National Roundup

Illinois
Chicago may sue gang members for damages
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago is poised to embark on a new strategy to attack the gangs that are responsible for much of the gun violence in the city: Sue them to take their belongings.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she’ll introduce on Monday an ordinance that would allow the city to file lawsuits to go after gang members’ assets, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Prosecutors in suburban counties have for years been doing something similar by employing the Illinois Street Gang Prevention Act to sue gang members for monetary damages.

But attorney John Mauck, who successfully defended four men against in such a lawsuit in Kane County, says that most of the hundreds of such lawsuits over the years have failed to collect any monetary damages from gang members.

But as the number of shootings and homicides in Chicago continues to surge, Lightfoot says the city must do everything it can to battle the gangs that have killed and wounded so many.

“We have an opportunity to bring these violent street gangs into civil court, out of the shadows, expose them for what they are,” she said. “And if we’re successful, and I think we will be, take their assets and the profit motive for killing our babies.”

Washington
Judge: Capital gains tax challenge can move forward
SEATTLE (AP) — A judge ruled Friday that a legal challenge to Washington’s new tax on capital gains can move forward.

The Seattle Times reports the ruling by Douglas County Superior Court Judge Brian Huber could ultimately lead to the state Supreme Court deciding whether the new capital gains tax constitutional.

The legal challenge takes aim at Senate Bill 5096, which passed this spring through the Democratic-controlled House and Senate and was signed by Gov. Jay Inslee. It creates a 7% tax on the capital gains of sales of assets — like bonds and stocks — above $250,000. The law takes effect January 2022, with the first state tax returns coming due in 2023.

The law exempts a range of assets, like retirement accounts, sales of real estate, livestock, timber and some agricultural properties, and some auto dealerships. It also exempts the sales of sole proprietor businesses with gross revenues of up to $6 million.

If it takes effect, the tax would raise about $445 million per year. That money would go into the state’s Education Legacy Trust Account, intended for child care and early learning programs.

The legal challenge is a consolidated case that started with different lawsuits against the state by several plaintiffs — including the owners of farmland and the Washington Farm Bureau — that contends the new law, among other things, imposes an income tax. In that scenario, it could violate the Washington Constitution, which states that taxes are to be applied uniformly across the same classes of property.

In his order, cited, among other things, an allegation by plaintiffs that the new tax has already “lowered the market value of their property and forced them to make tax planning decisions that impact their financial interests in a way that is concrete and non-speculative.”

The judge also denied a request by the Attorney General’s Office that the case be moved to Thurston County if it were to proceed.

In a statement, Solicitor General Noah Purcell said the Attorney General’s Office disagreed with Friday’s ruling, but “we have every confidence that this law will ultimately be upheld.”

New Mexico
Suspended prof advocates for election audits
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico State University professor has been traveling to advocate for audits of the 2020 presidential election amid a paid suspension for rejecting coronavirus health mandates from the school.

The Las Cruces Sun News reports that the public university on Aug. 27 extended its emergency suspension of professor David Clements. Several complaints were received from students after Clements rejected campus mask and vaccination mandates.

The university requires students and staff to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or provide test results for the virus on a weekly basis. Its indoor mask mandate mirrors the New Mexico public health orders.

Through a social media account on the Telegram platform, Clements has documented his travels to advocate for further audits of the 2020 presidential election, while alleging widespread election fraud and referring to former President Donald Trump as “the real president.”

Clements could not be reached for comment on Sunday. The Sun News reported that he declined to speak with the newspaper unless it was for an unedited video interview with a required reading list in advance.

Clements indicated through Telegram postings that he is confronting possible disbarment as an attorney in New Mexico and has been blocked from service by some commercial airlines.

Trump’s allegations of widespread election fraud have been dismissed by judges and refuted by state election officials, an arm of his own administration’s Homeland Security Department and his own attorney general.


Connecticut
Police appeal order to turn over documents in 2010 cold case
MADISON, Conn. (AP) — Police in a wealthy Connecticut town where the 2010 killing of Barbara Hamburg remains unsolved are fighting a judge’s order to turn over investigative files to two documentary filmmakers, including Hamburg’s son.

Madison police earlier this month appealed the order to the state Appellate Court, in a case that could have wide implications for access to police cold case files in the state, the  Hartford Courant reported  Saturday.

Barbara Hamburg was found slain outside her home on March 3, 2010, when Madison Hamburg was a teenager. The documentary looked at suspicions his family and police had about his father, Jeffrey Hamburg, who has denied involvement.

Hamburg’s son, Madison Hamburg, and producer Anike Niemeyer requested the files while filming the “Murder on Middle Beach” documentary series on Barbara Hamburg’s killing that ran on HBO last year. The police department rejected the request.

They appealed to the state Freedom of Information Commission, which ruled last year that police must release the files. Police initially turned over two boxes of materials to Madison Hamburg and Niemeyer, but later reversed course and appealed that ruling to Superior Court.

Judge Daniel Klau upheld the commission’s ruling last month, but police appealed that decision to the state Appellate Court last week. The judge said the case raises questions about when to publicly release investigative files on a cold case.

Police have argued they do not have to release the documents because the investigation remains open.