Georgia
Judge dismisses lawsuit challenging ordinance that outlaws guns left in unlocked cars
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A judge has thrown out a lawsuit by a Georgia gun owner who sought to challenge a Savannah city ordinance that imposes fines and potential jail time for people who leave firearms inside unlocked cars.
The ruling by Chatham County Superior Court Judge Benjamin Karpf did not address the civil lawsuit’s argument that the Savannah ordinance violates a Georgia state law that broadly prohibits local governments from regulating guns.
Instead, the judge dismissed the case on Nov. 22 after finding that gun owner Clarence Belt lacked legal standing to sue the city. Belt isn’t a Savannah resident and hasn’t been cited for violating the city’s gun ordinance.
Savannah’s mayor and city council voted unanimously in April to outlaw keeping firearms in unlocked vehicles, with maximum penalties of a $1,000 fine and 30 days in jail. They said the law would make it harder for criminals to steal guns, and cited local police statistics showing more than 200 guns reported stolen in 2023 from vehicles that weren’t locked.
City officials passed the ordinance in hopes of finding a way to legally regulate gun safety in a state where Republican lawmakers have widely abolished restrictions on owning and carrying firearms.
Belt’s attorney, John R. Monroe, argued during a September court hearing that Savannah’s ordinance violates a state law prohibiting local governments from restricting “the possession, ownership, transport, (or) carrying” of firearms.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, made the same argument in a May letter to Savannah officials stating that “no local ordinance can regulate firearms.” City officials ignored Carr’s warning that they could face civil liability for enforcing the ordinance.
“It’s just a matter of time that this ordinance is going to be struck down,” Belt’s attorney, John R. Monroe, said in a phone interview Monday.
Monroe said he and Belt haven’t decided whether to appeal the judge’s ruling dismissing the case. He said Belt, who lives in Jesup, Georgia, about 66 miles (106 kilometers) southwest of Savannah, keeps a gun in his vehicle and is at risk of being cited during frequent visits to the city.
“He has trouble walking and his car doesn’t have power locks,” Monroe said of Belt. “To comply with the ordinance, among other issues, he’d have to get out and walk around the car to lock it manually. That extra walking is hard on him.”
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, a Democrat and a former police officer, has supported the city’s ordinance to make gun owners act responsibly without infringing on their rights to own or carry firearms.
Bates Lovett, Savannah’s city government attorney, argued in court that Georgia law doesn’t expressly forbid local governments from regulating gun storage. He also told the judge that “we’re regulating the vehicle, not the firearm” by requiring people to lock cars with guns inside.
Illinois
Court orders pretrial release for deputy charged in Sonya Massey’s killing
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois appellate court ruled Wednesday that a former deputy sheriff charged with the death of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman shot in her home after she called police for help, should be released from jail pending his first-degree murder trial.
The 4th District Appellate Court’s unanimous decision found that a circuit court ruling in July that Sean Grayson should be detained was improper. It said prosecutors failed to supply sufficient evidence that there were no conditions the court could set that would lessen the danger Grayson posed to the community.
The case has drawn national attention as another example of police shooting Black people in their homes. Such are the tensions over the case that it was little surprise when Circuit Judge Ryan Cadagin ordered Grayson held, finding his actions were a “departure from the expectations of civil society.”
The case forced the premature retirement of Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, who hired Grayson, and prompted a Justice Department investigation.
In his opinion for the court, Justice Eugene Doherty found fault with prosecutors for basing their arguments against release on Grayson’s failures to meet expectations during the shooting.
“When the question before the court is whether defendant can be safely released prior to trial on appropriate conditions, it is inappropriate to dwell on whether he fell short of the high expectations society rightly has for its law enforcement officers,” Doherty wrote. “A defendant’s conduct may be reprehensible and deserving of punishment, but that is an inappropriate basis for imposing pretrial detention.”
The opinion ordered a court hearing for Grayson at which suitable conditions for his release be set.
Grayson’s next court hearing is scheduled for Monday. It’s unlikely he will be released immediately. There are actions the state can take, including appealing the appellate court’s ruling.
Daniel Fultz, one of Grayson’s attorneys, declined to comment.
Grayson, 30, is charged with first-degree murder in the July 6 shooting of Massey, who had called 911 to report a suspected prowler. During a conversation in her living room, Grayson noticed a pot of water on the stove and told his partner to remove it.
Massey, who had dealt with mental health issues, retrieve the pan and joked with Grayson over it, then inexplicably told Grayson, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.” Grayson yelled at her to drop the pot, and as she ducked, he fired three shots, striking her just below the left eye.
At detention hearings in July, prosecutors argued that Grayson violated his training and oath of office, failed to turn on his body camera and disregarded normal public safety by suggesting the other deputy on the scene not render aid to Massey because it was “a head shot.”
Cadagin decreed that the conditions for release suggested by the defense — removal of firearms from his home, abstinence from alcohol or drugs, a mental health evaluation, electronic monitoring — would not mitigate the possible threat of releasing him.
Doherty disagreed, finding the state “introduced no evidence, much less clear and convincing evidence” of its arguments.
Washington
Supreme Court to hear arguments on flavored vape regulations imposed after youth vaping spike
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will hear a vaping case on Monday, weighing federal regulators’ decisions blocking sweet vaping products after e-cigarette use spiked among kids.
The high court is taking up an appeal from the Food and Drug Administration, which has denied more than a million applications to sell candy- or fruit-flavored products that appeal to kids.
Those decisions are part of a crackdown that anti-tobacco advocates say helped drive down youth vaping to a decade low after an “epidemic level” peak in 2019.
But vaping companies pushed back in court, arguing that agency unfairly disregarded arguments that their sweet e-liquid products aren’t a big draw for kids but would help adults quit smoking traditional cigarettes.
The case comes shortly before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, whose incoming administration could take a different approach after he vowed in a September social-media post to “save” vaping.
Several lower courts rebuffed vaping company lawsuits, but the Dallas-based company Triton Distribution won at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court tossed out a decision blocking the sale of nicotine-laced liquids like “Jimmy The Juice Man in Peachy Strawberry” that are heated by an e-cigarette to create an inhalable aerosol.
The FDA was slow to regulate the now multibillion-dollar vaping market, and even years into the crackdown flavored vapes that are technically illegal nevertheless remain widely available.
The agency has approved some tobacco-flavored vapes, and recently allowed its first menthol-flavored electronic cigarettes for adult smokers.
The block on sweet vapes, combined with stepped up enforcement, has helped drive down youth nicotine use to its lowest level in a decade, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said.
Ottawa
Canadian news publishers sue OpenAI over alleged copyright infringement
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — A coalition of Canadian news publishers, including The Canadian Press, Torstar, Globe and Mail, Postmedia and CBC/Radio-Canada, has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for using news content to train its ChatGPT generative artificial intelligence system.
The outlets said in a joint statement on Friday that OpenAI regularly breaches copyright by scraping large amounts of content from Canadian media.
“OpenAI is capitalizing and profiting from the use of this content, without getting permission or compensating content owners,” the statement said.
The publishers argue that OpenAI practices undermine the hundreds of millions of dollars invested in journalism, and that content is protected by copyright.
“News media companies welcome technological innovations. However, all participants must follow the law, and any use of intellectual property must be on fair terms,” the statement said.
Generative AI can create text, images, videos and computer code based on a simple prompt, but the systems must first study vast amounts of existing content.
OpenAI said in a statement that its models are trained on publicly available data. It said they are “grounded in fair use and related international copyright principles that are fair for creators and support innovation.”
The company said it collaborates “closely with news publishers, including in the display, attribution and links to their content in ChatGPT search” and offers outlets “easy ways to opt-out should they so desire.”
This is the first such case in Canada, though numerous lawsuits are underway in the United States, including a case by the New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft.
Some news organizations have chosen to collaborate rather than fight with OpenAI by signing deals to get compensated for sharing news content that can be used to train its AI systems.
The Associated Press is among the news organizations that have made licensing deals over the past year with OpenAI. Others include The Wall Street Journal and New York Post publisher News Corp., The Atlantic, Axel Springer in Germany and Prisa Media in Spain, France’s Le Monde newspaper and the London-based Financial Times.
Canada has passed a law requiring Google and Meta to compensate news publishers for the use of their content, but has previously declined to say whether the Online News Act should apply to use by AI systems.
In response to that legislation, Meta pulled news from its platforms in Canada, while Google has reached a deal to pay $100 million Canadian (US$ 71 million) to Canadian news outlets.
Judge dismisses lawsuit challenging ordinance that outlaws guns left in unlocked cars
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A judge has thrown out a lawsuit by a Georgia gun owner who sought to challenge a Savannah city ordinance that imposes fines and potential jail time for people who leave firearms inside unlocked cars.
The ruling by Chatham County Superior Court Judge Benjamin Karpf did not address the civil lawsuit’s argument that the Savannah ordinance violates a Georgia state law that broadly prohibits local governments from regulating guns.
Instead, the judge dismissed the case on Nov. 22 after finding that gun owner Clarence Belt lacked legal standing to sue the city. Belt isn’t a Savannah resident and hasn’t been cited for violating the city’s gun ordinance.
Savannah’s mayor and city council voted unanimously in April to outlaw keeping firearms in unlocked vehicles, with maximum penalties of a $1,000 fine and 30 days in jail. They said the law would make it harder for criminals to steal guns, and cited local police statistics showing more than 200 guns reported stolen in 2023 from vehicles that weren’t locked.
City officials passed the ordinance in hopes of finding a way to legally regulate gun safety in a state where Republican lawmakers have widely abolished restrictions on owning and carrying firearms.
Belt’s attorney, John R. Monroe, argued during a September court hearing that Savannah’s ordinance violates a state law prohibiting local governments from restricting “the possession, ownership, transport, (or) carrying” of firearms.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, made the same argument in a May letter to Savannah officials stating that “no local ordinance can regulate firearms.” City officials ignored Carr’s warning that they could face civil liability for enforcing the ordinance.
“It’s just a matter of time that this ordinance is going to be struck down,” Belt’s attorney, John R. Monroe, said in a phone interview Monday.
Monroe said he and Belt haven’t decided whether to appeal the judge’s ruling dismissing the case. He said Belt, who lives in Jesup, Georgia, about 66 miles (106 kilometers) southwest of Savannah, keeps a gun in his vehicle and is at risk of being cited during frequent visits to the city.
“He has trouble walking and his car doesn’t have power locks,” Monroe said of Belt. “To comply with the ordinance, among other issues, he’d have to get out and walk around the car to lock it manually. That extra walking is hard on him.”
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, a Democrat and a former police officer, has supported the city’s ordinance to make gun owners act responsibly without infringing on their rights to own or carry firearms.
Bates Lovett, Savannah’s city government attorney, argued in court that Georgia law doesn’t expressly forbid local governments from regulating gun storage. He also told the judge that “we’re regulating the vehicle, not the firearm” by requiring people to lock cars with guns inside.
Illinois
Court orders pretrial release for deputy charged in Sonya Massey’s killing
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois appellate court ruled Wednesday that a former deputy sheriff charged with the death of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman shot in her home after she called police for help, should be released from jail pending his first-degree murder trial.
The 4th District Appellate Court’s unanimous decision found that a circuit court ruling in July that Sean Grayson should be detained was improper. It said prosecutors failed to supply sufficient evidence that there were no conditions the court could set that would lessen the danger Grayson posed to the community.
The case has drawn national attention as another example of police shooting Black people in their homes. Such are the tensions over the case that it was little surprise when Circuit Judge Ryan Cadagin ordered Grayson held, finding his actions were a “departure from the expectations of civil society.”
The case forced the premature retirement of Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, who hired Grayson, and prompted a Justice Department investigation.
In his opinion for the court, Justice Eugene Doherty found fault with prosecutors for basing their arguments against release on Grayson’s failures to meet expectations during the shooting.
“When the question before the court is whether defendant can be safely released prior to trial on appropriate conditions, it is inappropriate to dwell on whether he fell short of the high expectations society rightly has for its law enforcement officers,” Doherty wrote. “A defendant’s conduct may be reprehensible and deserving of punishment, but that is an inappropriate basis for imposing pretrial detention.”
The opinion ordered a court hearing for Grayson at which suitable conditions for his release be set.
Grayson’s next court hearing is scheduled for Monday. It’s unlikely he will be released immediately. There are actions the state can take, including appealing the appellate court’s ruling.
Daniel Fultz, one of Grayson’s attorneys, declined to comment.
Grayson, 30, is charged with first-degree murder in the July 6 shooting of Massey, who had called 911 to report a suspected prowler. During a conversation in her living room, Grayson noticed a pot of water on the stove and told his partner to remove it.
Massey, who had dealt with mental health issues, retrieve the pan and joked with Grayson over it, then inexplicably told Grayson, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.” Grayson yelled at her to drop the pot, and as she ducked, he fired three shots, striking her just below the left eye.
At detention hearings in July, prosecutors argued that Grayson violated his training and oath of office, failed to turn on his body camera and disregarded normal public safety by suggesting the other deputy on the scene not render aid to Massey because it was “a head shot.”
Cadagin decreed that the conditions for release suggested by the defense — removal of firearms from his home, abstinence from alcohol or drugs, a mental health evaluation, electronic monitoring — would not mitigate the possible threat of releasing him.
Doherty disagreed, finding the state “introduced no evidence, much less clear and convincing evidence” of its arguments.
Washington
Supreme Court to hear arguments on flavored vape regulations imposed after youth vaping spike
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will hear a vaping case on Monday, weighing federal regulators’ decisions blocking sweet vaping products after e-cigarette use spiked among kids.
The high court is taking up an appeal from the Food and Drug Administration, which has denied more than a million applications to sell candy- or fruit-flavored products that appeal to kids.
Those decisions are part of a crackdown that anti-tobacco advocates say helped drive down youth vaping to a decade low after an “epidemic level” peak in 2019.
But vaping companies pushed back in court, arguing that agency unfairly disregarded arguments that their sweet e-liquid products aren’t a big draw for kids but would help adults quit smoking traditional cigarettes.
The case comes shortly before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, whose incoming administration could take a different approach after he vowed in a September social-media post to “save” vaping.
Several lower courts rebuffed vaping company lawsuits, but the Dallas-based company Triton Distribution won at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court tossed out a decision blocking the sale of nicotine-laced liquids like “Jimmy The Juice Man in Peachy Strawberry” that are heated by an e-cigarette to create an inhalable aerosol.
The FDA was slow to regulate the now multibillion-dollar vaping market, and even years into the crackdown flavored vapes that are technically illegal nevertheless remain widely available.
The agency has approved some tobacco-flavored vapes, and recently allowed its first menthol-flavored electronic cigarettes for adult smokers.
The block on sweet vapes, combined with stepped up enforcement, has helped drive down youth nicotine use to its lowest level in a decade, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said.
Ottawa
Canadian news publishers sue OpenAI over alleged copyright infringement
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — A coalition of Canadian news publishers, including The Canadian Press, Torstar, Globe and Mail, Postmedia and CBC/Radio-Canada, has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for using news content to train its ChatGPT generative artificial intelligence system.
The outlets said in a joint statement on Friday that OpenAI regularly breaches copyright by scraping large amounts of content from Canadian media.
“OpenAI is capitalizing and profiting from the use of this content, without getting permission or compensating content owners,” the statement said.
The publishers argue that OpenAI practices undermine the hundreds of millions of dollars invested in journalism, and that content is protected by copyright.
“News media companies welcome technological innovations. However, all participants must follow the law, and any use of intellectual property must be on fair terms,” the statement said.
Generative AI can create text, images, videos and computer code based on a simple prompt, but the systems must first study vast amounts of existing content.
OpenAI said in a statement that its models are trained on publicly available data. It said they are “grounded in fair use and related international copyright principles that are fair for creators and support innovation.”
The company said it collaborates “closely with news publishers, including in the display, attribution and links to their content in ChatGPT search” and offers outlets “easy ways to opt-out should they so desire.”
This is the first such case in Canada, though numerous lawsuits are underway in the United States, including a case by the New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft.
Some news organizations have chosen to collaborate rather than fight with OpenAI by signing deals to get compensated for sharing news content that can be used to train its AI systems.
The Associated Press is among the news organizations that have made licensing deals over the past year with OpenAI. Others include The Wall Street Journal and New York Post publisher News Corp., The Atlantic, Axel Springer in Germany and Prisa Media in Spain, France’s Le Monde newspaper and the London-based Financial Times.
Canada has passed a law requiring Google and Meta to compensate news publishers for the use of their content, but has previously declined to say whether the Online News Act should apply to use by AI systems.
In response to that legislation, Meta pulled news from its platforms in Canada, while Google has reached a deal to pay $100 million Canadian (US$ 71 million) to Canadian news outlets.
