Advocates for disabled residents go to court
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Advocates for people with disabilities in North Carolina have filed a federal class-action lawsuit to block cuts to in-home care services to 4,000 low-income people.
The News & Observer in Raleigh reports the cuts target in-home assistants who help disabled people with bathing, dressing, and eating.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Lanier Cansler says the move saves $40 million in state Medicaid expenditures.
Advocates for individuals with disabilities say the cuts going into effect Wednesday will force people into adult care homes where they can receive the services, which could cost taxpayers even more through Medicaid and Medicare payouts.
The Americans With Disabilities Act says long-term care must be provided in the least restrictive setting appropriate to meet the needs of people with disabilities.
Judge: No prayer at high school graduation
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A federal judge in South Texas has banned public prayer at a high school graduation ceremony after the agnostic parents of a senior went to court.
The order handed down by Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery was in response to a lawsuit filed by Christa and Danny Schultz on behalf of their son, Corwin, to block use of prayer.
The judge said speakers cannot call on audience members to bow their heads, join in prayer or say “amen.”
Chris Martinez, assistant superintendent at Medina Valley High School in Castroville, said school officials will follow the order against public prayer, but they do not believe the district has done anything wrong.
Man sues over stolen $1 million lottery ticket
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A North Texas man is suing the Texas Lottery Commission and others for $1 million in winnings from a lottery ticket prosecutors say was stolen from him in 2009.
Travis County prosecutors say a convenience store clerk in the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie cheated Will Willis out of the ticket, redeemed it himself and fled to his native Nepal.
Prosecutors recovered $395,000 from the clerk’s bank accounts and obtained a court ruling that Willis is the ticket’s rightful owner. But the lawsuit says the clerk received $750,000 in prize money after taxes — money Willis says he has coming to him. The clerk remains a fugitive.
The Texas attorney general’s office contends the lottery ticket is a “bearer instrument” redeemable by whoever holds it.
Jury convicts teen in escalator dispute
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco teenager has been convicted for the shooting death of a youth in a dispute over clogging an escalator at a downtown shopping center.
A jury decided this week that Christopher Canon, who was 15 at the time of the 2007 killing, is guilty of second-degree murder for the death of 18-year-old Michael Price of Oakland.
The San Francisco Chronicle says Canon shot Price four times after the two argued over whether Price was moving too slowly on an escalator at the Metreon shopping complex.
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