The bill also requires clearer reporting of home state projects, denies pension benefits to those convicted of serious crimes and requires lawmakers to pay the full price fare when traveling on chartered planes. Opponents of the bill complained the measure discouraged free speech by deterring petition drives, but majority leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) called the measure "the most significant legislation in ethics and lobbying reform we've had in the history of this country."

Paul and D.J. Zweigle, who lost their beloved two-year-old daughter Lynnea when a Ford F-250 truck backed over and killed her, today called upon the automotive industry to install rear camera systems and sensors in commercial trucks and large vans, pickup trucks and SUVs to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries each year that result from backover crashes.

On the morning of November 8, 2005, Mrs. Zweigle was preparing to take her six year-old son, Kaleb, to his art class, along with her two other young children, four year-old Jacob and Lynnea who was twenty-two months-old. The children were playing in the open yard in front of the house and immediately adjacent to the driveway.

Mrs. Zweigle went inside to retrieve a blanket and sippy cup from the house. During that time, a driver from a local trash company, Double J Disposal, Inc., drove up the Zweigle’s driveway and loaded their trash into the back of his Ford F-250 pickup truck.

The truck had a significant blind zone and lacked a rear video camera or any other devices, such as sensors, to alert the driver to the presence of individuals immediately behind the truck.

While backing up to turn around and leave the driveway, the vehicle struck Lynnea, causing her to fall to the ground, and then continued to back up and run over her. Her brother, Kaleb, saw the accident occur and immediately began to scream. Mrs. Zweigle ran out of the house to find Lynnea’s body lying in the driveway. Lynnea Zweigle died in her driveway of massive cranial cerebral injuries.

"Lynnea was a happy child who loved life and playing with her older brothers. No compensation will ever remedy the pain and loss that our family has suffered from the death of our beloved daughter," stated Paul and D.J. Zweigle. "We wish to honor Lynnea by bringing to the public’s attention that scores of children each year across America are needlessly killed and injured in backover incidents."

In a report issued to Congress in November 2006 by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA), the agency estimated, relying on 1998 data, that backover crashes involving all vehicle types cause at least 183 fatalities annually, with many of victims being children. In addition, between 6,700 and 7,419 injuries result from backover crashes per year.

Based on its research, the non-profit organization KIDS AND CARS states that "every year, thousands of children are hurt or die because a driver backing up didn't see them." Most of the victims are less than two years old, and over 60% of the tragedies involved a larger size vehicle such a truck, van or SUV. While backover incidents can happen in any vehicle because all vehicles have a blind zone, KIDS AND CARS notes that larger vehicles tend to have larger blind zones.

"Several technologies exist which can help reduce backover accidents," stated Paul and D.J. Zweigle. "We call upon the automotive industry to make rear video cameras and sensors standard equipment on commercial trucks and large vans, pickups and SUVs to stop this national tragedy. Companies that have purchased these vehicles should immediately undertake measures to improve the safety of their vehicles."

In litigation against Double J Disposal, Inc., which was resolved in December 2006, the Zweigles asked the trash company to install a rear video camera system on all of their trucks. To date, the company has agreed to install a rear video camera on the vehicle that killed their beloved daughter and the family continues to seek additional safety measures. “We call upon Double J Disposal to install rear video camera systems or other backup safety devices on all of their trucks,” stated Paul Zweigle.

Wendy R. Fleishman, a partner at the national law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, which represented the Zweigles, commented, "I applaud the Zweigles for their courage and determination to raise the public’s awareness of backover incidents involving children. If all companies agreed to install safety systems on all of their large vehicles, millions of children nationwide would no longer be at risk of being the victim of a backover crash."

“We know young children are impulsive and have poor or no appreciation of risks obvious to adults,” stated attorney Fabrice N. Vincent of Lieff Cabraser. “Every life is precious and automobile and truck makers, owners and operators should take action now to stop scores of toddlers from being killed year after year simply because they were in the blind zone of large vehicles.”

To learn more about the dangers of backover accidents and ways to avoid them, please visit www.kidsandcars.org or www.vehicle-injuries.com/backoveraccident.htm.

Four families whose daughters were sexually assaulted by predators they met on popular internet social network MySpace sued owner News Corp this week for negligence and fraud, the lawyers representing the families said in a statement.

The families, from New York, Texas, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, filed suits in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday. The suits involve five girls, ranging in age from 14 to 15 years old, who the lawyers said were lured to meet with older MySpace members and sexually assaulted.

One 15-year-old girl was drugged and assaulted in 2006 by an older MySpace user, the lawyers said. The user pleaded guilty to sexual assault and is serving a 10-year sentence, they said.

Last year, the parents of a 14-year-old girl in Austin, Texas, sued MySpace for $US30 million after she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old man she met on the network.

"In our view, MySpace waited entirely too long to attempt to institute meaningful security measures that effectively increase the safety of their underage users," Jason Itkin, an lawyer at law firm Arnold & Itkin LLP, which is representing the families, said in a statement.

Ulmer & Berne LLP, a major Ohio-based law firm with four offices throughout the Midwest, announced today that two of its partners, Jeffrey S. Dunlap and John J. Haggerty, have been elected to take on larger roles within the Firm.

Jeffrey S. Dunlap has been named chair of the Firm's Employment & Labor Group. Mr. Dunlap replaces Thomas H. Barnard who has served as chair of the group since 1995 and has over 35 years of experience in employment and labor matters. Mr. Barnard will continue to actively participate in the Firm's Employment & Labor Group.

As a partner with Ulmer & Berne, Mr. Dunlap represents clients in a wide range of employment and commercial disputes. He has significant experience in employment discrimination cases, complex business and securities litigation and unfair competition matters. In addition to handling matters in trial and appellate courts, Mr. Dunlap has extensive experience in arbitration and mediation. A frequent speaker on a number of legal topics, he also drafts employment contracts and counsels clients regarding employment policies and procedures. Mr. Dunlap was recently named as an Ohio Super Lawyer for 2007.

John J. Haggerty has been named chair of the Firm's Business Litigation Group. Mr. Haggerty replaces Ronald H. Isroff who has been chair of the practice group since its inception and has been litigating business disputes for more than 35 years. Mr. Isroff will continue to actively practice and contribute his expertise to the Firm's Business Litigation Group.

As a partner with Ulmer & Berne, Mr. Haggerty's practice focuses on complex commercial, product liability, mass tort, and class action litigation. He is the former general counsel and a member of the board of directors of ICI Paints. Mr. Haggerty represents companies in nationwide litigation, including tobacco, lead paint, asbestos and welding rod litigation. He has extensive trial experience in both federal and state courts throughout the United States. Mr. Haggerty was recently named to The BTI Client Service All-Star Team for Law Firms for 2007. This honor was awarded to only 113 attorneys across the nation for their ability to deliver "the absolute best client service". John also received top billing in Ohio by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in the publication's most recent 2006 guide.

Ulmer & Berne LLP, established in 1908, is one of Ohio's largest law firms, as well as one of the fastest growing in the Midwest. A full-service firm with 185 attorneys in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Chicago, Ulmer & Berne represents publicly traded and privately held companies, financial institutions, pharmaceutical companies, family businesses, international joint ventures and affiliations, investor groups, start-ups and emerging businesses, public bodies, and nonprofit organizations.

For more information, visit www.ulmer.com

UK Business + Law News - HFW's Senior Partner, Roderic O'Sullivan, will retire on 30 April 2007, after 36 years as a partner in the firm. Richard Crump will join HFW's Managing Partner, Greg Gray, and Deputy/International Partner, Marcus Bowman, who have both been re-elected, unopposed, for further terms in office.

Roderic has been a Partner at HFW since 1973 and he became Senior Partner in 2003 - his practice having centred on advising international transport and energy companies. His appointment as Senior Partner coincided with the restructuring of HFW into industry focussed practice groups. Apart from London, HFW has offices in Paris/Rouen, Piraeus, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai and in 2006 opened offices in Dubai and Melbourne.

Richard is recognised by the independent legal directories as a shipping lawyer who is a market leader in his field. He joined HFW as a trainee in 1979, becoming a partner in 1987. Chambers UK 2007 directory says "Richard Crump is the 'perfect all rounder" and is recommended for traditional dry work and major casualty cases. His reputation is built on a 'straightforward practical and intelligent' approach".

In December 2006 HFW was awarded the Chambers Global Shipping Law Firm of the Year Award.

Roderic said 'It will be with very great pleasure that I hand over to Richard Crump whom I have known since 1978 when interviewing him to join our firm whilst he was an undergraduate at Oriel College Oxford. His formidable contribution and commitment to HFW has been justly rewarded with his election to the Senior Partner role".

Richard comments "When I joined HFW in 1979 there were 16 Partners and offices in Paris and Hong Kong in addition to London. There are now 97 Partners and the firm has nine global offices. It is a great privilege to be associated with this dynamic firm which I believe is well placed for the future. I look forward to continuing to develop and expand the business, with my Partners, in our chosen fields. Globalisation and the expansion of international trade have favoured our core areas of Shipping & Transport, Trade & Energy and Insurance & Reinsurance together with our Corporate & Commercial capability and we will seek to capitalise on this further".

Greg Gray added "I have great respect for Richard, having been in practice with him for over 20 years. I have no doubt that together we will be able to further the interests of our worldwide clientele, as HFW approaches its 125th year".

www.hfw.com

WASHINGTON – Former Congressman Robert W. Ney has been sentenced to 30 months in prison to be followed by two years of supervised release and fined $6,000, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today.

Ney, 52, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, before Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, who also ordered the defendant to serve 100 hours of community service for each year of supervised release.

Ney pleaded guilty on October 13, 2006, to a two-count information charging him with conspiracy to commit multiple offenses – including honest services fraud, making false statements, and violations of his former chief of staff’s one-year lobbying ban – and with making false statements to the U.S. House of Representatives. The named co-conspirators in the charges to which Ney pleaded guilty include Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, Tony Rudy, and Ney’s former chief of staff Neil Volz. All have previously pleaded guilty in this investigation and are cooperating with law enforcement officials.

“Today’s sentence makes it clear that our government is not for sale. Former Congressman Ney now faces 30 months in prison for abusing his position of trust as a representative of the American people,” said Assistant Attorney General Fisher. “The Justice Department will continue to pursue and prosecute public officials who compromise the integrity of elected office for private benefit.”

“The foundation of good government rests on the leap of faith Americans take that our public officials act in our interests. When an elected official violates that faith through the illegal exploitation of public office for personal gain, confidence in government suffers,” said Assistant Director Chip Burrus of the Criminal Investigative Division, FBI. “Most public servants are law abiding and honest and I want to emphasize that point, but when an official chooses to sell his integrity as we see here today, the FBI stands ready to work with our partners and restore the confidence in government to which Americans are entitled.”

Ney was a Congressman representing the 18th District of Ohio from 1995 through the present. In 2001, Ney became chairman of the House Committee on Administration, a position he held until January 2006. Ney admitted that he engaged in a conspiracy beginning in approximately 2000 and continuing through April 2004, wherein he corruptly solicited and accepted a stream of things of value from Abramoff, Abramoff’s lobbyists, and a foreign businessman, in exchange for agreeing to take and taking official action to benefit Abramoff, his clients, and the foreign businessman.

Specifically, Ney admitted that he corruptly solicited and accepted things of value from Abramoff and his lobbyists – including international and domestic trips, meals and drinks, concert and sporting tickets and tens of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions and in-kind contributions such as free fundraisers – with the intent to be influenced and induced to take official actions. Ney admitted that the actions he agreed to take, and took, to benefit Abramoff, his lobbyists and their clients, included opposing legislation at Abramoff’s request, the insertion of statements into the Congressional Record at Scanlon’s request, and supporting an application of a license for a contract to install wireless telephone infrastructure in the House of Representatives.

Ney also admitted that he accepted tens of thousands of dollars worth of gambling chips from a foreign businessman who was hoping to sell U.S.-made airplanes and airplane parts in a foreign country. Ney agreed to help the businessman with obtaining an exemption to the U.S. laws prohibiting the sale of these goods to the foreign country and with obtaining a visa to travel to the United States. Ney also admitted conspiring to aid and abet violations of the federal one-year lobbying ban by his former chief of staff Neil Volz. This case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Mary K. Butler, M. Kendall Day and James A. Crowell IV of the Public Integrity Section. The case was investigated by a task force of federal agents including special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of the Interior Office of the Inspector General, the General Services Administration Office of the Inspector General, and the Criminal Investigation branch of the Internal Revenue Service. The investigation has received assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. The broader investigation into the lobbying activities of Jack Abramoff is being conducted by federal agents from the above-named agencies as well as prosecutors in the Public Integrity and Fraud Sections of the Criminal Division and prosecutors in the Criminal Tax Section of the Tax Division.

In a sharply worded speech directed at the third, and equal, branch of the government, Gonzales outlined some of the qualities the Bush administration looks for when selecting candidates for the federal bench. He condemned what he termed activist judges with lifetime appointments who "undermine the right of the people to govern themselves."

In nominating a judge, "we want to determine whether he understands the inherent limits that make an unelected judiciary inferior to Congress or the president in making policy judgments," Gonzales said in the 20-minute speech to American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. "That, for example, a judge will never be in the best position to know what is in the national security interests of our country."

Gonzales did not cite any specific activist jurists or give examples of national security cases.

Pressed later for examples, he noted that Congress approved the Military Commissions Act, which authorizes military trials for terrorism suspects, four months after the Supreme Court ruled the trials would violate U.S. and international law.

"I don't think the judiciary is equipped at all to make decisions about what's in the national security interests of our country," Gonzales said. "How would they go about doing that? They don't have embassies around the world to give them that information. They don't have intelligence agencies gathering up intelligence information. ... It was never intended that they would have that role."

Carl Tobias, a constitutional law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia, said it is inevitable that courts would decide some of the most contentious questions involving national security.

"Some of the most difficult issues are about national security, how to balance national security and civil liberties - especially in the context of domestic surveillance and enemy combatants," Tobias said. "Those are critically important issues that the courts are being asked to resolve."

Gonzales, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, also characterized efforts to retaliate against unpopular rulings as misguided. He mentioned a failed South Dakota proposal to sue or jail judges for making unpopular court decisions.

He also urged Congress to consider increasing the number of federal judges to handle heavy workloads and to offer them higher salaries to lure and keep the best ones on the bench.