Laws

California is taking one last stab at regulating violent video games. Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown on Wednesday petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a state law banning the sale of such games to children. The law was overturned by a federal district court on 1st Amendment grounds in 2007. An appeals court in February denied California's attempt to overturn that decision.

A 66-year-old woman with pancreatic cancer has become the first person to die under a new Washington state law allowing doctors to help terminally ill patients end their lives. Linda Fleming, of the Olympic Peninsula town of Sequim, died after ingesting a fatal dose of a fast-acting barbiturate, Compassion & Choices of Washington reported Friday. The group had promoted the successful ballot initiative, which took effect March 5.

When Los Angeles tried to crack down on billboards in 2002, politicians agreed that there was at least one place where oversized signs could keep going up: Hollywood. Even as they attempted to ban new outdoor advertising in much of the city, officials said Hollywood, with its noisy nightspots and gawking tourists, was a good fit for colorful pitches for soda, cologne, movies and alcohol.

Government records will be more open in South Dakota, Florida is cracking down on illicit prescription drug sales, and downing a cold one at the corner bar will be easier in Utah. New laws that took effect this month reflect states' concerns with holding police more accountable, expanding the use of DNA to solve crimes and offering certain tax breaks. July 1 was the effective date in many states for laws passed during this year's legislative sessions.

California's budget crisis isn't reason enough to cut $1.1 billion a year in payments to doctors, dentists, pharmacists and other healthcare providers to the needy, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. A bill passed by the Legislature last year reduced Medi-Cal compensation by 10%, driving away even more providers from the shrinking ranks still taking state patients and endangering their ability to get treatment, a three-judge panel of the U.S.

In Colorado, judges don't simply have the power to send people to prison. In rare circumstances, they can also decide whether a person should be charged as a criminal -- a rarely invoked authority upon which two cases now hinge. Under a 19th century state law, obscure until recently, two judges have been asked to decide whether four men should be tried in rape and murder cases.

Three years after Margaret Hamblin was busted for running a $50 betting pool on football at the Elks Lodge, the 76-year-old grandmother believes she got some justice Thursday when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law reducing the penalty for participating in such office betting contests. The betting pool measure was one of 128 bills the governor signed Thursday as he cleared his desk of legislation that had been delayed as lawmakers grappled with the state's budget problems.

The Obama administration scored a victory of sorts in federal court Monday when a judge threw out an Orange County gay couple's lawsuit claiming that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. Just last week a top Justice Department lawyer sought the dismissal of the lawsuit on grounds that the couple, Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer of Mission Viejo, had failed to identify any personal harm suffered because of the 1996 law, which bars the federal government from treating same-sex marriages as legal or granting federal benefits to same-sex spouses.

The nation's two largest health insurers have been pressuring employees to lobby against healthcare reform in Congress in violation of a California law against coerced political activity, a consumer group alleged Wednesday. Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica has asked California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown to investigate its claim that UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint Inc. pushed workers to write their elected officials, attend town hall meetings and enlist family and friends to ensure an overhaul that matches their interests.

As authorities investigate suspected arson as the cause of the largest wildfire in Los Angeles County history, prosecutors will be focused on one issue in their attempt to bring murder charges: intent. If the Station fire was set on purpose, the arsonist could face the death penalty for the deaths of firefighters Ted Hall and Arnie Quinones. The two died Sunday in a vehicle accident while aiding a group of inmates battling the fire, which has destroyed more than 154,000 acres and 76 homes.