RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — An appeals court agrees a fraternity should be dismissed from a lawsuit alleging a pledge at a private North Carolina university died from hazing.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Prison employees who challenged job classifications and lower pay grades have lost an appeal at the Michigan Supreme Court.

BOSTON (AP) — The Latest on the reinstatement of Aaron Hernandez's murder conviction (all times local):

2 p.m.

Attorneys for late NFL star Aaron Hernandez are criticizing the state's...

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey has summoned the Belgian ambassador in Ankara to protest a Brussels appeals court decision that said a Kurdish rebel group cannot be considered to be a terrorist...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court issued a rare order directing the Brown County District to sentence a sex offender for a third time, saying the man was a victim of "judicial...

MONTREAL (AP) — The Quebec Court of Appeal has upheld a landmark judgment that ordered three tobacco companies to pay billions of dollars in damages to Quebec smokers.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — When the city of Louisville refused to disclose how much they offered Amazon to lure its headquarters there, the local newspaper sued and won in an initial court...

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey State Supreme Court has overturned the murder convictions of two Trenton men due to withheld evidence.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia's top prosecutor will fight a court decision that gives Mumia Abu-Jamal a new chance to appeal his conviction in a 1981 police slaying.

District Attorney Larry Krasner, a longtime civil rights lawyer, filed notice Friday that he'll challenge the order that revives the former Black Panther's high-profile case. He declined to comment on the decision.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A divided federal appeals court has refused to reconsider a decision upholding Louisiana's law requiring that abortion providers have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, despite a dissenting judge's insistence that the decision is in "clear conflict" with a Supreme Court decision striking down a similar Texas law.

KENAI, Alaska (AP) — Officials on the Kenai Peninsula are examining what effects port cities might see from a federal court decision on the use of cruise ship passenger fees.

U.S. District Court Judge H. Russel Holland ruled earlier this month that Juneau can keep collecting the fees, but their use must benefit the cruise ships, the Peninsula Clarion reported this week.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's top court says the state is responsible, not the counties, when schools are so underfunded that some children don't get the constitutionally required sound basic education.

In a decision issued Friday, the state Supreme Court ruled against parents and children in Halifax County, who contended county commissioners haven't fairly distributed tax money, hurting some students.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Gov. Gina Raimondo says a federal judge's ruling "threatens the health care of thousands" of Rhode Island residents.

The Democrat on Saturday pledged to "take all steps necessary" to protect the Affordable Care Act, which a Texas federal judge ruled unconstitutional

MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan appeals court says "factual" doesn't necessarily mean "truthful" when it comes to trying to recall elected officials.

The court ruled against a Muskegon County official who is trying to stop a recall petition drive. Drain Commissioner Brenda Moore says it's not true that she has embraced expensive drainage projects over less expensive alternatives.

CINCINNATI (AP) — An appeal is planned of a court ruling that upheld Ohio's permanent requirements for convicts classified as sexual predators.

A 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel Tuesday unanimously reversed a lower-court decision in favor of a woman convicted in 2006 of sexual misconduct with a minor.

The woman was classified as a sexual predator which carries lifetime state registration and community-notification requirements.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A 2015 law that scaled back an income tax break Louisiana allows for taxes paid to other states was unconstitutional, the state Supreme Court ruled, striking down a change that raised more than $30 million a year for the state budget.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The Vermont Supreme Court has reversed a nearly $1.5 million judgment in a lawsuit involving a man who says an e-commerce company cheated him out of a portion of phantom stock he owned in the business.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's highest court will decide whether the system of state-owned universities trampled on faculty union rights by unilaterally requiring criminal background checks and reports of arrests for serious crimes within 72 hours.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A court Tuesday narrowed a year-old state law that allows Pennsylvania residents to buy and use more powerful airborne fireworks, throwing out the part that permitted such sales from roadside tents.

Commonwealth Court ruled that lawmakers improperly delegated their authority by imposing safety standards set by an outside group, in violation of the state constitution.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Eleven Roman Catholic clergy won a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision Monday to keep their names and other information out of a grand jury report issued earlier this year into decades of sexual abuse of children by hundreds of priests.

The 6-1 court majority said keeping the names and other information secret was, at this point, the only way to protect the priests' right to reputation under the state constitution.

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A legal battle over Nevada's licensing of marijuana distributors is over with a unanimous state Supreme Court decision to dismiss the case.

CLEVELAND (AP) — The case of an Ohio inmate who has long maintained his innocence in the 1994 slaying of three people is once again back before a federal judge.

Ex-death row prisoner Kevin Keith is now serving a life sentence for killing two women and a 4-year-old girl in what prosecutors said was retaliation for his arrest in a drug sweep.

DETROIT (AP) — A criminal case against a former state lawmaker who shot his ex-wife's car in Detroit is starting over after a summer stop at the Michigan Supreme Court.

A judge on Monday granted the prosecutor's request to withdraw from a 2016 plea deal with Virgil Smith. The Supreme Court said prosecutors should have been allowed to withdraw when Judge Lawrence Talon dropped key provisions.

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Attorneys for the Portland Pipe Line Corp. have filed an appeal seeking to overturn a recent court decision that upheld a Maine city's ordinance banning bulk loading of crude oil onto tankers.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco court has made it easier for suspects released from the city jail to get back their legally obtained marijuana along with items like keys, money and other property confiscated from them when they are placed under arrest and detained.

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Montana's attorney general is asking a state judge to reconsider a ruling that upholds Missoula's right to enforce background checks on all firearms transfers in the city.

The Missoulian reports Tim Fox argued Monday that the Montana Supreme Court made a recent decision that could be relevant.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A new U.S. Supreme Court decision means North Dakota can continue to require residents to provide a street address in order to vote on Election Day.

Some American Indian tribes argued that street addresses aren't always assigned on reservations and the requirements discriminate against Native Americans.

With a month to go until midterm elections, the Federal Election Commission on Thursday issued new guidance governing the flow of untraceable campaign cash to so-called "dark money" groups.

ROCKAWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey township has named a new interim mayor, its third mayor since August when the official mayor died in office.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A court decision says New Mexico public agencies can be ordered to pay daily penalties of up to $100 for making incomplete or inadequate responses to request for public records.

The Court of Appeals' decision Monday overturns a District Court judge's ruling that an animal welfare activist who requested records wasn't entitled to damages after the Attorney General's Office initially failed to turn over hundreds of emails.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court decision means authorities in Louisiana still cannot enforce a state law setting 21 as the minimum age for exotic dancers who wear next to nothing in bars and nightclubs.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina appeals court agrees the state's pension fund must cover large pension spikes for four retired school superintendents because an agency failed to go through regulatory hoops before local taxpayers could foot the bills.

A three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals on Tuesday unanimously upheld lower court decisions favoring Cabarrus, Johnston, Wilkes and Union county school boards.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Supreme Court of Virginia has dismissed an independent congressional candidate's appeal of a court decision removing her from the race.

The court ruled Wednesday against Shaun Brown, who was seeking to challenge U.S. Rep. Scott Taylor and Democrat Elaine Luria in coastal Virginia's competitive 2nd District. The court said Brown hadn't filed necessary documents and that the lower court's order "lacks the finality" needed for the appeal to be considered.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal judge has told Nebraska to keep juvenile sex offenders off the state sex offender registry if they weren't tried as adults — at least for now.