Free Republic

Oregon State University has paid $1,000 plus $100,000 in legal fees to a former student to settle a lawsuit over the confiscation of distribution boxes for a conservative-leaning student newspaper. Supporters of the newspaper called The Liberty sued the school in 2009, alleging the university president and other school officials granted the official campus newspaper numerous bins while restricting The Liberty’s distribution. The suit alleged that school officials confiscated distribution bins for The Liberty and tossed them onto a trash heap. The bins, which contained copies of the paper, were allegedly removed without notice and thrown next to a dumpster....

The federal government on Thursday reached a $5.15 billion settlement with Anadarko Petroleum Corp., the largest ever for environmental contamination, to settle claims related to the cleanup of thousands of sites tainted with hazardous chemicals for decades. The bulk of the money—$4.4 billion—will pay for environmental cleanup and be used to settle claims stemming from the legacy contamination. …

Fifteen years after tobacco companies agreed to pay billions of dollars in fines in what is still the largest civil litigation settlement in U.S. history, it's unclear how state governments are using much of that money. So far tobacco companies have paid more than $100 billion to state governments as part of the 25-year, $246 billion settlement. Among many state governments receiving money, Orange County, Calif., is an outlier. Voters mandated that 80 percent of money from tobacco companies be spent on smoking-related programs, like a cessation class taught in the basement of Anaheim Regional Medical Center. "So go ahead...

The climate for mortgage lenders is definitely taking a downward turn. Wells Fargo has released their Q313 Quarterly Supplement which revealed a shrinking mortgage pipeline. WFC Originations_0 (1) Of course, this is not surprising given a rise in mortgage rates starting May 1st (Q2) and declining real household income. rhoinmbrate But the humming dragon lingering in the background is the cost of litigation for originating and servicing mortgage loans. According to JPMorganChase’ Q3 earnings report, they paid a staggering $9.15 billion in pretax legal expenses. JPM Q3 1 addbacks_0 And then there is SunTrust which has been ordered to pay...

Police forces and Yassam tactical unit officers on Wednesday destroyed four homes in Geulat Tzion, a small agricultural community is located near Shiloh in the Samaria (Shomron) region. Jewish-owned homes in the region are demolished from time to time by IDF forces acting under orders from the Civil Administration, which claimes that the homes were built illegally. Before demolishing the structures,security forces ordered an evacuation of the four houses in the Samaria outpost Wednesday morning. Two right-wing activists tried to breach a closed military zone declared around the area and threw rocks at the security forces, but both were detained...

A 9-year-old Israeli girl was injured Saturday night in a suspected terrorist attack at the West Bank settlement of Psagot, outside Ramallah. The girl, who was playing in the yard outside her home, said she was shot by a gunman at very close range; confusingly, doctors said later that they had not established whether her wounds were caused by a shooting or a stabbing. The girl, who did not lose consciousness, was reported in light-to-moderate condition by doctors at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek medical center. It was “not clear” whether she had been shot or stabbed, said Dr. Danny Fink. Security...

Bank of America Corp’s Merrill Lynch unit agreed to pay $160 million to settle a racial bias lawsuit that went through two appeals at the United States Supreme Court, the New York Times reported, citing the plaintiff’s lawyer. … The payout in the suit, which was filed on behalf of 700 black brokers who worked for Merrill, would be the largest sum ever distributed to plaintiffs in a racial discrimination suit against an American employer, according to the New York Times. …

On the heels of the news that Wells Fargo is cutting 2,300 workers from the mortgage production operations, we have learned from the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight that consumer mortgage relief has totaled $51 billion, averaging $80,000 per borrower. Now THAT’s a Big Twinkie! Here are the consumer relief highlights from the National Mortgage Settlement (NMS): Program to Date: March 1, 2012 – June 30, 2013 • 643,726 borrowers benefited from some type of Consumer Relief totaling $51.332 billion, which, on average, represents about $79,742 per borrower. This figure includes both completed Consumer Relief and active first lien trial...

People carrying firearms openly have racked up a significant number of settlements for police overstepping their bounds.  In this latest case, the city of Bellingham, Washington has agreed to pay $15,000. BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) - Lawyers say Bellingham has agreed to pay $15,000 to a man who was threatened by a police officer for wearing a holstered gun in a city park. The police officer pointed his gun at the citizen who was not breaking any law.   Second Amendment activists who exercise their rights are winning these cases by being scrupulously law abiding, polite, and recording their interactions....

Israel will not enter into any new agreements with the EU under the terms of the recently published settlement guidelines, diplomatic sources said Thursday following a meeting on the matter chaired by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Under the guidelines, Israel would have to sign a territorial clause reneging claims to the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Golan before entering in any future agreement with the EU. The guidelines also forbid any dealings with Israeli entities over the Green Line. The sources said that Israel would ask for further clarifications about the guidelines. It was not immediately clear whether Israel...

<p>A wrongful death suit filed by the parents of black teenager Trayvon Martin who was shot to death by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman has been settled, according to documents filed in a Florida court yesterday.</p> <p>Trayvon Martin's parents have settled a wrongful-death claim for an amount thought to be more than $1 million against the homeowners association of the Sanford subdivision where their teenage son was killed.</p>

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is pushing for comprehensive guidelines to introduce separate labeling for products made by Jews in Judea and Samaria, Israeli-daily Haaretz reported on Tuesday. According to the report. Ashton sent a letter to European commissioners urging them to draft the guidelines by the end of 2013. The EU last week published guidelines that forbid the 28 members of the bloc from funding or dealing with Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, alleging that the areas are “illegally occupied.”

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas continues to promote the PA libel that Israel is scheming and acting to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Palestinian Media Watch reported. In an interview to the Saudi paper Al-Watan, Abbas said that the Arab and Islamic world should become more pro-active in responding to the Israeli “plot”. "All these [Israeli] actions indicate an evil and dangerous plot to destroy Al-Aqsa [Mosque] and build the alleged Temple,” Abbas said, according to PMW. “Unfortunately, these dangers, which are clear for everyone to see, have yet to receive proper Arab, Islamic and international responses," Abbas said....

The European Union on Monday denied a report in the Israeli media that it was delaying a decision to label products from Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, AFP reported. On Sunday, the Haaretz newspaper reported that the EU had delayed labelling the products to the end of June at the request of the United States. "Contrary to what was recently reported in the Israeli media, work on the effective enforcement of EU legislation with regard to the labelling of settlement products has not been delayed. Nor has the EU been asked to postpone such work," a statement...

The city of Los Angeles Tuesday announced a $4.2 million settlement with two newspaper delivery women who were fired on by officers in Torrance during the manhunt for accused killer Christopher Dorner. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and attorney Glen Jonas, who represents Margie Carranza and her mother, Emma Hernandez, announced the settlement during a news conference. In March, the attorneys previously announced a $40,000 settlement giving the women a new truck.

JERUSALEM — Israel responded swiftly Friday to U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state, revealing it will build 3,000 more homes for Jews on Israeli-occupied lands that the world body overwhelmingly said belong to the Palestinians. The plans also include future construction in a strategic area of the West Bank where critics have long warned that Jewish settlements would kill hopes for a viable Palestinian state. Israel's moves served as a harsh reminder to Palestinians – euphoric over the U.N. upgrade – that while they now have a state on paper, most of it remains very much under Israeli control. "This...

WASHINGTON - The White House said on Friday a new Israeli settlement expansion plan was "counterproductive" and could make it harder to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. "We reiterate our longstanding opposition to settlements and east Jerusalem construction and announcements," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

A 1991 strategy paper for the Brotherhood, often referred to as the Ikhwan in Arabic, found in the Virginia home of an unindicted co-conspirator in the case, describes the group's U.S. goals, referred to as a "civilization-jihadist process." "The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions," it states. This process requires a "mastery of the...

SAN DIEGO — In a rare move, the federal government has put a stop to new highway projects in California's Imperial County as punishment for the county’s poor air quality. Effective Aug. 9, the Federal Highway Administration is withholding federal funding for new highways in the county. The county will also not be allowed to move forward on projects still being designed. Two years ago the Environmental Protection Agency told Imperial County it had 24 months to adopt new rules to improve air quality. Dust, pesticide use, the burning of agricultural fields and off-road vehicles make the air there among...

The Warren resident who claims four of the city’s police officers violated his constitutional rights to openly carry a firearm has settled his lawsuit against the city. Haman, 54, sued Warren last year in U.S. District Court and initially sought a $100,000 judgment and $500,000 in punitive or exemplary damages. He recently agreed to accept $5,000. More importantly, he said, the city’s police officers will undergo training about “open carry” practices. On Aug. 25, 2009, Haman was walking from a local drug store on 12 Mile at Hoover roads with his semi-automatic pistol holstered at his waist, when a patrolman...