Top CNS stories for today including a prominent state attorney suing Florida Gov. Rick Scott for taking her off death penalty cases in her district; the doctor dragged off a United Airlines flight files an emergency bill of discovery in Cook County Circuit Court; Google is fighting U.S. Labor Department accusations of a gender pay gap at its operations; glowing bacteria are being used to detect buried landmines, and more.
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1.) State Attorney Sues Florida Governor Over Death Penalty Row
A prominent state attorney has sued Florida Gov. Rick Scott after he took her off all death penalty cases in her district. Aramis Ayala, whose office covers Orlando and surrounding Orange and Osceola counties, filed a motion for injunctive relief against Scott in U.S. District Court in Orlando, hoping to reverse the governor’s decision to reassign her murder cases after she refused to seek the death penalty.
2.) Passenger Moves to Secure Proof of United Incident
The doctor dragged off of a United Airlines flight this week filed an emergency bill of discovery in Cook County Circuit Court on Wednesday asking for the court to order United and Chicago to preserve evidence of the incident that went viral.
3.) Former Chinese Prisoners Claim Yahoo Group Is A Sham
Seven former political prisoners claim in federal court a human rights group Yahoo set up to atone for turning over the personal information of dissidents to the Chinese government was a sham, spending most of its budget for the personal benefit of the Internet giant.
4.) Glowing Bacteria Used to Detect Buried Landmines
More than 100 million landmines and unexploded projectiles cause up to 20,000 injuries and deaths worldwide each year, and the technology to detect the devices has barely advanced since World War II. Glowing bacteria and lasers may be about to change that.
5.) Melania Trump Settles Defamation Suit Against Daily Mail
First Lady Melania Trump on Wednesday reached a settlement with the Daily Mail in a defamation suit she filed after the tabloid ran a story examining whether she worked as a prostitute before meeting President Donald Trump.
6.) Google Fights Accusations of Gender Pay Gap
Facing a U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit accusing it of hiding evidence of systemic discrimination against female workers, Google on Tuesday struck back publicly by touting its “rigorous” analysis to ensure pay equity.
7.) Los Angeles Fights Immigration Crackdown
Los Angeles has been a bellwether in the fight against the Trump administration’s immigration policies, and now groups are fighting a proposed carve-out that would exclude people with criminal convictions from a proposed legal fund.
8.) San Francisco Pols Want Seal Lifted in Bribery Case
A state trial judge said she will revisit a year-old protective order guarding evidence in a political bribery case against three San Francisco politicos charged with accepting bribes and laundering donations to retire Mayor Ed Lee’s campaign debt.
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