Commercial-truck accidents that often cause death and severe injury are a major problem in Louisiana. For example, according to the federal government, the state ranked sixth with an annualized rate of 1.9 trucks involved in fatal semi crashes per 1,000 miles of public roads (1996-2000). The significance of this sixth-place ranking becomes obvious considering that Louisiana is 25th in total population, 23rd in population density and 31st in total area, according to the Internet Public Library. Louisiana has a relatively high concentration of fatal large-truck accidents ...

The Associated Press recently reviewed traffic citation data in Connecticut in an effort to determine the effects of the laws governing distracted driving. The laws were first implemented in 2006. Connecticut drivers may find the results to be somewhat surprising. The AP found that Connecticut men have received more tickets for talking or texting on their cellphones than Connecticut women. According to the AP, while women account for over 50 percent of the licensed drivers in Connecticut, men have received between 52 and 54 percent of the tickets for distracted driving ...

According to a new State Superior Court ruling in Bergen County, New Jersey, certain crimes that occur outside of New Jersey, but related to conduct originating in the state, are punishable under New Jersey law. The opinion states that New Jersey citizens who commit sex crimes abroad against minors who are under their control may be charged and tried in the state. The penalties are the same for crimes actually committed in New Jersey, including prison sentences and sex offender registration under the state's requirements for Megan's Law. Crimes Committed Abroad During ...

Everyone involved in the business world knows what a trade secret is and the immense value it can possess. However, the whole point of a trade secret is that a company derives value from the secret because it is just that, a secret. When a trade secret is misappropriated and/or made public, the trade secret not only loses value but the company risks losing the trade secret all together. This begs the question, is there any relief available for a company after their trade secret is misappropriated? Is there any way to put the genie back in the bottle so other companies ...

Many people who are dealing with debt problems struggle over whether to file for bankruptcy protection. Most are deterred by common bankruptcy myths, such as not being eligible for loans ever again, or losing all of their personal property. Regardless of the fears involved, bankruptcy is a major undertaking. Part of moving past these fears is learning about the debts that may be discharged and how different debts affect the property that may be protected. Unsecured vs. secured debts In a nutshell, bankruptcy law revolves around secured and unsecured debts. Distinguishing ...

When a wrong is done to your business, to you or to someone you love, it feels like it should be straightforward to get fair legal compensation for the injury or financial loss. Typically, if a business entity or person caused something bad to happen, commencing with commercial litigation or a personal injury or other civil lawsuit is usually an effective way to bring the offending party to the table to resolve the dispute. But sometimes even when right and wrong seem clear, the law that applies can be so complicated that what seems like it should be a simple case of ...

According to a new AARP report, as of July, 2012, more than 1.5 million older Americans have lost their homes in the foreclosure crisis. Millions more remain at risk. Approximately 600,000 Americans 50 years old or older are currently in foreclosure, and some 625,000 in the same age group are at least three months behind on their mortgages. About 3.5 million older homeowners -- nearly one in six -- are underwater on their mortgages, meaning they now owe more than their homes are worth. Americans over the age of 50 still have a lower rate of serious mortgage delinquency ...

On June 28, the houses of Congress reached an historic deal that will lead to big changes in the trucking industry. It wouldn't be an understatement to call the finalized bill a substantial step forward in the battle for safer American roadways; it has the potential to drastically reduce truck accidents. Provisions of New Bill Include Tougher Driver Standards, Required Data Recorders The Senate bill, called MAP-21, contains numerous truck safety provisions. Perhaps most prominent is the requirement that all commercial vehicles be equipped with Electronic On-board ...

The loss of your driving privileges can be highly disruptive to your daily routine. If you've been convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol in Washington State, or even if you've just been arrested for DUI, your license may be suspended or revoked. However, your suspension or revocation does not necessarily have to keep you from driving. An ignition interlock device is a machine that prevents a motor vehicle from starting unless the driver can provide a breath sample that measures below a preset limit for alcohol. Under Washington's ignition interlock program, ...

Texas law treats domestic violence as a serious crime. All reported acts of domestic abuse -- a crime that ranges broadly from verbal threats to physical battery -- will be investigated by law enforcement. A conviction on domestic violence charges can bring serious criminal consequences, including a lengthy prison term. Texas' domestic violence laws have tended to get stricter over time. Recently, the state changed its criminal code to broaden the definition of stalking. It did so because of the strong connection between stalking and violent crime. Data from the Bureau ...

The next time you pick up your smartphone to check your Facebook messages, boot up your netbook to check the latest news, or even use your tablet to upload pictures of your latest adventure, think about how communication has changed since 1986. Just over 35 years ago, Congress enacted the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA); a law geared to update the Federal Wiretap Act of 1968 so that electronic communications are protected as they are made, while they are in transit, and when they are stored on computers. It also prevented the government from retrieving (or ...

If you have decided you want a divorce, you need to decide what method or process you wish to use. There is traditional litigation and there are alternative methods, and you need to consider which one may best suit your circumstances. Traditional Litigation This is what most people conceive of as "a divorce." Both spouses are represented by divorce attorneys, disputes can be taken to the court where a judge will decide the issue and sign the final divorce agreement or settlement. This method is fully "adversarial," in that both sides have their ...

Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites are marketed to the public as a way to maintain interpersonal connections, and as a source of entertainment. However, the value of social media as a data-mining tool is increasingly coming to the forefront in contexts that can have important, real-world consequences. One of those contexts is the courtroom. Of course, everyone has heard the news stories about hapless criminals who post evidence of their malfeasance online. Yet, the power of social media in the courtroom often operates on a much more subtle level. More ...

Divorce can be one of the most painful and humiliating experiences a person can have in life. It may arise after months or years of strife, or because of infidelity, for example. It is no secret that hard feelings and revenge are frequently played out in court proceedings, and divorcing parties may never want to speak to each other after the divorce is final. Indeed, divorcees are entitled to their emotional pain. After all, marriage is supposed to last forever, and divorce often carries with it a strong sense of betrayal. People in these situations often don't see the ...

Unique marks are instrumental to the establishment and growth of a thriving business. Savvy businesspeople the world over know the importance of protecting their company's name, slogans and logos from imitators. Every business works hard to develop and capitalize on its reputation and good will, and it is extremely important to keep others from profiting off of that hard work or diluting or diminishing the value of the brand. In the United States, legally enforceable protection for this type of intellectual property is available through trademark registration. Although ...

An increasingly common part of doing business is dealing with non-compete agreements. Salt Lake City companies may use the contracts to protect their intellectual property, trade secrets, customer lists and other business interests. Non-compete agreements make it difficult for former employees to find similar employment in a particular field. Employees should carefully consider an agreement's conditions before signing these contracts, and may be able to challenge the terms of a non-compete agreement in court if its restrictions are unreasonably broad. Corporations ...

The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently convened a special advisory panel to deal with the ongoing issues arising from a number of metal-on-metal hip replacement components. An 18-member panel comprised of physicians and medical experts from around the country met to discuss the unique complications arising from the implantation of a number of different replacement hip components manufactured and distributed by: - Johnson & Johnson/DePuy Orthopedics - Biomet - Wright Medical - Zimmer Holdings - Encore Medical - Smith & Nephew More recently ...

When a child's parents are unmarried, whether through divorce or because they never chose to marry, moving the child's primary residence through parent relocation can be legally complicated. For example, if the child lives with the father in Pensacola and the mother lives nearby and regularly spends time with the child, and the father gets a job offer in Miami, may he move away with the child? The 600 miles between the parents would clearly interfere with the relationship of the child and the mother. Florida Relocation Law The Florida statute that controls child relocation ...

Treatment with pemetrexed, carboplatin and bevacizumab followed by maintenance pemetrexed and bevacizumab (Pem+Cb+B) is no better than standard therapy with paclitaxel, carboplatin and bevacizumab followed by bevacizumab (Pac+Cb+B) in patients with advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NS-NSCLC), according to research presented at the 2012 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology. This symposium is sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), the International Association ...

Rust – iron oxide – is a poor conductor of electricity, which is why an electronic device with a rusted battery usually won't work. Despite this poor conductivity, an electron transferred to a particle of rust will use thermal energy to continually move or "hop" from one atom of iron to the next. Electron mobility in iron oxide can hold huge significance for a broad range of environment- and energy-related reactions, including reactions pertaining to uranium in groundwater and reactions pertaining to low-cost solar energy devices. Predicting the impact of electron-hopping ...

PHILADELPHIA –This week, a strategic roadmap to help to the nation's health care system cope with the impending public health crisis caused Alzheimer's disease and related dementia will be published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association. The plan aims to link the latest scientific findings with clinical care and bring together patients, families, scientists, pharmaceutical companies, regulatory agencies, and advocacy organizations behind a common set of prioritized goals. The consensus document is the outcome of a June meeting of leading ...

The public oppose the cancer drugs fund but support the new pricing system for branded medicines, according to a new study. When asked if the NHS should pay more for cancer drugs compared to medicines for an equally serious condition, the majority of 4,118 people surveyed across Britain said it shouldn't. Medicines were favoured, however, if they met the criteria by which the value of new medicines is to be assessed as part of the value-based pricing scheme, due to be introduced from January 2014. Treatments were preferred if they were for severe diseases, if they ...

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. - Influenza outbreaks in the United States typically begin with the arrival of cold weather and then spread in seasonal waves across geographic zones. But the question of why epidemics can vary from one season to the next has baffled scientists. In a paper titled "Deviations in Influenza Seasonality: Odd Coincidence or Obscure Consequence," Elena Naumova, Ph.D., professor of civil and environmental engineering at Tufts School of Engineering, and collaborators from the U.S. and India suggest that the search for answers has been thwarted, in ...

Cambridge, Mass. – September 7, 2012 - An international, Harvard-led team of researchers have demonstrated a new type of light beam that propagates without spreading outwards, remaining very narrow and controlled along an unprecedented distance. This "needle beam," as the team calls it, could greatly reduce signal loss for on-chip optical systems and may eventually assist the development of a more powerful class of microprocessors. Based at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Carnot de Bourgogne, CNRS, in ...

New evidence shows that birds may choose their mate with the help of smell. They prefer a dissimilar mate because this gives their young a more efficient immune system. This has been shown in a new study by researchers from Lund University in Sweden, in a Swedish-French collaboration. Humans and many animals can choose a suitable mate by smell. Choosing a mate with the right smell can give the offspring an efficient immune system. This is because each individual's smell can be said to reflect information on the individual's genes. By finding the mate whose genes best ...