Stuff that's piled up

The case of the she named He: The Supreme Court ruled that the birth-parents of a young girl from China are entitled to custody, over her adoptive parents. Here is a story from the Shanghai Daily, and the Volunteer Dispatch has this post, speculating that the case could go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The alleged unethical treatment of dead animals by PETA workers: the Norfolk paper reports here on the ongoing trial in NC of two Virginia PETA workers, who "being tried together on 21 counts of felony animal cruelty, seven counts of littering and three counts of obtaining property by false pretenses." Geez, they wouldn't want me on that jury.

How partial is partial: this post talks about the next great issue for the Supreme Court in the application of the Federal Arbitration Act - "The dispute turns on the meaning of "evident partiality" in 9 USC 10(a)(2): whether that term requires that an undisclosed relationship that the arbitrator had with a party, witness, or counsel (as in Positive Software Solutions) must be beyond a "trivial or insubstantial" prior relationship in order to justify vacating an award (as the majority of the Fifth Circuit en banc held), or whether the "very failure to disclose facts that might create a reasonable impression of the arbitrator's partiality" justifies vacating the award (as the panel opinion had held)." I've got a couple of arbitration cases cooking, one's that about done I think and one that needs to get started.

The Lynchburg Circuit Court sustained a demurrer to the lawsuit challenging the plans of Randolph-Macon Women's College to go co-ed, as the Lynchburg paper reported here. The article says Ed Fuhr from Hunton & Williams represented the college. Wyatt Durrette as counsel for the plaintiffs said that "the judge’s ruling surprised him." No doubt it did.

Posts like this one and articles like this one continue to expand the speculation about the impact of the Fourth Circuit's ruling in the Maryland Walmart employee benefits case. Does the logic of that ruling limit the authority of any state-wide scheme for employers to provide medical insurance? Perhaps so.

Delegate Hargrove proposed a resolution to celebrate Juneteenth, after his controversial remarks about slavery, as reported here. Juneteenth is an interesting idea for a holiday. There was a Rappahannock Juneteenth celebration in 2006.

I'm still wanting to read the Virginia Court of Appeals opinion in the parking with an expired inspection sticker case, described here. Do you reckon the fellow ever moved his car?

The Washington Times is pointing the finger at Michael Powell in the Wren Chapel cross matter, as Powell is on the board of the College of William & Mary. Somehow, the Times attempts to make some comparison between the removal of the cross and the Janet Jackson episode at the Super Bowl, surely a strange connection to try to make.

The Democrat delegate who opposes the reappointment of a general district court judge is now saying the judge was only supposed to get one term. That's a strange thing to be saying. A deal like that would be unenforceable, surely.

"Hogs are not game animals." It says so right here in the Hook, in an article about the Boar man, and "Operating Hog Wild."

Another corner heard from: part of the transportation debate includes the issue of whether the state can make localities raise taxes, according to this article in the Norfolk paper, including commentary from Professor Howard, who says "the state can order cities and counties to impose local taxes against their will."