Well, that didn't take long. Just hours after the Supreme Court's takedown of the D.C. gun ban, a challenge was filed in court against Chicago's similar ban, and Mayor Richard Daley was vowing to fight it. Here's what he said:
Daley called the ruling "very frightening" and vowed to vigorously fight any attempt to invalidate the city's ban.
And you thought airlines were outrageous in the way they're charging for all the extras:
Bob Zaltsberg is the editor of the Bloomington Herald-Times and back in April he got the idea to send one of his 12 reporters out on a big story, the passing through southern Indiana of the Barack Obama whirlwind.
Driving is bad for the evironment. Walking is healthy for you. So, naturally, it doesn't take a genius to see what to do -- it just takes two Candaian aldermen:
Calgary should consider banning new drive-thrus, two aldermen say -- a suggestion that received a chilly reception from some drivers Wednesday.
In a city trying to put pedestrians first and cars last, blocking new drive-thrus from being built makes sense, said Ald. Brian Pincott.
Here's the big one everybody has been waiting for:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Washington D.C.'s sweeping ban on handguns is unconstitutional.
The justices voted 5-4 against the ban with Justice Antonin Scalia writing the opinion for the majority.
The Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at IPFW did a poll asking Hoosiers how much they respected 10 well-known figures, mostly politicians. Please, don't be too shocked, but the politicians didn't come out on top:
The most respected out of the list of 10 figures was Mother Teresa - the late Nobel Peace Prize winner for her humanitarian work - with Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy following closely.
I think District Court Judge David Hamilton made the right call that Indiana's law allowing warrantless monitoring of former sex offenders' Internet activity was unconstitutionally broad. The law would have applied to those who had already served the sentences handed down to themand who, therefore, presumably have the same rights as everybody else.
Oh, shut up, Ralph:
Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader accused Sen. Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic Party nominee, of downplaying poverty issues, trying to "talk white" and appealing to "white guilt" during his run for the White House.
I've been trying to learn how to talk white all my life, and I don't have it quite down yet. Maybe Obama will have better luck.
Here we go again -- a 4-4 tie, so Kennedy gets to write the majority opinion:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday that child rapists cannot be executed, concluding capital punishment is reserved for murderers.
The ruling stemmed from the case of Patrick Kennedy, who has been on Louisiana's death row since 2003, when he was sentenced to be executed for raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter.
I've written some controversial editorials in my time and gotten roundly denounced by people in authority for causing some kind of damage or other to some cherished belief or community institution. But I don't think I ever got accused of doing the most damage in 50 years:
Massachusetts is considering a Jessica's Law that would require a mandatory 20-year sentence for the rape of a child under 12. State Rep. James Fagan, who is also a defense attorney, has outraged victims' rights advocates by saying, during a recent floor debate, that he would "rip apart" 6-year-old victims on the witness stand and "make sure the rest of their life is ruined." Reports the Boston Herald:
