The ministry will be renamed Hope Center of Christ, Sheila Schuller Coleman said in ...

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Ron Paul wants to abolish the Federal Reserve. He may be right: It is hard to see how the Fed has enhanced our economy.

Since 1971, when President Nixon ended the gold standard, the dollar's value has been more volatile than in any previous period, not only in immediate, ...