During this summer, the Virginia State Police (VSP) and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) Conservation Police worked on a public awareness campaign to remind boaters that if they are intoxicated and boating, they can be caught and charged with Boating under the Influence (BUI), with the same penalties as driving under the influence (DUI). The campaign notes that 57 percent of fatal boating accidents in 2011 resulted from intoxicated boaters. The video produced by the state police and the conservation police makes their case explicit, when a ...

This August, concrete rained down onto the sidewalks around Grand Central Terminal in New York City, miraculously harming no one. However, this incident highlights the dangers of the city's sidewalks that New York personal injury lawyers regularly hear about from their injured clients. Fortunately, there is legal recourse for someone injured while walking the streets of New York. Raining Concrete at Grand Central Terminal Last month, a tractor-trailer truck struck the side of New York's Grand Central Terminal, causing large chunks of concrete and part of a railing ...

When semi trucks are involved in crashes, people can die. Most of the people that die are in smaller passenger vehicles traveling alongside the 18-wheelers. If semi truck drivers are intoxicated behind the wheel, the potential for harm is even greater. Data compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that three percent of more than 10,000 fatal alcohol-related crashes in 2010 (the most recent year such data was available) were caused by commercial vehicle drivers. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) implemented special, ...

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, or FMCSA, announced at the end of August that it will implement several provisions of its ambitious strategic plan, Moving Ahead for Progress in 21st Century, or MAP-21. The FMCSA's goal is to develop 29 new rules in the next 27 months. These rules will likely improve safety for all road users over the next few years. Rule Changes to Take Place by October 2012 In an aggressive move, by this October, the FMCSA will change its rules on how it reprimands motor carriers that are found to be immediately dangerous to other ...

Texting and driving is dangerous. Everyone from U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood to the local police department is shouting from the rooftops the dangers posed by texting and driving. Nevertheless, texting is just the most recent of the laundry list of items that can distract a driver and cause a car crash. Changing radio stations, brushing one's hair, eating a hamburger from a drive-through, glancing at papers on the passenger's seat, programming your GPS, the list goes on and on. And in Georgia, all of them are illegal if they cause driver distraction, ...

In August 2011, the Obama Administration announced it would review the cases of around 300,000 undocumented immigrants scheduled for deportation. In an attempt to utilize its resources more efficiently, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is focusing on deporting undocumented individuals with criminal records who are national security risks. In fiscal 2011, the United States deported nearly 400,000 undocumented individuals but only about 55 percent had criminal records. Though expectations were high, immigration prosecutors had only reviewed about nine percent ...

"Baby boomer divorce." "Gray divorce." "Senior-citizen divorce." "Elder divorce." Regardless of what you call it, there is an unmistakable fact about the so-called "greatest generation": older Americans are getting a lot of divorces. According to Bowling Green State University's National Center for Family & Marriage Research, the divorce rate of those 50 and older have more than doubled since 1990. Many of those same people get remarried, something which in itself, ironically, can foreshadow more divorce. The divorce ...

Bacterial meningitis is a serious illness. Each year in the United States it kills roughly 500 people and threatens the lives of 3,600 more. While people of any age are at risk, infants have a higher risk of contracting bacterial meningitis than all other age groups. What Causes Bacterial Meningitis in Infants? Bacterial meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes covering the spinal cord and the brain (the meninges) caused by the presence of bacteria. The bacteria originate in some other part of the body, are spread by the bloodstream to the fluid around the spinal ...

Riding bicycles is a large part of the appeal and culture of Southern California. While thousands of riders make use of trails and special bike paths in parks, many riders take to bike lanes on city streets. With such widespread interest, motorists must be mindful of how vulnerable bicyclists are while riding in traffic. This is especially important as cars pass bicyclists and cross into bike lanes while making turns. In fact, many bicyclist fatalities in California are caused when drivers fail to yield to riders or give them proper space to maneuver. The State Assembly ...

Car accidents are scary. They can put your life in chaos, result in a mountain of medical bills, take lives and cause vast amounts of stress. When an accident happens, it is important to take steps to both ensure your physical recovery and protect your legal rights. What to Do in Case of an Accident Immediately after an accident, take a moment to check for injuries. If you or a loved one has been hurt, emergency authorities should be notified immediately so that treatment can begin. Once that has been done, though, it is important to assess the property damage and ...

If the driver of a sedan is pulled over and charged with DWI, it can cause some challenges. The inconvenience of a suspended license, the possibility of jail time, as well as the financial hit caused by hefty fines, the court fees and the increased insurance premiums are all significant consequences that no one wants to face. If the driver of a semi truck or other commercial driver's license holder is convicted of DUI, though, the penalties are even steeper. Commercial License DWI/DUI The larger the vehicle, the more possibility for damage in the event of an accident. ...

Recent news regarding foreclosure rates in Connecticut shows that plenty of homeowners are still in peril of losing their homes due to financial distress. Real estate analysts disclosed that Connecticut's foreclosure rate more than doubled between July 2011 and July 2012. Looking at current foreclosure rates on the regional level, New Haven County had the second highest rate in the state, with one in every 854 housing units in the county in foreclosure. In Fairfield County, the rate is slightly better at one of every 903 units, but the rate is much higher in cities like ...

Ubiquitous. Definition: existing everywhere, present everywhere at once or seeming to be. The cellphone is ubiquitous. No matter where you go, whether to the store, restaurants, bars, parks, movies, streets and cars. Today, cars seem to have become the new phone booths. Many drivers are on the phone before they have even backed the car out of the driveway. Is Anyone Paying Attention? How could they be? The phones are so enticing. Not just talking, but texting, surfing the web, shopping (one click!), checking sports scores, updating Facebook, who has time to watch ...

The Community Action for a Safer Tomorrow Coalition (CAST) has announced that the local community is going to increase its efforts to reduce drunk driving accidents and underage drinking. The members of CAST are a taskforce of local police, highway control, representatives from the local school district and other community members. Together they plan to provide more education, more DUI checkpoints and more training for law enforcement to deter people from driving under the influence. CAST has revealed that since March 1, 2012, the police have conducted 46 DUI checkpoints ...

While more law enforcement agencies are moving towards "no refusal" protocols to take suspected drunk drivers off the road, those who are convicted are more likely to receive probation rather than jail time. Indeed, probation is common for first time offenders as many accept the terms of probation. However, a growing number of repeat offenders are receiving probation; even those convicted of their third DWI. According to a report by WOAI.com (WOAI 4 News), just over half of all felony DWI offenders across all Bexar County District Courts receive probation in cases ...

While reports emerge about the nation's improving housing market, the effects of the ongoing foreclosure crisis still affects millions of Americans, especially the elderly. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) recently reported that nearly than 600,000 people age 50 and older are facing foreclosure, and an estimated 625,000 are at least 90 days delinquent on their mortgage payments. At the end of 2011, nearly three percent of loans held by older Americans had been foreclosed; eight times the number of foreclosures affecting older homeowners in 2007 (the year ...

Jewel Lewis-Hall, 57, works two jobs. Her husband lost his job at a farmer's market and has been unable to earn much money since. They live a fairly modest lifestyle, driving a 1991 car for example, but they are still unable to make enough money to pay the mortgage on their Washington home. They had been making late payments for around a year when the dreaded foreclosure letter arrived. Now, what was once a bright future is much less certain and hopeful. The housing market crash hit older Americans particularly hard. According to a new AARP Public Policy Institute report, ...

In a high-profile criminal matter like the recent murder trial of Drew Peterson, the testimony of one witness can make or break the case. Chicago criminal defense attorney Ralph E. Meczyk demonstrated the importance of effective cross-examination in the Peterson trial, exposing important nuances in witness testimony. One of six defense attorneys representing Peterson, Meczyk avoided the media spotlight throughout the course of the trial. "It's not my style," he explained to the Chicago Tribune. Instead, he chose to shine inside the courtroom, specifically ...

It is a question faced by law enforcement agencies around the country: are eyewitness identifications trustworthy? Research performed by The Innocence Project indicates that they aren't. Innocence Project figures reveal that up to 75 percent of cases wherein a wrongfully convicted individual's innocence was proven by DNA testing involved a misidentification by an eyewitness. Virginia's Eyewitness Identification Policies Fourteen of The Innocence Project's 289 overturned wrongful convictions have been in Virginia. As a result, the Commonwealth's law enforcement agencies ...

On August 3, Washington governor Christine Gregoire visited Prosser as part of a two-day tour of the state. One of the questions posed to Governor Gregoire in Prosser concerned her stance on a state law policy recently revealed by a new government report. A performance report conducted by the state auditor's office was released just prior to the governor's visit, and its main focus was sex offenders in child care, foster care and school settings. According to data in the report, 28 registered sex offenders lived in state regulated or subsidized child care settings during ...

The state of Florida held its Drowsy Driving Awareness Week in early September, 2012, in honor of a little Tallahassee girl who died when a cement truck hit the vehicle she was riding in. Tragically, the truck driver had fallen asleep at the wheel. The Florida Department of Transportation reports that in 2011, drowsy drivers were involved in almost 3,000 road accidents in the state. In those crashes, 2,393 people were hurt and 21 died. Not only are people at risk of falling asleep when they drive while too tired, but also their response times and alertness are dulled. ...

A new cooperative initiative between the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) is currently being launched with the aim of fostering construction fall prevention. Construction Falls: Deadly but Preventable Incidents Every year, 225 construction workers die and more than 10,000 are injured in construction falls. In 2010, 264 of the 774 total construction fatalities in the United States were caused by falls, and most of these were falls ...

Due to a grant funded by the Texas Department of Transportation, drivers in the San Antonio and greater Bexar County areas are subject to enhanced DWI/DUI enforcement. What does that added enforcement entail? Well, for one thing, it means that anyone pulled over and suspected to be under the influence of alcohol must provide a blood or breath sample for alcohol testing. The "no-refusal" program began several years ago as an effort by law enforcement agencies to fight drunk driving during periods of notoriously high alcohol consumption. Since July 4th is the ...

Disagreements between shareholders can often escalate into hostile disputes that lead to the ruin of an otherwise successful company. Disputes may be over the future direction of the company, how to best downsize a company or transfer ownership, contractual obligations and a plethora of other business concerns. However, shareholder disputes need not spell the end of a business or business relationship. There are steps that can be taken to deescalate the situation and come to a positive conclusion. Shareholder Disputes: Arguments Protected by Law First, it is important ...

When a California divorce involves legal determinations regarding children, the resulting complexities can pose challenges even if the couple is generally in agreement. Statutory provisions regarding child support and custody require that children's best interests must also be taken into account. California recently provided even stronger attention to children's expressed interests in child custody determinations. Following recommendations from a statewide family law task force, California legislators approved more effective child custody procedures to improve the experience ...