The parents of a southern Minnesota teenager who once fled the state to avoid chemotherapy went before a judge Monday and asked for the court's role in the case to end, saying they are following the advice of doctors and making sure their son gets the best medical care.

Daniel Hauser, 13, is undergoing radiation treatments for childhood Hodgkin's lymphoma. He finished chemotherapy in early September, and his father said there is no sign of cancer.

"In all reality, he's been in remission for quite some time already," Anthony Hauser said in a telephone interview Monday. "I hope he stays in remission — that's No. 1. And hopefully we can live our lives normally again."

During a hearing in Brown County District Court, Judge John Rodenberg said that as long as no new issues arise, he would close the case after Daniel completes his 12 recommended sessions of radiation — which are expected to end Nov. 6, according to Joseph Rymanowski, an attorney for the parents.

Nobody can say this America's Cup is boring.

What used to be an insulated sport for fabulously wealthy men named Lipton and Vanderbilt has morphed into something out of a James Bond movie or a Tom Clancy novel, all wrapped up in two of the fastest, most-extreme boats ever to cut through — or in this case, literally fly above — the sea spray.

When two-time defending champion Alinghi of landlocked Switzerland picked little-known Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, to host its nautical grudge match beginning Feb. 8 against an American crew led by Silicon Valley maverick Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp., it did more than make people click on Google Maps.

The stodgy sport suddenly sailed into a maelstrom involving: bickering billionaires Ellison and biotech mogul Ernesto Bertarelli of Alinghi, who once were pals but are now bitter rivals; Ras al-Khaimah's proximity and suspected ties to Iran; a concerned congressman; and a lawyer who couldn't win for Al Gore but beat Microsoft.

Court filings that had argued arcane rules spanning the 158-year history of the America's Cup now raise fears of terrorists in speedboats attacking a 90-by-90-foot trimaran named USA as it sails some 80 miles off Iran's coastline.

Ohio is struggling to find medical professionals willing to advise the state on the best way to put condemned inmates to death.

Attorney General Richard Cordray says in a court filing that ethical and professional considerations are deterring doctors and others from offering advice about lethal injection.

Executions are on hold in Ohio while the state develops new injection policies following a Sept. 15 execution that was stopped because the inmate had no usable veins.

Cordray's concerns came in a filing in U.S. District Court Friday.

He says his office has reached out to judges, police and lawmakers for help trying to find medical professionals willing to talk to the state.

He also says five lawmakers he didn't identify have agreed to try to find medical staff to help.

Rural telecom services provider FairPoint Communications Inc filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Manhattan bankruptcy court on Monday, under a pre-arranged plan that would cut its debt by $1.7 billion.

In a statement, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said the restructuring plan had the support of lenders holding more than 50 percent of the outstanding debt under its secured credit facility.

FairPoint has also received commitments for a $75 million debtor-in-possession (DIP) loan to continue operations while in bankruptcy.

"The day-to-day operations of our business will not be impacted by today's actions," Chief Executive David Hauser said.

In its Chapter 11 filing, the company listed total assets of about $3.24 billion and debt of about $3.23 billion.

FairPoint added that its annual interest expenses would be reduced from more than $200 million to about $65 million.

With about 1.7 million access line equivalents, FairPoint is the seventh largest local telephone company in the United States.

to announce that it will open a San Francisco office and gain 29 lawyers from the litigation powerhouse of Folger Levin & Kahn LLP (FLK). The firms have agreed to join together in December, adding a team of highly regarded trial lawyers, including nine partners, to Crowell & Moring's Litigation Group. The move will provide enhanced trial capabilities in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where Crowell & Moring has long served clients in matters ranging from climate change litigation to antitrust and consumer class action matters.

"Many of our top clients are located in the Bay area, and our new lawyers provide them an instant bench of leading litigators and trial lawyers who have proven themselves on the toughest cases involving a wide range of federal and state court matters. Folger Levin & Kahn has been an icon in San Francisco for over 30 years, and now our clients will benefit from their demonstrated experience and longstanding presence in the community," said Crowell & Moring Chairman Kent A. Gardiner.

The years-long scandal of Hwang Woo-suk, a former Seoul National University professor charged with fraudulent stem cell research, reached the end of its first chapter yesterday as the court handed down a suspended sentence of two years.

"Though Hwang fabricated the DNA photographs in his 2004 paper and the stem cell charts in his 2005 paper, he cannot be seen as having thus defrauded his sponsors or the public," said the ruling judge of the Seoul Central Court yesterday. The scientist received 2 billion won ($1.7 million) in research funds from corporations by displaying his seemingly successful research papers.

"The money was voluntarily donated by the corporations, regardless of the contents of Hwang's papers," ruled the court.

The prosecution and the court, however, decided that the scientific authenticity of Hwang's papers was to be judged by scientific circles and not by the court.

The scientist was also declared guilty of embezzling part of the money for personal use and illegal egg cell-trading by using borrowed name accounts, said the court.

Court records show a former government scientist accused of attempted espionage last week pleaded guilty earlier this year to overbilling NASA and the Department of Defense more than $265,000 for contracting work.

The January plea by 52-year-old Stewart Nozette of Chevy Chase, Md., was detailed in court records unsealed Friday. The records state the documents were sealed because Nozette was cooperating in unrelated government corruption investigations.

Nozette was arrested last week and accused of selling sensitive government secrets to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence operative.

The unsealed court documents say Nozette pleaded guilty in January to overbilling the government between 2000 and 2006 and spending the money on personal bills and maintaining his swimming pool.