Lawyers say Wal-Mart workers denied lunch
Oakland, Calif. Lawyers representing about 116,000 former and current Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employees in California told a jury Monday that the world’s largest retailer systematically and illegally denied workers lunch breaks.
The suit in Alameda County Superior Court is among about 40 cases nationwide alleging workplace violations against Wal-Mart, and the first to go to trial.
The workers in the class-action suit are owed more than $66 million plus interest, attorney Fred Furth told the 12 jurors and four alternates.
Hinckley seeks visits to his parents’ home
Washington A psychologist testified Monday that presidential assailant John Hinckley should be allowed to spend some weekends at his parents’ home in Virginia, a three-hour drive from the hospital where he has spent more than two decades for shooting President Reagan and four other people.
Found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982, Hinckley, 50, no longer suffers from the depression and delusional behavior that led to an obsession with actress Jodie Foster and an attempted assassination of the president, Paul Montalbano, a hospital psychologist, said in federal court. Hinckley said at the time that he shot Reagan to impress Foster.
Disabled rights group protests Medicaid cuts
Washington Several hundred disabled people, many in wheelchairs, crowded into the hallways and private suites of House and Senate office buildings Monday to protest proposals to slow federal spending for Medicaid, the health program for the poor.
Organizers said at least 30 people associated with the national disability rights group ADAPT were arrested for refusing to leave private offices. Capitol Police officers said there had been arrests but did not have a final number.
ADAPT organizer Babs Johnson said the protests were staged at the personal offices of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
She said they were demanding that Congress abandon plans to slow the growth of Medicaid spending by $10 billion over the next five years. They also are demanding that Congress pass legislation making it easier for the disabled to live in their communities rather than in nursing homes.
Gas rig explosion possibly was foul play
Independence, Kan. Evidence of possible criminal activity has been found in a natural gas drilling rig explosion that killed two workers and injured a third, authorities said Monday.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Kansas State Fire Marshal’s office and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the June 2 explosion.
Paul Marquardt, an ATF spokesman in Kansas City, Mo., would not discuss the evidence in detail.