Minnesota: Court won’t speed challenge to disclosure law
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A federal appeals court has declined to fast-track a challenge against a Minnesota law requiring disclosure of corporate political spending.
In an order Monday, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion to expedite the case, and it scheduled oral arguments for Jan. 11 in St. Louis, well after the election.
Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the Taxpayers League of Minnesota and a travel company are trying to overturn the law on free-speech grounds.
U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank last month refused to block the state law.
The groups have also asked the 8th Circuit for an injunction to suspend enforcement of the disclosure law while their appeal is considered. The appeals court took that request under advisement.
Montana: Canada seeks clemency for man on death row
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Canada’s request for clemency may not be enough to save the life of the only Canadian known to be on death row in the United States.
Ronald Smith was convicted in 1983 for the shooting deaths of two young Montana men while he was high on drugs and alcohol.
The native of Red Deer, Alberta, originally requested the death penalty but later changed his mind and has been fighting ever since to keep from being executed.
Next month the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether to hear his final appeal.
If the court declines, it will likely be left to Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer to decide whether Smith dies.
Schweitzer says Ottawa’s request for clemency does carry weight, but so do the wishes of the family members of Smith’s victims.
Georgia: State Supreme Court OKs some game machines
ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that certain game machines are not illegal gambling devices but are legal coin-operated amusement machines.
The 4-3 ruling issued Monday reverses a Georgia Court of Appeals decision.
The machines in question were involved in a Cobb County case.
In 2003, the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office brought legal action against 11 machines prosecutors said were illegal. A Cobb County judge found seven of the machines legal.
Under Georgia law, coin-operated games are allowed if they require skill, offer only free replays, non-cash rewards worth no more than $5 for a single play, or points or tokens that can be exchanged for rewards.
The Supreme Court found the games in the case meet the definition of being manufactured for amusement purposes only and are excluded from bans by the Georgia Legislature.
Pennsylvania: Federal inmate sues over thrown away sandwiches
LORETTO, Pa. (AP) — An inmate of a federal prison in central Pennsylvania is suing, saying he was wrongly punished for “theft” when all he did was take about 30 sandwiches that a vendor threw in the garbage while restocking a dining hall machine.
Thirty-five-year-old George Crute III, is suing officials at the Federal Correctional Institution-Loretto over the Feb. 5 incident.
Crute says he wrongly lost his “good conduct” time that would have shortened his sentence and his job as a clerk.
Prison officials contend Crute took the sandwiches out of the machine.
The Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown says a guard claims Crute ran away with a garbage bag when an officer tried to question him. Crute’s lawsuit says the sandwiches were fair game after the vendor tossed them.
Rhode Island: Appeals court to take up noisy sticker case
BRISTOL, R.I. (AP) — A federal appeals court will hear arguments this week on whether police in Narragansett can place orange stickers on homes that host loud parties.
U.S. District Judge William Smith ruled earlier this year in favor of Narragansett, saying the police were entitled to enforce the town’s noise ordinances by marking properties where raucous gatherings are held.
The student Senate of the University of Rhode Island, which brought the lawsuit, appealed. Many URI students live off-campus in Narragansett, and they say the stickers unfairly stigmatize them.
Lawyers for both sides will argue Wednesday before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court ordinarily sits in Boston, but will hear the arguments at the law school at Roger Williams University in Bristol.
Indiana: Church, city spar over right to raze historic building
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indianapolis church that has stood on a busy commercial corner for nearly a century says the city is infringing on its right to sell the property by imposing a historic designation on the building that prevents it from being demolished.
St. John United Church of Christ has sued the city asking that it remove the historic designation that was approved in February after the city learned church leaders planned to sell the property to a developer.
The designation means the building can’t be demolished or significantly altered without the okay of the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission.
Church leaders say the church needs $1 million in repairs and renovations, including immediate work to the roof, kitchen, elevators and heating and cooling systems. Attendance is declining, and with annual revenue of only about $150,000, church leaders tell The Indianapolis Star they cannot afford to maintain the 96-year-old building.
The church had planned to sell the building and its surrounding property to a developer, then build a new church on donated land nearby, according to the lawsuit filed Sept. 10 in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. The design was to include the stained-glass windows and other features from the 1914 building, Miller said.
Washington, D.C., attorney Robert Greene, who is working with local attorney Thomas Landwerlen on the case, contends that the city has violated a 2000 federal act designed to give special protection to churches, synagogues, mosques and other facilities with religious uses.
“The effect of the present designation is that they can’t really function as they should as a church,” Greene said. “They don’t have appropriate handicap access, and they have a very elderly congregation at this point.
“They can’t really effectively run programs for younger people, which is probably one of the reasons the congregation is shrinking. They just can’t do what they want to do as a church, and they can’t afford to make all the repairs to fix the place.”
An attorney for the city, said officials were reviewing the complaint.
