KCLL Klues: Washington State Legal Research

We are offering a new class in June called “I Know I Need a Lawyer. Now What? Tips on Getting Legal Help and What to Expect.” This information session will cover various topics, including tips about finding free legal resources, legal clinics, attorney referral services, communicating with your lawyer, standard billing practices, and how to address concerns about your lawyer.

The class is being presented on June 13th from 12-1 pm at the Public Law Library of King County. It is free, but space is limited. Pre-registration is required.  Call the library at (206)296-0940 or stop by the Information Desk to register.

The downtown Neighborhood Legal Clinic will not be open today in the library.  Anyone who has an appointment for today will be resceduled for next Thursday, December 30th.  If you have any questions, you can call them at 206-267-7070.

This is just a reminder that the MRJC library will be closing early on December 17, 2010 for staff training.  The library will open at 8:30 AM and close at 11:00 AM.

On June 24, 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruled by a broad 8-1 majority that signatories of referendum petitions generally do not have a constitutional right, in light of open government laws, to keep their identities private.  The case, Doe v. Reed, 09-559, questioned whether or not the State of Washington could release the names of individuals who had signed a petition to put Referendum 71 on the ballot.  The decision, which was written by Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., contained several concurring opinions and one dissent. For the full text of the decision, you can go to the Supreme Court website, or click on this link.  For analysis of the case, as well as other cases which have been recently decided by the Court, you can click here.

Since April 20, 2010, oil from a BP deep water rig has been gushing into the gulf waters off the coast of Louisiana. As it creeps toward Florida, it still may be difficult to understand how big this oil slick really is.

Resource Shelf–a newsletter designed for educators, journalist and information professionals–has provided a link to ifitwasmyhome.com to help visualize the areas affected by this disaster. To give a better perspective of this environmental hazard, this web tool allows you to see the size of the slick in the Gulf of Mexico, or as centered over a location of your choosing.

Click here to see the oil slick superimposed over a map of your current location. Once the page has loaded, you can change the map to a different location.

Click here to see other links provided by that Resource Shelf to get updates on the Spill.

Maytag has announced its recall of nearly 1.7 million dishwashers due to fire hazard. The company has received 12 reports of electrical failure in the dishwasher heating element — including one kitchen fire. The recalled dishwashers are from the Maytag, Amana, Jenn-Air, Admiral, Magic Chef, Performa by Maytag and Crosley brands. Each of these affected dishwashers have front panels in black, bisque, white, silver and stainless steel and platic tubs. They were sold in US department and appliance stores from February 2006 through April 2010.

If you own one of these Maytag dishwashers, you should stop using it immediately and disconnect it from its power source. You should then check the Maytag website to determine if your dishwasher is included in this recall. Maytag plans to give consumers the option of a free in-home repair or a rebate of $150 or $250 toward the purchase a new Maytag dishwasher.

To find out more about this recall you can read the report on the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s website or the Maytag repair website.

To read news articles on th Maytag recall, click here or here.

Along with 110 other district and municipal courts in Washington, King County District Court is participating in a month-long Debt Reduction Program aimed at helping people with outstanding fines and fees clear up those matters.  For more information about the other Washington courts participating in this program follow this link: Court Fine Debt Reduction 

Taxpayers can follow the money being spent as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) at a new website launched this week by the Obama administration – www.recovery.gov.  In time, the site will have graphs and charts showing ”to which states, to which congressional districts, even to which Federal contractors” the stimulus money is being spent.  Visitors can watch a video message from President Obama, sign up for email updates, and read the full text of the ARRA bill (grab a cup of coffee – it’s 400+ pages long).