The retention vote in which three Iowa Supreme Court justices were ousted was illegal, according to a lawsuit seeking to keep the three justices from being tossed from the bench.

The lawsuit claims the vote violated the Iowa Constitution, which requires judicial retention votes to be held on a separate ballot.

Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and justices Michael Streit and David Baker were voted off following a campaign by groups opposed to the court's unanimous decision to legalize same-sex marriage in Iowa.

The Des Moines Register reported that the lawsuit, filed by attorneys Thomas W. George, John P. Roehrick and Carlton Salmons, asks for a temporary judicial order that would prohibit the judges from leaving the court when their terms expire at the end of December.

Members of a rock band that performed on a Los Angeles freeway and blocked traffic for hours have pleaded not guilty to various charges.
Christopher Wright, David Hale and Keith Yackey entered pleas Wednesday to conspiracy, creating a public nuisance and other crimes. They face up to three years in prison if convicted.

The judge doubled their bail to $20,000 each. Prosecutors say the members of the Orange County band Imperial Stars climbed atop a truck that deliberately stopped on U.S. 101 near Sunset Boulevard in October. The trio performed a song called "Traffic Jam 101."

Outside court, band members told City News Service that the stunt raised awareness for their charitable goal of helping homeless children.

Montana's former tourism director who was fired last summer has filed a lawsuit in federal court contending her civil rights were violated.

Betsy Baumgart filed the suit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Missoula, arguing the state's Commerce Department violated her First Amendment rights by firing her for political reasons.

She is seeking monetary damages for wrongful discharge, emotional distress, and humiliation. She is also seeking punitive damages and attorney fees.

The Great Falls Tribune reports that Baumgart in the lawsuit contends her affiliation with the Republican Party was a factor in her firing.

A department spokeswoman declined to comment.

A hearings examiner last month upheld the Commerce Department's firing of Baumgart, ruling the agency had just cause.

An unusual court hearing on the constitutionality of the death penalty in Texas was put on hold Tuesday after the state's highest criminal court granted a request by prosecutors to stop it.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered that the hearing be temporarily halted so prosecutors and defense attorneys can file motions on whether the legal proceeding should be allowed to continue.

The hearing, which began Monday and was set to last up to two weeks, had been ordered by a state district judge in Houston.

District Judge Kevin Fine last spring initially declared the Texas death penalty statute unconstitutional after granting a motion in a capital murder case he is presiding over. Under heavy criticism, Fine clarified then rescinded his ruling and ordered the hearing, saying he needed to hear evidence on the issue.

Fine is a judge in Harris County, which has sent more inmates to the lethal-injection gurney than any other county in the nation.

Lawyers for the Houston man who had asked for the hearing had already presented two days of testimony on whether problems with such things as eyewitness identification and evidence offered by informants have created flaws in death penalty prosecutions in Texas and resulted in a risk that innocent people will be executed. They said their client, John Edward Green Jr., is innocent and the case against him uses some of the same faulty evidentiary procedures that have resulted in others being wrongly convicted. Green, who is awaiting trial, faces a possible death sentence if convicted of fatally shooting a Houston woman during a June 2008 robbery.

The Kansas Supreme Court has rejected a legal challenge involving a site for a proposed state-owned casino south of Wichita.

Iowa-based developer Peninsula Gaming said Wednesday the Kansas court's ruling resolves legal questions surrounding the company's proposed casino site in Mulvane.

The Supreme Court refused Tuesday to hear a lawsuit by the Sumner County Commission against the city of Mulvane over its annexation of the land. The decision leaves in place a Kansas Court of Appeals ruling upholding the annexation.

City officials in Mulvane have endorsed Peninsula's plan, and the annexation was necessary for the project to move forward. The county commission is backing a rival proposal from Ada, Okla.-based Global Gaming Solutions for a casino near Wellington.

The county commission said it still sees the Global site as superior.

The Supreme Court has turned away an appeal from a federal death row prisoner who wants the courts to consider evidence that one federal judge said "is virtually guaranteed" to show the inmate is mentally retarded and thus barred from being executed.

The court did not comment Monday in rejecting an appeal from Bruce Carneil Webster. He was sentenced to death more than 14 years ago and has since tried in vain to persuade federal judges that he is mentally retarded.

Evidence recently provided by the Social Security Administration shows three federal doctors determined Webster was mentally retarded when he applied for disability benefits in 1993, a year before 16-year-old Lisa Rene was kidnapped and killed.

Rene was raped, beaten and buried alive after her abduction was recorded in a desperate 911 call.