Connecticut's Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a lawsuit that could lead to major changes in the state's education system and how it is funded.

The decision released Monday says the state constitution promises an education that prepares students for a job or higher education.

The Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding had sued, saying achievement gaps between rich and poor towns showed some students are not receiving an adequate education to prepare them for jobs and adult life.

The decision could force a review of the state's 22-year-old formula for funding schools, which the group says has drastically hurt some towns and their students.

Two women who claimed they were forced to have gynecological exams and others strip-searched in city jails have settled a class-action lawsuit with the city for $33 million.

The suit was filed on behalf of people arrested on misdemeanor drug and weapons charges and strip-searched at Rikers Island and other jails.

Under the agreement, class members can receive between $1,800 and $2,900 each, depending on how many people respond. The plaintiffs who claimed they were forced into gynecological exams are entitled to $20,000 each for their alleged injury and suffering, according to the decision reached last week and finalized Monday.

The case included people arrested, but not convicted, between July 15, 1999 and Oct. 4, 2007. The court has already ruled that the practice violated the prisoners' constitutional rights.

Six couples plus the surviving partner from a seventh filed a motion Thursday claiming the state continues to discriminate against them even though it offers civil unions to same-sex couples.

The original suit, filed in 2002, resulted in a 2006 New Jersey Supreme Court decision that came one vote short of requiring the state to legalize gay matrimony. After an effort to get lawmakers to legalize gay marriage, the effort fizzled out.

Opponents say that there's no constitutional right for gay couples to wed and that civil unions are working.

Gay marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Portillo does not face imminent extradition, however. Under Guatemalan law, he must first be tried at home in a separate corruption case before facing charges abroad.

Portillo vows to appeal Wednesday's ruling, saying: "This is not finished yet."

He is charged in a New York federal court with embezzling $1.5 million in foreign donations intended to buy school library books in Guatemala. He allegedly endorsed checks drawn from a New York bank and deposited them in a Miami account.

Portillo was president from 2000 to 2004. He was arrested Jan. 26 on the U.S. extradition request. He denies the charges.

AstraZeneca says a jury in Middlesex County Superior Court in New Jersey ruled in favor of the drugmaker.

The case was brought by a 61-year-old Louisiana man who claims he developed diabetes after taking the drug for a few years. Ted Baker, a Vietnam veteran, took Seroquel from 2001 through 2006.

The drug is approved for treating schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It's been on the market since 1997 and brings in more than $4 billion in annual sales.

Nine other cases brought by plaintiffs in New Jersey, Delaware and Florida have been dismissed before the start of a trial.

U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel also dismissed defense attorneys' concerns that U.S. Supreme Court decisions expected by the end of June could unfairly complicate the trial.

Zagel said he saw no reason to delay the trial's June 3 start date.

If the date holds, voters will likely hear months of testimony about the former Democratic governor's alleged misdeeds as the party tries to retain his former seat and the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama.

Prosecutors say Blagojevich schemed to sell or trade that Senate seat and used his power to illegally pressure political campaign donors.

Blagojevich has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and other charges.

A federal judge on Tuesday said farmers can harvest their genetically engineered sugar beets this year, ruling the economic impact too great and that environmental groups waited too long to request that the crop be yanked from the ground and otherwise barred from the market.

Nearly all sugar beets planted are genetically engineered and the crop accounts for half the nation's sugar supply.

U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White last year sided with the environmental groups when he ruled that federal regulators five years ago improperly approved the genetically engineered crop for market. White said in September that further environmental studies are required before the United States Department of Agriculture can decide the issue but didn't decide the next legal steps.

In January, the Center for Food Safety, Earthjustice and several other groups and organic farmers asked White to immediately halt the planting and harvest of all genetically engineered beets while determining how to resolve the lawsuit, which was filed in 2007.

The groups sued the USDA over its approval, and the biotech company Monsanto Co., which develops genetically engineered seeds, joined the lawsuit on the government's side.

The groups and organic farmers fear the biotech beets will cross-pollinate with conventional beets, as well as Swiss chard, and upset consumers who shun genetically engineered products.