CitizenSugar -- Breaking News, Together.

Jury Convicts Mom of Lesser Charges In "MySpace Suicide" Case

LibertySugar — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:30:15 -0800

Jury Convicts Mom of Lesser Charges In "MySpace Suicide" Case A jury on Wednesday was unable to reach a verdict on the main conspiracy charge and instead convicted a Missouri woman of three minor offenses for her role in an Internet hoax that apparently drove a 13-year-old girl to suicide.

Medical Marijuana Law Limited in California

LibertySugar — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:00:02 -0800

The California Supreme Court clarified the state's medical marijuana law yesterday, deciding unanimously that individual suppliers can be prosecuted even when dealing to patients with doctor approval. Sellers, who are not caretakers, or fellow medical marijuana cooperative members, will not be protected from the law.

Patients will most likely turn exclusively to marijuana collectives and cooperatives to get their fill. Opponents of the decision say that centralizing the source of the drug makes it much easier for federal agents to raid such dispensaries.

In 1996 California voters passed Proposition 215, which approved marijuana cultivation and use by those with doctor approval. But earlier this year, the state's high court ruled that companies could fire employees who test positive for marijuana, even if they had a doctor's recommendation.

Do you think the trend toward narrowing the legal use of medical marijuana puts the intentions of California voters up in smoke?

Source

Top 5 Most Dangerous Cities List Puts New Orleans at No. 1

CitizenSugar — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:30:45 -0800

With a murder every 40 hours, New Orleans crime rate is hard to beat. The latest City Crime Rankings looked at reported incidents of six major crimes to determine the most dangerous dwellings in the US. With a population of only 250,000 that changed drastically after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans came out on top.

Rounding out the list, the top-five cities with the highest crime rate include:

New Orleans, LA
Camden, NJ
Detroit, MI
St. Louis, MO
Oakland, CA

The FBI warns that ranking cities head-to-head fails to paint a realistic picture. In addition, local mayors and law enforcement officials maintain that such a superficial ranking irresponsibly misuses crime data by ignoring complex factors. Do you think rankings of the most dangerous cities help hold law enforcement accountable or are they counterproductive?

Source

Prisons Turning to Teleconferencing to Save Money

CitizenSugar — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:00:07 -0800

Gas prices and strict state budgets have prompted at least 11 states — Connecticut, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee — to start regularly using teleconferences between judges and inmates. The move is seen as a way to both improve public safety and save cash.

The AP reports that some inmates say they'd prefer to plead their cases in person, but correction officials say the technology offers a fair alternative to spending millions of dollars moving inmates in person. To see how much the trend saves the state per court date and how it's working in Connecticut,

Flirting With Jail? 400 Egyptian Teens Arrested For Flirting

LibertySugar — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:30:13 -0800

A not-so-playful police sting in Cairo netted about 400 teenage boys accused of flirting with girls. Just yesterday, law enforcement rounded up the underage wannabe-seducers in front of schools, universities, or other public places where teens hang out. The teens will most likely face fines.

While a crackdown on innocent flirting seems oppressive, something beyond prudish attitudes motivated the sting. Egyptian women deal with an extraordinary amount of sexual harassment and assault in public. In Egypt, two-thirds of men admit to harassing women in public.

Last month, an Egyptian court handed down a sentence of hard labor and three years in jail for a man convicted of groping a woman in public. Now it looks like officials want to teach younger males a lesson before they graduate from flirting to groping. Do you think the Casanova roundup will work?

Source

Front Page: Secret Order Let US Attack al Qaeda Anywhere

CitizenSugar — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:00:00 -0800

A classified US order from 2004 authorized the US military to attack al Qaeda anywhere in the world. The order has allowed the US to secretly attack militants in Syria, Pakistan, and other places. — New York Times
President-elect Barack Obama will meet President Bush in the Oval Office today, to begin the transition of power. The two are expected to discuss the economy, the war in Iraq, and national security. Laura Bush will give Michelle Obama a tour of the White House. — CNN
Three bombs that exploded moments apart in Baghdad, Iraq yesterday left at least 28 people dead. Two of the explosions were car bombs and the third was a suicide bomber who blew himself up in the crowd trying to rescue people. — BBC News
An argument over Sunday's Alabama-LSU overtime football game ended with an Alabama couple shot to death. — Alabama Press-Register
A backlash against California's Proposition 8 has erupted. This weekend, same-sex marriage supporters protested the new law outside churches around the state, including a Mormon tabernacle. — San Francisco Chronicle

Source

Three-Day Roundup Rescues 47 Children From Prostitution

LibertySugar — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:00:31 -0700

Federal, state, and local agents in 29 US cities recently joined forces to uproot 12 child-prostitution rings. The three-day operation was part of a larger five-year plan to stop sex trafficking of children. Minor sex trafficking is on the rise as the Internet has created a market for underage sex workers.

Forty-seven children were rescued, and a total of 642 people were arrested, including 73 pimps and 575 adult prostitutes. Apparently police took in no "johns."

The Department of Justice estimates that 293,000 youth in America are at risk of becoming victims of commercial sexual exploitation. The at-risk children come from abusive homes, or have run from or been abandoned by their families. Others children might end up in the situation after abduction, pressure from parents, or deceptive agreements between families and traffickers.

Now that these 47 children have been rescued, let's hope an effective healing process can begin. Do you think it's fair to treat prostitutes as victims when they're minors, but criminals after they turn 18?

Source

On-Demand Fingerprint Machines Let Police ID in the Street

LibertySugar — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:00:00 -0700

Mobile fingerprint scanners are hitting the beat in the UK, helping police officers issue identity checks on the street. Right now, police must take a suspect into custody to issue fingerprint checks.

Thanks to the scanner, the size of a cell phone, the time of checking identity would go form from 67 minutes, to five, thus reducing the number of police needed by 366 officers. The next step would be to transfer mugshot images to verify identity when fingerprints are not available. To see why some worry that the government is overreaching with this technology,

500 Guns Swapped For Cash in Harlem: Are Buybacks Good?

CitizenSugar — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:00:42 -0700

In tough economic times, people are trying to make money any way they can — and one surprising example sneaks in community service too. In Harlem this weekend, five churches offered cash for weapons – no questions asked. Rifles, handguns, and shotguns were brought to the churches on Saturday and in return the unarmed were given a $200 bank card.This program, sponsored by the NYPD and Manhattan DA’s office, was created over a dozen years ago in an effort to get guns off the streets and has been met with great success. So far about 5,000 have been removed from New York and over 500 of those in this last buyback. Two weeks ago Brooklyn churches purchased over 400 firearms.Critics and proponents are at odds over the efficacy of gun buyback programs. Skeptics say, "It's like trying to drain the Pacific with a bucket. More guns are going to flow in." Though Oakland held a popular buyback this Spring where more than 1,000 guns were swapped for $170,000. Is cash an effective way to drain dangerous weapons from the streets?Source

500 Guns Swapped For Cash in Harlem: Are Buybacks Good?

Yes! Anything that gets a gun off the street is one step toward safer communities.

It's possible it reduces crime a bit but it won't eradicate the problem completely.

No way. Gun buybacks don't get guns back from the truly dangerous, it's a waste.

Other. I'll fire off my opinion in the comments.

Your Two Cents: Have You Tried ID Theft Prevention Services?

SavvySugar — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:00:44 -0700

A company called Lifelock has been getting a lot of attention for its generous and confident ID Theft Prevention plan. Lifelock boasts a $1 million service guarantee that it will protect your identity and money. A membership costs about $110 a year and Lifelock works with credit bureaus to set free fraud alerts on your behalf, checks in with the bureaus every 90 days, requests that your name be removed from preapproved credit-card and junk-mail lists and offers a complicated identity monitoring package. Its motto is "We will do whatever it takes to help you recover your good name and we will spend up to $1 million to do it."More than 65 percent of SavvySugar readers have had their credit information compromised before so I assume many of you have researched protection services. Have you tried any?Source

Your Two Cents: Have You Tried ID Theft Prevention Services?

Yes — I've used my bank or credit card company's ID theft protection services.

Yes — I've used a specialized ID theft protection services.

No — I haven't used protection services beyond the basics.

Something else. See my comment below.