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Mass. casino foes ask court to allow repeal effort
Top Court Watch |
2014/03/24 15:31
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Attorney General Martha Coakley erred in excluding from the November state ballot a question that calls for the repeal of the 2011 gambling law, and voters should have the right to decide the issue, casino opponents contended in a court filing Friday.
The group Repeal the Casino Deal submitted a 53-page brief with the Supreme Judicial Court, which is expected to hear arguments in early May.
Former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, a leader of the anti-casino movement, said that while he greatly respected Coakley, she was "simply wrong" in her analysis of the repeal petition. He said it was inevitable the question would ultimately appear on the ballot.
The casino law allows for up to three resort casinos and one slots parlor and created the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to award licenses and regulate future gambling.
All proposed ballot questions must first go through the attorney general's office to determine whether they pass constitutional muster. In last fall's ruling, Coakley said the repeal question would violate the contracts clause of the state constitution by permitting voters to interfere with implied contracts between the commission and applicants for casino licenses.
"The proposed law is therefore inconsistent with the right to receive compensation for private property appropriated to public use and cannot be certified," the attorney general wrote.
Repeal the Casino Deal argued in its filing that in passing the law, the Legislature did not intend to create any contracts between the commission and casino applicants that would ever prevent the state from exercising its policing or regulatory powers over gambling. |
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Man pleads guilty to stealing from farmers market
Top Court Watch |
2014/03/17 14:53
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Prosecutors say a former Glendale city councilman has pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $305,000 from a farmers market.
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office says 55-year-old John Drayman entered a plea Wednesday to felony charges of embezzlement, filing a false tax return and perjury.
While serving as the director of the Montrose farmers market, Drayman was accused of collecting proceeds from the weekly event and skimming thousands of dollars before turning the money over to the market's treasurer.
Drayman was indicted in 2012 on 28 counts dating from 2004 to 2011. The remaining 25 counts will be dismissed when he is sentenced April 7.
He is expected to be sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay $304,853 in restitution and $14,016 to the state tax board. |
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Court: Unplayed Blagojevich tapes to stay sealed
Top Court Watch |
2014/03/14 15:24
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An appellate court in Chicago says transcripts of FBI wiretaps not played at Rod Blagojevich's corruption trials will remain sealed.
The 7th U.S. Court of Appeals is still mulling its decision on the imprisoned former Illinois governor's request to toss his convictions.
Appellate courts typically unseal documents submitted as part of an appeal. But prosecutors later asked that the transcripts submitted to the appeals court not entered into evidence at the trials remain under seal. Blagojevich's attorneys wanted them opened.
But in its order posted Tuesday, the court said that if it eventually agrees the trial judge erred by not admitting the unplayed wiretaps at trial, they will then be unsealed.
The court's expected to rule on the appeal soon.
Blagojevich is serving a 14-year sentence for multiple corruption convictions. |
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Fla. high court: Immigrant can't get law license
Top Court Watch |
2014/03/07 15:43
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The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that immigrants in the country illegally can't be given a license to practice law.
The question was raised when a man who moved here from Mexico when he was 9 years old sought a license in Florida. The court said Thursday that federal law prohibits people who are unlawfully in the country from obtaining professional licenses. The justices said state law can override the federal ban, but Florida has taken no action to do so.
Earlier this year, the California Supreme Court granted a law license to Sergio Garcia, who arrived in the U.S. from Mexico as a teenager with his father. But that ruling was only after the state approved a law that allows immigrants in the country illegally to obtain the license. |
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S.C. high court hearing Certificate of Need case
Top Court Watch |
2014/03/05 14:58
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South Carolina's highest court is gearing up for a debate over whether the state's health agency can end a program that regulates the building or expansion of medical facilities.
On Thursday, the state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments over the Certificate of Need program, an approvals process administered by the Department of Health and Environmental Control and required under state law for any medical facilities seeking to build or expand.
The program has been on hold since June, when Gov. Nikki Haley vetoed the $1.7 million needed to run it, saying she thinks it's an impediment to the free market and isn't needed. The House sustained Haley's veto after Ways and Means Chairman Brian White took the floor and said the veto was just about the money, not whether the program should continue.
Since that vote, some House Republicans have said they didn't intend to nix the program entirely, pointing out last summer that an executive decision to discontinue the program "may be contrary to law but is certainly contrary to the will and intent of the House of Representatives."
Three dozen states have similar programs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
State law still requires medical facilities to acquire a Certificate of Need from DHEC before building, expanding, offering a new service or buying medical equipment costing more than $600,000. When Haley vetoed the funding, about three dozen projects worth about $100 million were being reviewed by DHEC.
Groups including the South Carolina Hospital Association sued over the issue, saying the state law requiring the review is still on the books and can't be suspended just because DHEC didn't set aside money to pay for it. Supporters also have argued that the Certificate of Need program is needed to keep costly medical services or hospital beds from going unused and that it ensures that rural communities keep access to health care. |
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