Attorney General Rob McKenna and Secretary of State Sam Reed say they will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an appellate court's decision that would give Washington state felons in prison and on community supervision the right to vote.

McKenna and Reed announced their decision Wednesday. The appeal has to be filed with the court by April, and the state will seek a stay on felony inmates' ability to vote until the case is resolved.

Tuesday's 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the 2000 ruling of a district judge in Spokane. The appeals court says Washington state's felon disenfranchisement law violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Rejecting Zacarias Moussaoui’s arguments, federal appeals court Monday upheld Moussaoui’s conviction and prison term.

A defunct South Florida law firm run by an attorney now charged with operating a huge Ponzi scheme gave more than $6 million in the past year to charities and nonprofit groups.

A federal bankruptcy court filing details contributions by the firm Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler to more than 100 organizations. Former firm CEO Scott Rothstein has pleaded not guilty to racketeering and other charges stemming from what prosecutors say was a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme involving legal settlement investments.

The biggest amount was more than $2.5 million to Rothstein's own Rothstein Family Foundation. Big donations also went to Boys and Girls Clubs, arts groups, Jewish organizations and several groups affiliated with professional athletes.

Georgia’s new “super speeder law,” which went into effect Jan. 1, applies to motorists convicted of driving 85 miles per hour or faster on a multi-lane road or interstate, or 75 miles per hour or faster on a two-lane road.

Gov. Sonny Perdue has said fines collected under the new law could generate $23 million annually for the state’s coffers, and other estimates run as high as $30 million. But at least one Middle Georgia sheriff claims it’s going to create a hardship for the poor.

Emanuel County Sheriff J. Tyson Stephens, a past president of the Georgia Sheriffs' Association, says the new law amounts to yet another tax on citizens, one that will disproportionately deplete the pockets of the poor and lower middle-class.

“Let’s say you have a single mother who’s trying to get about and get her kids to day care and school and herself to work, and she slips up and has a ticket,” explains Stephens. “She pays that fine with her local jurisdiction, and then it goes to Driver Services, and they send her a notice sometime later she’s being assessed $200 on [her] super speeder violation, and we are talking about someone who could barely pay the first fine.

“So now she has to decide, does she pay the $200 to the state or does she feed her children that week? Obviously, she’s going to have to choose the rent and food over the super speeder law. Next thing you know, her insurance is canceled. It’s a domino effect, and I don’t see the need for it.”

Stephens’ assessment of how the law works is correct. After a conviction is processed through the appropriate court, word is sent to the Georgia Department of Driver Services. The offender is then notified she has to pay $200—the super speeder fine, in addition to her original fine—within 90 days, or her license is suspended. If the license is suspended, the offender must fork over $250 to get it back.    

Oregon on Friday became the 12th state to ban the disposal of certain electronics into landfills.

The second phase of the state's electronics recycling law makes it illegal to trash televisions, computers and monitors and could lead to a $500 fine.

Oregon's e-cycle law was passed in 2007 to slow electronics waste and the toxins released as they break down.

The first phase was launched a year ago and required electronics manufacturers to pay for a permanent statewide program with free, convenient recycling.

In the first eight months, Oregon collected more than 14.3 million pounds of TVs, computers and monitors.

The parents who pulled the balloon boy hoax in hopes of landing a reality TV show were sentenced to jail Wednesday — 90 days for him, 20 days for her — and barred from profiting from their newfound celebrity status for the next four years.

Choking back tears, Richard Heene apologized in court for the frenzy he caused when he claimed his 6-year-old son Falcon had floated away in a giant helium balloon shaped like a flying saucer.

"I'm very, very sorry. And I want to apologize to all the rescue workers out there, and the people that got involved in the community," said the 48-year-old Heene, a UFO-obsessed backyard scientist who turned to storm-chasing and reality TV after his Hollywood acting career bombed.

The sentencing was the culmination of a saga that transfixed the nation in October with the sight of the silvery balloon hurtling through the sky on live television. In the end, it was all a publicity stunt by a family broke and desperate for attention and money after networks kept rejecting their reality TV show pitches.