[JURIST] A slew of new US state laws will greet the New Year when they take effect on January 1. The state minimum wage will increase in Arizona [state Department of Labor (DOL) fact sheet], California [state DOL fact sheet], Delaware [state DOL fact sheet], Massachusetts [state Division of Occupational Safety fact sheet], New York [state DOL fact sheet], North Carolina [state DOL fact sheet], and Pennsylvania [state DOL fact sheet]. Currently, the federal rate is set at $5.15 [US Department of Labor fact sheet]. Some states' minimum-wage workers will see it go as high as $7.50 [see California and Massachusetts fact sheets].

In addition, California will force coal-burning plants interested in selling their products to the Golden State to install "greener" technology starting the first of the year. A number of states will be increasing regulation of immigration (Colorado, HB 06S-1017 text, PDF), eminent domain (Illinois SB 3086 text), sex offenders (Illinois, SB 2962 text), elections [North Carolina, HB 88 text], campaign finance (North Carolina and Pennsylvania), privacy, [SB 335 text. PDF] and school harassment (Alaska and South Carolina). Other states will implement legislation to prevent wrongful convictions (Wisconsin), decrease taxation of its poorest citizens (Alabama and West Virginia), lower taxes for its highest earners (North Carolina), increase taxes on cigarettes (South Dakota and Texas), eliminate the marriage penalty (New York and Oklahoma), raise the number of tests performed on newborns to detect life-threatening disorders (Georgia), increase the availability of healthcare to the working poor (Massachusetts), and scrap the extra fee associated with license plates that feature the American flag and words "In God We Trust" (Indiana). The National Conference of State Legislatures provides a partial breakdown. AP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The California state correctional facility in Chino [official website] was under lockdown Sunday after prison authorities put down a major race riot that broke out Saturday morning reportedly setting blacks and Hispanic inmates against each other in one of the worst instances of prison rioting in the state in years. A California Corrections Department [official website] spokesperson said that guards had to use everything from tear gas to foam projectiles to quell the disturbance, a process which took hours. Over 50 people were treated for injuries. The spokesman said some 36 inmates with what he described as "unacceptable housing situations" were being considered for transfer. AP has more.

Racial tensions have run high in California state prisons for years. The California prisons have also become overcrowded [JURIST news archive], being at 70 percent overcapacity with 173,000 total inmates. Earlier this year Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sought to temporarily relieve the problem by authorizing the transfer of some inmates to private-run facilities in other states. Three weeks ago a US federal judge ruled that the state has six months to remedy the overcrowding problem [JURIST report] itself or face the naming of a three-member federal judicial panel to make recommendations itself. On December 21, Schwarzenegger put forward what he called a comprehensive prison reform proposal [press release] that would add 16,238 beds in state correctional facilities, build 45,000 local jail beds, and set aside $1 billion for 10,000 medical and mental health beds.

[JURIST] Apple Computer, Inc. [corporate website] Friday disclosed the findings of an internal report into alleged stock option manipulation by senior managers, including CEO Steve Jobs, purporting to clear its executives of any wrong-doing and concluding that Jobs did not "financially benefit" [Miami Herald report] from stock options, despite knowledge of favorable grant dates. Apple was facing a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) [official website] probe in connection with various alleged securities violations [CNN report], including a failure to properly disclose option backdating. After concluding the internal investigation, Apple restated its yearly financial statements with the SEC, completing a three-month probe [AP report]. Reuters has more.

Apple is meanwhile addressing other legal problems. One lawsuit against it, filed November 20, contends that the Apple iBook G4's logic board fails at an abnormal rate. Another filed October 24, claims patent infringement from the company's Nike+iPod Sport Kit. On December 20 a federal court refused to dismiss a third complaint alleging that it engaged in monopolistic selling practices [AP report] by using its proprietary copy-protection system to only allow iTunes [store website] music and movies to be played on its iPod [product website] MP3 players.

[JURIST] Less than 24 hours after his execution [JURIST report], the body of ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive; BBC obituary] was buried in his home village of Ouja [Newsweek backgrounder] near Tikrit just before dawn local time on Sunday. Among the dozens of relatives and other mourners present at the 25 minute interment ceremony were Mohammed al-Qaisi, governor of the Salahaddin region, and Ali al-Nida, head of Saddam's Albu Nasir tribe. Al-Qaisi along with leaders of Saddam's Albu-Nassir clan are said to have negotiated the burial location [AP report] with US and Iraqi officials.

After the burial, thousands of mourners are reported to have converged on Ouja to pay their respects in front of the flag-draped grave while a large photograph of Saddam was propped nearby. Saddam was buried in a family plot in the local cemetery, alongside his sons Uday and Qusay, who were killed by US troops [BBC News report] in 2003. Saddam's daughters had requested that he be temporarily buried in Yemen. Hussein was convicted and sentenced to death [JURIST report; verdict recorded video] last month for crimes against humanity committed in the town of Dujail in 1982. AP has more. The International Herald Tribune has additional coverage.

[JURIST] An unofficial and grainy video [WARNING: graphic images] of the entire execution [JURIST report] of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive; BBC obituary], including his actual hanging, was posted on the Web late Saturday. The official video, broadcast [JURIST report] on Iraqi TV earlier in the day, had shown the moments leading up to the ousted Iraqi dictator's execution, but footage of moment of execution had not been released. The new video appeared to have been shot with a cell phone camera by a witness to the hanging and shows Hussein's body dropping through the trap door of the gallows. It also shows the body after death.

While the original Iraqi TV footage was silent, Saddam can be heard on the new video soundtrack repeating the traditional Muslim Shahada prayer ("There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger") after a cleric, but he was abruptly cut off in the second verse, when the trap door was opened. The new video also shows Saddam shouting angry political remarks while his Iraqi guards led him into the execution chamber, and later exchanging sardonic barbs with his executioners. According to a Reuters translation, Saddam's Shiite guards and executioners mockingly shouted "Moqtada, Moqtada, Moqtada" in reference to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr [BBC News profile]. Saddam also taunted his executioners, saying with an apparent smile as they readied the noose, "Is that what you call manhood?" After the hanging, a voice can be heard shouting "The tyrant has fallen!" and flashes are seen as people photograph the body. The International Herald Tribune has more.