Hillary Clinton thinks that in the increasingly crowded field of potential presidential candidates, she's the one who can best confront the nation's challenges.

"I am worried about the future of our country and I want to help put it back on the right course, and I believe that I am best positioned to be able to do that," Clinton said.

Former San Antonio Police Officer Dean Gutierrez was sentenced today in federal court to 24 years and four months in prison for violating the civil rights of a citizen whom Gutierrez detained while on duty, the Justice Department announced today.

Gutierrez was previously found guilty of sexually and physically assaulting a transgendered individual, who was 21 years-old at the time of the assault. On the night of June 10, 2005, Gutierrez detained and then drove the victim to a secluded location. Gutierrez then proceeded to beat and rape the victim.

“Officers of the law bear the special responsibility of upholding justice and protecting the rights of all citizens,” said Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The defendant in this case brutally violated that responsibility. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute these cases.”

The Civil Rights Division is committed to the vigorous enforcement of every federal criminal civil rights statute, such as those laws that prohibit the willful use of excessive force or other acts of misconduct by law enforcement officials. In fact, the Division has compiled a significant record on criminal civil rights prosecutions in the last six years. In fiscal year 2006, nearly 50 percent of the cases brought by the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division involved such prosecutions. Since fiscal year 2001, the Division has convicted 50 percent more defendants for excessive force and official misconduct than in the preceding six years.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Baumann and Civil Rights Division attorney Jim Felte prosecuted this case for the government.

In the consolidated cases of Jones v. Bock and Williams v. Overton, the Court rejected rules established by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit as to when a prisoner can file a lawsuit contesting prison conditions under the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA). According to the Court, the PLRA "requires prisoners to exhaust prison grievance procedures before filing suit," but Sixth Circuit rules concerning when a prisoner has exhausted other administrative procedures go too far:

The Sixth Circuit, along with some other lower courts, adopted several procedural rules designed to implement this exhaustion requirement and facilitate early judicial screening. These rules require a prisoner to allege and demonstrate exhaustion in his complaint, permit suit only against defendants who were identified by the prisoner in his grievance, and require courts to dismiss the entire action if the prisoner fails to satisfy the exhaustion requirement as to any single claim in his complaint. Other lower courts declined to adopt such rules. We granted certiorari to resolve the conflict and now conclude that these rules are not required by the PLRA, and that crafting and imposing them exceeds the proper limits on the judicial role.

Last week, Sacramento mother of three Jennifer Strange entered a radio contest on KDND to try to win a Wii console.  The contest involved drinking large amounts of water. Strange later died of water intoxication.

Sacramento attorney Roger Dreyer told Sacramento Bee, “There isn’t going to be a settlement. There’s going to be a venting in a public forum. That’s what we want, and that’s what the family wants.”

He said the radio station had been “pushing an irresponsible, ill-advised contest” and would be named in the suit alongside employees directly responsible for the promo. He added that Nintendo “might” be named but only if they played a part in the promo.

Although Nintendo has not issued a statement about the tragedy, it seems highly unlikely that the company would knowingly involve itself in such a bad stunt.

Troubled ringtone vendor, Infospace which recently lost on of its largest clients has been hit by a US$100 million lawsuit from the music publisher, EMI. The complaint alleges that InfoSpace and its subsidiaries Moviso and Premium Wireless Services have been underpaying royalties and selling ringtones for songs to which they hold no licensing rights.

The lawsuit also claims that InfoSpace has "engaged in a deliberate effort to frustrate and obstruct the audit rights held by plaintiffs pursuant to license agreements."

EMI says that it had requested an audit of InfoSpace's accounts to ensure accurate royalty payments but was met with "diversion, obstruction, misdirection and misinformation." Specifically, EMI alleges that InfoSpace claimed it did not have access to many of its records, and then refused to turn them over.

EMI claims it turned over information it acquired to its auditors at Gelfand Rennert & Feldman, who concluded that InfoSpace was miscalculating royalties due to downloads through third-party Web sites operated by cell phone carriers Verizon and US Cellular; failing to report royalties for eight approved sub-licensees; and failing to pay royalties for compositions that appeared on its catalogue of offerings.

InfoSpace also says that it will announce fourth quarter 2006 financial results on Thursday, February 1, 2007, after market close.

"Pfizer has created and contributed to the perception of Viagra as a safe, sexy, lifestyle, recreational drug, to be frequently used regardless of the degree, or even existence of" erectile dysfunction, the group said in draft legal documents.

Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, said it was committed to appropriate Viagra use and urged men to see a doctor for a proper diagnosis. The drug is sold by prescription.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, in its legal arguments, pointed to several Viagra promotions from recent years, including a 2005 newspaper ad that featured a smiling man asking, "What are you doing on New Year's Eve?"

Another ad that ran near the 2006 Super Bowl urged men to "Be this Sunday's MVP" and ask their doctors about Viagra.

Pfizer's Viagra website asks readers, "Want to improve your sex life?" and says the drug can help men who have erection difficulties "once in a while."

Healthcare foundation president Michael Weinstein said the promotions made Viagra sound like a "party drug" that can make sex more pleasurable for healthy men -- a claim the Food and Drug Administration has not approved.

Men in the ads also look much younger than Pfizer's earlier Viagra pitchman, former Kansas Senator Bob Dole, who is now 83, he said.

"Bob Dole has been replaced by the hunky 40-something guy who looks like he can really have a good time," Weinstein said in an interview. "The message they are sending out is that any and every male should take it," he said.

Studies show evidence of recreational Viagra use among men who have sex with men, sometimes to overcome the erection-inhibiting effects of alcohol or street drugs such as ecstasy and crystal methamphetamine, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation said.

The group asked Pfizer repeatedly to alter its ads, Weinstein said.

In 2004, the FDA objected to a television commercial suggesting Viagra could return a man to the "wild thing" of his younger days. The FDA said the ad, showing a man sprouting devilish horns, made an unproven claim that men could regain a youthful level of sexual desire. Pfizer halted that campaign.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation's lawsuit, to be filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, asks that Pfizer be prohibited from running similar messages and ordered to fund awareness ads about sexually transmitted disease risks and Viagra.

The suit also requests that Pfizer turn over profits gained from misleading ads and pay the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's costs of treating AIDS and other illnesses linked to Viagra use.

California-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation runs AIDS clinics in the United States, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia that provide medical care and services to more than 53,000 people even if they cannot pay.

Pfizer spokeswoman Shreya Prudlo said the company was not aware of the lawsuit. She said Pfizer "has always been committed to safe and appropriate use of Viagra" and that the drug's label and promotions stated "Viagra does not protect against sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV."

Sales of Viagra, known generically as sildenafil, reached $1.6 billion worldwide in 2005.