NEW YORK — For years, Gac Filipaj mopped floors, cleaned toilets and took out trash at Columbia University. A refugee from war-torn Yugoslavia, he eked out a living working for the elite Ivy League school. But Sunday was payback time: The 52-year-old janitor donned a cap and gown to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in classics.
NEW YORK — Goldman Sachs, arguably the most storied investment bank on Wall Street, has been compared to a money-sucking vampire squid and called the evil empire of finance. On Wednesday, it got a black eye from one of its own.
Lucy Langston and Ralph Quarles loved one another. Their relationship had been going on for several years and Quarles intended to have Lucy move in with him and expand their family. But Lucy and Ralph could not let neighbors know about their relationship and they most certainly could not marry.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Happy Valley was perfect for Joe Paterno, a place where “JoePa” knew best, where he not only won more football games than any other major college coach, but won them the right way: with integrity and sportsmanship. A place where character came first, championships second.
Sometime during my first year of law school I received, as a gift, a sweatshirt that says across the front of it, “On the advice of my attorney, my shirt has no comment at this time.” It’s a common sentiment. Just about any time that a person is accused of a crime or involved in a situation in which they might be the target of a lawsuit, they tell the media that they would really, really like to answer questions, but their legal counsel has advised them not to. It happens so frequently that it has acquired a slang name– ‘lawyering up.’
Behind my bench in the juvenile court is a row of books. In the old court building, before the fire, there was an entire bookcase, but so much material is now available online that it’s more economical to access information that way. The books that sit behind the bench contain the information that I need to access most often.
It’s a favorite moment in television shows and movies about legal proceedings. Tension builds , tempers flare and (usually after some raised voices) our protagonist legal counsel leaps to his or her feet and screams, “I object!” Whether it’s Daniel Kaffee in “A Few Good Men” or Vincent Gambini in “My Cousin Vinny,” the moment where that objection is raised is often a climax in the storyline.
COLUMBUS — Opponents of the new federal health care overhaul say they’ve gathered enough signatures to ask Ohio voters this fall whether the state should amend its constitution to keep people from being required to buy health insurance or face penalties. The amendment’s backers acknowledge that approval of the measure won’t automatically exempt the state from the mandate in President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. But they say they hope to use the amendment to legally challenge the law.