Free Republic

SAN FRANCISCO—A federal judge has tossed out the federal government's plans to open vast tracts of forests in Southern California to new road building. U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ruled Wednesday that the U.S. Forest Service failed to adequately consider the effects the new plan would have on the landscape and wildlife in the Angeles, Los Padres, Cleveland and San Bernardino national forests. Los Padres is the principal home of the California condor.

DENVER (AP) -- A federal appeals court has rejected a second attempt by a delivery man to claim a piece of Howard Hughes' fortune, a plight first dramatized by the 1980s Academy Award-winning "Melvin and Howard." The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that a jury in 1978 already determined that a hand-scrawled will offered by Melvin Dummar as evidence wasn't authentic.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A Florida-based Web site that invites women to warn others about men they've dated cannot be sued in a Pennsylvania court by an attorney who said its postings falsely claimed he was unfaithful and had sexually transmitted diseases. Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. said he had no jurisdiction over the lawsuit Todd Hollis filed last June against DontDateHimGirl.com and its creator, Tasha C. Cunningham, 34, of Miami.

NEW YORK - A judge on Friday threw out a racketeering murder conviction against two detectives accused of moonlighting as hitmen for the mob, saying the statute of limitations had expired on the slayings. U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein also granted a new trial to the defendants, Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, on money laundering and drug charges. Defense attorneys had argued that the five-year statute of limitations had expired on the most serious allegations against the pair — that they committed or facilitated eight killings between 1986 and 1990 while on the payroll of both the New York Police...

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday nullified a law that made it easy to seal divorce court records. The justices, without comment, declined to review an appeals court decision of a billionaire's divorce that declared the 2004 law "unconstitutional on its face." The Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times and the California Newspaper Publishers Association urged the court to let the January appeals ruling stand. The case was brought by supermarket magnate Ronald Burkle, who had filed under seal 28 documents about personal income, expenses, and the post-marital agreement with his former wife, Janet. The law, which critics said was...

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block random searches of passengers and vehicles using ferries that cross Lake Champlain. U.S. District Court Judge J. Garvan Murtha said the searches of people seeking to board the Lake Champlain Transportation Co. ferries were not intrusive and were reasonable given terrorism concerns. The lake forms part of the New York-Vermont border and extends into Canada. The searches are required under the National Maritime Transportation Security Act, which took effect July 1. The Coast Guard approved the company's screening protocol, which includes vehicle searches. In...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A state appeals court late Thursday upheld a lower court's decision dismissing a lawsuit brought by several California cities and counties against dozens of gun manufacturers. San Francisco, Berkeley, Sacramento, Los Angeles and the counties of San Mateo, Alameda and others alleged the makers marketed, distributed, promoted and designed handguns in a manner "that facilitates the weapon to be used in violent crimes." A San Diego judge tossed the case in 2003, saying the government agencies could not establish a connection between the makers' business practices and the acquisition of firearms by criminals. The judge kept...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - In stark contrast to the 2,500 pages of the California Performance Review, a commission's analysis and recommendation of the massive plan for reorganizing state government offered little help to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on which goals to pursue. The 12-page report from the governor's 21-member commission shied away from virtually all of the controversial aspects of the plan while making only general comments about the proposal. The California Performance Review, which the governor has hailed as a landmark analysis of state government, called for the consolidation of dozens of departments, reduction of the work force by 12,000 positions...

NEW YORK — A federal judge has snuffed out a lawsuit seeking to overturn city and state bans on smoking in bars and restaurants, saying the challenge on constitutional grounds was so weak it was "akin to trying to scale Mount Everest with a ball of string." U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero concluded in a ruling released yesterday that New York state and city legislators were being rational when they used police powers over the health and welfare of the public to enact smoking bans. Marrero rejected all the constitutional challenges brought by an organization calling itself NYC CLASH —...