Courtside

For the first time in four years, the estimated number of violent crimes in the U.S. increased when compared with the previous year's totals. Also, a Vermont man is launching a petition to end the state's hound hunting practice. All of this and more!

Many cases in the wave of opioid lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies are settling, but a small silver lining may be that some Native communities are getting a sliver of reparation.

A roundup of recent legal news from around the U.S.: A new law for motorcyclists, a chess lawsuit, a settlement on chicken price-fixing, and a lawsuit that could end legal sex work in Nevada.

The practice of "stealthing" — secretly removing a condom during sex — has gained more notoriety in recent years. Some studies have found that 10% of men have admitted to the practice and about the same number of women report being victims of it. Because stealthing can lead to sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and psychological trauma, victims' rights advocates have called for the act to be defined as a type of sexual assault.

Recent legal news from around the U.S.: Satanists seeking abortion rights, a restaurant that went "private" to avoid mask mandates, and a bunch of new restrictive laws in Texas.

Last year's killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and subsequent protests also brought renewed attention to other high-profile killings of Black people and how police and prosecutors often avoided accountability. And now, recent indictments in the killings of Ahmaud Arbery and Elijah McClain indicate that momentum could be building.