The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a decision to levy corporate income taxes against fried chicken giant KFC.

At question is whether the state can impose income tax on revenue received by a company that doesn't have a presence in Iowa. KFC doesn't own any restaurants or have employees in Iowa. All KFC's in the state are owned by independent franchisers.

The Iowa Department of Revenue and Finance assessed KFC more than $248,000 for unpaid corporate income taxes in 2001.

Mark Schuling, the agency's director, says any corporation that collects revenue in Iowa should pay taxes.

KFC Corp., whose parent company is Louisville, Ky.-based Yum Brands Inc., challenged the assessment saying under Iowa law it was not subject to taxes because it didn't have property in the state.

A divided Michigan Supreme Court has issued an opinion that would continue to prevent an energy company from discharging treated wastewater into the headwaters of the Au Sable River in Otsego County.

The 4-3 decision would deny the water discharge plan for Merit Energy Co. because the court's majority ruled it is "manifestly unreasonable."

The company already had abandoned the discharge plan and considered the case moot. A previous Supreme Court ruling would have prevented the discharge.

The new ruling, however, could set precedents for future environmental cases in which the state has issued permits.

Conservative justices who currently form the court's minority blast the more liberal majority for using a moot case to "reach desired policy results."

The court is expected to return to conservative control in 2011.

Ohio has unveiled new disclosure requirements in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year that eased restrictions on campaign spending.

Corporations, nonprofits and labor groups will have to show the amounts they spend on independent ads for or against candidates, under rules announced Wednesday by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner (BROO'-nur).

The state's outgoing elections chief says the ad sponsors also will have to provide voters with a website address in their ads.

The rules include a ban on independent ad spending by businesses that have been awarded state or federal money through Ohio during the previous year.

The rules approved by a Legislative panel give the secretary of state's office the power to pursue violators.

Slices, hooks, and other errant shots are a common hazard on the links and a golfer can’t expect to get a warning shout of “Fore!” every time a ball comes his way, New York’s top court ruled last week in dismissing a personal injury lawsuit.

Dr. Anoop Kapoor and Dr. Azad Anand were playing on a nine-hole Long Island course in October 2002 when Anand was hit in the head while looking for his ball on a fairway, blinding him in one eye. The seven judges on the state Court of Appeals, siding with lower courts, said Kapoor’s failure to yell in advance of his errant shot from the rough didn’t amount to intentional or reckless conduct.

The court cited a judge’s finding that Anand wasn’t in the foreseeable zone of danger and, as a golfer, consented to the inherent risks of the sport.

A pilot who posted videos on YouTube that were critical of security at San Francisco International Airport is now the subject of an investigation, the pilot's attorney says.

The pilot placed several videos on YouTube in late November or early December that showed how ground crew members can enter secure areas by swiping security cards and without undergoing further screening.

The Transportation Security Administration is looking into whether the pilot revealed sensitive information, his attorney, Don Werno of the Santa Ana-based law firm Werno and Associates, said Friday.

The TSA wouldn't answer questions but said in a statement it is responding to the situation and is confident in the security at San Francisco International Airport.

"As to access control at SFO, TSA is confident in the tools the airport has implemented and reminds passengers there are security measures in place that are both seen and unseen."

The pilot remains employed with a major airline, but he has withdrawn from a program that trains flight crew to help prevent hijackings after authorities confiscated his federally issued firearm, Werno said. He declined to release the pilot's name, citing concerns about the man's job.

In the footage, the pilot says that pilots undergo intense screening, but then have access to ax-like weapons that are stored in the cockpit in case of emergencies.

A federal judge in Ohio has ordered a woman to start serving a 25-year prison sentence interrupted after she fled the country following her corporate fraud conviction.

A jury convicted 62-year-old Rebecca Parrett in 2008 for her role in a $1.9 billion health care financing fraud at National Century Financial Enterprises. She was arrested in Mexico in October.

U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley told Parrett she broke her word by fleeing and cost the government thousands of hours of investigative time.

Parrett told Marbley she went to Mexico intending to die there but changed her mind after seeing a doctor who helped her recover from several illnesses.

She says she may have made bad decisions but is innocent of the corporate fraud charges.