Courts handed victories to gay-marriage opponents in two states Friday, reinstating Nebraska's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage and throwing out an attempt to keep a proposed ban off the ballot in Tennessee.
Worried about the health effects of secondhand smoke and sick of cleaning up discarded cigarettes, San Diego has banned smoking at its beaches and parks. The city joins nearly 2,300 other municipalities across the nation that have barred smoking in a variety of public places.
Government workers in Kentucky, one of the nation's top tobacco producers, will not be permitted to smoke in state buildings after Aug. 1 under an executive order signed Tuesday by the governor.
A mayor who was feuding with The Flint Journal agreed to pay $150,000 to a newspaper carrier detained at City Hall while making deliveries, the American Civil Liberties Union said.
The Miami-Dade County school district must keep a series of banned children's books until arguments in a legal challenge can be heard next month, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
A federal judge refused Friday to block a statewide smoking ban from taking effect July 1 despite pleas from bar owners that it will irreparably hurt their businesses.
Colorado bar owners asked a federal judge Friday to block a statewide smoking ban from taking effect next week while they press their lawsuit seeking to overturn the measure.
The American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge to stop the Miami-Dade County school district from removing a series of children's books from its libraries, including a volume about Cuba which depicts smiling kids in communist uniforms.
City Council approved a bill that would ban smoking in most public places, including many bars and all restaurants, and allow Philadelphia to join the ranks of other smoke-free regions.
A children's book about Cuba must be removed from all Miami-Dade County school libraries, the school board ruled.
A California judge on Monday overturned a voter-approved city law that banned handgun possession and firearm sales, siding with gun owners who said the city did not have the authority to prohibit the weapons.
Parents who visit their children at lunch would be required to eat school food rather than bring the children fast-food lunches under a proposed wellness policy in the Palmyra Area School District.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has ordered a four-hour midday ban on all vehicle traffic in Baghdad and Baqouba, state TV reported Friday, in an apparent effort to prevent reprisal attacks by suicide car bombers following the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco was expected to sign a strict abortion ban into law after the Senate gave the measure final legislative approval Monday.
A divided Colorado Supreme Court on Monday upheld Denver's ban on assault weapons, despite arguments that state weapons laws should trump city ordinances.
A cardiologist has been banned from conducting research on humans after federal regulators cited him for violating scientific and safety rules during a nationwide study of heart patients.
The Louisiana House approved a ban on most abortions, a largely symbolic bill that could go into effect only if the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1973 decision is overturned.
Smokers were required to light up outside across much of eastern Canada Wednesday, as one of North America's most restrictive bans went into effect.
Six sex offenders sued the city Wednesday to block a new ordinance that bars them from venturing within 1,000 feet of parks, pools and playgrounds when children are present.
Georgia's highest court said Tuesday it would expedite its review of a ruling that struck down the state's voter-approved ban on gay marriage.
American Indian high school students will be allowed to wear eagle feathers attached to their caps at graduation, Mesa Public Schools said Wednesday, reversing an earlier decision.
Some American Indian high school students are protesting a rule that will keep them from wearing eagle feathers attached to their caps at graduation.
People caught chatting on hand-held cell phones while driving in Detroit could face a $100 fine starting Wednesday.
A ban on cell phones in the nation's biggest school system is creating an uproar among parents and students alike, with teenagers smuggling their phones inside their lunches and under their clothes, and grown-ups insisting they need to stay in touch with their children in case of another crisis like Sept. 11.
The Legislature gave final approval to a bill Wednesday to legalize the tattoo industry in Oklahoma, the only state that prohibits the trade.