On the way home from work in Rochester, Patricia Martinez stopped at a liquor store and bought a small bottle of Champagne to celebrate her marriage to another woman. The wedding took place in Canada nearly four years ago, but it wasn’t until Feb. 1 that a New York appellate court declared it valid in the state.

Last week in Manhattan, a State Supreme Court justice, ruling in a divorce proceeding, recognized the Canadian marriage of two New York City women, known publicly as Beth R. and Donna M. - or Mom and Mommy to the two young children they had been raising together.

Less than two years after New York’s highest court refused to legalize gay marriage, leaving it up to a divided Legislature, courts in Rochester and Manhattan, as well as state and local officials, have begun to carry out what some say is the de facto legalization of gay marriage - and gay divorce - in New York for the price of, say, a ticket to Toronto.

Advocates for same-sex marriage say the two court decisions last month granting reciprocity in New York to gay marriages in other jurisdictions simply underline what most people would consider common sense.

Prosecutors are recommending a 30-year prison sentence for 42-year-old Adam Gault of West Hartford.

Judge David Gold indicated Wednesday that he will order at least 20 years in prison.

Gault pleaded guilty to eight charges, including second-degree sexual assault and kidnapping.

Authorities say the girl was 14 when she ran away from home to live with Gault in 2006. Police, who feared she was dead, found her hiding in a small storage area during a search of Gault's home last June. Gault's wife and another woman living with him were also arrested.

Court records show that between April and mid-December, Billy Long, 55, accepted $17,400 in what he was told were payments from convenience store owners "to protect their video poker business and other illegal activity," such as products used to make methamphetamine.

Long was arrested Feb. 2. He has since resigned as Hamilton County sheriff and remains in custody at the Bradley County Detention Center.

He appeared at a hearing at which U.S. Magistrate Bill Carter set a May 13 trial.

In addition to possession with intent to distribute cocaine, Long is charged with extortion, money laundering, providing a gun to a felon and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

A conviction on all charges would carry a minimum prison sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life.

Long's attorney, Jerry Summers of Chattanooga, told the judge he intends to seek bond. Summers earlier opted to not seek a detention hearing but said Wednesday it is not practical to prepare for trial with Long in custody 30 miles away.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Humble at a previous hearing described the sheriff as a danger to the community.

The affidavit said Long also accepted $6,550 in cash as "his payoff to the undercover to a cooperating witness supposedly laundering $625,000 in drug trafficking proceeds." Long was told the drug money was being sent to a funeral home in Mexico hidden in cremation urns.

The affidavit said the sheriff in December gave the undercover informant a loaded revolver, knowing the recipient of the gun was a convicted felon and telling him never to say where he got it and to get rid of it if he shot anyone.

An FBI agent's affidavit shows Long first told agents he was doing his own investigation, although no one else at the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department knew about it.

Chief Deputy Allen Branum is running the department until voters in August elect a successor to finish Long's term.

Summers said Wednesday there is no evidence that anyone else in the department was involved in the case.

A Jessamine County District Court judge says 64-year-old David Blaisdell of Lexington must spend three days in jail for contempt of court. Blaisdell was wearing sunglasses and dressed in a rhinestone-studded shirt with a scarf draped around his neck when he was sentenced.

County Attorney Brian Goettl said Blaisdell was in court for a pretrial conference on misdemeanor charges of stalking and violating a protective order. Goettl says the judge had Blaisdell tested for intoxication. The result was nearly twice the .08 level at which a person is considered legally drunk in Kentucky.

Goettl says Blaisdell told the judge he had had a few drinks the night before his court appearance Tuesday.

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted Tuesday to debate a bill that would phase out the taxes over five years as long as state revenue grows 4 percent in each of those years.

The proposal, which would reimburse local governments for the lost property tax revenue, would not kick in until the 2010 fiscal year. Equipment bought after Jan. 1, 2008, would qualify retroactively.

Supporters say the measure, which has 32 co-sponsors including two members of House leadership and two Democrats, could be funded without relying on additional revenue from other sources or programs, a source of contention that killed a proposal last year.

"We would be paying for the bill with growth in government," committee Chairman Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot and one of the co-sponsors, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Idaho businesses now pay personal property tax each year on everything from forklifts to office equipment. Companies such as J.R. Simplot, the agriculture giant, and TableRock BrewPub & Grill in Boise have demanded a repeal of the tax, saying it's hard to calculate and stunts economic growth.

Last year, the House passed a bill to eliminate as much as $100 million of the taxes, but Senate lawmakers blocked it.

That seemed to be a likely fate again for any personal property tax bill this year after the House tax committee in January rejected five measures that would have repealed millions of dollars in Idaho sales tax exemptions.

Senate lawmakers who killed last year's bill suggested that elimination of the personal property tax should depend on dumping some of those tax exemptions, thus creating additional revenue. They also favored a discussion of the personal property tax bill within the broader context of Idaho's complicated system of tax breaks.

Sen. Brent Hill, R-Rexburg and chairman of the Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee, said this year's personal property tax proposal seems to be well crafted, since it puts the plan on hold if the economy is not strong enough to bring in sufficient revenue to pay for the phaseout.

"If it gets through the House, I think there's a good chance it'll get through the committee," Hill said.