A federal appeals court in New York City has thrown out a decision that barred Congress from withholding funds from the activist group ACORN.

The ruling Friday reverses a decision by a district court. That judge found Congress had violated ACORN's rights by punishing it without a trial.

ACORN describes itself as an advocate for low-income and minority home buyers and residents.

Critics say the group has engaged in voter registration fraud and embezzlement. They say it has violated the tax-exempt status of some of its affiliates by engaging in partisan political activities.

ACORN's full name is the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a company is entitled to the value of about 5,900 artifacts it salvaged during six expeditions to the Titanic.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith in Norfolk granted a salvage award to RMS Titanic Inc. late Thursday.

However, the judge postponed until next year a decision on whether to simply give the company title to the artifacts or sell them and turn the proceeds over to RMS, a subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions Inc. of Atlanta. The items are worth an estimated $110 million.

Until then, RMS can retain possession of the artifacts, which are being displayed in exhibitions around the world.

The Titanic sank in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland in April 1912, killing more than 1,500 of the 2,228 people onboard.

A man suspected in a three-state stabbing spree is due in court in Atlanta for an extradition hearing after he was arrested at the airport before flying out of the country.

Thirty-three-year-old Elias Abuelazam (eh-lee-AHS' ah-boo-ehl-ah-ZAHM') was scheduled to appear in a Fulton County court on Friday. He was arrested Wednesday before boarding a flight to his native Israel and charged with attempted murder in a July 27 knife strike in Flint, Mich., where all but four of the 18 attacks occurred.

Other attacks were in Leesburg, Va., and Toledo, Ohio.

Fulton County Superior Court spokesman Don Plummer said it would an extradition hearing. Abuelazam, an Israeli citizen who is in the U.S. with a green card, was living in Flint.

An appeals court has ordered a new trial for a New York man convicted of using a samurai sword to kill his stepfather while he slept on a living room couch.

Zachary Gibian was convicted in 2006 of nearly beheading retired police officer Scott Nager in his home in Hauppauge (HAWP'-awg), on Long Island. Gibian was 20 at the time. He's serving 25 years to life in prison.

The Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court ruled errors were made in his trial. It faulted the trial judge for not allowing testimony about statements supposedly made by Gibian's mother.

Gibian testified it was his mother who killed Nager after she discovered her husband sexually abusing her son. She denied the allegations.

A federal appeals court judge from Illinois testified Wednesday that he felt threatened by a New Jersey blogger's inflammatory Internet tirades over a ruling supporting gun control.

The rant against a three-judge panel in Chicago "was a threat of violence," Judge William Bauer told jurors at a retrial in Brooklyn. "It suggested that the country would be better off if we were killed."

The death threat case against Hal Turner stems from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in 2009 by Bauer and two other judges, Frank Easterbrook and Richard Posner, that upheld a district court decision dismissing lawsuits that challenged handgun bans in Chicago and Oak Park, Ill.

The same day, Turner blasted the decision with a lengthy post online. In one passage, he quoted Thomas Jefferson as saying, "The tree of liberty must be replenished from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots," court papers said.

An aide to New York Gov. David Paterson surrendered Thursday to New York City authorities on assault charges stemming from a 2009 domestic violence case that touched off an evidence-tampering investigation in Albany.

David Johnson turned himself in to investigators with the Bronx district attorney's office on misdemeanor assault charges and was awaiting arraignment.

Paterson's involvement in the case — he made a phone call to the accuser, who soon dropped her allegations — caused him serious political damage, even though investigators found no evidence of witness tampering.

Buffeted by other ethics questions about World Series tickets, the Democratic governor soon dropped plans to run for a full term this fall, while saying he intended to finish the year in office.

The confrontation occurred on Halloween, with Johnson and his then-girlfriend, Sherr-una Booker. Angry over how she was dressed, she said he choked her, threw her against a dresser and ripped her Halloween costume. The case was initially handled in Family Court and dropped without prejudice because Booker did not appear for a hearing.

A federal crackdown on illegal online sports bookmaking has netted another guilty plea in a Kansas City operation involving more than $3.5 million in bets.

The U.S. Attorney's office says 57-year-old Michael Lombardo pleaded guilty Wednesday to conducting an illegal gambling business.

Prosecutors said Lombardo admitted conducting the operation from March 2006 to March 2009. The Kansas City-based business relied on a website with a computer server located in Costa Rica.

Lombardo was responsible for bettors who wagered nearly $491,000 altogether.

Two co-defendants pleaded guilty earlier. The case against a fourth man is still pending.

Sentencing for Lombardo will be set later. Under his plea agreement, Lombardo agreed to forfeit $4,000, which prosecutors said was his share of the operation's proceeds.