10News November 5, 2009 Southwestern College officials are investigation the actions of four professors currently on paid leave after a campus protest over budget cuts.The officials are concerned that the professors incited students to leave the free speech area and disregarded police instructions. -DB
Many California county health officials are discounting arguments that it is in the public interest to know who died from swine flu and refusing to release the records to journalism students from University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism. In denying the requests, officials cite privacy issues and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a federal law to keep patients’ health records confidential. -DB Neon Tommy Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism November
A federal court of appeals heard arguments this week on whether the government can impose criminal penalties on a man for falsely claiming he served in the military and earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. The man was convicted of violating the Stolen Valor Act which prohibits lying about military service. -DB Metropolitan News-Enterprise November 5, 2009 By Kenneth Ofgang A federal act making it a crime to falsely claim that one holds the Congressional
A federal court of appeals ruled that the City of Santa Cruz could eject a man from a city council meeting for a Nazi salute since the salute contributed to disrupting the meeting. The man’s attorney argued that the salute could not have been disruptive since no one noticed it. -DB Metropolitan News-Enterprise November 4, 2009 By Sherri M. Okamoto A man who was ejected from a city council meeting for giving a Nazi salute in
A California district court of appeal ruled that East Palo Alto could discipline a police officer for his racist remarks, rejecting the argument that an alleged “culture of racism” in the department was sufficient to justify the officer’s discriminatory remarks to subordinates. -DB Metropolitan News-Enterprise November 4, 2009 By Kenneth Ofgang A police department’s alleged culture of racist remarks by officers did not justify a supervisory officer’s use of such language in publicly referring to