A federal appeals court ruling that a Christian university in Colorado can receive state scholarship money is the latest in a string of legal victories for religious schools seeking public dollars.

The most recent case involved Colorado Christian University, a college of 2,000 students in suburban Denver where most students must attend chapel weekly and sign a promise to emulate the life of Jesus and biblical teachings.

Colorado Christian faculty must sign a statement that that the Bible is the "infallible Word of God."

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled Wednesday that the state of Colorado overstepped its bounds with a system allowing students to use state scholarship dollars at some religious colleges, but not those dubbed "pervasively sectarian" — a judgment that required bureaucrats to investigate such tricky criteria as whether religion courses amounted to neutral study or proselytizing.

Colorado had allowed students to use their scholarships at Methodist and Roman Catholic universities in the state, but not at a Buddhist university or at Colorado Christian, which is nondenominational.

The ruling is the latest in a series of potentially fatal blows to three decades of legal doctrine that had distinguished between religiously connected colleges that were nonetheless in the mainstream of American higher education, and those with a religious outlook that permeates every aspect of the education they offer.

Three motions were filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of Lori Drew of the St. Louis suburb of O'Fallon, her attorney H. Dean Steward told The Associated Press.

Drew is accused of helping create a false-identity account on the MySpace social networking site to convince young neighbor Megan Meier she was chatting with a teenage boy.

Meier, who was being treated for attention deficit disorder and depression, hanged herself in 2006, allegedly after receiving cruel messages, including one saying the world would be better off without her.

Missouri authorities did not file any charges because at the time they could not find any laws that applied.

In May, however, a Los Angeles federal grand jury indicted Drew on charges of conspiracy and accessing computers without authorization to get information used to inflict emotional distress. She pleaded not guilty.

The case was filed in Los Angeles because MySpace's servers are in Los Angeles County. FBI agents in St. Louis and Los Angeles investigated the case.

Legal experts have said use of the federal cyber-crime statute on accessing computers may be open to challenge.

Eric Hunt, 24, was convicted in San Francisco Superior Court of one felony charge of false imprisonment with a hate crime allegation. Hunt was also convicted of two misdemeanor counts — one for battery and one for elder abuse.

The jury dismissed charges of attempted kidnapping, stalking and a second false imprisonment charge.

He had withdrawn his original not guilty by reason of insanity plea, eliminating the need for a second trial to determine his sanity at the time of the crime.

Hunt shook in his seat after the verdict was read. He could face as long as three years in prison.

"We are pleased with the verdict," said his attorney, John Runfola. "I'm just saddened it took this long to get justice for this young guy who is mentally ill."

During the nine-day trial, Wiesel, 79, testified that he thought Hunt was trying to kidnap him when he was forcefully pulled off an elevator at San Francisco's Argent Hotel on Feb. 1, 2007.

On the witness stand, Wiesel read comments allegedly written on a Web site by Hunt calling Wiesel's accounts of the Holocaust "fictitious."

Wiesel's parents and younger sister died in Nazi death camps during World War II. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 and has written more than 40 books, many of them about the Holocaust and Judaism.

A former employee of two local law offices pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing more than $35,000 from the firms by falsely filling out closing documents.

Circuit Court Judge John Milling sentenced Carolyn Keys to 20 years in prison, which will be suspended after she serves three years in prison and five years on probation. Milling ordered the sentences to run consecutively, so if Keys does not successfully complete her probation, she must serve the remainder of her prison sentence.

Keys, 60, who lives with her sister in Virginia, pleaded guilty to two counts of breach of trust with fraudulent intent for two separate incidents at law firms in Horry and Georgetown counties, Solicitor Greg Hembree said.

Prosecutors had recommended the sentences to run concurrently, but Milling said he chose the consecutive sentence in case she failed the conditions of her probation, which include repaying $22,500 in restitution to the law firms, and random drug and alcohol testing.

Keys admitted she took $20,492 from the Manley and Hatley Law Firm while she worked there from May 2005 to December 2006 and $15,149 from the McNair Law Firm, where she worked after leaving the Manley and Hatley firm.

Keys' attorney, Mary Ashley Martin, told Milling that Keys suffered from leukemia and was first diagnosed when the incidents began. Martin said Keys also was under stress because her son had been deployed with the Marines to Iraq.

"I am so sorry. I know I can't correct what I've done. I hope you will forgive me," Keys said during the hearing as she turned to representatives of the law firms. "They put trust in me, and I betrayed that trust," Keys said.

Keys served a probation sentence in 2004 after she pleaded guilty to obtaining $1,850 under false pretenses, and she paid restitution to her former landlord in that case, Hembree said.

"She's been given a chance. Another judge gave her a chance and that experiment failed," Hembree said before Milling issued his sentence Wednesday. "This is not some kid down at the Wal-Mart, who does something stupid. This is a legal professional. We have to have faith and trust in this profession or it breaks down. She was single-handedly breaking it down."

Chad Hatley, who employed Keys, said he's spent at least $72,000 repaying clients, hiring auditors and accounting firms to review his records in addition to answering to the S.C. Bar Association about the misconduct in his office.

A sentencing hearing for Sidney Lowe II began Monday and is expected to end Tuesday in Guilford County Superior Court.

Defense lawyer Joe Cheshire said his client was "completely remorseful."

Lowe entered guilty pleas to six counts each of robbery with a dangerous weapon and kidnapping, possession of a weapon on educational property, possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana and possession of ecstasy under a plea agreement.

The 23-year-old Lowe also entered a plea to a conspiracy to commit armed robbery charge from a shooting at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The plea means he doesn't admit guilt but says the state has enough evidence to convict him.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Monday that Steven Hatfill was a public figure and had to prove actual malice to win his libel lawsuit. The court said Hatfill failed to meet that burden.

Five people were killed and 17 sickened in the anthrax attacks. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft publicly identified Hatfill as a "person of interest" in the investigation.

Columnist Nicholas Kristof criticized the FBI's investigation as lackadaisical and initially referred to Hatfill as "Mr. Z." Kristof identified Hatfill by name only after Hatfill held a news conference to denounce rumors.