• Juvenile Incarceration Rates Dropping in New Jersey as Result of Reforms
• Source: Philadelphia Inquirer   |   New Jersey   |   October 25, 2012
• The number of juveniles jailed across New Jersey in the last eight years declined 60 percent, saving the state millions of dollars, according to a report released Wednesday by a nonprofit children's public policy and advocacy group.

• Parental Rights Law Divides New Jersey Supreme Court
• Source: AP/Philadelphia Inquirer   |   New Jersey   |   October 25, 2012
• A sharply split New Jersey Supreme Court upheld a parental rights law that a couple claimed discriminates against infertile women.

• New Jersey's Residency Rule for Candidates at Issue Again
• BY: McClatchy News   |   New Jersey   |   October 24, 2012
• A decade after a federal court judge ordered New Jersey to stop enforcing a controversial residency requirement for state legislative candidates, Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa is fighting to reinstitute it.

• Judge Blocks Planned Parenthood Funding Law in Arizona
• Source: AP/Arizona Republic   |   Arizona   |   October 22, 2012
• Arizona already bars public funding for most abortions, but the new law would go beyond that by barring public funding for general health care services provided by abortion clinics and doctors.

• Texas Schools Take Their Case to Court -- Again
• Source: AP/Houston Chronicle   |   Texas   |   October 22, 2012
• A closely watched fight over how Texas funds its public schools heads to court, where rich schools, poor schools and charter schools will try to convince a judge to declare the system unconstitutional.

• Federal Court Refuses to Reconsider Alabama Immigration Ruling
• BY: McClatchy News   |   Alabama   |   October 18, 2012
• The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a request from Alabama to revisit its decision in U.S. v. Alabama, which invalidated several areas of the state's immigration law

• Pennsylvania Legislature Sends Bill Reducing Juvenile Sentences to Governor
• BY: Stateline   |   Pennsylvania   |   October 18, 2012
• The Pennsylvania Legislature has sent a bill to the governor that would dramatically reduce sentences for juveniles convicted of murder, seeking to bring the state in line with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.

• Marcellus Shale Drilling Law's Fate in Hands of Pennsylvania Supreme Court
• Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette   |   Pennsylvania   |   October 18, 2012
• State attorneys were contesting the Commonwealth Court's July decision to overturn a portion of the law that limited what local zoning rules can and cannot address regarding drilling activity.

• U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Block Ohio Early Voting Ruling
• Source: Toledo Blade   |   Ohio   |   October 17, 2012
• The U.S. Supreme Court handed President Obama another victory in the critical battleground state of Ohio by refusing to block a lower federal court ruling requiring the state to keep its doors open during the last three days before the Nov. 6 election for in-person early voting.

• Louisiana Supreme Court to Get 1st Black Chief Justice
• Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune   |   Louisiana   |   October 17, 2012
• Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Bernette Johnson is legally entitled to be the court's next leader and the state's first black chief justice.

• Some Texas Inmates Forego Health Care to Avoid Higher Fees
• BY: The Texas Tribune   |   Texas   |   October 16, 2012
• When lawmakers decided to charge inmates $100 a year for medical treatments, they expected it to help plug holes in the prison budget. But critics of the new policy say the result is less health care for sick inmates.

• Court: Seattle Can't Curb Yellow Pages
• Source: Seattle Times   |   Seattle   |   October 16, 2012
• The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Seattle can't limit distribution of yellow-pages phone books with an opt-out registry or charge a fee to publishers.
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• Oakland Sues Feds over Medical Marijuana Dispensary
• Source: San Francisco Chronicle   |   Oakland, Calif.   |   October 11, 2012
• The city of Oakland took the unusual step of filing a suit in an attempt to stop the federal government from seizing and closing down one of the largest medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.

• Are Voter ID Critics Winning the Battle But Losing the War?
• BY: Stateline   |   Nation   |   October 10, 2012
• Voter ID opponents have won high-profile court battles, but may be losing ground on the longer-term legal fight against the laws.
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• Ohio to Appeal Early Voting Ruling to U.S. Supreme Court
• Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer   |   Ohio   |   October 10, 2012
• Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted said the ruling, which lets each of Ohio's 88 counties set their in-person early voting hours for the three days before the presidential election, is an "unprecedented intrusion" into the state's ability to run its own election.