Today's action by the California Supreme Court is a victory for our state because potentially life-saving science can continue without a shadow of legal doubt. This decision reaffirms voters' will to keep California on the forefront of embryonic stem cell research. California's leadership gives the best promise of finding a cure for deadly and debilitating diseases.

The research program, known as Proposition 71, was approved in a 2004 state referendum by a 59 percent margin.

The lawsuit against the program was brought by the California Family Bioethics Council and two anti-tax organizations - the People's Advocate and the National Tax Limitation Foundation. The trial court determined that the stem cell program was being administered with sufficient state control and did not violate ballot initiative or conflicts of interest rules.

State Police began investigating the case after receiving information from the Washington County attorney's office indicating that the settlement money may have been improperly used.

State Police Senior Investigator Thomas Aiken said the client had been hurt in a car crash, but had been on Medicaid. The county had placed a lien against the check, but never received the money despite the check being cashed in December.

"They were owed compensation (by the client) but they never got it," Aiken said. "The bulk of it (the check) was supposed to go to the county, with whatever was left over going to the client."

Washington County Attorney Roger Wickes was not available Wednesday morning.

The arrest is the latest legal problem for Oswald, who was Washington County public defender for 3.5 years until resigning in August 2005, days before he was arrested on a bad check charge. That charge was later dropped.

He was arrested last summer on a charge he burglarized a female acquaintance's home in Kingsbury, but said recently that the felony charge in that case was dropped. He also was ordered to spend 15 days in Washington County Jail last month for not paying $11,000 in child support.

Oswald was free on bail Wednesday but could not be reached for comment Wednesday. The phone number listed for his law office was disconnected as of Wednesday morning.

Currently only Massachusetts recognizes full same-sex marriage. Last month, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) introduced a bill that would legalize gay marriage in that state.

Federal prosecutors plan to retry Brown and the others on the counts that were overturned.

"I feel very terrible about the activities that went on," Courtney told Judge William Dimitrouleas as he entered the guilty plea for conspiring to possess a load of heroin with intent to distribute.

On Wednesday, Thomas Simcox pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy charge. The officers' punishment could range from 10 years to life in prison, with the possibility of a reduced sentence for cooperating with the government.

Two other officers pleaded guilty last month.

No other police officers are expected to be charged, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the case.

But there is still an ongoing probe into who leaked information about the FBI sting, forcing federal agents to abort the investigation before they were able to make further arrests.

Simcox pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess a load of heroin with intent to distribute. An extortion-conspiracy charge was dropped as part of the plea deal with the officers.

All four officers cut a similar deal.

They were all accused of providing security in an FBI sting in which undercover agents posed as organized crime figures during a series of stings -- from illegal gambling to transporting narcotics.

All four have pleaded guilty to the one conspiracy count of providing protection to move more than one kilo of heroin from Miami Beach to Oakwood Plaza in Hollywood for what the officers believed were mob-connected drug dealers.

The plea comes nearly three months after Simcox and the three other officers -- Kevin Companion, Stephen Harrison and Courtney -- were arrested by federal agents.

Simcox will be sentenced July 18 and Courtney will be sentenced on July 27.

Originally, Simcox was the only one of the four cooperating with authorities. He is alleged to have worn a concealed recording device for nearly a month.

Simcox's attorney, Bruce Udolf, would not comment on the extent of his client's cooperation with authorities.

Simcox agreed to surrender his law enforcement certificate and repay the FBI $16,000. Courtney must also surrender his certificate and repay the FBI $22,000.

Officials said Simcox received $8,000 in cash for protecting the load of heroin, and a total of $16,000 during his involvement in the illegal activities.

The FBI sting, dubbed Operation Tarnished Badge, was part of a two-year probe in which the officers were accused of providing protection for what they thought were illegal gambling and drug-dealing operations.

The four were charged with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute a multi-kilo load of heroin between October and November 2006.

Graves is now the ninth known US Attorney to be fired last year for alleged political reasons. On Monday, the US Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to former US Attorney Bradley Schlozman to answer questions about a possible link between the firing scandal and voter fraud prosecutions. Also Monday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said that it would not try to block a House decision to grant immunity to former DOJ official Monica Goodling in exchange for her testimony about whether politics played a role in the dismissal of eight US Attorneys. Goodling told the committee in March that she would not speak to the committee about her role in the firings.

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Tuesday denied a request by the city government of Washington, DC for an en banc rehearing of the court's March decision invalidating the city's handgun ban. DC Mayor Adrian Fenty expressed disappointment with the decision, saying that "The District's gun control laws have been a critical part of the City's public safety strategy for more than 30 years. I remain deeply committed to combating gun violence and vigorously defending the laws of the District of Columbia." The city now has 90 days to file an appeal with the Supreme Court.

The city petitioned the circuit court for an en banc rehearing last month, after a 2-1 panel vote in Parker v. District of Columbia held that the Second Amendment required the court to overturn a 31-year old ban on handguns in the District of Columbia. A Republican bid to overturn the DC gun ban legislatively passed the US House of Representatives in 2004 but failed to get Senate approval.