The State of California has decided not to appeal a December 21st decision of the California 1st District Court of Appeal restoring voting rights to approximately 100,000 inmates serving a year or less for felony convictions in local jails. The case, filed by the League of Women Voters of California and other voter and prisoner right interest groups, challenged a December 2005 interpretation of Art. 2 Sec. 4 of the California Constitution by Secretary of State Bruce McPhearson maintaining that those serving short term sentences for felonies in county jails were not eligible to vote.

The court’s decision relied on Section 17 of the California Penal Code, which defines felonies and misdemeanors. When a person is sent to a local jail, typically for confinement as a condition of probation, they are not actually convicted of a felony, which would allow their voting rights to be stripped.

There have been numerous Katrina-related insurance cases in Mississippi over the past year. In August, Judge Senter ruled that Nationwide Insurance was not obligated to cover a policyholder's claims for water damage caused by the hurricane because “provisions of the Nationwide policy that exclude coverage for damages caused by water are valid and enforceable terms of the insurance contract” and “similar policy terms have been enforced with respect to damage caused by high water associated with hurricanes in many reported decisions.”

Samsung on Wednesday said the refrigerators will inform owners when supplies of products are running low.

"We are working on refrigerators wired for RFID. Technologically speaking, there is no barrier to come up with the new items," Samsung spokesman Chae Hee-kook said.

"The refrigerator will be able to connect to cell phones for various new-concept applications," Chae said.

The RFID refrigerator will automatically sense inventory needs such as when milk or juices run low and will then notify its owner.

In addition to the early-warning inventory system, the sophisticated home appliance will offer recipes using available food products.

Via cell phones, shoppers will be able to check what groceries in their refrigerators are over their expiry date and what needs to be replenished.

"Eventually the RFID refrigerator, when programmed, will be able to take charge of replenishment and re-order after checking for depleted groceries," Chae said.

"Shoppers will go to the store to see new grocery orders already packed on their arrival. Or, the items will be delivered to their homes thanks to the smart appliance," Chae said.

Despite its prospects, it is uncertain when Samsung will unveil the refrigerator since the appliance will be of use only when perishable items adopt RFID tags.

"Some foretell 2008 or 2009 as the debut year of our RFID fridges. But we can’t say for sure because nobody knows when RFID tags will become widespread," Chae said.

The RFID tag is a small integrated-circuit chip with a radio and identification code embedded into it, which can be scanned from a distance.

The tiny tags that emit radio waves are likely to replace barcodes. More precisely, they would go far beyond barcodes thanks to its unique ability to contain information.

A host of retailers are presently testing smart shelves incorporated with RFID technologies that track in-store inventory based on real-time purchases.

This allows them to anticipate demand and replenish stock earlier than ever. The techniques also enable distributors to trace products in real time irrespective of their locations.

In the future, the cutting-edge technology may be used in the fields of livestock tracking, highway toll collection and premium product manufacturing.

A state appeals court is restoring the voting rights of about 100,000 local jail inmates statewide who are serving a year or less for felony convictions.

The state said it would not appeal last week's decision from the 1st District Court of Appeal. The affected inmates were eligible to vote until last year, when the state disenfranchised them.

For three decades, California's secretary of state had interpreted the state Constitution as barring voting by those in state prisons and those on parole after their release. The appeals court said the state wrongly changed the policy last year to include persons convicted of felonies but sentenced to a year or less in a local county jail.

The League of Women Voters brought the case on behalf of three San Francisco County jail inmates.

McCarter & English, LLP, has added litigator Charles Allen Yuen to their team of over 400 attorneys in the Northeast. Her will be an active part of their Newark office and be a Special Counsel in the Insurance Coverage Practice Group.

He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School (J.D. 1985) and Princeton University (B.S.E. 1982), Yuen has been widely published, including articles which are regularly submitted to appellate courts by litigants. He joins McCarter & English after representing corporations for thirteen years at New Jersey's Pitney Hardin LLP and six years at New York firms.

Governor Bob Taft (R-OH) Wednesday received a public reprimand from the Ohio Supreme Court for ethics violations stemming from charges that he received over 50 gifts worth up to $6,000 during four years in office. The reprimand will be a permanent mark on his record as an attorney, but while the justices had the option of issuing a stronger punishment in their 6-0 opinion, they cited Taft's previously clean record as a lawyer and otherwise unblemished record in public office.

In 2005, Taft pleaded no contest and was fined for the original charges, however in April of this year a disciplinary action was initiated by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, part of the Ohio Supreme Court tasked with monitoring lawyer behavior. That office determined that Taft had violated the Ohio Code of Professional Responsibility by accepting the gifts. Taft did not seek re-election due to term limits, and is leaving office in less than 2 weeks. He has said that he would be more interested in teaching than in returning to practicing law.

A podiatrist is appealing his federal-court conviction and two-year prison sentence for tax evasion, but a federal judge says the doctor must still report to prison on Jan. 5.

Dr. Clifford B. Marston of Gassville operated Sunshine Foot Clinics at Mountain Home and Harrison. The 57-year-old was convicted in May of tax evasion and filing false income tax returns.

Marston was sentenced to 26 months in prison and ordered to pay about $300,000 in restitution and fines.

U.S. District Judge Jimm Larry Hendren denied a request from Marston to remain free on bond while his appeal proceeds, and ordered him to report to prison on Jan. 5.

Marston filed a notice of appeal in federal court at Harrison on Dec. 22. He said last year that the IRS had misapplied regulations and he believed that most Americans do not have taxable income.