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FLORIDA
Defendant sentenced in abortion clinic bomb plot
FORT LAUDERDALE - A man who was accused of plotting to fire bomb abortion clinics, churches and gay bars was sentenced Thursday to five years in federal prison.
Stephen John Jordi, 36, pleaded guilty in February to a single charge of attempted arson of an abortion clinic.
Prosecutors had sought seven to 10 years. Judge James Cohn refused, saying federal sentencing rules require that plots have an international component to be considered terrorism.
Jordi and a government informant bought gasoline cans, flares, starter fluid and propane tanks the day he was arrested in November.
COLORADO
Accuser in Bryant case brings libel attorney onto legal team
DENVER - The law firm representing the woman Kobe Bryant is accused of raping has hired a libel attorney who also defended the parents of slain 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey.
In a written statement issued Thursday, the alleged victim's attorney, John Clune, said Lin Wood was hired because of 'growing concerns' regarding media coverage of the 20-year-old woman and because of potential civil litigation related to those and other unspecified concerns.
The statement said neither Clune nor Wood would have any further comment.
The media is seeking access to closed-door hearing details from the case that were accidentally e-mailed to some news outlets. The transcripts are from a hearing last month that dealt primarily with arguments about the accuser's sexual activity in the days surrounding her encounter with Bryant and money given her by a state victims' compensation program.
TEXAS
Fourth patient dies from rabies-infected transplants
DALLAS - A fourth patient died of rabies after receiving a transplant from an infected donor, health officials confirmed Thursday.
While the first three victims received organs from an Arkansas man who had the disease, the fourth victim received one of the man's arteries, officials at Baylor University Medical Center said.
The fourth death was not confirmed until Thursday because the hospital had no tracking system tracing the artery donation.
The donor had shown no symptoms of rabies before his death from a brain hemorrhage, the CDC said.
NEW MEXICO
Court tosses clerk's request for gay-marriage licenses
SANTA FE - The New Mexico Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a county clerk's request to issue more marriage licenses to gay couples.
The court, in a one-page order without comment, unanimously denied Victoria Dunlap's request.
Dunlap, a clerk in Sandoval County, issued more than 60 same-sex marriage licenses in February - soon after San Francisco began marrying hundreds of gay couples. California's Supreme Court halted the weddings in March.
Dunlap stopped issuing the licenses when New Mexico's Attorney General Patricia Madrid declared gay marriages were not legal under state law.
Dunlap contends New Mexico's marriage law is not gender-specific.
Dunlap's lawyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday. Dunlap also was unavailable for comment, according to a deputy county clerk.