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Court hears arguments on NYC's big soda ban
Court Watch |
2013/06/12 20:43
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A state appeals court panel had few sweet words Tuesday for a city health regulation that would fight diabetes and obesity by setting a size limit on sugary beverages sold in restaurants.
The four justices peppered a city lawyer with tough questions during a Manhattan court session aimed at determining whether health officials exceeded their authority in placing a 16-ounce limit on most sweetened beverages at city-licensed eateries.
The regulation would apply to thousands of fast food joints, fine restaurants and sports stadiums, but not to supermarkets or most convenience stores. It was struck down in March by a lower-court judge, who found that the rules had too many loopholes that would undermine the health benefits while arbitrarily applying to some businesses but not others. The city appealed.
During oral arguments in the case Tuesday, the judges repeatedly challenged city attorney Fay Ng to defend the rule's scientific and legal underpinnings.
Justice David Friedman said the city appeared to be asking for unprecedented authority to regulate all sorts of portion sizes, including "the number of doughnuts a person could eat, the number of scoops of ice cream" and number of servings of fried chicken.
Several times, Justice Dianne Renwick questioned whether the 16-ounce size limit was scientifically arbitrary, given that it is based on liquid volume rather than a measure of how much sugar is actually in a beverage. The limit, she noted, meant that some drinks with high amounts of sugar would be allowed, while others with less sweetener would be banned. |
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Missouri man sentenced for murder of attorney
Court Watch |
2013/05/23 18:55
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A St. Louis man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murdering a lawyer who was beaten, stabbed and strangled in a 14-minute struggle.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports 46-year-old Cleophus King entered the plea Wednesday in the March 2008 killing of Luke Meiners, an assistant St. Louis County counselor.
King’s accomplice, Ferguson resident Ronald Johnson, received the same sentence after pleading guilty in 2010.
Prosecutors said Johnson lured Meiners — an acquaintance — to King’s home by saying he needed a ride there to laundry. In fact, prosecutors said, the two had planned in advance to rob Meiners and killed him when he resisted.
Johnson and King used Meiners’ vehicle to dump his body in Venice, then stole electronics from his University City apartment. |
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Calif. to ask US high court to reject inmate order
Court Watch |
2013/05/15 07:25
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Gov. Jerry Brown's administration filed notice Monday that it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to again weigh in on the long-running prison population case.
It wants the high court to reject a lower court order requiring California to reduce its prison population by an additional 9,000 inmates by year's end. The Democratic governor had promised to appeal.
The state filed its three-page notice of appeal about a month after federal judges threatened to cite Brown with contempt if he fails to comply with a previous order upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011.
California is required to reduce its prison population to about 110,000 inmates as the best way to improve inmate medical and mental health care but remains about 9,300 inmates over the limit. Brown has said further inmate reductions are expensive, unnecessary and dangerous to the public.
"The Court did not fully or fairly consider the evidence showing that the State's prison health care now exceeds constitutional standards," the state said in its filing. |
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Court considers Calif. prison mental health care
Court Watch |
2013/04/02 17:20
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A federal judge in Sacramento is set to hear arguments Wednesday over Gov. Jerry Brown's push to regain state control of inmate mental health care after 18 years of federal oversight and billions of dollars spent to improve treatment.
Lawyers representing the state argue that California is now providing a constitutional level of care to its prison inmates, while attorneys for the inmates say more improvement is needed.
California has spent more than $1 billion in construction for mental health facilities and increased salaries to hire more and better mental health workers. It now has more than 1,700 psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, social workers and nurses to treat more than 32,000 mentally ill inmates, or about one specialist for every 19 patients.
"California has invested tremendous amounts of money, resources and effort to transform its prison mental health care system into one of the best in the country," the state said in one of its recent court filings.
Inmates' attorneys say the efforts so far are not enough and that more mental health facilities must be built and staffed. They also say more must be done to reduce a suicide rate that exceeds the national average for state and federal prisons.
California's prison suicide rate was 24 per 100,000 inmates in 2012. That compares to 16 per 100,000 inmates in other state prisons and the historical average of nine suicides per 100,000 inmates in federal prisons. |
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