The City of Portland, Oregon will pay out $300,000 in damages to protesters affected by excessive police force during anti-Bush and anti-war demonstrations last year:

In the two lawsuits, the plaintiffs argued that the city, Mayor Vera Katz, then-police Chief Mark Kroeker and several officers violated their rights to free speech and free assembly by dousing them with pepper spray at close range and firing rubber stingballs into a crowd. Those who brought the suits used videotaped footage to support the claims.

"We hope that getting a settlement of this size will send a message and result in some more accountability than the police have had to date," said Liz Joffe, one of the lawyers representing the group. "If they continue to attack peaceful protesters and use excessive force to suppress free speech activity, we'll come back again and again until the city recognizes it's too expensive and makes needed reforms."

The settlement has been approved by all necessary parties. [link via Cursor.]

Update: NBC execs who visited Dick Ebersol in the hospital comment on his condition - and on Charlie's heroic rescue of his dad.

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The plane crash in Colorado Sunday that took the lives of three people, spared two and left one in critical condition in the burn unit of a Denver hospital, is just so incredibly sad. The Ebersol family has released this statement.

In the wake of this tragedy, we are touched by the overwhelming outpouring of love from people all over the world. We will miss Teddy, our sweet boy, forever. He was a deeply cherished brother to his sister, Sunshine, and his brothers Harmony, Charlie, and Willie.

Teddy was a warm, loving, energetic young man. He had developed a wonderfully quirky sense of humor way beyond his years that kept the whole family laughing.

Jurors are hearing evidence in the penalty phase of Scott Peterson's murder trial. The prosecution gave its opening argument, the defense has reserved the option to make one at the beginning of its case. Only four witnesses will testify for the prosecution, all members of Laci Peterson's family.

Update: Because this is a defense site, we will not be commenting or providing news updates of the prosecution's evidence in the death phase. We're not even following the tv versions--prosecutor analysts are a dime a dozen. We're not a fan of victim impact evidence and firmly believe that jurors should be life-qualified at the beginning of a capital case, not death qualified. We'll return to the case when Geragos begins presenting evidence in support of a life sentence.

The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Mass. Transit Authority violated free speech rights in refusing to carry advertisements supporting the legalization of marijuana.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority rejected three ads submitted by the group Change the Climate in 2000, claiming they encouraged children to smoke pot. The transit authority argued that it has the right to protect riders from offensive or illegal messages.

But the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found Monday that the MBTA, a quasi-government agency, does not have the right to turn down ads based on its viewpoint. Doing so violates the First Amendment, the court ruled.

"MBTA advertising space is literally a billboard for the expression of opinions to citizens at large. As a government agency, they shouldn't have the right to pick and choose what opinions they allow to be advertised," said Harvey Schwartz, an attorney for Change the Climate.

The word blog has officially arrived:

A four-letter term that came to symbolize the difference between old and new media during this year's presidential campaign tops U.S. dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster's list of the 10 words of the year. Merriam-Webster Inc. said on Tuesday that blog, defined as "a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments and often hyperlinks," was one of the most looked-up words on its Internet sites this year.

Blog will be a new entry in the 2005 version of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. The complete list of words of the year is available here.

Based on a series of leaked White House memos, Human Rights First and other civil rights groups have strong reservations about Alberto Gonzales' record on human rights and adherence to established domestic and international law. Human Rights First, has launched a campaign to ensure that the Senate obtains all the necessary information regarding Mr. Gonzales.

As the New York Times reported today, the Red Cross is calling the U.S. treatment of detainees “tantamount to torture”. Yale law prof Jack Balkin weighs in, as does law prof Michael Froomkin of Discourse.net.

As White House Counsel, HRF says the leaked memos show:

by TChris

An ordinance in Provo, Utah prohibits pet owners from keeping a cat and dog in the same home.

Tis the Season. Tom Ridge resigns as Chief of Homeland Security. Kwesi Mfume resigns as head of the NAACP. Mr. Mfume's departure is a loss.

by TChris

TalkLeft has reported (here and here and here) that police may be tempted to rely on Tasers, a "non-lethal" weapon, in situations where lesser force would suffice. TalkLeft has also reported (here) that Tasers may not be as "non-lethal" as the manufacturer claims.

Amnesty International has joined the growing symphony of voices calling for a ban on Tasers until the weapon's safety can be independently evaluated. The group contends that 70 people have been killed by "non-lethal" Tasers.

In a report released Tuesday, Amnesty International says "police abuse Tasers" and recommends authorities "stop using them until scientific evidence can show they don't kill."

Other troubling reports of Taser abuse appear here and here.

Bump and Update: The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted to recommend a stay. What will Gov. Rick Perry do?

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Frances Newton is not going to the texecution chamber Wednesday without a fight. She's been claiming her innocence for 17 years.

Questions have been raised, however, about the quality of her legal defense and the reliability of forensic testing by the Houston Police Department crime lab, both of which have come under scrutiny in recent years, her attorneys said.

We wrote about Frances here, quoting the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty :

Frances Newton faces execution in Texas Dec. 1, despite resounding doubts about her guilt. Newton's case is a witches' brew of death penalty dysfunctions. Her trial counsel was egregiously incompetent, she has a strong innocence claim and her conviction rests largely on dubious tests conducted by the now-discredited Houston Police Department crime lab.

She will be the first African-American woman to be executed in modern Texas history. Take action here in support of her lawyers' request for a 120 day reprieve.

It might be the hardest lawyer's job in the country--soliciting lawyers to represent death row inmates for free. But it's a full time job for the head of the ABA's Death Penalty Representation Project.

Robin Maher is a traveling saleswoman whose wares are condemned prisoners. From Boston to Albuquerque, from Denver to New Orleans, she pulls out their pictures and histories and makes her pitch. They have been sentenced for sometimes gruesome crimes, she acknowledges. Many may be guilty as convicted; others have circumstances that could save their lives. A few could be innocent.

Not one has an attorney.

And therein lies the rub. In an age when hundreds of inmates have been found innocent by DNA testing not available or provided at the time of trial, there are even fewer lawyers who are willing to devote the hundreds or thousands of hours necessary to represent someone who they think probably is guilty.

The Sunday Los Angeles Times Magazine has a long article, well worth reading, on the hallucingenic drug Ibogaine, being used in clinics from the Caribbean to Canada to Pakistan, and touted as the new wonder drug to relieve addiction to heroin, opiate painkillers, cocaine, methadone, alcohol and more. The experience is anything but fun, in fact it sounds awful. But thousands of anecdotal accounts have emerged that ibogaine is successful both in reducing cravings for the other substances and eliminating painful withdrawal symptoms.

The drug is illegal in the U.S., but legal in many other countries. The closest, reputable clinic appears to be in Tijuana. As to how it works, here's one explanation: