News from the Legal Broadcast Network

Arturo Gatti Murder

The LBN Team — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:36:31 +0000

Boxing champion ARTURO GATTI's wife did not kill her husband, according to her lawyer - because she is too "fragile, young and skinny" to have committed murder.
Gatti was in Brazil on holiday with wife Amanda Rodrigues and their one-year-old son when he was found dead in a hotel room in Porto de Galihnas on last Saturday (7/11/09).
Rodrigues was subsequently arrested on suspicion of murdering her husband after a drunken row, with police claiming she strangled the sporting legend to death with her purse strap.

July 4th Cyber Attack

The LBN Team — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:34:15 +0000

(Wired News) Talk of cyberwar is in the air after more than two dozen high-level websites in the United States and South Korea were hit by denial-of-service attacks 2 weeks ago. But cooler heads are pointing to a pilfered five-year-old worm as the source of the traffic, under control of an unsophisticated hacker who apparently did little to bolster his borrowed code against detection.

Nonetheless, the attacks have launched a thousand headlines (or thereabouts) and helped to throw kindling on some long-standing international political flames — with one sworn enemy blaming another for the aggression.

Welcome to the New World Order of cybersecurity.

In this video Scott Drake interviews Kim Zetter, senior correspondent for Wired News.

Nancy Fox, Founder of HubSTREET.com

The LBN Team — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:12:16 +0000

Nancy Fox is the Connector Coach, and founder of HUBSTREET.com, an online and on-the-ground community bringing targeted professionals together.

Unlike most online and face to face networks, HUBSTREET takes the work out of networking by bringing you together with the right quality connections - professionals and experts that are relevant to your business. They also help users make quality introductions with others in their current and expanding network.

Nan Aron Reports From Sotomayor Hearings Day 2

The LBN Team — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:06:56 +0000

A leading voice in public interest law for over 30 years, Nan Aron, President of Alliance for Justice, a national association of public interest and civil rights organizations reports from the Sotomayor confirmation hearings.

Sonia Sotomayor faced tough questioning Tuesday on political issues and controversial statements from her past, with both Democrats and Republicans saying she responded well and appeared certain to win confirmation as the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.

The 55-year-old federal appeals judge conceded she made a bad play on words in saying in 2001 that a "wise Latina woman" could reach a better conclusion than a white man.

Sotomayor Hearings Day 1

The LBN Team — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:23:36 +0000

(Ny Times) Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s first nominee to the Supreme Court, introduced herself to the nation Monday by speaking about how her journey from public housing in the Bronx to the federal bench has shaped her philosophy and made her a jurist whose philosophy is guided by “fidelity to the law.”Brad Bannon

Scott Drake interviews Brad Bannon president of Bannon Communications Research

Bannon Communications Research is a full-service independent political consulting firm.

Sarah Palin Resignation a Smart Move?

The LBN Team — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:11:09 +0000

(Politico) Less than half of Republican voters think Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s decision to resign hurts her chances of winning the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll released Tuesday.

Forty percent of Republican voters said the governor’s decision did not hurt her odds in 2012, while 24 percent think Palin’s move helps her chances of securing her party’s nomination. Twenty-eight percent said it will have no impact.

Conservatives and moderates are split over the governor’s move. Fifty-two percent of self-identified GOP moderates said Palin’s move will hurt her chances in 2012, while only 37 percent of conservatives think she has harmed her chances.

“In general, the higher a Republican voter’s income level and educational achievement, the more likely he or she is to think Palin’s decision to resign will hurt her bid for the GOP nomination,” the polling firm observed in its analysis of the survey.

Len Dykstra Bankruptcy Attorney Walter Hackett

The LBN Team — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:13:01 +0000

Lenny Dykstra, the former star center fielder for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball teams, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The 46-year-old has no more than $50,000 of assets and between $10 million and $50 million of liabilities, according to a petition filed Tuesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Central District of California.

Dykstra's filing comes in the wake of more than 20 lawsuits he faces tied to his activities as a financial entrepreneur, including The Players Club, a glossy magazine for athletes he had helped launch in 2008.

According to an April article on ESPN.com, Dykstra put his net worth at $60 million, and also owned a black Rolls Royce Phantom and Gulfstream II jet.

NHL Wins in Coyotes Bankruptcy Litigation

The LBN Team — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:52:11 +0000

The Coyotes and the team's owners (repped by Squire, Sanders & Dempsey) filed for bankruptcy last month and announced they had struck an agreement to sell the franchise to Balsillie, owner of the company behind the BlackBerry and a Canadian hockey fanatic who has twice tried to bring a seventh hockey franchise to Canada.

The NHL, repped by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (one of two go-to firms for the NHL along with Proskauer Rose), objected to the sale, saying the Coyotes never gave the league a heads-up and were violating league rules that required teams to get permission from other owners to relocate.

So, for the first time, a federal judge had to answer the question: Could a sports team use the asset sale procedures of bankruptcy court to sidestep league rules about franchise relocation?

Luis Bartolomei Analysis on Flores v. Arizona

The LBN Team — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:37:23 +0000

The U.S. Supreme Court took a major step toward ending a 17-year legal battle Thursday, saying lower courts made a mistake by focusing too much on forcing Arizona to spend more money to help students who haven't yet learned to speak, read or write English.

Scott Drake interviews Luis Bartolomei a partner with Reyes, Bartolomei and Browne in Dallas.

The GOP On Al Franken

The LBN Team — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:04:08 +0000

Former comedian Al Franken will be Senator Franken after being sworn in on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 but he’s not laughing. He’s quite serious about proving that he is no longer a comedian and about his role as the 60th Democrat U. S. Senator, who is providing the historic filibuster-proof supermajority.

Scott Drake discusses the new balance of the U. S. Senate with Scott Wheeler, executive director of the National Republican Trust, the third largest conservative political PAC in the US, just behind the NRA.

As you might imagine, Wheeler isn't too complimentary of Franken or the process that got him elected.