A southwestern Illinois man accused of using a printer to turn bleached $5 bills into $100 bills has been ordered to spend two years and three months in federal prison.

A U.S. District Court judge in East St. Louis also fined 25-year-old Raphael Solomon of Chester $1,000 and ordered him to pay $1,500 in restitution.

Solomon pleaded guilty in November to one count of manufacturing counterfeit currency.

Authorities say Solomon bought a printer in December 2009 and used it to make the bogus $100 bills he then passed in various Randolph County-area stores.

A community college student who says he's never done anything that should attract the interest of federal law enforcement officials filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the FBI for secretly putting a GPS tracking device on his car.

Yasir Afifi, 20, says a mechanic doing an oil change on his car in October discovered the device stuck with magnets between his right rear wheel and exhaust. They weren't sure what it was, but Afifi had the mechanic remove it and a friend posted photos of it online to see whether anyone could identify it. Two days later, Afifi says, agents wearing bullet-proof vests pulled him over as he drove away from his apartment in San Jose, Calif., and demanded their property back.

Afifi's lawsuit, filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, claims the FBI violated his civil rights by putting the device on his car without a warrant. His lawyers say Afifi, who was born in the United States, was targeted because of his extensive ties to the Middle East — he travels there frequently, helps support two brothers who live in Egypt, and his father was a well-known Islamic-American community leader who died last year in Egypt.

FBI Spokesman Michael Kortan declined to discuss the lawsuit or the agency's investigation into Afifi, but said, "The FBI conducts investigations under well-established Department of Justice and FBI guidelines that determine what investigative steps or techniques are appropriate. Those guidelines also ensure the protection of civil and constitutional rights."

The Supreme Court said Tuesday that a court for veterans shouldn't rigidly enforce deadlines on military vets who suffer from mental illnesses.

The high court ruled that Doretha H. Henderson, wife of the late David Henderson, can continue his appeal after he was denied benefits.

Henderson's husband was discharged from the armed forces in 1952 after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He asked the Veterans Affairs Department for home care in 2001 and was denied. He missed a 120-day deadline for appeal to a veterans court by 15 days, blaming it on his illness.

The veterans court and a federal appeals court agreed that his case was over because Henderson missed the deadline.

Henderson died last Oct. 24, and his wife has taken up his case, arguing that Congress meant the benefits system to be helpful to veterans and their benefits claims.

Michigan's court system is studying whether to implement certification standards for translators, an effort to address criticisms that help for those who aren't fluent in English is uneven and sometimes violates suspects' constitutional rights.

A report from the State Bar of Michigan issued in June 2010 concluded translation services are underfunded and "inconsistently applied across courts, in many cases in violation of constitutional and federal requirements."

Court administrators are now considering whether to develop policies, training levels and continuing education requirements, are studying how much money courts spend for interpreters, and are looking for resources to find interpreters and ways to make changes in tough budget times.

Ionia-Montcalm counties Circuit Judge Suzanne Hoseth Kreeger is heading a state courts committee working on the issue.

The court refused to hear on Tuesday an appeal from two newspaper companies, the American Civil Liberties Union and a Nye County brothel called the Shady Lady Ranch.

Laws went into effect in Nevada in 1979 that prohibited brothel advertising in counties where prostitution is illegal. Prostitution is illegal in five counties, which include Las Vegas and Reno, and 10 Nevada counties authorize prostitution by local ordinance.

A federal judge said the laws were overly broad and unconstitutional, but the judgment was overturned by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court upheld that ruling.

A measure that would bar Iowa county officials from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples faces a bleak future as it sits in a House committee.

Top Republicans on Thursday said they have no plans to debate the issue, viewing it a nod to the party's social conservative wing. Top Democrats argue the measure is unconstitutional and violates a 2009 Iowa Supreme Court decision striking down a state law defining marriage as being between one man and one woman.

Backers say introducing the measure is one more opportunity to voice their displeasure with how the marriage issue has been handled.

Republican Rep. Betty De Boef (dee-BUFF') says the issue has been handled badly and that some lawmakers want to take every opportunity to make that point.