Ruling Against Arizona May be Warning to Other States: The New York Times reports that a federal judge's decision to block central provisions of the states immigration law from taking effect while she finishes hearing the case, vindicated the Obama administration’s high-stakes move to challenge the law. Judge Susan Bolton's decision may be a preview of her thoughts on the case and an indication that the government may prevail in its challenge to the law.
Where has the Oil Gone? Fourteen days after the oil well in the Gulf of Mexico was closed, scientists are left wondering where a substantial portion of the oil has gone. The Washington Post reports that up to 4 million barrels (167 million gallons) remains unaccounted for in government statistics. Some of it has, most likely, been cleaned up by nature. Other amounts may be gone from the water, but they might have become contaminants in the air, or in landfills around the Gulf Coast.
Insurers May Be Cheating Fallen Soldiers' Families: Bloomberg reports that when an American soldier dies in combat, his family benefits from a $400,000 life insurance policy. That is, unless the insurer handling the policy is Prudential Financial, Metlife. Those companies offer bereaved families a “checkbook” for a secure account. What the companies reportedly don’t say is that there’s no special account for each family: the money is held in a general corporate account that is not guaranteed by the FDIC. It earns a tiny amount of interest, sometimes 0.5 percent, compared to what a real bank account would earn.
Pornographers, Keep Those Records Handy: A federal judge in Philadelphia has refused to strike down portions of the federal Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act that require photographers and filmmakers to maintain records that verify the age and identity of anyone depicted in a sexually explicit film or photograph. The Legal Intelligencer reports that Judge Michael Baylson rejected the plaintiffs' claim that the record-keeping requirements are overbroad because they apply to "all expression containing sexual imagery -- no matter how fleeting, no matter how artistic or valuable as political commentary or journalistic documentary, no matter how clear it is that the persons depicted are middle-aged adults."
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