Gerald Leader loves California wines but lives in Massachusetts, where state law sharply limits the ability of out-of-state wineries to ship their products directly to consumers.

"I can't go directly to wineries in Napa and Sonoma," said Leader, a retired Boston University professor, who, along with a group of like-minded people, are suing to have the restriction lifted.

On Monday, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston is scheduled to hear arguments on the law that for years has been fermenting opposition from out-of-state wine producers, as well as connoisseurs like Leader who would prefer to order their bottles through the Internet or mail order.

Despite a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that opened the door wider to interstate wine shipments, restrictions remain in more than a dozen states. Attorneys say the outcome of the case in Massachusetts could influence others.

"It's an example of a protectionist law that violates the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution," said Tracy Genesen, who will argue the case on behalf of Sacramento, Calif.-based Family Winemakers of California, which represents about 650 producers that claim they have essentially been frozen out of the Massachusetts market.

According to Free the Grapes, a coalition of wine producers, retailers and consumers, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Utah prohibit wineries from shipping directly to consumers while Arizona, Kentucky, Ohio along with Massachusetts restrict shipments by companies that produce over a certain amount of wine.

A Sacramento Superior Court jury Thursday awarded the survivors of Jennifer Lea Strange $16,577,118 as a result of her death nearly three years ago in a water-drinking contest conducted by a local radio station.

In making the award, the seven-man, five-woman panel found that Entercom Sacramento LLC, the local subsidiary of Entercom Communications Corp. of Philadelphia was negligent in putting on the contest that ultimately resulted in Strange's death.

Plaintiffs lawyers had asked the jury for an award for economic and non-economic damages in a range of $34 million to $44.3 million.

Strange, 28, died Jan. 12, 2007, after participating in what KDND promoted as its "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest that promised the popular Nintendo video game to whomever could drink the most water without urinating or vomiting. The Sacramento County Coroner's Office determined that she died of acute water intoxication. The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department investigated the case to see if it was a homicide, but no criminal charges were filed.

Plaintiffs attorneys filed the wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of her husband, William Strange, individually and as guardian of their two young children, Ryland, 6, and Jorie, 3; and Ronald Sims, the father and guardian of the woman's oldest son, Keegan, 13. The plaintiffs charged that the defendants were negligent in holding the contest.

The winner of the reality TV show "Big Brother 9" is headed to federal court for a detention hearing on a drug charge.

Adam Jasinski (jah-ZIN'-skee), of Delray Beach, Fla., is charged with attempting to sell 2,000 oxycodone pills. He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Boston Friday.

Jasinski was arrested in North Reading on Oct. 17 after he allegedly showed a government witness two plastic bags filled with oxycodone, a prescription painkiller that can cause dependance.

Jasinski won $500,000 on "Big Brother 9" in April 2008. In an affidavit, a federal drug agent said the 31-year-old Jasinski told him he had been using his winnings on the CBS reality show to buy thousands of oxycodone pills and resell them along the East Coast.

A 53-year-old Georgia man has pleaded guilty to resisting police outside the set of a Miley Cyrus movie after prosecutors agreed to drop charges that he tried to stalk the teen pop star.

A State Court judge sentenced Mark McLeod (MIK-lowd) to 24 months probation Friday. He was also ordered to undergo a mental health assessment and stay away from Cyrus.

McLeod had been jailed since Aug. 4 after police said he twice traveled to Tybee Island on the Georgia coast looking for the 16-year-old "Hannah Montana" star as she filmed the movie "The Last Song." Investigators said he resisted officers who tried to remove him.

Prosecutors offered McLeod a deal after a grand jury declined to indict him on felony charges.

McLeod's attorney says his client never posed a threat.

The NCAA's bid to delay a court order to release its records on academic cheating at Florida State was rejected Tuesday by the Florida Supreme Court.

In a terse one-sentence order, the high court denied the NCAA's emergency motion. However, that decision does not preclude them from considering the merits of the case later.

Attorneys for the NCAA provided the records to a Tallahassee law firm to prepare for release, although they aren't expected to vary much from documents already made public by Florida State University. The school released copies earlier this month from "screen shots" of documents posted on a secure, read-only Web site, but not the originals.

The Associated Press and other media sought immediate release after an appelate court on Oct. 13 upheld an earlier ruling that the documents are public records. A circuit judge last week ordered the NCAA to release the documents by 2 p.m. Wednesday unless it could win a stay.

The AP sued to get the records on the college athletics governing body's plan to strip coaches and athletes of wins in 10 sports.

Longtime football coach Bobby Bowden stands to lose 14 victories that would make it difficult for him to overtake Penn State's Joe Paterno in their race to be major college football's winningest coach. Paterno now leads with 390 victories to 385 for Bowden, who hopes to hang on long enough to reach 400.

An al-Qaida sleeper agent is expected in federal court in Illinois for a sentencing hearing that could have far-reaching effects.

Ali al-Marri, a 44-year-old native of Qatar, pleaded guilty in May to one count of conspiring to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.

His two-day sentencing hearing begins Wednesday in Peoria.

His attorneys say the judge should consider the five years al-Marri spent locked up without charge, much of it in a U.S. Navy brig in South Carolina. Prosecutors have recommended 15 years behind bars.

The U.S. still holds more than 200 people without charge at Guantanamo Bay. If convicted, they also could argue that their time as detainees should be considered at sentencing.

A Jordanian man accused of trying to blow up a Dallas skyscraper with what he thought was a car bomb pleaded not guilty during his arraignment Monday.

Hosam Maher Smadi, 19, told the judge "I'm not guilty on both counts" before she formally asked for his plea on one count of attempting to use of a weapon of mass destruction and one count of bombing a public place.

U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn set a trial date of Dec. 7. But Smadi's court-appointed attorneys said they plan to ask that the trial begin sometime after March.

During the hearing, a court interpreter stood next to Smadi, speaking softly in Arabic. The teenager told the judge he studied English while attending a Baptist school in Jordan and understood some of what was said in court. Smadi, who wore an orange prison-issued jumpsuit, also said he had an 11th-grade education.

Authorities arrested Smadi on Sept. 24 after he allegedly parked a truck in a garage beneath the 60-story Fountain Place office building in downtown Dallas. Once he was at a safe distance, Smadi dialed a cell phone he thought would ignite a bomb in the vehicle — but the device was actually a decoy provided by FBI agents posing as al-Qaida operatives, according to the FBI.

The FBI says it had been keeping tabs on Smadi after discovering him on an extremist Web site earlier this year. Investigators have said the teenager acted alone and was not affiliated with any terrorist organizations.