Most German state smoking laws permit larger venues to provide smoking rooms for their patrons, but the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled this is unconstitutional.

Ruling on appeals brought by owners of one-room pubs in the states of Baden Wuerttemberg and Berlin, the court said smoking bans with exceptions discriminate against the smaller venues.

The court ordered states to review their laws, giving parliaments until the end of next year either to ban smoking in all establishments entirely or to revise the exceptions allowed in their laws.

Germany has banned smoking nationwide in government buildings but leaves jurisdiction of bars, restaurants and other public places to the nation's 16 states — all of which have enacted their own varying restrictions.

Ramiro Vanoy Murillo, 60, and Javier Lindo, 38, are among 14 paramilitary members who were extradited to the U.S. in May. Authorities say they men, who entered their pleas Tuesday, were wanted for their alleged roles in a large-scale cocaine smuggling operation dating to the late 1990s.

Sentencing is set for October. Vanoy Murillo faces up to 19 years and Lindo over 17 years behind bars.

Colombian officials said they decided to extradite the men because they were still committing crimes from Colombian prisons and had failed to pay restitution to victims of atrocities blamed on the paramilitary group.

Alston & Bird LLP is putting its mark on California, with plans to absorb in September the Los Angeles law firm Weston Benshoof Rochefort Rubalcava & MacCuish LLP and its 83 attorneys. Weston Benshoof is known for its environmental and land use practices, but it also litigates in real estate, construction, and water resources issues.

Atlanta-based Alston & Bird also said Wednesday it has opened a 12-attorney office in Palo Alto. The addition of the new lawyers in California will bring the total number of attorneys at Alston & Bird to more than 900.

"Alston & Bird's continued growth is the result of our increasing national and international client base for whom our strategic approach is simple -- We will be where our clients are and need us to be," said Richard R. Hays, Alston & Bird's managing partner, in a prepared statement. "While Alston & Bird has been representing clients on the West Coast for years, teaming up with some of the best talent in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley gives us stronger footing in a number of key practice areas that will benefit our clients and better serve their needs."

Twenty-seven years later, Morton Grove has repealed its law, bowing to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that affirmed homeowners' right to keep guns for self-defense.

It's one of several Illinois communities — reluctant to spend money on legal fights — rushing to repeal their gun bans after the court struck down a Washington, D.C., ban, even as cities such as Chicago and San Francisco stand firm.

Mayor Richard Krier acknowledges Morton Grove's place in history, but said that didn't affect the village board's 5-1 decision Monday to amend its ordinance to allow the possession of handguns. The village still bans the sale of guns.

"There hasn't been any pressure" to keep the ban, Krier said, noting that the village's ordinance has been under scrutiny since the Supreme Court agreed to hear the Washington case. He also pointed out that the mostly residential village has never had a big problem with gun crime.

Though Morton Grove's gun ban is five years younger than Washington's, it's considered the first in the country because the village is a municipality, whereas D.C. is a federal district.

Gun rights advocates hailed the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision affirming that individuals have a right to own guns and keep them in their homes for self-defense.

The state Senate voted to repeal the law earlier this month and Gov. Deval Patrick has said he will sign it.

Opponents say repealing the ban will attract many out-of-state gay couples to Massachusetts for marriages.

Some proponents say that would be an economic boon for the state, and would allow Massachusetts to compete with California.

A California Supreme Court ruling recently made gay marriage legal there with no residency requirement.

Former Beaufort County Magistrate George Peter Lamb, who is white, agreed to the punishment and resigned before the order was issued. The court's order included no other details about the comment.

The justices' ruling outlined problems with Lamb that included behavior toward female employees that the high court said could have been considered inappropriate and the judge incorrectly telling a defendant at a bond hearing the penalty he could face if convicted.

Lamb's lawyer referred questions to the former judge, who did not immediately respond to telephone messages left on his cell phone and at his home.

Lamb is a lawyer who served on Beaufort County Council until 2006, when Republican Gov. Mark Sanford appointed him a part-time magistrate.

Lamb was publicly reprimanded by the state Supreme Court, which said it was the harshest punishment it could issue since he had resigned as judge. Lamb agreed to not seek any judicial position in the state without first getting written permission from the state's high court, effectively banning him from the bench.