National Roundup

Kentucky Former lawmaker asks for trial to be postponed PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A former Kentucky lawmaker facing a bribery charge has asked that his trial be postponed following a guilty plea by a co-defendant. Former state mine inspector Kelly Shortridge pleaded guilty in federal court earlier this month to taking bribes from former lawmaker Keith Hall. The plea agreement said Shortridge, who worked for the Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement, took about $46,000 in bribes over two years from Hall, a coal mine owner who was also a state representative from Phelps. The Appalachian News Express reports Hall's attorney, Brent Caldwell, filed a motion last week asking to reschedule the April 20 trial to a later date. Prosecutors have opposed the request. Caldwell says he needs extra time to prepare after learning that prosecutors intend to call Shortridge to testify. New York Suit: BBQ chain doesn't pay fair wages to workers SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - A lawsuit filed against the popular Dinosaur Bar-B-Que restaurant chain claims the Syracuse-based business doesn't pay tipped workers fair wages. According to a report in The Post-Standard of Syracuse, the lawsuit filed in federal court last week by the New York City law firm Fitapelli and Schaffer says the company failed to properly use the "tipped credit" provision in federal law. That law requires employers to make up the difference between tips and pay to meet minimum wage standard. The lawsuit also says the restaurant chain required employees to spend more than 20 percent of their work day doing "side work," which the employee wouldn't get tipped for. Dinosaur operates eight restaurants: Six restaurants in New York state, one in New Jersey and one in Connecticut. A statement issued Monday by company founder John Stage said he's aware of the allegations but isn't commenting on them. Iowa @ROUND UP Briefs Headline:Judge overturns jury verdict in WH bomb threat LE MARS, Iowa (AP) - A judge has overturned the conviction of a man found guilty of threatening to blow up the White House. On Friday Judge Steven Andreasen granted a motion by the attorney for 37-year-old Jeremy Hebert, of Akron, saying the evidence didn't support the jury's guilty verdict rendered on Feb. 18. The Le Mars Daily Sentinel reports, however, that Andreasen sentenced Hebert to five years in prison for three counts of felonious assault. Those sentences are to be served at the same time. Hebert also was given suspended fines of $750 for each count of assault. Authorities say that when Hebert was arrested at his home on Nov. 20, he threatened to kill each of the three officers present. Kansas ACLU opposing bill to protect religious groups TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union plans to testify before a Kansas legislative committee against a bill designed to protect religious groups on public college campuses. The House Federal and State Affairs Committee is holding a hearing Monday on the bill. The Senate approved the measure earlier this month. The bill would prohibit state universities, community colleges and technical colleges from refusing to recognize or from denying campus resources to groups that won't let non-believers join. The ACLU of Kansas contends the measure would require public colleges to provide support to groups that discriminate. Supporters say the bill protects groups' religious liberties. It's a response to a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision saying that universities can adopt anti-bias policies requiring groups to accept anyone who wants to join. Massachusetts Woman charged with marathon injury fraud BOSTON (AP) - A Boston woman is going to court to defend herself against charges of fraudulently receiving tens of thousands of dollars in benefits by claiming she was injured in the Boston Marathon bombing. Joanna Leigh is scheduled to be arraigned Monday on charges of larceny and making a false claim to a government agency. Prosecutors say she received $8,000 from The One Fund, the charity established to help bombing victims; $18,000 from a state victims' compensation fund; $9,000 from an online fundraiser; and $1,700 raised by students at a Boston school. Authorities say she was at the marathon in April 2013, but wasn't hurt. The 41-year-old Leigh says she suffered traumatic brain injuries, and the charges are retaliation for her criticism of The One Fund for not helping people with brain injuries. Indiana @ROUND UP Briefs Headline: Wo­m­an awarded $510K for injury outside Wal-Mart VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) - A northern Indiana jury has awarded more than a half-million dollars to a woman who was injured when she stepped into a hole outside a Wal-Mart store. The Porter County jury awarded 29-year-old Micela Earle of Hobart $510,000 on Friday for her injuries. That was far short of the $5 million she had sought in her civil lawsuit against Wal-Mart but more than double the $200,000 a Wal-Mart attorney suggested to jurors during Friday's closing arguments. Earle's suit alleged that Wal-Mart was negligent in removing a tree along a sidewalk outside its Portage store, leaving behind a hole that she stepped in, leaving her with a injury that still lingers. Jurors determined that Wal-Mart was 85 percent to blame for the December 2012 incident. Earle's attorney, Gregory Sarkisian, said that she faces a lifetime of pain-related suffering, limitations and treatments from the injury. Wal-Mart attorney James Balog argued during closing arguments that a doctor hired by the store doesn't believe Earle suffered more than a sprained ankle, despite a diagnosis of a pain condition that resulted in her having a spinal cord stimulator implanted. He showed the jurors a surveillance video of the incident outside the store and suggested that Earle's injury was her own fault. "She's not looking where she's going," he said. "... The accident doesn't happen if she just looks down." Balog defended Wal-Mart's decision to shoot a surveillance video March 10 of Earle leaving a vehicle and using her leg to close the door. He reminded jurors before they began deliberating that they were not to treat his client any different from any other when considering the outcome of the case. "The fact that Wal-Mart is the defendant has nothing to do with damages," he said. Published: Tue, Mar 31, 2015