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07 Mar 2011 11:22

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U.S.: Supreme Court narrowly favors death row inmate’s DNA fight

  • 6-3 the SCOTUS decision to favor a Texas death-row inmate source
  • » More rights for death row inmates? Inmate Hank Skinner, based on this decision, will be able to file a civil rights lawsuit to get DNA material. It’s a narrowly-scoped decision, however, and one that only allows Skinner to claim that the state didn’t follow its own policies on acquiring DNA evidence. What does that mean, in layman’s terms? It means that inmates don’t have a broad constitutional right to acquire DNA material in court – a decision which would have much larger ramifications and give inmates a quite-large bargaining point in criminal cases (including the ability for their defense to independently test such DNA material). Still, though, it buys Skinner time.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Mar 2011 11:00

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U.S.: Wisconsin Senate Dems pushing for border-line meeting

  • yesterday A report came out suggesting that Wisconsin Democrats were willing to come back to the state without any major victories in tow. The report was later denied, with one state senator suggesting they were taken out of context.
  • today State Sen. Mark Miller is in fact pushing for a meeting between Walker, the Senate Majority Leader and the Dems near the Wisconsin-Illinois border. We bet Walker will trap one of them in a car and bring them back to Madison. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Mar 2011 10:42

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World: Libya: The United Nations pushes for large humanitarian offering

  • 400k the number of people leaving Libya that the United Nations expects to need aid
  • 600k the number of people inside Libya that the UN thinks will need varying degrees of help
  • $160M the amount that the UN wants to set aside to help with the crisis in Libya source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Mar 2011 10:29

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Biz: Twitter valuation: A stock auction suggests they’re growing in value

  • $7.7 billion valuation based on a private stock auction source
  • » Worth noting: Just three months ago, that valuation was $3.75 billion, so this is a pretty big jump for the company. Still not Facebook numbers, but getting there. We credit the Dickbar.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Mar 2011 10:14

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World: Did Iraq’s al-Maliki take offices away from protest leaders?

  • cause In recent weeks, protests against Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s government have increased, along with protests across the entire Middle East. It’s a trend or something.
  • reaction? Suddenly, two of the political parties protesting were forced to close their offices by security forces controlled by al-Maliki. They didn’t explain why they took the offices from the parties. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Mar 2011 01:02

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Biz: Mideast ripple effect: Gas prices’ second-highest spike ever

  • 32.7¢ the increase in gas prices in the past two weeks, caused by the drama in the Middle East – the second-largest jump on record
  • 38.44¢ the largest jump in gas prices on record, which happened in 2005 – immediately after this storm called Hurricane Katrina source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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