A Florida appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling that the NCAA must release documents on Florida State's appeal of an academic cheating penalty.

The 1st District Court of Appeal upheld a circuit court decision Thursday. The Associated Press and other media groups had sued, saying the NCAA's desire to keep the process private violated Florida open records laws.

The documents focus on Florida State's appeal of the NCAA's intention to strip coaches and athletes of wins in 10 sports.

That includes football coach Bobby Bowden, who stands to lose 14 victories. It would dim his chances of again becoming major college football's winningest coach. Bowden has 384 victories — two behind Penn State's Joe Paterno.

A former top aide to Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas has pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to smuggle contraband into a prison.

Betsey Wright is accused of trying to smuggle tattoo needles, a box cutter, a knife and tweezers into the Varner Supermax Unit while visiting a death row inmate in May.

The 66-year-old Wright entered the plea Wednesday in a court filing in Lincoln County Circuit Court.

The filing by defense attorney Jeff Rosenzweig also waives her arraignment, which had been set for next week, and asks for a jury trial.

Rosenzweig declined to comment on Wright's defense other than to say she's not guilty.

Wright was Clinton's chief of staff for seven years and worked on many of his campaigns.

Delaware's appeal of a ruling that its plan to allow betting on professional sports violates a federal ban will not be heard, a federal court ruled on Tuesday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in court documents signed by Judge Thomas Hardiman, denied the request for a rehearing before the larger court.

Hardiman was one of the three judges who ruled unanimously in August that Delaware's plan violated federal law.

Delaware had planned to allow point-spread bets on individual games in all major sports from three racetrack casinos.

"Obviously, we are disappointed with today's ruling, Michael Barlow, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell's legal counsel, said in a statement. "We realize that it is rare that the Third Circuit will hear cases with all 12 active judges, but this was an important issue for the state of Delaware and we thought the state should have a chance to make its case at trial."

Delaware could ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case, but Markell spokesman Joe Ragolsky said that was unlikely.

The state can offer parlay bets -- which depend on the outcome of several matches -- on National Football League games.

A former aide to Danielle Steel is facing time in federal prison after admitting she stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the romance novelist.

Federal prosecutors announced Monday that 47-year-old Kristy Watts, who also goes by the name Kristy Siegrist, pleaded guilty last week to one count of wire fraud and four counts of tax evasion.

Prosecutors say Watts admitted stealing at least $400,000 while handling accounting and other duties for Steel.

Watts worked for the best-selling author from 1993 to 2008.

Investigators determined Watts had deposited checks from Steel's accounts into her own account and used Steel's credit cards for herself.

Sentencing is set for Feb. 4 in federal court in San Francisco.

The Afghan-born man at the center of a U.S. anti-terrorism probe pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to allegations he plotted a bomb attack in the United States, and a federal judge ordered him held without bail.

Prosecutors accuse Najibullah Zazi, 24, a Colorado airport shuttle driver and a legal U.S. resident born in Afghanistan, of plotting bomb attacks in the United States. He is accused of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction - homemade bombs. He and others allegedly bought chemicals at beauty supply companies to cook up a poor man's explosive known as triacetone triperoxide, or TATP.

Perrysburg Township trustees are suing a Toledo law firm, contending that one of the lawyers asked for several thousand pages of copies in a public records request but did not pay for them.

The suit, filed yesterday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, names Cosme, D’Angelo, & Szollosi and lawyer Joshua Hughes. It requests complete payment for the copies and punitive damages in excess of $3,000 “for intentionally causing the expenditure of public money for a private purpose with no intention to make repayment and to deter abuse of the public records law of the State of Ohio.”

The suit says the firm requested copies of all documentation pertaining to the Perrysburg Township fire station/EMS/police facility addition project. Because the request meant copying hundreds of documents, the township notified the firm it would be outsourced, and the firm would be responsible for the billing. The total was $1,343.79.

According to letters with the suit, Mr. Hughes responded that the firm was not liable for extra “office supplies” such as binders, and that only fair copy costs and postage would be paid. The township received a check for $338.89.