AScribe Law News Service articles from January 2004

AScribe Law News Service archives from January 2004

RIAA Lawsuits Against Online Music File Sharers Appear to Have Had Devastating Impact on Number of Those Engaging in Internet Peer-to-Peer Music Sharing.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Pew Internet & American Life Project WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (AScribe Newswire) -- The percentage of online Americans downloading music files on the Internet has dropped by half and the numbers who are downloading files on any given day...

American Lung Association Report Cites California's Smoke-Free Air, Youth Tobacco Laws Among Best in Country; State Falls Short on Tobacco Control and Prevention Spending, Cigarette Tax Rate.
January 6, 2004... Byline: American Lung Association SACRAMENTO, Calif., Jan. 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- California's tobacco prevention and control laws and funding earned the state two A grades, a C and an F in the American Lung Association's annual State of...

NAFTA: Commission on Environmental Cooperation Resolutions Hinder Citizen Participation Process of North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, Report Says.
January 7, 2004... Byline: Environmental Law Institute WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (AScribe Newswire) -- Although the North American Free Trade Agreement's (NAFTA) environmental side accord includes an innovative public participation component, recent practices...

Two Georgia Cases Illustrate Pervasive Bias in Child Welfare, Advocacy Group Says.
January 8, 2004... Byline: National Coalition for Child Protection Reform ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 8 (AScribe Newswire) -- Two cases from the same city, involving the same child welfare agency, making headlines the same week, illustrate the double standards and...

Vanderbilt University Experts: 2004 Presidential Election.
January 9, 2004... Byline: Vanderbilt University NASHVILLE, Tenn., Jan. 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- Vanderbilt University today released the following list of experts available to comment on the 2004 Presidential Elections. Contact Ann Marie Deer Owens, below,...

Web Site Links Private Industry to World-Class U.S. Department of Veterans Research.
January 12, 2004... Byline: The National Technology Transfer Center WHEELING, W.Va., Jan. 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- A new Web site (http://www.nttc.edu/imprprogram/) gives U.S. private industry access to technologies developed from more than $1 billion in...

Bazelon Center Statement on Tennesee v. Lane Supreme Court Disability Case.
January 12, 2004... Byline: Bazelon Center WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- The Supreme Court will hear arguments in Tennessee v. Lane and Jones tomorrow morning. The Court's ruling in the case could have profound implications for the roughly 49...

American Cancer Society Marks 40th Anniversary of Landmark Surgeon General's Report, Heralds California's 1994 Smoke-Free Workplace Law.
January 12, 2004... Byline: American Cancer Society SACRAMENTO, Calif., Jan. 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- The American Cancer Society today marked the 40th anniversary of the first U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health. This landmark 1964 report was...

Securities Fraud Expert: Vanderbilt University Expert Can Comment on Martha Stewart.(Brief Article)
January 14, 2004... Byline: Vanderbilt University NASHVILLE, Jan. 14 (AScribe Newswire) -- Is Martha Stewart really on trial for saying she's innocent? Larry Soderquist, professor of law at Vanderbilt University and director of the Corporate and Securities...

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Launches Year-Long Civil Rights Campaign '2004. Civil Rights: Rekindle the Dream' to Revive Dr. King's Vision for America.
January 15, 2004... Byline: Leadership Conference on Civil Rights WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- Today, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the nation's oldest, largest, and most diverse civil and human rights coalition, launched a...

New Bush Marriage Promotion Proposal May Fall Short of Goals, Expert Says.
January 15, 2004... Byline: Ohio State University COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- President Bush's $1.5 billion proposal to promote marriage, especially among low-income couples, is likely to have mixed results at best, according to a researcher...

Congressional Voting Record Demonstrates Erosion of Bipartisan Support for Civil Rights; Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Issues Report Card on First Session of the 108th Congress.
January 16, 2004... Byline: Leadership Conference on Civil Rights WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (AScribe Newswire) -- Key votes during the first session of the 108th Congress showed declining bipartisan support for protecting civil rights, according to the Civil Rights...

Computer Forensics at RIT to Prepare Next Generation of Crime Fighters; New Course Will Explore Techniques, Legalities of Retrieving Computer Files.
January 16, 2004... Byline: Rochester Institute of Technology ROCHESTER, N.Y., Jan. 16 (AScribe Newswire) -- It's the hottest topic on prime time television, but crime scene investigation is increasingly more complex than what's depicted in a glitzy one-hour...

Toxic Brew of Chemicals Cooked up in Methamphetamine Laboratories.
January 19, 2004... Byline: National Jewish Medical and Research Center DENVER, Jan. 19 (AScribe Newswire) -- People "cooking" methamphetamine in thousands of clandestine laboratories across the nation produce a toxic cloud of hydrochloric acid, phosphine,...

What If They Had Voted? Society of Professional Journalists Reconstructs Senate Voice Vote on Iraq Spending.
January 20, 2004... Byline: Society of Professional Journalists INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., Jan. 20 (AScribe Newswire) -- Remember the $87 billion investment in Iraq made after a secret pact in the United States Senate resulted in a "voice vote" attended by precisely...

Malpractice Insurance Premiums Lower in States With Caps on Damage Awards, Health Affairs Analysis Shows.
January 20, 2004... Byline: Health Affairs BETHESDA, Md., Jan. 21 (AScribe Newswire) -- Medical malpractice insurance premiums are 17.1 percent lower in states that have capped court awards, although the lack of such tort reform measures in other states does...

Black History Month: Insights From Faculty at Indiana University Bloomington.
January 21, 2004... Byline: Indiana University BLOOMINGTON, Ind., Jan. 21 (AScribe Newswire) -- February is Black History Month. Indiana University is home to many faculty members and academic units specializing in African American life and culture. Below is...

New California First Amendment Coalition Officers Installed.
January 21, 2004... Byline: California First Amendment Coalition SACRAMENTO, Jan. 21 (AScribe Newswire) -- The San Francisco Chronicle's Reader Representative was elected as California First Amendment Coalition president along with a new vice president and...

Groups Plan California Lawsuit Against Farmed Salmon Over PCB Levels.
January 22, 2004... Byline: Environmental Working Group OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 22 (AScribe Newswire) -- The Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) have filed legal notice under California's main toxics law, Proposition...

Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law Statement on the President's Proposed Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative.
January 22, 2004... Byline: Bazelon Center WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (AScribe Newswire) -- The following is a statement by Chris Koyanagi, policy director at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, on the $300 million prisoner re-entry initiative proposed in...

Moravian College Professor Edits Book on Civil Rights Act of 1964; Collection of Articles, Speeches, Text of the Law Released for Landmark Legislation's 40th Anniversary.
January 22, 2004... Byline: Moravian College BETHLEHEM, Penn., Jan. 22 (AScribe Newswire) -- Robert H. Mayer, professor of education at Moravian College and advisor for the historical studies major in its Department of Education, has edited a book of original...

Illinois Supreme Court Decision on Death Penalty Hailed by Chicago Legal Justice Group.(Brief Article)
January 23, 2004... Byline: Valerie Denney Communications CHICAGO, Jan. 23 (AScribe Newswire) -- The MacArthur Justice Center hailed the Illinois Supreme Court's decision today that former Gov. George Ryan has the power to commute the sentences of every death...

Purdue University Experts: Black History Month.
January 23, 2004... Byline: Purdue University WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Jan. 23 (AScribe Newswire) -- Purdue University experts are available to talk about a variety of issues related to Black History Month, such as poverty, W.E.B. DuBois, black women and Huey P....

Society of Professional Journalists FOI Alert: Judge Orders Private University to Release Police Records.
January 27, 2004... Byline: Society of Professional Journalists MACON, Ga., Jan. 27 (AScribe Newswire) -- When a private university employs sworn police officers who have the power to arrest and press charges against suspects, then the school is serving a...

Advancing Low-Wage Workers to Self-Sufficiency: Jobs for the Future Launches Series of Reports on What Works, What's Needed in Federal, State, Local Policy and Practice.
January 28, 2004... Byline: Jobs for the Future BOSTON, Jan. 28 (AScribe Newswire) -- Jobs for the Future announces "Advancement for Low-Wage Workers," a new publication series designed to elevate discussion of an issue critical to the nation. "Across our...

Celebrate Black History Month at Harvard Medical School With NAACP Chairman Julian Bond.
January 28, 2004... Byline: Harvard University Medical School BOSTON, Jan. 28 (AScribe Newswire) -- Harvard Medical School today released the following advisory. WHAT: Reflection in Action: Building Healthy Communities This day dedicated to the Civil...

New Great Lakes Funding Welcome, But 'Drop in the Bucket'; President Urged to 'Catch Up' to Bi-Partisan, $6 Billion Restoration.
January 28, 2004... Byline: Valerie Denney Communications CHICAGO, Jan. 28 (AScribe Newswire) -- Though conservation organizations welcome an expected announcement tomorrow by U.S. EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt of increased funding for toxic sediment cleanup...

MacArthur Foundation Provides More Than $1.5 Million in Suppport of Human Rights in Russia.
January 29, 2004... Byline: MacArthur Foundation CHICAGO, Jan. 29 (AScribe Newswire) -- The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced six grants totaling more than $1.5 million in support of six Moscow-based organizations that serve as...

Gill Foundation Awards $1.1 Million in Grants to National and Non-Urban Organizations; Grants Support Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Causes, HIV/AIDS Programs.
January 29, 2004... Byline: The Gill Foundation DENVER, Jan. 29 (AScribe Newswire) -- The Gill Foundation, the largest funder of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organizations in the nation granted $1.1 million in its final docket for 2003 to...

'Maintaining the Balance - A Closer Look at the USA Patriot Act: Protecting National Security and Civil Liberties'; Town Hall Meeting at Cal State Fullerton Feb. 12.
January 30, 2004... Byline: Calif. State University, Fullerton FULLERTON, Calif., Jan. 30 (AScribe Newswire) -- The USA Patriot Act will be the subject of a Town Hall at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12, at Cal State Fullerton in the Titan Student Union's Portola...

Leading Gun Safety Group Uses Convio Internet Tools to Triple Constituent Base in 90 Days, Gets 40 Percent to Sign Gun Laws Petition; Convio Powers Brady Campaign/Million Mom March's Celebrity-Studded NRA 'Blacklist' Viral Initiative to Mobilize Grassroots Support in Busy Legislative Year.
January 30, 2004... Byline: Convio AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 30 (AScribe Newswire) -- Gearing up for a busy year on Capitol Hill, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence United with the Million Mom March has more than tripled the number of people in its email...