SMART wins appeal in dispute over ad
DETROIT (AP) — A group offering to help Muslims who want to leave their religion has lost a key court ruling in a dispute over ads on Detroit-area buses.
In 2011, a judge said a bus agency known as SMART likely violated the group’s free-speech rights by rejecting the ads.
A federal appeals court last week erased the injunction, saying SMART’s ad restrictions are reasonable and don’t violate the First Amendment.
The proposed ads said, “Fatwa on your head? Leaving Islam? Got questions? Get answers!”
The appeals court says the ads are political and are covered by SMART’s ban on political, non-commercial messages. SMART has defended the policy, saying it doesn’t want to offend riders and lose business.
SMART serves riders in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
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Jail or work program for McCotter aide
LIVONIA (AP) — A woman who worked for a Detroit-area congressman must serve 20 days in jail or spend that time in a work program for her role in a campaign scandal that kept Thaddeus McCotter off the ballot.
Lorianne O’Brady was a scheduler in McCotter’s district office. She pleaded no contest last month to falsely stating that she had collected signatures to get McCotter on the ballot when she didn’t actually circulate the petitions.
O’Brady was sentenced last week by a Livonia judge. She also faces 12 days in jail if she doesn’t pay $2,625 in fines and court costs.
Three other former McCotter aides face felony charges in the petition probe. McCotter didn’t qualify for the August Republican primary because he failed to submit 1,000 valid signatures. He quit Congress in July.
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Man owes back child support for 14 kids
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man has been deemed in contempt of court orders to pay nearly $80,000 in child support involving 14 children.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports that a Lancaster County District judge ordered 49-year-old Shekem Amsu Khnemu to start paying up, or face jail.
Khnemu was arrested last week, then released. Before his release, Judge Jodi Nelson found Khnemu in contempt in each of 11 cases and sentenced him to up to 180 days for each case.
She suspended the sentence to give him a chance to pay the back child support. He must pay $500 a month and another $800 in back support by December 1.
If he fails to do so, he’ll be jailed.
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Custody dispute centers on fat dachshund
HILLSBORO, Ore. (AP) — There’s a custody battle in Oregon over Obie the obese dachshund.
Obie weighed 70 pounds when his owner in Puyallup, Wash., said he was unable to care for him and gave him to Oregon Dachshund Rescue.
It put Obie in the foster care of Nora Vanatta who received national attention after putting him on a diet. She says Obie has lost 15 pounds in the past two months.
Now the pet agency says Vanatta has been making money off his public exhibition and wants him back.
Vanatta told KATU the money she’s received is being used for Obie’s care and she wants to keep him.
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