A terrible tragedy has taken place in Michigan, with a 12-year-old boy accused of killing his 9-year-old companion. The decision to try such cases in adult court raises two fundamental questions. First, is this a reasonable course of action when the defendant is just...
General News
Sober Driver Arrested for DUI After Deputy Crashes into Her
A 25-year-old woman, with nothing so much as a speeding ticket blemishing her record, is arrested for drunk driving after an officer rolls through a stop sign and hits her car. The woman was injured so seriously in the accident, she couldn’t blow into a breath-testing...
SWAT team kills St. Paul family’s dogs during raid, no arrests made
A St. Paul couple says they’re talking with an attorney about a possible lawsuit after a SWAT team killed the family’s two pit bulls while executing a search warrant, the Pioneer Press reports. Camille Perry, who is eight months pregnant, told the newspaper she threw...
Feds say Mexican drug cartels operating in Bakken oil towns
GLENDIVE – Jails in the Bakken area are overbooked and law enforcement is maxed out as drug-related crime surges in Montana and North Dakota oil patch communities. Deputies, prosecutors and local drug counselors made the case Friday for more federal help during a...
Trial by Fire: Junk Science Sent Dad to Prison for Killing Wife, Kids
For the 26 years David Lee Gavitt sat in a Michigan prison, he told everyone who would listen that he did not set the fire that killed his wife and two baby girls. Nearly 25 years would pass before some of the nation’s top fire experts would tell him they believed...
North Dakota’s Downside to the Oil Boom: Traffic Deaths
Nowhere has the U.S. oil boom wrought as much change as in western North Dakota, where an influx of people chasing a gusher of well-paying jobs has led to some of the nation’s highest apartment rents. But the energy rush has also created a sharp jump in fatalities as...
Florida Judge Tells Attorney ‘I’ll Beat Your Ass,’ Allegedly Does Just That
A war of words between a judge and attorney in Florida ended after the judge allegedly punched the attorney in the head. Judge John Murphy of Brevard County, Florida, challenged veteran public defender Andrew Weinstock to a fight on Monday, and it was all caught on...
Witness tampering charge against Grand Forks attorney Henry Howe to be dismissed
Updated 10:33 a.m. May 9, 2014: A murder conspiracy case against a Grand Forks attorney that had been downgraded to witness-tampering may soon be dismissed altogether, according to documents the prosecutor filed in state district court Thursday afternoon. Henry Howe...
Colorado fourth graders caught selling grandparents’ marijuana at elementary school
GREELEY, Colo. (AP) — School officials in northern Colorado are asking parents to take care with their newly legal recreational marijuana, after fourth graders were caught dealing the drug on an elementary school campus. John Gates, director of safety for Weld County...
Oil revenue way up for tribes; money going to roads and other infrastructure
NEW TOWN, N.D. – In less than one year, the Three Affiliated Tribes have collected $184 million in oil tax revenue, nearly equal to the amount collected during the entire 2011-13 biennium. The jump in revenue is primarily due to increased oil production at Fort...