DETROIT — A judge lifted a stay Wednesday night and cleared the way for nine members of a Michigan militia to be released from jail while awaiting trial on charges of conspiring to overthrow the government and weapons violations. The U.S. District judge rejected a request to keep them detained while prosecutors pursue an appeal of her order that releases the defendants with strict conditions, including electronic monitoring. She ruled about six hours after the government claimed the public could be at risk if she does not further suspend her Monday order and the militia members go home. They won’t actually be free until they’re returned to federal court to be processed, which could happen today.
Virginia: Oil leases wanted
Virginia’s governor said he remains committed to making his state the first on the East Coast to drill offshore for oil and gas, despite the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and wilting political support for new drilling. He said he wants answers from the industry on the Gulf spill before Atlantic waters are explored. But he said the government should move forward with a scheduled lease sale that would include areas off Virginia in 2012. He said being the first East Coast state to explore oil and gas will give Virginia a big economic boost.
D.C.: West Coast drilling
About 20 West Coast lawmakers are backing legislation that would permanently ban new offshore drilling in federal waters near Washington, Oregon and California. The lawmakers are citing the oil spill in the Gulf Coast as an example of why the legislation introduced Wednesday is necessary. The lawmakers, all Democrats, said the legislation written by Rep. John Garamendi of California would be extra insurance.
S. Carolina: Cigarette taxes
State legislators have approved raising what is now the nation’s lowest cigarette tax, but Gov. Mark Sanford promises he will veto it. The state Senate voted 41-1 on Wednesday to approve the 50-cent increase previously passed by the House. The current tax is 7 cents a pack. If the increase becomes law, Missouri would then have the nation’s lowest tax at 17 cents a pack. Sanford, a Republican, said he will only agree to a cigarette tax increase if the money is used to offset some other tax.
Connecticut: ACLU lawsuit
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to stop two high schools from holding their graduation ceremonies at a megachurch. The state ACLU chapter and Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed the lawsuit Wednesday. They allege that it’s an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion for the Enfield school district to allow the ceremonies at The First Cathedral church in Bloomfield. Enfield’s school board voted last month to continue holding graduations at the church.
New Jersey: Death by croc
A State Department spokesman has confirmed that a 25-year-old New Jersey woman was killed by a crocodile while snorkeling in India’s Andaman Islands last month. Lauren Failla of Morristown was vacationing at a resort with her boyfriend when she went missing April 28. Her body was found two days later. The spokesman confirmed the death to the Daily Record of Parsippany. He said Indian authorities continue to investigate. Failla’s death comes four years after her older sister Emily was killed in a rock-climbing accident in Washington.
Maine: Topless coffee arson
A man suspected of burning down a coffee shop that featured topless waitresses has been arrested in South Carolina. Prosecutors said Raymond Bellavance Jr. was arrested Wednesday in a rural part of Spartanburg County. Bellavance is from Augusta, Maine, just south of the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop in Vassalboro. He’s a former boyfriend of a waitress at the shop. He’s accused of burning down the shop last June. Coffee shop owner Donald Crabtree has reopened his coffee shop in a trailer.
Vietnam: Tusks are seized
Authorities in the northern port city of Haiphong have found nearly two tons of elephant tusks illegally imported from Kenya. A customs official said the tusks were found on Tuesday hidden in dried seaweed in a container that arrived at the port on April 28. The official said Thursday the shipment was bound for neighboring China. Haiphong authorities confiscated nearly 7 tons of elephant tusks last March smuggled from Tanzania — Vietnam’s biggest-ever seizure of tusks. Tusks are used for ivory jewelry and home decorations.
From Herald news services
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