Shugrue

Justice Stevens’ New Book Spins Yarns About Key Court Decisions

Published by admin on Thu, 06/13/2019 - 12:00am

John Paul Stevens’ new book proves that he is as sharp as ever at age 99 and lived life as a sort of Forest Gump.

If your family ran what, at the time, was the world’s largest hotel, you were bound to rub elbows with some of the most famous and colorful people of the time (e.g., FDR, Babe Ruth, Charles Lindbergh). If you have survived through a century with your wits intact, you are entitled to spin some yarns.

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Hope That Renovated Blackstone Hotel Harkens Back to Its Glory

Published by admin on Thu, 06/06/2019 - 12:00am

Will the ghosts of the Schimmel brothers smile when they gaze upon a resurrected Blackstone Hotel?

Will that lovely old treasure be as gracious and delightful as it was for hosts of Omahans who enjoyed every minute inside its finely appointed public areas and savored the drinks and dishes served with such skill and pleasure?

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New Book Takes a Look At Death Penalty Cases

Published by admin on Thu, 05/30/2019 - 12:00am

A career-long murder prosecutor has written a book calling for the abolition of the death penalty.

Rick Unklesbay, who began in the Pima County, Arizona, prosecutor’s office in 1981 and tried more than 100 first-degree murder cases, published “Arbitrary Death” two weeks ago. In it he tells why prosecutors, trial courts, juries and the entire appellate system turn death penalty cases into a “roll of the dice.”

Unklesbay himself sought and won the death penalty in some 16 cases in his decades-long career as a prosecutor.

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Fenner Defines ‘Kind’ Lawyer

Published by admin on Fri, 05/24/2019 - 12:00am

Mike Fenner was barely older than 25 when he was lured away from Washington and the Honors Program of the Justice Department to become one of five young and enthusiastic teachers recruited by Creighton’s new dean, Steve Frankino, in 1972.

Frankino had great dreams for the school, including a new building, and it’s not hard to understand why very smart and very idealistic people hoped they could make a mark in legal education on The Hilltop.

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A Trifecta of Graduations

Published by admin on Thu, 05/16/2019 - 12:00am

Grandpa Bragging Alert!

This month we’re celebrating a personal Triple Crown as three of our grandkids will graduate.

Dear Hanna, the scientist among the kids, finishes at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, where she has completed a rigorous program mastering matters I can’t even describe. My scientific learning was at the hands of an earnest old nun who taught physics by throwing a feather and an apple from the roof of our old school.

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Avengers Accentuates Age Gap

Published by admin on Thu, 05/09/2019 - 12:00am

A week ago Friday, we were in our favorite restaurant and I said to the server, “I’ve never seen the parking lot so crowded!”

She responded, “Of course not. This is the opening weekend of The Avengers, (at the movies next door),” and I stupidly replied, “Oh I remember them from the sixties with Diana Rigg and Patrick McNee,” and she burst out laughing as if I were in a time warp.