Tag: revenue generation

A Tiny Alabama Town Ran an Outrageous Speed Trap. Now It Will Pay $1.5 Million To Settle a Lawsuit.

The hamlet of Brookside, Alabama, has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit three years after local news investigations revealed that it was running a predatory speed trap.

The Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm that sued Brookside in 2022 on behalf of motorists who said they were framed and swindled by the town, announced on Monday that it had reached a settlement agreement that would require substantial transparency and policing reforms, in addition to payments to the class members.

Brookside became a national news story in 2022 after the Birmingham News reported that the small town’s unusually large police force was bankrolling the city budget by fining people traveling through and towing their cars under what motorists claimed were fabricated charges.

It was one of the worst cases of profit-motivated policing in recent memory: The news investigation found that Brookside, a place with no traffic lights and one commercial property, a Dollar General store, “collected $487 in fines and forfeitures for every man, woman and child.” By 2020, two years after Brookside expanded its police force from one officer to nine and began aggressively pursuing traffic enforcement, income from fines and forfeitures comprised 49 percent of the town’s budget. Motorists alleged that they were getting pulled over for fake traffic violations, slapped with bogus charges, then forced to pay thousands in fines and towing fees after being convicted in Brookside’s municipal court.

The investigations led to the resignation of the Brookside police chief, a Pulitzer Prize for the reporters, and a class action lawsuit filed by the Institute for Justice.

“Police are supposed to protect and serve, not ticket and collect,” Chekeithia Grant, one of the named plaintiffs in the case, said in an Institute for Justice press release Monday. “When that gets flipped around, people suffer. We brought this case to remind Brookside of that, and to get the town on the right track. This settlement should do that. And it should be a warning to other towns.”

According to the lawsuit, Grant and her daughter were both arrested by Brookside police following a traffic stop and falsely charged with possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, obstruction of government operations, and resisting arrest. Both were convicted in the Brookside Municipal Court, but town prosecutors agreed to dismiss all the charges after the two women appealed to a county court. But by then, they had already paid roughly $2,000 in fines and fees to Brookside.

Brookside’s racket was so outrageous that the Justice Department filed a “statement of interest” in support of the Institute for Justice’s lawsuit, noting the perverse profit incentives that such schemes create:

Judges should not profit from their decisions in cases. Nor should funding for prosecutors or police officers depend substantially on unnecessarily aggressive law enforcement aimed at generating income through fines and fees. Criminal justice systems tainted by these unreasonable incentives stand to punish the poor for their poverty and put law enforcement at odds with the communities they are meant to serve.

However, Brookside was just a particularly odious example of the classic American speed-trap town, a municipality that survives by latching onto a nearby highway and gorging itself, like a bloated tick, on traffic enforcement revenue.

States have often responded to negative publicity from speed-trap towns with legislative reforms, and Alabama was no different. A few months after Brookside’s practices were exposed, the Alabama state legislature passed a bill capping the revenue municipalities can keep from fines to just 10 percent of their general operating budgets.

In addition to the $1.5 million payout to the lawsuit class, the proposed settlement will require Brookside to end many of the financial incentives tied to its traffic enforcement, such as repealing its fee to retrieve towed cars. The Brookside Police Department would also stay off the nearby interstate for the next 10 years, except for emergency response, and there would be 30 years of strict caps on how much revenue the town could keep from policing and code enforcement.

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Major change to California highway speed limit law comes into effect

New Year, new laws.

California drivers are being warned to be on high alert as possible changes to highway speed limits come into effect from Thursday.

A new speed enforcement law, which will be enforced from Jan. 1, allows the Department of Transport to reduce the limit on highways by 5mph across the Golden State.

Currently, the speed limit on the state’s highways is set at 65mph unless otherwise posted.

It wasn’t clear which highways would be immediately effected but signage is expected to be updated on the roadways that will now see the reduced 60mph limit.

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Detained illegal immigrants will face $5K ‘apprehension fee’: Border Patrol chief

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks announced that nearly all illegal immigrants detained will be charged a $5,000 “apprehension fee.”

In a post on X on Thursday, Banks said illegal immigrants ages 14 and older who entered the country without inspection will face a fee, a provision included in the “big, beautiful bill,” which President Donald Trump signed into law in July.

“This message applies to all illegal aliens — regardless of where they entered, how long they’ve been in the U.S., their current location, or any ongoing immigration proceedings,” Banks wrote.

The warning came after a lawsuit was filed Thursday against the federal government on behalf of 21,500 immigrants facing daily penalties of $998, reaching up to $1.8 million each for staying in the U.S. illegally. 

Their lawyers argued they were attempting to comply with federal immigration laws.

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TSA Announces $45 Fee for Passengers With No REAL ID, Passports, or Other Accepted Documents

Passengers who lack a REAL ID, passport, or another equivalent document will have to pay a $45 fee to travel domestically, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced on Dec. 1.

The agency will start charging air travelers $45 on Feb. 1 if their IDs do not meet the new, stricter federal standards.

Travelers without a REAL ID will have to use the TSA Confirm.ID for 10 days, which will cost $45, according to the agency. It advised people to schedule an appointment at a local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) location to update their IDs as soon as possible before traveling by plane.

“All travelers without an acceptable ID, including those who present a non-REAL ID-compliant state driver’s license or ID, will be referred to the optional TSA Confirm.ID process for identity verification upon TSA check-in and prior to entering the security line,” the TSA stated.

“This process will differ airport to airport, and TSA is working with private industry to proactively offer online payment options prior to arrival at the airport.”

Passengers without REAL ID or another accepted form will face longer wait times at airports, the TSA warned.

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Nassau won’t have to pay back $400M in illegal red-light camera fees as judge oddly claims payments were ‘voluntary’

Nassau County won’t have to pay back $400 million in illegal red-light camera fees as a judge bizarrely ruled drivers voluntarily paid the fines — even though they were threatened with getting their licenses suspended.

The “outrageous” ruling by County Supreme Court Justice Thomas Rademaker has the plaintiffs’ attorney calling for the judge to be removed from the case while Nassau administrators hold onto improper administrative fees it took in from drivers for over a decade.

“Judge Rademacher issued a radical decision and ruled, despite Nassau County’s illegality, its citizens paid voluntarily,” attorney David Raimondo, who represents drivers in cases against Nassau and Suffolk County, said of the decision.

“This ruling was so far off from the law that you can’t even comprehend it,” he added, claiming the judge issued the ruling to protect the county from its massive liability.

Raimondo questioned how the judge could view the payments as “voluntary” when Nassau threatened to revoke licenses and registrations, boot and tow people’s cars — and even put a mark on credit reports if the fee is not paid.

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‘Din’t get cracked’: Watch female police officer threaten to ticket ‘everyone’ because she didn’t have sex last night

A female police officer in the Houston area is now under investigation after posting a video on TikTok in which she threatened to give everyone a ticket because she did not have sex the previous night.

Harris County Constable Precinct 5 Deputy Jennifer Escalera was in uniform as she recorded herself writing on a notepad.

“Din’t get cracked last night so everyone is getting a ticket…” Escalera indicated in her now-deleted video.

Although she blurred portions of her uniform, the officer left her name tag visible.

“Our administration is aware and internal affairs has opened an investigation. We have no other comment at this time,” the constable’s office said.

The New York Post reported: “The female cop’s TikTok account features several posts showing her in uniform. She also posts about being a mom.

“One of the posts shows Escalera getting ready ‘to work as a female Police Officer’ as the text across the screen reads, ‘contemplating if I really need this job, knowing that I do.'”

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New Utah law requires license for hiking and biking in wildlife areas

A new law in Utah might surprise even seasoned RVers. As of May 2025, anyone over 18 venturing onto certain Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) for hiking, biking, trail running or wildlife viewing needs a valid hunting or fishing license.

If you’re RVing into the Beehive State planning to explore its renowned trails, you want to pay attention.

What changed (and when)

• Effective date: May 7, 2025.

• Who’s affected: All non‑commercial users age 18+ entering WMAs in Davis, Salt Lake, Utah and Weber counties.

• Activities covered: Non‑consumptive uses like hiking, biking, trail running, birdwatching and photography now technically require a hunting or fishing license on WMAs.

While WMAs remain open to public recreation, the twist is that their upkeep has historically been funded by dollars from hunters and anglers. This law simply aligns all users with the cost of managing these specialized wildlife areas.

Why licenses

• Equitable contribution: Non‑consumptive trail users were benefiting from habitat conservation financed solely by hunting and fishing fees. Lawmakers deemed it only fair that everyone accessing WMAs pitch in.

• Federal matching funds: Hunting dollars are matched under the Pittman‑Robertson Act; fishing dollars under the Dingell‑Johnson Act. More licenses sold means more federal grants for habitat and species conservation. These benefits extend beyond WMAs themselves.

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Trump’s Federal Budget Cuts Could Boost Marijuana Legalization Efforts As States Seek New Revenue, Congresswoman Says

A Democratic congresswoman says the Trump administration’s push to make states pay a larger share for public services such as food assistance and health care amid his efforts to cut federal spending might ultimately “push them in the direction of legalizing marijuana” so they can offset those costs with cannabis tax revenue.

In an interview on the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) Voice of Cannabis podcast that was released on Thursday, Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chair Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) commented on a wide range of marijuana policy issues—including bipartisan legalization legislation, stalled action on federal reform and the destigmatization of cannabis use in her state after enacting an adult-use marijuana market.

One of the “only good things that comes out of the policy of the White House is that they are pushing more things to the states to pay for—like [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)] and like Medicaid—and so states may be looking for additional sources of revenue,” Titus said. “That may push them in the direction of legalizing marijuana, to some extent, so they can get that tax revenue generated.”

Titus said the lawmakers who back reform were initially “optimistic” about the prospects of a federal policy change under President Donald Trump because of comments he made on the campaign trail in favor of rescheduling, industry banking access and a Florida adult-use legalization ballot initiative left the impression “he was going to be supportive.”

“Now we’ve seen that kind of stall, and we have this crazy secretary of [the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)] that I think is on drugs,” the congresswoman said, referencing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “I don’t know where he’s coming from, and so it’s hard to read what the administration is going to do and if they’re going to make it a priority and if they’re going to weigh in. So that’s another element of the politics that we have to keep in mind.”

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Louisiana Lawmaker Proposes Marijuana Legalization Pilot Program As ‘Revenue Source’ For The State

Louisiana lawmakers are gearing up for another push to legalize marijuana in the state, with at least two proposals now filed to enact cannabis-related reform this session.

Rep. Candace Newell (D)—who has made repeated attempts to end criminalization—discussed her latest legislation in an interview with Louisiana First News that aired on Saturday, describing a proposed three-year pilot program that is “designed to test and evaluate parameters of the implementation of a permanent adult-use cannabis program,” according to a legislative analysis.

“Aside of just wanting to have legalized recreational marijuana, I’m also looking at another revenue source in the state of Louisiana,” Newell said. “I’m talking about statewide, across the board, education on the product—the use of the product, the dangers of it and how it can be beneficial.”

The sponsor added that, from her perspective, “what we’ve seen is the states where they’ve done just the full blanket legalization and regulation that that is failing.”

At the same time, she emphasized the potential revenue stream from legalizing and taxing cannabis for adults.

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Pay Attention to Any New Surveillance Cameras While Driving – Breakthrough Technology Could Be Targeting You

Traffic cameras have been the bane of Britons for many a year now — but our neighbors across the pond have recently upped the battle, and the technology is coming over to America, as well.

According to a Dec. 21 report from NBC News, police departments in the United States have become the latest to use an AI-powered traffic camera system made by an Australian company named Acusensus.

The system, called “Heads Up,” doesn’t just check speed or running traffic lights like in other locales.

Instead, they look for violations, like failure to wear a seat belt or texting while driving.

“The Heads Up cameras take pictures of every vehicle that passes by them, capturing images of their license plates, as well as their front seats. AI analyzes the images and determines how likely it is that a violation occurred, assigning each one a ‘confidence level,’” NBC News reported.

“The cameras have been widely tested in the U.K., where nearly half of the country’s police forces have tried them, and in Australia, where they’ve sparked debates about privacy and drawn media attention. ”

Those cameras use the AI technology to send tickets once they’re reviewed by human sources. In the United States, where Acusensus has cameras in Georgia and North Carolina, the systems work a little different.

“The Heads Up Real Time system in the United States sends images to nearby police officers, allowing them to stop drivers before violations occur,” NBC News reported.

“The other Heads Up product used internationally sends the pictures to law enforcement officials as part of an evidence package, and they can mail out tickets to offending drivers. [the company’s vice president of government solutions] said an automated ticketing program, such as Heads Up, would require state legislation to authorize its use. ”

However, don’t think for a second that this hasn’t led to more ticketing.

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