STAFF WRITER

WATERBURY, Conn. — A Superior Court judge has ordered a Southbury couple to pay nearly $600,000 in damages and restoration costs after ruling they unlawfully cut down or topped nearly 140 trees on town-owned land near their lakefront home. Judge Joseph Pellegrino issued the $598,476 judgment on Monday

SPOKANE, Wash. — The Washington State Supreme Court has invalidated a Spokane ballot initiative that aimed to ban encampments near schools, parks, and childcare centers. The decision, issued Thursday, found the measure unlawful under state guidelines governing citizen-led initiatives. Known as Proposition 1 or the Hansen Initiative, the measure passed

ATLANTA — A case before the Georgia Supreme Court could determine whether adults under 21 have the right to carry handguns in public. The justices heard arguments Tuesday from both state attorneys and lawyers for Thomas Stephens, a 20-year-old who sued after being denied a carry license in Lumpkin

BOSTON — A federal judge has dismissed a criminal contempt ruling against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who arrested a defendant during his trial in a Boston courtroom. The ruling ends a high-profile dispute involving state and federal authorities. U.S. District Judge William G. Young issued the

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska’s top legal office is asking a state appeals court to reconsider its dismissal of a theft by deception case against Trevor Jones, the former head of the Nebraska State Historical Society. Jones, 52, is accused of misdirecting $270,000 in private donations intended to help the

BOSTON — Lawyers for the state of New Hampshire asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to reinstate a 2021 law that bans public school teachers and state employees from endorsing certain ideas about race and gender. The law, part of the 2021 budget bill and often referred to by critics as