Green Party nominees labeled "sham candidates" said in Arizona court that they are not running for office to siphon votes from Democrats.

Christopher Campbell, Anthony Goshorn and Thomas Meadows testified Monday that Republicans planted the idea that they run for office as Green Party candidates but that taking votes from Democrats was never their motive.

The Green and Democratic parties say at least 11 of the Green Party's nominees were recruited by Republicans to entice votes from liberals who might otherwise support the Democratic candidate.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Dean Fink says he'll try to rule on Tuesday.

A federal judge last week denied a separate Green Party request that the candidates be kicked from the November ballot.

An appeals court has admonished a federal judge in Wisconsin for claiming a convicted drug dealer's love for his family is akin to Adolf Hitler's love for his dog.

The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago on Monday ordered that the defendant, Jose Figueroa, be re-sentenced.

The court said comments during sentencing from Judge Rudolph Randa of eastern Wisconsin were odd.

Randa sentenced Figueroa to 20 years in prison for leading a drug conspiracy.

Leniency requests were made for Figueroa on grounds he loves his family. Randa dismissed those requests, saying: "Hitler was admired by his family ... loved his dog. Yet he killed 6 million Jews."

The judge also told Figueroa he would have been executed in some countries for such drug crimes.

The publisher of Philadelphia's two largest newspapers is pushing unionized drivers to agree to contract terms before Tuesday's bankruptcy sale deadline.

Drivers who deliver The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News are balking at plans to end company contributions to their Teamsters' pension fund.

They are the only holdouts. About 15 other union groups, including the editorial unit, have agreed to contracts that include wage cuts and furloughs.

Creditors who bid $139 million to win this year's auction of the company insist they will not close the sale without an agreement with the drivers.

John Laigaie, president of the drivers unit, did not immediately return a message Monday. His members voted a second time Sunday to reject the creditors' offer.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco has upheld a jury verdict clearing the Chevron Corp. of alleged human rights abuses during a violent 1998 protest on a company oil platform in Nigeria.

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the lower court judge conducted the 2008 trial that resulted in the verdict without error and instructed jurors properly.

Human rights activists had accused the Nigerian military of attacking protesters on orders from the oil company. The demonstration was over Chevron's alleged pollution of local fishing grounds and farms in the country's oil-rich Delta region.

Two demonstrators occupying the oil platform were killed. The company denied involvement.

A federal appeals court struck down a city ban on tattoo parlors Thursday, ruling the artistic expression is entitled to free speech protection under the U.S. Constitution.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Southern California city of Hermosa Beach to allow tattoo parlors to operate.

The city had argued the operations threaten public health and attract an unsavory clientele prone to crime.

Several state courts and federal trial courts have upheld similar bans in other cities across the country.

However, the ruling Thursday was the first by a federal appeals court, meaning such bans are now unconstitutional in the nine western states that must comply with 9th Circuit rulings.

Circuit Judge Jay Bybee, writing for the unanimous three-judge panel, called the city's ban "substantially broader than necessary to achieve the city's significant health and safety interests and because it entirely forecloses a unique and important method of expression."

The court said the ban was an unconstitutional overreaction to health concerns that can be addressed through regulations to ensure sanitation.

A Garner man has pleaded guilty Tuesday to transmitting child pornography over the internet.

Gary Wayne Robinson, 28, entered the plea in federal court before Judge James C. Fox.

Garner Police were alerted to Robinson after they say he engaged in an online chat with an undercover officer in New Hampshire in October of 2009. During the chat the two discussed trading child pornography and Robinson sent several pictures of children to the undercover cop.

An investigation revealed over 700 photographs and 59 videos of child pornography were found on Robinson's computer.

Robinson faces up to 20 years in prison and up to a life-term of supervised release. Robinson also faces a fine of up to $250,000.