National Roundup

New York
Top court says lap dance isn’t art, is taxable

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A sharply divided court in New York says lap dances don’t promote culture in a community the way ballet or other artistic endeavors do so shouldn’t get a tax break.
The court split 4-3, with the dissenting judges concluding there’s no distinction in state law between “highbrow dance and lowbrow dance,” so the case raises “significant constitutional problems.”
The lawsuit was filed by Nite Moves, an adult “juice bar” in suburban Albany that was arguing its fees for admission and private dances are exempt from sales taxes.
The court majority says taxes apply to many entertainment venues, such as amusement parks and sporting events. It ruled the club has failed to prove it qualifies for the exemption for “dramatic or musical arts performances” meant to promote culture.

Pennsylvania
Boy who killed dad’s pregnant fiancee to court

NEW CASTLE, Pa. (AP) — A 15-year-old Pennsylvania boy who killed his father’s pregnant fiancee and her unborn child when he was just 11 is scheduled for his first juvenile court review next month.
Jordan Brown, of Wampum, was found delinquent, the juvenile court equivalent of a guilty verdict, in the February 2009 deaths of 26-year-old Kenzie Houk and her unborn son.
Houk was shot in the back of the head with Brown’s .20-gauge youth model shotgun in bed. At the time, she was engaged to Jordan Brown’s father, Christopher Brown, and 8-1/2 months pregnant with his son.
Brown’s attorneys fought efforts to try the boy as an adult, which could have resulted in a life sentence.
Instead, he’ll remain under court supervision until he’s 21 and his status will be reviewed every six months. Nov. 2 is the first time that will happen.

New Mexico
Ex-Navajo Nation officer sentenced in abuse case

FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) — A former detention officer with the Navajo Nation’s Shiprock Detention Center was sentenced to one year in federal prison for his conviction for sexually assaulting an inmate.
The Farmington Daily Times reports that 45-year-old Sylvester Bruce was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.
Bruce had pleaded guilty in July to sexually assaulting the female inmate in the summer and fall of 2010.
Federal authorities say Bruce fondled the inmate in areas of the jail that didn’t have surveillance cameras, took pictures of two female inmates while they slept and lied to FBI investigators about the photographs.
As part his plea agreement, Bruce will be required to register as a sex offender.

Oregon
State High Court to hear death reprieve case

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Supreme Court will decide whether a death row inmate can refuse the governor’s reprieve.
Gary Haugen says he wants to die and has stopped appealing his aggravated murder conviction.
Gov. John Kitzhaber has vowed there will be no executions while he is governor. He issued the reprieve in November of last year. A Marion County Circuit Court judge ruled in August that Haugen has the right to refuse the reprieve. The governor’s appeal went straight to the state supreme court.
The Statesman Journal reports the court will hear the case on March 14 during its visit to the University of Oregon law school in Eugene.

Ohio
Former professor pleads to sex charges in OH

ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio (AP) — A former college professor who authorities say fled the country after being indicted on child sex charges has entered pleas in an Ohio court.
WTOV-TV reports that 63-year-old Richard Rushton entered what’s known as Alford pleas — akin to no-contest pleas — to two counts of sexual battery Monday. Rushton is former chairman of the education department at Bethany College, northeast of Wheeling, W. Va.
Authorities say he fled the country and lived in Italy after the grand jury indictment in 2010. He was arraigned in November 2011 after leaving the country, and was returned recently with the help of the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Rushton could face up to 16 years in prison when he’s sentenced Nov. 19.

Pennsylvania
Fed jury hearing  bar owner’s sober stop suit

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A federal court jury in Erie is hearing a northwestern Pennsylvania bar owner’s lawsuit claiming a state trooper had no reason to stop her for suspected drunken driving three years ago.
Dianne Thompson, of Bradford, says Trooper Matthew Petrof ticketed her in October 2009 for littering and sitting too long at a yellow light after first making her submit to a blood-alcohol test without justification.
Thompson claims Petrof was retaliating for newspaper columns her brothers had written criticizing police, but U.S. District Judge Sean McLaughlin in Erie has ruled Thompson can’t claim retaliation for things her brothers wrote.
But the judge says the jury can decide whether Petrof violated Thompson’s rights by allegedly stopping her without probable cause and forcing her to take a blood test which revealed no alcohol in her system.

Minnesota
Appeals court allows home wind turbine

ORONO, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Court of Appeals says the city of Orono erred when it denied a permit to a resident for his home-built wind turbine.
City officials told Jay Nygard the turbine on his property near Lake Minnetonka was not allowed under Orono’s residential zoning ordinance. Nygard built it anyway. The vertical-axis machine is about 20 feet high and is mounted about eight feet off the ground. The mechanical engineer says the machine is quiet and efficient, but his neighbors complained about the aesthetics.
A district court ordered Nygard to disassemble the machine. The appeals court ruling Monday noted the city allowed other structures that are not included in its zoning ordinance, including basketball hoops and flagpoles. The Star Tribune says the city has 20 days to decide whether to appeal.