The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to accept a special-action lawsuit filed directly with the state high court by the Central Arizona Water Conservation District.

The district is the state entity that runs the Central Arizona Project aqueduct system and related water projects.

Those projects include one to store water underground. According to the district's lawsuit, at least some of the money swept from the fund was paid to Arizona by Nevada for water storage.

The Missouri Supreme Court overturned a man's death sentence Tuesday because his attorney failed to question the character of a murder victim who had child pornography on his computer.

The high court acknowledged in its unanimous ruling that character evidence about murder victims typically is barred. But when relatives of victim Ralph Lape Jr. testified about his generous character during the sentencing phase of Mark Gill's murder trial, defense attorneys should have countered by highlighting the smut on Lape's computer, the Supreme Court said.

Had Gill's attorneys done so, the Supreme Court said, jurors may have been less inclined to sentence him to death for the July 2002 kidnapping, robbery and shooting. The Supreme Court sent the case back to a lower court for a new sentencing hearing.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecutor Morley Swingle said he would again seek the death penalty for Gill.

The Supreme Court won't revive a student's lawsuit against a school that punished her for talking about her religion during her high school graduation speech.

The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Erica Corder. She was punished for her 2006 speech at the Lewis-Palmer High School commencement in Monument, Colo.

School officials screened Corder's speech in advance but she changed her text, urging the audience to consider the Christian faith.

The principal made her to write a letter acknowledging the remarks were her personal views before she was given her diploma.

Corder sued, but federal courts threw out her lawsuit. Judges say the school didn't violate her rights because her remarks were school-sponsored, rather than private speech.

Former NBA All-Star Antoine Walker is promising to pay more than $900,000 to settle bad check charges with three Las Vegas casinos and avoid felony criminal charges.

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Melanie Andress-Tobiasson approved a deal Monday letting Walker pay almost $13,000 a month over five years.

Restitution and penalties would total $905,050, including $135,000 cash bail already posted following Walker's arrest in July at a Lake Tahoe hotel.

That would settle casino debts incurred between July 2008 and January 2009 at Caesars Palace, Planet Hollywood and the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas.

Walker wasn't in court. His lawyer, Jonathan Powell, says the 6-foot-9 Walker hopes sign with a team in the U.S. or Europe this season.

A dispute over a beach renourishment project along a 6.9-mile stretch in the Florida Panhandle has become the latest property rights case taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The question comes down to who has rights when a state adds tons of sand to a beach that is rapidly eroding away: the adjacent property owners or the government.

The state of Florida, backed by 26 other states and the nation's cities and counties, contends the new sand is public land for everyone's enjoyment.

The Florida property owners say their rights should extend until the beach touches the ocean.

The high court holds oral arguments Wednesday in Washington.

A federal court proceeding is under way in Salt Lake City to determine if the man charged in the 2002 abduction of Elizabeth Smart is mentally competent to stand trial.

The hearing for Brian David Mitchell started Monday in U.S. District Court and is expected to last 10 days.

A ruling from Judge Dale Kimball is not immediately expected. But the decision will direct how the case moves forward — either to a trial or toward treatment that could restore Mitchell's competency.

Federal prosecutors contend the 56-year-old former street preacher is competent.

Defense attorneys counter that Mitchell is unable to defend himself against charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor.

Smart was 14 on June 5, 2002, when she was taken from her home at knifepoint. She was found in March 2003.

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.