LEGAL NEWSLINE

The Iowa Court of Appeals has elected Mary Tabor, Des Moines, as chief judge. Chief Judge Tabor has served on the court of appeals since 2010. She is the eleventh chief judge since the state legislature established the Iowa Court of Appeals in 1976. She replaces Chief Judge Thomas Bower, who recently retired.

A former North Dakota State Senator pleaded guilty today to traveling to Prague, Czech Republic, to engage in commercial sex acts with minor boys.

NASHVILLE – Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, alongside a coalition of 14 other state attorneys general led by Kansas, has filed a lawsuit in federal court to halt the Biden administration's plan to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) benefits to illegal immigrants. The final rule, set to take effect on November 1, would grant taxpayer-subsidized health plans to over 200,000 illegal immigrants, including thousands in Tennessee.

Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Matthew B. Durrant has been elected president of the Conference of Chief Justices by a vote of his fellow chief justices in state courts nationwide. Chief Justice Durrant will serve as president for a one-year term beginning on August 8, 2024. He succeeds Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, who served as president for the past year.

Attorney General Raoul charges Will County woman over fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loans

Attorney General Hilgers, along with a coalition of 15 state attorneys general led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, has filed a lawsuit in federal court to prevent the Biden-Harris administration from extending Obamacare benefits to illegal aliens. The final plan, scheduled to take effect on November 1, would make over 200,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients eligible for taxpayer-subsidized health plans. This includes 2,420 individuals from Nebraska.

Two former corrections officers from the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver, West Virginia, pleaded guilty today for their roles in an assault that resulted in the death of an inmate identified by the initials Q.B. on March 1, 2022. Ashley Toney and Jacob Boothe each admitted to violating inmate Q.B.’s civil rights by failing to intervene to protect him from being physically assaulted by other correctional officers.

A former Syrian government official was indicted today in Los Angeles on criminal charges for lying to U.S. immigration authorities about his time running a Syrian prison where prisoners, including political dissidents, were physically mistreated.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – America First Legal (AFL) released documents from its lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) concerning alleged federal records concealment related to government-sponsored censorship before the 2022 midterm elections.

In December 2023, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton initiated an investigation into the major fundraising platform ActBlue to assess its compliance with applicable laws. ActBlue has faced numerous allegations of illicit activities, including claims that its platform may facilitate fraud. A key focus of the investigation is ActBlue’s previous failure to require donors to provide “CVV” codes when making credit card donations on the platform, a commonly required security measure.

The Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) announced today that it will engage with the Boston Police Department (BPD) through the COPS Office Collaborative Reform Initiative’s Critical Response program.

LANSING – On Tuesday, Kimberly Coden, 38, of Berkley, pled guilty in the 44th Circuit Court in Livingston County before Judge Suzanne Geddis to multiple felonies related to impersonating a health care professional and witness intimidation, announced Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. Coden pled to six counts of the Unauthorized Practice of a Health Profession, a felony punishable by up to four years’ imprisonment and/or $5,000; two counts of Identity Theft, a felony punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment and/or $25,000; and one count of Intimidation or Interfering...

Ongoing commercial vehicle interdiction efforts along the I-70 corridor by the Central Ohio OOCIC/HIDTA Major Drug Interdiction Task Force and the Ohio State Highway Patrol have led to two recent significant seizures, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced today.

Minnesota State Court Administrator Jeff Shorba was honored with the Mary McQueen Award for his significant contributions to justice.

A superseding indictment was returned yesterday charging two Iranian citizens, brothers Shahab Mir’kazei (Shahab) and Yunus Mir’kazei (Yunis), and one Pakistani citizen, Muhammad Pahlawan, for conspiring to provide and providing material support to Iran’s weapons of mass destruction program resulting in death and conspiring to commit violence against maritime navigation and maritime transport involving weapons of mass destruction resulting in death. Pahlawan is currently awaiting trial, while Shahab and Yunus remain at large.

In another victory for cross-agency collaboration on Ohio’s cold cases, BCI investigators and forensic scientists have linked the brutal attacks in 1987 of two northeastern Ohio females – one fatal – to the same suspect.

Wisconsin DOJ Launches Missing Child Alert

Springfield — Attorney General Kwame Raoul today encouraged Illinois families to visit his office’s tent at the 2024 Illinois State Fair.

Troutman Pepper client Hull Street Energy, a private equity firm that specializes in deploying capital into the power sector as it decarbonizes, has agreed to acquire four New York thermal power plants from J-Power USA.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Kevin Kenyatta Johnson, 28, of Gloverville, S.C., on two charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors.