We want YOU to drop what you’re doing and serve the state.

16. People on the street are slapped with emergency jury-duty summonses in Greeley, Colo. after less than 40 of 200 people summoned by mail show up at court.  People who refused to comply would have faced contempt of court citations.

17. State troopers in Minnesota permanently subdue a man using non-lethal Taser.  Another Taser death in Florida.

18. Miami Beach bans outdoor food displays, long used by restaurant owners to lure tourists inside, in an effort to “clean up” the city’s image.

19. Police in Daytona Beach are looking for a man who is “clean-cut, employed and involved in a relationship, possibly even married,” in connection with a string of serial killings.  Police Chief Mike Chitwood “asked women involved with someone with qualities likened to the serial killer to contact the police immediately.”  I suppose these kind of guys really stand out in Daytona Beach, huh?!

20. A judge in North Dakota rules that DNS zone transfers are illegal under the state’s computer crime statute.  A zone transfer is merely a request to a DNS server to provide any public information it has on a given Internet domain.

21. Canada’s “Prince of Pot”, Marc Emery, cops a plea on U. S. charges of money laundering and selling marijuana seeds and will serve five years in prison . . . but avoids extradition to the U. S., where he could have faced 20 years or more.

22. In our Laws that Don’t Actually Exist But They’re Too Amusing Not To Mention segment, a Virginia lawmaker has introduced a bill to ban “truck nuts”—the plastic scrotums hanging from the trailer hitch of Bubba’s toy (usually with a bumper sticker that reads “MY OTHER TOYS ARE YER MOM’S TITS”).  This is courtesy of the same state legislature that tried to ban saggy pants in 2005—an effort now being made by other states and municipalities around the country.

23. Another vicious dog terminated by cop.

24. Among the new traffic laws taking effect in California this year is a prohibition on smoking in cars with kids as passengers.

25. San Mateo, Calif. police take down poker game in private home.  More here.

26. IP madness: Ford now claims ownership of any pictures of their cars—even the ones taken by owners.

27. Chicago cop to black resident: “Do you have any niggers in the building?”

28. Texas school threatens student with not graduating unless he cuts his hair.

29. Illinois man freed after spending more than 20 years in prison for a double-murder he didn’t commit.

30. Arizona’s Maricopa County has paid over $30 million on liability claims against Sheriff Joe Arpaio dating back to 1993, due to lawsuits over jail conditions.  That doesn’t count the $11 million taxpayers pony up just for the insurance policy covering the “toughest sheriff in America”.  Hey, they must think they’re getting a good deal, as they keep re-electing the bastard.