VoteKansas.org

Copying the welfare reform success of 1996.

Belgium holds a day of mourning to remember the victims of the coach crash in a Swiss tunnel in which 22 schoolchildren and six adults died.

Authorities in Thailand say that in the last six months they have rescued 2,000 dogs destined for the dinner tables of south east Asia.

The UK criticises Argentina's threats of court action over Falkland Islands oil exploration, calling its behaviour "illegal intimidation".

North Korea says it will launch a satellite on a rocket in April, a move condemned by South Korea and Japan as violation of UN resolutions.

SEATTLE (AP) -- The U.S. soldier accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan villagers last weekend saw his friend's leg blown off the day before the rampage, his lawyer said Thursday night....

New Haven Register: Bill would let Connecticut towns seek search warrants to inspect properties by Jordan Fenster:

A bill up for legislative review would grant municipalities the right to seek a search warrant if zoning officials believe there has been an ordinance violation.

The pending legislation, requested by state Rep. Susan Johnson, D-Windham, is the result of a state Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the right of citizens to, in the words of the court’s decision, “be free from unreasonable searches.”

In the case of the town of Bozrah v. Anne D. Chmurynski, town zoning official Thomas Weber had been asked to examine private property because, according to the court record, “he intended to inspect the property for ‘junk.’”

And the beat goes on:

GPB News: Welfare Drug Testing Bill Revised by Jeanne Bonner:

Georgia lawmakers are revising a bill that opponents say is almost certain to land in federal court. It would require welfare recipients to take a drug test before receiving benefits. Its sponsor says the measure would save taxpayers money but others say it’s unconstitutional.

Sen. John Albers, a Roswell Republican, is the bill’s sponsor. He modeled it on a Florida law, now blocked by a federal judge because it violates the Fourth Amendment’s protection from unlawful search.

When these clowns pass such bills, they just make money for the plaintiffs' civil rights bar that files the case in attorneys fees. They are clueless.

DEXTER, Mich. (AP) -- A tornado ripped through a rural southeastern Michigan community Thursday, damaging or demolishing more than 100 homes, downing trees and power lines, sparking fires and flooding neighborhood roads....

Non-internet users may be denied information about candidates seeking election as police commissioners, warns the Electoral Commission.

Inventory policy that allows the vehicle to go with somebody “immediately available,” not otherwise defined, does not require the police to allow somebody to be called and the police wait for that person to show up. The person essentially has to be there already. If the inventory is conducted in “good faith,” that’s enough. United States v. Reyes-Vencomo, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34141 (D. N.M. February 13, 2012):

The officers initiated the search in compliance with standardized police procedures and the requirement that the officers make a post-search notation regarding the decision to search adds little to the protections that the Fourth Amendment and Supreme Court precedent seeks to impose. The Fourth Amendment is satisfied so long as an officer conducts an inventory search in good faith. See United States v. Battle, 370 F.App'x at 430 (citing Colorado v. Bertine, 479 U.S. at 374). Holfelder and Ortega conducted an orderly inventory search, documenting and photographing the items in the vehicle as they went, and were not "general[ly] rummaging in order to discover incriminating evidence." United States v. Martinez, 512 F.3d at 1274. Holfelder explained that he understood the policy's purpose to be to protect the department and the driver's property, and nothing indicates that he was acting in bad faith. See United States v. Maraga, 76 F.App'x at 228 ("An impoundment must either be supported by probable cause, or be consistent with the police role as 'caretaker' of the streets and completely unrelated to an ongoing criminal investigation."); United States v. Lugo, 978 F.2d at 636 ("When the police acquire temporary custody of a vehicle, a warrantless inventory search of the vehicle does not offend Fourth Amendment principles so long as the search is made pursuant to 'standard police procedures' and for the purpose of 'protecting the car and its contents.'"). Failing to make a notation in the police report regarding the tow decision was a minor deviation from procedure, and an understandable one given the circumstances, and does not render the inventory search invalid.

[I had to go read these cases on good faith, and both appear to just be throw-away lines as to what the government's burden of proof is:

Battle: "Rather, he acted in good faith as he undertook to identify, secure and protect valuable property."

Bertine: "We conclude that here, as in Lafayette, reasonable police regulations relating to inventory procedures administered in good faith satisfy the Fourth Amendment, even though courts might as a matter of hindsight be able to devise equally reasonable rules requiring a different procedure."

So, don't see there being a "good faith exception" to inventory searches. Good faith inventory and not a rummaging is something that the government has to prove in every case.]

SEATTLE (AP) -- The U.S. soldier accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan villagers last weekend saw his friend's leg blown off the day before the rampage, his lawyer said Thursday....

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A 7-year-old boy and a captain who was recently praised as a hero are among eight people believed dead after a fishing boat sank in rough weather off the coast of southern New Zealand....

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A 7-year-old boy and a captain who was recently praised as a hero are among eight people believed dead after a fishing boat sank in rough weather off the coast of southern New Zealand....

Ed Miliband pledges to "conquer" youth unemployment as he said Labour would guarantee six months' work for 18-24 year olds, if they won power.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Sunday urged North Korea to cancel a planned long-range rocket test, calling it "a provocative act that poses a threat to international peace and security."...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Guys, when your sweetheart says "No thanks" to sex, do you knock back a few stiff drinks to feel better? Turns out fruit flies do pretty much the same thing....

NEW YORK (AP) -- Guys, when your sweetheart says "No thanks" to sex, do you knock back a few stiff drinks to feel better? Turns out fruit flies do pretty much the same thing....

NEW YORK (AP) -- Guys, when your sweetheart says "No thanks" to sex, do you knock back a few stiff drinks to feel better? Turns out fruit flies do pretty much the same thing....

NEW YORK (AP) -- Guys, when your sweetheart says "No thanks" to sex, do you knock back a few stiff drinks to feel better? Turns out fruit flies do pretty much the same thing....