A judge is praising Chris Brown's progress on his probation for the beating of ex-girlfriend Rihanna.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg says Brown hasn't missed a session of domestic-violence counseling and has done 32 days of hard labor in his home state of Virginia.

She also cleared the 20-year-old R&B star to travel out of the United States in May and June for concerts. The exact locations weren't disclosed.

The judge's comments came during a Thursday hearing during which she reviewed Brown's progress with the terms of his probation. Brown was sentenced last year to five years of probation and six months of community labor for the February 2008 attack on Rihanna.

A federal appeals court is reviewing whether the imprisoned founder of Adelphia Communications Corp. and his son can face a second federal fraud trial.

A full 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Philadelphia will hear defense arguments that a second trial in Pennsylvania amounts to double jeopardy for John Rigas and his son, Timothy.

John Rigas is serving a 12-year term and Timothy Rigas a 17-year term after convictions in New York for defrauding their now-defunct cable television giant, which was based in Coudersport, Pa. Prosecutors say they used the company like a piggy bank.

A 3rd Circuit panel had sided 2-1 with the Rigases' double-jeopardy claims and ordered a lower-court review. The full panel is rehearing the issue at prosecutors' request.

An out-of-town jury will hear the murder trial of a central Missouri teenager accused of slaying a 9-year-old neighbor girl because she wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone.

A judge decided Tuesday to select a jury from outside of Cole County as an alternative to a request by Alyssa Bustamante's attorneys to move the trial elsewhere.

Bustamante, who was 15 at the time of the crime, is charged as an adult with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Oct. 21 slaying of Elizabeth Olten. She has pleaded not guilty.

Authorities say Bustamante plotted Elizabeth's death — digging two holes several days in advance — then strangled her without provocation, cut the girl's throat and stabbed her. They say Bustamante confessed in a police interview to slaying Elizabeth because she wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone.

Hundreds of volunteers helped during a two-day search for the missing fourth-grader. Authorities say Bustamante ultimately led them to Elizabeth's body, which was concealed in a wooded area near the girls' homes just west of Jefferson City.

When his corruption trial begins in June, Rod R. Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois, wants jurors to be allowed to hear all of the audio recordings — some 500 hours’ worth — that federal authorities secretly made of his telephone conversations.

In papers filed here on Wednesday, Mr. Blagojevich asked Judge James B. Zagel of Federal District Court to allow far more than just snippets of the calls, some of which have been made public.

“Play all the tapes,” Mr. Blagojevich told reporters after a hearing. He said that he planned to testify at his trial, and that all the tapes — not just parts — would provide the full picture and prove his innocence. “Play the truth, and play the whole truth,” he said.

A lawyer for Mr. Blagojevich, Sam Adam Jr., said jurors did not necessarily have to hear all of the tapes, which were made in Mr. Blagojevich’s home and campaign offices and on cellphones in the three months leading up his arrest in December 2008 on bribery, racketeering and a host of other charges.

But, Mr. Adam said, the defense team does want to play any parts that are related to the charges against Mr. Blagojevich or that give context to any of his statements on the tapes.

That prospect, political analysts here said, was likely to cause queasiness for Illinois politicians, some of whom are thought to be heard on those audio recordings and might have hoped their comments would never become public. In a year when the state is electing a new governor and a United States senator, such an open airing of hundreds of hours of tapes — even for those who did nothing criminal — might be especially awkward.

A North Carolina court has temporarily stopped the security rules that a judge issued for the retrieval of the John Edwards sex tape.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals issued a stay on Tuesday without giving a reason. The court, however, did not halt an initial order that requires former Edwards aide Andrew Young to turn over the tape by Wednesday afternoon.

Superior Court Judge Abraham Penn Jones last week ordered that Young's copies of the tape be turned over so they can be placed under seal. Jones has threatened Young with penalties if he doesn't hand them over.

Jones later ordered that a security official accompany Young to collect the video from a safety deposit box in Atlanta, a requirement that Young's attorneys protested.

A state appeals court has struck down a San Diego curfew law for teenagers, calling it unconstitutionally broad.
The 4th District Court of Appeal ruled last week that the ordinance doesn't allow teens to travel to certain legal nighttime events, such as school or religious activities, because to get there they have to be accompanied by an adult.

The city ordinance makes it a misdemeanor for anyone 18 to be out from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. unless they're going to a job or have an adult with them.

A similar ordinance was struck down in 1997 but then revised.

The San Diego city attorney's office says it will revise the law again and hopes to have a new version ready in two weeks.

Dr. Conrad Murray, personal physician to Michael Jackson, will surrender to authorities Monday afternoon, his attorneys said.

Murray will turn himself in at a courthouse at 1:30 p.m., they said in a written statement.

Los Angeles County prosecutors have said criminal charges related to Jackson's death last summer would be filed Monday. Prosecutors have not said who would be charged or what the charges would be, but Murray's attorneys have said he expected to be charged.

Charges originally were expected to be filed last Friday, but they were delayed because prosecutors and Murray's chief defense lawyer, Ed Chernoff, failed to reach agreement on a surrender deal for the doctor, a law enforcement source with detailed knowledge of the talks said.