NASA's former chief of staff has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in a case stemming from a $600,000 contract for Mississippi State University, a client of his consulting firm.

Sheila Wilbanks, a U.S. Attorney's office spokeswoman, said Courtney Stadd pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Gulfport, Miss.

Stadd faces up to five years in prison at sentencing on Nov. 18.

Prosecutors say Stadd conspired with Liam Sarsfield, NASA's former chief deputy engineer, to guide contracts. Sarsfield pleaded guilty in November to one count.

Stadd was NASA's chief of staff and White House liaison from 2001-2003. Stadd was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to probation in a different case for steering a $10 million contract to MSU.

The California Supreme Court says furloughs of state workers can resume while it reviews whether governors have the authority to mandate unpaid days off.

The announcement Wednesday was a victory for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has sought to save the state money by imposing another round of furloughs.

Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear says furloughs for about 150,000 state workers will begin Friday.

The Republican governor recently ordered workers to be furloughed three days a month, following a previous round that ended in June. McLear says the furloughs are estimated to save the state $150 million a month.

Stocks fell Thursday after the Labor Department said claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week, renewing concerns about the pace of the economic recovery.

The disappointing news about the jobs market came minutes after news that Intel Corp. was acquiring McAfee Inc. The deal, valued at $7.68 billion, helped to cushion the blow from the jump in unemployment benefit claims.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 29 in early morning trading. Broader indexes also fell.

The two announcements are the latest to provide a conflicting picture of the recovery. Economic reports have regularly shown the pace of a rebound is slowing and companies are skittish about adding new workers. That has hurt stocks on some days in recent weeks. It has also stoked fears about the economy falling back into recession.

At the same time, corporate announcements, including earnings reports for the past six weeks, have largely showed companies are doing well. Mergers and acquisitions activity is often considered a positive sign because it means companies are willing to spend money to grow their businesses and are confident that prospects are improving.

The 14 crosses erected along Utah roads to commemorate fallen state Highway Patrol troopers convey a state preference for Christianity and are a violation of the U.S. Constitution, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.

The ruling reverses a 2007 decision by a federal district judge that said the crosses communicate a secular message about deaths and were not a public endorsement of religion. It's the latest in a recent rash of mixed-bag rulings on the public use of crosses.

A three-judge panel from Denver's 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in its 38-page ruling that a "reasonable observer" would conclude that the state and the Utah Highway Patrol were endorsing Christianity with the cross memorials.

"This may lead the reasonable observer to fear that Christians are likely to receive preferential treatment from the UHP," the justices wrote.

The 12-foot high white crosses with 6-foot horizontal crossbars are affixed with the patrol's beehive logo and a biography of the deceased trooper.

First erected in 1998, monuments were paid for with private funds and erected only with the permission of the troopers' families. Nearly all of the 14 crosses are on public land.

Two men behind the cross project have said they selected crosses for the memorials because the image of a cross can simultaneously convey a message of death, remembrance, honor, gratitude and sacrifice.

A three-year-old federal law that makes it a crime to falsely claim to have received a medal from the U.S. military is unconstitutional, an appeals court panel in California ruled Tuesday.

The decision involves the case of Xavier Alvarez of Pomona, Calif., a water district board member who said at a public meeting in 2007 that he was a retired Marine who received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration.

Alvarez was indicted in 2007. He pleaded guilty on condition that he be allowed to appeal on First Amendment grounds. He was sentenced under the Stolen Valor Act to more than 400 hours of community service at a veterans hospital and fined $5,000.

A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with him in a 2-1 decision Tuesday, agreeing that the law was a violation of his free-speech rights. The majority said there's no evidence that such lies harm anybody, and there's no compelling reason for the government to ban such lies.

The dissenting justice insisted that the majority refused to follow clear Supreme Court precedent that false statements of fact are not entitled to First Amendment protection.

The act revised and toughened a law that forbids anyone to wear a military medal that wasn't earned. The measure sailed through Congress in late 2006, receiving unanimous approval in the Senate.

A U.S. Appeals Court ruled on Tuesday against New York City in its long-running dispute with India and Mongolia over whether they owe about $47 million in taxes on property that houses staff assigned to consulates and United Nations missions.

The demands by the city that hosts the United Nations headquarters for property taxes from several foreign governments had become an irritant in diplomatic relations, according to a U.S. Department of State notice cited by the three-judge panel.

The June 2009 notice granted an exemption from property taxes on property owned by foreign governments and used to accommodate their personnel in the United States. The City of New York argued the properties should be taxable, despite the department's order under the Foreign Missions Act.