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Legal news stories from around the circuit.  Be sure to click on the heading link to go to the provider for the entire story:

A Lexington lawyer who fought for five years to uncover one of the largest legal frauds in Kentucky history has been selected as one of the best lawyers of 2009 by a legal publication.



Lawyers USA, an online and monthly legal news publication, named Angela Ford as one of 10 top lawyers for 2009. Ford is named along with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson.

By Al Cross

Kentucky, which leads the nation in deaths of abused and neglected children, should open its records in such cases and those involving severe injuuries, the chairman of the state House Health and Welfare Committee and the head of Kentucky Youth Advocates said yesterday.

Jennifer Thacker never thought 20 years in prison was enough for the man who killed her husband, Brandon, while he was working as an Alcoholic Beverage Control agent. But when she found out that Timothy Doyle would be released next Monday after having served less than 12 years, Thacker said she was saddened, scared, and outraged.

Louis D. Brandeis retired from the Supreme Court on February 13, seventy years ago. To commemorate the occasion, Louisville?s congressman, John Yarmuth, introduced a resolution to the House on the 16th.  It?s a nice resolution?it even managed to sneak in a mention of the Brandeis archives here at the law school. Yarmuth also gave a nice speech when he introduced the bill, which the Courier-Journal reprinted today.

The following remarks were given by Rep. John Yarmuth, D-3rd District, Wednesday in the U.S. House of Representatives. The House then approved HR 905, honoring the life of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of his retirement from the court.

By Beth Musgrave - bmusgrave@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT ? Mothers of drug- and alcohol-addicted newborns could face criminal prosecution under a controversial measure proposed last week by an Eastern Kentucky lawmaker. Rep. Richard Henderson, D-Jeffersonville, pre-filed the bill at the urging of several prosecutors in his district who are frustrated with the growing number of women who give birth to babies with alcohol or drugs in their system.

By Jack Brammer and Beth Musgrave - jbrammer@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT ? A newly elected Republican state Senator wants to cancel a costly, four-year-old benefit in the retirement system for state lawmakers that has been wielded recently by Gov. Steve Beshear as a political weapon. Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, filed legislation this week that would cancel a 2005 provision that allows annual retirement benefits to increase dramatically for former lawmakers who switch to a judicial or executive branch job.

By Beth Musgrave - bmusgrave@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT ? Kentucky's budget woes could have long-lasting effects on the roughly 445,000 Kentuckians who rely on state-run retirement programs, pension officials warned this month. It's only been 18 months since lawmakers drafted a 17-year spending plan to shore up the Kentucky Retirement Systems, which provide benefits to 330,000 current and retired government employees, but it's not clear that lawmakers will make the first payment.

Mayoral candidate and Metro Council member Jim King, a Democrat, outlined a public safety plan Monday that would reinstate police units specializing in gangs and street crimes that were reorganized after the city and county police departments merged in 2003.

Maybe somebody can ask King Jerry why he did nothing about the KLC corruption all these years when he knew trouble was afoot? Here?s a hint: it?s because he?s just as corrupt as Sylvia Lovely. Can?t wait for Crit?s audit of his corrupt housing dept. [H-L ]

Businessman Charlie Johnson spoke out Friday in support of Louisville Metro Police Chief Robert White and his efforts to make the city a safer place to live.

Other than in the fictional Mayberry, there probably isn't a top law enforcement officer anywhere who is respected by everybody. But Louisville Metro Police Chief Robert White certainly comes close.

A federal judge ruled this week that Comair pilot negligence was a "substantial factor" in the Flight 5191 crash three years ago at Blue Grass Airport.

The chief justice of Kentucky's Supreme Court, John D. Minton, said he supports a pilot project to allow access to Kentucky's now-secret family courts.

LEXINGTON, Ky. ? A Fayette Circuit judge Friday morning ordered former state Rep. Steve Nunn to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he is competent enough to help prepare for his murder trial.

An emergency medical technician who was on methadone while driving an ambulance pleaded guilty to manslaughter Thursday for a 2008 wreck in which a patient was killed.

It wasn't a long marriage between Denton Cooper and Izetta Johnson before death did them part.

With little oversight from its executive board, the top staff of the Kentucky League of Cities lavished itself with excessive salaries and retirement bonuses in recent years, state Auditor Crit Luallen reported Thursday.

Ahmed Zayat, the leading Thoroughbred racehorse owner in North America last year and breeder of this year's Kentucky Derby second-place finisher, has been sued in Lexington by Fifth Third Bank. The bank alleges Zayat owes more than $34 million.

LEXINGTON, Ky. ? The law firm representing former state Rep. Steve Nunn, accused of killing his ex-fiancée, has been dropped as a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the victim's mother.

Gov. Steve Beshear issued an executive order Wednesday prohibiting state employees from text messaging while driving state vehicles.

Finch guilty of murder in 2 girls' hit-and-run deaths

A sobbing H.C. Wadlington told Jefferson County jurors Wednesday that this will be the second straight year there will be no Christmas tree in his home, because his 5-year-old daughter, Claudia, is no longer alive to see it.

Auditor: Perry County clerk mishandled funds

Corbin dentist indicted in Medicaid billing case

CDC report ranks Kentucky's health

Judge rejects allegations against key witness in road case

Prosecutors allege defendant sexually assaulted Ivan Cano; trial delayed

Defense attorneys ask for DNA of initial suspect in Ivan Cano death

Bankruptcy trustee sues over alleged lies that shut down Decker College

Judge agrees that Berman's closed-door evaluation was illegal

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