By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Thirteen years ago today, I was walking down Connecticut Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., on my way to work, about to get on the subway, when I ran into a friend who asked if I had heard about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. I hadn’t. By the time…
By Ross Parker ticklethewire.com The number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty went up 31% during the first half of 2014, compared to the same time period last year. Of the 67 officers killed, 26 were in traffic-related incidents, 25 were killed by gunfire, and 16 due to job-related illnesses and…
Ross Parker was chief of the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit for 8 years and worked as an AUSA for 28 in that office. By Ross Parker ticklethewire.com Guessing the correct result and even the basic rationale of the Supreme Court’s cell phone case could be considered a minor achievement,…
By Ross Parker ticklethewire.com The evidence continues to mount of the dangerous health risks of today’s potent forms of marijuana, especially to segments of the population such as juveniles and young adults. But the medical evidence seems to be having little effect in view of a combination of denial, lack of political will, and ignorance…
By Greg Stejskal ticklethewire.com The 60s were a tumultuous decade, and 1964 was emblematic of that decade. Arthur Ashe won the US Open, and Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace. The Beatles came to America and established a beachhead for the “British invasion.” Lyndon Johnson, a Southern Democrat,…
By Ross Parker ticklethewire.com The U. S. Supreme Court will hear argument today on two cases involving warrantless searches of cell phones. The case is probably the most important and most difficult 4th Amendment case of the term. Lower courts are split on the issue, and the number and tone of the appellate…
By Ross Parker ticklethewire.com A recent study by researchers from Northwestern University and Harvard University Medical School has concluded that even moderate use of marijuana by young adults affects the structure of their brains. The study, published in the April 16, 2014 Journal of Neuroscience, found that the size and shape of the region of…
This column was originally posted on April 14, 2010. Because I thought it continued to be relevant, it was re-posted last year (2013) on April 2. (I had no idea how relevant it would become.) The subject of the column, “April 19th,” first became significant when some New England citizens confronted a unit of the…
