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JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) – A Jefferson County man was held in jail after refusing to get a license for his dog. Now he and his wife are fighting the fine in court. 4 On Your Side Investigator Rick Sallinger wanted to know how many others don’t have licenses and face the possibility of arrest.

(For the short version, skip to the "Body of Comment" section.) This is a personal rant, and is why I will leave Maryland as soon as I can afford to. Please indulge. Thank you. The state of Maryland kicks a man while he is down. April 2010, I lost my job as a computer programmer. Though I interview at least twice a week, jobs are competitive and very hard to get. Perhaps my biggest pet peeve is the trend for employers to tell me, "You're hired. You will start as soon as we get the budget for the project approved."...

Syracuse University associate head basketball coach Bernie Fine was fired Sunday in the wake of an investigation of child molestation allegations against him. In statement released Sunday night, Kevin Quinn, the school's senior vice president for public affairs, says Fine has been "terminated, effective immediately. The move came at the direction of Chancellor Nancy Cantor. The 65-year-old Fine was in his 36th season at his alma mater. He had the longest active streak of consecutive seasons at one school among assistant coaches in Division I. Fine's firing comes in the wake of new revelations Sunday, including a third accuser. Two...

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick says Syracuse police are resisting his office's attempts to obtain records in the investigation of Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine. Fitzpatrick said he had to get a court subpoena Monday ordering police to turn over records. But he said that when the subpoena was served to the deputy chief, it was greeted with an obscenity. "I've never seen this happen in my history with the DA's office," Fitzpatrick told the Syracuse Post-Standard of the refusal to share records. ESPN reported last week the claims of two former ball boys...

Syracuse police say they are investigating an allegation that Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine molested a team ball boy for more than a dozen years beginning in the mid-1980s. Police stressed to Outside The Lines they are in the early stages of the investigation. The alleged victim, Bobby Davis, now 39, told Outside the Lines that Fine molested him beginning in 1983 shortly before Davis entered the seventh grade. Davis, the team's ball boy for six years beginning in 1984, said the abuse occurred at Fine's home, at the Syracuse basketball facilities, and on road trips, including the...

(CBS/AP) SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine has been placed on administrative leave while police investigate allegations that he molested two team ball boys more than 20 years ago. Bobby Davis, now 39, claimed in an interview with ESPN Thursday that Fine began abusing him in 1984. Davis said that the alleged abuse occurred at Fine's home, on team road trips and at Syracuse basketball facilities. He said the sexual contact continued until he was 27. Davis' stepbrother, Mike Lang, 45, who was also a ball boy, also told ESPN that Fine began molesting him when he...

Another ObamaCare glitch could result in some businesses being exempt from fines for not providing their workers with health insurance. A company would have to challenge the fine in court. But if one does, that could eliminate employer penalties in many states and make residents in those areas ineligible for premium tax credits. Under ObamaCare, a company with 50 or more employees faces a $2,000 annual fine per employee if it does not provide insurance. But it's only fined if one of its employees applies and qualifies for a premium tax credit via a health insurance exchange.

The definition of “totalitarian” is: “of or pertaining to a centralized government that does not tolerate parties of differing opinion and that exercises dictatorial control over many aspects of life. [Emphasis added.]” And while we’re not quite there yet — we still do hear other (mostly stupid) opinions — read the following and tell me if our government doesn’t meet the italicized portion of the above definition. Rural Missouri farmer John Dollarhite was just fined $90,000 by our central government for engaging in a commercial endeavor. Was he an illegal alien running drugs across our border? No, such people benefit...

Every two to three years, Eddie Sales trims and prunes the crape myrtles at his church, Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church. But this year, the city of Charlotte cited the church for improperly pruning its trees. "We always keep our trees trimmed back because you don't want to worry about them hanging down in the way," said Sales, a church member. The church was fined $100 per branch cut for excessive pruning, bringing the violation to $4,000. "I just couldn't believe it when I heard about it," Sales said. "We trim our trees back every three years all over our property,...

That’s right. I’m putting this right at the feet of the president himself. A family in Missouri has been fined more than $90,000 by the US Department of Agriculture for selling more than $500 of the furry creatures in less than one year. The families profit was a whopping $200 for the year.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau Under this resolution, a senator who is absent without leave from two or more session days is subject to a penalty equal to $100 for each day that the senator is absent without leave. In addition, the senator must reimburse the senate for the actual costs incurred to compel his or her attendance. The penalties and costs are imposed by adopting a privileged resolution that identifies the senator who has been absent without leave. A senator who is subject to the penalties and costs imposed by the resolution may only be heard on the...

REID: One of the thing that always troubles me, when we start talking about the debt, the first thing people do is run to social security. Social Security is a program that works and it’s going to be, it’s fully funded for the next 40 years, stop picking on social security. there are a lot of places… GREGORY: “Senator, you’re really saying the arithmetic on social security works?” REID: “I’m saying that the arithmetic on Social Security works. I have no doubt it does. GERGORY: “It’s not in crisis? REID: “No, this is something that’s perpetuated by people who don’t...

The NFL has fined Brett Favre $50,000 for his lack of cooperation in its investigation into allegations that the quarterback sent inappropriate text messages and photos to former Jets in-game host Jenn Sterger in 2008 when both were with the organization. Here is the statement issued today by the NFL on the matter: The NFL office conducted an investigation to determine whether Brett Favre’s interaction with New York Jets game-day employee Jenn Sterger in 2008 violated the NFL Personal Conduct Policy. In reviewing the matter, the sole focus was on whether there was a violation of league policies regarding conduct...

For 95-year-old Hazel Severson, the decision was straightforward. The book didn't belong to her, so she needed to return it. "It was the library's book," she said. "I wanted to get it back to them." So what if the book – "Seaplane Solo," Sir Francis Chichester's autobiographical account of his 1930 solo flight across the Tasman Sea – was 74 years overdue from the public library in Amador County? To Severson, returning the book was the right thing to do, period. With the help of her longtime South Land Park neighbors, Jim and Laurie Gibson, she turned the book over...

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine should finish one major piece of business before his announced retirement next month: the investigation into Justice's Civil Rights Division.On Sept. 12, Mr. Fine announced that while he's precluded by law from investigating a "specific piece of litigation" such as the Black Panther voter-intimidation case, "we do have the authority to conduct [a] broader program review ... regarding the Civil Rights Division's enforcement of voting rights laws." Mr. Fine vowed to review "whether the Voting Section has enforced the civil rights laws in a non-discriminatory manner." Substantial testimony, backed by a record of...

Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs has been fined £20m ($31m) by the UK City regulator, the Financial Services Authority, the BBC has learned. The fine is for failing to tell the FSA it was under investigation for fraud by the US financial watchdog this summer. In July, Goldman settled the fraud charge with the Securities and Exchange Committee by paying $550m (£356m). The £20m is one of the heaviest fines ever imposed by the FSA, said the BBC's business editor Robert Peston. Goldman agreed to pay the US fine to settle civil fraud charges of misleading investors. The charges concerned...

WASHINGTON – Federal health regulators on Thursday fined the American Red Cross $16 million for sloppy screening of donated blood, the latest in a series of violations that have cost the group millions of dollars. The Food and Drug Administration said in a statement that the group failed to take precautions to assure the safety of blood donations. Despite those oversights, the FDA says the U.S. blood supply appears to be safe... The Red Cross said in a statement that 98 percent of the violations cited by the FDA occurred before 2008, and that the group has made significant improvements...

DANVERS — A Lynnfield woman who was slapped with a $300 ticket for parking her Mercedes in a handicapped space outside BJ's Wholesale Club last March is taking the town of Danvers to court. In her complaint, Eberle called her use of a handicapped spot "unavoidable," then cited "physical disability and weather conditions." It was raining that day.

U.S. regulators and stock exchange authorities fined Goldman Sachs $450,000 Tuesday for hundreds of violations involving short sales. The Securities and Exchange Commission and New York Stock Exchange Regulation fined the bank for continuing to write naked short sale orders after regulators banned short sales two days after Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008, USA Today reported. Short sales are deals in which an investor borrows an asset, then sells it, betting the price will go down. The investor agrees to buy the asset at a later date. If the price drops, the investor makes money. A naked short sale...

Toyota Motor Corp. “knowingly hid a dangerous defect” that caused sudden acceleration and should be fined the maximum civil penalty of $16.4 million, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said. Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, waited at least four months before it told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about vehicle accelerator pedals that may stick, LaHood said today in an e-mailed statement. “We now have proof that Toyota failed to live up to its legal obligations,” LaHood said in the statement. “Worse yet, they knowingly hid a dangerous defect for months from U.S. officials and did not take action to...

Specter campaign fined for excessive donations Friday, February 05, 2010 By Daniel Malloy, Post-Gazette Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - The Federal Election Commission announced Thursday that it has fined the campaign of Sen. Arlen Specter $10,900 and ordered it to repay $37,950 in excessive contributions from his 2004 re-election campaign. The Pennsylvania Republican-turned-Democrat, who's running for re-election again this year, accepted about $719,000 in contributions from individuals and $21,850 from political action committees that exceeded federal giving limits. The Specter campaign gave most of that money back, but the FEC found that $37,950 remains to be refunded. The FEC found campaign...

January 11, 2010 Arizona speed cameras may be flash in pan as $90m fines are ignored Chris Ayres in Los Angeles An attempt to introduce British-style speed cameras on the other side of the Atlantic has ended in a public revolt, with motorists binning speeding tickets worth $90 million (£60 million). The scheme in Arizona is now on the verge of bankruptcy and might be scrapped. Its demise would mark an ignoble end to the first statewide effort to bring speed camera enforcement to the US, where many, including judges and elected officials, regard the devices as an unconstitutional taxcollection...

With the crippled economy forcing more Bay Staters to dust off library cards, local lending institutions are throwing the book at overdue scofflaws, turning them over to the cops and courts in a hard-nosed bid to collect fines and recover costly tomes and DVDs. “The value of the materials is fairly high. We need to replace them,” said Martha Holden, director of the Peabody Institute Library, which has sent the law after a trio of overdue culprits. The Peabody library filed criminal complaints against 19-year-old Alyssa Toste and 23-year-old Jeramie Crane on Dec. 15. Despite repeated notices, both Toste and...

Health Care Reform: Failure to buy health insurance in the just-passed health care bill could get you five years in jail with a $250,000 fine. How can violating a law that's unconstitutional be a felony? The passage last Saturday night of the House health care measure by a fragile 220-215 margin may well prove to be a Pyrrhic victory. In polls, townhall meetings and tea parties, Americans have shown they don't want a "reform" that costs a staggering $1.2 trillion yet fails to meet the left's desire of insuring all the uninsured. And they certainly don't want a bill that...

PELOSI: Buy a $15,000 Policy or Go to Jail JCT Confirms Failure to Comply with Democrats’ Mandate Can Lead to 5 Years in Jail Friday, November 06, 2009 Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose...

Thanks to her "frivolous arguments and disrespectful personal attacks" in court, the lawyer who leads the so-called "birther" movement has been slapped with a hefty fine today for abusing her privileges as a lawyer. In levying sanctions and a $20,000 fine against attorney Orly Taitz, Judge Clay Land wrote that Taitz's most recent court filing, meant to defend herself against sanctions, "is breathtaking in its arrogance and borders on delusional."

Here is a video report on a woman in Sudan that was arrested for wearing pants. She was found guilty of "indecency" and fined $200. In Sudan there is a law based on Islamic teachings that forbids indecent clothing and the punishment could have been "40 lashes." (Watch Video)

Catholic villagers in Thua Thien-Hue province say they have tried their best to follow Church teaching on the use of artificial birth control methods in the face of the government's two-child policy. Huong Toan villagers, just like Vietnamese elsewhere in the country, are required to have no more than two children per family since 1994, when village authorities launched a nationwide family planning program. Families with more than two children have to pay rice to the government as a fine. Many local Catholics say they have done their best to remain true to Church teaching but some have had to...

Chinese baby girls sold for adoption Published: July 2, 2009 at 11:55 PM As many as 80 newborn baby girls from China's southwest Guizhou Province were sold for adoption by foreign parents since 2001, a newspaper probe found. China Daily, quoting the Southern Metropolis News, said the babies were removed from their families by local officials in the province's Zhenyuan county. Most of them were handed over to foreign adoptive parents as orphans at a price of $3,000 each. The report said one poor farming couple, who are among the affected 80 families, had to hand over their fifth baby,...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans who refuse to buy affordable medical coverage could be hit with fines of more than $1,000 under a health care overhaul bill unveiled Thursday by key Senate Democrats looking to fulfill President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.</p>

Jon Tennett loves to tinker in his garage. It's not an uncommon pastime for an 81-year-old man, but what is unusual is the city's response. Because Tennett fixes his neighbours' lawn mowers and other small machines, the City of Pickering has charged him with operating an illegal business - even though he's never charged a penny for his work. "They could get a lot of revenue elsewhere than looking at an old 81-year-old man trying to keep his mind busy," he points out. On the same street, a retired nurse is facing a similar problem. Janice Saroop has a lush...

Media regulator Ofcom has fined MTV £255,000 for broadcasting "highly offensive language and material" pre-watershed. These included the pre-9pm broadcast on MTV Networks Europe's UK channel TMF of an Aphex Twin video featuring offensive words including "motherf***er" and a daytime trailer for a Jodie Marsh reality show featuring the phrase "f***ing wanker". Ofcom has imposed the hefty fine for "widespread and persistent" breaches of its broadcasting code by MTV Networks Europe channels MTV UK, MTV France, MTV Hits and TMF. The regulator said MTV had, in some cases, "repeatedly" broken the pre-watershed content ban. [snip]In determining the fine Ofcom took...

SACRAMENTO -- State Sen. Carole Migden has been fined $350,000 by the California Fair Political Practices Commission, the largest penalty ever levied against a state office candidate, for dozens of violations including failing to disclose seven years' worth of political expenses that she paid with credit cards, the watchdog agency said today. The agency's investigation was prompted in part by a complaint filed last fall by fellow San Francisco Democrat Mark Leno, an Assembly member who is one of two Democrats trying to unseat Migden in the June primary. The agency's initial probe concerned $397,000 in credit card expenses from...

The question of just how long it should take to eat fast food is being answered by the burger giant McDonald's, which is making customers finish within 45 minutes or face a charge of £125. Motorists who care to linger over their McMeals for any longer at some drive-throughs are receiving demands from a private company that manages car parks for the burger chain. If they do not pay, the fee rises steadily and customers are threatened with court action and approached by bailiffs. A spokeswoman for McDonald's said the 45-minute restrictions had been introduced at about 40 restaurants because...

Banana producer Chiquita will pay a $25 million fine and serve five years' probation for once paying millions of dollars to groups in Colombia considered by the U.S. to be terrorist organizations, a Department of Justice spokesman said Tuesday.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa agreed Thursday to pay a $5,200 fine for violating multiple campaign finance laws stemming from his 2003 race for the City Council. --snip-- In all, Villaraigosa violated 30 aspects of city campaign finance laws, according to a proposed agreement that he signed Thursday. --snip-- Villaraigosa's campaign lawyer, Stephen Kaufman, downplayed the significance of the violations, calling them common mistakes that other campaigns have made. "These are administrative errors, but nonetheless they should not have happened," Kaufman said. "The mayor has taken steps to make sure this does not happen again." --snip-- Villaraigosa could have faced...

SACRAMENTO — People who refuse to obtain health insurance could be tracked down by the state or a private contractor, enrolled in a plan and fined until they pay their premiums under one proposal Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is considering as part of his vision for covering all Californians. The proposal, which administration aides said was one of many the governor was considering, was presented at a meeting Tuesday with representatives from insurers, hospitals, doctors, business groups and consumer advocates. It drew immediate criticism from critics of the central tenet of Schwarzenegger's healthcare approach, which is to require all Californians...

November 16, 2006 FEC fines Sierra Club By Jim Snyder A Federal Election Commission settlement with the Sierra Club will likely put new limits on how explicit outside groups may be when trying to influence voters. The environmental group agreed to pay a $28,000 fine to settle charges that it had paid for a brochure that expressly advocated the election or defeat of candidates in the 2004 presidential and Senate races from its corporate treasury. Because the Sierra Club brochure was found to contain express advocacy, it was determined to be an independent expenditure. Campaign finance laws prohibit money from...

Over the weekend, we had an opportunity to interview Rochelle Olson from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, who wrote a rather amazing article about the Republican candidate for Minnesota's Fifth Congressional District, Alan Fine, a little over a week ago. The interview exposed the thinking behind the editorial decisions of the local media, in the stories they cover and the stories they do not, and the facts they decide to publish and those they do not. We'll come back to that story in a moment. Today's Front Page Magazine article provides an example of the sins of omission in the local...

In the reprehensible Sunday Star Tribune story by Paul McEnroe and Rochelle Olson on the expunged 1995 arrest of Republican Fifth District congressional candidate Alan Fine, the reporters omitted relevant facts. Fine was charged by his then wife with domestic assault, but the police report (quoted by the Star Tribune) indicated only that Fine had been attacked. What's the rest of the story? The charge was dropped and Fine was never prosecuted for the incident. In 2004 Fine's arrest was expunged by court order -- a court order that was apparently violated by someone who supplied the police report to...

Alan Fine, the south Minneapolis congressional candidate who had his 1995 criminal record of domestic violence expunged in 2004, demanded Saturday that the Star Tribune retract its story outlining his arrest and details of alleged attacks against his first ex-wife that are contained in the couple's divorce file. "...The newspaper obtained an expunged copy of a June 1995 Minneapolis police report that stated Fine was arrested and booked into Hennepin County jail after officers were called to his home following a domestic abuse call from his then-wife, Rebecca Wexler.

The watchdog group that first provided the FBI with suspicious e-mails from then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) said yesterday that FBI and Justice Department officials are attempting to cover up their inaction in the case by making false claims about the group. Law enforcement officials said the allegations by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) are without merit, and they stood by allegations that the group had refused to provide some information to the FBI. The dispute is the latest controversy this week for CREW, a liberal-leaning group that has come under attack from House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert...

AN Ankara court fined an elderly man 10,000 lira ($8929) for criticising Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan in a visitors' book at the former home of Kemal Ataturk, revered founder of modern Turkey. Fethi Dorduncu visited the house in the Greek city of Thessaloniki in May and wrote in the visitors' book that Mr Erdogan was a "traitor" bent on destroying Ataturk's secular republic and building an Islamic state in Turkey. Mr Erdogan ripped the page from the book in anger when he later visited the house, which is now a museum, in the city where Ataturk was born in 1881...

KENNETT SQUARE, Pa., Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Kentucky Derby champion Barbaro continues to gradually improve from injuries suffered in the Preakness, veterinarians in Pennsylvania said Tuesday. Barbaro suffered injuries to three bones in and around his right hind ankle at the start of the Preakness on May 20. It was feared the horse, which had won the Kentucky Derby by 6 1/2 lengths, would have to be destroyed. But Barbaro has been making progress while at the Intensive Care Unit of the University of Pennsylvania's George D. Widener Hospital, where veterinarians said the horse's improvement was gradual. "He had an...

City of Louisville, Kentucky Proposes Strict Limitations on Hunting Dog Ownership- (08/14) Kentucky Join our e-mail alert list A recently proposed municipal ordinance imposes strict limitations on hunting dog ownership within the city of Louisville, Kentucky. The ordinance, which unnecessarily burdens hunting dog owners, modifies Section 91 of Louisville city code. Among other restrictions the ordinance prevents a dog owner from tethering a dog during the day. The proposal also requires anyone who raises a litter of puppies to purchase a $300 animal dealer’s license. The ordinance seeks to also limit the number of dogs able to be owned by...

A court has upheld the jaywalking ticket issued to an 82-year-old Sunland woman who slowly crossed a busy boulevard, but waived the $114 fine - a Solomonic compromise in a case that drew outrage from around the world. Mayvis Coyle of Sunland captured the attention of senior-citizens advocates - and pedestrians everywhere - after she was ticketed Feb. 15 for crossing busy Foothill Boulevard against a light. At the time, she was loaded down with groceries and walking with the help of a cane. Superior Court Commissioner Jeffrey Harkavy of San Fernando issued his ruling June 20 after reading written...

WASHINGTON - Despite the national spotlight on immigration reform, the federal government has virtually abandoned financial sanctions as a way to punish employers for hiring illegal immigrants, choosing instead to pursue criminal penalties, according to officials and documents. Dean Boyd, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said fines against employers were ineffective as a deterrent to hiring illegal immigrants, with some companies simply considering the penalties a cost of doing business. So beginning in 2003, he said, the agency dramatically decreased the number of fines imposed, while increasing its criminal prosecutions. "We have found that to be a far...

Group says huge blow to organized labor WASHINGTON, April 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The National Alliance for Worker and Employer Rights today praised Judge Jones historic decision protecting the security and right to work for all New Yorkers enforcing the Taylor Law against TWU Local 100 illegal strike.

MIAMI, FL -- Russian Maria Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champ who on Thursday powered her way to the NASDAQ-100 Open final in Miami, revealed the secret, or perhaps hindrance, to her tennis success -- six toes on each foot. Seen changing her shoes and socks Friday courtside before a practice session, Sharapova was caught and then spoke of the not-so-secret (at least in Russia) genetic abnormality that has propelled her to success, or is possibly the cause of her sometime-suspect movement during matches. "It is an old story in Russia, there are a couple Russian players who have known since...

NY’s junior senator is in full fundraising mode for other Dems and her own possible ‘08 presidential bid WASHINGTON -- What's in a name? About $50 million for Democrats who have used Hillary Rodham Clinton's money-making moniker to raise cash for their campaigns since 2001. New York's junior senator has drummed up at least that much for Democrats around the country simply by lending her name to "Dear Friend" fundraising letters or appearing at events on their behalf, according to a new estimate of Clinton's fundraising clout compiled by her campaign. She's raised $1.2 million for Senate and House hopefuls...