News & Events

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Press Room

State News Headlines

December 12, 2006

The following headlines are compiled as an internal service for state Attorney General offices only. This list is not exhaustive and is a snapshot of news from around the country compiled through the use of various search engines.

Va. AG Wants Sex Offenders' Online Names

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Attorney General Bob McDonnell said Monday he will seek legislation requiring convicted sex offenders to register their online identities with the state to help MySpace and other online hangouts more easily block access. If enacted, Virginia would be the first state to require registration of e-mail addresses and instant-messaging identities on the state's sex offender registry, McDonnell's office said. ''We require all sex offenders to register their physical and mailing addresses in Virginia, but in the 21st century it is just as critical that they register any e-mail addresses or IM screen names,'' McDonnell said in a news release. Full Article

N.Y. Planning Sex Offender Polygraphs

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Officials in two states proposed unusual plans Monday to tighten oversight of convicted sex offenders: Virginia's attorney general wants them to register their e-mail addresses and online IDs, and New York officials want them to take lie-detector tests. In New York, the parolees' answers to a computer-based polygraph test about their whereabouts could be used to justify electronic monitoring, prohibit Internet use or restrict travel, said Division of Parole spokesman Scott Steinhardt. Thirteen officers had already been trained on the equipment, and the plan was approved by the division's lawyer, but it hadn't been reviewed by the state Attorney General's office, he said. Full Article

Protectors, Too, Gather Profits From ID Theft

Melody Millett was shocked when her car loan company asked her if she was the wife of Abundio Perez, who had applied for 26 credit cards, financed several cars and taken out a home mortgage using a Social Security number belonging to her actual husband. Beyond her shock, Mrs. Millett was angry. Five months earlier, the Milletts had subscribed to a $79.99-a-year service from Equifax, a big financial data warehouse, that promised to monitor any access to her credit records. But it never reported the credit activity that might have signaled that they were victims of identity theft... It is not just criminals who are profiting from identity theft; financial institutions are making money, too. Fear of identity theft has helped give rise to a nearly billion-dollar business in credit-monitoring services sold by the major credit bureaus — companies like Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — as well as direct marketers and banks. Full Article

The Aloha State Is Now Less Welcoming to Smokers

HONOLULU, Dec. 10 — The Irish supergroup U2 was in town, some of the world’s best surfers were ripping waves off the North Shore and the Honolulu Marathon had pretty much every hotel room in Honolulu booked up. But at Captain Zack’s, a friendly dive bar here in the International Marketplace, the major topic for regulars this weekend involved ashtrays and alleyways. Skip to next paragraphIn mid-November, Hawaii enacted one of the strictest antismoking laws in the country, outlawing smoking in bars, restaurants and most hotel rooms, as well as forbidding it within 20 feet of those establishments’ doorways, windows or ventilation intakes. For those at Captain Zack’s — which is partly open-air and sits on a small courtyard — that means smokers have to walk about 100 feet down a service alley, past garbage bins and into a street not even visible from the bar to have a smoke. Full Article

Identity-Theft Protection Expands

A small but increasing number of banks now offer to protect clients when an identity thief has been snooping around. The institutions offer help from generic advice on correcting credit records to personalized help when someone has misused a client's account. MetLife Bank, a unit of MetLife Inc., announced last week that it would provide customers free assistance even if the identity theft doesn't involve a MetLife account. Unlike credit-card theft, which consumers can resolve with a quick call and, at most, a $50 expense, repairing damage after someone has used your personal information to take over or open bank and other consumer accounts could involve thousands of dollars in personal losses and months of effort. Full Article

Distracted driving big cause of crashes

Distracted driving is emerging as nearly as serious a factor as speeding and impaired driving in research on traffic accidents, and safety analysts and state legislatures are trying to combat it. A study being released today by auto club AAA's Foundation for Traffic Safety and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that a driver's odds of being involved in a crash or near-crash are nearly twice as high when the driver looks away from the road for two seconds or longer. Other initiatives on distracted driving include:

  • Four states and the District of Columbia have banned drivers from using handheld cellphones. Thirteen states and the district prohibit or restrict young drivers' use of cellphones, including those that aren't handheld. Nine states and the district prohibit their use by school bus drivers, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) says.
Full Article

 

Leslie R. Kershaw
Communications Assistant
Office: (202) 326-6027
Fax: (202) 408-8061
Email: lnelson@naag.org

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