American-born Christopher Paul was to be sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost after pleading guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction in terrorist attacks.

Paul, 44, was accused of joining al-Qaida in the early 1990s and helping teach fellow Muslim extremists how to bomb U.S. and European targets. Prosecutors agreed to drop charges of providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to provide support to terrorists.

The Justice Department accused Paul and two other men of discussing terrorist attacks during an August 2002 meeting at the Caribou Cafe coffee shop in Upper Arlington.

The other two also pleaded guilty: Nuradin Abdi in 2007 in connection with an alleged plot to blow up an Ohio shopping mall, and Iyman Faris in 2003 in connection with an alleged plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge.

Instead of reporting to federal prison last June for bilking millions from his investors, Samuel Israel faked his suicide and took off in an RV for nearly a month before surrendering.

The 49-year-old Israel has spent months getting a physical and psychological checkup at a prison hospital in Ayer, Mass. A federal judge ordered the evaluation to help him decide whether Israel is competent to plead guilty to going on the lam before a court date set for Friday.

The judge refused to accept the plea last year when Israel told him that treatment for his addiction to painkillers had impaired his thinking.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ordered last week that the answers provided on the forms, which are intended to root out bias in selecting a jury, should be off limits to the public. There are more than 60 questions on the forms including potential jurors' opinion of Bonds and whether they've followed the issue of steroid use in professional sports.

The forms also include a potential juror's name, age, gender, level of education, job, criminal record and any ethical, religious or political views that would influence the juror's decision making, as well as other personal information.

The Associated Press, ESPN, Hearst Corp., The New York Times Co., ABC-subsidiary KGO, KNTV Television Inc., NBC subsidiary KNBC-TV, The Los Angeles Times, the Medianews Group and Sports Illustrated publisher Time Inc. filed court papers seeking public access to the forms.

Media company lawyers argued that the questionnaires should be considered part of the jury-selection process, which is required to be done in open court. The lawyers noted that neither Bonds' lawyers nor federal prosecutors have asked the judge to seal the documents.

"Here, there is no valid basis for keeping the public in the dark about the answers provided by prospective and trial jurors," the papers stated.

The home run king's trial begins Monday, when potential jurors throughout the Bay Area are summoned to the federal courthouse in San Francisco to fill out the forms. The slugger's lawyers, prosecutors and the judge will question them in person about their answers beginning on Tuesday.

Supreme Court justices take two oaths before assuming the bench. In recent years, several justices took one of the oaths at the White House with the president in attendance.

Stevens, who is the oldest sitting justice, called that "inappropriate symbolism." Justices are supposed to be independent of politics and the White House.

He says that is why he refuses to attend Supreme Court ceremonies at the White House. He called on future nominees and future presidents to end the modern practice of having taking one of oaths done at the White House.

The state is arguing that it has the authority to dispose of the land, representing more than a quarter of the Hawaiian Islands. But the state's own Office of Hawaiian Affairs argues that the lands must be held until claims of native Hawaiians have been resolved.

The Hawaii Supreme Court agreed that the claims had to be resolved.

Some legal analysts say a ruling against the state of Hawaii could set a precedent for other native populations to make claims to lands they once inhabited.

In a ruling announced Wednesday, a New York judge says trustees managing Helmsley's estate can distribute her funds to a broad range of charities.

Helmsley died in August 2007. She left instructions in one of the documents relating to her charitable trust that money be donated to help care for dogs, as well as other charities.

Manhattan Surrogate Court Judge Troy Webber ruled that trustees of the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust have sole discretion for which charities should get the Helmsley fortune.

Trust spokesman Howard Rubenstein says the trustees will announce the first grants from the foundation next month.