Jurist.org
Sara Rose [Staff Attorney, ACLU of Pennsylvania]

A middle-school student, annoyed after being disciplined by her principal for violating the school dress code, vents her frustration by posting a crude MySpace profile on the Internet parodying the principal. The profile, which the student created entirely from home and made available to a small group of friends, includes a photo of the principal but not his name or school. The profile only comes onto school grounds at the behest of the principal. Nevertheless, once the identity of the profile’s author is discovered, the school suspends her from classes for ten days.

Those are the facts of a case, JS v. Blue Mountain School District [PDF], recently decided in the student’s favor by the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The case squarely presented an issue increasingly confronted by schools and their students: How far can public schools can go in punishing students for speech that they post on the Internet outside of school? On one side are the school districts and school board associations, which argue that schools should be permitted to police their students’ speech no matter where it occurs if the speech is about the school. On the other are groups like the ACLU, which believe putting such far-reaching authority into the hands of school administrators impermissibly infringes on students’ First Amendment right to free speech. (more…)

By TARA SIEGEL BERNARD
New York Times
May 20, 2011

The battle to legalize same-sex marriage may be dominating the headlines, but that issue could take years to resolve. More immediately, a growing number of companies have taken it upon themselves to make life a little more equal for their gay employees.

These companies are reaching into their own pockets to pay for an extra tax that their gay employees owe on their partners’ health insurance — something that their married heterosexual co-workers don’t have to worry about because the federal government recognizes them as an economic unit.

To gay employees, gaining equal benefits is about more than the money. The gesture itself validates their relationship with their partners at a time when the government has not.

Most heterosexuals take for granted that they can add a spouse or children to their employer’s health plan. But gay employees with partners have that option only if they work for an organization that offers domestic partner coverage. (more…)

WTAE
PITTSBURGH — Lawsuits were filed against the Centers for Rehab Services by two employees who were fired over an e-mail comparing President Barack Obama to a tar ball washing ashore in the Gulf of Mexico.
The company said the e-mail was inappropriate, but the employees said they were just expressing their political views and were wrongfully fired.

Team 4 investigator Paul Van Osdol reported that the e-mail in question was circulated last summer while the federal government was trying to contain the massive Gulf oil spill. It showed an image of Obama walking along a Gulf beach with the caption, “Another tar ball washed up on the shore.” In a memo, a Centers for Rehab Services official called it “an inappropriate e-mail that contained political and discriminatory content.”
The lawsuit said the e-mail led the company to fire Deborah Bonanno and James Sprung, who received the e-mail and forwarded it to co-workers. (more…)

By Kristina Bui
February 9, 2011
Arizona Daily Wildcat

You know that photo of you, bleary-eyed and smiley, red plastic cup in hand? You know the one. You look like a hot, drunk mess, your friend keeps tagging you in it, it’s on Facebook for the whole Internet to see? That one. I bet you’d be having words with your tag-happy little pal if the UA administration were keeping tabs on your profile.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, much of the discussion at the National Conference on Law and Higher Education centered around issues presented by Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. These issues have colleges wondering if there is a need to police the Internet in order to monitor what their students and faculty members are doing or posting online.

In May 2006, Stacey Snyder was a student at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, just days away from her graduation at the time. Then the university denied her a teaching degree. The university claimed it was because a photo on her MySpace profile. Remember, it was 2006 and people still used MySpace. (more…)

By Senator Dodd’s office

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) today, along with Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), introduced the Sober Truth on Preventing (STOP) Underage Drinking Act Reauthorization, legislation designed to prevent underage drinking. According to the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey released yesterday, the largest national survey of adolescents regarding their drug and alcohol use, underage drinking has decreased significantly and alcohol use among 12th graders marks the lowest level of alcohol use since the study’s inception in 1975.

The reauthorization builds upon the success of the original STOP ACT, which Dodd shepherded through Congress in 2006. The bill will continue federal government efforts to combat underage drinking and increase prevention activities in states and local communities, including college campuses. It would also continue public service media campaigns to increase adult awareness of the threat alcohol poses to their children, as well as increase research and data collection done at the federal level on adolescent alcohol use and brain development. (more…)

By Jessica Tully and Christina Gallagher
December 7, 2010
Daily Collegian

State College attorney Andrew Shubin said Centre County police officers are too concerned with generating a high number of student arrests for low-level offenses at the University Park Undergraduate Association-sponsored town hall meeting Monday night.

“What the students don’t understand is that Penn State is not Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. State College is like Mississippi — the prosecutors, defense attorneys and jurors are very conservative,” Shubin said.

Shubin, a guest attorney at the meeting, said that if he was defending a client in a Philadelphia county, the first thing that he would tell the judge is that his client is a student at Penn State because it is highly recognized institution.

But he said if he were representing a student in Centre County, it would not matter that the student attended Penn State because his client’s background would be nearly identical to that of 40,000 other students.

Shubin said that it is important for students to realize that State College is a school zone, so low-level offenses, such as drinking and selling marijuana, are treated much more harshly. If his client lived in Philadelphia and was caught selling a quarter pound of marijuana, he would get a misdemeanor charge at the most, Shubin said. If his client was caught selling the illegal substance in State College, he would most likely receive a two to four year mandatory prison sentence.

“I hate that I am paying taxes to incarcerate engineering majors,” Shubin said. (more…)

By Jason Mercier and Anthony Randazzo
October 29, 2010 | FoxNews.com

Seventy-seven years after the end of prohibition the battle of the “wets” versus the “drys” is alive and well in those states considering ending their government monopolies over the sale of liquor. Though not as colorful as the epic battles between Al Capone and Elliot Ness, the underlining debate continues over whether government control of liquor sales has measurable societal benefits.

As one of 18 monopoly control states (only government sale of liquor allowed), this question is front and center in Washington State where not one, but two ballot measures are being considered on whether to end the state’s liquor monopoly. A similar debate is occurring in the control states of Virginia and Pennsylvania. (more…)

Tuesday, October 05, 2010
By Elisabeth Ponsot, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Friday night, Oakland.

Students back to school after summer vacation walk down Forbes Avenue with purpose, making stops at their favorite joints. Some seek out the scene at Hemingway’s Cafe or Peter’s Pub. Others trek off the beaten path to the Garage Door Saloon on Atwood or Bootleggers on Semple.

To the untrained eye, the 18- to 20-year-olds blend in with students of legal drinking age. But not to Dominic Williams.

Mr. Williams, 25, a 6-foot-4-inch former University of Pittsburgh football player, says he can spot a false ID as soon as he sees it. (more…)

HARRISBURG (October 4)- The Pennsylvania House of Representatives today passed legislation to add new reforms to the commonwealth’s systems of criminal sentencing and parole. The intent of the bill, Senate Bill 1161, is to provide much-needed relief to the state’s bursting prison system, said the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, a supporter of the bill.

“Our prison system is at its breaking point,” said Andy Hoover , legislative director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “The passage of this bill, while not perfect, is another sign that the legislature is getting sm art on crime.” (more…)

PA Liquor Control Board Awards Nearly $1 Million in Grants to Aid Fight Against Underage, Dangerous Alcohol Use

HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 15 The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board today announced 72 organizations throughout the state were recently awarded grants totaling $903,522.37 to support initiatives aimed at preventing underage and dangerous drinking.

“It is really important that we, as an agency, support our community leaders and educators as they work to discourage underage and dangerous drinking,” said Liquor Control Board Chairman Patrick “P.J.” Stapleton. “We couldn’t be more proud to invest in programs that will improve and protect the lives of young Pennsylvanians.”

Since 1999, the PLCB has awarded more than $4.5 million in grants to 246 organizations to fund prevention programs focused on underage alcohol consumption, as well as initiatives supporting under-age drinking law-enforcement investigations. (more…)