A US District Judge has officially struck down a Christian-themed license plate that had been approved by the South Carolina Legislature. Judge Cameron Currie ruled that the plate was a violation of the First Amendment, which prohibits Congress from making a law “respecting an establishment of religion.” The South Carolina plate featured an image of a cross in front of a stained-glass window, accompanied by the words “I Believe.”

“Whether motivated by sincerely held Christian beliefs or an effort to purchase political capital with religious coin, the result is the same,” Judge Currie wrote in her decision. “The statute is clearly unconstitutional and defense of its implementation has embroiled the state in unnecessary (and expensive) litigation.”

The license plate was pushed through by South Carolina lawmakers last year, and according to The Associated Press, Judge Currie singled out Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer in her ruling. The state of South Carolina has been ordered to cover the legal expense of groups that battled against the plate’s approval, including Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

We are glad to see that this was shot down. Glad to see that separation of church, state and automobile have been preserved.

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Helio Castroneves, a U.S. resident and two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States of income taxes and with six separate counts of income tax evasion for tax years 1999 through 2004, announced the Justice Department, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida R. Alexander Acosta and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Special Agent-in-Charge Michael E. Yasofsky Jr.

Count one alleges that Helio Castroneves entered into sponsorship contracts with Coimex, a Brazilian import and export company, for 1999, 2000 and 2001. Each year’s contract required Coimex to pay Helio Castroneves $2,000,000. However, pursuant to an unwritten side agreement, Helio Castroneves returned $1,800,000 each year to certain Coimex executives, and kept $200,000 for himself. Of the $600,000 Helio Castroneves retained from the Coimex contracts, he reported only $50,000 on his federal income tax returns. …click here to read more

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Car wash owners in Clark County, Washington may be looking at a large boost in revenue courtesy of the state government, as the powers that be are considering a law that would make washing one’s car a home a punishable offense. …click here to read more

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According to New York traffic attorney Matthew Weiss, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles reports that motorists will soon be paying a hefty 60% increase in surcharges for New York traffic tickets. As of August 1, the surcharge has gone to $80.00, just having gone from $50 to $60.00 on July 1st. Originally $5.00, this surcharge was instituted by then-Gov. Cuomo in the 1980s and has quickly grown to often surpass the actual fine amounts.

The surcharge is payable in addition to the actual fine for the NY moving violation. It is also payable in addition to the $300 (or more) Driver Assessment Responsibility Fee, which is imposed upon motorists that accumulate six or more points. The Driver Assessment Fee is payable by all motorists regardless of their state of license, that have 6 or more points in New York. …click here to read more

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