Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg granted a motion filed by Indiana state pension funds to delay the merger between the American and Italian automakers in what the U.S. Treasury Department said was an “administrative extension designed to allow sufficient time for the Supreme Court to explore whether or not a stay is needed, according to several published reports June 8. The Supreme Court move extends a stay already issued by a lower court that was set to expire late afternoon Monday. Fiat, however, has given Chrysler until June 15 to finish the merger.
http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2009/06/08/daily22.html

The secret collection John Sisto kept in his Berwyn, Illinois bungalow had letters written by kings, Vatican documents penned by Catholic popes and even a handwritten book preface by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. In all, federal officials found an astounding treasure-trove of about 3,500 ancient artifacts, religious relics, rare manuscripts and other historic items after Sisto's death in March 2007. Federal officials said Monday that the results of a two-year investigation determined that 1,600 of those items were stolen from Italy and shipped to the U.S. to be sold. The items, with an estimated value of $5 million and $10 million, will be returned to Italy later this week, according to FBI spokesman Ross Rice. Sisto's son Joseph said he was aware of his father's large collection of artifacts when he was growing up. John Sisto's father, Giuseppe, would travel Europe and buy the items in estate sales, then ship them overseas in "hundreds of crates" for his son to sell. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-antiquities-09-jun09,0,237014.story

"Neutral facial expressions" are required at departments of motor vehicles (DMVs) in Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia. That means you can't smile, or smile very much. Other states may follow. The serious poses are urged by DMVs that have installed high-tech software that compares a new license photo with others that have already been shot. When a new photo seems to match an existing one, the software sends alarms that someone may be trying to assume another driver's identity. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-05-25-licenses_N.htm

Part of a Facebook exchange between a North Carolina judge and one lawyer in a child custody trial involved the weight to be given testimony that one spouse had been unfaithful. During a meeting in chambers the day after the Judge Terry had friended lawyer Charles A. Schieck, Terry told the lawyers he believed the testimony but did not see that it made any difference in deciding custody. Schieck responded, "I will have to see if I can prove a negative." That evening, Schieck posted on his Facebook account, "How do I prove a negative?" Judge Terry saw it and responded that he had "two good parents to choose from," to which Schieck posted his "wise judge" remark. The next day, the two shared additional messages on Facebook. In one, Schieck wrote, "I hope I'm in my last day of trial." Judge Terry responded, "You are in your last day of trial."
http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2009/06/facebook-friend-earns-judge-a-reprimand.html

Public Reprimand of B. Carlton Terry, Jr. by N.C. Judicial Standards Commission
http://www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/coa/jsc/publicreprimands/jsc08-234.pdf

Tony La Russa suing Twitter for trademark infringement
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is suing the micro-blogging and social networking site Twitter, Inc., over what the skipper and his attorney describe as trademark infringement, cybersquatting and misappropriation of likeness and name.
The suit, filed in San Francisco about a month ago, concerns the Twitter name page for Tony La Russa (or www.twitter.com/tonylarussa) and the manager’s claim that it was an unofficial and unauthorized use of his name. The fake page allegedly had La Russa’s picture and some vulgar updates, a few of which were Cardinals-related. The suit contains several examples of off-color statements made on the page, two of which make references, directly or indirectly, to the two active Cardinals’ pitchers who died during recent regular seasons, Darryl Kile and Josh Hancock. La Russa sought out ways to remove the address, even asking reporters for information on how to contact Twitter, Inc., and stop the feed of micro-blogs attached to his name, according to the suit.
In the suit his attorney claims that such attempts were fruitless. Only after filing the suit did the address come down on Twitter.com, according to the suit.

On June 5, La Russa told reporters that the case had “been settled.” But over the weekend, Twitter rebuffed La Russa's claim, saying the suit had not settled, and reasserting that its position “will be upheld in a court that will ultimately dismiss Mr. La Russa's lawsuit.” WSJ Law Blog June 8, 2009

Energy secretary Steven Chu, while in London pitched an idea from his former colleagues at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: Painting roofs white to reflect sunlight can make a huge difference to global warming.
From the Times of London: “There’s a friend of mine, a colleague of mine, Art Rosenfeld, who’s pushing very hard for a geo-engineering we all believe will be completely benign, and that’s when you have a flat-top roof building, make it white. “Now, you smile, but he’s done a calculation, and if you take all the buildings and make their roofs white and if you make the pavement more of a concrete type of colour rather than a black type of colour, and you do this uniformly . . . it’s the equivalent of reducing the carbon emissions due to all the cars on the road for 11 years.” The thing is, secretary Chu actually understated the potential benefits of global whitewashing. The Lawrence research he refers to (which WSJ wrote about last fall) says that white roofs and pavements could mean a one-time reduction of 44 billion tons of carbon dioxide. That, Art Rosenfeld said, translates to removing all the cars in the world for 18 years. Of course, that’s the best-case scenario. Most roofs are sloped, not flat. Using “cool colored” paint on sloping roofs—as California will require starting this summer—would lead to a global reduction on the order of 24 billion tons.
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/05/27/steven-chu-white-roofs-to-fight-global-warming/tab/print/

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) charged that top officials at the Library of Congress have interfered with investigations conducted by its independent watchdogs and have frequently admonished investigators for the tone and focus of their investigations. "Your office's attempts to influence and/or control the OIG appear to be in direct contravention of the principles underlying the creation of the Inspectors General," Grassley wrote in a sharply worded letter delivered today to Librarian of the United States James H. Billington. "Independence is the hallmark of the Inspectors General throughout the country." In response, Library of Congress spokesman Matt Raymond said Billington will review the letter and respond in full. He also noted that Billington requested the Library's first-ever audit and called for the establishment of an independent IG. "There are a number of serious factual errors in the events as stated in the letter that we will correct," Raymond said, but would not elaborate. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2009/06/library_of_congress_officials.html?hpid=news-col-blog

An Illinois muse reader, upon reading the daffodil poem by Wordsworth, remembers visiting Wye Mountain, Arkansas and its daffodil field. Find pictures here: http://starwoodgal.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/wye-mountain-daffodils/