Lower Merion School District officials brag that they give every one of their 1,800 high-schoolers laptop computers to “ensure that all students have 24/7 access to school-based resources.”

Instead, they ensured they got a 24/7 sneak peek into students’ private lives by secretly monitoring webcams embedded in the laptops to spy on teens and their families at home, according to a federal, class-action lawsuit filed this week in Philadelphia.

The suit alleges the remotely controlled covert cameras violate everything from the Fourth Amendment to wiretapping, electronic communications and computer fraud laws.

It was filed Tuesday on behalf of Harriton High student Blake J. Robbins and all Lower Merion students by Robbins’ parents Michael and Holly Robbins of Penn Valley.

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A reader asked whether the U.S. is still in an official state of emergency, and if so, what that means.

The answer is yes, we are still in a state of emergency.

Specifically:

On September 11, 2001, the government declared a state of emergency. That declared state of emergency was formally put in writing on 9/14/2001:

“A national emergency exists by reason of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, New York, New York, and the Pentagon, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, I hereby declare that the national emergency has existed since September 11, 2001 . . . .”

That declared state of emergency has continued in full force and effect from 9/11 [throughout the Bush administration] to the present.

On September 10 2009, President Obama continued the state of emergency:

The terrorist threat that led to the declaration on September 14, 2001, of a national emergency continues. For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue in effect after September 14, 2009, the national emergency with respect to the terrorist threat.

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It has been nicknamed the flying saucepan and looks an unlikely weapon in the war against crime.

But yesterday it emerged that a suspected car thief had become the first person to be arrested in Britain thanks to the help of this miniature remote-controlled helicopter.

The Air Robot or drone was deployed by Merseyside police after officers lost the alleged offender who had escaped on foot in thick fog.

Using the device’s on-board camera and thermal-imaging technology, the operator was able to pick up the suspect through his body heat and direct foot patrols to his location.

It led officers to a 16-year-old youth, who was hiding in bushes alongside the Leeds-Liverpool canal, in Litherland, Merseyside.



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A crippled grandmother has been barred from a gastro pub because she refused to remove her beret.

‘Security threat’ Shirley Phelan and her daughter had already been served one round of drinks when a member of staff requested she take it off.

But Mrs Phelan, 77, refused as daughter Maria tried to order a second round, having entered the pub on crutches following a hip operation.

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TULSA, OK — A Tulsa police officer is out of the Tulsa County jail after officers said he pointed a gun at a bouncer and threatened to kill him. Witnesses say it happened after the officer was thrown out of a downtown Tulsa bar.

Owner Eli Huff says Thomas Fees was a recognizable face at Oscar’s Gastro Pub, located at 1738 South Boston Avenue, but he had no clue he was a Tulsa cop.

Around closing time Friday night, Huff said Fees began inappropriately touching some women in the bar.

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The commander of one of Canada’s largest military bases is in a prison cell today, accused of murdering two Ontario women—including a fellow service member—and sexually assaulting two others.

Col. Russell Williams, a career air force officer, was the top man at CFB Trenton, the same Ontario base that has welcomed home the flag-draped caskets of every Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan. But on Sunday night, police slapped him with another label: serial predator.
Investigators are hesitant to reveal specifics, but the charge sheet speaks for itself, accusing the once-impeccable colonel of leading a secret double life of rape and murder. In September, police say he broke into a pair of homes and attacked two women (both victims lived near Tweed, the same Ontario hamlet where Williams resided). His next alleged victim was Marie-France Comeau, a 38-year-old corporal who was also stationed at CFB Trenton. She was killed inside her home in late-November, her lifeless body discovered by her boyfriend. And this morning, detectives discovered the remains of a second slain woman: 27-year-old Jessica Lloyd of Belleville, Ont., who was missing since Jan. 28. Arrested in Ottawa Sunday night, Williams now faces two counts each of first-degree murder, forcible confinement, break and enter, and sexual assault.

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Southwark Crown Court was told Waad Al-Baghdadi was arrested by Dizaei in a row over work on the officer’s website.

Dizaei, 47, was convicted of both misconduct in a public office and perverting the course of justice.

Prosecutor Peter Wright QC said he was guilty of a “wholesale abuse of power” motivated by self-interest and pride.

Dizaei was ordered to spend two years in prison and two years on licence.

Mr Justice Simon said the sentence included a deterrent element “to send a clear message that police officers of whatever rank are not above the law”.

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here: video of the victim falsly arrested by corrupted Met Commander

A 12-year-old Queens girl was hauled out of school in handcuffs for an artless offense – doodling her name on her desk in erasable marker, the Daily News has learned.

Alexa Gonzalez was scribbling a few words on her desk Monday while waiting for her Spanish teacher to pass out homework at Junior High School 190 in Forest Hills, she said.

“I love my friends Abby and Faith,” the girl wrote, adding the phrases “Lex was here. 2/1/10″ and a smiley face.

But instead of simply cleaning off the doodles after class, Alexa landed in some adult-sized trouble for using her lime-green magic marker.

She was led out of school in cuffs and walked to the precinct across the street, where she was detained for several hours, she and her mother said.

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In what must rank as one of the most bizarre ID requests ever, an office worker claims she had to prove she was over 21 to buy a slice of quiche.

Christine Cuddihy, 24, was handed the cheese and onion tart – costing 51p – at the deli counter of the Tesco in Coventry and then took it to the till.

She says the cashier then refused to sell it to her because she ‘looked under 21′.

Proof of age schemes exist in supermarkets to stop youngsters buying alcohol and cigarettes. There have been incidents where these rules were applied in an overzealous manner when it comes alcohol – but never over a slice of quiche.

Despite her protestations the till girl refused to back down and a humiliated Christine was forced to produce her driving licence in order to buy the slice.

She said: ‘The girl told me: “You don’t look over 21. I need to see some proof of age.”

‘I told her I was certain the proof of age laws do not apply to quiche but she just said: “We have to be really strict now and this applies to quiche bought over the counter.”

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