Virginia: ACLU criticizes Newport News panhandling ban
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) -- An American Civil Liberties Union lawyer says Newport News' 50-year-old ban panhandling is unconstitutional and should be repealed.
The ACLU's Virginia chapter is representing a homeless woman arrested late last year on panhandling charges.
ACLU attorney Rebecca Glenberg told The Daily Press that the U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear that requesting money is a form of protected free speech.
City Manager Neil Morgan and Newport News police spokesman Lou Thurston told the newspaper that they're not aware of any effort to crack down on panhandling.
Thurston says each case is based on its own merits.
Arizona: Court ruling upholds state's execution protocol
PHOENIX (AP) -- Arizona's protocol for three-drug injection executions has cleared another legal hurdle.
A trial judge in Phoenix had upheld the state's protocol, and a ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turns down seven Arizona death-row inmates' appeal.
The new ruling says the state's protocol abides by standards set by the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on Kentucky's similar protocol.
And the appeals court says the state appears to be following its protocol.
Published: Mon, Feb 14, 2011
