The “prosecutor believed her, then believed her, and then believed her some more.”

Remarkable story of official malfeasance in Albemarle County (Charlottesville), Virginia: though now released from prison, “Mark Weiner has lost more than two years with his young son and with his wife, he’s lost his job, he’s lost his family home, and he’s lost every penny he ever had in savings or retirement accounts.” [Dahlia Lithwick, Slate]

“More than 3/4 of the civil cases filed in Tucson’s federal court last year…

“…originated with one person: a state prisoner upset about his health care behind bars.” Dale Maisano, whose 3,000 lawsuits last year were mostly handwritten, has served much of a 15-year sentence for aggravated assault. “He alone is responsible for a nearly fourfold increase in civil cases since 2012.” [Curt Prendergast, Arizona Daily Star]

“Quit snooping into trash, city of Seattle told in privacy lawsuit”

Seattle Times:

A group of privacy advocates is suing the city of Seattle, arguing that having garbage collectors look through people’s trash — to make sure food scraps aren’t going into the garbage — “violates privacy rights on a massive scale.”

“A person has a legitimate expectation that the contents of his or her garbage cans will remain private and free from government inspection,” argues the lawsuit filed [last] Thursday in King County Superior Court by the Pacific Legal Foundation.

More: Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Earlier on the city’s ban on food waste in trash, and severe limits on other types of material, here.

Labor roundup

Pan Am Games: link to us and we’ll sue

“The organizers of the Pan American Games in Toronto…[saw fit to] require that people seek formal permission to link to its website at toronto2015.org.” [The Register] We’ve been here before, and before that, and so on. After only a little press attention, as The Register notes in an update, the organizers quietly changed the website’s terms and conditions to remove the ban.

July 22 roundup

“Silence feature… will not extinguish a fire”

Bob Dorigo Jones has announced the finalists in the 18th and latest of his series of annual Wacky Warning contests, which document such phenomena as a “Harmful if Swallowed” warning on a hook-laden brass fishing lure. This year’s entries range from the depressing (at a bowling alley: “Bowl at your own risk. Risk of bodily injury is associated with this game.”) to the bizarre (on a small ceiling-mounted smoke alarm: “Silence feature is intended to temporarily silence the horn while you identify and correct the problem. It will not extinguish a fire.”) John Stossel’s studio audience will pick the winner on Friday, July 24. More: Washington Times, and our wacky warnings tag which includes earlier coverage of the series.

Higher education roundup