National Roundup

New York Wegmans, Walgreens settle lawsuit over 'W' logos ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- Wegmans Food Markets has agreed to settle the trademark infringement lawsuit Walgreens filed against the supermarket chain over its use of a logo similar to the one used by the drug store company. Rochester-based Wegmans will stop using the "circle W" logo by June 30, 2012. Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreen Co. sued in federal court in Virginia, claiming Wegmans' use of the logo could mislead consumers into thinking the companies are connected. Walgreens said its "flying W" deserves trademark protection because it's been in use since 1951. Wegmans said the scripted "W" it adopted in 2008 is actually a copy of logos used by the supermarket in the 1930s. The agreement was reached in March and announced on Friday. Wegmans has stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland. Virginia Court denies inmate's lawsuit over beard RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- A federal court has denied a Muslim inmate's lawsuit claiming the Virginia prison system violated his religious rights by refusing to allow him to grow a 1/8-inch beard. William Couch challenged the Department of Corrections' grooming policy that bans long hair or beards. A federal court in Harrisonburg sided with the department Thursday. Couch's attorney, Jeffrey Fogel, filed an appeal Monday. He argues the beard is too short to allow Couch to easily change his appearance or hide weapons, which is the department's reason for the policy. A federal appellate court ruled against a group of inmates who sued the department after the grooming policy was instituted in 1999. Several lived in segregation for more than a decade until the department developed a separate living space for them last year. New York Court upholds ruling in Connecticut school case NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal appeals court in New York has agreed that Connecticut school officials acted reasonably and constitutionally when they disciplined a student for an Internet posting she wrote off school grounds. The 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan sided with Burlington, Conn., school officials. They punished Avery Doninger by preventing her from serving as class secretary as a senior. The court said administrators at Lewis B. Mills High School acted reasonably after she made the 2007 posting criticizing administrators for canceling a popular school activity. Doninger sued the administrators, alleging violation of free speech and equal protection rights. A lower judge also said school officials were entitled to immunity. Pennsylvania Pittsburgh's CMU recoups $40M in alleged swindle PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Carnegie Mellon University is getting back $40 million, or about 83 percent of what it lost in an alleged investment swindle that targeted university endowments and other nonprofits. A federal court judge in New York last month approved a plan to repay $814 million to 24 victims, roughly 85 percent of what was lost. The payouts were to begin Friday and CMU says on its website Monday that it is getting back $40 million of $49 million invested in the Westridge Capital Management. The school says it is "aggressively" pursuing the rest of the money it lost. The University of Pittsburgh was also victimized, having invested about $65 million. A Pitt spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment about how much that school could receive under the court-ordered plan. Montana Convicted sex offender arrested at Easter egg hunt MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) -- Authorities in Montana say a convicted sex offender was arrested at a Missoula-area Easter egg hunt after one of his victims recognized him there. Deputy Ken White tells the Missoulian that 67-year-old William Harvey Suthers was arrested Saturday afternoon in East Missoula and was being held in the county jail on a probation violation. Suthers was convicted of two counts of sexual assault after a girl told police Suthers assaulted her while he was babysitting her and her brother in 1992. She was 10 at the time. He was given a suspended sentence in 1998 and was forbidden from having contact with anyone under the age of 18 except his sons. New Jersey State pays $7M last year to settle 3 foster lawsuits TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey paid nearly $7 million last year to settle lawsuits brought by three abused foster children against the Division of Youth and Family Services. The Attorney General's Office tells the Star-Ledger of Newark that the state admitted no wrongdoing in the cases. DYFS supervises more than 7,000 children living in licensed foster and group homes. The agency was overhauled after 2003, after the mummified remains of a 7-year-old boy were found in the basement of a Newark apartment. Later that year, four boys in Collingswood were found starving because their adoptive mother withheld food. Since 2003, New Jersey has spent $1 billion to overhaul its child-welfare system under the supervision of a federal judge. Pennsylvania 3rd Circuit sides with Erie County in speech suit ERIE, Pa. (AP) -- A federal appeals court has agreed that an Erie County councilman did not violate a man's free speech rights by ejecting him from a meeting when the man refused to stop speaking after a public comment period ended. Dan Galena, an activist and frequent council critic, sued Councilman Fiore Leone after the official had a sheriff's deputy escort Galena from a 2007 meeting. An Erie County jury awarded Galena $5,000 in 2009, after ruling his free-speech rights were violated but U.S. District Judge Sean McLaughlin last year overturned the verdict and found that Leone acted properly. The Erie Times-news says a 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel voted 2-1 on Friday to upheld McLaughlin's findings that Leone was only trying to restore order to the meeting and did not violate Galena's rights. Published: Tue, Apr 26, 2011