Massachusetts hands out more than $2 billion in business tax breaks annually with no mechanisms for reviewing their effectiveness or recouping lost revenue if the exemptions fail to produce the desired results, an analysis by the state auditor shows.

Auditor Suzanne Bump reviewed 92 business tax breaks or credits, many dating back decades, and determined that only seven had so-called sunset clauses, automatic reviews of a law after a fixed period of time, and only 10 had clawback provisions allowing the state to get back some of the taxes if a company doesn't meet job creation goals or other benchmarks.

The tax breaks on the books containing no sunset or clawback provisions would total $2.1 billion in foregone revenue during the fiscal year starting July 1, Bump concluded. The auditor planned to present her findings Thursday at a hearing of the Legislature's Revenue Committee.

Taxing authorities from three states have filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against former billionaire Tim Blixseth.

The petition says the real estate baron owes $2.3 million in California, Idaho and Montana. It was filed Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Nevada.

Blixseth rose to fame and fortune after founding Montana's ultra-exclusive Yellowstone Club. He left the winter playground for Bill Gates and others before its 2008 bankruptcy. Creditors say he made off with $286 million.

Earlier allegations of unpaid taxes in Montana have been contested by Blixseth as unfounded.

He told The Associated Press Wednesday that the bankruptcy petition stemmed from Montana's "bogus" claims and pledged to fight it.

Blixseth's value was once pegged by Forbes magazine at $1.3 billion. Court documents now put the figure at roughly $230 million.

A federal appeals court is set to consider a lawsuit that claims that a former Forsyth County sheriff used his office to harass and intimidate them after they supported a referendum that would have reduced the office's powers.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday is set to consider the lawsuit by Danny Bennett and Danny Reid, who claim they were targeted by ex-Sheriff Dennis Lee Hendrix after they supported a 1998 proposal to create a countywide police force.

A jury sided with the two, awarding Bennett $3.6 million and Reid $3.1 million after Hendrix posted flyers that called the two men "convicted criminals" who terrorized the county.

Hendrix appealed the jury's decision. He says the two men don't have enough evidence to back up their claims.

France's top court refused Wednesday to allow French citizenship for 10-year-old twin girls born to a surrogate mother in the United States, in a ruling that affirmed France's legal ban on surrogacy.

In a case straddling international legal rights and bioethics, the Court of Cassation ruled a California county went too far by ruling that a French couple are legally the twins' parents.

The ruling exposes the legal limbo that many would-be parents find themselves in because of inconsistencies on surrogacy between countries like the United States, which legally recognizes it, and France, which does not.

Other countries, like Belgium, are largely silent on the subject, leaving the door open to different interpretations and leaving an international legal void in many cases.

Because Sylvie Mennesson was unable to bear children, she and her husband, Dominique, turned to a surrogate mother with his sperm and a donor's egg. The surrogate mother gave birth to the twins in California in 2000, and the girls have U.S. citizenship. Under California's surrogacy rights laws, San Diego County said the Mennessons were the girl's legal parents.

Wednesday's ruling follows a lower court's order that stripped the twins from France's civil registry. Being listed on the civil registry is a requirement for obtaining documents including identity cards or passports.

Federal authorities have charged two men with running an insider trading scheme that netted more than $30 million with information stolen from law firms.

Garrett Bauer is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday afternoon. Matthew Kluger will make his first appearance in federal court in Alexandria, Va.

They're accused of trading on inside information stolen from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a law firm with offices in Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco and Hong Kong.

Authorities also allege the decades-long scheme used information stolen from prominent New York law firms Cravath Swaine & Moore and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

The slim margin between Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser and his challenger, JoAnne Kloppenburg, has grown slightly in favor of the incumbent as late election numbers are tallied.

But the race that reflected Wisconsin's fight over union rights is still too close to call Wednesday morning. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, conservative-leaning Prosser is leading Kloppenburg by 835 votes. Final, official results could vary and a recount appears likely.

The race highlights the divide in the state over Republican Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining law, which would strip public workers of nearly all their union rights. The issue, which could ultimately be decided by the state Supreme Court, has propelled the relatively unknown Kloppenburg into prominence and heightened voter interest in the election.