COURT RULING ON ILL. GUN BAN SETS STAGE FOR FIGHT: CHICAGO (AP) — Backers of Illinois' ban on concealed weapons vowed Wednesday to fight for continued controls on gun possession, a day after a federal appeals court struck down the nation's last such prohibition as unconstitutional and ordered the state to craft a law allowing it.
Chicago aldermen joined gun control advocates in urging state Attorney General Lisa Madigan to appeal the ruling from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Gov. Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said they would work with legislators to come up with a new law that would be sure to protect the public.
Quinn also said he will push for a ban on military-style assault weapons.
The ban's defenders said they expect a battle in the Legislature over the next six months as the state seeks to comply with the court order to craft a new law within 180 days. They noted that a number of states that allow concealed carry — such as Wisconsin, which approved it last year — still restrict where citizens can carry weapons.
COURT ISSUES $10.5M JUDGMENT IN TELEMARKETER CASE: PHOENIX (AP) — A Maricopa County Superior Court commissioner has returned a $10.5 million consumer fraud judgment against a group of Arizona telemarketing companies.
The judgment includes more than $8.1 million in restitution to defrauded consumers and $2.3 million in civil penalties to the state along with attorney's fees.
The case involved Christopher Lewallen and four of the companies he had started — Solid Ad Solutions LLC, Solid Tech Solutions LLC, Freedom Billing LLC and EWeb Financial LLC. The companies were accused of fraudulently telemarketing work-at-home businesses opportunities to consumers nationwide.
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne announced the judgment Wednesday. He says the telemarketers preyed on people facing financial problems by cynically offering a program that promised to help earn extra income
LA SUPERVISORS WANT PRISON REALIGNMENT LAW CHANGED: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County leaders want changes to California's realignment law so violent criminals released from state prison are monitored by armed parole officers.
The Pasadena Star-News (http://bit.ly/T8SsHf) says the Board of Supervisors was reacting Tuesday to the quadruple killings outside a San Fernando Valley boarding house earlier this month.
The board directed county staff to report next month on the wording of proposed changes to the realignment law, AB 109.
The realignment was Gov. Jerry Brown's way of fulfilling a Supreme Court order to ease state prison overcrowding.
The law calls for releasing 30,000 inmates by June 2013 and it mandates that inmates released since October 2011 can be placed on probation if their last offense wasn't serious, violent or sexual in nature.
CRABBER FINED FOR FISHING IN STATE MARINE RESERVE: MONTARA (AP) — A commercial fisherman will pay $12,500 in penalties for catching Dungeness crab in a state marine reserve off the San Mateo County coast.
Mark Russo was found by state game wardens with five crab pots inside the 12 square-mile Montara State Marine Reserve.
San Mateo County prosecutors charged Russo with violating the California Marine Life Protection Act for taking 58 of the crustaceans from the protected waters.
Russo, who owns the vessel Freeland, will pay the penalties and reimburse the costs to law enforcement as part of the judgment.
ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE DEVELOPER MCAFEE ARRIVES IN US: MIAMI (AP) — Anti-virus software founder John McAfee arrived in the U.S. on Wednesday night after being deported from Guatemala, where he had sought to evade police questioning in the killing of a man in neighboring Belize.
The American Airlines commercial jet carrying McAfee landed in Miami shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday, said Miami International Airport spokesman Greg Chin.
