After months of legal wrangling, a judge on Tuesday (May 22) sided with the mother and father of a 30-year-old man, ordering him to finally leave their upstate New York home, according to Syracuse.com. Michael Rotondo had been living with his parents in their Camillus home for eight years, during which he said he'd never been expected to contribute to expenses or help around the house, according to his response to his parent's lawsuit.

In February, Mark and Christina Rotondo sent the first of five letters evicting their son from the house. Michael Rotonto refused to leave despite his parents' offer of $1,100 cash to find a new place to stay, advice on selling some of his valuables to get money and the suggestion that there were plenty of jobs available, "even for those with a poor work history like you," one letter read.

Rotondo's parents sued in local and county court before turning to a state Supreme Court for help with their son's removal. In the hearing Tuesday, Michael Rotondo tried to argue that his parents haven't given a sufficient legal reason for him to leave, and the law allows him another six months at home because he's family.

State Supreme Court Justice Donald Greenwood disagreed and issued the order forcing Rotondo out. Rotondo vowed to appeal before heading back to his parent's house, Syracuse.com reported.

Read more: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2018/05/man_evicted_from_parents.html

A federal jury Tuesday ended a trademark battle between two titans of the Texas travel-stop industry, finding that a grinning green gator had unlawfully invaded a toothy beaver's turf.

The jury determined after six hours of deliberation that Choke Canyon's finger-licking alligator logo violated state and federal trademark law, infringing on the already established Buc-ee's beaver that's a stand-in for the popular chain of travel centers.

"It's absolutely not about a beaver versus an alligator," said Jeff Nadalo, general counsel for Buc-ee's Ltd. "There are more than 10 similarities between the two marks that we presented to the jury in this case."

But Charles Hanor, the lead counsel for the San Antonio-based Choke Canyon, said, "We respect the jury's verdict but we don't understand it since all the evidence indicated there was no confusion."

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Buc-ee-s-beaver-trademark-texas-choke-canyon-gator-12934353.php

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has issued an executive order barring state agencies from doing business with any company that takes part in a boycott of Israel.

"Israel is America's closest ally in the Middle East and a beacon of democracy in the region," Edwards, a Democrat, said in a statement announcing his executive order. "The United States, and by affiliation Louisiana, have benefited in innumerable ways from our deep friendship with Israel. Any effort to boycott Israel is an affront to this longstanding relationship. I am pleased that Louisiana will join what is now a critical mass of states in supporting our closest ally."

The move came Tuesday just hours after state lawmakers passed bipartisan resolutions honoring Louisiana-Israel relations and welcomed Israeli Consul General for the Southwestern United States Gilad Katz to the State Capitol. A celebratory event was held at the Louisiana Governor's Mansion Tuesday night.

Louisiana is the 25th state to take such action — either by executive order or by law — to forbid government from dealing with businesses engaged in activities that are part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that aims to change Israeli policy toward Palestinians.

Read more: http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/legislature/article_047daff4-5e23-11e8-b20a-63ae6f6b4f29.html

About 60 percent of teachers surveyed said they favor a statewide walkout or strike to land a "significant" pay raise, leaders of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers said Monday.

Also, 59 percent said they would back a "mass demonstration" at the State Capitol, according to the survey.

"Our survey shows that teachers are fed up, not just with low pay but also with a lack of resources, crumbling facilities, poor student discipline and a lack of parental involvement," LFT President Larry Carter told reporters.

The 16-question survey, which included nearly 4,000 teachers, comes at a time when teachers have held strikes and other action in Oklahoma, West Virginia and Arizona to demand higher pay.

Read more: http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_2e2a49f4-5cf5-11e8-9d02-efc887e8b5d3.html

Louisiana's most pressing child care challenge is trimming the waiting list of working families seeking affordable care for more than 5,000 children, the official who oversees the program said Tuesday.

"To me it is a no-brainer," said Jenna Conway, assistant superintendent for early childhood in the state Department of Education.

"We have all these working families trying to better the lives of their kids and we cannot find the way to make the investment," said Conway, who is leaving her post June 1.

The aid, called the Child Care Assistance Program, or CCAP, has been decimated by state budget cuts since 2008.

Read more: http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_7fd00514-5dcc-11e8-b940-1f30dd1504a6.html

Louisiana lawmakers are back in session, with a tall task of shoring up a looming $650 million budget gap in just two weeks.

Just hours into the Legislature's second special session of the year, some leaders are already voicing deep concern about the ability to address the fiscal cliff in just two weeks — particularly at the pace that things are getting off to this week.

The House Ways & Means Committee, where most revenue-raising measures must begin, is scheduled to hold its first hearing on tax proposals starting at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

But Ways & Means Vice Chair Jim Morris, R-Oil City, said that there will be no votes taken, which means Thursday is the absolute earliest that legislation will begin moving as the clock counts down toward the June 4 end of the special session.

Read more: http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/legislature/article_137975b4-5dd4-11e8-b19d-cf0f52c705b5.html

LITTLE ROCK—A University of Arkansas System proposal is calling for flat tuition and increased mandatory fees for in-state students at four-year schools.

The proposed tuition and fee rates were released Monday ahead of this week's system board of trustees meeting in Little Rock, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported .

Increasing fees would cause annual costs to rise by more than $500 in the 2018-19 year for students at the Pine Bluff and Little Rock campuses. Pine Bluff would see annual tuition-and-fee costs rise up to more than $7,840, while Little Rock would see such costs increase to nearly $9,440.

The Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Monticello campuses would see more modest increases in mandatory fees.

Read more: http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/arkansas/story/2018/may/23/university-arkansas-proposal-calls-higher-fees-and-flat-tuition/727442/

Former Teach for America executive Jared Henderson has won the Democratic nomination for governor.

The Associated Press called the race at 9:21 p.m. At that time, unofficial results showed Henderson with 36,742 votes and Leticia Sanders with 21,079 votes. About 42 percent of the vote was said to be in.

Henderson, who worked as the state director for four years at Teach for America, said Arkansas needs to work to become "the best place to be a public school teacher" within 10 years.

Sanders is a hair braider from Maumelle who said during her campaign that she wanted to legalize marijuana for Arkansans 21 years and older.

Read more: http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/arkansas/story/2018/may/23/jared-henderson-wins-democratic-primary-will-face-gov-hutchinson-november/727456/

The mayor of a north Arkansas town has been arrested on a theft charge stemming from a previous job post, authorities said.

Jan Hudson, 57, of Diamond City is accused of taking $4,550 while employed as treasurer of the Diamond City Community Center, Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said in a statement.

Records show Hudson was booked into the Boone County jail around 11 a.m. Tuesday. She was released about 30 minutes later on $1,500 bail.

Leading the investigation are state police’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Division of Arkansas Legislative Audit, Sadler said.

Read more: http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/may/22/arkansas-mayor-accused-stealing-more-4500-previous/

Governor - Dem - Primary

25.3 % Precincts Reporting

Name Votes Vote %
Henderson, Jared 31,498 64.04 %
Sanders, Leticia 17,690 35.96 %

http://www.arkansasonline.com/2018elections/governor/