Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has obtained a temporary restraining order against a California man accused of stalking him, his girlfriend and his sister.

A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge on Feb. 1 ordered 31-year-old Pradeep Manukonda of Milpitas to stay away from Zuckerberg and stop contacting him.

Manukonda tried to contact Zuckerberg numerous times in December via letter, e-mail and Facebook, including more than 20 times in one day, Facebook security officer Todd Sheets said in a court declaration. Manukonda also left a note on Zuckerberg's car and was later spotted outside his house, Sheets said.

Guards stopped Manukonda just as he was about to walk up the front stairs to Zuckerberg's Palo Alto residence, where Zuckerberg's girlfriend was inside, according to court documents.

Sheets said he contacted Palo Alto police at the time and that an officer gave Manukonda a verbal stay-away order. Two days later, Sheets says Manukonda sent Zuckerberg a letter at his home and flowers two days after that, despite an in-person interview with Sheets where he promised to stop.

Manukonda did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Facebook confirmed the restraining order but declined to comment.

In the letters included as evidence in the court file, Manukonda pleads with Zuckerberg for a few minutes of his time. Though his requests are vague, he appears to be seeking money to pay for medical treatment for his mother.

The Wisconsin superintendent who received $140,000 a year in salary and benefits has been declared indigent and will get a taxpayer-funded attorney to defend him against charges of trying to solicit sex from a minor.

At a hearing in Milwaukee County Circuit Court Monday, New Holstein superintendent Christopher Nelson was appointed a lawyer who will be paid $60 an hour by Milwaukee County. A lien will be placed on Nelson's retirement benefits.

The 58-year-old Nelson was arrested Jan. 19 while attending a school board convention in Milwaukee. Prosecutors say he tried to arrange a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old boy who was actually an undercover investigator. The Sheboygan Press says the two had been chatting online since June.

A Philadelphia abortion doctor charged with eight counts of murder in the deaths of seven newborns and a female patient is due to appear before a judge.

Kermit Gosnell is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday. He is expected to tell the judge whether he has found a lawyer.

Prosecutors say Gosnell ran a filthy West Philadelphia abortion clinic where undertrained staff routinely took part in illegal late-term abortions. A grand jury report says Gosnell killed viable, live-born babies by stabbing them in the neck with scissors.

Last week, Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes denied Gosnell's request for a public defender. Nine other employees, including Gosnell's wife, face charges.

Court records say the supervisor of a renovation project in Des Moines' Equitable Building has agreed to plead guilty to asbestos-removal charges.

The Des Moines Register says Russell Coco's lawyer confirmed Tuesday that Coco will plead guilty to violating the Clean Air Act and conspiracy to impede and impair EPA asbestos-removal procedures.

Coco and his boss, developer Bob Knapp, are accused of illegally removing asbestos from 2005 to 2008.

The indictment says asbestos from the building was put in open bins, then dumped in a landfill. Asbestos can cause lung illnesses and cancer. Coco and Knapp were scheduled to begin trial on Feb. 28.

Michael Thurmond, who served three terms as Georgia's labor commissioner, has joined the Atlanta law firm of Butler, Wooten and Fryhofer.

In making the announcement on Tuesday, the firm said Thurmond will focus on personal injury cases, product liability, class actions and whistleblower claims.

Thurmond ran for the U.S. Senate last year rather than seek re-election as labor commissioner. He won the Democratic nomination but lost in the general election to incumbent Republican Johnny Isakson.

Before becoming labor commissioner, Thurmond served in the Georgia Legislature, representing a district in Athens, and practiced law there.

The former Wellesley College student who was found not guilty by reason of insanity of stabbing her former boyfriend as he slept in his MIT dorm room was allowed to go free yesterday, after a judge decided not to have her committed to a psychiatric hospital, her attorney and a prosecutor said.

Anna Tang, 24, of Brighton, was initially charged with armed assault with attempt to murder in 2007 after prosecutors accused her of sneaking into Wolfe Styke’s dorm room and stabbing him while he slept. Tang admitted stabbing Styke, but maintained that she was not criminally responsible by reason of mental illness.

Tang waived her right to a jury trial and on Jan. 8, Judge Bruce Henry found her not guilty by reason of insanity of armed assault with attempt to murder, home invasion, and assault with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, Tang’s lawyer Robert A. George said yesterday.

After her acquittal, Tang was sent to the Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center in Boston for evaluation. Yesterday, at a commitment hearing in Middlesex Superior Court, Henry decided against having her committed to a mental health facility and ordered her to be released.