Couple of things to hit on today:

Rebecca Green with the J-G has a nice article about big changes in local courts as employees flee in droves to avoid expected changes to their retirement fund. This is apparently happening throughout the state, per ILB.

A lot of people are talking about the legal ramifications of the Tony Stewart-Kevin Ward accident Saturday. Here’s just one example (which I’m not necessarily endorsing). For now, it’s enough to remember that Stewart could be liable even if he didn’t have any “criminal intent.” Also, that criminal liability and civil liability have different standards. To be convicted of manslaughter, the state would have to prove either intent to injure (1st degree) or recklessness (2nd degree). To win in a civil case, Ward’s family would need only prove negligence, which is an easier standard to meet than recklessness. One last thought: New York is a “pure comparative negligence” state. That means that, even if Ward is mostly to blame, if a jury assigns any percentage of fault to Stewart, he’d be liable for that share of the damages.

In the local courts last week, one of our many outstanding bar shooting cases has made it to the end, as Senaca Lapsley was sentenced to 78 years for aggravated battery and criminal recklessness with a specification for being an habitual offender.

The death of an elderly lady whose body was discovered Friday has been ruled a homicide.