Joe Dodson

Richmond

Richmond Reporter at Courthouse News Service

Reporter for @courthousenews covering 4th Circuit & all things Virginia. VCU hoops fan. Stauntonian

Articles

Virginia governor ripped over voting restoration process for felons

6 days ago | courthousenews.com | Joe Dodson

RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — Since his release from prison in 2023, George Hawkins has integrated himself into his community in nearly every way. He runs a bread vendor business, pays taxes and coaches youth basketball. "I impact my community," Hawkins said on the steps of the Fourth Circuit courthouse. "I'm a productive member of my society." Yet despite two applications, Hawkins — convicted of attempted murder and aggravated malicious wounding in 2010 — remains ineligible to vote.
Fourth Circuit dives into experimental shrink’s fight to swim with dolphins

1 week ago | courthousenews.com | Joe Dodson

RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — An experimental therapist urged the Fourth Circuit Thursday to vacate a rule regulating human interactions with spinner dolphins. Hawaii-based psychotherapist Eliza Willie and dolphin tour guide Lisa Denning argue the government failed to follow the necessary administrative steps when it issued a rule prohibiting humans from interacting with the small, acrobatic dolphins named for their practice of leaping and spinning out of the water.
Non-Native lender seeks tribal immunity from $44 million judgment

1 week ago | courthousenews.com | Joe Dodson

RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — A lender argued to a Fourth Circuit panel Wednesday that his company's ties with an indigenous tribe shield him from liability in an anti-racketeering class action. Midwestern businessman Matt Martorello hopes to avoid liability after a federal judge granted summary judgment to Virginia borrowers on predatory lending claims.
Feds, states spar in Fourth Circuit over mass layoffs

1 week ago | courthousenews.com | Joe Dodson

RICHMOND, Va. (CN) —The government argued that states lack the standing to challenge mass federal layoffs at the Fourth Circuit on Tuesday. The hearing comes after a recent order from a Fourth Circuit panel granting the federal government's motion for a stay of a preliminary injunction requiring the reinstatement of thousands of federal employees.
Drug dealer claims innocence in decades-old murder-for-hire

1 week ago | courthousenews.com | Joe Dodson

RICHMOND, Va. (CN) —A drug dealer asked a Fourth Circuit panel on Tuesday to vacate a murder-for-hire conviction that he has litigated up and down the federal court system for over 20 years. Justin Wolfe argued that a 2023 declaration from the trigger man exonerating him should prove his actual innocence and require his release even though he pleaded guilty to the murder plot in 2016.
DOGE urges Fourth Circuit to open vault on federal employees’ personal info

1 week ago | courthousenews.com | Joe Dodson

RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — Several federal agencies urged a Fourth Circuit panel Monday to allow the Department of Government Efficiency to continue accessing millions of people's personally identifiable information. The oral argument comes a month after the same panel issued an order granting the government's motion to stay a preliminary injunction barring DOGE employees from accessing sensitive data after finding the plaintiffs likely lack standing.
Fourth Circuit kicks can on constitutionality of geofence warrants

2 weeks ago | courthousenews.com | Joe Dodson

RICHMOND, Va. (CN) —The Fourth Circuit affirmed the denial of a defendant's motion to exclude evidence from a geofence warrant Wednesday on narrow grounds, but left the question of the technology's constitutionality for another day.
FTC calls AI detection company’s claim of 98% accuracy bogus

2 weeks ago | courthousenews.com | Joe Dodson

The commission says Workado's detection technology offers closer to 50% accuracy when analyzing whether non-academic content contains AI-generated text. WASHINGTON (CN) — The Federal Trade Commission proposed an order Monday requiring an artificial intelligence content-detecting company to prove its claim of its product's 98% accuracy.
Looming Medicaid cuts threaten progress made in combating opioid crisis

3 weeks ago | courthousenews.com | Joe Dodson

Advocates warn that a Republican budget provision requiring massive reductions to the federal deficit could jeopardize the ability of around 600,000 Medicaid enrollees to receive substance abuse treatment. RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — Advocates and lawmakers sounded the alarm Wednesday on the impact potential cuts to Medicaid expansion could have on curbing the opioid epidemic.
Conservation groups challenge Trump’s removal of environmental justice resources

1 month ago | courthousenews.com | Joe Dodson

One of the online tools eliminated by Trump was used after the Maui wildfires in 2023 to urge local health officials to prioritize evacuating pregnant native Hawaiian women in the third trimester. WASHINGTON (CN) — Environmental advocacy groups sued the federal government on Monday, challenging President Donald Trump's removal of online climate and environmental justice resources.