NATION
Judge refuses bail for suspect
PHOENIX — Calling him “off-the-charts dangerous,” authorities outlined the evidence against a Phoenix man who they say helped orchestrate a shootout on an anti-Islam event in Texas and had aspirations to join the Islamic State terrorist organization and attack the Super Bowl.
Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, 43, was arrested last week on charges related to the shootout at a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest that led to the deaths of two roommates from Phoenix. An indictment filed in federal court in Phoenix says Kareem hosted the gunmen in his home beginning in January and provided the guns they used in the May 3 shooting in Garland, Texas.
At a hearing in federal court, FBI special agent Dina McCarthy described how a witness and a confidential informant learned about Kareem’s interest in the Islamic State, including watching the group’s videos with Texas shooters Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi. McCarthy said a 2012 investigation into Kareem determined he had a terrorism training document on his computer. She said he wanted to attack the Super Bowl when it was in Arizona this year, but provided no specifics about how serious he was.
The magistrate denied bail for Kareem, who is charged with conspiracy, making false statements and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a felony.
Energy drink maker must pay group
NEW YORK — The maker of the Monster Energy drink must pay $668,000 of the Beastie Boys’ legal fees after the rappers chose to win at all costs in their copyright violation trial, a decision that resulted in a $1.7 million jury verdict in their favor, a judge says.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer wrote in a ruling Monday that his review of the band’s legal bills suggests that the “Beastie Boys opted to pay for, and received, the ‘Cadillac Escalade,’ not the `Honda Civic”’ of legal representation.
He said his attorney fee award fell well short of the $2.4 million in legal fees that was sought from the Corona, Calif.-based Monster Energy Co., but it was still sizable enough that the band will come out ahead by more than $532,000 above its reasonable costs.
Last June, the Beastie Boys — known in part for the anthem “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)” off their 1986 debut album — won their verdict from a federal jury weighing the value of five songs used by Monster without authorization in a video.
Poll shows people support subsidies
WASHINGTON — Nearly two-thirds of Americans want Congress to ensure that residents in every state can receive insurance subsidies through the Affordable Care Act, according to a new national poll conducted as the Supreme Court prepares to decide a legal challenge that could strip away the subsidies in more than 30 states.
Asked whether lawmakers should pass a law “so that people in all states can be eligible for financial help,” just one-quarter of those surveyed said no, according to the poll by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.
The legal challenge, brought by conservative activists, argues that a strict reading of the health statute makes subsidies available only in states that established their own insurance marketplaces through the law, something that just 13 states and the District of Columbia did.
The rest of the states rely on the federal government to operate all or part of the marketplace for them.
From combined wire sources
