Feds routinely ask courts to order cell phone companies to provide tracking data used to locate suspects, without showing probable cause. They often get their wish. (For background, click here.) Two years ago DOJ began recommending to its prosecutors to first obtain search warrants before acquiring location information for cell phones. But the Obama DOJ appears to be continuing the Bush DOJ's position that getting data without a warrant doesn't violate the Fourth Amendment, though there are ongoing legal challenges to that notion in courts across the country.
Law-breakers in northern California's Contra Costa County, population 1 million, stand to benefit from the county's budget gap. District Attorney Robert Kochly told his county's police chiefs that beginning in May, his office will no longer prosecute a host of misdemeanors because he has to lay off 20% of his staff, or about 18 prosecutors.
Which infractions won't be prosecuted? The list includes non-DUI traffic offenses such as driving with a suspended license and reckless driving, simple assault and battery, lewd conduct, trespassing and shoplifting. Here are stories from the SFChron and ABC News.
WSJ Law Blog April 24, 2009

Through her tenacity, stubbornness and belief that women can run 26.2 miles, Kathrine Switzer scaled the male bastion of the Boston Marathon that barred women from its race and helped to open its doors to women, which it officially did in 1972.
From K. Switzer: In 1967, four miles into the race, the media flatbed truck loaded with photographers came through and we all had to get out of the way to let it pass. A bus followed the truck with the journalists and on that bus were co-race directors Will Cloney and Jock Semple. The photographers saw me first and started shouting, 'There's a girl in the race,' and then slowed up in front of us and started taking pictures. When the journalists saw me, they started teasing Jock that a girl had infiltrated his race. They looked up my number and saw K.V. Switzer and started heckling Jock some more. Their bus was still behind us. I was unaware what was going on behind me as we were waving at the photographers in front of us. He jumped off the bus and went after me. I saw him just before he pounced, and let me tell you, I was scared to death. He was out of control. I jumped away from him as he grabbed for me, but he caught me by the shoulder and spun me around, and screamed, 'Get the hell out of my race and give me that race number.' I tried to get away from him but he had me by the shirt. Tom, my 235-pound boyfriend came to the rescue and smacked Jock with a cross body block and Jock went flying through the air. At first, I thought we had killed him. I was stunned and didn't know what to do, but then Arnie just looked at me and said, 'Run like hell,' and I did as the photographers snapped away and the scribes recorded the event for posterity. My infamous run at the 1967 Boston Marathon is recorded as unofficial and does not post a time, although it was around 4:20:00. Despite that the BAA wanted nothing to do with me, the fact that I ran with a number made headlines around the world. http://www.katherineswitzer.com/life.html http://www.katherineswitzer.com/
Note: After more than 40 years, Kathrine Switzer and Jock Semple have become friends.

History of the Marathon
The marathon race commemorates the run of the soldier Pheidippides from a battlefield near Marathon, Greece, to Athens in 490 B.C., bringing news of a Greek victory over the Persians. Pheidippides collapsed and died at the end of his historic run, thereby setting a precedent for dramatic conclusions to the marathon. http://ctc.coin.org/marathon.html

A case in federal court in New Jersey pits management at a Houston's restaurant against two employees who were complaining about their workplace on an invite-only discussion group on MySpace.com. The case tests whether a supervisor who managed to log into the forum--and then fired employees who badmouthed supervisors and customers there--had the right to do so. Here's an article in WSJ's about the surrounding controversy. WSJ Law Blog April 23, 2009

Landmark Agriculture and Open Space Conservation Bill Introduced
News release: "...Congressmen Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Eric Cantor (R-VA) introduced the Conservation Easement Incentive Act, H.R. 1831. This bill will aid in the protection of millions of acres of the nation’s agricultural lands and open spaces. H.R. 1831 makes permanent an expiring incentive that allows modest-income landowners to receive significant tax deductions for donating conservation easements that permanently protect important natural or historic resources on their lands...“If current development trends continue in California, another two million acres will be paved over by 2050. It’s time we made these protections permanent. By making sure that landowners can count on these enhanced tax benefits, we’ll take a big step forward in preserving our agricultural lands and keeping our environment safe from overdevelopment.”

Daily Cognition.com illustrates what ONE TRILLION dollars looks like in dollar bills... http://www.dailycognition.com/index.php/2009/03/25/what-1-trillion-dollars-looks-like-in-dollar-bills.html

perendinate (puh-REN-di-nayt)
verb tr. : To put off until the day after tomorrow
verb intr.: To stay at a college for an extended time
From Latin perendinare (to defer until the day after tomorrow), from perendie (on the day after tomorrow), from die (day). The word procrastinate is from Latin cras (tomorrow). So when you procrastinate, literally speaking, you are putting something off till tomorrow. Mark Twain once said, "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow." In other words, why procrastinate when you can perendinate? A.Word.A.Day

April 27 is the birthday of poet Cecil Day Lewis, (books by this author) born in County Laois, Ireland (1904). He was in the small group of poets that hung out with W.H. Auden in Oxford, and he helped Auden to edit Oxford Poetry 1927. He worked as a teacher and wrote poetry. Then, in 1935, the roof of his cottage started leaking, and he needed more money to pay for the repair. So he quickly wrote a detective novel, A Question of Proof (1935). It sold so well that he was able to quit teaching and write full time. He wrote 20 mystery novels in all, including Malice in Wonderland (1940), The Case of the Abominable Snowman (1941), A Penknife in My Heart (1958), and The Deadly Joker (1963). He filled his mysteries with literary allusions to Shakespeare, Keats, and A.E. Housman. The Writer’s Almanac