Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2012 contains the Budget Message of the President, information on the President's priorities, budget overviews organized by agency, and summary tables.
To download "Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2012" as a single PDF click here (216 pages, 4.1 MB)
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This handbook presents safety information for public play- ground equipment in the form of guidelines. Publication of this handbook is expected to promote greater safety aware- ness among those who purchase, install, and maintain public playground equipment. Because many factors may affect playground safety, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff believes that guidelines, rather than a mandatory rule, are appropriate. These guidelines are not being issued as the sole method to minimize injuries associated with playground equipment. However, the Commission believes that the recommendations in this handbook along with the technical information in the ASTM standards for public playgrounds will contribute to greater playground safety.
A recently published pocket guide for federal judges focuses on the occasional need to seal court records and proceedings. |
New York's continuing foreclosure crisis and the need to help homeowners avoid the loss of their homes
Prepared by Barbara van Kerkhove, Ph.D. March 9, 2011
To download a copy of the report , click on the report thumbnail included in this email or visit our website to view the report and press release.
Calendar Connector Tool Install the IRS Calendar Connector and access Important Tax Dates for Small Businesses right from your desktop, even when you're offline. As new events are added, they will be automatically updated via the desktop tool. This customizable tool allows you to specify what types of events you wish to view (general, employer, excise, or all) and how you want them displayed (by day, week or month). The IRS Calendar Connector requires Adobe® AIR®. Follow these steps to install it on your computer: Step 1 First, click on the "Get ADOBE® AIR®" button.  Step 2 When the AIR® installation is complete, click this button to install the IRS Calendar Connector.  |
Your iPad 2 is so close, you can almost hear the click of your new Smart Cover snapping into place. But if you already own the original iPad, you should take time now to prepare your migration from that device to the iPad 2. With advanced planning, you'll be ready to start playing with your new tablet practically from the moment you open up the box.
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Free mobile drug reference
Free add-on applications for your Epocrates software
Free on-the-go learning center
New York State Office of Children & Family Services has available for download a helpful new publication:
The Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program (KinGAP)
If you are a fully certified or approved foster parent and a relative has been placed with you as a foster child for six months or more, you may be eligible for the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program (KinGAP). KinGAP is designed to support permanent placements for foster children with relatives to whom they are related by either blood, marriage, or adoption. This program provides financial support and, in most cases, medical coverage for the child. The financial support is similar to the foster care maintenance payments you receive as a foster parent.
Included with this booklet are two attachments to review with your caseworker when exploring your permanency options.
"Factors for Related Foster Parents to Consider When Reviewing Permanency Options" (page 12) will help you and your caseworker determine the best permanency option for the child and your family. "New York State's Permanency Comparison Chart" (page 13) compares kinship guardianship assistance, adoption assistance, and foster care.
Justia is providing FREE Daily & Weekly Opinion Summaries for all Federal Courts, and selected State Supreme Courts.
See an example daily email for the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals or a weekly practice area email for Environmental Law.
The Free Law Reporter™ (FLR) is an experiment that builds onCarl Malamud's Report of Current Opinions (RECOP).(more info about RECOP fromJustia,Robert Ambrogi and Ed Walters, CEO of Fastcase). The RECOP bulk feed can be found at http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/recop/.
The goal of FLR is to develop a freely available, unencumbered law reporter that is capable of serving as a resource for education, research, and practice. The first step is to use FLR to provide greater access through enhanced and alternate formats of the weekly feeds coming from RECOP.
The weekly feeds provided by RECOP are a new source of court opinions from across the country with each weekly feed containing all slip and final opinions primarily from the appellate courts of the 50 states and the federal government released under a Creative Commons Zero License packaged as XML files in a single weekly archive.
Each weekly feed contains 2 groupings of opinions: slip opinions and paginated cases. The slip opinions are individual documents that come directly from the court, are paginated by the court, and contain little or no citation information. The paginated cases are individual documents that have been added to the West reporter system, contain West pagination and full West citations.
CALI's FLR project is processing the slip opinion portion of the archives to create a body of court opinions that is accessible to anyone including educators, librarians, students, lawyers and the public. The raw XML of the archives is processed into valid XHTML and some meta data is added to facilitate the indexing and classification of the documents. The XHTML files are saved into a web folder structure organized by weekly RECOP volume and jurisdiction for viewing with a web browser. The XHTML files are fed into a search engine powered by Apache Solr allowing for sophisticated searching and analysis of the documents. Finally the weekly volumes are gathered by state and federal jurisdiction into ebooks in the .epub format viewable on virtually any desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone and e-reader device. All of this available now at www.freelawreporter.org. The FLR website is updated weekly as new RECOP archives are released.
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Exapnding on FindLaw's free resources for legal professionals, they now provide automatic case notifications from over 80 courts, including:
• All U.S. Courts of Appeal
• 44 State Supreme Courts
• 29 State Courts of Appeals
Click here to subscribe to the feed for the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal. Follow the simple steps to integrate the feed into your email program, news reader, webpage or blog. Then, each time FindLaw receives an opinion from this court, you will receive a notification and link to the full decision.
A dozen federal courts have been selected to participate in a pilot program in which the federal judiciary and theGovernment Printing Office are partnering to provide free public access to court opinions through the GPO's FDSys system.
The one-year pilot project was approved by the Judicial Conference in March 2010, and the GPO received approval from the Joint Committee on Printing - often referred to as the oldest joint committee of the Congress - in February 2011.
When fully implemented later this year, the pilot will include two courts of appeals, seven district courts, and three bankruptcy courts. In March, the Judicial Conference approved expansion of the pilot to include up to 30 additional courts.
The judiciary continually has sought ways to enhance public access to court opinions. Free access to opinions in all federal courts is currently available via the judiciary's Public Access to Court Electronic Records service (PACER).
Building on that success, staff from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts met with GPO management to explore making opinions even more accessible. Fdsys can provide the public with a robust search engine that can search common threads across opinions and courts.
The initial 12 participating courts are the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Eighth Circuits; the U.S. district courts for the Districts of Minnesota, Rhode Island, Maryland, Idaho, and Kansas, the Northern District of New York, and the Northern District of Alabama; and the U.S. bankruptcy courts for the District of Maine, the Southern District of Florida, and the Southern District of New York.
This site was created by Michael Lissner as part of a masters thesis at the University of California, Berkeley School of Information. Michael was advised by Assistant Professor, Brian Carver. The goal of the site is to create a free and competitive real time alert tool for the U.S. judicial system.
At present, the site has daily information regarding all precedential opinions issued by the 13 federal circuit courts and the Supreme Court of the United States. Each day, they also have the non-precedential opinions from all of the Circuit courts except the D.C. Circuit. This means that by 5:10pm PST, the database will be updated with the opinions of the day, with custom alerts going out shortly thereafter.
The coverage of their corpus for a given court varies, but it is growing on a daily basis. They are working to integrate the documents from other online sites that provide free public access to court documents.
To see a detailed overview of their corpus (updated daily), visit their coverage page
The Berkman Center's Interactive collection features conversations with and talks by leading cyber-scholars, entrepreneurs, activists, and policymakers as they explore topics such as: the factors that influence knowledge creation and dissemination in the digital age; the character of power as the worlds of governance, business, citizenship, and the media meet the Internet; and the opportunities, role, and limitations of new technologies in learning.
All Berkman events, including conferences, luncheon series talks, and most meetings, are webcast then archived here, along with unique productions like the Citizen Media Law Project podcast and episodes of Berkman.tv. A selection of the archive is also available on Berkman's YouTube channel.
Well Permit Issuance for Horizontal Drilling And High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing to Develop the Marcellus Shale and Other Low-Permeability Gas Reservoirs
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
July 1, 2011
For timely natural gas legal info, ADD THIS BLOG to your feeds or subscribe by email.
New York State Humane Association's manual, "How to Investigate Animal Cruelty in New York State - A Manual of Procedures" is a comprehensive document which includes chapters on how to be prepared ahead of time - before you actually receive a cruelty complaint, how to receive and investigate a complaint, examples covering many situations, all NYS laws pertinent to animals - annotated with explanations, case law relevant to animal cases, basic animal care standards, appendices containing forms to use in cruelty investigations, handouts on various animal care topics, and articles pertinent to various animal issues.
Sue McDonough, NYSHA President and Police Officer, provided technical input and expertise; Pat Valusek, NYSHA Vice-President and technical writer, researched supplementary material and additional examples, and wrote the text. Material was gathered from individuals who worked for various agencies, such as DA's offices, the Animal Rescue League of Boston, the ASPCA, SPCA with active cruelty investigation programs, state agencies such as the Dept. of Ag. & Mkts., and various police agencies.
The entire manual, HTML format -or- 8M PDF file, is now available online. Use the HTML option if you want to view/print specific sections of the manual. Use the PDF option to view a printer-friendly version of the manual in its entirety. Downloading may take a while, but, in Adobe Acrobat Reader, you'll then be able to save 
a copy of the file or to print 
the file.
"Constitutional liberties were violated. Today we are asking the court to intervene in its rightful role as the check and balance on an out-of-control State Legislature," said Reverend Jason J. McGuire, executive director of the group and a resident of upstate Livingston County, where New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms v. New York State Senate was filed.
A spokesman for Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement that "the plaintiffs lack a basic understanding of the laws of the state of New York. The suit is without merit."
Read entire NYLJ article here.
The disclosure requirement takes effect in mid-2013, covering matters occurring during the 2012 calendar year. It kicks in when the legal fee exceeds $10,000 and the state contract is worth more than $50,000 or the grant is worth more than $25,000. The law affects only new clients or new matters for existing clients and attorney-legislators will not have to identify clients who are being represented in connection with an investigation or prosecution, involved in a domestic relations matter or a bankruptcy or "where disclosure of a client's identity is likely to cause harm."
Read entire NYLJ article here.
http://www.transgenderlaw.org/
The Transgender Law and Policy Institute aims to advance transgender equality through advocating for non-discrimination laws and policy change. The number of transgender people in the United States population ranges from two to five percent and a smaller number are transsexual. Visitors will find that one of the many features on this very thorough site is under the Non-discrimination Laws" link, which consists of lists, maps, and charts of which states and municipalities have non-discrimination laws that include gender identity and expression. Some of these laws include prohibiting discrimination in public employment and policies regarding restrooms and other gender-based facilities. Visitors interested in reading about such transgender related litigation in criminal, immigration, medical, tax, discrimination, or tort law will appreciate the "Litigation: Case Law" link.
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2011. http://scout.wisc.edu/
Amazon appears poised to once again change the face of the book publishing industry. As if the Kindle wasn't enough, Amazon's new vision for e-readers could turn your Kindle into a full-blown library, with access to thousands of book titles. According to a report released in the Wall Street Journal, Amazon aims to do to book lending what Netflix has already done to movies by allowing users to pay a flat subscriber fee, and subsequently have access a large selection of books.
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In a settlement agreement announced today, the firm, Steven J. Baum, P.C. of Amherst, will implement a series of internal controls that include a pledge not to bring foreclosure actions without reviewing the original promissory notes or reviewing a copy of the note from its client or custodian of the document.
The 12-page agreement also prohibits the firm's employees from executing mortgage assignments as officials or representatives of MERS, an electronic mortgage registry system.
Read the entire NYLJ article here (Free Registration may be required).
The memo, written last year, followed months of extensive interagency deliberations and offers a glimpse into the legal debate that led to one of the most significant decisions made byPresident Obama -- to move ahead with the killing of an American citizen without a trial.
The secret document provided the justification for acting despite an executive order banning assassinations, a federal law against murder, protections in the Bill of Rights and various strictures of the international laws of war, according to people familiar with the analysis. The memo, however, was narrowly drawn to the specifics of Mr. Awlaki's case and did not establish a broad new legal doctrine to permit the targeted killing of any Americans believed to pose a terrorist threat.
Read entire NYTIMES Report here. (May require free registration)
Several matrimonial lawyers said the new rules are so rigid that they have taken from judges the discretion to decide fair temporary payments while divorce actions are pending.
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But more and more lower court opinions have tackled the statute's anomalies.
In Scott M. v. Ilona M., 31 Misc. 3d 353, 915 N.Y.S. 2d 834 (2011), for instance, Justice Sunshine deviated from the guidelines by ruling that the temporary maintenance total was inadequate to meet the expenses of a wife and the couple's child, and he increased the amount, as well as awarded attorney's fees to the woman's attorney (NYLJ, Feb. 1).
Other cases, including J.H. v. W.H., 31 Misc.3d 1203(A), 2011 WL 1158653, and Jill G. v. Jeffrey G., 31 Misc.3d 1209(A), 2011 WL 1364481, have explored questions of how attorney's fees, child support and tax consequences should factor into the temporary maintenance formulas.
Meanwhile, court administrators have supplied judges and litigants with an eight-page online worksheet for calculating an appropriate maintenance award.
http://www.nycourts.gov/divorce/calculator.pdfTopic: Lawyer's participation in residential real estate transaction that includes both a "seller's concession" and an equivalent "gross-up" in the sales
price
Digest: If the sales price in a residential real estate transaction has been "grossed-up" in exchange for a "seller's concession," all transaction documents containing the grossed- up sales price must disclose that the sales price has been increased by a sum equal to the seller's concession. Rules: 8.4(c).
"...in a residential real estate transaction where the sales contract, the HUD-1 Settlement Statement, the transfer tax return and any other documents that contain the sales price [shall] each contain the following statement (or a substantially similar statement): "The sales price has been increased by a sum equal to the seller's concession."
The Agriculture Disaster Program is available to assist farms and on-farm producers in New York State damaged by Hurricane Irene and/or Tropical Storm Lee. Many New York State farms sustained significant damage by the recent storms and existing aid is primarily focused on crops and soil conservation. Under this program, $4,175,000 is available to provide financial assistance toward projects replacing and installing a farm's electric and natural gas distribution and use equipment and systems damaged during the storms in non-residential facilities.
Covered equipment includes pumps, compressors, lighting, HVAC, chillers, refrigeration, commercial washers and some natural gas (limited to 10% of total). Farm residences are not covered.
The funds will be dispensed on a first come first served basis. Limit is $100,000 per farm. The details are covered in the attached NYSERDA program description .
Creating a bibliography or set of references used to be quite time consuming, however a number of free programs and applications have helped make this process much simpler. One such application is CiteThisForMe, which allows users to create their own references via this handy form. CiteThisForMe uses the Harvard referencing style, and visitors just need to enter a number of details to create each reference. Visitors have the option to cite a book, newspaper, journal, website, or other type of source. This version is compatible with all operating systems.
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From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2011. http://scout.wisc.edu/
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The New York Times has collected more than 111,000 oil and gas leases and related documents through open records requests made to more than six dozen counties with rich natural gas prospects. Over 100,000 of the documents in the archive are from Tarrant County, Tex., roughly 3,200 are from New York, and the remainder are from states including Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Related Article »
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Searchable database of ethics opinions from the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics. Available for search by keyword, category or opinion number. Search more than 850 opinions on topics including various conflicts of interest, attorney advertising, standards for social media and social networking and more. Opinions are keyed to the New York Rules of Model Conduct and are available for sharing via social networks or email. Ethics opinions are available to all and are of particular interest to attorneys in New York State.
The improprieties range from the basic -- a failure to warn borrowers that they were in default on their loans as required by law -- to the arcane. For example, transfers of many loans in the foreclosure files were made by entities that had no right to assign them and institutions took back properties in auctions even though they had not proved ownership.
Commissioned by Phil Ting, the San Francisco assessor-recorder, the report examined files of properties subject to foreclosure sales in the county from January 2009 to November 2011. About 84 percent of the files contained what appear to be clear violations of law, it said, and fully two-thirds had at least four violations or irregularities.
Mr. Fahringer told the circuit panel hearing United States v. Stewart, 10-3185-cr., that it was wrong to punish Ms. Stewart for comments made "on the steps of the courthouse," where there has always been "much wider latitude" for speech.
He urged the panel not to go "down that road" because "no one will be able to comment after a sentence for fear that the same thing could happen to them."
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And when asked about Mr. Fahringer's argument that the benefit of the doubt goes to the speaker when the speech is ambiguous, Mr. Dember answered that "Judge Koeltl didn't find any of the statements ambiguous at all."
Read the brief of the United States.
A challenge by Jacoby & Meyers to New York state's ban on law firms accepting equity investments from non-lawyers has been dismissed by a federal judge.
Southern District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan (See Profile) on March 8 said the personal injury firm's lawsuit challenging Rule 5.4 of New York's Rules of Professional Conductmust fail because the rule is not the only one in New York that "forecloses plaintiffs from receiving non-lawyer equity investment," but it was the only one challenged by the firm.
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New York Assistant Attorneys General Daniel A. Schulze and Michael J. Siudzinski represented the state in Jacoby & Meyers, LLP v. The Presiding Justices of the First, Second Third and Fourth Departments, Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, 11 Civ. 3387.
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From: Marvin Schechter
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2012 6:42 PM
To: 'NYSBA LISTSERV CJS (criminaljustice@lists.nysba.org)'
Subject: IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT - COMMISSISON ON FORENSIC SCIENCE
All:
As of Monday, March 26th the briefing materials which are given to members of the NYS Commission on Forensic Science (CFS) are now being posted on the website of the Division of Criminal JusticeServices in a non-searchable PDF format. These briefing materials include inter alia the accreditation assessments done by ASCLD/LAB (the entity which currently inspects laboratories and recommends their accreditation and whose reports the CFS is entirely dependent upon), the DCJS Annual Assessments of NY laboratories for the entire year, comments from various organizations regarding the Inspector General's Report which among other things was highly critical of the CS's role with respect to the failure (and eventual closing) of the Nassau County Police Laboratory. There are also documents which show the errors laboratories make, how these are discovered and how the errors are corrected.
In future briefing materials you can expect to see copies of "Self-Accreditation Reports" which are documents that contain checklists involving all aspects of what a laboratory does and which laboratory directors sign-off noting what is done and what is not followed by ASCLD/LAB criticisms which must then be corrected.
While the above references to materials may be unfamiliar to many here is what you can expect to find. First the plethora of reports are specifically keyed to a laboratory, e.g. The Westchester County Department of Laboratories and Research. The DCJS Annual Assessments of letters from the laboratories detailing specifically errors made in forensic analysis across the broad spectrum of the forensic disciplines, what the laboratory did to correct the error and who was notified, e.g., on April 18, 2011, the Forensic Laboratories of the Onondaga County Health Department, Center for Forensic Studies (Onondaga) reported a weight discrepancy to ASCLD/LAB which led to an exchange of letters between ASCLD/LAB and Onondaga as to the cause of the discrepancy, the institution of random testing of past work of the examiner involved and corrective actions which were done to the satisfaction of ASCLD/LAB. The correspondence reveals that the ADA was notified of the discrepancy. Such material provides practitioners with an inside look at how problems can arise in the laboratory setting and may provide insights into how practitioners will treat discovery requests and prepare for direct and cross examination. Also by reviewing such materials practitioners for the first time will have specific information to give judges about how a laboratory is working, any problems it may be having and thus provide jurists with a better understanding of how to handle oral arguments involving discovery and objections to the same.
Sometimes discrepancies cannot be explained as was the case in letter from the ASCLD/LAB Biology Proficiency Review Committee (PRC) on May 11, 2011, to the Westchester County Laboratory regarding DNA samples in a proficiency test. The proficiency test (including the samples)had been prepared by an outside agency. After investigation the laboratory speculated to the PRC what the root cause of the discrepancy might be (possible degradation of the 20 year old sample) but could not explain why there was no degradation in two other samples received in the proficiency test. Remarkably the laboratory told the PRC that "we have seen similar problems in CTS samples, which we can only postulate are attributable to variations in their sample preparation."
These example noted herein are simply to illustrate the wealth of information and new avenues of inquiry which are now available to both prosecutors and defense attorneys who are engaged in pre-trial preparation of cases involving forensic issues. It is now axiomatic that counsel who have forensic issues in a NYS case must as a matter of course review the online materials of the CFS to discover whether the laboratory which is involved in the testing of materials that are germane to a particular case is having or has had problems either specifically related to the forensic discipline at issue or general operational problems that go the laboratory's credibility.
In addition to written materials, you can also view on the DCJS website a complete videotape of the CFS meetings. I do not know if the video is downloadable but if not one can request a disc by callingthe CFS. To get to the written materials and/or view the video go to the DCJS website, look on the left side of webpage for the title "Open Meetings," click on "Open Meetings," go to "Date of CFS Meeting," click on either the written materials or the video button.
As your Chair and also a member of the CFS, I am available to anyone who has questions about the import of the above. I look forward to hearing from you.
MARVIN E. SCHECHTER, Esq.
1790 Broadway, Suite 710
New York, New York 10019
Tel.: (212) 307-1405
Fax.: (212) 307-1431
marvin@schelaw.com
Chronologically, the 83 pages of filings--which the judge overseeing the EEOC litigation ordered Kelley Drye to make public on March 2 over the firm's objections--begin with two letters from D'Ablemont clients expressing dismay that he will no longer be allowed to take the lead on their matters.
"While I understand your firm's position on partner advancement, it creates a rather difficult situation for our company as we move forward," says a letter (PDF) dated February 1, 2000, with the writer's name redacted. "We have remained a Kelley Drye client largely in part to your personal involvement in the growth of our company from 1970 to the present day."
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In a March 2000 letter (PDF), D'Ablemont asks that the firm increase the client development funds available to him from $10,000 to $20,000. He needs the money, he writes, to maintain his membership at theWestchester Country Club ($6,800 a year), The Metropolitan Club($1,900) and the club at Seabrook Island ($1,000).
Last week, on April 2, 2012, the 1940 United States census was released to the public in digital format by the National Archives in conjunction with the U.S Census Bureau athttp://1940census.archives.gov
Seal of the United States Social Security Administration. It appears on Social Security cards. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A new text family designed by Matthew Butterick,
inspired by legal typography and the needs of legal writers.
Equity combines classic good looks with modern typesetting conveniences.
Only available at the TFL website.
Typography for Lawyers: the book
Get the book that Bryan A. Garner,
editor in chief of Black's
Law Dictionary, calls a "tour de force" that's
"smartly reasoned," "well written,"
and "assuredly infallible."
This publication is based on the recommendations of the TE/GE Advisory Committee, also known as the ACT.
For more information about the above item or if you have other tax-exempt bonds questions, go to Tax Exempt Bond Community on IRS.gov.
...Formal Opinion No. 743, issued by the New York County Lawyers' Association Committee on Professional Ethics, which addressed the issue of how lawyers can ethically use social media for juror research during trials. The committee concluded that pursuant to RPA 3.5 it is ethically permissible for attorneys to conduct research and follow jurors' social media interactions only if the jurors are unaware of the monitoring.
More recently, the New York City Bar Association's Committee on Professional Ethics addressed a similar issue in Formal Opinion 2012. The specific issue addressed was: "What ethical restrictions, if any, apply to an attorney's use of social media websites to research potential or sitting jurors?"
The committee reached the same conclusion as the New York County Ethics Committee and concluded that lawyers can use social media to research jurors, so long as the jurors remain unaware that the research is occurring.
The committee explained that it was important to ensure that a juror did not learn of of the attorney's actions, whether in the form of a notification from the social media site or otherwise. If the attorney knew a juror would be aware of the monitoring, then it would be unethical to conduct the research on that particular site. Furthermore, even if the attorney was unaware that a notification would be sent, if the juror subsequently learned of the monitoring, then it could still qualify as a prohibited communication in violation of RPE 3.5.
Verizon High Speed Internet (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There are a lot of details in Verizon's new Share Everything data, voice and text sharing plans, some of which are mentioned in footnotes on Verizon's Web site (pdf format).
Here, Computerworld attempts to explain it for you.
What's new? In simple terms, Verizon will launch on June 28 Share Everything Plans that share unlimited voice and texting across all the devices on a customer's account. Data will also be shared for up to 10 of those devices, including smartphones and tablets.
Verizon will charge a monthly line access charge per device, ranging from $10 for a tablet to $40 for a smartphone. Basic cell phones will be $30 a month, while Wi-Fi access devices, netbooks and notebooks will be $20 a month.
On top of that, data service will be charged at a rate starting at $50 for 1 GB per month, which can be shared across 10 devices. The rates go up as follows: 2GB for $60; 4 GB for $70; 6 GB for $80; 8 GB for $90 and 10 GB for $100. There is an overage charge of $15 for each 1 GB of data service.
In what might just be the nicest cease-and-desist letter ever, the people at Jack Daniel's Properties not only politely explained the situation to Wensink, the offending author, the company even offered to help pay for the cost of designing a new cover.
Jack Daniel's Properties isn't even forcing Wensink to take his book off the shelf. Instead, the company just wants him to change the cover when it's reprinted.
Use this tool to search more than 20,000 nursing home inspection reports, most completed since January 2011, and encompassing nearly 118,000 deficiencies.
|Related Story: Search Nursing Home Inspection Reports With ProPublica's New Interactive Tool.
How do I request consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals?
To request consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals from USCIS, you must submitForm I-821D, Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to USCIS. This form must be completed, properly signed and accompanied by a Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, and a Form I-765WS, Worksheet, establishing your economic need for employment. If you fail to submit a completed Form I-765 (along with the accompanying filing fees for that form, totaling $465), USCIS will not consider your request for deferred action. Please read the form instructions to ensure that you submit all the required documentation to support your request.
You must file your request for consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals at the USCIS Lockbox. You can find the mailing address and instructions on www.uscis.gov/i-821d. After your Form I-821D, Form I-765, and Form I-765 Worksheet have been received, USCIS will review them for completeness, including submission of the required fee, initial evidence and supporting documents. If it is determined that the request is complete, USCIS will send you a receipt notice. USCIS will then send you an appointment notice to visit an Application Support Center (ASC) for biometric services. Please make sure you read and follow the directions in the notice. Failure to attend your biometrics appointment may delay processing of your request for consideration of deferred action, or may result in a denial of your request. You may also choose to receive an email and/or text message notifying you that your form has been accepted by completing a Form G-1145, E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance.
Each request for consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals will be reviewed on an individual, case-by-case basis. USCIS may request more information or evidence from you, or request that you appear at a USCIS office. USCIS will notify you of its determination in writing.
Note: All individuals who believe they meet the guidelines, including those in removal proceedings, with a final removal order, or with a voluntary departure order (and not in immigration detention), may affirmatively request consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals from USCIS through this process. Individuals who are currently in immigration detention and believe they meet the guidelines may not request consideration of deferred action from USCIS but may identify themselves to their detention officer or to the ICE Office of the Public Advocate through the Office's hotline at 1-888-351-4024 (staffed 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday - Friday) or by email atEROPublicAdvocate@ice.dhs.gov.
Will USCIS conduct a background check when reviewing my request for consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals?
Yes. You must undergo biographic and biometric background checks before USCIS will consider whether to exercise prosecutorial discretion under the consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals process. If you have been convicted of any felony, a significant misdemeanor offense, three or more misdemeanor offenses not occurring on the same date and not arising out of the same act, omission, or scheme of misconduct, or otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety, you will not be considered for deferred action for childhood arrivals except where DHS determines there are exceptional circumstances.
What do background checks involve?
Background checks involve checking biographic and biometric information provided by the individuals against a variety of databases maintained by DHS and other federal government agencies.
If USCIS does not exercise deferred action in my case, will I be placed in removal proceedings?
If you have submitted a request for consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals and USCIS decides not to defer action in your case, USCIS will apply its policy guidance governing the referral of cases to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the issuance of Notices to Appear (NTA). If your case does not involve a criminal offense, fraud, or a threat to national security or public safety, your case will not be referred to ICE for purposes of removal proceedings except where DHS determines there are exceptional circumstances. For more detailed information on the applicable NTA policy visit www.uscis.gov/NTA. If after a review of the totality of circumstances USCIS determines to defer action in your case, USCIS will likewise exercise its discretion and will not issue you a Notice to Appear.
Can I obtain a fee waiver or fee exemption for this process?
There are no fee waivers available for employment authorization applications connected to the deferred action for childhood arrivals process. There are very limited fee exemptions available. Requests for fee exemptions must be filed and favorably adjudicated before an individual files his/her request for consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals without a fee. In order to be considered for a fee exemption, you must submit a letter and supporting documentation to USCIS demonstrating that you meet one of the following conditions:
Additional information on how to make your request for a fee exemption is available onwww.uscis.gov/childhoodarrivals. Your request must be submitted and decided before you submit a request for consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals without a fee. In order to be considered for a fee exemption, you must provide documentary evidence to demonstrate that you meet any of the above conditions at the time that you make the request. For evidence, USCIS will:
Will there be supervisory review of decisions by USCIS under this process?
Yes. USCIS will implement a supervisory review process in all four Service Centers to ensure a consistent process for considering requests for deferred action for childhood arrivals. USCIS will require officers to elevate for supervisory review those cases that involve certain factors.
Can I appeal USCIS's determination?
No. You cannot file a motion to reopen or reconsider, and cannot appeal the decision if USCIS denies your request for consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals. USCIS will not review its discretionary determinations. You may request a review using the Service Request Management Tool (SRMT) process if you met all of the process guidelines and you believe that your request was denied due to one of the following errors:
Can I extend the period of deferred action in my case?
Yes. Unless terminated, individuals whose case is deferred pursuant to the consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals process will not be placed into removal proceedings or removed from the United States for a period of two years. You may request consideration for an extension of that period of deferred action. As long as you were not above the age of 30 on June 15, 2012, you may request a renewal after turning 31. Your request for an extension will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
If my period of deferred action is extended, will I need to re-apply for an extension of my employment authorization?
Yes. If USCIS decides to defer action for additional periods beyond the initial two years, you must also have requested an extension of your employment authorization.
Will USCIS personnel responsible for reviewing requests for an exercise of prosecutorial discretion under this process receive special training?
Yes. USCIS personnel responsible for considering requests for consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals will receive special training.
Used by lawyers, judges, paralegals, law students and others in the legal profession,The Bluebook, A Uniform System of Citation, is the authoritative style guide for legal citation in the United States.
The frequently referenced, ever expanding (over 500 pages!) spiral bound 8.3 x 5.7 book in signature blue is now available on all Apple iOS devices, including the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch via the Rulebook App. as an in-app purchase for $39.99.
The IRS office of Exempt Organizations (EO) is pleased to present "Stay Exempt"--a series of dynamic and comprehensive tax courses that can help your tax-exempt organization maintain its exempt status and meet its filing requirements.
As part of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities (TE/GE) operating division of the Internal Revenue Service, EO strives to support the IRS mission of ensuring that all customers understand and meet their tax responsibilities. It does this by offering specialized assistance to the full range of organizations exempt from Federal income tax under the Internal Revenue Code. EO's programs and services help these organizations understand and comply with tax laws and regulations governing their tax-exempt status.
The Director of EO plans, manages, directs, and executes nationwide activities for EO. The Director reports to the TE/GE Division Commissioner. The Director also supervises and is responsible for EO's offices of Customer Education & Outreach, Rulings & Agreements, and Examinations.
The EO Customer Education & Outreach office coordinates, assists, and supports the development of internal and external communications, forms and publications, and external education and outreach efforts, including this website.
The EO Rulings and Agreements office processes applications for tax exemption and provides direction through private letter rulings and technical guidance.
The EO Examinations office promotes compliance by analyzing operational and financial activities of exempt organizations. These activities include developing processes to identify areas of noncompliance, developing corrective strategies, and assisting other EO functions in implementing these strategies.
To find out more about EO, or for more information about exempt organization tax compliance issues, visit the EO pages 
at the IRS website. For account-specific questions, call TE/GE's Customer Account Services, toll-free, at 877-829-5500.
Here's an example of the materials available:
 | Presentation 1: Navigating IRS Resources for Tax-Exempt Organizations Published: June 30, 2011 Ever wonder what the IRS Web site contains for exempt organizations? This mini-course will show you what's available and how to find it. Download Printable PDF Presentation | Download Playable PDF Presentation |
Judges whose license plates identify the office they hold may, in effect, be trading on their positions to avoid the consequences of being stopped for traffic infractions, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct has suggested.
Prompted by a recent disciplinary decision, the commission is seeking input for a public report to address the issue of whether the special vehicle plates violate the code of judicial conduct. It sent letters earlier this month to more than 200 judicial and legal organizations seeking input.
The commission initially disclosed in Matter of Schilling that it planned to conduct the study. In that case, the commission recommended the removal of former town justice Diane Schilling of East Greenbush, Rensselaer County, for arranging to fix one traffic ticket issued to herself and another to the wife of a fellow justice (NYLJ, May 11).
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In his letter seeking input, commission administrator Robert Tembeckjian said the agency's staff is studying how many judicial plates are issued in New York, who holds them and if the plates carry any special privileges for the bearers. The staff is also researching the policies of other states on issuing plates identifying a vehicle as being owned by a judge.
" In resolving a central question presented by these appeals, we hold that courts must
evaluate the adequacy of an IEP prospectively as of the time of the parents' placement
decision and may not consider "retrospective" testimony regarding services not listed in
the IEP. However, we reject a rigid "four-corners rule" that would prevent a court from
considering evidence explicating the written terms of the IEP."
As you may have noticed, the IRS has made extensive changes to the look and functionality of the IRS.gov website. These changes aim to improve online services for all stakeholders with the best content and Web experience that the IRS can offer.
The new navigation is one of the most significant changes users will see on IRS.gov. While the home page looks similar, there are new colors, new headings and a completely new way to navigate the site. To maintain a measure of continuity between the old and new, you'll find a menu list in the upper right-hand corner called "Information for..." that incorporates virtually all content from the old site under familiar headings such as "Charities and Non-Profits," Government Entities," "Retirement Plans" and "Tax Exempt Bonds." Alternately, you can always use the web address irs.gov/govt typed directly into your browser's address window to access the page.
If you bookmarked pages in the old website, check the redesigned site and update your bookmarks and favorites. A new feature on every page gives you the option of clicking a heart graphic to save the page as a bookmark.
Click here to get Westlaw Case Notebook Portable E-Transcript (free): 
A divided federal appeals court in Manhattan this morning became the second in the nation to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional.
In Windsor v. United States, 12-2335-cv, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a ruling by Southern District Judge Barbara Jones (See Profile) that the 1996 law that defines marriage as involving a man and a woman was unconstitutional.
A majority of the three-judge Second Circuit panel, in a ruling by Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs (See Profile), concluded that the definition violated the Equal Protection Clause. Its opinion joined an earlier decision by the First Circuit in Boston.
Friday, November 09, 2012 |
[JURIST announcement] If you have not already done so, please update all of your bookmarks and RSS feeds to jurist.org. As part of our continuing transition from our old domain (jurist.law.pitt.edu) to our current domain (jurist.org), the University of Pittsburgh will soon be disabling public access to our old server. At that time, any RSS feeds and bookmarks that are still pointing to jurist.law.pitt.edu will cease to function. Don't miss out on the latest legal news from JURIST - update your bookmarks and feeds today!
A copy of the amicus brief from the law professors is available here
The Appellant's brief (Norse Energy) is available here
The Town's Brief is available here
An amicus brief from the US Chamber of Commerce in support of hydrofracking is available here
The New York Farm Bureau's Amicus Brief is available here
The amicus brief of the Catskill Riverkeeper and other environmental groups is availablehere
The amicus brief of the Town of Ulysses, the Association of Towns of the State of NY, the NY Planning Federation and the New York Conference of Mayors is available here
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A pilot project giving the public free, text-searchable, online-access to court opinions now is available to all federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts.
The Judicial Conference, the policy-making body of the Federal court system, approved national implementation of the project with the Government Printing Office, Federal Digital System (FDsys), which provides free access to publications from all three branches of federal government via the Internet. The pilot project pulls opinions nightly from courts' Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) systems and sends them to the GPO, where they are processed and posted on the FDsys website. The functionality to transfer opinions to FDsys is included in the latest release of CM/ECF which is now available to all courts. Twenty-nine courts participated in the original pilot, and now, all courts may opt to participate in the program.
Access to judicial opinions through FDsys allows the Judiciary to make its work more easily available to the public. Collections are divided into appellate, district or bankruptcy court opinions and are text-searchable across opinions and across courts. FDsys also permits embedded animation and audio.
Presently, more than 600,000 opinions dating back to 2004 are available. Opinions from the pilot are already one of the most heavily used collections on FDsys, with millions of retrievals each month.
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Lincoln's Other War-Time Proclamation
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1) Global Navigation Bar: Use this to reach the different main sections of the site.
2) Global Search: Search the entire contents of the NYCOURTS.GOV web site.
3) NYcourts.gov logo: Takes you back to NYCOURTS.GOV homepage.
4) Subject Bar: Identifies the subject area for that part of the site.
Takes you back to the homepage for that subject.
5) Subject's Left Navigation: Find content within that subject area
6) Page Content Area: The information you are looking for.
Check out the new OCA site:
In March, Judge Paul Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York ordered service of process on several international defendants through novel means--Facebook.
The case, FTC v. PCCare247, Inc., involves a group of individuals based in India who allegedly "tricked American consumers into spending money to fix non-existent problems with their computers." After problems with more conventional methods of international service, the court exercised its authority under the federal rules to fashion its own means of service. As Judge Engelmayer's order explains, Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(f)(3) allows a judge to order a means of service of process so long as it is "(1) not prohibited by international agreement; and (2) comports with constitutional notions of due process." In this case, service by Facebook was not specifically prohibited by relevant international agreement, including the Hague Service Convention, to which India and the United States are signatories. Further, the circumstances in which the Facebook accounts would be served ensured service was constitutionally proper.
CISPA-2-0-HR-624-2013-Bill-Text by PartidulPiratRomania
The 6th edition (pdf) of the Benchbook for U.S. District Court Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center, is now available online. The book, last updated in 2007, is a concise and practical guide to situations federal judges are likely to encounter on the bench. TheBenchbook covers procedures that are required by statute, rule or case law, with detailed guidance from experienced trial judges. And although new judges may benefit the most from the Benchbook, even experienced judges may find useful reminders about how to deal with routine matters, suggestions for handling more complex issues, and helpful starting points in new situations.
The 6th Edition includes a primer on a prosecutor's duty to disclose favorable information to defendants under Brady v. Maryland. There's a new section on civil pretrial case management focusing on the judge's role as an active case manager, and a completely revised section on sentencing, which contains an extensive colloquy for the sentencing hearing. There also are subsections on handling disruptive or dangerous defendants, and expanded jury instructions on the use of social media. Due to budgetary constraints, this edition of the Benchbook is published in electronic format only.
Early drafts of the book, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5, have divided medical opinion so firmly that authors of previous editions are among the most prominent critics.
Known informally as the psychiatrists' bible, the $199 tome from the American Psychiatric Association is the guidebook that US doctors will use to diagnose mental disorders. The latest edition is the first major update in 20 years.
Read entire analysis by Guardian.
This page contains an archive of all entries posted to General Practice Section in the Primary Source Documents category. They are listed from oldest to newest.
Practice Tips & Helpers is the previous category.
Quality of Life is the next category.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
