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TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- The city of Tucson has joined a lawsuit by one of its police officers to block Arizona's immigration enforcement law. The suit was filed in late April in U.S. District Court in Tucson on behalf of Tucson police officer Martin Escobar.

In the face of mounting economic pressure, Tucson became the first city to approve a legal challenge to Arizona's controversial new immigration law that requires local police to verify the status of those they "reasonably suspect" are here illegally. The City Council voted 5-1 Tuesday to sue the state to overturn SB 1070, with only Councilman Steve Kozachik voting no. City Attorney Mike Rankin said the city hasn't decided the timing for suing to block the law, which doesn't take effect until the end of July. Later Tuesday, the Flagstaff City Council voted to sue to stop SB 1070 from...

A volcanic cloud over Wall Street Apr 16th 2010 | NEW YORK From Economist.com The charges against Goldman could have far wider consequences IS THE most powerful and controversial firm on Wall Street about to get the comeuppance that so many think it deserves? On Friday April 16th America’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed civil charges against Goldman Sachs and one of its vice-presidents, Fabrice Tourre, for allegedly defrauding investors by failing to disclose vital information about a financial product linked to subprime mortgages, as America’s housing market was starting to wobble. Goldman’s shares tumbled, dragging down stockmarkets. The...

These are the offspring of Heller: A woman contends her small stature makes her an appealing target for criminals but says she was turned down for a concealed-carry handgun permit by the Sacramento County sheriff. A Californian man, born without an arm below the right elbow, argues that the state’s roster of “approved” handguns precludes him from being able to buy a left-handed Glock. An American man who now lives in Canada would like to purchase guns in the U.S. to store at his relatives’ home in Mount Vernon, Ohio, to use for sporting and self-defense. All are now plaintiffs...

In a response to Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett’s decision to join 13 other states in filing a lawsuit against the federal health care legislation, PA House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans threatened to “do whatever it takes” to thwart the AG’s efforts. Incensed, Evans even went so far as to say he would be willing to cut off all state appropriations to the Office of the Attorney General to prevent Corbett from fighting this legislation.

JUNEAU -- Gov. Sean Parnell calls newly passed federal health care legislation unconstitutional and "public policy at its worst." His attorney general is reviewing the measure to determine if the state may join others in suing over the issue, though a Department of Law spokesman cautioned against a rush to judgment. snip "For the many Alaskans currently unable to afford insurance, this legislation will do nothing but require that they purchase health insurance," he said. "This bill will increase insurance premiums and do very little to ensure that patients have access to needed health care professionals."

AIG’s Joe Cassano refused to let women help take down economy 4:14 PM, February 25, 2010 ι By Kaja Whitehouse A couple of former AIG employees are suing the beleaguered insurance giant for sexual discrimination in, of all places, the company’s Financial Products unit, which has been targeted as the place that nearly toppled AIG and the rest of the economy back in 2008.

TAMPA — The mother of a man whose death was ruled justified under Florida's "stand your ground" law filed a wrongful death lawsuit Friday against the man who shot her son. A civil complaint in Hillsborough Circuit Court says that Charles Podany, 49, acted "with reckless disregard" when he shot 24-year-old Casey Landes on Feb. 29, 2008, in a neighborhood dispute. Landes' mother, Ruby Landes, seeks damages in excess of $15,000 from Podany as well as the condo association of Bay Hills Village in Thonotosassa, where the incident took place, and its managing authority, the Vanguard Management Group Inc. A...

Ownership battle brews over Virginia meteorite The meteorite, which cracked into pieces on impact, landed in a doctors' office in Lorton. By Neely Tucker Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, January 29, 2010 Today's episode of Everybody's Favorite Meteorite brings the nation disturbing news: That spunky bit of chondrite that plummeted into a Lorton doctors' office on Jan. 18, delighting an international audience with news of its fireball entrance, may not go on to a spot of glory in the Smithsonian, after all. The doctors who were nearly bonked on the head by the thing when it came plummeting from the...

Chinese search engine Baidu sues US company over hacking attack China's largest search engine, Baidu.com, is seeking damages against its US-based service provider after hackers from the "Iranian Cyber Army" hijacked the company's homepage in China last week. By Peter Foster in Beijing Published: 7:00AM GMT 20 Jan 2010 The move in a New York law court comes a week after Google threatened to pull out of China if the Chinese government did not allow it to operate its local site free of the country's onerous censorship laws. Baidu.com, which accounts for two-thirds of China's internet searches, said it had...

Goldman sued by pension fund over bonus plans NEW YORK Thu Jan 7, 2010 6:19pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc was sued on Thursday by an Illinois pension fund seeking to recover billions of dollars of bonuses and other compensation being awarded for 2009, saying the payouts harm shareholders. In a lawsuit filed in New York state supreme court in Manhattan on behalf of shareholders, the Central Laborers' Pension Fund said Goldman had by September 25 set aside nearly $17 billion for compensation and might pay out more than $22 billion for the year. It said...

BISMARCK, N.D.—North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said he expects the state to file a lawsuit against Minnesota over its plan to tax carbon dioxide created by electrical generation. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission wants to add a fee of $4 to $34 per ton of carbon dioxide to the cost of electrical generation starting in 2012. The majority of electricity in North Dakota is generated by coal-fired power plants, which emit carbon dioxide. North Dakota officials consider it an unfair tax on electricity produced in the state and say it would discourage its use by Minnesota utilities.

One of Len Blavatnik's companies lost $98 million in a $1 billion portfolio invested with JPM. It's not our fault! They say. So they're suing JPM. CMMF claims that when JPMorgan was retained in May 2006, it was given broad discretion in how it invested the funds but its goal was to “provide a high level of current income consistent with low volatility,” explains Francesco Guerrera at the Financial Times. The two sides disagree on how JPM allocated the funds. Blavatnik says JPM wrongly invested 46% of his company's money in asset backed securities. "Wrongly" because, his side argues, their...

Brooke masters of the FT reports that Pension fund sues Goldman board: A pension fund for fire and police officers has sued the board of Goldman Sachs, seeking to stop the investment bank from paying out billions of dollars in bonuses to the bank's staff, writes Brooke Masters in London. Lawyers representing the Security Police and Fire Professionals of America Retirement Fund argue that the board has "abdicated" its responsibility to shareholders and "blindly "rewarded" executives for "corporate performance that has absolutely nothing to do with the skill of the company's employees". The lawsuit, filed in New York late on...

he city of New Haven, Connecticut, will promote 14 firefighters who were involved in a workplace discrimination case that worked its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The firefighters were among the New Haven 20 -- one Hispanic and 19 white firefighters -- who fought the city after it threw out the results of a 2003 firefighter promotion exam that left too few minorities qualified for promotions. A U.S. District Court issued a judgment finding the city violated the civil rights of a group of the white firefighters when it threw out the exams in 2004, according to Jessica Mayorga,...

SEOUL -- President Barack Obama will not announce his decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan before the Thanksgiving holiday, senior aides said on Thursday. (snip) "You guys make a pretty good photo op," the president said. (snip) He got a huge cheer when he told them he was increasing military pay. "That's what you call an applause line," he said...

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District sued Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and 45 other financial firms Thursday in Sacramento federal court for allegedly rigging bids in bond-derivatives markets and defrauding the utility. SMUD joined at least six city and county governments in California that already have filed similar lawsuits arising from a federal investigation made public in 2006. Many other public entities around the country have joined in lawsuits seeking class-action status. The SMUD filing is the first to name Goldman Sachs as a defendant, according to lawyers working with the utility. The litigation deals with bond-related financial instruments often used...

Bernard Madoff's life behind bars revealed Bernard Madoff reportedly sleeps in the lower bunk in his cell and he eats pizza cooked by an inmate convicted of child molestation Christine Seib in New York Bernard Madoff shares a jail cell with a 21-year-old drug dealer and socialises with a former crime boss and an Israeli spy, according to a legal action filed yesterday in New York. Attorneys who interviewed Madoff in jail in July used information obtained from the fraudster to file a series of claims against major banks and accountancy firms, in an action that also throws light on...

Radio host Rush Limbaugh is interviewed on the sidelines before the start of the NFL AFC championship football game in Pittsburgh. Rush Limbaugh, who saw his bid to co-own a National Football League team sacked partly because of quotes he purportedly made regarding slavery, could have grounds for a libel suit, legal experts told Foxnews.com. The conservative radio host was dropped on Wednesday from a group seeking to buy the St. Louis Rams. Dave Checketts, chairman of the St. Louis Blues hockey team, who is leading the effort to buy the NFL team, said Limbaugh was dropped from the group...

A Japanese menswear company is selling an "anti-swine flu" business suit that it says can reduce the risk of catching the H1N1 virus. Haruyama Trading has developed a wool suit coated with titanium dioxide, which it says breaks down the virus molecules on contact under ultraviolet light, according to Reuters . "If a person with the flu virus coughs, it might get on someone else's suit and from there, another person might get infected," Shinto Hirata, vice director of merchandising at Haruyama told Reuters. "Small children might catch the virus after touching their father's suit. We came up with this...