Welcome to Monday, the 98th anniversary of Baltimore native Babe Ruth’s first major league home run. Here are some news items to get your week started.

– The West, Texas, fertilizer plant was woefully under insured.

– Is there “a fundamental right … to engage in intimate contact“?

– A new book on The Roberts Court will hit stores this week.

– Businesses speak well of the aforementioned court.

Welcome to Monday, and the 110th anniversary of the first game played by the New York Highlanders (later, and better known, as the Yankees). Here are some news items to get your week started.

– Where should Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev be tried?

– Should Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy apologize to gun makers?

– Does a car passenger have the right to leave the vehicle after the driver’s arrest for alleged drunk driving?

– Justice might be delayed but not denied in Brazil.

Welcome to Monday and a day for fools. Here are some news items to get the first week of the baseball season started.

– A law professor provided perhaps the best explanation of what happened last week at the Supreme Court.

– Should detained immigrants have a right to counsel?

– Colorado prosecutors weigh seeking the death penalty for accused movie-theater murderer.

– Utah opens courtrooms to television and radio coverage.

Welcome to Monday and the first week of spring training. Here are some news items before pitchers and catchers report.

– Should Securities and Exchange Commission lawyers be permitted to jump to Wall Street firms and vice versa?

– Final U.S. book publisher settles e-book antitrust case.

– Michigan courts might have a secret problem.

– Women sue “revenge porn” website.

Welcome to Monday, a day on which two movies immediately come to mind. And let’s not forget the roundup. Here are some news items to get your week started.

– A New York Times obituary recalls the Pentagon Papers case.

– DNA evidence reaches a milestone.

– How has the BP oil spill affected class-action litigation?

– Detroit newspaper continues battle to get public records on parolees and probationers.

Jose Canseco, the man famous for starting the clock on one of baseball’s darkest hours, is in the news again.

And no, it’s not because of steroids: Canseco filed for bankruptcy protection in Nevada earlier this week.

In 1986, Canseco was the American League’s rookie of the year. Two years later, the Oakland A’s outfielder was the AL MVP. His 462 home runs in 17 seasons had him in the Hall of Fame conversation until 2005, when he co-authored a tell-all book that chronicled his longstanding history with using performance-enhancing drugs.

“Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big” identified numerous ex-teammates as users, including former Oriole great Rafael Palmeiro.

Many players denied the accusations, including Palmeiro, who was suspended in 2005 for a positive drug test. Major League Baseball soon declared war on performance-enhancing drugs.

Canseco wrote a follow-up book in 2008, “Vindicated,” where he revealed additional information on new players and their PED use. He’s been shopping a third book that will reportedly not out any more players as steroid users.

But, given his current financial situation, will he change his mind? After all, everyone loves a good scandal.

I’d bet my law license that everyone studying for this month’s bar exam has received unsolicited advice on how best to prepare for the test: Make sure to take a bar review class, pace yourself, get plenty of sleep, don’t over-think the multiple choice, multi-state section, etc.

But here’s some advice you haven’t heard: Take your law materials, head to Camden Yards (or any other major league ballpark of your choice), purchase bleacher tickets and study away from the first pitch to the last.

At this point you’re probably thinking, “What are you [present participle] crazy? This is perhaps the most important test of my professional life and you want me to study among an inebriated multitude? What fool would take that advice?”

The answers to your questions, in order, are “Perhaps,” “Yes” and “Carter G.  Phillips, co-chair of Sidley Austin LLP’s executive committee and possessor of an impressive winning percentage before the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Phillips prepared for the Illinois bar exam, which he passed, from the bleachers at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

That was some power outage over the weekend! But enough about the Orioles. Here are some news items to get your holiday week started.

– Divorce can be a risky business.

– The decision was not a total loss for GOP attorneys general.

– Jobs come and go, but law school lasts forever.

– Policy: Where common sense goes to die.

Hello there, readers. Here’s hoping you’ve gotten your taxes in or plan to do it by tonight.

• The working relationship between two Lululemon shop employees was good before one allegedly killed the other.
• New York courts plan to lay off 400 to 500 people.
• D.C.’s medical marijuana regulations are now in effect.
• It’s all about who you know. Page Croyder looks at influence in the courtroom.
• What does the state’s new Padilla rule really mean?
• Barry Bonds’ appeal will probably focus on strange verdict.
• Romanced by a client.
• A federal judge has sanctioned administrators at Brooklyn’s Poly Prep Country Day School for covering up sexual misconduct by a former football coach who has since died.

In his intriguing new historical novel, Then Everything Changed, political commentator Jeff Greenfield posits how events might have played out under three different scenarios: had Lyndon Johnson been elected president in 1960; had Robert F. Kennedy survived an assassin’s bullet and been elected president in 1968; and if Gerald Ford had won the 1976 election.

I will not spoil Greenfield’s masterful work by detailing his alternative history. Rather, I mention the book because it has spurred me to think of “what ifs” both historical and personal, an exercise that sparks my imagination and makes me feel grateful.

What if Clement Haynsworth or G. Harrold Carswell had won Senate confirmation to the Supreme Court? President Richard Nixon would not have had to resort to his third choice, Harry A. Blackmun, who wrote the high court’s opinion in Roe v. Wade.

What if Ralph Branca had walked Bobby Thompson and pitched to the next batter (a rookie named Willie Mays)? The New York Giants might not have won the 1951 pennant.

What if Florida had electronic voting on Election Day 2000? President Gore, perhaps.

What if Jeffrey Maier had left to get a hot dog when Derek Jeter was at bat? A banner might be flying in Baltimore.

What if she weren’t in her sorority house to take my call? But I digress.

Please submit your “what ifs.”