This article originally appeared on Huffington Post by Melissa Jeltsen on August 22nd, 2016. A few weeks before her death, Megan Short logged onto Facebook and clicked on a story about emotional abuse. The article, titled “He didn’t hit me. It was still abuse,” resonated with her. In it, author Leigh Stein described the peculiarities of surviving an abusive […]

This article originally appeared on Huffington Post by Ed Mazza on August 17th, 2016. A college student killed a Florida couple and then tried to eat the face of one of the victims on Monday, an act that appeared to be entirely at random, local law enforcement said. Police said 19-year-old Florida State University student Austin Harrouff had been

This article originally appeared on the Washington Post by Matt Zapotosky and Chico Harlan on August 18th, 2016.  The Justice Department plans to end its use of private prisons after officials concluded the facilities are both less safe and less effective at providing correctional services than those run by the government. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced the decision on Thursday in

This article originally appeared on Emirate 24|7 on August 19th, 2016. Elmer Riehle does not want to wait “until death do us part,” but he may not have a choice. The 88-year-old wants to divorce Carolyn Riehle, saying the marriage is “irretrievably broken.” In court documents, she agrees. But Carolyn is more than Elmer’s wife. She is

This article originally appeared on Huffington Post by Sarah Grossman on August 12th, 2016.  Lawyer’s fees can be expensive, so this teen developed an automated service that gives free legal aid to people who have lost their homes. The DoNotPay website, created by Stanford student Joshua Browder, uses an online robot to provide legal assistance to newly evicted people in the U.K., according

This article originally appeared on Huffington Post by Alana Horowitz Satlin on August 12th, 2016. Donald Trump once again threw legality into the wind, suggesting that Americans could be tried at Guantánamo Bay if he’s president. As the Miami Herald points out,that’s against current U.S. law. Trump told the Herald on Thursday that it “would be fine” for military tribunals at the infamous detention center

This article originally appeared on Huffington Post by Michelle Fields on August 12th, 2016. Some Republicans have argued that conservatives skeptical of Donald Trump should vote for him anyway, if only to prevent Hillary Clinton from nominating liberals to the Supreme Court. But the right’s leading legal scholars reject that idea: the risks of a President Trump would outweigh his influence on the high

This article originally appeared on Huffington Post by Matt Ferner and Andy Campbell on August 12th, 2016. A federal judge on Friday overturned Brendan Dassey’s conviction in the death of Teresa Halbach. The 26-year-old Dassey, who was featured in the Netflix mini-documentary series “Making A Murderer,” was sentenced in 2007 on homicide and sexual assault charges to life without parole over

This article originally appeared on Huffington Post by Christian Farias on August 11th, 2016. The tortuous legal fight over the future of Texas’ voter ID law is over ― at least until the November election. A federal judge on Wednesday issued a detailed order on how Texas must now move forward ahead of Election Day, listing a range of measures to essentially ensure no

Knightdale, N.C. — It was just a dumb fight. Two boys, both juniors, stood in the hallway discussing a classic teenage hypothetical: whether one of them could win in a fight against another student. But when one of the teens, Scott, said he didn’t think his friend could win, things turned personal. They flung curse