The state-to-state march to legalize gay marriage across the left-leaning Northeast has lost more momentum since a major setback three weeks ago at the ballot box in Maine.

Since then, legislatures in New York and New Jersey have failed to schedule long-expected votes on bills to recognize the unions in those states.

"If they are unable to pass gay marriage in New York and New Jersey, combined with the loss in Maine, it will confirm that gay marriage is not the inevitable wave of the future," said Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, which mobilizes social conservatives to fight against same-sex unions.

Gay rights activists insist that's not the case and say hope is still alive.

"In any civil rights struggle there are going to be periods of creeping and periods of leaping," said Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry.

This decade has had some of both across the country. The most significant was the leap the issue made from abstraction to reality in 2003 when the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that gay couples had the right to get married.

New York's top court ruled Tuesday that the state can use eminent domain to force homeowners and businesses to sell their properties for a massive development in Brooklyn that includes a new arena for the New Jersey Nets.

In a 6-1 ruling Tuesday, the Court of Appeals said the Empire State Development Corp.'s finding that the area was blighted was enough to justify taking the land.

A group of tenants and owners claim the seizure is unconstitutional. They argue that developer Bruce Ratner's proposed $4.9 billion, 22-acre Atlantic Yards project mainly enriches private interests, while the state constitution requires public use for taking land.

"The constitution accords government broad power to take and clear substandard and insanitary areas for redevelopment," Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman wrote for the majority. "In so doing, it commensurately deprives the judiciary of grounds to interfere with the exercise."

Ratner's proposed development includes office towers, apartments and a new arena for the NBA's Nets. A key element in his plan is selling majority team ownership to Russian entrepreneur Mikhail Prokhorov.

The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled that the state improperly adopted its three-drug method of lethally injecting condemned inmates.

The court says in a ruling issued Wednesday that the state must go back and readopt the method because officials did not follow state administrative procedures. That includes holding public hearings.

The challenge was brought by three death row inmates.

Kentucky's lethal injection method was previously challenged by one of the inmates, Ralph Baze.

That case rose all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and led all the states who use a similar method to Kentucky to halt lethal injections until it was upheld.

Wednesday's ruling does not affect the validity of the three-drug method.

The state's largest teachers union is asking the Arizona Supreme Court to rule that recently enacted legislation affecting public school employees is unconstitutional.

A special-action lawsuit filed Monday by the Arizona Education Association challenges legislation dealing with such topics as teachers' seniority rights in layoffs and deadlines for school districts to decide whether to renew contracts.

The AEA contends the legislation approved last summer was illegal on several grounds. The union says it wasn't included as a topic for a special legislative session called on budget matters.

House Speaker Kirk Adams defends the legislation as valid. He says policy determinations are a long-standing part of budget-making.

New York's top court ruled Tuesday that the state can use eminent domain to force homeowners and businesses to sell their properties for a massive development in Brooklyn that includes a new arena for the New Jersey Nets.

In a 6-1 ruling Tuesday, the Court of Appeals said the Empire State Development Corp.'s finding that the area was blighted was enough to justify taking the land.

A group of tenants and owners claim the seizure is unconstitutional. They argue that developer Bruce Ratner's proposed $4.9 billion, 22-acre Atlantic Yards project mainly enriches private interests, while the state constitution requires public use for taking land.

"The constitution accords government broad power to take and clear substandard and insanitary areas for redevelopment," Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman wrote for the majority. "In so doing, it commensurately deprives the judiciary of grounds to interfere with the exercise."

Ratner's proposed development includes office towers, apartments and a new arena for the NBA's Nets. A key element in his plan is selling majority team ownership to Russian entrepreneur Mikhail Prokhorov.

General Motors Co. has sued a supplier over problems with steering columns that have so far cost the automaker more than $30 million to fix.

The Detroit automaker is seeking damages from JTEKT North America Inc. and subsidiary JTEKT Automotive Virginia Inc. for problems associated with steering products used in the Chevrolet Cobalt and other GM vehicles since 2005.

GM claims the steering columns "had excessive gear backlash, thereby causing the columns to rattle under certain driving conditions."

Problems with the parts resulted in an "unexpectedly high number" of warranty claims and complaints about "unusual rattles, 'clunks' or other noises emanating from the steering assemblies in their vehicles," GM alleges in the lawsuit, originally filed in Macomb County Circuit Court but moved last week to federal court in Detroit.

While the problem has already cost GM more than $30 million, the automaker said it expects the bill will rise as GM customers file additional warranty claims.

A riding lawn mower may have four wheels, a powerful engine and can cost as much as a used car. If it's stolen, however, the Georgia Supreme Court concluded Monday that it's not a motor vehicle.

The 4-3 decision overturned the conviction of Franklin Lloyd Harris, who was convicted of felony motor vehicle theft after he loaded a Toro riding mower in 2006 from a Home Depot in Dalton into his van and sped away. Because Harris was a repeat offender, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Public defender Michael McCarthy told the justices that while Harris should still be charged with theft, he shouldn't be punished as if he had stolen a car. A riding mower is many things, a modern mechanical marvel among them, but McCarthy said it's not a motor vehicle under state law.

Prosecutors countered that the state defines a "motor vehicle" as a "self-propelled" device, and there's no doubt a riding mower meets that standard.

The state's top court agreed, concluding in an 18-page decision that the sentence should be overturned because the purpose of a riding mower is to cut grass, not transport people.