Tag Archives: federal

Federal civil rights lawsuit filed in Florida inmate’s death

A federal civil rights lawsuit has been filed on behalf of the 12-year-old daughter of a Florida inmate, alleging he was gassed while in a confinement cell and that officials tried to cover up his death.

Randall Jordan-Aparo’s 2010 death at Franklin Correctional Institution was publicized amid scrutiny of the Florida Department of Corrections for suspicious deaths.

The lawsuit filed Monday in Tallahassee federal court by the mother of Jordan-Aparo’s daughter alleges corrections officers killed him and the prison’s nurses, doctors and warden conspired to cover up his death.

The 27-year-old’s death remains under investigation by state and federal law enforcement.

Spokeswomen for the Department of Corrections and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida each declined comment to The Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/2cZ0EL8 ) on the lawsuit.

Corrections investigators also have alleged cover-ups by the corrections department in separate lawsuits over Jordan-Aparo’s death.

Federal agency hit with lawsuits over land plan for Oregon

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The federal government is already facing two lawsuits over its plan to manage about 2.5 million acres of land in western Oregon that would increase the potential timber harvest by an estimated 37 percent.

The Statesman Journal reports (http://stjr.nl/2baidqt ) the American Forest Resource Council and Earth Justice have both filed suits against the Bureau of Land Management since the plan was enacted Friday.

The agency spent years working to update the Northwest Forest Plan, trying to strike a balance between the interests of the timber industry and environmentalists. The original plan developed in the mid-1990s failed to deliver promised yields of timber, in part because of federal laws to protect species like salmon and the northern spotted owl.

BLM spokeswoman Sarah Levy said the agency does not comment on pending litigation, but says the agency’s analysis showed it could sustainably harvest 278 million board feet of timber a year and still meet its legal obligations under the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act.

Full Read – http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/Federal-agency-hit-with-lawsuits-over-land-plan-9130688.php