The Mountain States Legal Foundation has built a reputation as an influential behind-the-scenes player over the years on conservative legal causes.

It has waged battles against affirmative action and protections for endangered species while being bankrolled by some of the most powerful families in the West.

The group is now fighting a protracted legal battle with American Indians who believe the organization is trampling on their voting rights in a rural Wyoming county.

At issue is a local dispute over the election of county commissioners in Fremont County. Mountain States Legal Foundation has been representing the county pro bono for the last five years in a fight against American Indians who want greater representation on the commission.

That Mountain States has waded into such a local dispute further demonstrates the clout it seeks to wield in Western legal disputes, in this case arguing first that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 didn't apply to Indians in Fremont CountyFailing at that, it's now arguing on appeal that a federal judge can't order the county to create separate commission districts.

Federal tax records show that the organization's supporters in recent years have included foundations controlled by the Coors brewing family in Colorado and Philip F. Anschutz, a reclusive Denver billionaire with extensive holdings in railroads, energy and communications.

Mohammad Reza Sadeghnia, a purported Iranian government agent who pleaded guilty to trying to hire a hitman to kill a broadcaster critical of the Iranian regime, is a fugitive from justice after missing a Los Angeles court date.

Sadeghnia, 43, was granted permission to travel to his native Iran earlier this fall to visit his ailing father and apparently never returned. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to appear at Tuesday's hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court, deputy district attorney Ron Goudy said.

Sadeghnia's name appears among the trove of U.S. government documents recently posted by the WikiLeaks website. A confidential Jan. 21 diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in London says Sadeghnia admitted being an Iranian agent and conducting surveillance on two anti-Iranian government broadcasters — London-based Voice of America commentator Reza Nourizadeh and Jamshid Sharmahd, who runs Los Angeles-based radio programming for opposition group Tondar.

Sadeghnia, who lived for years in Ann Arbor, Mich., was arrested in July 2009 by police at a hotel near the Los Angeles airport. Prosecutors say he tried to hire a hitman to kill Sharmahd for $32,000. The man rejected the offer, police said, and agreed to testify against Sadeghnia, who pleaded guilty.

A Colorado attorney has asked a federal judge to order the Transportation Security Administration to abandon its airport screening procedures for United States citizens.

Gary Fielder filed his lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Denver last week, more than a month after he, his two daughters, ages 9 and 15, and a family friend underwent a TSA pat-down in San Diego.

Fielder's lawsuit claimed the pat-downs were "disgusting, unconscionable, sexual in nature" and in violation of the Constitution's protections against unreasonable searches.

He said subjecting U.S. citizens to the new procedures is wrong because no American has been accused of threatening commercial airliners with explosives.

Nationally, at least two other lawsuits have been filed over the TSA's new procedures.

"I'm not asking for any money. I just want to walk to a plane without being touched," Fielder said Tuesday. "They're probably thinking that next time, I'll just submit to the scanner. No, I won't go through that. I'm not going to be photographed nude."

TSA officials last month began phasing in full-body scanners at airports, ahead of the busy holiday travel season. Those who opt out of the scanners, which some travelers oppose over concerns of radiation and graphic images, undergo new pat-down procedures that include more of a hand-sliding motion.

In a statement, TSA officials declined to comment on Fielder's lawsuit, citing pending litigation. The lawsuit named Homeland Security Secretary Janet Naplitano, TSA administrator John Pistole, and the TSA.

A former street preacher on trial for kidnapping and assaulting Elizabeth Smart suffered an apparent seizure in the courtroom Tuesday and was rushed to a hospital.

The judge adjourned the case for the day after defendant Brian David Mitchell was removed on a stretcher and put in an ambulance.

Paramedics took Mitchell to a hospital, but neither court officials nor defense attorneys would identify it. His condition could not immediately be determined.

However, court officials said later in the day the trial would resume Wednesday.

The incident occurred as the jury was about to be called into the courtroom for another day of testimony.

Mitchell was sitting between two of his defense attorneys when he stopped his daily hymn singing and slumped over slightly in his chair. He cried out — a long, loud moan — as his body twisted to the left.

Several Union City residents have filed a class action lawsuit against United Water on allegations that the company cheated customers by selling them useless warranties that do not cover repairs.

The warranties, which cost about $150 a year, are supposed to cover the repair of broken water pipes, sewer pipes and other items, the attorneys for three 18th Street plaintiffs, said. Although the application says "Guaranteed Acceptance" in large print, there are actually many exclusions, the attorneys said.

Multi-unit dwellings are actually excluded from the warranty, but that has not stopped United Water from marketing and selling the policies to the owners of multi-unit buildings, the lawsuit says.

The suit was recently filed in Bergen County Superior Court in Hackensack, where United Water is based.

Attorneys Carl Mayer and Bruce Afran held a press conference Tuesday at the courthouse. Afran estimated that if all New Jersey residents in a situation similar to the plaintiffs were to join the suit, and the suit was successful, it could cost United Water as much as $50 million.

The first in a series of Massachusetts slayings blamed on a serial killer has been resolved with a guilty plea.

Alfred Gaynor admitted Tuesday that he killed Vera Hallums. It was his eighth murder conviction and places the 43-year-old among the deadliest serial killers in Massachusetts history.

Hallums was bound and strangled in her Springfield apartment in April 1995. She was the first of several Springfield women killed over the next few years, most of whom were raped.

Gaynor received an eighth life sentence during his sentencing Tuesday in Hampden Superior Court.

He also has admitted to killing a ninth woman and leaving her toddler to die in her sweltering apartment, but has not been indicted in those cases.