Marijuana seized by Deuel County (Neb.) sheriff’s deputies is stacked in an unused jail cell in the county courthouse June 2, 2014.(Photo: Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY)

DENVER — Sheriffs from Colorado and neighboring states Kansas and Nebraska say in a lawsuit to be filed Thursday that Colorado’s marijuana law creates a “crisis of conscience” by pitting the state law against the Constitution and puts an economic burden on other states.

The lawsuit asks a federal court in Denver to strike down Colorado’s Amendment 64 that legalized the sale of recreational marijuana and to close the state’s more than 330 licensed marijuana stores.

Lead plaintiff, Larimer County, Colo., Sheriff Justin Smith, calls the case a “constitutional showdown.” Each day, he says, he must decide whether to violate the Colorado Constitution or the U.S. Constitution. Colorado legalized recreational marijuana sales Jan. 1, 2014, but marijuana remains illegal at the federal level.

Colorado is “asking every peace officer to violate their oath,” Smith said. “What we’re being forced to do … makes me ineligible for office. Which constitution are we supposed to uphold?”

The out-of-state sheriffs say the flow of Colorado’s legal marijuana across the border has increased drug arrests, overburdened police and courts and cost them money in overtime.

Felony drug arrests in the town of Chappell in Deuel County, Neb., 7 miles north of the Colorado border, jumped 400% over…

Related Information

The federal lawsuit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Denver. It was brought by Lt. Cheryl Peck, Sgt. Rob Stone and three commanders who were put on administrative leave by Maketa hours after they filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint in May 2014. Cmdrs. Rodney Gehrett and Rob King and now-Chief Mitch Lincoln had alleged that Maketa was a hostile boss who ran an office rampant with sexual favoritism and discrimination.

-Employees seek damages for ‘evil,’ ‘outrageous’ behavior by former El Paso County sheriff Terry Maketa-

The El Paso County Commission also was named as a defendant in the suit and by law is required to defend Maketa and Presley for actions related to their positions as county employees.

It does not have to defend them in their individual capacity, a separate claim in the lawsuit seeking damages because they engaged in “extreme and outrageous conduct recklessly or with the intent of causing the plaintiffs’ severe emotional distress,” the suit says.

In their official capacities, as employees of the county, the two are accused of stealing an Internal Affairs file on Sheriff Bill Elder, then a contender for the…

The lawsuit, filed in Howard County Circuit Court, names Kyle C. Muehlhauser and the Rams Head Tavern in Savage as defendants. The woman’s attorney is seeking class-action status, saying there are many more women in a similar situation.

Muehlhauser was charged last month in Howard County with “peeping Tom” violations and counts of video surveillance with prurient intent, after police said they found a digital camera that contained videos of six women using the toilet at the restaurant. Officers started an investigation in May, when a woman in the restroom said the device fell onto the floor next to her.

Police have said none of the women in the videos was identifiable. But the woman who filed the lawsuit, Michelle Mia Castle, visited the restaurant at least a dozen times in the month leading up to the day the camera was discovered, said her attorney, Clarke F. Ahlers. She also used the restroom there that day and is “reasonably certain” she was taped, he said.

“She’s very disgusted that somebody would do this to her — or to any woman,” Ahlers said. “She’s a strong woman and, as you can imagine, just shocked that someone gave [himself] license to do this to another human being.”

Castle is named in the lawsuit…

More than 3,000 online complaints have been filed by dog-owners claiming Purina Petcare Beneful’s dry “kibble” variety is killing and hurting dogs, according to the class action lawsuit filed Feb. 5 in federal court in California.

The brand is still on store shelves.

This class action suit concerns “kibble” dry food, which includes “Purina Beneful Health Weight”; “Purina Beneful Original”; “Purina Beneful Incredibites,” and “Purina Beneful Healthy Growth for Puppies”, “Purina Beneful Healthy Smile”, “Purina Beneful Health Fiesta”, “Purina Beneful Healthy Raidance”, and “Purina Beneful Playful Life” varieties. The packaging used for these foods make the following claims, the suit claims:

• “Satisfaction Guaranteed. If you’re not happy, we’re not happy. Complete satisfaction or your money back…”
• “At Purina, we’re unconditionally devoted to pets. We’ve dedicated over 80 years to developing the high-quality products that satisfy the needs of dogs and cats.”
• “100% Complete and Balanced Nutrition”
• Yes, dogs can have it all — and should! How? A special blend of wholesome ingredients, including grains, real beef, and accents of vitamin-rich veggies!…

A man who lives near Spokane, Wash., is suing the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese saying he was sexually assaulted in the 1990s by a priest who was his seventh-grade history teacher at a Catholic school in Wichita Falls.

The victim, identified in court documents as John Doe 117, also named Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson in the suit filed this week in Tarrant County district court.

The victim is seeking over $1 million in damages for emotional anguish, medical expenses and diminished earning capacity because of what is described in the suit as a “sadistic ritual of sexual abuse” by the late priest John Sutton.

Sutton, who died in 2004, told the student that if he told anyone of their encounters that “I have the power to ruin your life,” according to the suit.

In a emailed statement to the Star-Telegram, Fort Worth diocese spokesman Pat Svacina wrote that there is an ongoing investigation of the victim’s claims of abuse.

“Bishop Michael F. Olson personally knows John Doe and his family. The bishop traveled to Washington state in order to provide pastoral care to the former student and family members and to learn more about the allegations,” according to the statement.

The suit alleges that when the victim was in seventh grade at Notre Dame Middle-High School in Wichita Falls, Sutton was his history teacher and a school chaplain. Olson was a seminarian at a Wichita Falls church near the school and knew Sutton, the…

The lawsuit, seeking $20 billion, was filed in Los Angeles federal court Friday by Entertainment Studios, a television company founded by black producer and comedian Byron Allen and the National Association of African-American Owned Media (NAAAOM). The complaint, which comes as regulators mull a $45-billion merger between Comcast and TWC, alleges that Comcast has refused to do business with Allen and other black media executives.

“Comcast has engaged in, and is engaging in, pernicious, intentional racial discrimination in contracting,” it reads. Whether or not it gets anywhere is another question. Anyone can file a lawsuit alleging anything and claiming any amount of money.

Both Sharpton and Comcast dismissed the allegations Monday. In an interview with Variety, Sharpton called the lawsuit a “bogus statement from a person who has no credibility” and he told the Hollywood Reporter that he will be bringing…